Lindsey is 3 months old today. She is such a happy baby. Today we took a nice long nap together and right now she's holding onto my shirt as she dozes a little. She keeps looking up at me and smiling and talking. She looks like a mini me. We've compared my baby pictures and it's pretty neat to see how much we look alike. She's nursing like a champ and I feel so proud that we made it to this point. I love the way people are surprised by her wild hair and they're also surprised when she smiles or tries to talk to them. I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we ate at my parents on Thursday and then visited a few other relatives. I enjoy eating with my parents but hate coming home to no leftovers. I bought a turkey and we had Thanksgiving Part 2 at home today. Now we have plenty of leftovers for sandwiches, soup and turkey pies. Yum. Chad and Kaelyn are downstairs making a pumpkin pie for desert.

Wednesday night we brough Kaelyn to Picture People to have her portraits done. I've had both good and bad experiences with them in the past. This time we didn't have a great experience. The photographer was unorganized and took way too long resulting in a cranky baby and the few times that she smiled she didn't catch it on film. It wasn't a total loss though since Mama Bear had sent me some coupons. The 8x10 was okay for free but not worth the cost that they charge.

Friday morning I called JCPenney portrait studio to make an appt and I was shocked that they had an appt open in the afternoon. I dressed both girls and we headed out to the mall on Black Friday. Everyone must have shopped for the morning sales because the parking lot wasn't bad at all. The portrait studio manager took the girls pictures and she was quick and took awesome pictures. I also had coupons so I got 7 sheets for $27.93.

Kaelyn has been afraid of Santa all her life but this year she wanted to be brave for her little sister. Because of that I had to buy the 5x7 picture of the girls with Santa. It's adorable.

Yesterday we took a road trip with my grandparents to the Mystic Aquarium. My grandfather, at 87 years young, had never been to an aquarium and it was something that he wanted to do. It was actually a surprise, he didn't know where we were headed. He guessed a few different places but it wasn't until we hit Connecticut that he figured it out. Four generations were spending the day together. It was so nice. They love spending time with the girls and I enjoy being able to take them places they wouldn't be able to travel to alone. After our day at the aquarium we headed over to Olde Mystic Village to find a letterbox. We found our second letterbox which was indoors. A perfect day!

On Saturday afternoon we had our first experience with letterboxing. Rachel had provided the link in her blog last week and it seemed interesting. It was a beautiful sunny day but it was windy. Our adventure took us close to the ocean and the wind was blowing so hard that I had to cover Lindsey's face because it was too much for her to handle. Kaelyn was so excited to find the letterbox. Chad is probably the most excited about this new hobby. We went to A.C. Moore on Sat. to purchase a stamp, ink pad and a little notebook to use as a log. I think that Chad has plans for us to find another today when he gets home from work. It's a great way for us to get excercise. Chad doesn't mind walking when he's on a mission.

On Friday morning around 6:30am I woke up with a pain that I knew was my gallbladder. The pain kept getting worse. By 7am I needed to call my mother but I could barely talk. All I was able to do was ask her to come over, she could tell something was wrong. She got to my house quickly and insisted on calling Chad at work. She told him that I needed to go to the hospital. I refused because I was afraid to leave the baby. I really was unprepared for what might happen. I was nervous that I would need surgery that day. I couldn't leave my baby because she doesn't drink from a bottle. She needs me! It's a little silly now that I think of it, I probably should have gone. I'm sure that somehow they would have been able to feed Lindsey the breastmilk that I have frozen with a cup or medecine dropper. The pain finally passed but I was still very sore. I spent the rest of the day in bed and Chad cared for the kids and brought the baby up when she needed to nurse.

Saturday night I had another attack after eating a veggie grinder. As soon as I felt the pain coming on I took a percocet(which were prescribed when I had the c-section but I never needed them) and tried to breathe through the pain. I think that I caught the pain early enough this time that I was able to control it easier. I still didn't go to the hospital because Lindsey's baptism was Sunday and I didn't want to postpone it. I had called the dr. office on Friday and the soonest appt they could give me is Dec. 20th. They advised me to go to the hospital if it happens again. So I've promised Chad that if it happens again he can bring me to the ER. Today I'm calling the lactation consultant to find out exactly what I can do about nursing. I'm hoping that if it is my gallbladder I'll be able to have the laser surgery.

I have to go on a short business trip. The good thing is that Lindsey will be coming with me. Of course I wouldn't have been able to go if I had to leave her behind. The most challenging part of the trip will be the travel. There are no direct flights unless I want to depart from the airport at 6am. No thanks. I'd never make it there in time and I'd be dragging ass by the time I got there. So I'll leave mid morning and have a connecting flight. This might actually work out better. Once I land I can feed the baby in the airport with a little more privacy and a little more room. I guess I'm most worried about being seated next to someone that I don't feel comfortable nursing in front of. Or even worse if that someone gives me a hard time about it. I'm hoping that someone I know in Columbus has an infant carseat so that I don't have to drag mine through the airport. I only plan on bringing our sling, no stroller.

We voted this morning before Kaelyn went to school. We didn't have to wait in line, our precinct is pretty small. We vote at the high school and parking is horrid so I suspect most people wait until school lets out for the day. We live close so we walked. I can't bear to watch the election coverage. I have butterflies in my stomach. I've never felt this way about a presidential election before.

Lindsey's baptism is Sunday. I've avoided writing or talking about it because I'm not sure how I feel about it. We don't go to church but Chad feels strongly that the kids receive their sacraments in the catholic church. We picked the date awhile ago and I've avoided anything that needs to be done. I just took out Kaelyn's christening dress (Lindsey is suppossed to wear it) and its a little discolored on the front. Chad took it to the dry cleaner in hopes that it will come out. If not, we're off to buy one. We're having a small reception afterwards in the church hall. I can't even be bothered to cook so I'm calling to order food tomorrow. I still need to purchase paper plates, cups, etc. I hate being a hostess!