:) Pink Lady Maynard (:

Mini ninja Noah is already 10 months old! He will be 11 months old before Halloween! Crazy. I'm so amazed at just how fast time is flying by. The dog days of summer are gone & it's now the season of cinnamon apple scented candles, pumpkins, autumn leaves, Halloween-ween, cider, Christmas shopping, Turkey Day, football & now my sweet son's birthday. With regards to Noah's 1st birthday, we still can't decide on whether to throw a party or just go out to dinner with family. I was originally thinking abou making it a huge shin-dig with family & friends. Of course, trying to stay within a budget + the idea of entertaining several people seemed a bit overwhelming. A nice pre-Turkey day lunch party sounded like a good idea. However, his birthday falls on a Saturday & my parents refuse to close their store for the day. So...now I am leaning towards the idea of going to one of our favorite seafood restaurants with just family & bringing a small "smas...

I did my undergraduate college internship at NAVAIR Orlando & distinctly recall thinking that someday I would want to work at the DC office - NAVSEA. When I quit graduate school, I never thought that my not-so-little-cousin, who is like a little brother to me, would be the one to land a job at NAVSEA.  Today, he's at work, on lockdown, while shooters have attacked innocent people. It happened in a different building & he joked about not getting his morning coffee, but I'm on high alert, filled with worry. His mother, my aunt, flew to Korea this morning & has no idea that her son is stuck at work during such a terrifying situation.  Why would someone do something so horrific? This seems to be a question that I find myself asking fairly frequently these days. Mass shootings, bombings, chemical attacks & terrorism occurring too often. What the hell is going on? Why are people with death wishes resorting to such violence?  My thoughts & prayers go out to a...

My 9 month old baby stood up unassisted the other morning. He enthusiastically took a few wobbly steps towards the momma. It was pretty damn cute & amazing. (: Noah is now 28 inches tall & weighs 17.8 lbs. We've come a long way from the mere 4lbs he weighed on 11/23/12. I can't believe my tiny mini ninja will be turning 1 soon. Where did the time go? This past weekend was long & semi-exhausting. Saturday was filled with tears, baby vomit, laundry, sleep deprivation, worries, 24/7 nurse line, spousal spats & sighs of relief. Sunday was filled with errands, groceries, more laundry & Grandparents' Day dinner al la Korean-style. Yeah, Sunday won in the "better day" ranking. Sunday night & Monday morning was one of those insomnia-filled moments. My tired eyes were still wide awake after an early morning feeding. Rather than force sleep, Iregrettably stayed up to read Huffington Post articles via Twitter & viewed fellow WTE mamas & babies...