It has been 8 months since Bear came into my life. Our life.

I can't believe how much time has passed. How big my little man has gotten. How perfect he is, how wonderful he makes me feel, how incredible life is.

When Bear was born, everything was such a surprise. The whole experience was surreal almost. But then he was here, and I was truly honestly amazed at how much love can fill your heart instantly.





Then they actually let us take him home! What were they thinking?! At the time, I was so scared and terrified and calm and in pain, I couldn't believe that they actually trusted us enough to be able to keep him happy, and fed, and alive. I know that sounds sad, but wow, what a scary thing to do.



And slowly but surely, we figured out what to do, I nursed him all the time. We kept him dry, he even slept a couple hours here and there.





One day turned into two, turned into a week, and then a month had passed by. He started to hold his head up better. He started to kind of smile at us. He ate and slept better. He was perfect.



His first bath was a treat. He loved it. It was chilly in the house, and I turned the heat on, put his towel in front of the heater to warm it up and he looked like he was in heaven. To this day, he really loves bath time.





I went back to work, when he was 6 weeks old. It was so hard. But coming home to see his smiles and hear what he did all day, and spend that time with him when I came home, was the absolute best. It totally made me appreciate every single second I spent with him. His first tummy time!



Then all the sudden he was 2 months old.



And then 3 months.



Christmas came and went.




4 months old.(Never mind the face, we had a hard time with shots)


He got a jump a roo thing at 4 months old. It soon became his favorite thing to do.


Along with the famous Bumbo (this one is a cheap knock off version, but it still worked.)


Became a pro at tummy time. Started 'army crawling'.



Started to really love the camera. Still will ham it up when I bring it out.


We bought a high chair, and he really loved that. Started eating cereal.


5 months old. ( I couldn't just choose one, sorry)




Our first self family portrait. (notice how different every ones eyes are?)


Creativity


6 months old, and angry Bear. FEEED me MAMA!



A Bear and his Bear.


Loves to make a beeline for my computer if left alone for 1.4 seconds.


Right around almost 7 months, he started to pull up on things.



A little Mom and Dad love.



7 months old.


We FINALLY got a crib. Daddy picked it out and everything. Bear loves his new bed.


Went to the zoo.


Takes baths in the sink now, still loves them.


8 months old. ( Scroll back to the 2 month shot...notice how he's grown?)


His wonderful hair.


All handsome.


Nomnomnomnomnom.


I can't believe 8 months have passed. I can't wait for the next 8. The next 8 years, the next 80 years. Well, ya know what I mean. He is the best.

Wow. It's been a long time.

That's Motherhood, Wifelyhood, and Workerhood for you.

What have we been up to lately?

Bear is now almost 7 months old. He is crawling everywhere. Pulling to stand up on everything and everyone. He is completely and totally fearless. He will pull up on something and then if he sees something across the room that he wants, or somewhere else he wants to go; he doesn't sit down on his butt and crawl over there. NO! Not my boy. He likes to lunge across the room, thinking he can fly, I guess and fall over there. Now with this fearlessness, thankfully, we have a little boy who can get hurt and just shake it off.

Sometimes though he doesn't shake it off. And it turns into this....

and then this...



Good times.

I think I have a problem.

I think I am addicted to E-bay.

I go on there every day. Sometimes I wake up early, thinking, 'Have I won my bid today?' What if that one chick....I swear there's this one person that bids after me on everything I bid on. I want to strangle her. Maybe it's fun for her, to DRIVE ME CRAZY.

What do I bid on?

Lots of things. Bizarre books. Baby toys, Baby clothes, Dribblehappy Bibs, which by the way are the bestest bibs in the whole wide world. I just go to look at things that people sell. I just have to be on there every day.

I am also addcited to Babycenter. I have to be on there all the time. Will said to me the other night, 'Why don't you just marry that site?'

Sometimes the group of women I belong to, haven't even posted in a while, and then I just read the other posts on the main board. Some Mom's crack me up. I also go to other boards. Like boards of women that are going to have their babies next year. Women that are trying to conceive the following year. Boards of women that are pregnant right now and ready to have their babies. Did I really sound like that at 9 months? Surely not.

I am also addicted, but not as much so as before Bear came into our life, to the Black Death forums. This is a website dedicated to a guild I am still in. World of Warcraft. Ahh, how I miss thee. But it is almost impossible for me to be able to play this game and have fun. I played WoW almost religiously for 2+ years every day. I really really miss it.

I think I am addicted to my computer. If I didn't have it in my life, I think I would go insane. Computers are such wonderful tools. Such an outlet, such a window, such a necessity. We each have our own computer, and I spend a lot of time on mine. Forget sharing anything.

I think I am addicted to Tommy. I can't get enough of him. Well, OK maybe sometimes. But seriously I love his cheeks, I love his toes, I love his fingernails that are way too long, I love his hair, his smell, even when he farts, I just love him to pieces. He is currently sitting on my lap holding my hands that are typing. I am having to hit the backspace key about every 3 letters. But eh.

I was gonna say, I think I'm addicted to Mister Man. But, I'm currently mad at him so, I'm so over him right now. That story is a whole 'nother post. And I promised him I wouldn't bash him too much on here.

I think I'm addicted to cheese. Any kind of cheese. Cheddar, Jack, Swiss, Munster, Brie, Parmesan, Mozerella, I love it all. I eat cheese every day in some form. Even the cheese in a can in good.

Bear is growling, maybe it's nap time *crosses fingers*

Figured I'd try my hand at this stuff.

Where to start? At the beginning, yar? Ok, which beginning?

Let's start with how I met Mister Man, the love of my life. When my life truly started.

I used to play this video game called Everquest. Great game, the first of its kind really. A fun MMORPG. For you lingo unsavvy out there, that means Massive Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game. I had this really crappy E-Machine computer that I used to play on, with the standard video card. How did I play on that thing, I'll never know. Anyhow....

I leveled my character, Amitey, a dark elf warrior, up and up and up. I joined this guild, group of others that play the game and look for companionship, I guess, called Lex Invictus. I met a boy named Rushian. Rushian was a wizard, and a lot higher level than I. He also was in close with the 'officers' of the guild. Synnovea, the guild leader, even! He was waaaay too cool for me. Rushian made another character and named him Cygnusx-One. A blond haired bard that my character immediately fell in love with.

Cygnusx and I talked all the time. We became really close. He helped level my character Maisy up. We hung out all the time. I was falling in love with this man I had never spoken to, this character on this video game. And one day I told him.

I think he was shocked. I think he wasn't sure what was going on, but I think he kind of loved me too. You don't spend the kind of time that we spent with eachother and not fall in love. We talked on the phone. He has this amazingly sexy deep voice that I will never forget how it sounded the first time we talked. Things weren't that great with my living situation, and we talked about me coming out to California. I lived in Texas at the time.

SO! One day after work, I quit my job, cashed my paycheck. Packed up all my stuff. Went to the Greyhound station, bought a ticket. Rode the bus from Witchita Falls, Texas to San Jose, California. 4 days on a bus. With no shower. Yeah, fun. The last 50 miles of the trip I was soooo nervous, I ground my teeth the whole way. By the time we got there, my jaw hurt.

I was set to arrive at the bus station at 5:20am. We were 10 minutes early. I had changed on the bus to some clean clothes and tried to 'freshen up' as much as a bus bathroom allows you to do so. The 10 minutes extra I had were awesome because I had time to actually brush my teeth and wash my face before he showed up.

I sat down on my bags waiting for him. He was almost 5 minutes late. Was he coming? I was the last person waiting there. A car pulled up, and in walks a tall, thin man. Was this him? Who else could it be? It had to be him. I didn't get up from where I was sitting. He walked over to me...mind you, I had never even seen a picture of Will. We had only talked on the phone, half a dozen times. He smiled at me, and said "Chell?" I smiled back and stood up, and asked "Aren't you going to hug me?" He pulled me into his arms, and we embraced and I felt him shaking. He was as nervous as I was!

And so began our life. I didn't, at first, plan to stay forever. I don't know what I had planned. But here we are.