Latest Developments

Well, there's no easy way to say it, but I got laid off last week. It's really not a surprise but no less crappy. I've gotten started on unemployment and have picked up on the job search. It probably is for the best considering my situation, I just don't like being without a job. You know... bills to pay, family to take care of. Holiday was sick with a fever of 103 degrees on Friday and Saturday but she's feeling much better today. I think it's teething, those second molars are going to be doozies. Holiday has moved up to a size 5 1/2 shoe and is just starting to grow out of her 18 month sized clothes. There's still a few things that are too big for her. But probably the next piece we buy for her will be a size 24 months. I guess the difference between sizes 24 months and 2T is all the T sizes are meant for children who don't wear diapers, the "month" sizes allow for diapered bottoms. We still need to get a potty for her so she can start getting used to it. She has about half the signs to be ready for potty training. Now Holly has a tone when she says "No". It's as if she's saying "Duh" at us. It's pretty funny.

Pre Boat Show Countdown

Holly's still doing well. Daddy's starting to let her in the kitchen while he cooks. I guess we have to teach her not to touch to stove at some point. Holly's pretty good at backing off, if we tell her "no, no". She's also starting to understand directions, if we ask her to put an item away or something like that, and she does it. We haven't had too many walks lately the weather's been so bad, so she's really excited to get out of the house. Right now we're all mentally preparing for the upcoming Boat Show. David will be working a lot, so it'll be just me and Holly at home for the better part of 10 days. We'll be glad to get that over with so we can have our family weekends back and I'm sure David would like to get some rest.

Learning More Stuff

Holly is doing well, it's amazing some of the things she picks up. She has parts of her books memorized so sometimes she'll recite a line while I'm reading it outloud to her. Short ones, of course. She's starting to recognize letters and writing. We have a little doodle maker for her which she loves to scribble on. We write the alphabet, numbers, and her name on it. Holly's is making smaller doodles as if to imitate what we're doing. She seems to be on the verge of speaking some real English. From what I've read, that's supposed to happen around age 2. It just seems amazing that not too long ago her major form of communication was blowing raspberries and any minute she'll be singing the alphabet. By the way, David updated the YouTube videos about two weeks ago if you want to check those out, Christmas included in that.

Little Cowgirl

Holiday on her little horse.

She's so cute. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but she was totally about to lose it at this point because we already done the family Christmas pictures and she had gone through two outfit changes already. Those little cowgirl boots light up too. Her hair has grown out a lot since then. We need to decide to either grow out her bangs or cut them again. I'm getting my hair cut on Friday. It's getting caught on everything and is driving me crazy. I have super sensitive skin too so when some hairs get pulled it might as well be an attack it hurts so much. So it's definitely time, it's long enough now that I can donate it to Locks of Love again. Since it's the new year David and I have gone back to our tough exercise routine. I've managed to stay around my pre-pregnancy weight mark for a couple months but I needed to rev it up so I joined a nearby gym. It's really small so there's no showers, only one run of weight machines and about 25 cardio machines. But they also have complete dumbells and a couple of those weighted pulley machines. It actually seems a good size for the amount of clients they have. They even have classes. I don't know if I'll do that, but I'm considering the personal training they provide since it's free. It feels good to be back in a real gym again, so right now I'm going about twice a week. The rest of my workouts are at home since we have an elliptical trainer (that we really do use), a few dumbells and resistance bands.

Christmas Pictures

Lola and Holiday

Holiday in her holly dress.

Holly investigating my cousin Donnie's cupboards.

Ayden with his new dump truck.

Playing video games.

Left to right: Cousins Josh, Brandon, & Donnie, then step-brother Chris and his little boy Ayden with Josh's little girl Fiona at the bottom.

Holly in Christmas jams.

Left to right: Erica (Josh's wife) with her two of her kids, Fiona and Lola, Step-aunts Shelly and Jenny, my mom, me and Holiday, Jannie (Chris's fiance') & Ayden. Jannie's two girls Kailie and Sammie are in the front.

Daddy and Holly on Christmas Day.

Holly loves all her new toys.

Holly's new kitchen set.

Getting out some silverware.

Talking on the phone.

Big smiles all around.

Holly said her first complete sentence yesterday. "I WANT MY DADDY!" There was no mistaking that despite the tears. Saying he'll be out of the bathroom in a minute didn't help at all. She says the spagetti-OH thing all the time now. It usually implies a sense of urgency. Holly is constantly learning new things it's hard to keep track of them all.

Holly Pictures

Holly is a little Linus.

Stickers are fun.

Like I said...little Linus.

Holly and Daddy.

Holly and all her black bean glory.

Play area at the Olympic Structure Park in Seattle.

Daddy did Holly's hair like Cindy Lu Who.

Holly and Mommy...

...and sippy cup and pig-tails.

Yogurt face.

Linus strikes again.

Holly found Daddy's sweatband and apparently knows how it's worn.

Christmas Eve 'Eve'

I think we're about ready for Christmas. Pretty much all the presents are purchased and wrapped. We've already done our trip to the grocery store. I have cupcakes baking as I type this. Tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve, there's a party at my step-cousin Donnie's house. I guess he recently bought a house in Lake Tapps and it's a good way to throw a house-warming. There will be quite a few of the relatives there including Grandma Claudia and Grandpa Jet. I think my brother and his family will be there too. Hopefully Holly will feel better soon. She's still got that cold lingering from last week and she's pretty annoyed with all the snot. I keep hoping for a giant sneeze just to get it out and over with. Although she loves going out to other places with other kids to play with so much that she probably won't notice the stuffy nose till we get home.