Decorating for Christmas

Today we helped decorate the church for Christmas. Lily spent most of her time running and playing with the other little girls that were "helping" whith the decorating. However, she also managed to do her share of the work....

Thanksgiving on the Farm

We're spending Thanksgiving in Kansas with my side of the family. This year Lily is old enough to play with the puppy and watch all of the animals. (One of her favorite farm pastimes seems to be moving the gravel around in the driveway by the barn.) The weather hasn't been too cold, so she's gotten to go outside quite a bit. We've taken lots of pictures, but I think this is one of my favorites....

Lily's First Haircut

Today we said bye-bye to the baby curls!! Aunt LB, who is a stylist, gave Lily her first haircut. We sat Lily in a high chair, pulled out the laptop, and turned on an episode of Tigger and Pooh; as a result, I don't think she even realized that she was getting a haircut! Lily sat perfectly still, and Aunt LB gave her a cute little baby cut complete with little layers.

"Apple, Apple, Apple!"

I bought Lily some little puzzles a few months ago, and she's really beginning to take an interest in them. One has fruits on it, another vegetables, and another sweets. When we put the puzzles together, I read the names of the items as she either hands the pieces to me or attempts (occasionally successfully) to put the pieces where they belong. Today, she apparently decided to "read" the piece to me; I heard "apple, apple, apple...." However, she was very excited when I gave her apple slices for supper.

Lily's also attempting to say her ABCs now. She can't say them very clearly, and I don't know that she manages to get the right number of "letters" in her song, but it sure is cute!

Library Book Sale Finds

The local public library has been having a book sale this week. We found out about it yesterday when we went to get a new stack of books for Lily. (She likes picking out new books and playing with all of the toys in the library.) Anyway, Jimmy and Lily and I returned to the library today to sort through the room of "for sale" books to see what all we could find. We spent about an hour and a half browsing books. (We went at nap time, so Lily fell asleep in the car and then slept in her stroller for about the first hour. She browsed and shopped with us for a while though...and she did a relatively good job all things considered.) We ended up with two boxes of books: a good assortment of children's books for Lily, some things to resell online, some things to keep, and some things to take to work. The treasure, I think, is a copy of the book Copland on Music that is autographed by the author, Aaron Copland. I haven't figured out how much the book would be work if I were to try to e-bay it, but I think maybe I'll just keep it.

Halloween

I had camera problems (a corrupt memory card actually), so I didn't get many pictures from Halloween this year. And I certainly didn't get many decent pictures!! Anyway, here's my little fairy princess....

Army Band Concert

Lily went to her first concert tonight. The US Army Field Band & Soldier's Chorus came through on part of their fall tour, and I got a pair of tickets for Lily and I. (Jimmy had to work this evening. It's not like we just didn't invite him....) Lily did well through the concert. We sat in an outside aisle seat near the back so we could make a quick exit if necessary. We didn't have to make the dreaded quick exit, but we didn't make it to the end of the show either. We made it through about 3/4 of the program (or about 1 hour and 15 minutes), so I was generally pleased. The music was amazing and it had been quite a long time since I'd been to a concert of this caliber. It makes me miss playing....

My Little Queen of the Remote Control

The little one has figured out that the remote controls make the television do things...and she certainly likes to experiment with them! She doesn't really much watch much TV (we try to limit her to Tigger & Pooh and Sesame Street), but we do have the television on sometimes during the day. Regardless of whether the TV's on or off, the remote controls still seem to be entertaining....

Chimes

I was told when I took my music teaching job to expect resistance from the junior high crowd. (And no, it wasn't a warning about my particular junior high group, but just a warning about the age group altogether.) While I was expecting resistance and daily battles, I've had surprisingly few. When I was digging through the closets in the music room, I found a 3-octave set of hand chimes. The previous music teacher knew they were there and pointed them out to me, but she also told me that most of them were broken. As it turns out, very few of the chimes were actually broken (3 had to be replaced) and the set was is pretty good condition. At that point, I decided to turn my junior high music groups into bell choirs...and the response has been amazing! The kids are actually enjoying music class (to the point of begging not to be pulled out of music to go finish math tests!) and they're learning a lot about reading and playing music. One of my groups played an arrangement of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in church today. They did really well, they were very proud of themselves, and they managed to earn root beer floats as well....

YAY Football!!

Lily attended her first major sporting event -- the TU vs. OU football game in Norman. Jimmy's uncle had tickets, and he invited us to go along with him. We initially looked for a babysitter for Lily, but we were unable to find one...so we took her along with us! I was a bit concerned about how Lily would handle the crowds and the noise, but she did wonderfully. She watched everything that was going on, clapped when music was playing and when everyone else was cheering, and even seemed to enjoy watching the fireworks that were being set off merely a half a dozen or so rows behind us. She did get a little played out by the fourth quarter, so she slept through part of it (fireworks and all). I love my little sweetheart; she's such a good sport!!

My Poor Neglected Blog....

My, it's been a while since I've been on here.... And now there's the question of whether to go back and attempt to fill in some gaps or just attempt to jump back into the blog-o-sphere now. I guess we'll just have to see what happens....

A John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt Headache

Wow - I ended up with a headache today like none other; I think it's days like this that keep the Tylenol people in business. I got the brilliant idea over the weekend that it would be fun to have my little music students (K-3rd) do some activities with music and volume -- singing softly and loudly, playing instruments softly and loudly, etc. Anyway, I decided that we'd sing the "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" song and then do another similar activity with instruments -- drums, mini cymbals, triangles, etc. To make a long story short, the activity was a huge success -- the students loved it and I met the objectives that I had set for the day. However, after 2 hours of hearing ""John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt - LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!!" I ended up with the most awful pounding headache that I've had in a very, very long time....

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school.... I'm teaching K-8 music (part time, two days per week) at a small private school this year, and today was the beginning of the year. The day went relatively well, especially considering that I'm still feeling yucky from the flu and yucky from the medicine that they gave me to get rid of the flu. I quickly discovered, however, that I'm going to have to do a lot of work to figure out how to keep kindergarteners occupied for half an hour....

Flu

I have the flu. And it really sucks.

Family Picture

One of the things that we did on the cruise was have some family pictures taken. The last pictures we had done were our engagement and wedding pictures, so it was certainly time for an updated picture. Though there was really only one pose that we ended up liking, I think it's a keeper....

Beach Bums

YAY for VACATION!! We escaped for a few days (flew out on 7/30 and back on 8/4) for a nice family vacation. We flew to Miami and then went on a cruise to the Bahamas and the Great Stirrup Cay. After the cruise, we spent a day in South Beach before flying back home. The trip was fabulous -- the weather was great and just about everything went smoothly. Some of our flights were delayed (and we'll probably never fly Delta again) but we ended up making our connections, so that wasn't too bad. Lily was wonderful on the planes; she slept on 3 of the 4 flights and she did just fine on the other one. The cruise was very nice. The water was smooth, the food was phenomenal, and Oklahoma allergens were nowhere to be found, our cell phones didn't work, and it was way, way too expensive to get on the internet on the ship. The beaches were beautiful and the water was clear. Lily was a real trooper; she loved the beaches and all of the people and she took wonderful stroller-naps as we were walking around and seeing the sights. It was great to get away for a few days and to come back home feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.

Water Park!!

Today was Lily's first trip to the local water park. (Actually, it was her first time in a big swimming pool.) Anyway, we'll be going on vacation at the end of this next week and going to the beach, so we needed to make sure Lily would get along all right in the water. We got her all sunscreened and put her lifejacket on, and Lily spent over an hour walking around in the wading pools and "swimming" with Mommy and Daddy in the bigger pool. Lily did pretty well; there were a little spitting and sputtering and a few tears when her head went under once, but otherwise she seemed to generally enjoy the experience. She wasn't all smiley and chatty, but we were just guessing she was trying to figure out what all of these people were doing in her bath....

A Very Busy Writing Camp Week

It's a busy week this week.... I'm teaching another Writing Camp in addition to my regular night class that meets twice a week. Our babysitter is putting in extra hours, Daddy is doing extra Daddy-duty, and Mommy is tired beyond belief....

Angela's Ashes Author Dies

Frank McCourt, one of my favorite contemporary authors, died today. 'Tis sad, the Teacher Man is no longer with us....

Daddy's a Schmuck....

(Disclaimer: Jimmy provided me with the title for this blog. Thus, I do not want to be accused of any pejorative name calling....)

It has begun.... Jimmy and Lily went browsing and shopping in the mall while I was at work tonight. When they came to pick me up, Miss Lily was sporting a rather large stuffed Tigger in her stroller. Apparently Daddy let Lily play with the Tigger in the store, and then she refused to let go of it when it came time to leave the store. Thus, Lily ended up with a Tigger. I'm just hoping that this is not the beginning of a trend....

Better Bedtimes

Bedtimes and naptimes were rough for a while, but they've been much better lately. Most days Lily goes down for her nap while the babysitter's here, so I'm not the one putting her down. However, the babysitter says she usually goes to sleep quite easily. Bedtimes have been a breeze lately. I've been giving Lily a bedtime-snack bottle, followed by a little water to wash the milk off of the teeth, and then I put her in her bed. That's usually followed by a "Good Night, Lily," which is then followed by about 30 seconds worth of screaming. After the 30 seconds of screaming she usually manages to find her thumb and then drift off to sleep.

This sure beats spending an hour or two trying to coax a screaming baby to sleep....

My Little Bookworm

I took some new pictures, and this is among my absolute favorites!! As I've mentioned in previous posts, Lily loves books. I'm just starting to let her move up from board books, and The Cat in the Hat seems to be one of her current favorites. (I don't actually read this one to her very often, but she certainly likes to look at all of the pictures. Also, she got a Cat in the Hat stuffed toy for her birthday, so the character is familiar....) Isn't she precious!!

Happy Half-Year!!

As of today, the year 2009 is officially half over...and I'm left wondering where it went. So far, so good, but it seems like it's going so fast. I find that I'm still trying to write "2008" on my checks every so often....

(And, in addition to today marking the exact middle of the year, today's also Daddy's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!!)

Toddler!!

It's official -- Lily's now a toddler!! She took her first steps earlier this month, but she's now walking pretty well. She can cross a room unassisted, and she can go quite a distance if she's holding on to someone's hand. We had to go buy her some new shoes a few days ago so she would have some decent walking shoes; all of the shoes that she had were either too small or had soles that weren't made for walking, so we got her some really cute little pinkish-purple sandals. She seems to like them, as she wears them pretty well. She still prefers to run around without her shoes, but they're a necessity when we go outside....

Garage Sale

Jimmy and I had a garage sale this weekend, and I can honestly say that I have no desire to put together a garage sale ever again. No further comment.

My Kitty's a Vegetarian?

Strangely enough, I think my Tucker-kitty might be a vegetarian. He has a strange love of starches and vegetables and shows no interest in meats. If I leave pineapple, tomatoes, strawberries, or half-a-dozen other fruits and veggies unattended on the counter, I'll nearly always find a kitty on the counter having lunch. Similarly, if I pour a bowl of Cheerios or get a slice of bread out of the package, he's likely to come and start munching on those items as well (Strangely, however, he will only ear my Cheerios; he leaves Lily's alone.) I wondered for a while if I had a vegan kitty, but I'm pretty sure that that's not the case as he does seem to like yogurt. While the whole kitty-vegetarian thing wouldn't usually be a big deal, it seems that his dietary choices have led him to shirk on his kittenly duties as the mouse hunter of the house....

Grass!!

Lily loves to be outside, but up until now she's been hesitant to touch the grass. While it was great to be able to just plop her down on a blanket in the yard and know she wasn't going to go anywhere, it still seemed a little strange that she wouldn't go on the grass. (Jimmy even set her down on the grass a few times to she what she would do. First she pulled her hands up, and next she lifted her feet, leaving her little body balanced on her tail bone so nothing besides her diapered little bum would be touching the ground.) Anyway, I was outside taking pictures with Lily today and she decided to be brave and venture out onto the grass....

Writing Camp

I've been teaching a Summer Writing Camp for students in grades 5-8 this past week. It's been a busy week, but it's also been a lot of fun. I only had 5 students enrolled, so the students got a lot of individual attention. As far as writing, the students had one major writing project each day (which they drafted, peer reviewed, revised, and then produced a final copy) and one or two smaller writing activities. In addition to the writing stuff, we also did quite a few fun activities as well. I organized the camp activities around a Survivor theme, and we had Outwit, Outlast, and Outplay activities each day. We had water balloon contests, spelling bees, Speed-Scrabble contests, limbo contests, scavenger hunts, trivia challenges, and quite a few other more lively activities. I'll be putting another camp session together for later in the summer (late July), and I'm planning on doing an Amazing Race theme for that one. Any ideas for activities would be appreciated....

Folding Laundry

Folding laundry is probably one of my least favorite household chores. (It wouldn't be so bed, except I absolutely hate sorting socks!) Though she doesn't quite have the concept of "folding" mastered, Lily certainly seems to enjoy assisting with laundry....

Peek-A-Boo

Lily likes to play in her bedroom, and today I caught her playing peek-a-boo...with herself? No one else was in the room, and I managed to remain undetected as I took pictures....

Can You Come Get Me Please?

Jimmy got back from New Orleans today. When he left on Thursday, we thought his return flight was late Tuesday night. However, he called me early this evening to let me know that I needed to pick him up at the airport tonight. He realized this afternoon that his tickets were for today rather than tomorrow. He said he pretty much threw his things into his bag, jumped in the car, and left without saying proper good-byes to people because otherwise he would have missed his flights. Anyway, we made it to the airport and retrieved Jimmy, and it's nice to have him home again.

My Quiet House

It seems so quiet here this evening. Grandpa and Grandma left for Texas at around noon after being delayed a few hours because of very yucky weather. Jimmy's currently in New Orleans; there was a death in the family down there, and we put him on an airplane yesterday. That leaves only Lily and I (and Tucker) at home...and they're both asleep for the night. While a quiet and empty house doesn't bother me, it seems a bit strange since we've had extra people in the house for the past two weeks. I'm experiencing one of those "It's quiet...to quiet..." feelings at the moment....

I had to make sure to get a good picture of Grandpa and Grandma with Lily before they left. I think this one is my favorite.

Quiet Book

Lily got a quite book for her birthday!! Grandma has made them for all of the little ones for their first birthdays, and she brought Lily's down with her. Though Lily can't do everything in the book yet, she likes to un-velcro the things that velcro and unsnap the things that snap. She also likes to look at the pictures, especially the one of the kitty on the front cover.

Blocks!!

Lily got blocks for her birthday, and so far they've been great fun. She's been sharing them with Tucker, and helping Grandpa build with them....

Lily Ate Bananas!!

While Lily's generally a very good eater, there's one thing that I just can't seem to get her to eat: bananas. She likes other fruit (strawberries, watermelon, and even pineapple), but she generally won't eat bananas. However, Grandma did manage to get her to take a bite....

Wedding in Kansas

We took a trip up to Pittsburg, Kansas this weekend for my niece's wedding. The trip was short (both in miles and in time), but it was nice to be there for the wedding and to have the chance to visit with family that we hadn't seen in a few months. Also, Grandma and Grandpa (my mom and dad, Lily's grandma and grandpa) came back to Oklahoma with us. They'll be spending most of the week with us before going on to visit family in Texas. Lily hasn't gotten to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa since last Thanksgiving, so we're looking forward to a fun and exciting week!!

Babysitter!!

I have a babysitter for the summer!! Though it seems a bit strange, we've hired a babysitter to come so I can stay home and work. We have a college-age friend who has come home for the summer, and she's coming over to watch Lily for a few hours each morning so I can have some time to set aside for working on the dissertation. Though this is only week one of this arrangement, I think it's going to work out wonderfully. I've had a very productive week; I almost feel like I've accomplished more in these past four days than I have in the last half of the spring semester. It's nice to be able to lock myself away in my office without having to worry about what's going on in the rest of the house....

Reading

I think she takes after Mommy (which is good, because she looks so much like Daddy). My little angel seems to have developed a love for books. She'll go into her room and sometimes sit for up to an hour just "reading" her books. She goes through them page by page looking at the pictures and pointing to the different characters and items on the pages. I've signed her up for the library's summer reading program, and we're going to try to go to story hour this summer.

Teddy Bear Party

Lily likes to have Teddy Bear Parties in her bed. Though Rosie's certainly her favorite bear, the others are intvited as well. We checked out the book "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" at the library this past week, and that has only added to Lily's love for the Teddy Bear Parties....

Lily's Birthday

Birthday pictures were promised, so here are a few....

Opening presents

Cake and Candles

Cupcake!!

The Swimming Pool (Unfortunately, the pool will have to go back to the store. There was a hole in the top part, and it wouldn't stay inflated. Guess we'll try again on that one....)

My Poor Confused Palate

Jimmy and I went out for supper tonight, and I tried something new: a Monte Cristo. While I certainly knew what a Monte Cristo was (it's mentioned in at least one episode of Gilmore Girls and in several Disney-type movies, and it was on the menu at one of my favorite little diners before it closed down), I had never ordered one before. Anyway, my poor palate was confused by the whole experience. The sandwich was good, though my mouth wasn't sure if I was eating a ham sandwich, funnel cake, or some strange combination of the two. Though I probably won't be ordering another Monte Cristo any time in the relatively near future, it was certainly worth trying....

Happy Birthday Lily!!

Today was Lily's first birthday! YAY Lily!! We went to Applebees for supper, and Lily got her first hamburger. (Okay, she got some of the beef and bun off of my hamburger, but who's counting....) We also went shopping and picked up Lily's present -- a swimming pool and a little bathing suit. Pictures coming soon....

And a "Mommy Thought" for today: You know you're a Mommy when your Shakespearean edition of Magnetic Poetry loses its place on the refrigerator to plastic magnetic numbers and letters.

Reviving my Costuming Skills

It''s May -- time for the Renaissance Festival!! Jimmy wanted to go in costume this year, so I pulled out my sewing machine and we went pattern and fabric shopping. I had a few late nights, but I was pleased with how his costume turned out. The doublet has detachable sleeves, but I haven't made them yet. (I'll finish them, but I didn't have time to get them done before the faire.) I didn't make a costume for Lily of a new one for myself; perhaps in the next year or two. We went to the festival on Saturday and had a lot of fun. We picked up a hat for Jimmy there, and that really completed his costume.

Cash or Charge?

Lily has recently discovered the joys of credit cards....

Not Quite a Jack-in-the-Box....

There's something in the box, but it isn't Jack!! Lily and Tucker have a new favorite game....

Submarine!!

Today we toured one of the local attractions: the USS Batfish. The USS Batfish is a WWII submarine that has it's current home nearby and is open for tours. I wasn't particularly surprised by the size of the vessel or anything like that (I've seen enough WWII movies to be somewhat familiar with the inside of a submarine), but I just couldn't imagine being stuck inside of something like that with a crew of about 80 other people and being submerged under water for days or weeks at a time. While I have great respect and admiration for the men who served on that vessel, I'm sure glad that being in a submarine isn't part of my job description.

The End is in Sight....

The end of the semester, that is.... The classes that I've been teaching this semester are over, and now it's merely a matter of grading final projects and final exams and submitting grades. While I'm certainly looking forward to summer break, I don't really know where the past semester has gone....

My New Favorite Lily Picture

Okay, nothing substantial to write today, but I just wanted to share one of my new favorite Lily pictures. (And honestly, who doesn't like to see pictures of a cute baby!)

Recycling and Earth Day

Lily and I made a trip to the local recycling center today. We generally drop things off once or twice a month, but I decided that we'd make and extra trip today since it's Earth Day. I don't think Lily understands the whole concept of recycling yet, but she sure enjoys playing with that big basket of papers that Mommy keeps under the desk.

Fast Fat Food

I was reading around on the internet and came across an interesting article: "The Worst Drive-Thru Foods in America (And What to Eat Instead". Here's the winner. I don't know whether to say YUCK! or WOW!

THE WORST DRIVE-THRU MEAL IN AMERICA
Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger
with Medium Natural cut Fries and 32 oz Coke
2,618 Calories
144 g fat (51.5 g saturated fat)
2892 mg sodium

Of all the gut-growing, heart-stopping, life-threatening burgers in the fast food world, there is none whose damage to your general well-being is as catastrophic as this. Consider these heart-stopping comparisons: This meal has the caloric equivalent of 13 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Donuts; the saturated fat equivalent of 52 strips of bacon; and the salt equivalent of seven and a half large orders of McDonald's French fries!

Strawberries!!

I'm beginning to introduce Lily to a variety of new foods. She seems to be doing pretty well with just about everything that I've given her. She likes green beans, tortillas, strawberries, cooked apples, sweet potatoes, and pineapple. So far the only thing that she really refuses to eat is bananas. (Strange child, I know!) The problem that we're currently having is that she doesn't particularly want to eat baby food, but she doesn't have enough teeth to really bite or chew anything. (So far she only has her two bottom teeth; we're still waiting for more to arrive.) The picture shows her first encounter with strawberries; the spoon and bowl are more of photo props than anything else as she doesn't do too well with the spoon and the bowl just ended up on the floor. Nonetheless, I think this is one of my favorite mealtime pictures; Lily looks so cute, and her eyes look so, so blue!

Edward Albee

Edward Albee, perhaps my favorite 20th Century American playwrite, spoke in Tulsa this evening, and I made the trip in for the event. ("The Zoo Story," "The American Dream," and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" are three of my absolute favorite plays. They're a little nuts, but they're brilliant.) I enjoyed the evening, but was a little disappointed with the overall content of the presentation. Albee talked about his life and his plays (which was expected and certainly very interesting), but then he spent quite a bit of the evening talking about politics (which wasn't quite expected and wasn't quite so interesting). While I'm certainly glad I went this evening, I now find that I have just a little less admiration for one of the contemporary writers that I had admired most.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!! I thought I would put up a quick picture of Lily in her Easter dress with one of her baskets. (This one is from Grandma Rita. She gave Lily all sorts of sweet things...most of which Mommy probably won't let her eat.) Anyway, it was a long, busy Easter, but Lily's been a trooper through it all....

Azalea Festival

'Tis the season for the annual azalea festival. While we haven't taken part in any of the city-wide festivities, we have been enjoying the azaleas in our front year. They're so pretty and pink!! Lily and I did some pictures with the flowers, and they all turned out pretty well. I think this one's my favorite....

Poetry Reading

Tonight Lily went to her first major literary event -- a poetry reading by Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the United States. The reading was wonderful. I'd heard Collins read before, but it was still a very enjoyable event. We arrived early in order to get the coveted Mommy-and-baby seat: the one in the back row closest to the door. Lily behaved wonderfully; she was generally quiet and she lasted for about 45 minutes before she decided that she needed to get off of Mommy's lap and crawl around. Luckily there was a walkway behind our row of seats so Lily could play in the isle without disturbing anyone. At the end of the reading we bought a book and had Collins autograph it. Lily now has her first book that is inscribed to her by the author....

"Lily-Tucker, No!!"

It has begun; I've started to confuse the children.... I was in a bit of a rush as I was leaving for work this morning, and Tucker was trying to empty my water bottle all over the kitchen counter. I caught him just before the water spilled, and I exclaimed, "Lily-Tucker, No!!" Jimmy made fun of me for confusing the children....

Dirty Knees

As I think I've mentioned, Lily is crawling. By this point, she is unstoppable; she's crawling everywhere and getting into everything. As a result of all of this crawling, the knees on her pants end up absolutely filthy. I put a load of Lily-laundry in to wash this evening, and I had to Spray-and-Wash every pair of her little pants. Perhaps I should buy stock in the Spray-and-Wash company (along with the diaper and formula companies)....

Spring Break in Dallas

It was Spring Break this past week, and we celebrated with a little family trip down to Dallas. We stayed with Aunt Janet and Uncle Tio (who were eager babysitters) and spent quite a bit of time just visiting. We also spent some time shopping and browsing; we went to a big mall, a really cool shopping center, and the most amazing grocery store I've ever seen. Jimmy and I had an evening out and went to see a movie. (This was my first trip to the movie theatre since Lily was born. We saw Knowing. It wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped. There were aliens. I wasn't expecting aliens. The previews didn't mention aliens....) Nonetheless, it was still nice to have an evening out sans Lily. Lily seemed to enjoy the trip. She got to hang out with Aunt Janet, had her first taste of chocolate cake, and talked to Prozac, Uncle Tio's parrot. She also acquired a very special friend on this trip -- a teddy bear named Rose that was made just for her....

John Deer Green on St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Jimmy forgot that he was supposed to wear green today, and he told me that people at work pinched him. I wore one of the shirts that I bought in Ireland; it wasn't a green shirt, but it had "Ireland" embroidered on it in green letters. Lily wore the only real green shirt that she owns: her John Deer shirt. (She has some baby/mint green onesies, but those aren't really "green.") I thought she looked so cute in her slightly over-sized t-shirt and little denim skirt....

A Master of the Sippy Cup

Lily has mastered the art of the sippy cup. She does pretty well handling it by herself, though sometimes it still ends up on the floor. I haven't given her juice yet; I'm trying to hold off on that just a little while longer. So far she's only gotten water in her cup, and she seems to like that just fine....

400!!

This is post number 400! I don't really have anything exciting to write about, but 400 posts means I've written a lot of words on this site....

Return of the Mosquitoes....

We've had beautiful spring weather here the past few days. The grass and trees are beginning to green, and I even have a pretty yellow dafodil in my back yard. The weather's wonderful, but with the warmer weather came spring's unwelcome guests: the mosquitoes. I had hoped to enjoy a few days outside before they arrived, but the little bloodsuckers have managed to find me and turn me into lunch already. (As far as I can tell, they haven't bothered Lily.) We're going to get some citronella torches and candles to put in the backyard to keep the peksy little critters away....

Experimenting with Gravity

Lily's learning how to pull herself up and how to stand. Consequently, she's also learning how to fall down. Though she usually manages to land on her diapered behind, she's had a few face-plants that resulted in screaming followed by bruising and sometimes a few drops of blood if she managed to puncture the skin. We've done a fair amount of baby-proofing, but there just isn't any way to protect her from everything. (Regardless of what we do, there are still hardwood floors and wooden doorframes.) She's beginning to avoid doing things that hurt....

Mozart Update

Lily has now figured out that she can play piano without the assistance of Mommy or Daddy. She can use the piano bench to pull herself up to standing, and then she can reach up and press the piano keys. Talk about determination....

And Now...The End of the Story....

'Tis a sad day for those who listen to the radio. Stand by for news: Broadcasting pioneer Paul Harvey dies at age of 90.

My Little Mozart

Lily's taking up one of Mommy's favorite hobbies.... Lily loves music, and (as far as we can tell) seems to have a pretty good sense of rhythem. She dances to some of her toys, and she enjoys making music on her toy xylophone and on Mommy's piano. She actually does a pretty good job when she plays piano; she doesn't pound on the keys, but instead she plays them gently and delicately. However, she does have a great interest in Mommy's piano books and she likes to turn pages....

Crawling!!

We now have a crawler!! Lily has been mobile for quite a while -- rolling everywhere and doing an army-type crawl, but now we have traditional hands-and-knees crawling. She's moving quite quickly now, and she's pretty well-balanced too.

Lily's also beginning to develop her personality -- and a bit of a stubborn streak. She now knows how to shake her head 'no' and is beginning to refuse to eat some of the new foods that we're trying to introduce. She's also beginning to protest her carseats. She screams for a minute or so every time we try to put her in a seat, and she's also figured out that she can prolong getting buckled in if she arches her back and stiffens her whole body. Luckily, she can only hold that pose for so long, so Mommy and Daddy win and Lily ends up safely buckled in her carseat.

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!!

Here's a smiling baby to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. (And even though it's a day late, what more could you ask for!?)

Oh, the Irony....

Okay, this made me laugh....

I just read a newspaper article entitled "Error on State Test Slips Past Everyone -- Except East High Student" which talks about a high school student finding a proofreading mistake on a standardized test in Kansas. I think perhaps the newspaper staff should offer that kid a job....

Scout Sunday

This past Sunday was Scout Sunday at church. While it was nice that the scouts were assisting with the service, there were two things that I noticed that were a little disturbing and disheartening. First, only boy scouts were participating in the event. All of the boys were in their scouts uniforms/shirts, but none of the girls seemed to be observing the occasion. (Also, it was only the boys who assisted with the service.) I know our community has a very active girl scouts program, so I was a bit bothered that the girls weren't participating in the event. And my second observation, and the one I consider to be the more disturbing of the two, is that all of the boy scout leaders were moms. Shouldn't the boy scout leaders be dads, especially since the boy scouts was completely closed to girls until just a few years ago? It doesn't seem right that moms are running the boy scout's troops. All I have to say is that if I ever have boys, they won't be a part of boy scout troops that are run by moms....

Teeth!!

Lily's teething!! One bottom tooth has managed to break its way through, and I think she's working on another. So far she seems to be doing pretty well with the whole teething thing. She's a little fussier than normal and wants to be held more than usual, but otherwise things have been pretty normal so far. She hasn't had a fever, but I have given her Tylenol a few times to help ease her pain. I just hope she does this well with all of her little teeth....

Super Bowl 2009

Two Super Bowl items of note....

First, Lily won the pool at the Super Bowl party that we attended. Though there was a 'must be present to win' rule, there was not a 'must be awake to win' rule. Lily fell asleep during the 3rd Quarter and slept for the rest of the game. She won an ipod.

Second, I was a bit disappointed that none of the much publicized "1 second ads" were broadcast in our viewing area. (As I've mentioned in a previous blog, I went to college with Windell, the Miller High Life Guy.)

Balancing Act

The title of this post might suggest that this entry will contain some philosophical musings about balancing work and school and mommying and life in general...but that would be incorrect. This blog is, instead, simply about the cat. I was doing some cleaning in the bedroom the other day, and Tucker decided that he wanted to get to the top shelf of my closet. He went from the floor to the chair to the dresser to the top of the door, and then he got stuck. (Not literally. He got stuck in the sense that this was as close as he would get to reaching his goal. He did not literally get stuck on top of the closet door.) He tried for quite a while to figure out how to get into the closet from atop the door, but he finally gave up and descended from his perch....

Ice, Ice, Ice

It's the ice storm time of year again.... Last year we got hit with one in December, and this year it waited until January. So far this one isn't as bad as last winter's storm. We've had a couple inches of ice during the past few days. It's slick and yucky outside, but absolutely beautiful at the same time. Everything's white and beautiful; it looks like we've had a few inches of snow, but it's simply a few inches of ice. We haven't lost power yet, but other parts of town have. I wouldn't be surprised if we do lose power, so we're somewhat prepare--or at least much more prepared than we were last year. The ice has done some damage already. A big limb from one of our trees came crashing down this afternoon. It hit the house and took out the TV antenna, and then it bounced off of the house and crashed onto our patio table, destroying it and also ruining our lawnmower. I guess if that's all the damage that happens were, then we're probably in pretty good shape....

Happy Robert Burns Day!!

Bring out the bagpipes and haggis, it's Robert Burns Day!! So, read some Scottish poetry, listen to the pipes, wear a kilt (or at least a tartan), and celebrate all things Scottish. (Eat some haggis if you can find some, but if you can't, you're not missing much....)

Obama Llama Duck

I know this is a campaign video, but given that tomorrow's the inauguration, I thought I would post it anyway. Some time ago, I posted a link to the Llama Song, and this one's a parody of that one. I don't necessarily consider myself an Obama supporter, but the video's fun anyway....

Reading the Paper

I picked up a newspaper at work yesterday, and Lily managed to pull it out of my bag earlier today. (I frequently pick up a paper at work, thinking that I'll read it when I get home, but that seldom happens. Sometimes I actually do read the comics or work the crossword puzzles.) Anyway, Lily decided that she wanted to read my newspaper, and she managed to make quite a mess of it. (This picture is from early on in the newspaper-reading experience.) She had fun with the paper, and I was amazed that Tucker let her have so much fun without joining in as he likes newspapers too.

Back to Work

Well, my holiday break is officially over. I went back to work today, and Lily went back to the babysitter. (She goes to a babysitter on Tuesdays and has a Daddy Day on Thursdays.) It was wonderful to be back at work, and I'm really looking forward to this semester. From what I'm told Lily did okay at the sitter's today, though not as well as usual. She generally likes the babysitter's, though this was the first time she'd been away from Mommy for more than an hour or two in the past month and the first time she'd had a bottle in just as long. I'm guessing she'll do even better next week.

When Daddy Babysits....

I plopped Lily down with Jimmy earlier this evening so I could go do a few things (toss in a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, and get everything ready for Lily's bath) without small hands attempting to assist me. When I returned to take Lily in for her bath, I found Jimmy asleep and Lily in possession of the remote control....