Where Have I Been?

I've been sorely neglecting my blog for over a week now, having popped in only once recently to post the results of my "Which Romantic Heroine are You?" quiz, which I stole from Mary's Bandwagon (Mary was Christine from The Phantom of the Opera). Anyhoo, here's where I've been the past week, in case the three people who read this are wondering why I haven't posted in ages:

* We baptized my daughter Marin last week, so my parents and brother Troy were visiting, and I suspected that they would find my ignoring them to blog rude. Above is a picture of Marin (with Troy) in her gorgeous little April Cornell baptismal gown, which I got on sale through NPR's Signals catalog. What was an April Cornell baptismal gown doing in the NPR Signals catalog? I don't know, but mine is not to question. Especially when the Signals catalog had it for less than half price. I just grabbed that discounted baby and ran.

* My mother was on vacation; therefore, she has to shop. I think it's a law somewhere. So we went to St. Augustine and shopped in the historic district, much to the chagrin of Jose and my dad, who do not like shopping unless it's for weird, useless (and probably ugly) antiques or football cards, respectively. I bought a Fresh Produce skirt (on sale) that had a cute starfish print but an unfortunately frumpy hemline, so it looks like a semi-beachy version of Alice's housekeeping uniform from The Brady Bunch. That'll teach me to not try things on because Marin's in the Bjorn.

* Marin was baptized, and interestingly enough, started suddenly sleeping for eight-hour stretches that very night. My mother speculates that the priest may have driven out a minor, insomniac demon with the Holy Water. I don't know what it is, but God bless Father Rooney. I actually feel like a real person again.

* We went back to St. Augustine so my dad could see something historic that wasn't housing a shop--in this case, the Fountain of Youth park, which marks the location where Ponce de Leon landed on Florida. Note: The water from the Fountain of Youth tastes and smells like sulfur, and none of us look any younger. Ergo, if you ever visit, don't drink the water. However, the surrounding grounds are quite pretty and make for a nice walk, despite the fact that my stretch-mark-ridden stomach still looks like Donald Sutherland's naked bum.

* My parents left on Tuesday, while Troy stayed for the full week. Troy and I kicked off the rest of his visit by watching the Cutting Edge 2. (OK, I forced him. My Tivo is nearly full of Little Einstein episodes, so I had to watch it so I could delete it so there would be room for American Idol.) It blew. Shocker.

* Troy and I went to St. Augustine for a third time to see the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. We especially enjoyed the four-room home carved out of an old-growth tree trunk, the camera that allowed us to freeze our shadows in various James-Bond-esque poses (which is a challenge when one is carrying a baby in a Bjorn), and the shrunken head.

* We left Maggie at the day care she attends part-time while we went to the museum, because if Maggie can't climb it, smash it, draw on it, or eat it, she rarely enjoys it--and we figured that would be the case with the vast majority of the glass-enclosed museum exhibits. Upon picking her up, I learned that Maggie is being transferred from her Toddler class at the day care to the older Twaddler class (2-to-3-year-olds). Seeing as Maggie LOATHES transitions with the white-hot fiery passion of a thousand two-year-old suns (I have to spend roughly 15 minutes mentally preparing her to do things like leave the park, or go to the store with me), this should be an interesting week.

* Troy and I went to the one decent mall in my fair city and I bought a pair of size six Lucky Jeans. Yes, it was vanity sizing, and yes, they suckered me in. To which I say, whatever. Bring on more vanity sizing! The jeans actually fit better than most of the pairs hanging in my closet (which is a given for Luckys), and now I can say that I'm a size six again, even with my obvious need for a post-baby extreme stomach makeover. Oh, frabjous day!

* Troy and I also watched Elizabethtown, so I could send it back to Netflix after hoarding it for, oh, about a month now. Troy didn't mind it. I got bored and started reading Diana Gabaldon's thousand-page A Breath of Snow and Ashes about a quarter of the way through the film. It is my firm opinion that Kirsten Dunst blows. I am neutral on the subject of Orlando Bloom, unless he's wearing a blond wig and elf ears.

* Speaking of, now that Troy and my parents have gone, I've also figured out how to balance a large hardcover on my Boppy while nursing Marin. The Boppy both keeps the baby in place and anchors the book so it doesn't rest on poor Marin, and it serves as an extra barrier to prevent Marin from rolling off my lap. Wicked! Anyway, I can't seem to stop reading, so Marin is getting a lot more to eat than usual. The book is fab.

That was my week in a nutshell. I'll try to be more entertaining later.