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Today, there are only 11 days until your 1st birthday and we have had such an amazing year!  You are the sweetest child we could have asked for.  You have been infinitely patient with us as we learn how to take care of you.

As we are preparing for your first birthday party, I began thinking of all of your milestones and all of the things I wish I could tell you.    

When I was pregnant with you, you used to kick me ALL THE TIME and I loved it!  You were my little friend while I was working, you would rub and punch and kick everywhere, especially anything you thought was getting in your way like a belt or an arm over my tummy.  Your dad would tell me that you would even kick him while I was sleeping. 

I went into labor on November 3rd around 2pm, you were born on November 4th, 2009 at 9:58am.

You were born with your umbilical chord around your neck, but not to worry they suctioned you out so you could breath and then gave you to me – I didn’t even know until later.  You were strong, healthy and beautiful!  We were so excited to have you with us, and at the same time we were nervous, but as soon as I had you in my arms I knew that you were mine and that we could do this. 

What do I want you to know aside from how much we love you . . ?  EVERYTHING we do is to see you smile and hear you giggle.  There is nothing sweeter for us!!!

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Here are some fun facts about your first year:

You are named after my grandmother – your great grandmother Betty Ann Batchelor, your great great grandmother Rachel Geneva Batchelor and your grandmother Neva Arlene Herrera.

You were 9lbs 11ounces and 21 inches long when you were born. 

Today you are 27lbs and around 30 inches tall.  Your first word was dada or dadadadada your second word was mamamama . . . now you say ama (for gramma), papa and banana when you feel like it. 

You would stand up (in our arms) when you were only a month old and you started walking when you were 9 months and 4 days old at your gramma and grampa Davis’ as though you had been walking for months.  You haven’t stopped walking since!

You have been sleeping through the night since you were about a month old - we thank you for that!

We call you Betty Monster because you were so big when you were born and so big at each of your doctors appt. Off the charts in height, weight and head circumference.

I also call you Betty cakes, sugar pies, monster pies and mosher mosher on occasion.

We love you so much!!!

So I travel for a living. I spend a lot of time at various hotels and convention centers all over the country. One of my favorite things to do is to show up to an upscale and modern hotel wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I mean no matter what I’m wearing its immediately clear that I don’t really belong here. I’ll usually get a surprised look from the woman working the front desk as I walk in followed by a quick smile and a “How can I help you today?”. They look me at me expectantly up and down and decide that I don’t belong here. I know that what they’re expecting. They are anticipating a question like “Is this the Holiday Inn?” or “Do you have a phone I can use to call someone to take me to a more suitable establishment for my level of sophistication?”. Read the rest of this article »

So with baby Betty’s arrival only 3 short months away, it was time for Leia and I to head out and create that ever important baby registry. Our first stop of course was Babies R Us. As we filled out the paperwork, stories of our first experience creating a registry (our wedding registry) started coming up. Apparently it was wrong of me to register for things like lava lamps, bar signs, and stereo equipment. The Babies R Us employee told Leia that she wasn’t going to give me the scanner. She clearly didn’t know me… or Leia. I tend to get what I want and Leia is good to me. Read the rest of this article »

“To get this promotion you need to write a paper explaining why you deserve this position.” Ok, no problem. I sit down at my keyboard and get to work. “To whom it may concern…” Delete, too formal. “This is why I’m awesome…” Delete, not formal enough. “Salt. Pickles. Light bulbs. Steak.” Delete, thats my shopping list. Holy crap! This may turn out to be a little more difficult than I had originally thought. I know of my strengths, skills and abilities. I am fully aware of what makes me a great employee but putting it down on paper without sounding totally narcissistic is difficult. Speaking my mind has always been easy for me, but sharing my opinion of myself is hard. I mean, I may have an inflated ego and a grandiose sense of worth, but I try to keep that to my inside voice.

Anyway enough procrastinting… I guess I need to get this thing going if I want the promotion. “Dear Management, you already know I rule; Give me the bump!”

Recently TSA has implemented a new way to speed people through the security lines at airports. Now you can be broken down into one of 3 categories: Black Diamond (Experienced Traveler), Blue Square (Casual Traveler), and Green Circle (Families or Other special needs/considerations). Now in theory this system should speed everyone through the line and get everyone where they need to be instead of standing around in the security line. However, in practice there are some very serious drawbacks. Read the rest of this article »

I just got done reading “World War Z” by Max Brooks, and I’ll have to say is, “wow”. The tagline, “An Oral History of the Zombie War ” is very fitting. Instead of “grand overview” of events, the story is presented to you in the form of interviews conducted by the author of dozens of people from all over the world. You are hearing the stories of each individuals experience during the “Zombie War“.

Read the rest of this article »

“Ok, crew call is 6:30am.” But what they don’t tell you is that the security guards on duty have no idea who you are and aren’t going to let you in the building. You can knock on the glass, wave, yell, scream and beg… but no, they have some talking they need to do before they come let you in.

 Now this isn’t a problem for me, I have access to the building. I just swipe my card and Read the rest of this article »