Updated Home Movies

Check out the link to David's YouTube account to see our latest uploads...it's mostly the "Holly Show." Holly seems completely recovered from last week's mishap but she got over it in about 15 minutes really. It felt like it took a year off my life though. She's becoming more of a mimic too. She's been putting on my shoes and walking around the living room with them on. I was bent down on the ground looking for her sippy cup under the coffee table and she was doing the same thing.

Poor Holly went bonk big time

Yesterday Holly was walking along and tripped over absolutely nothing and hit her mouth on the edge of the coffee table. Once I saw the blood I ran her over to the bathroom and held a cold, wet wash cloth on her mouth. It only took a few minutes to get the bleeding under control, and it probably only took as long as it did because she kept pushing the wash cloth away. It cut her gums right over her front teeth and the flap of skin above her front teeth got split, it's pretty bruised too. I really hope she heals fast on this one, I don't like seeing this injury, probably because it's the worst one she's had. David said she might be like me and may be a little accident prone. I could live with that...my injuries were never very serious, mostly bumps, scrapes, bruises, cuts and the occasional sprain, and I haven't had a sprain since grade school. It's almost shocking that I never needed stitches or broke a bone.

Running Around Now

There's nothing dramatically new this week. Holly is continuing to perfect her skills. The walking is turning into running, the new teeth are still coming in and overall she's still figuring out how things work. She knows she can push her desk around now and that she should lean forward when we put a bib on her. Holly can take off her socks and has been trying to figure out how to put them back on. So it's mostly little things. I'm hoping the teeth start calming down soon so we can get rid of that bedtime bottle.

Ouchie Canines

Holly's canine teeth were causing a big time ruckus yesterday. They hurt her so bad she couldn't lay down for a nap. But she slept through the night so that's really good, especially since it got up to 96 degrees here yesterday. Her poor little face was swollen and she kept putting her fingers in her mouth, mostly on the lower right canine. Today she's getting back to her regular feeding and napping schedule so it seems cyclical.

Updated Blog

I added a link to David's channel on YouTube that has all our family movies on it, it's located in the upper left corner on the blog. It hasn't been updated for a couple weeks but everything we have is there and that's where any new stuff will go so check it often. All the movies are about 10 minutes long so be ready to watch movies. Wish I thought of adding that sooner. I also swapped out one of the favorite websites to Seattle's Child Magazine. It's a great website for families, let's you know what's going on the community and a lot of it is free. Holly is doing great, her lower canines just broke through but all the canines are still actively coming in. They seem to be giving her more trouble than the molars. So that's a total of 16 teeth. They say the second molars can appear as early as 23 months so we'll get a short break from teething once the canines are finished. Holly has walking DOWN, she has begun running. She hardly scootches anymore. That doesn't mean that she doesn't bonk herself anymore, it's just less often. It's amazing some of the little things Holiday has learned to do. One of them is communicating her needs without speaking. One morning this week I was picking up around the living room when she came at me with her blankie and her Kate doll which is what I use to snuggle her to sleep with me on the couch then I lay her down for a nap. It was a little earlier than usual but she pretty much told me she needed a nap right now.

More Holly Stuff

Holly and Daddy and the Bite of Seattle.

Holly likes ice cream.

Daddy and Holiday in front of the fountain.

Holly is starting to recognize that things have a place. When Holly is asleep I have a gate-propper that I set up against the gate so we can get through the house easier. But when Holly's up that gate is closed and we use the gate-propper to keep the folding highchair more stable. After lunch one day I hadn't quite finished putting everything away yet and there goes Holly moving the propper against the highchair like it should be. I take it as a sign that in the not too distant future I can teach her how to put her toys away at night. Holly can climb up on the couch if she grabs onto people's clothing and pulls herself up. She's also taking to hanging out underneath the highchair. It's like a "secret hiding place." I was like that too, but I mostly hung out in boxes at that age. We might need to get her something else that would be a little more stable, like a crawl tunnel or some other play enclosure.

More Pictures

Daddy and Holiday at the Green Lake wading pool.

Getting used the water at home.

Holly loves her fish.

It's amazing how much fun you can have in a tiny pool.

Little giraffe swimsuit.

Little giggles.

And big smiles.

So it looks like cutting out her morning bottle is a complete success. We just have the evening bottle to go. We go out to dinner sometimes, like last week and discovered Holly likes dipping sauces. She dipped her chicken in BBQ sauce and she dipped her fries into ranch dressing. It's pretty awesome when she figures out the little things. Last night David took Holly to the mall play area and a very tall and big 18 month old pushed Holly down because she was playing with a toy that he wanted to play with. She was fine and got back up again, he's still a baby too and doesn't know better yet. But when he did it again to Holly some other little girl in there yelled at him, "Don't push her...she's cute!" LOLLOL That's right! The power of cuteness prevails!

Pictures from 4th of July

Holly eating Mommy's cookies.

Firetrucks are fun.

There's Travis, Candy, Josh, Kelly and me.

Then my dad and step-mom Judy.

Grandpa Sam's beard has gotten pretty gray.

Holly and Grandma Judy.

I think there's a little of Grandpa Sam's smile inside of Holly's.

Holly and cousin Guy.

Holly and Uncle Josh.

It's a birthday cluster.

All of us birthday people.

We were really tired when we got home.

We're presently cutting Holly's morning bottle out. Much to my surprise, Holly doesn't seem to mind. So hopefully we'll be able to cut the bedtime bottle soon. That'll save about $80 a month.