The above photo was taken last week at a newborn session I did in Orlando. It's been awhile since I was able to photograph a newborn baby girl! Seems like there's a huge boy-boom in 2007.

Last Friday we got to do the final inspection / walk-through / demo of our new house. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law fly in on Thursday and we close this Friday afternoon. I cannot believe our exile in corporate apartment-hell is almost over. As the special ooey-gooey icing on top, the good Lord deemed this as the week school also starts in the Orlando metro. Which means 2012 screaming children are not 10-feet outside our bedroom window in the pool from daybreak to sunset.

I must say, I am quite intimidated by my new oven. I swear the keypad has more controls than my keyboard has keys. I'm going to be reading the manual for two hours just to boil water.

And can I just ask...what is the deal / fascination with porcelain cooktops anyway? Any time you complain about them to another one of their owners, they bitch and moan right along with you. Yet they're all you can find now.

I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter as the oven was already installed when we bought the house... But seriously. My grandmother bought one in the late 70s back when no one knew what they were. I hated cleaning them then and I hate cleaning them now. We bought all new appliances with our last house and I swear we had to look for days to find a cooktop with actual coils and drip-pans. The salesmen all thought I was crazy, as if no woman in their right mind would pass up the chance to scrape off crusty overboiled water with a razor blade and lose 30 minutes of her day buffing and polishing the oven to shine like the top of the Chrysler building. Our corporate apartment had a brand new porcelain cooktop oven when we moved in as well. Seven months of spraying Pam and cooking mac 'n' cheese have not been kind to it. Unfortunately Todd is not buying my deep-seeded need to keep my new oven in spic-n-span pristine condition and I think he's actually going to expect me to cook on it.

Expect my OCD to kick-start in 5...4...3...2...

The birthday girl will be happy to know that we are now completely and totally addicted to "Family Guy". It's our current late-night TiVo salvation. Go ahead and report us to the authorities, but sometimes we even watch it during dinner, and much to our amusement / fright, our oldest son "gets" a lot of the humor. Maybe because he is Stewie... I'm not exactly sure. But this episode aired the other night and we almost fell out of bed we were laughing so hard. Who put a hidden camera in our CR-V anyway? So of course daddy showed it to his boy the next morning and ended up having to replay it a good half-dozen times, resulting in fits of cackles and laughter each and every one of 'em.

And the "God's waiting room" line... Priceless.

Speaking of children's programming, in case you've been under a rock / mound of diapers, "Yo Gabba Gabba" premiered yesterday. I was prepared to hate it. Really I was. But I tried it. I liked it. I can't help myself. I mean, read the linked article. "Biz Markie appears regularly to teach the kids the 'Biz Beat of the Day!'...skateboarding icon Tony Hawk drops by...Mark Mothersbaugh [Devo] shows up to teach kids how to draw."

Expect me to be sporting a Brobee shirt around town soon. I'm easily impressionable and a sucker for good marketing.

Last but not least, a friend got a couple of these last week. After her review, I'm really glad I held out on forking over the cash for a Shootsac. With a birthday coming up in November, and Christmas soon to follow, my wishlist should be fairly short and simple.

Anyone want to help us move? There's free pizza involved!
-Robyn