Happy Friday from Adele

It's cold here now, so we had to break out the winter-weather gear. Love these hats! (Sorry about the photo quality--I took it with Steve's camera phone!)

Okay, I have a question for all you tech-savvy readers. I really need to back up the photos on my computer, but I'm not sure how. I have several questions.

1. What's the best way to backup the photos? CD? External hard drive? Something else? Is there a particular brand or style I should look for in either case?
2. Should I also save a copy on a web-based photo site (Picasa, for instance)?
3. Ideally I'd like to dump some of them off the computer because they eat up so much memory, but I don't know if that's the smartest idea. Should I dump them once I have them backed up? (Ideally twice, which is why I was considering an external backup source (CD or drive) AND the web-based site.) Or should I leave them on my computer, dump all the terrible photos I know I don't want (because they exist--oh, yes, they do), and just buy more memory for my computer and hope THAT speeds it up?
4. Anything else I should know/do/use?

Feel free to email me directly if you can't fit your reply in comments. My email address is dburen @ gmail.com. (Without spaces, of course.)

Thanks, and Happy Friday!

18 months

Adele turned 18 months old on Friday, Nov 7. I know I say this everytime she hits a major birthday milestone, but GEEZ! How did this happen? EIGHTEEN MONTHS? Criminy.

She had her check-up that day (Nov 7) and the stats are

Height: 31.75 inches

Weight: 20 lbs, 9 ounces

Head: 18-something inches (I don't pay too much attention to this stat anymore.)

Her height is now in the 50th percentile for her ACTUAL AGE. That means she is perfectly average height for normal, full-term 18-month-old!! Holy cow. If we adjust that for her gestational age it's somewhere in the 90th percentile (I think--I don't have the chart with me now). Her weight is still on the low side, coming in around the 5th percentile for her actual age. The doctor looked back at Adele's charts and noticed the highest percentile she hit was 25th right around when she was 5 or 6 months old. The doctor isn't concerned, really, since developmentally she's fine. She doesn't think it's a nutritional deficiency or any sort of metabolic issue, so that's good. It's probably a combination of genetics, catch-up growth, and the fact that she's an on-the-go toddler. She looks healthy, though, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.

She finally sprouted her two top eye teeth, so that makes a grand total of six. Sigh. Poor kid. Someday she'll catch up in the dental department.

Here are the most recent pictures:

Because I am THE cheapest and laziest mom on the planet, Adele's "moose" Halloween costume consisted of her brown pants, inside out brown sweatshirt and "antlers" from Target. Next year I'll do better. I promise. Hey, she still looks cute, right?


Skeeter wanted in on the action.Her "Mummy Loves Me" Halloween shirt. And I posted this pic mostly because of her sweet, sweet face.
A few weeks ago, my friend Joanne and her daughter, Maggie, came over for lunch. Maggie was born 2.5 weeks before Adele. Maybe she can loan Adele some hair.
Adele and Daddy enjoy one of the last nice fall days.
The Foot Book is always a favorite.
We made a trip to Wichita last weekend to help Steve's mom with some work around the house. Here she is with Adele during our Pei Wei lunch. Mmmm!