a trip to grandma's

We're at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Tomorrow we're throwing a bridal shower for my sister-in-law-to-be (my younger brother is getting married on Memorial Day weekend) so we're here without Daddy for a couple of days (we miss you, Daddy!).

Grandma's house is a whole new world to explore, and LOTS of things to get into! She first discovered the vertical blinds hanging at the sliding glass door in the TV room. She pulled them down within seconds. Now a no-no. Then she discovered the garbage can with the paper shredder on top, and pulled out many tiny pieces of shredded paper. Another no-no (and we had to turn off the shredder so her hand wouldn't get caught!). Next it was the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room. We had to put a chair behind it so she couldn't push it open (Grandma had just had the carpet cleaned in that room and we didn't want her getting wet by going in there). My goodness...I'm realizing how thankful I am that our house is fairly baby proofed!!!

Here are some brief updates:
1)The OT appointment was earlier this week--everything is fine. I'm coming to the conclusion that she's just little.
2)She's sleeping more--instead of 7pm to 7am, she's now sleeping 7pm to 8am or later. Her naps are two hours long or more....where has this sleep been for the last year??? I guess she's recovering from all of this new discovery that she's doing!
3)She's eating better. Still picky....likes yogurt one day, turns her head from it the next, but I think part of it is also just her toddler independence starting to peek through.

Okay, off to do some exploring at Grandma's house!

to the zoo

EDITED TO ADD PICTURES:

If you know either my husband or me, you know that we're definitely NOT animal lovers. It's something we agreed on very early on in our relationship--we wouldn't go to the zoo on a date, and we would never have a pet.

But we decided that we can't deprive our little girl of the chance to love animals if she wants to, so we should take her to the zoo. Today was a gorgeous day so we decided to enjoy it outside together and we went! It had been forever for either of us to set foot in a zoo. My early Mother's Day present was a family membership, so now we can go anytime in the next year. We figured it would be a nice thing to do as a family sometimes on the weekends, or I can go with a friend and our little ones during the week sometimes.

Well, of course, everyone in the city decided to go to the zoo today, too, because it was such a beautiful day, so we did a lot of waiting--wait to get in the parking lot, wait in line to buy the membership, wait to get in, wait to see the animals, wait to get out of the parking lot.....BUT, we had a good time. Our little one enjoyed being outside and especially loved it when we'd take her out of the stroller and let her walk around awhile. She found every stone, stick, and leaf on the ground and taste tested them.

We saw elephants, a lepoard, a lion, penguins, flamingos, a rhino, some monkeys, lots of fish....she like the fish because she could actually see them moving....the other ones were either sleeping or too far away for her to see. We sat and watched the carousel and she clapped her hands while listening to the fun music.

food fights

Every meal seems to result in a food fight...but not in the traditional sense of the word. She's not eating, so the fight is to get her to eat...and to find something she's willing to eat. It's become very stressful for her mother, who wants very much for her daughter to be healthy and to gain some weight. Every meal I sit in hope that she'll eat the whole...whatever it is...whole piece of cheese, whole graham cracker, whole dish of applesauce, etc. Rarely does it happen.

At her doctor appointment last week she had dropped to the 5th percentile for weight. I keep trying to tell myself that someone has to be in the 5th percentile, and that she's happy and developmentally doing well, so her weight isn't a huge problem, but I still stress about it all of the time, particularly at meal time when she eats a few bites, fusses, and declares, "Ah dah!" (baby speak for "All Done!"--the only two words she can say!)

The doctor is sending us to an occupational therapist to try and help her. I'm not quite sure what she'll do, but I'm supposed to take food with me that she likes to eat and food that she won't eat, plus utensils, bottles, sippy cups, etc. She's going to evaluate her eating and then give me some tips on how to get her to eat better. I'm willing to try anything. Eating has been a battle since day one, when I couldn't get her to nurse for days. If anyone can help me, I say, bring it on!!! I'm getting tired of this battle. We go next week.

sippy success!

Some of you know that for months now I've been trying to get her to drink from a sippy cup, without success. I have almost every type of sippy cup there is...all except for one, which I finally bought yesterday. AND IT WORKED!!! I SO wish I had bought it months ago, but they're expensive and you have to buy a pack of two. Since I didn't know if she'd drink out of it or not, I didn't want to spend the money or get two of them, but yesterday I broke down and did it. They're the Avent Magic Cups, or something like that. The tips fit into her Avent bottles that she's always used, so I gave her a bottle of formula with that tip instead, and since she was really hungry, recognized the bottle, and wanted her milk, she was willing to make the effort to drink from a different type of tip. She did great!

Today I just gave her the regular cup, not attached to her bottle this time. It had water in it, and she drank it like a pro!

Who knew it could be this easy with the right cup???

then and now

I meant to put this in the birthday post, but I forgot.

April 9, 2006

April 9, 2007

What a difference a year makes, huh?

the birthday girl!!

Yesterday was her big day....It was a fun but busy day. When she woke up in the morning Mommy and Daddy both went in and started singing "Happy Birthday." She didn't know quite what to make of it--she was crying because she wanted her bottle and didn't appreciate our musical talents. But she cheered up and had a happy day. Here she is posing in her monthly birthday chair pose, but this time she got to wear a crown (it says "fun to be 1") and a button that says, "I'm one year old today."

Grandma and Grandpa (Mommy's parents) came in the morning and Grandma helped Mommy get ready for the party. Here are the decorations and the cakes I made. She loved her balloons!

Granny and Papa (Daddy's parents) came later in the day with cousin Ashley and they played awhile. Around 5:00 two of Daddy's sisters came with more cousins and the party began. We had dinner, then cake, ice cream, and presents. She liked hearing us all sing happy birthday to her! She wouldn't keep her crown on, though, so that's Mommy's hand trying to keep it on in the picture.She had a little cake of her own and she dug right in. It was pretty funny to watch. After awhile, though, she finally had enough and started rubbing the icing in her hair!

She had no interest in her presents--just the ribbons on the packages. So Mommy unwrapped them all! Every once in awhile she'd come over and look and play with something, but she always went back to the ribbons!

She was such a good girl and even though she was up well past her bedtime, she was smiley, playful, and having a good time. It was exhausting, but a fun day. I can't believe our little girl is one.

happy easter

Here are some shots of Easter morning. She enjoyed her basket--especially the maracas. Her Easter basket has been Mommy's Easter basket her whole life, so it's nice to continue the tradition. She was an angel in the nursery, the ladies said--quite a change from the usual separation tears for the last month or two.

goodnight moon

Goodnight moon is her favorite book. How do I know? She brings it to me every night before bed. I even hid it behind some other books to see what she'd do. She found it and brought it anyway! Smart girl, huh? I guess maybe she's ready to turn one....



...But that doesn't mean I'm ready for it. I can't believe that in four days she'll be a year old. Where has the year gone? Where has my tiny baby gone? She's every inch a toddler now. Every stage is fun, but I am already nostalgic for her infanthood.



Today was picture day for her birthday. I know it's four days early, but I figured with Easter coming up this weekend, it would be really busy with people getting their kids' pictures taken. I wanted to avoid that. The whole day was centered around making sure she was happy and ready for her 11:00 photo shoot. It didn't work very well. She has a bit of a cold, so she was fairly fussy, clingy, whiny, and not very smiley. But actually, that made my decision much easier! I didn't want to give into temptation and buy more than the package I had already planned on, and this made it easy! There was only one picture with a really good smile, so that's what I got, and I wasn't tempted at all to get anything else. Hmm....maybe I shouldn't worry so much about making her so happy on picture days after all!? Anyway, here is the result. Sorry for the white space around it....it has to do with the size of the picture and the size of my scanner, but I don't know how to fix it.

we all scream for ice cream

It may only be spring, but we've had a few days of summer weather. On one of those days we decided to make a trip to DQ for our almost one year old's first ice cream cone. Here are the yummy, but very messy results!

these shoes were made for walking

She finally has some walking shoes that fit. I first tried the inexpensive route of finding a really nice pair at a consignment store. They were so cute, but her feet were just too thick to fit in them. Then I went to Stride Rite and had her sized and she tried some on, but I couldn't bring myself to pay their prices when she'll grow out of them in a couple of months. So I shopped on ebay and found the exact same shoes she tried on, brand new, for a third of the price!

They finally arrived yesterday and she's wearing them today. She doesn't quite know what to make of these big things on her feet. She's lifting her feet really high off the ground, almost like marching. It's really funny, but she's walking more normally as the morning goes on, so hopefully she's getting used to them.

spring has sprung!

And to honor the first day of spring, here she is....Miss Cotton Tail herself:

I know it's a little early for Easter, but her overalls have little bunnies on them, and I knew if she didn't start wearing them soon she wouldn't be able to wear them, since Easter will be here soon, so what better day to don the bunnies than the first day of Spring!? And once the bunny overalls were on, I couldn't resist trying on the bunny ears, too.....

I know, 12 years from now she'll be looking at these pictures saying, "Mom, what did you make me wear???" Oh well. She can't voice her opinion yet, so until then, I'll dress her to make me happy! :)

We had great weather today to inaugurate the new season. It looked kind of iffy this morning, but as the day went on it got brighter and eventually the sun came out and it was at least 70 degrees! We ate dinner outside on our deck (where our little one tried to eat leaves from the bushes for her dinner) and she got to swing in her swing some more.

more outdoor adventures

I thought Sunday was beautiful...well, today is even better! Not only is it sunny and gorgeous, it's SEVENTY FOUR DEGREES!!!! My parents are in North Carolina visiting my brother and his family, and I was a little jealous that they get to enjoy the warm weather, but not anymore! We have our own North Carolina right here today!

So because it's so nice we went outside again...several times. First we went out to get the mail. I sat on the front step to read it in the sunshine and she sat down on the sidewalk at my feet and played with the things she found on the ground--leaves, pebbles, dirt...whatever she saw. I only had to say "yucky" twice this time! Mostly she just played with them. When she decided to crawl to the flower bed and get dirt on her hands, I decided it was time to go in.

A little bit later we went out to the swingset in the back yard. The last few times she's been in it she hasn't been sure she likes it, but today she loved it. She was in it for about a half hour, just looking around, listening to airplanes, birds, cars driving by, and finding our shadows on the ground and talking to them. She liked that part best, I think. Toward the end her eyes started getting heavy and I could tell it was close to nap time, so we went in.

After naptime we went for a walk with the stroller. I put her new spring hat on and tried to get her to wear her sunglasses....no such luck. She couldn't wait to pull them off and chew on them. But it was quite funny to watch!


What are these things, Mommy?

I don't think I like them.....

But hmmm....they're fun to play with and chew on....

...but I think I like it just like this instead...just my pretty face!

Oh yes, she has an ear infection...we went to the doctor yesterday. I'm glad I took her in. She hates her medicine, though. I thought all kids were supposed to like the pink stuff??? She can't stand it, so the battle to take it twice a day for the next 9 days will not be my favorite part of the day. Yuck.

a whole new world

What a gorgeous day it was yesterday! Sunny, 50ish...beautiful. We all three went for a walk around the neighborhood. She loved it--just looking all around, "talking," and leaning back in her stroller, relaxing, enjoying the ride. She loves being outside, and I think the added motion of the stroller just made it even better. She hasn't been for a real walk outside since last fall when she was still rather little, so I'm sure it seemed like a new experience for her.

After we got back home we didn't want to go inside just yet, so we took her out of her stroller and let her experience walking outside for the first time. She didn't have her walking shoes on, but the sidewalk was dry, so I figured it would be okay for a little bit. She discovered a whole new world of rocks, dead grass, leaves, and holes in the pavement.

And as part of discovery, of course, she wanted to eat everything she encountered. Oh boy, we've got our work cut out for us now! "Yucky!" I must've said about 50 times, as I swiped something out of her hand as it was headed for her mouth. It was a fun afternoon watching her explore.

Sadly, I think she's sick again. I'm going to call the doctor when the open in a few minutes and see if they'll see her. Another cold and possible ear infection--that's why I want her to be checked. She's been rather fussy, which isn't like her.

So the World of Weed (and daughter) has just gotten bigger to include outdoors. I'm so glad--I've been having cabin fever for a month or so now, and can't wait to get back outside in the sunshine.

Oh, and here are a couple of pictures from her 11 month birthday on Friday. I can't believe her real birthday is only a few weeks away! What a grown up girl!!!

a new look

I finally updated to the newer version of my blog, and in doing so, I made some changes. I hope you like the makeover!

We have a bonafide toddler in the house now! She's literally "toddling" all over the place now, holding onto things less and less and walking on her own more and more. This morning she saw a toy on the floor that she wanted, walked over to it, bent over and picked it up, and stood back up and continued on across the room. What a big girl. What happened to my little baby girl?

a walk around the room

She started walking on Monday and already she's tearing around the house. Well, tearing probably isn't quite right....stumbling is more like it. But she's really taken off and is becoming more and more brave. Yesterday was the first time she went after something besides Mommy or Daddy. She saw her snowsuit across the room (that pink thing on the floor...lazy Mommy didn't put it away) and wanted to get it. She made it all the way across the room and only stopped walking because she bent down to get the snowsuit.

Later she saw her toys across the room and headed toward those. She seems to do better when she has something in her hands/mouth. Otherwise she has to think about it more.... "Hmmm...do I really want to make the effort? Is it worth falling down?" she seems to ask herself. With something in her hands she's too busy thinking about that to contemplate the risks involved! (She's a pretty advanced almost 11 month old, isn't she to be contemplating ANYTHING?) Here she is coming toward Mommy, block in hand.

guess who's walking???

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's true! That's my girl!!

And just like when she crawled, she did it first for Daddy while I wasn't home! BUMMER!! What's up with her? She's with me all day long every day, cries for me all the time if she's not within sight of me, and then she walks for Daddy???? Silly girl. Maybe she's a daddy's girl after all.

But anyway, first she walked to him, then she crawled up the entire flight of stairs. When I got home (I was getting my driver's license renewed and I didn't even have to wait in line! Woo hoo!) she did it for me and we were able to get it on video. She went back and forth, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy... and then she had had enough, I guess. Walking's over for the day.

wearing a dress again!

So last week it was so fun to put her in a dress that I decided to do it again this week, even though it was cold. I just put her snow suit on over it and she was toasty warm (I think!). Here she is this morning.









When she wakes up she is usually SUCH a happy girl and has the reddest cheeks. Lately her right cheek has been chapped, either from the dry cold or the fact that she rubs her face on her blanket a million times before she goes to sleep, so that makes that side especially red. A couple of days ago when she got up from her nap she was just as happy as can be and I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures.

I don't think I have any other exciting news to report. Oh, I finished my cake decorating class and at the last class we learned how to make roses. I wasn't especially looking forward to the task, since the week before we had tried a little bit and my super stiff icing was like clay, trying to squeeze it out. It was awful. This week I purposely made my icing a little thinner (even though we weren't supposed to), and it worked wonders! I learned the roses pretty easily. My cake, on the other hand, left much to be desired. I used a different icing recipe to ice the cake, and it was way too soft (I only used butter instead of half butter, half Crisco, like the class recommends) and it allowed way too many crumbs to come up and show through. It tastes delicious, though, so that's all that counts, right? It's an applesauce spice cake with cinnamon buttercream icing. Anyway, I will only show you the roses....I'm too embarassed to show the rest of the terrible icing job!!!

Oh wait! I remembered something exciting!! She learned to wave this week! Everytime Daddy leaves to go to work he waves at her and we try to get her to wave back. Finally on Wednesday she figured it out. It's so cute I can hardly stand it. She waves her whole arm....sometimes both arms!

That's what's up in my world these days.

wearing a dress

It doesn't happen very often that she wears a dress, since it's been so cold, but today it was warmer so she wore one to church. I just had to take pictures and show you all...just because I love to play dress up with her! She had on little black patent leather shoes, too, but those came off for her nap and didn't make it on again for the picture. Oh well....

Look! She's standing by herself!


Did I write that she has yet another tooth? It's number 5. She's still sleeping through the night, too, which is the most exciting news of the century for her sleep deprived mommy. Of course, I'm having trouble going to sleep at night, so I'm still not getting as much sleep as I'd like, but at least it's not her causing it anymore. She's doing her part of the dutiful daughter and getting the sleep she needs and allowing me to get mine...now if I could just keep my mind from churning and turn it off at 10 pm and go to sleep.

a piece of cake

Well, a whole cake, really. This is the cake I decorated tonight. It tastes much better than last week's. It's chocolate, and I don't even like chocolate cake, normally! I've been using this cookbook called "The Cake Mix Doctor." It uses a box cake as your base, but you add lots of other things to it to make it seem more homemade. The white cake was kind of dry. This chocolate one is really moist and dense and good. Anyway, this week we learned how to do the shell border you usually see around cakes you buy that are already decorated and how to make some different kinds of flowers.

Not much else to tell you about, except that she's been sleeping through the night again! Hooray!! Last night was an exception, but for the most part she's sleeping from 7 pm until 6:00 or 6:30 am!!! It's so nice to sleep all night....I forgot what it felt like.

Her new favorite thing to do is wiggle in her high chair. She looks like she's dancing. I don't know where she got this idea, but she just sits and shakes her head and upper body back and forth like a little dance. It's so cute! She also really enjoys standing up in the bathtub...a habit Daddy and I are trying to break. Clapping is still a favorite pasttime as well, especially to music.

happy valentine's day