What's been going on

We have new pictures posted. Visit www.shawnandmarisa.com to see the latest collection of pictures. You can find new ones of Inara with Uncle Spanky and her playing with her tummy time toy. We've started her laying on her tummy to build up her muscles. (The pictures are of her on her back though so you can actually see her face.) I also spend time every day reading to her. I figure I better start now if I want her to be a lover of the written word like her mommy. Also, I've decided even if we're just going to be hanging out at the house all day, I want her to wear her cute dresses before she grows out of them, so there are a couple pictures of her all dressed up and smiling away. She smiles all the time now and I've heard her giggle at least 3 times. If you click on the link Timeless at the top right of the screen, you can see Inara's 3 month birthday picture on the octopus chair. Can you believe it? She is 3 months old. Happy birthday baby girl. I can't believe how much she's changed in just a couple of months. Her eyelashes are super long. Yay! Her hair is growing a lot and her legs are getting chunky. Her face has filled out too, so she finally looks a bit like me now with a big round, chubby face. I'm sure she's going to love that when she gets older.

We had some really sad, heartbreaking news this past week. One of my best friends, Nina, lost her mom to cancer after a rather long battle. So Friday we headed up to Bakersfield for her mom's memorial service. It breaks my heart to see friends in pain because I wish I could do something to make it go away. Nina, I love you! For anyone who is looking to make a donation to an organization this year, I always recommend the American Cancer Society and in Laurie Taylor's memory, consider the Leukemia Society www.leukemia.org. I know Nina and her brother Carlos are setting up a site to make donations in memory of their mom, so I'll post that when I get it.

The drive to Bakersfield wasn't too bad. It was Inara's first road trip. Yes, another first for our little girl. We stayed with our friends Greg and Tracy. It was great to catch up with them. Inara had fun staring at the Christmas tree lights. I hope that's alright for her to do. That night she actually slept 11 hours in between meals. That's insane to me. But I've been told that she'll wake up when she's hungry so not to worry. We paid for it the next day when we were driving home because we had to pull over and feed her because she was so hungry and wanted the world to know it. I'm pretty much not breastfeeding any more, so we had to stop and get a cup of hot water to warm her bottle. Thank god for Starbucks. Inara was happy as could be and fell asleep the rest of the drive home. We then dropped her off at my parents' house and Shawn and I went out to dinner with friends to celebrate Jason aka Monkeyboy's birthday. It was nice to relax and visit with friends but more importantly for the two of us to be able to eat warm meals. Those who are parents will totally understand that last comment. Today I have an Arbonne open house and then we are going to join Jason at Yogurtland in Irvine, our new favorite place. Tonight I'm going to work on Christmas cards and the other two will have some quality father-daughter bonding time. Man, do weekends go by way too fast. Hopefully I'll find some time this week to get my Christmas decorations up and actually get some wrapping done. And so another week begins.