Some good news and some sad news

The good news is that my friend Jennifer just had a baby girl born late last night, Audra Moraine (I hope I came close on the spelling). Both mother and baby are doing fine. The sad news is my Aunt Sue passed away on Monday. It was quite a shock to the whole family. You will be missed Aunt Sue.

Holly is still doing great. Her vocabulary seems to increase every day now, it would be absurd to make a list of the words she knows there's so many. :) Although I have to point out that she says "Uh-oh" a lot lately. I think she's dropping things on purpose so she can say it. We cut her bangs again because she's been physically pushing the hair out of her eyes. There's hardly any food on the floor now when she eats, so I guess that means she actually eating. She actually scribbles with crayons now instead of eating them. Half the fun is removing them from their container and putting them back in. We have a meetup date tomorrow at the Ravenna community center. I signed us up for a group that the members are families with toddlers in which most of their free time to get together would be evenings and weekends, which is perfect for our schedule. The pictures of this particular play area look promising, I'm sure Holiday will have a good time.

More Pictures

Holly's wearing Mommy's shoe.

Big smiles.

And smirky smiles.

In a little Elmo outfit.

There's black olives on those little fingers. I remember doing that.

Daddy and Holly in the playtent.

I see Daddy peeking.

Holly's appetite seems to be on the gain this week. Making up for being sick and then some. She's eating much more real food and less Gerber baby products, although she's still a big fan of the fruit strips and yogurt melts. With the bout of sickness we were able to wean her off of bottles and formula completely. The recent formula recall was also a factor. Last night she was running around the living room going "Aaaaa-aaaaah!". It sounded like fun. She knows what the word "kiss" means, she gives us a kiss if we say it. Holly also knows the word "dance". When she hears "dance" she stomps quickly around the room with feeling and excitement, it's usually accompanied by screams of happiness.

Holly's all better...and more pictures

Holly and Daddy reading.

Bumbershoot Day one.

Daddy and Holly during the concert.

Close-up.

Mommy and Holiday.

Touch! (I love that shot).

Bumbershoot Day two. Nap time.

Ellie and Anna.

Lunchtime at Bumbershoot.

Cute little pigtails.

Waiting for Anvil to start.

Holly's all better. It lasted 6 days. I looked up flu for toddlers and healthy kids usually have the flu for 5-7 days when they get it. So Holly was average, but it still was rough going. I highly recommend flu shots. Holly's back on her regular food and milk again. I was a little sick over the weekend but today is the first day I feel better. I think I got a touch of whatever Holly had. Holly got a big package of clothes and books from Grandma Linda last Friday. I think we have the essentials till she grows again. Thanks Grandma!

More pictures and sick little Holly

Daddy and Holly at Greenlake park.

Holly and Mommy at the swings.

Holly likes to swing.

And here's the action shot.

Holly likes to play in the sand.

Holly's like a little 'Linus'.

It doesn't matter which blankie, just that there's a blankie.

Holly and Daddy relaxin'.

Holly and Daddy at Zootunes.

Holly and Mommy at Zootunes.

Holly started getting sick on Saturday and has been sick ever since. She's been to the doctor twice, but it wasn't until they gave her a nausea supressant that she started getting better. She did throw up again today, but I think that's because I gave her milk too soon so it's back to the Pedialyte for right now. Poor thing really hates it too. She's had some frustration cries because she really wants to run around and play and just isn't up for it. So we're going on day 6, I really hope this is over soon.

Catching Up...

Holly at the Beacon Hill wading pool.

Splashing is fun!

It was really hot that day so the wading pool was rather refreshing.

Holly in a pretty dress.

See the little pigtails.

Ridin' in style.

Holly and Daddy.

Holly in her playtent.

It's good for hiding toys in.

It's fun to crawl into.

And the kitty likes it too.

Holly loves it when Vader hides in the tent too.

Touch!

Wow...I've been busy with work this week that I haven't had time to post anything. We went to the fair last week and had a good time. Holiday liked the cows and goats but was a little wary of the draft horses, but those are pretty big. We had Grandma Claudia babysit Holiday and David and I watched the Willie Nelson concert at the fair which was really good. A moth got into the house which intrigued Holly enough to get within 2 feet of it, then she changed her mind and ran away from it flapping her arms. I think Vader got it shortly after that. Her button-pushing has advanced enough that she'll accidently turn something on and crank up volume. That also sends her away flapping her arms. Holiday is very much into her investigative phase, everything gets touched. She prefers to walk herself instead of riding in a stroller or shopping cart. She's also mimicking more, especially if we annunciate a word boldly. Holly's got a pretty good list of words going now. Holly did much better at the pool last Saturday. She even helped with rinsing her hair and getting dressed. She's such a good girl.

Swimming lessons resume

Nothing major has happened lately. We resumed swimming lessons for Holly. We got there and got ready 5 minutes before the lesson, but she wanted to jump right in. But can't do that because there are lessons going on before us and a free for all would just be chaos because there's always a ton of kids. But in that 5 minutes Holly decided if she didn't get in when she wanted to that she wasn't going to cooperate. She hated the lesson, the shower and getting dressed. We took her to the school playground that's literally inches away from the community center where the pool is and Holly calmed right down. She loves exploring right now. Touch, touch, touch. We just have to watch her so she doesn't grab a handful of dirt and toss it over her head because it all lands in her diaper which means instant bath time. It's hard to tell her no when she's giggling from having so much fun. Holly's dancing more often now, we happily encourage it. She's been doing this thing where she bursts into clapping hands and suddenly stops and puts her hands on her hips. She also likes to hang on to furniture while kicking one leg in sort of a Rockettes kind of way. It's really funny.

Holly Updates

I think we need more baby-proofing. Holly is tall enough now that when she runs past the table she hits her head on the corners and it really hurts too. Poor baby. We're going to get some corner bumpers tonight. I think she just had a growth spurt because she's eating and sleeping a little more than usual. We might need to go up to the next size diapers too. She's wearing size 4 but in the last week there's been a couple of leaks and they just seem too little for her now. I posted her current clothing needs/sizes on the side of the blog, I got the idea from Keri's. It's such a good idea on how to keep family and friends up to date on that kind of stuff. A funny thing Holly did this week was when she was laying across my lap I was rubbing her back. I stopped momentarily and she grabbed my hand and threw it back on her back so I could keep rubbing her back. Apparently she likes backrubs. :)