Scratch that

After some thought, I decided it would be more appropriate to keep the old blog and the new blog separate.

Here's a link to the new one:

http://www.raindropsonroseswa.blogspot.com

I couldn't find my old background for this blog, which makes me sad.  This one is nice too, though.

So anyways, thanks for following!

(also, happy birthday to meeeee!)

We're here!

Landed last night.

Beginning our permanent residence in the Evergreen State.

Trying a new blog title on for size...

[the inspiration]

In honor of Hollie's birthday...

...a video of Blake (hey, she's eight months today!).  Oh, but Hollie's in there too.

I have absolutely no idea what Hollie is singing, but I really wish I did because I heard "mommy" in there a few times.

Needless to day, we've been busy busy busy.  Hollie's birthday festivities consisted of a store-bought cake and a trip to the zoo.  For snacks at the zoo, we had odds and ends (we're in clean-out-the-pantry mode).  The cake, however, was a frozen custard cake (like an ice cream cake, BUT AWESOME).  

Her only presents were from my dad, because we'd ordered her presents online and shipped to Lake Charles, based on the original plan to celebrate her big day there (which obviously didn't happen*).

Thankfully, that all turned out to be more than enough. <3

*There is a new plan to drive down later this week, after the movers have loaded all our stuff.

They arrive in roughly 36 hours, and on that note...I gotta go!

You know you just need to be quiet when...

...you're making conversation while she's sitting on the potty, deciding her what she wants to do when she's done, and she follows it up with, "As soon as you're done talking."

...or when you're humming along with "The Sound of Music" soundtrack, and she says, "shhhh, Mommy, let her sing it."

And, you know the realtor's coming by in the afternoon to take pictures of your house and you're nearing the end of frantic two-day cleaning spree when (and you know you have the daughter of an engineer when)...

...she uses Legos to build a rough replica of  "your 'pray [spray] bottle, Mommy!"

It worked this time

New video added to the last post...

Crawling!

Yup, she's getting stronger and faster every day.  It's still not a true hands-and-knees crawl...she uses her feet, as you'll see (toward the end, around 3:45).

Also in this video, between 3:00 and 3:30, you can clearly see that her left eye is brown and her right eye is bright blue.  So cool!

I love how she struggles to get "over" the hoop.

Aren't I such a mean mom, moving the toy away from her over and over?  Had to get video of her moving though!  If she's got something to play with, she will just sit for a looong time, and I wanted to get the video done while Hollie was napping.  So, "mean mom" had to make it happen.

Great video of her laughing...at me, not Hollie!  Yesss!  Well, at the camera at least, but I'll take it.

She's trying to pull up on things already (unsuccessfully).  Girl's got muscles.  We were looking at this picture yesterday:

...and after we both were shocked to see that she was ever that small, Daniel commented that, "This Blake could probably eat that Blake."

Speaking of eating - Favorites: peas, carrots.  So-so: rice, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes.  Not liking: bananas.  The way Hollie goes through bananas, it's so weird to think of a kid not liking bananas!  I'm sure when she can squish them in her fingers she'll like them a lot more.

Commence funny food pictures:

Yes, she played with her ear while eating peas.  She went right in the bath tub after this!

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In other news...

Things are coming together for the move!  Our offer on the house was accepted, but because it's a short sale, the price has to be approved by the seller's bank.  Long story short, we might not close until sometime in April, so we'll be in temporary housing (provided in the relo package) for a while.

Excited!  Nervous!  Panicking!  But excited!

Christmas - better late than never?

This was the first year that we told Hollie about Santa and reindeer and all that.  It needed quite a lot of explaining, many many times.  I kept thinking she'd got it, and then she'd ask something like, "Mommy, when is Santa going to bring our tree?" so finally I made her a little book outlining the whole deal, and soon she could practically read it herself.

When Christmas eve rolled around, we decided, after some deliberation, not to tell her that it was Christmas eve.  Bedtime is tough enough as it is.

Daniel and I were up til about 3am - wrapping the last few gifts, filling the stockings, putting out a plate with some crumbs and a glass with a little milk, writing out a little note in silver sharpie.  When she came to get me in the morning (she always comes straight to our room when she wakes up), I took her out to the living room and said, "Wow, Hollie, I think Santa brought us some presents!"

Her reaction: priceless.

'There's a whole bunch."

With about as little enthusiasm as you can imagine.  Just stating a fact.

I turned her attention to the note, the cookie crumbs, and the glass.
No big deal.  Whatever, Mom.

Tried the stockings next.  In hers, she found a package of new underwear.  That got a smile.  Next, a little box of Goldfish crackers.  That got a BIG smile, and she ran to show them to Daddy, who was just joining us.  Then she was into it, and went from there.

As she opened each toy, she had to examine it, explain to us what it was.  The first one she came to (because it wasn't wrapped) was a small rocking chair.  She sat down and said, "I can rock my babies when they cry!".  Then she unwrapped a big Clifford stuffed animal and said, "I think he says ruff!"

It took literally hours.  And that is not a reflection of the number of gifts, just the fact that we spent a half hour with each one before we moved on.  Not complaining!  It was awesome.  Christmas is my favorite holiday, and the past few years, every Christmas has been better than the last.  Can't wait for the next one.  :)

Also, a favorite gift...matching PJs!!!

Oy vey.

Just before Hollie fell asleep for her afternoon nap today, we had this sleepy conversation:

Hollie: Are you my mommy?
Me: Yes.

Hollie: Are you Blake's mommy?
Me: Yes.

Hollie: Are you Daddy's mommy?
Me: No, Daddy and I are married. [this has been a topic of discussion lately, as we have a book that mentions honeymoons, hence her next question...]

Hollie: Did you get married on your honeymoon?
Me: No, we had a honeymoon right after we got married.

Hollie: Are you still married?
Me: Yes, we love each other!

Hollie: When are you going to be un-married? [don't know where this came from...it is not a topic of discussion!]
Me: Well, we're going to be married forever.

Hollie: Uh-oh.

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And, some old news:

This happened last month...

Hollie's first DIY haircut.

Hi again.

So much to say!

We're going to need a new name for this blog.  Something about rain, or hippies, or coffee, maybe.

That's right, we're making our return to the great northwest.  It's been in the works for some time now.  Back in July, when we were in Mukilteo, Daniel applied for a few jobs, just for kicks.  Never heard anything until a few months ago, and then within weeks he interviewed for, and accepted, a great job!  Start date is mid-March.

So now we're in the midst of planning our move.  Just put in an offer on a house, and in a few weeks we taking a quick weekend trip up so we can see it.  That's the order we're supposed to that in, right?

Hollie's very excited about it, and often asks, "Are we going to Mukilteo today?"  [We're not actually going to be living in Mukilteo (that's mucho $$$), but Hollie isn't much interested in saying "Lake Stevens" yet.  She will be when we get there, I think.]  Sometimes she gets a little nervous - usually whenever we leave the house after dark - asking where we're going, if we're going to a hotel, or where her bed is.  Breaks my heart.  Believe me though, she is excited to go back.

Real quick...Blake had her 6-month check up...ummm...about a month ago.
18 lbs (85th percentile)
25.5 inches (40th percentile)

She can go from sitting to hands-and-knees, and back to sitting.  Still no crawl.  It's coming soon, though.    The strength is there, no doubt about that, but the coordination?  Not so much.  Exhibit A:

I took that video about a week and a half ago.  She's progressed now to a beginning "army" crawl, with enormous effort.  It goes like this: move one arm, move other arm, drag legs, collapse, rest, regroup, one arm, other arm, drag legs...for about four more cycles before she's had enough.

Also, I love her babbling.  She's recently started saying something like habla-habla-habla...she's already working on her Spanish!  She's also started saying dadadada.  So cute.  Also schreeching, but happy screeching.

Anyways, strong baby!  Exhibit B (dog wrestling):

Blake is laughing at Hollie here.  Not Mommy.  Mommy can get a chuckle, sometimes.  Hollie gets the belly laughs, regularly.

Yesterday, we had our first of, I foresee, many similar incidents.  We occasionally clip coupons, and Hollie loves to look at them with me, so when they expire I let her keep them.  She had left one out on the floor, and Blake wormed her way over to it and started to chew it.  Hollie hadn't seen it yet but was headed in her direction, so I just waited to see how the scene would play out.  Two seconds later when Hollie saw Little Sister making goopy shreds of the coupon, she threw herself on the floor and wailed.  I swooped in to calm her down and deliver The Lesson: She can move now, so we're going to have to be careful not to leave things  on the floor.  She understood, but I know it will be a while before she really remembers.  In any case I was really really really glad to see that she didn't react violently toward Blake.

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We have been thoroughly enjoying our unseasonably warm winter (well, most of us).  As you can see:

I didn't realize until later what she was saying...
"...a different name of Grandma..." - Mom, I have no idea what that means!
"...Lizzy Bruin's face..." - This is a relatively minor character character in Hollie's most favorite series of books: The Berenstain Bears.  Lizzy Bruin is also Hollie's "best friend" - Hollie's calls her on the phone, looks for her outside, and wonders where she lives and when we're going to visit her.  No joke.
"...Jewel's face..." - Another book character.  We need more friends.

I think she makes herself perfectly clear in that one.  :)

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More later!

Don't worry...

...we're alive.

I've been making a more conscious effort to reduce my [computer] screen time during the day when the kids are awake.  I was getting into the bad habit of spending too much time online - facebooking, catching up on blogs, etc. - and leaving the kids to themselves - much too often at moments when I needed a break...but the girls needed me.  Not good.  So I'm finding other times and ways to recharge, and kind of quit cold-turkey here.  Sorry, I guess I could have warned you.  It did me/us immeasurable good.

A quick catch-up post...

Where did we leave off...before T-giving?  Yikes.  Might have to do this in parts.

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Daniel's parents, Abuelita (still Lipa...I have a feeling that's going to stick) and Pepere, came to see us for Thanksgiving, and as always it was fun sharing the kids with them.  :)  We continued our effort of the last few years to have healthier holiday meals in more realistic portions (e.g.- less leftover).  Hence, our crust-less, slightly sweetened pumpkin pie in personal-sized bowls:

The chocolate chips?  My valiant effort to un-healthify my portion.  :)

Have I mentioned that the girls are sharing a room now?  This was their first night together (back in November).

(Excuse the mess)

Also in November, we finally got Blake into her cloth diapers!

Look at that grin :)

Blake laughs up a storm, but rarely for anyone but Big Sister!  Sisterly love, lemme tell ya.  Blake is getting stable enough while sitting that she can reach out and grab Hollie's sleeve (or whatever she can reach) and Hollie just gets a kick out of that.  Hollie smothers her with hugs and kisses, and Blake just laughs and laughs, so my reminders of "Hollie, be gentle!" go ignored.  

Try being mad at these faces, though...

Yes, you got that right - Blake is sitting up really well!  She wants to crawl, too...she tries so hard!  Exhibit A:

Lately she has been getting all the way up on her hands and knees, but just can't get the forward motion going.  She can scoot backward on her tummy, something Hollie never did.  Pretty quick, too!  We're always having to pull her out from under chairs and tables, and she's always surprising us with the places she ends up in.  Of course, this is really messing with her sleep.  People warn you about those sleepless nights with your newborn, but they never tell you about the sleepless nights with your six-month-old-learning-to-crawl.

Blake had her first rice cereal a few weeks ago.  We took some great video, but it's long, so we might edit it down a bit before we post it.  She gobbled it up!  We've tried banana and sweet potato as well, but she didn't seem to like them as much.  I suspect she will be like her sister, and enjoy eating much more when she can hold solid pieces in her hands.

She also found her toes...

...and has hardly let go of them since, and it's making diaper changes very difficult.

Hollie is using the big potty!  I miss cleaning out that little bowl in her potty chair....NOT.

Have I mentioned Hollie loves to cook?  Let me elaborate...
Left the kitchen...accidentally left out the vanilla extract...

Again, try being mad...

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I think that pretty much gets us caught up to this point...with the glaring exception of Christmas.

Our Christmas was wonderful.  Our first Christmas in our house (that we have lived in for over two years!), just the four of us, and the first Christmas that Hollie could really grasp the whole idea of Santa and reindeer and trees and stockings...absolutely magical.  But this post has gone on too long, so I will save all that for next time.

Blake says good bye!

...and good night

 ....and mwahahaha!