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!!!