Still alive

Been meaning to post here, but the holiday season kept me plenty busy. Thanksgiving & Xmas were spent in Dallas with my family, V's mom came out and spent a week with us, and the New Year's holiday was spent catching up on movies. I've watched about 15 films since New Year's Eve, and V watched most of those with me which made me happy since we hadn't watched many together in the past couple months. I've spent many a late night watching a movie or two while she & E sleep, which isn't a bad thing but having someone to discuss a movie with after it ends is always better than discussing it with myself. I've got a handful of films waiting to be watched before I post my best of 2010 list anywhere, but I hope to do so by the end of the month.

Speaking of lists, I've been making more of those on Listal lately. Feel free to check them out: Best albums of 2010, Most anticipated albums of 2011, and Watched in 2011. The watched list will be updated regularly throughout the year to document what films I watch this year, whether for the first time or a repeat viewing. It's something a lot of Listal users do, so I've decided to give it a try. I hope to use it as a springboard for other movie lists as the year progresses. The most anticipated albums list is a work in progress too...right now it reflects the information that's available, so as album titles & release dates are set I'll add them as well as any albums coming out I'm unaware of at this time.

I'm still enjoying staying at home with the little one. She seems to change every day, doing new things, being more vocal, and so on. She also seems more aware...I often catch her focusing on things she never did before, and since Christmas she's been touching my beard

whenever my face is close enough. I love it & am always willing to endure the risk of her scratching my face in the process (which occasionally happens).

Her favorite toy lately seems to be her feet, which she happily grabs and holds onto for long stretches of time. Next to them she loves anything she can fit into her mouth and bite down on, which has us expecting her to start teething soon.

She's never been keen on spending time on her tummy, so I'm making it my mission to make her do so a little each day until she realizes it's not so bad. I'm sure once that happens it won't be long before she works toward crawling. I'm also trying to read a book to her each day, which seems to only interest her when she's in a good mood. If I read to her after she's been playing a while she usually throws a fit in the middle of the book hehe. So far her favorite book is Pat the Bunny, which was one of my childhood favorites as well. I think mostly she likes that the book gives her things to do rather than just sit there & listen to me.

As for other plans for the near future, V will have to work full-time again soon...once that happens E & I will drive there to have lunch with her every day so they're not apart for too long. Already E starts getting upset if V's not home close to 4pm, as if she knows that's the time mommy gets home. I think she's too smart for our own good already. ;) Also, I'd like to take some computer classes at the community college in the near future. The job interviews I had last year taught me that I'm not as computer savvy as potential employers would like, so that's something I need to work on. Not sure yet when that will happen, but I definitely prefer taking classes over trying to teach myself especially when it comes to software I've never used. Finally, I may work for Pearson again on the TAKS test since they're planning to have a lot of employees working from home this year. I'll have to know more details before I decide.

Other than that, I guess there's 2 pieces of news I haven't broadcast here yet. First off, we recently traded V's car in for a bigger vehicle. The trips to Dallas taught us that we needed more room than the Subaru Impreza provided, so now we've got a Honda CR-V to get around in. I've done most of the driving so far and am loving it. Not only does it have more room, it's now easier to get E in and out of her carseat (big plus!) and the seats are more comfortable for me than the Subaru's.

The other news is that on Nov. 22nd V & I went out to dinner to celebrate a year & 1/2 together & she proposed to me. Despite her not giving me a ring, I said yes. We haven't set a date yet, because our main focus is on our honeymoon which we intend to spend in Europe. Once she has the time off saved up and we have the money to go we'll figure out when the wedding will take place. We don't plan on having any big ceremony, just a small service. I haven't been telling everyone because, well, it's not that big of a deal to me. Ever since I told her I love her I've been 100% committed to our relationship, and having a child together seems like a bigger & more important commitment than a wedding ceremony. I've said all along that I'm with her no matter what, and I don't need a ceremony or a piece of paper to prove it, which is also why when she found out she was pregnant last year I told her that if she ever decided she wanted to marry me she'd have to propose. I guess making it legally official is a good thing in the event something should happen to either of us, but beyond that... I don't know. Please don't mistake what I'm saying, I'm glad we're getting married (otherwise I would've said no, right?), it's just not the major event for me that it is for most people I guess. Being legally married won't change anything for me personally, except I'll be able to call V my wife in conversations. I'm more excited about us going to Europe, which is somewhere I've always wanted to go. Best of all I'll get to see it with her by my side.