Weekend

We had a fun quiet weekend, I got a chance to sleep in and stay up late which always helps make me feel like myself, and both Joel and I had some alone – out of the house – time, going to a movie. On Saturday I snuck away for about 3-4 hours and went to Bay Street. I had a slice of Pizza, and a mint shake browsed a few shops and then caught an afternoon showing of twilight. I got to the movie in time to catch the end of the twenty and see about 6 glorious previews and then enjoyed my movie.





I have mixed feelings about twilight. I loved the book, it was amazing, and it is always hard to capture that same feeling in a movie, they had to compress so much it was worse then trying to read cliff notes, it took me many hours, to read that book and it was pressed into 2. A scene at the Cullen’s house had to capture the 20 times she visited, and a few second shot in the lunch room covered days of her observing the Cullens. In some ways it was good I had read the book so a throw away scene like when they are in the restaurant, sparked my memory of all the intrigue and internal monologue of the main character from the book and made the scene richer, but then other scenes like when she was at the beach with Jacob, just didn’t live up to the rich detail of what was supposed to be happening, they of course had to change mold and compress everything and in all honesty it left me wanting more.





There were 4 books, and I certainly felt like this was only ¼ of the story, I could have sat there for many more hours watching more, but I suppose I will have to wait, I hope they are making more movies. The characters looked different then they did in my mind when I read the book, but I didn’t mind so much and the movie character’s grew on me after a while, I was disappointed with the Cullen’s house, and the scene when Edwards steps into the sun in “his” meadow, was just not as miraculous as it was in the book, but over all I had a wonderful time. I had been reading your blogs about wanting and needing some alone / me time, and this was my chance to get just that and I enjoyed it.



While Joel was babysitting he had a great time, Holly woke from a nap about 45 minutes after I left and she was so full of energy, she was happy and active and crawling all over the house, Joel actually let her get from the living room all the way to the hallway. When I got home she was sitting over by the dining room table in front of the mirror looking at herself, frustrated that the baby in the mirror would not come out and play, she had been distracted from her trip to the hallway by the mirror so turned back to see it again.




Joel said he had taken her into the office to see what she would do, and she got scared and upset and didn’t want to explore at all, the surroundings were too unfamiliar. She also discovered her toy box and spent a good deal of time climbing into it, choosing a toy taking it out, playing with it and then discarding it for the next toy, she dug down into the bottom and even struggled trying to get some toys, first she got easy ones on top, then she had to pull herself up to reach more, then finally she had to tip over the toy box to get some. This was where Joel had to help her, she would tip over the box, see the toy she wanted and then reach out and grab it, but with one hand she wasn’t strong enough to keep the toy bin tipped and it would fall down and she tried over and over, she is a stubborn and determined little girl. So finally Joel felt bad for her and one time when she tipped it up he put his hand under to keep it there so when she reached for the toy it wouldn’t fall back, she was hesitant, but got it and was so excited and pleased with herself.



They had a great time. The today, Sunday Joel went out to a movie with a friend of ours; he saw the latest Charlie Kaufman flick, Synecdoche, New York which has Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Katherine Keener in it. He had read the script and really wanted to see the film, in particular he was very curious how some of the scenes her read would actually be done on film, and he really enjoyed it.

Today we ate most of the rest of the leftovers, well at least the side dishes are gone and we made for lunch some Yummy turkey, apple, craisin Curry, and then for dinner Joel made me my Mom’s turkey Casserole, which I ate while he was at the movie, and plan to have for lunch tomorrow and later in the week. We had some more dark meat and 1 leg left which I am sure Joel will eat or maybe use in a stew. The casserole was very Yummy. I also had some pecan pie.



So the good news is we have finally had some success with Holly eating fresh food. Yesterday Joel made a Squash and he took ¼ of it and put it in the blender with some water and pureed it. It was bright orange but very smooth. Holly didn’t like it, she still stuck out her tongue when she ate it and didn’t open wide, but she didn’t puke. And I fed it to her twice yesterday and twice today and have a teeny bit left for breakfast tomorrow. He made a large container full, and she normally eats about ½ a container a sitting, so yesterday we gave it to her with some Gerber Squash, as in I gave her a few bites of the Gerber, then a few bites of the Fresh, then a few more of the Gerber. I didn’t want to force it and I wanted to take it slow. She finished the Gerber container, so today I gave her some Apple Cherry which was a new flavor for her but she liked it. By the time I fed her this evening, she still wasn’t opening her mouth for a spoon full, but she wasn’t sticking her tongue out anymore and I think she was getting used to the strong flavor of the fresh food. So there is a little left for her to finish tomorrow, and I think Joel will be making some sweet potatoes for himself for dinner, so I plan on having him blend some of that for her too, and will try that next. I was thinking about to when we first tried the Gerber, and she spit it out, and gagged and puked and didn’t like it either, and now on occasion she opens up wide for a bite, so it just takes time when something is very different for her to get used to. We also have ½ a bag of the uncooked Green Beans, so I might suggest Joel try those again in the blender but I am not sure if they really are conducive to him making a puree out of them, so we will see. But baby steps, I am happy with the progress.

Holly was pretty cranky today, but she is a trooper and trys to stay in good spirits. She has 4 teeth cutting and is not happy about it, she is in pain and really gnawing on everything. I gave her some Motrin last night and a Highland teething tablet, and this afternoon I gave her another dose of Motrin. She slept in late till 10:30 and fell asleep early at 9:30 and then woke up crying about 11:30 but I was able to rock her to sleep. I am hoping they finish breaking through in the next 9 days so she isn’t still teething when we fly to Florida. We read a bunch of books today, I pulled out the Alphabet Animal texture book which she loves, and she has a Color Book that her Nana gave her that she really likes it is very interactive and has little doors and windows you can turn on each page to reveal something underneath and she really likes doing this. She has also been reading her “Holly” book which has pictures of many of her family members in it, and she likes to turn the pages and look at the pictures. It is amazing. Sometimes she will bring a book to me and then I will read it to her and she will turn the pages. Her favorite book is a sea creature book where there is a sea creature in black and white on the right page and you have to pull it out to reveal what color it is, she likes this book a lot.




Overall we had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday, Joel was especially happy because he is such a homebody and we were not traveling and he got to lounge around the house and he had is two favorite girls with him. He said he missed me while I was at the movie, and then he said he missed Holly while he was at his movie, it was cute. I have to admit, I missed them a little bit too, but not enough to not go again if the opportunity arises. Well that was our weekend, I am now off to finish doing the bills so I can mail them off in the morning.

Lazy Day

Today was a lazy post-Thanksgiving day. I slept all morning which was really nice, Holly did too a lot of it at least. Last night It was 11 before she got to bed, so although she woke up at 8:00 this morning, it was only long enough to eat and then she went back to bed till 10:30. Joel played with her, but then she took another nap at 12:30 till 2:00. Joel made me some yummy eggs and tofu bacon for breakfast. Joel made himself a turkey omelet.

This afternoon we tried the green beans again, this time I first gave her some Gerber Organic Green Beans, and then after a few bites and establishing that she liked them and was eating them I took a second bowl and put one spoon of fresh grinder green beans with like 3-4 large spoons of the Gerber and mixed it up and gave them to Holly.

Not unlike yesterday she made a face stuck her tongue out at me and tried to claw them off of her tongue… She somehow could tell. We think it has to do with the texture, but can’t be sure. We took the fresh green beans and the rest of the Gerber ones and blended them in the blender to make a puree. It didn’t look super smooth, but I put it in the fridge to try again tomorrow. I did feed Holly about ½ a container of the green beans before mixing them, so we will see. Tomorrow we are also going to make some pureed squash in the blender and see how that goes.

Later we decided to take a walk to the park. Holly ended up being much sleepier then we realized but she stayed awake and was ready to swing and even went down the slide. But we only stayed a few more minutes and then headed home. She was asleep before we got to the house. She took a long nap and I worked on paperwork and bills, thought I didn’t get as far as I would have liked.

She woke up by 7:00 and we played at some yummy turkey dinner leftovers, read some stories, crawled around and climbed a lot and then around 10:30 Holly went to bed.

Don’t forget to check out Flickr for more pictures of Holly that I posted.
So that was our lazy day. Here is Holly on the slide.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a very fun day. Mommy got to sleep in until about 11 and Daddy started the cooking. Holly enjoyed keping him company in her exercaucer, watching his every move. First he made very yummy orange cranberry muffins. This made a delicious breakfast. They came out of the oven just in time to serve to Dave and Tracey and Lucian who arrived for an afternoon visit around 1:30. We had a very fun playdate. Dave kept Joel company in the kitchen while he got the turkey into the oven, and prepped for other side dishes.

Tracey and I played with Lucian and Holly in the living room. Lucian is getting really close to sitting, he is propping himself up, but is so mellow and relaxed he doesn’t quite know when he is tipping yet. Holly and Lucian were sitting facing each other and Holly kept trying to reach towards him, I think she wanted to get his face or hair to give him a kiss. Every time she would reach up towards him we would sit her back down and not let her get to his face, and tell her to be gental, but she was being quite determined and stubborn and kept trying over and over until she got frustrated. She gave me a look like Mommy, why won’t you let me play with my teddy bear.

It was quite cute. After a while she gave up and continued to play and Lucian watched her very intrigued. When the boys were done in the kitchen they came into the living room to join us, and we watched David play Spore on the big screen TV, which was fun. Holly crawled around the floor, astonishing them with her mobility, and Lucian played in my lap and on the carpet. I was mean and had him do tummy time for a few minutes but he was getting tired and wanted his Mommy, who then fed him.

After David and Tracey left Holly went down for a nap and Joel finished cooking Dinner. I helped him load a load of dishes and straighten up the kitchen, he made some green beans. First steaming them, then he took his out early and sautéed them with garlic, spices and a tomato, He let Holly’s green beans steam longer and them put them in the baby food grinder to mush them up for Holly. We had Jellied Cranberries from the can, and Joel made some mashed potatoes and stuffing with golden raisins and craisins. He also made some biscuits.

So I decided that it was just about time for us to eat so I should give Holly her Thanksgiving Dinner. She had her bottle an hour earlier and it was just 7:00 which is about when I give her baby food usually. We started with the Green Beans, I gave her a spoonful and then her face changed, she stuck her tongue out gave me the stick eye and tried to claw the green beans off her tongue. She did not like. I tried a second bit and she got mad and spit them out on me. So I decided to try something sweet and gave her a bite of cranberry sauce, she didn’t really like that either making faces, or pushing it out of her mouth with her tongue.

I tried a few more bites but she wasn’t pleased. This was about the time that Joel finished the mashed potatoes and he brought me a Holly sized dish of those. I gave her a bit and these were rather sticky and stuck to the roof of her mouth, she was fed up by this time, and puked up all her food, including the bottle from an hour earlier.. Then proceeded to laugh and slap the puddle of milk while I tried to hold and contain her hands while Joel got a towel. No Success…..

So Once I got her changed and cleaned up I decided I would not be deterred and I would let her try the Turkey and Gravy Gerber Dinner we got, I figured this is baby food, and the other food was “real” food so she should like this. I personally thought it smelled awful and I think she agreed, one bite and she gave me that very unhappy face again, I didn’t push it. I instead gave her some organic Gerber squash, which I knew she liked and she ate half the container. So the score is 1 Gerber 0 food grinder. I saved the green beans to give her the next day mixed with Gerber green beans.

Our dinner was amazing, Joel took the turkey out of the oven and went to carve it and the entire breast simply slid off the bone, it took him less then 10 minutes with all the meat sliding off to get every last morsel, leaving completely cleaned bones.. He was shocked and amazed. We also had some corn on the cob and biscuits.

Holly really wanted to eat my food, even though when I gave her some she didn’t like it, so I let her try a bite of stuffing, and she stole the biscuit off my plate so I let her gnaw on that too. Most of Dinner she was in her bouncer seat but I eat slow and after about 20 minutes she wanted to be with us at the table. Dinner was delicious.

We rested then, hung out and played and tried to take a little nap. Joel was wonderful, cleaning up the kitchen and making me a pecan pie while Holly and I were napping in my bed. She never actually did fall asleep, we played most of the time, and when the pie was done Joel read her a story fed her and put her to bed. She was up much later then her bedtime, it was about 11:00 before she stayed in bed, twice her tried to put her down and she was too riled up and got upset, but she was tired. Once she was asleep I had some yummy pie with Cool Whip.

It was a great Thanksgiving.

All By Myself!

All By Myself!
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

On Tuesday Holly had her 8 month Pediatrician Visit. Her Doctor was thrilled with her. She was a little show off though. I told the Doc she is crawling, and she couldn’t believe it, and asked if I thought I could get her to do it. So I sat her down on one end of the table and held out some toys keys and shook. She lounged forward and easy as pie crawled the entire length of the table in a traditional hands and knees style. Until then I had only really seen 2-3 steps then rest n sit or rotate of scoot, but no, she took like 10-15 steps easy and then when there was no where left to go, I handed her the keys her reward and she was pleased with herself.

Sadly she had to get two shots and was not please with that. We also were supposed to do a urine test and we didn’t have any, so the Doc showed me these little bags that “stick” onto her over her girly parts and there is a bag to catch the urine and it tucks back into the diaper. So the Doctor stuck it on her in hopes that she would pee herself when she cried from the shots, or after I fed her a bottle to sooth her. She however was super dry and didn’t pee at all. I thought I would leave the bag on and capture the pee, but then my mom told me it had to be fresh and it was 5:00 when we left the office,

I guess I thought I could bring it back the next day. So I forgot to take the bag off when we got to tumble and tea and she peed, but the bag didn’t work for “sh*t” it basically blocked the diaper from absorbing any of her pee, but stayed dry inside and leaked all over her cute outfit and the outside of the diaper. I was not pleased. So I peeled it off and today her girly parts are all red looking. I put some burts butt cream on her, but then she had a blow out poopie diaper (its all that damn solid food she is eating now) she can’t be contained and it stuck to the cream, so it was really hard to clean off, which of course happened at the super market.. Oh Joy!

So anyways, back to yesterday… the leaking episode was also while we were out playing at tumble and tea. There were 4 babies there Mia, 13 months, Lioma 12 months, Kira 11 Months, and TJ 10 Months. Mia and Lioma were good walkers. Kira was just learning and she was as cute as all get out, she walked with her hands reached out in front of her and like a little waddler and was still unsteady so she would trip over blocks, and well Holly… She was the littlest of them all. TJ was rather Mellow, he could crawl and I think Cruise, but he just sat and hung out. So basically lil ole holly was getting trampled on. One little girl was holding a toy in front of Holly, who thought she was handing it to her, so she grabbed it. The she looked at her and grabbed it back. It was quite cute, and I guess payback for the other day when Holly was bullying the Non-Mobile babies taking their toys.

TJ and Holly were playing with these blow up balls one was like twice the size of her head and the other was almost as big as her. They were slightly deflated so TJ who was a little more coordinated could hold them in one hand, his hands were big, so then he takes the ball from Holly’s lap and raises it above his head (it was as big as him) it was the most adorable thing every. So she then takes that as an opportunity to grab the other smaller ball that he had been playing with, so then he starts to fuss and cry and get upset and puts the big one down, so she drops the small one and he takes it back and is happy. Ahhh…. To be a baby.. the DRAMA :-)


Holly was very cute and then she crawled over towards me pulled herself up and stretched out her arms, so I picked her up and made her a bottle and she fell fast asleep in my arms. I guess the shots and all the excitement wiped her out. She stayed fast asleep as I gathered all my things and got her all strapped into the carseat. I had Joel take the carried upstairs and she slept another hour before I thought I should wake her, worrying that she would be up to midnight otherwise. She woke up ate and played some more.. She was restless in her sleep, the Doctor says she has 4.. yes you heard me right FOUR upper teeth about to break through, so she has been teething, and with the shots was a little cranky and sore, so we gave her some Motrin in her goodnight bottle and she slept, well like a baby until 8 this morning.

Mommy on the other hand was up way too late working on a project, I have been a little bummed out and blah, I think missing Joel and my family, so that always makes me not sleep, so I was so so so so tired this morning, I convinced Holly to go back to sleep with me so I didn’t have to get out of bed, she played for like 30 minutes and then fell asleep for another 90, so we woke up in time for Sally to come by for Holly’s PT Session.

She was still pretty cranky even though she was changed, had just had a poopie… And remember I said she had a blow out at the supermarket, total surprise since she already had one that afternoon, and she had napped, so she had NO reason to be cranky.. but she was. We went through her H.E.L.P sheets, checking off which skills she can / can not do, and basically she can’t do most of the ones in prone, because she is not extending her neck. I asked if she would be more motivated later to extend her neck because it would make things like walking, crawling climbing easier, but Sally doesn’t think so, she says we just need to work on relaxing and loosening the tight back muscles and strengthening the week ones. She thinks she might have some sensitivity, as she starts to whine and whimper as soon as you touch her shoulders and doesn’t let you get in there. I wish there was something more I could do, I am going to try and do more baby massage I know I don’t do it enough, but she doesn’t really like it and I don’t want to force it, but perhaps with limits even 5 minutes a day is better then nothing. She just makes life harder on herself, because she is capable of moving her neck and head back, she just doesn’t.

After Sally she took a nap and we ate some more prunes, she is a little behind on the eating, but we have increased to twice a day, but she still only eats about ½ of a medium container, or like most but not all of a small container. The Doc said to give her scrambled eggs and yogurt, so we may try that this weekend, I got YoBaby, because I couldn’t bear to get that huge tub of “plain” yogurt knowing she will never eat it all and we won’t use it.

After her prunes we picked up daddy to get the veggie box then dropped him off went to bext buy to get 2 spindles of 50 DVD-/+R for 9.99$ each. (I have 145 gigs of movies and tv to burn for my sister) and then to the supermarket. Because of the rain and it being the day before Thanks Giving it was a mad house.. First I had the Diaper, then I couldn’t find anything, I think this is because they were trying to make it easier and had things all in “Special” displays at the front of the store, but I used a different entrance and didn’t see that, and nothing was where it normally is in the isles. Then ½ through she got hungry and we had to stop for a bottle, I finally got into the car and on the road by 7:15, Joel was already home. Holly was clingy tonight and we tried to put her down to sleep twice in the crib, once in the swing, but she just wanted her momma, who wanted her dinner, but Holly won and I held her in my lap until she fell asleep, I was able to reach over her and finish eating and by 10:30 We transferred her into the crib.

Joel is going to make me get up early tomorrow to watch Holly while he cooks, I just know it so I better go to bed.. ohhh darnn, after I pump that is.. Which the Pediatrician told me to stop doing, so I am transitioning away from it over the next two weeks so I will be done by the 10th when I go to Florida, the pediatrician said she only wanted me to breast feed till 4 months, was thrilled that I made it to 6 months, and that I don’t need to torture myself and continue.. She holly never latched very well, so after 9 weeks of drama and horrible breast feeding and tantrums and hours on the boob, We stopped and I have been pumping and giving her breast milk through the bottle, it works, is easy and quick and I was giving her first 2/3 then ½ not its like 1/3 of the food she eats, but she eats more and I make less, so nowadays getting only 4-6 ounces a day, it hardly seems worth it, so I am stopping.. I am not looking forward to getting my period again though.. I have this horrific image of getting my period, and Holly’s teeth breaking through on the plane to Florida, I know that will be just my luck.

Whose Teaching Who?

Wordless Wednesday

People Are People

I found this Meme over @ Paula’s Place: http://paulafasciano.blogspot.com/ and decided to commandeer it for myself. I thought her post was so spot-on and funny I simply could not resist giving it a try.

I only have 1083 songs on my iPod....

Which is sad, because it can hold over 20,000 (it’s the 60 gig one).

I have 8269 on My computer, but I am afraid to sync it with my IPOD, for fear that “my” music will become diluted with Holly and Joel music..

By my answers, you'll see how varied my music tastes are!

1. Put your music on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

4. Tag ** friends who might enjoy doing the meme

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?

“Why Don’t You See Me” Concrete Blonde

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

“Desperado” Eagles

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

“Mission Impossible” U2 - Cover

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

“Alive” Pearl Jam

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE??

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” Less Then Jake – Punk Cover

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

“Sad But True” Metallica

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

“Paint It Black” God – Punk Cover

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

“Rio” Duran Duran

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

“99 Red Balloons” Goldfinger – Punk Cover

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

“American Pie” Don McLean

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

“Goodbye to Love” Carpenters

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

“Freebird” Phish - Cover

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

“Uptown Girl” Billy Joel

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

“I Don’t Want To Close My Eyes” Aerosmith

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

“Not Falling” Mudvayne

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Calling All Angels” Train

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” Vandals – Punk Cover

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

“Eleanor Rigby” Joan Baez - Cover

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

“Music” Madonna – House Remix

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?

“Particle Man” They Might Be Giants

HOW WILL YOU DIE?

“Radar Love” Golden Earring

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?

“Mrs. Robinson” Pennywise – Punk Cover

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

“Complicated” Avril Lavigne

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?

“I Can See Clearly Now” Screeching Weasel – Punk Cover

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?

“The Reason” Hoobastank

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?

“The Times They Are A Changing” The Byrds

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?

“Riders On The Storm” The Doors

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

“California Dreaming” Hi Standard – Punk Cover

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?

“Day Dream Believer” The Monkeys

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

“People Are People” Depeche Mode

Manic Monday

Today was a busy day. We had a fun morning and Holly took a quick nap, then Katie came over. Holly was super energetic and she wanted to walk. Katie doesn’t like her new adaptive way of crawling / scooting, as she thinks it is important to get the left right sway and back and forth for her to actually be able to learn to walk, so she was holding her ankle down and when Holly tried to bring it up and scoot it would keep her on all fours. She found this very frustrating, but did end up crawling a few more steps in the regular way.

Holly can be very motivated by trying to get something she wants, today she wanted to play with Katie’s watch so Katie took it off and put it down across the floor and low and behold she tried to crawl over to it. Then she wanted to get her to climb over her leg, because by climbing over it she would have to keep her knees down, she was getting very mad, she would look at me and pout then turn to the watch then turn to me then squeal and slap her hand beginning to crawl get mad and then sit down again, not being able to climb over her leg. Her stubbornness was very adorable, we helped her twice get over the leg and hope she will eventually be able to learn to climb. We let her get the watch but then took her away before she could eat it.

After our session with Katie we had some Bananas and I attempted to get her to nap, she ate the entire container. I then had to drive into the city, so she did fall asleep on the way. I was meeting with David to pick up the free ILM Turkey. It is like a 22 pounder and organic, the value is around 80$ he was told, we are very excited to have it, and it will feed us for a week. They don’t have a freezer or fridge big enough to store it, and Tracey is going out of town the day after Thanksgiving so they offered it to us.

There is a Starbuck in the Presidio where he works so after I met with him I met with Tracey and Lucian at the Café and we hung out for a while. Lucian is getting so big, he is more awake, expressive, and active every time I see him. He is still self contained and mellow however, unlike Holly who can’t sit still. By now she had woken up and wanted to “run around” They had some cushy chairs sitting on a carpet, so I let her play on the carpet with some of her toys. She kept trying to pull up on my legs, and then crawl across the room and pull up on Tracey’s Stroller.

I had fun playing with Lucian, though I think Holly got jealous of my diverted attention, it is easier when I can put them both on the floor, rather than hold him and have her on the floor, I wanted to give Tracey a chance to eat lunch / dinner. We had a fun chat talking about her trip and strollers and car seats and out babies growing up.

I left at 6:00 ish to try and get home for a free screening, the GPS said I would be home at 6:40 but the Downtown San Francisco traffic was so bad that I lost 27 minutes, and rushed to pick up Joel and drop him, Holly and the Turkey off at home. Then I rushed over to the movie.

It was “The Secret Life of bees” with Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah, and it was an amazing film, I highly recommend it. Of course the ending made me cry! From IMDB:

Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping.

Tonight, Holly didn’t seem to want to go to sleep and she stayed up until 11:45, We tried to put her to bed once, but she found something to play with. I am not sure why she was up so late, she did nap the entire way home, so that would be three naps today each at least an hour, some days she only has 2, but she does have three on other days. Regardless she was a bolt of energy playing and crawling and laughing she was so giddy, but Joel with his Magic touch finally got her to sleep.

Holly Plays

On a typical day we do many activities, read stories, take walks, go to the park, playdates, bouncy time, language time, and open play time. We used to have a huge quilt on the floor where Holly would play, we have upgraded to a carpet it has a big bolster and other pillows around the floor to try and contain her, but she gets more and more active every day.

She has a new toybox where I have hidden most of her toys, but I rotate them out when she gets bored with the ones she has. I have a few various sized bins where they are, and she likes to chew on many of them. I think its about time I start thinking about upgrading to toys that are more interactive, There are a bunch at Oma’s house that we can try out when we go to Florida to see which she likes, and she has some like a stacking tube and a sorting elephant and piano. These two video’s are of Holly hanging out in playland, exploring some toys, crawling over to Mommy on the couch.

It is just before her nap and she is starting to get a little cranky towards the end and wants to climb up on me and be picked up, but it gives you an idea of a typical day in the life of baby Holly. They are a little long, but I think the grandparents will enjoy them.

PT 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxwVqrWIGMQ
PT2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRyLxFgKces

Climbing Cushion

Climbing Cushion
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Not much to report today. I was up last night way too late.. till like 5am, I just had a lot to do:

1. Made this Cushion Cover, it took about 3 hours. I was very happy with it. By this time it was 2:20 am

2. Had to pump, I am thinking of stoping, Holly is 8+ months old, and it seems like a hassle to bring the equiptment to Florida in December, she will be 9 months when we go. I planned on Breast feeding until she is 1 years old, but I did do it all the way up until 8 months... so I don't know, should I stop or should I keep doing it. Then it was 3:30

3. My network drive has been broken since we went to Virginia, it has like 650 gigs of data, music, movies, tv, photos, ect. Including like 145gigs of movies and tv I planned on burning and sending to my sister in Azerbaijan. I got it to turn blue but could not see it on the network. Last night I finally got it to work. YEAH my data is all there so today we set up the External hard drive from Costco and I am slowly transfering all of the data there, then this week I will slowly start burning CD's. Thinks like the first Season of The Muppet Show, or Kitchen Nightmare. Wow... now it was 5:00 so I went to bed.

So this morning Joel got up with Holly and he said it was like Christmas Morning she was so excited to see this foam climbing block. She was sqealing with Glee and began to climb all over it, they had a very fun morning. She she took a nap at 10:30 and Joel worked on a Script for a contest he is in. It is round 2. He got first place in round 1 a few weeks ago, and I woke up at 1:00.

We hung out in the afternoon, and in the late day we walked to the park and went swimming. Holly was exahusted and went to bed at 9:00.

That was our day, not much to report, just hanging around the house and playing with Holly.

Holly & Tatum

Holly & Tatum
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Here is a little video of Holly Playing with Tatum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd-wFM5w62E

Play All Day!

On Friday we had plans to go swimming with Tracey and Lucian, we had a quiet morning so we could save up our energy. I had put Holly down for a nap at 2:00 but it was more like 3;05 when she fell asleep, I was luckily able to transfer her down into the car and car seat without waking her and planned to let her sleep until the last possible minute. We arrived and were all waiting to get in chatting, Taggard and Isla where there also, and then after a few other mom’s arrive we notice there is a sign on the door saying it is closed.

Well several of us had been here last week when it was closed and we were all told there would be class today, so we were quite upset and not ready to leave. We decide to call the aquatics program, by this time there are maybe 15 parents, and we find out there was a football game. Well we don’t understand what that has to do with swim class, when the parking lot seems void of any students so we continue to protest and the Aquatics Director says she will come talk with us. By the time she arrives there is a mob of about 30 angry moms. Apparently the High School uses the locker rooms on game day, but we are all woman we protest, well the away team uses the girl’s locker room, well the game doesn’t start until 7:30 we continue, well it was the decision of the High School Athletic Director.. OK so on the phone we are again calling him to complain.

In the end, we all left and didn’t get to use the pool. It turns out that the team won all of their games and made the playoffs, so this was an added game and no one new until Tuesday that there would be a game. We were still unclear why a game in the evening would prevent us from using the pool earlier in the day, some of us lingered until after 4:00 and there still didn’t seem to be much of a crowd, and we would have been happy to swim without the use of the locker room, but for that day it was too late. Several of us left messages for the Athletics Director, as he didn’t answer his phone, and the Aquatics Director took down all of our names, phone numbers and email addresses and said she would let us know by email in the future if there were other classes cancelled.

We were disappointed. I asked Tracey if she wanted to go to Tumble and Tea to play, but she was worried about traffic getting back into the city and didn’t stay. So Holly and I headed over on our own. By this time she had woken from her nap and since I never woke her to swim she had been sleeping over an hour, and she was full of energy and ready to play.

I dropped her off onto the play mat and got myself strawberry lemonade and she was happily crawling and climbing around. She made a bunch of friends right away. First was will, a 9 month old who was hanging out with her. After he left she played by herself for a bit and then she was adopted by Tatum, her new “Older Sister” Tatum advised me she had lots of practice taking care of babies because her little brother was now 2, but he isn’t as much fun as a baby anymore. Tatum played with Holly for quite a while, she would bring her toys from all over the café, and line them up for her, help her climb and sit her up when she fell, and she would also show her how to work the toys and got down on the ground and played with her. It was quite adorable, and gave me a chance to flip through my magazine.

Holly is getting really good at the toy that has 5 creatures, and 5 “knobs” you flip a switch, push a button, turn the dial, and the creatures pop open. When we last played with this Holly basically chewed on it and tried to hit the creatures. Now, I opened each one and she was able to close them, as a matter of fact she was pretty obsessed with this. Tatum would show her how to “open” them by flipping a switch or turning the dial, this was a little advance for her, although she would do this occasionally, however every time they were all opened she would go down the line and shut them all. Much more advanced from last week when she was playing with it.

After Tatum left, Henry came to play. He was born on March 5th 5 weeks early; he had jaundice and dropped weight down to 4lb 6oz. So now he is 7 days older then Holly and he weighted a whopping 20lb 9oz. I couldn’t believe it. He was very big. But like Will he did not crawl or stand yet. So he sat playing with toys, and Holly was a bit of a bully, he would pick up and play with a cube and then she would climb over to him and take it. He didn’t mind and once she had it she gave it back to him, she thought it was a game like every toy he picked up he was handing to her, I mean, that’s what Tatum was doing right…

Henry’s mom was encouraging her, as apparently he just started daycare at a home center and he is afraid of the other children and cries all day not eating or napping. He is the youngest there, the next oldest is 11 months and then 2 years old, so I can see why without other kids his same age the older kids can be scary. He seemed to really like holly, perhaps because his mom was nearby eating her dinner, or maybe just because Holly was technically littler then him, even if she was the one climbing all over him. Once, when she was being particularly boorish and on top of him he started tapping her in the head, not hard, and not different from what she was doing to herself a month ago, but she did not like that. Good for Henry to stand up for himself, she back away and sat looking at him and let him keep his toy, and then gave me the pouting face and cried. I of course picked her right up, gave her a kiss and she was as good as new trying to play with Henry some more.



We hung out until about 6:30 and then picked up daddy. When we got home we ate some more sweet potatoes and this time with rice cereal mixed in, which I forgot to mention she also had for lunch, she ate about 2/3 of the container and I am trying to feed her twice a day now when I can, once around noonish and then again around 7:00 ish when Joel gets home. She didn’t like it as much with the rice cereal, but she did finish it.

We read her a story and put her to bed about 9:30, she was rather wiggly, so I didn’t think it would stick because she fell asleep in the car on the way home and had an hour nap, but it did. We had talked with Tracey and Lucian about maybe going swimming in the morning, if they could make it by 10:00 but they left us a message that it was going to be too early for them. So Mommy slept in all the way until noon, and Daddy spent the morning playing with holly. Today for lunch she had Blueberry, pear and oat, which she seemed to like, she ate it all up, the amount I set aside for her anyways, and Daddy had Cauliflower for Lunch, and so he grinded up some for holly, which I will give her tonight for dinner, so stay tuned to see how that goes. We are off to Costco to get some more Formula and other things.

Back from Costco, we were there for only 90 minutes, but it is the new hell mouth and time there moves slowly, Joel swore it had been 3 hours. I got a new “T-Drive” it’s an external 1 Terabyte Drive, and I think I might be able to restore the data from the old one, so now I have a reliable replacement, and we got some Christmas gifts and a lot of food. I was amazingly able to fit everything into the freezer, but I still have to make room for the Turkey we are getting on Monday But I am going to try and talk Joel into Brining it, so then I won’t have too. Well off to find some pictures to include in this post, don’t forget to check out Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/vczdavis