Canadian Zombie Babies

Two of my favorite things all rolled into one cute little 7 month old package? Yes please!

Oh hi! *waves frantically from Babyland*

So it's been a while...and um, you totally deserve an update. Because, well...I miss you guys! But I'm having so much fun with Mini Monster, the time has just flown by and now she's almost 8 months old! And it's been forever and ages since I've blogged!

So here is my fun semi-annoying probably-only-cute-to-me anecdote for the day:

Mini Monster is finally "crawling". But she looks like a zombie crawling from its grave when she does. She pulls herself along with her left elbow, belly on the floor, and then propels herself forward by slapping her right hand on the floor. Her legs are two completely lifeless lumps, dragging behind her. So it sounds kinda like this:

Swish, slap, draaaag....Swish, slap, draaaag....Swish, slap, draaaag....

All the while she's going, "eh?" "eh?" "eh?"

Hence the Canadian Zombie Baby. I can totally hear her coming from the other room even if she's not "talking".

Imagine yourself doing dishes at the sink, the baby happily playing in the living room. Or so you think. Suddenly it gets real quiet in the house. You pause, turn off the water and cock your head. Did you hear something?

Swish, slap, draaaag...

Must be your imagination. Just as you are about to turn the water back on, there it is again!

Swish, slap, draaaag...Swish, slap, draaaag...Swish, slap, draaaag...

You turn around and-

EEEEE! It's the Canadian Zombie Baby coming to munch on your feet! NOM NOM NOM!

"Eh?" she asks all sweetly while looking up at me, drool dribbling down her chin.

...Or is it blood?

Oh you can't fool me, Canadian Zombie Baby, I know what you're really here for...

"Eh?"

Anywho, I think I may be spending a little too much time with babies, talking to myself in my head.

But my days aren't filled with just Canadian Zombie Babies. I have gone back to work at the library, and am also deep in the query trenches with my current YA fantasy (having a baby kinda delays things a little). Plus I'm working on my WIP, another YA fantasy, but with more juicy bits of romance. About 35k into that. Oh and Little Monster's competition gymnastics season has started, so our days have been filled with hours of practice and traveling to meets on the weekends. Oh and she's like, 7 1/2 now which is short for Justin Bieber's GF. (I swear I wasn't into stuff like that till I was like, 20...but whatevs.)

But enough about me and my Monsters! What about you?? What have you been up to while I've been going baby and query crazy?

Aspiring Author Nightmare

So, I dreamt the other day that I got an offer of representation for my manuscript.  But after the agent offered, I realized I had plagiarized the whole thing from a fellow aspiring author!  I got so scared that that aspiring author would find out and then everyone would know it wasn't my work.  And you know how you get towards the end of the dream, on the verge of waking up, where you tell yourself it's just a dream?  Well I was there- teetering back and forth for a bit- thinking, oh it's okay, it's just a dream...whew. But then, What if it's NOT??  Omg, I just copied someone else's work!  Oh wait...just a dream...whew.  But wait...until I woke up.  And thankfully...yep, just a dream.

In other news...I have a new baby!  Mini Monster is already a month old!  Wow, how time flies..So during my sleep deprived nightly feedings, I've discovered something that keeps me occupied...twitter!  Oh man, I'm already hooked.  I've got my iphone, with my sweet breastfeeding app counting the minutes, MM eating away, and I'm scrolling through twitter, totally mesmerized.  Makes the time go by faster.  But now it's starting to get a little ridiculous- I've got it up on my computer, which is with me on the couch while I recover from my c-section.  Which by-the-way, is taking a little longer than I thought.  And I can't.stop.refreshing.the.page.  But seriously, twitter is very beneficial to aspiring authors- there is some great stuff on there from authors and agents!  Plus I can stalk keep track of the agents that have my ms...just in case they want to tweet something awesome about it *crossing fingers*.

Ooh, and I totally signed up for Sara Megibow's 10 Queries in 10 Tweets webinar on July 17.  My first agent-run webinar and I'm really excited.  Okay, totally terrified.  But whatevs.  I'll get my query critiqued by an awesome agent- how can you go wrong there?  Totally worth the money.

Not much else going on here...just you know...baby stuff.  Little Monster is over the moon in love with her baby sister, which makes me very happy.

And I'll humor you with a picture- my rule is not to show faces of my kids, but I'll make an exception this one time.  Besides, I don't really have a rule against butts...

Alright, looks like it's time for Mini Monster to eat (again) so I'll catch ya over on twitter!

Baby = Time Suck

So I know it's been like, forever, since I last posted.  I decided to take April off since I wasn't doing A-Z, and good thing too because I have been going crazy out of my mind with all this baby business.

Mini Monster will be gracing us with her presence in just one short, panic-inducing week!

And seriously guys, I totally forgot how much you have to do to get ready for a new human being to take over your house.  I have barely have time to write, let alone blog.

I have no idea where the past 9 months went- honestly I think my belly swallowed them up.  But here we are, and there is no turning back.  Little Monster is uber excited and is so hyper it's exhausting.  I thank my lucky stars every day that she's 6, almost 7, and can do her own thing while I take a nap or curl up on my bed and cry from one of the many excruciating preggo pains I've been cursed blessed with.  She is so sweet, she even rubs my back when I'm not feeling well.

Anywho, I miss you guys and hopefully I can hop around today and see how you all are doing!  Obvs my posting will be sporadic at best in the coming months.  I really won't have much to talk about anyway except poop, baby vomit, and my lack of sleep.

So cross your fingers, wish me luck and send some good vibes my way!  I'll be seeing you around!

P.S. Dude, I'm gone for a month or two and all of a sudden blogger is like, totally changed!  What do you think of the *new* blogger?

Parting Ways With Your Favorite Book

You know when you give away a book, sometimes it's like having to give away a piece of yourself?  But you know its new owner will love it just as much as you, so it doesn't hurt so much....

Little Monster and I organized her bookshelves this weekend, and I mentioned to her that she could give any of her books to Mini Monster if she wanted, but she didn't have to.  I wanted to make it clear I wasn't making her give anything away to her little sister.  I honestly didn't think she'd really pick any to give to her because she loves all her books- even her old baby ones she still makes me read to her at night before bed.

But guess what?  She picked out some of her favorite books for Mini Monster!  How sweet was that?  She did it without hesitation.  I was so proud of her especially since it would be super hard for ME to give up my favorite books!  When I loan out a book I always hesitate for a second, wondering if I'll ever see my precious friend back in my hands.  But Little Monster was happy to give them to her sister, hopeful that she'll love them just as much as she did.

Do you loan out or give away your books?  If so, is it hard to give up that part of you, or do you do it without hesitation?

Oh Baby!

I have some exciting news I finally get to share!

No, it's not an agent or book deal. (I know I know, sorry to get your hopes up!)

It's even better! (well, for me, anyway)

My tummy, which will very quickly
get in the way of my typing I'm sure

Little Monster is going to have a little sister come May!  Mini Monster (whom I have fondly dubbed her) is kicking away as I type, taking after her big sister.  I'm sure I'll be nice and bruised up under my ribs by the time she graces us with her presence.

This decision took a long time for us- Little Monster will be 7 years older than Mini Monster, but we're confident it will be a perfect match for our family.  One thing (among many others) I did think about was my writing career.  I worried that it would be delayed and would I be willing to make that sacrifice?  The answer was a big yes.  Family comes first, and I have all the time in the world to get published.  My biological clock is ticking away and I don't want to be all old and rickety chasing after a toddler just because I decided to try and get published first.

So I totally accept the fact that my writing will probably significantly slow in the next few years, but I'm happy about it.  I'll still write and blog and all that, but it may just take a bit longer than normal.  I'm definitely not giving it up- it's my passion.

We're all super excited and it makes me happy that Little Monster is so excited.  She came with us to the ultrasound and got her own picture to take to school and show everyone.  We even took her to pick out Mini Monster's going home outfit.

Okay, off to try to bang out this WIP before our lives change forever in May!

(P.S. Don't forget to enter my contest if you haven't yet!  You get a chance to win the book of your choice!  It closes on Sunday!)