Bribery

To get you up to speed: Nic has a friend in Texas who is a hunter. This friend invited Nic to go on a hunting trip. It's one of those trips where you pay to go and then they release the animal and you shoot it.

Gasp. Barf. Eww. Sad! How is that even fair? How is that even fun? Why would anyone want to do that? I mean, really?

So of course Nic agreed to go.

Booooo! Hiss!

And this is what the hunt was for:A ram. A grass-eating, wool-making, lovingly dim-witted ram. A ram. (Full disclosure: I Google image searched "cute ram" for this picture. I'm sure there are some ugly, not nice rams out there, but I'm also sure they deserve to live just as much as the cute and cuddly ones.)

I'll never really understand what would make Nic--or anyone--want to shoot an animal, especially a ram who doesn't even have a fighting chance. And Nic will never understand why I care so much that he doesn't shoot a ram. His argument is that the ram is going to get shot anyway; that those rams are raised for people to pay to hunt them. My argument? You just aren't supposed to shoot things. Duh.

What we both understand is that money buys car parts. Hence, the bribery. At first I offered to pay the $200 it would cost to go on the hunt. Apparently, that was low-ball offer. But his interest was piqued when I got to $500. Five hundred dollars to simply not do anything. I'd say that's a pretty good deal. And it turns out that he agrees. He gets $500 and I get the satisfaction of knowing that he's not going to kill an animal. In my mind, that's a win-win.

He actually wasn't going for it at first, so I had to take my efforts up a notch. Which is how Ramy McRam Face came to be:

My persuasion combined with Ramy's pleas means that Nic will be buying disc breaks for his Coronet and Ramy will live to see another day.

The end.

Norah Genevieve

Have I ever told you how much I love Norah's middle name? Love it. She's named after my paternal grandma, Genevieve (Granny Gen), who not only has a beautiful name, but is a beautiful person to boot.

This picture was taken at my cousin Shannon's wedding in October. I cannot describe what it's like to have my perfect little baby held by her great grandmother and namesake. These are the kind of moments that make life almost incomprehensibly amazing. I grew up adoring my Granny and to have my own baby share her name...it's just incredible to me.


I already know that Norah is going to live up to her name too. She's funny and smart and beautiful, just like Granny Gen.

Six Months

Now that Norah's nearly seven months old, I suppose I should give you her six month stats:

Weight: 17 pounds 4 ounces. 75th percentile.
Height: 25 inches. 95th percentile.

Per usual, I made Nic come with me to get her shots. And per usual, Norah was all happy and smiley until the nurses betrayed her. But she did do way better this time. After her four month shots I had to take the next day off of work; this time she came to work with me right after and got to help me do some work on our product guide and try some guacamole.

We're starting to venture into the world of solid foods. It's still more of a "Hey I wanna suck on that too" sort of thing, but the entertainment value is amazing (for her and for us). And you'd better watch how close you let her get to things because little Grabby McGrab Face will have it in her mouth before you even realize that, hey, that's my phone (or my work, or my dinner, or my dog). You get the idea.

She's gotten to the age now where I kind of just want to freeze her in time. She sits up, isn't quite mobile, thinks I'm awesome, is easily entertained, and sleeps pretty well. Basically she's perfection. And yes, I'm sure I'll still like her just as much once she can crawl around, but gosh, imma miss being able to sit her down in one place and find her still there at any point afterward.

Last year

Per tradition, we had lobster flown in from Maine for New Year's Eve. Well, I didn't have lobster--I'm still not convinced that's it's delicious. But it's probably one of my dad's and Nic's favorite things, which means that it's one of my favorite things too.

Norah loved sucking on the shrimp. And I only mention this and post pictures after I Googled "babies and shellfish" and learned that after six months it's okay to try seafood for your baby. I guess typically you're supposed to wait a year, but since I found at least a few references that said earlier is okay, I don't feel like we need to alert Child Protective Services. Though I guess I should make it a habit to do my Googling before I let Norah try whatever it is we're eating.


I always feel bad for the lobsters. Thankfully no one took it upon themselves to chase me around with one this year.

Again, thanks to my mom and dad for a great evening. Sorry I don't like lobster, but I do think that how much Nic enjoys it is enough for the two of us.

(Interesting side note: As soon as I published this post I got and advertisement to order fresh Maine lobster. Creepy!)