NEW-NESS

As of yesterday, I have a new nephew (who looks just like my brother!) Yay! Love that baby already:


As of last week (but I couldn't tell anyone until now) I also have a new great-niece (yes, I am a great aunt, and have been since I got married--it still blows my mind):

Also, I have another great-niece as of February 15:

Also, another great-niece as of the end of December:


Which reminds me that I never posted about my new niece (because I was huge and pregnant when she was born, and I wasn't posting much), as of October:


And my other new nephew (no post because I was totally sick still) as of the end of April 2009:


Oh! And who could forget FLASH (great-nephew) a couple weeks older than George:



...and I'm just realizing I could get myself in real trouble because I've got more great-nieces and great-nephews that I didn't put up before, and if I continue to try to do a history, I will miss somebody...so I'm stopping now. Except to put up my cute baby in his new-ness form again:

In Other News (that we just found out about otherwise this would have been my first post this morning)...

So, my dad helped ring (I guess this is done by clapping over and over) the NYSE opening bell this morning. He's kind of cool like that.

From the NYSE website:
"IHOP (NYSE-Listed DIN) visits the NYSE to celebrate National Pancake Day. In honor of the occasion, IHOP President Jean Birch, joined by Scott Burt, President and CEO of Children’s Miracle Network, ring The Opening Bell^SM."

You know how else he is kind of cool? He didn't tell anybody until AFTER. How are we supposed to know when he is going to do these kinds of things? The reason I say this is because this isn't the first time he had some exciting thing going on and we didn't find out until right before or right after...sheesh.

Of course, we as his family get way more excited than he does about any of the cool things he gets to do. I LOVE this about him. My level-headed, humble dad.

Still. The New York Stock Exchange, Dad. Come on! We want to know.

At least Part-Time Politician wants to know. He kind of has a man crush on Wall Street and everything and everybody associated with it.

Maybe Dad will bring him back a souvenir.

P.S. It was free pancakes at IHOP today, plus people had the opportunity to donate to CMN. I like the Butter Pecan syrup best...


Oh--and here is the rest of the article from the NYSE website:

NATIONAL PANCAKE DAY 2010
This year’s event will mark IHOP’s fifth year celebrating National Pancake Day and the company is flipping for its “five in five” goal to bring the total amount of monies raised for local charities to $5 million in five years. Once again, IHOP has partnered with Children’s Miracle Network and will give away a free short stack of its signature buttermilk pancakes to each guest on February 23 from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. In return, IHOP asks that guests consider making a donation to Children’s Miracle Network, a non-profit dedicated to improving children's hospitals nationwide, or other local charities. More than 1,400 IHOP restaurants throughout the United States will again participate in the free pancake fundraiser with a goal to raise $1.75 million for Children’s Miracle Network and other charities. Offering guests another way to show their support of Children’s Miracle Network and contribute to the National Pancake Day fundraising effort, “Miracle Balloons”, which can be personalized and displayed at participating IHOP restaurants, will be sold for $1and $5 each from February 1 through February 23, 2010.

About the Name

So Big Brother, who is 8, wanted to name our baby something extremely awesome: George Washington. Really, who wouldn't want to be named "George Washington," after one of the coolest people of all time?

The reason this name even came up is the fact that I have an ancestor named George Washington Taggart (whose parents, George Washington Taggart and I Can't Remember, also knew about the cool-ness of being named after the good President).

Big Brother thought it would be perfect on both counts--after an amazing ancestor (who GW Taggart truly was) AND an amazing President! He lobbied and lobbied for the name. He told other people of his wishes and told them that his parents weren't listening to him, and that we didn't believe he was serious (actually, we DID believe he was serious...).

We had a few reservations (besides the obvious).

One of which was that if the whole name, "George Washington," is not used when written, it may be written "George W." We did not wish people to think that he was named after "President Before Obama-Care." Not that we want to get into political talk on this blog--that is for PTP's blog which can be found HERE. I'm just saying that for various reasons, we didn't want our baby's name origin to be linked to anyone but GW Taggart or GWashington himself.

But now that we have named him something other than George Washington, two things have happened:
1) He still gets called "George."
2) I'm starting to think Big Brother may have been right--Seriously, when you can be called "Gee Dub?" Who wouldn't want the name? Yeah!

There is nothing cuter

than the back of a sleeping baby's tiny head.

...except for maybe the front of a sleeping baby's tiny head.

Now that George is no longer being a "hard" baby, I will (hopefully) be able to catch up and post some older photos/events. The above pics are from when he was a month old.

New Post

I need something on here so that we don't all have to keep looking at my hair over and over again.

Apparently,

I now have a bunch of "hair followers." Because of this, I have been encouraged by multiple people to place the "new 'do" on the blog.

By the time all of the comments, emails, and calls came in, the vote (not that I was calling for one, but you know how humans are) was more split than I thought it was going to be. It was about 1/3 for keeping the hairstyle, and 2/3 for changing it. I couldn't believe that some people liked it on me.

Here is the weird thing: I watched the Miss America pageant, and guess what? NUMEROUS girls had my weird "C" haircut. WHAT? Little did I know, the look was coming back. (Brooke: hat's off to you for knowing this before I did-you fashionista, you. No wonder you always look like a million bucks.)

The main difference between these girls and me was that their hair is a lot longer. The length makes a huge difference, in my mind. The cut didn't look as strange on them. The other difference between them and me? They are all young, and have non-wrinkly faces. Oh, and they don't have "mommy bodies." ...And they all own evening gowns. O.K., so there are many, many differences. Whatever.

Alright, enough stalling! Drumroll please...

Can I just mention that Photobooth takes the most flattering pictures! If there is a wrinkle, blemish, spot, or weird angle to be seen, Photobooth will be sure to enhance those features for you. I'm beginning to think Photobooth was a huge part of my hair problem...

One more thing. It feels strange, sitting in my house, taking photos of myself.

Here is the new cut. (And if I happen to look drunk or weird in the photos, and also really, really old, what can I say? I'm totally sleep deprived these days...not that that explains the old-ness):

Still wet...


Dry with a clippie: