ShatterBall!

My first iPhone/iPod Touch app is (finally) done, and it's up for sale in the iTunes App Store. It's called ShatterBall. It's fun to see my game up for sale. I'm relieved Apple accepted it the first time around. I have spent a lot of time developing it, especially the past couple of months, which meant sacrificing sleep. I suppose that will just get me back into the sleep schedule that I'll need to re-adopt when the new baby comes. In the mean time, I can finally catch up on some sleep now that it's in.

Nancee has been a great support, and Erica has been a great beta tester (even though she hasn't made it past level 1 yet.) If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, check it out! Just search for "ShatterBall" in the iTunes App Store. If you buy it ($0.99), please leave a review!

The Worst Interview Question Ever

This past weekend, Troy's sister, Sonja, and her husband, Jordan, came to visit. Jordan had an interview at a school in Mesa and they asked the following question. How you would respond?

"A dump truck pulls up to your house and dumps the biggest pile of paper clips you have ever seen in your front yard. The driver pulls away and you have no way of getting a hold of him. What do you do with all the paper clips?"

I am glad my future does not rest on such silly questions.

We were so glad to have them visit. Erica loved playing with them. We even celebrated Jordan's birthday while they were here.



As you can see, she LOVED her Uncle Jordan. We hope he gets into the school here.


We've also been prepping Erica for Christmas. She is catching on quickly and already loves to open presents. We just did a gift exchange with the neighbors and she was lucky enough to score some Dora dolls and fairy movies.

Happy December!!!

I love this time of year. It's filled with good food, seeing family and vacation from work. We spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix with my brother's family, my parents and my sister. I want to hire my sister as a nanny. She read books to Erica and put make-up on her. Erica LOVED her!!

Not the greatest picture of us, but the only one I have of Troy and me together. Notice no toddlers in the picture? We strategically planned to meal to happen during nap time. It was a wise move.

Erica enjoyed snuggling with her Grandpa Tutu.

We stayed at my dad's brother's house. He is currently working as a mall Santa. Doesn't he look realistic? Erica was convinced that he was the real Santa.

Blogging Books

I've been thinking about what I want for Christmas and I've decided to print my blog into a book. There are a ton of websites out there that claim to do this, but I turn to my fellow bloggers for real advice. Have any of you done this yet? Were you happy with the results? What companies/websites do you recommend? I would appreciate any input.

And, in other news, here are some more pictures of Erica for those who are interested:

Halloween:


Zoo Day:

It's Another Girl!!!

20 weeks:

A Child's Prayer

I just put Erica down and she said her first real prayer. I have to write it down before I forget...

Heavenly Father,

Thank you [for] dada,
Thank you [for] mama,
Thank you [for] Erica,
Thank you [pause...I point at my belly to suggest "baby". She looks at it and decides instead to say] Barney,
Thank you [for] Kayla (our dog),
Thank you [for] food,
Thank you [for] milk,
[I try ending the prayer, but she insists on the very important last line]
Thank you [for] princesses.

Dance Off: Troy versus Erica

Should I be Worried?

So, this is what Erica does when she goes to play at the neighbor's house...

Top 10...

Signs I Might be Pregnant Again:

10. I got special permission to bring snacks into the bar exam and to sit next to the bathroom.

9. When I tell Erica I am going to the bathroom, she says, "Mama, Bleh!!" to mimic my throw up sounds.

8. I could eat more food on the cruise than I ever have in my life. I've never gained a 1/2 pound a day, for 4 days in a row, before.

7. My regular clothes stopped fitting a lot sooner than the last time I was pregnant. (That could be because of number 8).

6. I no longer want to sleep in, even when I actually can, because it is too uncomfortable to lay down anymore.

5. "Rolling out of bed" has taken on a literal meaning.

4. Everything stinks.

3. I decided I like to throw up in the shower better than in the toilet.

2. What's a belly button?

1. I have an ultrasound scheduled on November 3rd to find out what we are having.

Erica Loves her Dada

October Happenings

Troy has worked almost every weekend for the last two months, but he has somehow managed to squeeze a little time in to work on the yard. His most recent project - putting in a brick border around the grass. Once that is finished, we can nail the grass into the ground. I love fake grass.


We also went on the traditional pumpkin patch adventure. It was much more fun this year, but really windy. Erica loved riding in the tractor out to the pumpkin patch and running around the apple tree orchard.


She picked out her own pumpkin and named it "Tinkerbell". She wanted to carry it around all day. This is the only picture I have of her pumpkin. Even though she is not looking, I liked the rest of the picture.



We also made it to the zoo with my cousin Melisa and her cute baby Alli. Erica was actually brave enough to feed the giraffes and touch a snake. I helped with the giraffes, but I did not want to touch the snake.



Finally, I want to know whose child this is? We come home yesterday and Erica runs to put on her high heels, crown and skirt. Then she requests princess music so that she can dance. Did I mention she is obsessed with princesses, loves to wear make-up and is very girly. I don't know where all this came from, but if you know me, you know I had nothing to do with this.

Supreme Court of Arizona Press Release

"The July 2009 Arizona bar examination was held July 28 and 29, 2009 in Tucson. There were 559 applicants, of whom 438 achieved passing scores. The overall pass rate was 78 percent...

The following individuals achieved passing scores on the July 2009 Arizona bar examination...

Nancee Phillips Tegeder; Vail, AZ"

Yeah!!!! This is a huge relief. Now, anyone need a will? (:

Cruisin'

As a combined birthday present for Troy and me, my parents offered to watch Erica for a few days. We decided to take advantage and go on our first cruise. I won't bore you with my worries about leaving Erica for 4 days (she has severe separation anxiety) because she did just fine and has already asked us to go on another cruise so she can play with her grandparents and cousin Lincoln.

We took the Carnival Elation from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.


Our room was just above water level. Here was our view. We went near a couple of tropical storms, so sometimes the waves would crash up into our windows. The rocking really got to me a lot more than I thought it would. It took about 3 days of being on land, after the cruise, before I stopped feeling that "boat rocking" feeling.


We went with our neighbors Rick and Holly. We highly recommend going with another couple. Then you can enjoy your dinner companions. And lunch. And breakfast. And all the meals in between. We had a great time traveling with them.


Speaking of food, that is pretty much all we did on the cruise. We ate non-stop from morning until night. One day, I remember going to lunch and not even being hungry, yet somehow I managed to down a calzone, a turkey wrap and some cake. Very dangerous. The food was so good though and it was nice not to have to pay for it once you were on the ship. They also made it look pretty. Here is what they did with just a couple pieces of boring fruit. Yum!!!

Troy took advantage of all the activities the boat had to offer. The waterslide (it was too windy and cold for me to get in the water, but I am a water wimp):

The mini-golf course. With 30 mph winds on the top deck, I gave up after one hole. Troy played the whole 9.

We enjoyed spending a whole day at a Mexican beach. The water was warm and beautiful.

You just have to watch out for those Mexican pirates.

Every evening when you came back to your room, housekeeping had left a new towel animal and a piece of chocolate. Just in case the 4 desserts you had at dinner were not quite enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.

We had an amazing time and it went way too fast. I'm really glad we went, but I am also very happy to be back on land. I don't think a cruise will ever be my first choice for a vacation again, but it was worth doing once. We are so grateful my parents watched Erica so we could go.

Happy Birthday Troy

Troy had his 30th birthday a few weeks ago. He celebrated by going to work!! I guess that is what you do when you are 30. We did go out to eat with Erica and we, of course, had the traditional Tegeder rainbow sprinkle cake.


I considered throwing him a party, but he said he wasn't really interested in doing that. Instead, we celebrated by going on a cruise last weekend. I will post about that later. I think Erica liked the cake more than Troy.

What's Stolen in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

After babysitting my cousin's kids, we met up with Troy in Vegas for a baby product convention. Many of you may know that my mom has been involved in the production of the Baby Banana Brush - a silicone toothbrush for babies. Troy recently helped design the Baby Banana Brush Teether. We went to the convention to help out at my mom's booth and to promote the new product.

It was awesome to see thousands of baby/toddler items in one room. I wanted to buy everything for Erica. It was a pretty successful show and our booth sold over a thousand items. We even got to put Erica on the new package. Beforehand, we did about 10 different photo shoots and thousands of pictures before we came up with something good enough to be photoshopped. This is not the final package picture, but gives you an idea.

Since Erica was with us, we would switch off in the day. Troy would go to the convention in the morning while I played with Erica and then I would work the convention in the afternoon. My brother was there with his wife and kids who did the same thing. It worked out well. Between the two of us, we got to swim, go to the shark exhibit at Mandalay Bay (thanks Wyatt) and go to the M&M chocolate factory.

One night, my mom even babysat after being at the convention all day. We really appreciated it. We took a taxi to the Luxor, grabbed a bit to eat and then went to The Bodies Exhibit. This was such a cool exhibit. I had heard a lot of great things about it and was excited to go. My favorite room was looking at all the fetuses. It is amazing how they were able to save such small fetuses, even as young as 8 weeks. Crazy.

It had been a great night, until we were getting ready to leave and my wallet was not in my bag. Everything else was there and I had my wallet when we got there because I paid for the taxi, but it was definitely not there now. We retraced our steps, checked with security, looked in trash cans, etc. Nothing. I was even allowed to walk back through through The Bodies Exhibit all alone after it closed to look for my wallet. That was very creepy to be with all these bodies, in the dark and alone. I almost didn't even want to look for my wallet.

Well, of course, nothing materialized. I lost cash, gift cards, had to cancel credit cards, lost my license, my social security card (I know, I know), insurance cards, library card, zoo card (why do I keep all of this in my wallet?). It has been a big pain. I am still in the process of replacing everything and trying to protect my identity. I hate thieves.

Jumproping

Erica Turned Two

Erica just turned two!!! Yeah!!! I am loving this age. It is seriously so much better than the newborn stage. I love that she can communicate better, she is more independent, she likes to go do things, etc. I know I am in the minority, but I love to see her grow up. Maybe I'll feel differently in a few more years. Of course, along with the good, there has come a new surge of independence and stubborness, but I like dealing with this so much better than uncontrollable or inexplicable fussing.

I spent the week of Erica's birthday watching my cousin's three kids. They are elementary school aged and I didn't have Troy with me. Thank goodness these kids are amazing and it was actually a pretty easy week. They were great with Erica and they were gone to school all day. I did gain an appreciation for this stage of my life because I still have so much flexibility with Erica. Between school, activities, music lessons and homework, these kids were busy all day long. It was a great week, but I was tired by the end. We miss these guys.




We didn't do too much for her birthday, except have a Dora cake and open a few gifts. The youngest girl helped decorate Erica's cake. If anyone knows of my struggling artistic talent (Troy will admit to this), they will know that this cake looks much better than anything I could have done.


She was a little cleaner this year in eating her cake. We definitely have a lefty.


Troy joined us online through Skype for the festivities. Notice him in the background on the computer.


She loved her Barney doll, some Hannah Montana musical instruments and chapstick from her Grandma Tutu.

Before we left on our babysitting adventure, our neighbor brought over a bagful of birthday goodies for Erica. She was very excited about the bows and Panda movie.