Christmas is here!

Christmas time is here again in the Shepard household and we've been busy. Laina had her first dentist appointment and we also got to see her perform in her school Christmas program. She is currently enrolled in a music program as well as her regular class so she was on stage 3 times. In those 3 appearances she did not sing one word... but she was cute all three times. :)
Amelia enjoyed these moments while dreaming about her next meal from her car seat. She's quickly assuming the role of the low-maintenance baby. She really only complains when she is hungry or tired. I can't blame her! Hope you are enjoying the holidays as much as we are!

Dan and Laina at her Christmas program

Amelia asleep during Laina's program

Merry Christmas 2011!

Welcome to the Family Amelia!

On 10/3/11 we welcomed a new member to our family, Amelia Ann Shepard. The pregnancy was certainly not the same as carrying her big sister, Laina but now that we've had a little time to get to know her I know that she is very different from Laina. Amelia is 8 weeks old now and smiling away the days. She is a great baby that will just sit in her chair patiently and look around as I try to keep up with daily life of being a mom of 2 kids. I'm so glad to have her with us and I'm looking forward to all the memories we'll create with our two beautiful little girls. Here's a few photos from the first few weeks with our little "Mia" (Laina's nickname that we've now adopted).

Amelia's tiny little footprints

Grandpa Greg was here... thanks Dad.

Just a day old, being held by Grandma Pat

Our little Tiger, home from the hospital

Big sister Laina holding her little Mia at home for the first time.

A view into the final days of pregnancy...

The final days of pregnancy can be some of the longest days of a woman’s life. Not only are you more uncomfortable as each day goes on, the inappropriate comments from strangers become more and more disconcerting. When a woman appears to be carrying a Guinness Book of World Records pumpkin under her shirt it is of course suitable to ask her if her parents had ever advised her not to eat watermelon seeds.

This is the life of a 9-month pregnant woman.

Please don’t misunderstand; awaiting the arrival of a new little one is very exciting and somewhat magical. This new little person will be soon entering the world and changing the perspective of his or her parents permanently. Each day little feet and elbows poke out curiously from the mother’s belly as she wonders what this new little person will look like and what will they accomplish in their life.

Notice how nowhere in that statement was the following mentioned: requests from strangers to touch your belly (at least they ask, right?),  “waddling” descriptions of the way a mother is forced to go from point A to point B or a personal favorite, the inability to feel comfortable anywhere…. Doing anything…

But, in the end, a new little person is eventually born and a whole new chapter begins in that mother’s life. The toothless man at the gas station who commented on her belly size only 2 days ago is forgotten and the joy of becoming a newborn baby stalker (one who stares at her baby incessantly, non-stop, 24-hours a day) sets in. If she listens quietly during the two minutes of peace she has each day, she can hear a voice saying “Welcome to the club dear friend, the best and finest establishment in the world, the Motherhood club.”

Why I Tweet...

Image Credit

Alright friends & family. I know many of you think that I'm nuts because I'm on twitter and foursquare. I have an active Facebook account and I even put videos of my darling daughter on You Tube. It's silly you say. You don't want to know when I'm using the facilities. You don't care if I'm having turkey for lunch.

I get it.

What you don't get is that the social world via the internet is a frontier that will revolutionize the way people interact. I want to know how my daughter talks to her friends. I want to know how the "bad guys" find their targets. I want to be very informed. So I tweet… and now you know. :) And I continue to tweet because I enjoy meeting people I would never have met before. So if you want to learn how to do it, just ask me. It's actually really easy and not nearly as crazy as you think.



Oh and also because it's fun.

I feel like pumpkin pie

Last weekend Dan and I took Laina to her first Numismatic Society Money Show. What does that mean? It means there was a bunch of Senior Citizens who gathered at Lenexa Community Center to buy/sell/trade their old money. I personally don't get it but Dan is crazy about money (as if I needed to say that) and really enjoys collecting it. This show happens once/year so we decided to head on over there and see what they had.


I wasn't prepared for what happened.


They had pumpkin pie.


Perfectly shaped triangle individual pieces of pumpkin pie for sale served on a styrofoam dessert plate with plastic wrap covering it.


What is it about little concession stands where the goods have been donated by the wife of the man who runs the event that make me feel so at home? Maybe it's because I grew up with a Grandma who made the best pumpkin pie… and just about anything else that had at least a stick of butter in it… Maybe it's because Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE meal of the year…. Or maybe it's just because fall is here and pumpkin pie served on a tiny little styrofoam dessert plate sounds delicious.


Maybe I will make a little pumpkin pie. From the can of course… what do you think I am, Martha?

From here to Timbuktu

The Shepards have been traveling like mad the past few months. I'd love to blame my lack of blogging on work but sadly that's just my own procrastination that turned into a ridiculously long hiatus.

 
 

This past summer I had the privilege to travel to two conferences in Washington D.C. The first one was for Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference which was my first time attending and the most awesome geek trip I've ever taken. The second time was for my company's international conference which was even more tiring than the first trip since my night owl co-workers were all there. You'd think that after a summer full of trips to the East Coast we'd be done. Well you would be wrong, my friend.

 
 

Dan has recently started his new job and has been traveling all over the South in his new territory of Ark, TN & Miss. So let's take a tally… we conquered the East Coast (that is clear), Dan is off conquering the Bible Belt and what does that leave? The Western US? Oh well let me just tell you that I recently returned from a trip to Seattle where I visited Microsoft's Campus…

 
 

So yes, we have been from here to Timbuktu and we made all the areas in between our ______. (insert your word of choice, I personally like "friend")

 
 

 
 

Kitty Love Hurts

We've been trying to show Laina that petting the cat is something that can be fun, but we have to be GENTLE... so far the cat has been tolerant of Laina. The more and more that she discovers, the more and more we have to show her the ways of the world. This is just one little glimpse into that.

Laina's First Year

1 Year of Bears

As a gift from our close friends, Laina got 1 full year of bears! So each month, she will receive a new bear. The first two months have already proven to be very cute themed bears so I'm excited to see the future ones. Thanks Shawn & Jill for such a fun & memorable gift!

Laina and Mr. June:

Laina and Mr. July (with Mr. June hangin out)

As a side note, Dan was disappointed it wasn't 1 year of beer even though the inappropriate nature of that as a gift for a toddler was obvious.

Zootiful Life

We went to the zoo and it was H-O-T.... Laina still enjoyed seeing the sights and being outside, despite the amount of sweat that was coming out of our pores. I think she really enjoyed watching the animals sleep, especially when they were toe to toe with her.