Don't get the wrong idea, we haven't given up on cloth diapers. We ran out of covers this afternoon, so Lil was wearing a disposable while we washed them.
I spent much of the weekend cleaning all the windows inside and out and washing all of the screens. This task was way, way overdue. Feels good to have it done!
(Testing the strength of the wire holding the grape vines up). You deemed it strong enough).
Dear Lily,
Yesterday, you turned 11 months old. You've developed a few nicknames, Lily Magoo, Lily Loo, Lily McNilly (and Lil McNill), Peachlet, Porkchop, Punkin' Head and many, many more.
You've been testing the limits a lot these days, getting yourself into trouble. You are investigating every nook and cranny of the house and, unfortunately, finding lots of the asian lady beetles which have found their way into the house. At least once a day we find you picking one off the floor and if we are lucky, we wrestle it away from you before it ends up in your mouth. It is funny because you really don't put much stuff in your mouth, but those beetles are irresistible to you. They smell SO bad, they have to taste just as bad!
Yesterday, you said "da da" for the first time. Today, you've been saying it over and over and over. You even pointed at daddy one time when you said it, so hopefully you understand who da da is.
Other things we want to remember about this age:
-Your third tooth has started to erupt from your gums. You think it is really funny to grind it against your bottom two teeth but it makes mommy and daddy cringe.
-You would spend all day long in the bath if we let you. You go into the bathroom and slap the bathtub and look at us like "'C'mon guys! I want a bath!".
-When on the bed, you love to fall backwards onto your back. You think this is SO funny.
-You climbed all the way to the top of grandma and grandpa's spiral staircase (with mommy protectively hovering over you, of course).
-You've finally gotten back to sleeping through the night again. Yay!!!!!!
-Daddy has been introducing you to venison, but mommy gave you some seitan and you really liked that, too. There is hope for you to be a vegetarian yet!
-You absolutely LOVE pushing things. You pushed the grocery cart all around the supermarket yesterday. People were doing double takes and laughing when they figured out how the cart seemed to be moving all by it's self. You are so tiny, it looks really funny to see you pushing the whole cart full of groceries. You giggle the whole time you are pushing.
-You were scared to death of walking on the grass when we first got you out on it this spring. It has been so snowy and muddy this winter, you had not gotten a chance to walk outside much. Now that it is dry and you've gotten so much better at walking, you've been trying it out. At first, you cried every time we'd set you down on it. I think you just cannot figure out the grass. Your feet are used to carpet, linoleum and wood floors.
Here is a little video of you pretending to be Gretel (from Hansel and Gretel). Chloe likes it when you do this.
Lily was pretty intrigued by the darkness. She toddled around from room to room, giggling up a storm. It was after her bedtime, so after awhile, Corey rocked her to sleep and I proceeded with folded the laundry.
I found out one day too late about the Bloomington Egg Scramble. It is an egg hunt for adults with thousands of eggs filled with candy and really cool prizes from local businesses. Unfortunately, when I called yesterday they were all booked up. Darn it!! Next year!!!
One thing I will NOT be missing is Earth Hour. Please join me and others around the world tomorrow night at 8:30 pm when we make a stand against climate change.
My watch is set. Is yours?
If you do join me, afterward, please post what you did during Earth Hour in the comments below.
We planted these daffodils at each fence post in front of the house and along the stairs to the mailbox two summers ago. Last spring we had only a few blooms, but this year, they are going strong.
I currently have 25 of my images up for sale at Getty Images. Getty chooses the images that they want to add to their collection of stock photography, and then the public can purchase rights to use these images for all different kinds of media. Getty takes a pretty big cut of the sale, but depending on the size of the image, as well as the exclusivity the buyer would like, it can be a fairly easy way to make some dough from photos that otherwise would gather dust on my hard drive. From what I've heard, it usually takes about 6 months for your images to start selling. It has been 5 months and I just made my first sale. The shot that sold was this one I made for Leap Day 2 years ago. Funny, huh? It sold for commercial web use in the beauty / personal care industry.
"Pardon me, can you tell me where I might find the CHEEEEEEEEEEESE?"
This smile is so fake. She was being really crabby so her daddy tried to get her to laugh and this is what she did for about three seconds before continuing on with the crankiness.
Last night, Lily took FOREVER to fall asleep, she kept fighting and fighting it. When she finally fell asleep, she slept like a log. Corey and I slept quite soundly too, as we'd had a pretty exciting weekend - his family was visiting and I went to a really fun "green girls night" at a friend's house (it was an Eco St. Patricks Day party).
First, I need to mention that Lily's crib is right beside our bed. Corey and I take turns sleeping on her side of the bed and when it is your night, you get to do the late night pacifier popping or bottle making. Anyhoo, I was peacefully slumbering on my back when at 4:45 am, my eyes open and in the darkness I can just barely make out her round little face peering down at me from above. Her pacifier was in her mouth and she was standing in her crib, face directly above mine, looking at me. How sweet is that? I gave her a bottle and got her back down so her daddy could get more sleep while I got ready for work.
Corey told me that she never woke. He gently picked her up and while he was changing her diaper, her eyes stayed shut and she was holding onto toes softly uttering "uh-oh.....uh-oh......uh-oh".
I have been going back through my old emails and printing off all of the sweet emails we got from friends, family and total strangers when Lily first came into our lives. I want to save them so I can read them to Lily when she is old enough.
I came across this one, it made me teary and then laugh out loud. I have to preface it to say that Jennifer and Jeremy had been with us through the thick and thin of the adoption process. They had delivered a car seat to me at work just in time for us to drive down to North Carolina to meet a birthmother, only for her to change her mind and pick another couple. Living close and having lots of outgrown baby items at their disposal, they were the ones we contacted when we had "maybe babies". They suffered through our disappointments just as we did. They were the ones who drove us to the airport and kept our car while we flew to California for yet another "maybe baby".
Here is the email I received:
"I just got the pictures!! She's beautiful! You two look radiant holding her. She is right where she belongs, with her MOM & DAD!! When I saw the pics, it just hit me like a ton of bricks, so happy and somewhat relieved, will be totally relieved when you all are home with her. Glad no one is here (I'm at work) to see me blubbering like fool! Whoooooopeeeeeeeee!
BTW - the Prius does great burnouts! ;)
Jennifer".
Jennifer and I think way too much alike. Case in point: this post on her blog.
So, I have been a pretty terrible blogger lately. For the past week + my laptop has been dead. I got a new hard drive installed on Saturday (thank you super duper Apple Genius Bar technicians who installed it in 40 minutes while I waited!). All is now right with the world.
Last week was also what I refer to as my yearly "Hell Week" where I have 4 different night meetings in one week. Yuck!
Lily is getting to be a pro at walking. Just yesterday she was amazing us with her fearless abilities to walk all around the house. She walked all the way from the couch into the kitchen where I was washing dishes!
To mark the occasion, I went to Once Upon A Child and bought her some real big girl tennis shoes for walking outside. They are really cute and the brand name is "Teeny Toes" which is what I always call her.
As promised, here are a few videos from recent days:
Her favorite (and only) word...
And for your listening pleasure, Lily's beautiful music...
My man is making maple syrup. I have to admit, I was against this, wanting to wait until next year when Lily would be a little older and a bit more self sufficient. But being hard headed, he didn't listen.
It actually hasn't been as difficult as I remember from making maple syrup when I was a kid. Maybe that is because when I was little, we had to hike quite a ways to get to the trees we tapped and we had to haul the big buckets of sap over a fence. Corey tapped the ones right here in the yard so he hardly has to haul it at all. He has been boiling down the sap in record time. Tonight's batch took only about 4 hours total, 3 hours on the fire and 1 hour on the stove to finish it off. My computer is on the fritz but Corey took these cell phone shots of the boiling process and the finished product.
Just your typical Indiana girl who loves her kid, her husband, photography, the great outdoors, cooking and crafting (knitting, spinning, sewing and pretty much anything else old ladies do). These are my ramblings.
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