Thursday, November 11, 2010

Can I use the same excuse as last time?

We've been busy?

Daniel has been having a crazy time at work (he had to work this past weekend, and one day earlier this week he worked like eleven hours).

So, if I were to fill you in on life, it would be the little things like...

...Hollie's new fascination with armpits.

...Hollie's unwavering conviction that if her teeth have to get brushed at bedtime, so do Mommy's.

...Hollie chasing the ducks at the park yelling, "Quack-quack-quack!" and doing the sign for "duck" with both hands.

...Hollie moving all of her dinner from her plate to the table, smiling, and signing "all done".

...Hollie bringing me her cup to hold while she drinks out of it.

...Our new hole in the basement ceiling.  The ceiling (which we put up ourselves just a few months ago) was sagging a little, so rather than wait a few years until it's sagging a lot and there's furniture and stuff in there, Daniel decided to just fix it now...by removing a big ol' chunk, installing reinforcements, and putting it back up.

A work in progress

...The new Panda Express, the first in Wichita, will be opening right near our house.  That's one of those places we miss from Arizona.  Bye-bye, healthy eating.  :(

...Hollie's growing vocabulary.  She says doggie really well, and she sometimes calls me Mommy (which came out of the blue...I didn't teach her that!), and also
    shoes - shoosh
    juice - 'oosh
    snack - 'nack
    cheese - random consonant followed by -eesh
No sentences yet.  And she still just babbles a lot.   Even with all the new words she's learning I still only understand about 2% of what she says. 

...Hollie tempting fate and raising Mommy's heart rate by learning to jump on her bed. 

...Mommy-daughter dance parties.

...Hollie laying a diaper out on the floor, sitting on it, and trying to put it on herself.

...Hollie pulling her arm into the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt and saying "Uh-oh!"

...Hollie locking the bathroom door from the inside.  She wasn't inside herself (thank goodness), which makes it all the more baffling because that door swings inward, so she had to pull it closed from the outside.  Never would have thought she could do that.  Then the next day she does it again with her bedroom door.

--------------------------------

I think there may have been one or two things in there that didn't have to do with her.  That's good, right?

Not to mention, we just got back from a trip to see my family in Phoenix for our ASU homecoming game, and also Halloween!

Daniel and I were in the ASU marching band (that's how we met! Cue: awww), so along with 100 or so other band alums we participated in the pregame show alongside the current band.  Always a good time.  Getting free tickets to the game doesn't hurt either, even if they are nose-bleeds and we're technically "on the clock" and have to play occasionally throughout the game.

Hollie-bear tagged along to the rehearsal...

She's checking out my mellophone (Daniel played trombone).

Also, as I mentioned, Halloween!  Hollie was a ballerina.  It was the only thing we could do without buying anything (even though I ended up buying some ballet shoes) and also because she loves wearing this tutu that she got from Daniel's parents for her birthday (eight-ish months ago?  Can't believe it still fits), so we didn't have to worry about her taking it off.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures except these, of her eating dinner and faithful old Duke waiting patiently for the inevitable fistfuls of broccoli to come down at his feet.   


I do have some other great photos that I've taken since we've been back, but this post has gotten too long already, so I'll get those up later.  Hopefully this week.

Happy Friday-eve!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

The tables are turned

This afternoon I was lying on the floor in Hollie's room, reading her some books, thinking she might be getting sleepy...when I started feeling drowsy myself. 

So I pretended to be asleep. 

She leaned over and gave me some kisses, 

found a stuffed animal and laid it next to me,

and left the room, closing the door behind her,

...and I realized that I had just been put down for a nap.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

New video

So, that was a nice little hiatus.  We haven't even been particularly busy.  Maybe just recovering from a few weeks of being really busy...is that a real excuse?  We just haven't had much going on worth talking about.  Daniel had a major hell-week (or two) at work, and things have since slowed down but he's still catching up on sleep and down-time.

Hollie is still jibber-jabbering away.  She is pronouncing "book" much better.  I love that she refers to herself, and to all her stuffed animals and dolls as "baby".  She gives them kisses and then makes me kiss them too.  She has gotten sooo loving and affectionate.

It is really tough to get good pictures of her these days.  She is always moving.  Really fast.  So I have a bunch of very cute but very blurry pictures.  Now that I've remembered that I have a blog, I might post them all together soon.

In the meantime, a new video.  One morning a few weeks ago I caught Hollie reading a book to herself, and it was so adorable I had to break out the video camera (which I know I need to do more often).  From the moment I turned the viewing window around so that we could see ourselves while filming, it quickly escalated from book-reading, to nose-picking, to camera-grabbing...and, well, you'll see.


When I played back the video for us to watch, Hollie thought it was the coolest thing ever...she signed "more" and demanded

Mo' bebe!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

More "Speaking of..."

I have a few more words to add to the little bear's vocabulary:

Up
'Mote - for the tv remote (this makes me cry a little inside)
Yummy
Cat - sometimes gat! or ack! or even gack!
Nose and toes - hard to tell the difference (both are usually bows or doze)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Speaking of...

...everything.

Hollie's been a little talking machine!  It has happened very gradually, but over a fairly short time (a couple of weeks or so).  The first few were...

Baby - pronounced correctly now (as opposed to then) but with the most unbelievably cute inflection.
More - just mo.  Still accompanied by her sign language.
Bath - her most favorite activity lately, especially since we started using the shower at the end to rinse her hair (the cup of water over the head routine was just not cool).  Pronounced bah or bass.
Uh-oh - when she or anyone else drops something, also adorable (and with spot-on pronunciation)

Some others are...
Plane - she is always on the look-out for planes when we're outside, and there are plenty to see, what with a few aircraft companies plus an air force base practically in our backyard.  Pronounced bay or bane
Birds - always watching for birds too!  Abuelita helped figure this one out...it sounds like bus.
Bye-bye - always with a little wave.  So cute!
Ducks - quack
Eyes -  oz
Belly/belly button, Book, and Bear - all of these are generally just a "b" sound followed by a random syllable.  Hard to distinguish from baby, bath, bird, and bye-bye (I think she likes b words). 

and our favorite...
No - nonononononononono!

I love it!
And I promise to try to get some of these on video soon.

Also, Daniel and I started dating five years ago today.  <3

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Feeling artsy

So, both of Daniel's parents have come and gone.  We already miss them.
:(
We miss the free babysitting.
Hollie misses Abuelita's lotion - perfect for window painting...




[whatcha think, mama?]


 In unrelated news, we got the mirror installed in our newly-themed maroon and gold bathroom in the basement.  It's not all done yet, but here's a sneak peek...

 [ps - go devils]

Saturday, October 2, 2010

'Lita's here!

Geez, has it been two weeks(ish)?  Somebody better talk to the management.

We've been busy.  And sick.  But mostly busy.  Just this past week, when Hollie and I were both on the tail-end of a little viral infection, Abuelita (Daniel's mom) came to town for a visit!


It was so great to see her.  It's been a few months (with one 16-hour exception), and we've been starved for some good extended family time (not to mention a date).

Unfortunately, her week-long stay coincided with a crazy work week for Daniel, so he hardly saw her.  We did get to use an Outback gift certificate that's been burning a hole in our pockets, though.  AND we saw a movie - "Easy A".  It was actually pretty good.  I don't think I'd see it again, but it did surpass my expectations.

So yeah, we were busy.  It's finally cooled off, and the weather is gorgeous.  There was a trip to the zoo (best moment: Hollie coming nose to nose with a meerkat and nearly hyper-ventilating with excitement) and many walks to the park.

These are from Day 1 - Hollie helps Abuelita unpack...


Shortly after Abuelita left, Pepere (Daniel's dad) arrived!  These two...they both really wanted to visit, but their crazy schedules didn't allow them to be here at the same time!  So we settled for seeing one, and then the other.  Whatever works, right?     

More to come!  Stay tuned...