First of all: we are putting our house up for sale in March and getting the eff out of hereeee! Not out of here as in out of New Jersey, but out of our current neighborhood. We are looking forward to raising Peyton in a neighborhood with kids her own age, where there are (possibly) sidewalks and (hopefully) privacy, and (definitely) no crazy people. Denny is looking forward to having a garage. And maybe a pool. And me, I'm looking forward to a nice kitchen (even though I love the one I have now) and entertaining space. Keeping my fingers crossed that we won't have to schlep Peyton all over South Jersey for the holidays next year because we can host them and everyone will come to us. I have beautiful dreams about that scenario.
Second of all, this happened:
And not only am I getting married next year, but my sister is too! They finally booked their wedding for January 2013. We are both going to be so busy with wedding shenanigans in the next year and a half that we won't know what to do with ourselves.
Third of all: the joys of having an incredibly mobile child are...many-faceted. Peyton does not stop moving from the time she wakes up until she falls asleep. I took her to visit with my grandparents yesterday and she crawled in circles for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT, taking a break every so often to climb onto something, pull herself up on some piece of furniture, or to gather her surroundings in the resulting dizzyness. It's comical and amazing, because she discovers something new every day (as I type, she has discovered that yes, the coffee table is wonderful to chew on) and watching her overcome obstacles in that clumsy baby way brings me such pride and joy in my little girl that my heart almost hurts because of it.
Okay, enough sap, let's talk DIAPER CHANGES. With an increasingly mobile child comes the difficulty with which diaper changes are executed. Never in a million years did I think I would dread these times, but now it is a reality. Peyton, during diaper changes, reminds me of an alligator in the sense that an alligator spinsandspinsandspinsandspins once captured and tethered, because, you know, it wants to rip your face off since you're trying to capture it. My kid, while I'm pinning her down as best I can and fumbling frantically to get business taken care before she notices I'm even doing ANYTHING, will suddenly and forcefully use her head for leverage and arch her back so hard that I have no choice but to release due to the sheer fact that I'm terrified I will somehow harm her during her retaliation. At which point she will flip and flee as quickly as she can, diaper on or not. I can honestly admit that she has flipped and fled on two occasions that involved #2 diapers, and the outcome was not pleasant. There is something horrifying about poo smushed into the carpet because your 7 month old daughter finds it hysterical to plant her dirty little butt onto the floor while you shriek helplessly, "NNNNOOOOOO! DON'T SIT DOWWWWWN!"
Not the best quality photo, but a perfect example of not wearing any pants
due to the skillful "flip and flee"
Also, I freaking love this kid.
