8 months!

Happy 8 month anniversary, sweet girl!

Busy week-end

Long time no blog, sorry about that! We had a nice, but busy week-end. Two birthday parties on Saturday; Miss Elizabeth is quite the social butterfly...
I've been approved to take the 1st MFT licensing exam-yay! I'm thinking I'll take it sometime in September. That will give me a little time to study, without dragging it out too long.
Elizabeth is starting to stand on her own for longer and longer periods of time. She gets this huge smile on her face, I love how proud she is of herself! It won't be long now before she is an official toddler- wow!!
Well it's Sunday night, time to get ready for another work week, yipee :)

What??

I never get into politics on this blog, but something that presidential candidate John McCain said really, really irks me. In a recent New York Times interview, he was asked his views on adoption, and he said, "I think we've proven that both parents are important in the success of a family." Ugg...I am so offended by that statement. I think I've made a pretty darn good life for Elizabeth, despite being a single mom. No, it isn't perfect. Not at all. But my little girl is happy, attached and thriving. She has me, and the most incrediably supportive family and friends ever. This is one kiddo not lacking for love, or security. Senator McCain is quite out of touch if he thinks the only legitimate family is the "traditional" nuclear family. The more I'm writing about this, the more worked up I'm getting, so I think I'll stop now...Thanks for letting me rant a little!

No, I'm not doing anything...really, mom!

Stuff

In some (sort of) non-Elizabeth related news, I am happy to say that I have finally completed the 3000 superivised hours required in CA to be eligible for licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). For those of you who don't know me, I work as an MFT Intern, with school age children. In CA, to become a licensed MFT, you have to get the 3000 hours of experience, plus meet certain educational requirements. Once you do that, you apply to the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences to take the written exam. I am very happy to say that on Monday, I sent in all my paperwork to the Board, it has been a looooong time coming...I just hope they approve all my hours, etc, so that I will be able to take the exam. Then once I take and pass the written exam, I have to take a 2nd "clinical vignette"exam! Once I pass that, then I get licensed....The exams look pretty awful, and I know I'll be a nervous wreck on the testing dates, but at this point I'm just praying that the Board approves me to even take the 1st exam. They have 90 days to go through all the stuff I sent them and let me know I'm eligible to take the exam, or that I'm missing something, etc. So everybody, please keep fingers and toes crossed that the Board plays nice and approves me :) Between this process and the adoption process, I'm feeling pretty burnt out.
Speaking of the adoption process...Back to my favorite subject, Miss E...Her next court date is in about 2 weeks. We are still such a long way from finalization, but if things go well at this hearing, it will be a major step in the right direction.
Poor Elizabeth, yesterday I took her to get her to get her 12 months shots. We were in the waiting room beforehand, and all of a sudden she threw up the entire contents of the bottle she had just had all over herself, her stroller and the floor. I ran her into the bathroom and scrubbed her off as best I could and changed her. Fun times! She was fine after that until she had to get the shots! But she recovered quickly and ate a good dinner and slept great last night.
Something I have been thinking about is taking a week off (it would have to be without pay, since I have no vacay time accrued) soon, and sending E to Day care for part of it so I can really, really clean the apartment, and organize her closet (it's a disaster right now). I don't seem to be able to get beyond doing bare maintenance at home, and the mess and disorder is driving me nuts. Plus, to be honest, I am totally burnt out at work. I'm thinking if I can take a little time off to get my apt. really in order and also spend some more time with Elizabeth, maybe I'll feel better about going back to work. We'll see, not sure if I can swing it, but it's a thought.

Blogger Jr.

Here is Elizabeth blogging away on her new baby laptop (thank you, Brenda!). Her blog is password protected though, and she won't send me an invite... :)

Birthday party pics

Elizabeth had a great time at her party. So did I! The weather was perfect. Here are just a few pics:

12 month update

At one year, Elizabeth:

-has 4 teeth, two top and two bottom

-crawls fast, and I mean fast

-pulls up onto everything

-furniture cruises (but does not walk yet)

-says "baby", "mama", "hi", and "bow wow wow" (for any animal)

-points to her teeth and her eyes when asked

-does "high five"

-bounces her whole body up and down the second she hears any music

-loves being outside

-jabbers all the time, and often tries to repeat what I say

-understands lots of words, especially milk, bath, blankey, Pooh, and doggie

-hates wearing shoes and gets the biggest smile on her face when I take her shoes off (or when she beats me to it and takes them off herself)

-loves being read to

-is very attached to her "blankey"

-loves cheese, chicken, pasta, grapes, bananas and O's.

-has unexplicably been waking up around 5 or 5:30am for the past month or so-ugg...



Hopefully by the time her birthday rolls around next year, the adoption will be final...Ugg, could the county be any slower...grrrr. Sorry, I had to vent there for a second. I'm done now :)

Birthday pictures

These are the pictures I had done today at The Picture People. She did great, I love her smile :)

Also, I took cupcakes to her Day Care and they had a little party for her there, but her teacher said she cried when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. I'm wondering how she'll do tomorrow at her big party :o I left my camera at the Day Care so they could take some pictures of the party. My girl is not lookin' too happy there...

Happy Birthday 1 year old!!!!!!

Introducing my ONE YEAR OLD daughter!!!!!

I know, these aren't very good pictures, but I wanted to get a few shots of her before heading out to Day Care and work this morning, and of course she did not want to sit still for the camera. I'm having professional pics done later today, and am keeping my fingers crossed that she will cooperate :)

Saturday in the park and an early birthday present

Lunch at the park on Saturday with Pooh and Auntie Julie :)

Today after Church, we went to Target, where I bought Elizabeth an early birthday present, a little school bus she can push and ride. It was a big hit!

Some 4th fun at the playground!

Happy first 4th, my little sweetie pie!!

Happy 4th!!

Elizabeth and I wish everyone a safe and Happy 4th of July!

The dreaded pink eye?

When I went to pick up Elizabeth from Day Care yesterday, they told me she may have an eye infection (Conjunctivitis, i.e. "pink eye"), since waking up from her nap, her left eye was runny and kind of red. And of course, she would not be allowed to come to Day Care today if her eye was still runny. Ugg- I have no sick time accumulated, since it's the beginning of the fiscal year (dumb agency policy) Plus I have some afternoon meetings I cannot miss. Her eye didn't look too bad to me, but it was a little watery. So I took her to the Doctor straight from Day Care yesterday PM, hoping he would say there was no infection, she is not contagious and give her a free pass to attend Day Care today. The Doctor ended up saying it was "possible" she has "early Conjunctivitis" and prescribed eye drops "to prevent a secondary bacterial infection." So I got the eye drops, which Elizabeth just loves, by the way...not. Anyway, I just kept my fingers crossed that Elizabeth's eyes would be normal looking this morning when she woke up and she'd be able to go to Day Care. Great sick child back-up plan I've got there, isn't it? Anyway, her eyes looked ok this morning, so I sent her to Day Care, and am praying for no "come get her, you're a terrible mother sending your sick, contagious child to Day Care" call. It's lunchtime, and so far so good...
This experience makes it clear to me that I'm going to have to come up with a better back-up plan than "keeping my fingers crossed" for when Elizabeth can't go to Day Care and I have to work. Gee, do ya think??