Last Post NaBloPoMo

Everyone,

It's the 30th of November, and so ends my writing every day. I did it! It wasn't too bad, except for those few days without internet. Stupid cable company. But, I had a good time. I may or may not continue to post so regularly. Maybe during the week I will post, but not on the weekends. That was rough. Anyway, I'm hoping to win some sort of prize for this posting. If not, then I will at least have 30 days documented. It has also renewed my desire to write in my paper journal a lot more. Haven't done that since April I believe.

So...pictures! I promised pictures! Here you go. And Butterfly has a new cousin. Phoebe born on the 28th. Juice talked to his mom about it and got all the particulars which is why I have none. Never tell that stuff to men. They don't care to remember. I'm waiting for pictures of this little girl. :)

Safire

Video Wednesday

Everyone,

Now that my internet is up and working (still having some issues with the cable...stupid tv company) I thought I would show off Butterfly a little bit. My mom has been begging for pictures of this little girl, and those will come tomorrow. Today, video!

This first one is her helping us decorate the tree. She is determined to put that ornament on the light. I think Juice moved it after she put it up, but it's still very cute.

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This one is of her trying to put a hair bow on Soot. When I was younger, I used to dress up our old dog all the time. She fit so well into my doll clothes. And I would put her in my back pack and cart her around the house or out on my bike. Let me tell you she didn't like the bike rides. I'm glad that Butterfly and Soot are becoming friends, and that Soot doesn't seem to mind these things too much.

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This last one is of Butterfly and Juice reading her favorite book. This girl loves to read. And she has a few books memorized. She will even point out the word dog if she's in the mood. But this book is one of her favorites. You can see why.

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Safire

Major Melt Down

Everyone,

Last night Butterfly had her first major melt down. Nothing would please her, and she raged probably for 45 minutes. All because I cut up her chicken for dinner. Yes, I am a horrible mother for wanting her to eat chicken in smaller bites. I thought I had the melt down almost stopped when she nodded when I asked if she wanted juice. But then I made the mistake of letting her see me put water in her juice. Melt down ensued. Lava was pouring out of my house to the parking lot outside. Great bursts of ash and soot were raining down on the neighborhood.

She did finally calm down and ate a little more and went to bed early. I was ready to go to bed early. I did.

I had something else to say but my mind has just been numbed by reading Humpty Dumpty 30 times in a row.

Maybe it will come back to me later.

Safire

Butterfly is going to be an engineer

Everyone,

Butterfly loves books. Loves them to the point of having to take them to bed with her. She reads while she eats. She reads all day long. Any other toy will get chucked when a book is offered. Her favorite thing to do is snuggle on you and have you read books over and over. She even has one memorized and will get upset if you read it differently. She also says "No." in all the right places. I have a video of it that will have to wait till our cable comes back. (By the way, I'm posting at my babysitting job...Butterfly is asleep and Miss Long Hair is watching a movie.)

Anyway, so what does books and being an engineer have to do with each other? The other day she found Juice's textbooks on our bookshelf. She pulled them out, flipped through a few and brought me one to read. Modern Compressible Flow. Whatever that means. So she snuggled up on me, turned the pages and starting saying "ohhh....Ohhh...OHHH!!!" It was so cute. I called Juice at work and let him listen to her gush over the equations. He is so proud.

In other news, Juice is off to Chicago this week to do a conference thing. It's going to be a week of take out, girly movies, and facials for me and Butterfly. :) (Maybe not Butterfly on the facial but her mommy could use one.) Tonight's dinner of choice is Chinese. Yum!

Safire

A overheard conversation

Everyone,

Heard this morning before I got up:

Butterfly: "Ohhhhh!!! Teee! Teee!!!"

Juice: "Yeah, that's our Christmas Tree."

Butterfly: "Ohhhhh!!! Teee! Teee!!!"

Juice: "Yeah, that's our Christmas Tree."

Butterfly: "Ohhhhh!!! Teee! Teee!!!"

Juice: "Yeah, that's our Christmas Tree."

Apparently she really really likes the tree. We had the best time putting it up last night. She put on a bunch of ornaments, and was really into it. We put the star on this morning, and she kept saying "Sta! Tee! Sta! Tee!"

Because of the tree, she learned 5 new words. Star, snowman, Santa, angel, and Christmas (which comes out more Musmus.) We have pictures of her hanging ornaments on the tree. When our internet is a little more reliable, I'll post them.

Safire

A Rare Moment

Everyone,

Occasionally our internet does work. It's painfully slow and may go down at any moment, but I actually was able to get this to load.

Butterfly and I have been wrapping Christmas presents all morning. So what if they are all covered in tape and about 10 bows each. We had a ball. :)

Hopefully we'll put up our tree today. And hopefully Butterfly will leave it alone.

Safire

Day 3

Everyone,

Day 3 without internet. Feeling cut off from the world.

Safire

Thanksgiving by the Numbers

Everyone,

My internet is still down, so I am being creative and dictating this post through my Dad in Utah. "Say Hi, Dad." Dad says, "Hi."

Today is Thanksgiving and here is the breakdown of our day.

Number of times Vanessa woke up before 5am this morning: 3
Number of turkeys eaten today at our house: 1/3
Number of items dropped on the floor requiring deep cleaning: 3

• MusicMan dropped a carton of eggs
• I dropped the corn before it was cooked. It covered the kitchen floor.
• Toast was dropped, not all pieces retrieved, remainder ground into breadcrumbs on the kitchen floor requiring 3 sweepings.

Number of blueberries consumed by Butterfly: Huge Heaps
Number of movies watched today because our cable is still out: 2
Number of Nintendo Pool games played by Juice and MusicMan: At least 20
Number of games Juice won: At least 18
Number of times we threw the ball for Soot at the park: 20
Number of times Butterfly fell in the mud at the park: 3
Number of minutes it took to put Butterfly to sleep tonight: Less than 5
Number of minutes it should take for us to fall asleep tonight: Also less than 5

Thanksgiving with family: Priceless

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,

Safire

Reference Section

Everyone,

I am at my local library tonight. Our internet went down. Of course. I thought about doing mobile blogging, but we get no signal for our cell phone at our house. So...not quite sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.

In addition to our internet going out, our cable also went out. The guy who came to fix it today spoke very little English. We had to call our cable company to get someone to translate for us because neither of us could understand each other. It was bad. Now, I have nothing against the Spanish speakers in our country. I applaude them for being here, and for trying hard to learn English. But some people just don't apply themselves. It frustrates me when you need help and you can't understand what anyone is saying.

When I left, both the internet and the cable were still down.

We are having a good time with MusicMan and Angel right now. We were supposed to go to the zoo today, but we had a terrible storm roll in. We briefly considered going downtown to a museaum but that never happened. So we hung out and played video games most of the day. So much fun! Angel of course kicked our butts.

Thanksgiving dinner is also underway. I have made deserts, stuffing, cranberry sauce and appitizers today. Tomorrow is the turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, gravy, and vegtables. Should be a good dinner. I'm excited for it.

Safire

PS- I'm a little distracted because I don't normally blog with so many people around. The guys next to me are meeting girls on myspace...looks stupid.

Another First

Everyone,

Butterfly had another first this morning. She took off her diaper by herself. And since she was only wearing a diaper at the time, we had neeked baby!

Wow, have we already started into the neeked phase? I know she loves to run around in just her diaper but I don't know if I'm ready for her to start taking it off.

Short today because of impending visitors. I'm actually babysitting at my house today to get everything done. Looking forward to some family time with MusicMan though.

Safire

Good idea, bad idea

Everyone,

Good idea: Deciding to make Thanksgiving dinner for your family and guests with an organic turkey.
Bad idea: Having that turkey delivered and the service won't leave it out...you have to be there. Between 9 and 2.

Good idea: Washington DC
Bad idea: Planning the streets before thousands of people moved in and therefore creating a huge messy traffic thing.

Good idea: Picking up the huge crickets that infest our house from time to time and putting them outside.
Bad idea: Letting your toddler hold one. Enough said.

Safire

First day of Nursery

Everyone,

In our church, the kids don't go into nursery until they are 18 months old. Guess who is 18 months? Yep, Butterfly. Last week really should have been her first time, but we were at stake conference (big regional conference). So this week was her first time.

At church, we typically would roam the halls. We would play with the other almost 18 month olds (3 other kids) and try to keep ourselves occupied. She knows where they toys are and has begged to go in there a few times. We've been in maybe twice but she fit right in. She would even sit nicely and wait for her snack with the others.

Today, I asked her if she wanted to go play with her friends and the toys and she nodded very enthusiastically. Toys, yes! Friends, yes! We walked in and she ran to the little teeter totter and started rocking. I stayed in a few minutes to make sure they were all okay, and then slipped out. There are about 7 or 8 kids in her class, only one other girl. Kay is just a week older than Butterfly, and Andrew is a week younger.

I got to listen to Juice's Sunday school lesson for the first time without running after a child. It was weird. Juice is a great teacher. He really loves learning and really wants to share what he knows.

I didn't get to pick Butterfly up from class because of my own class, but I hear she did great. She cried for a few minutes when she realized that we were gone. But she soon got over it and played and ate and had a great time. They even drew pictures. It is SO cute. I hung it on my fridge. Juice asked her what she did in class and she said, "I played!"

She's not a baby anymore.

Safire

Scrub a dub dub

Everyone,

My brother is coming to visit on Tuesday. And my sister in law. I really should make up cool names for him and her like I did for us. And since they haven't made up online names for themselves, I get to pick. Let's see...let's call him MusicMan and her Angel. (Nothing like the Angel in Buffy). :)

I digress. They are coming on Tuesday. Right, already said that. So, because company is coming to stay, the house must be clean. If I learned anything from my childhood, it's the fact that the house must be clean. That and "You spill, you die." Just a family motto for the car.

Today being Saturday and we don't have any plans, we spent the day cleaning. Butterfly woke up at 6:45am! Thank you whoever is in charge of sleep habits for toddlers. It's better than the 5am that has been plaguing us for months. Juice got up with her, vacuumed, and I got up about half an hour later.

He swept, straightened, moved, packed away, went into the attic 4 or 5 times, and played with Butterfly. I sat at the kitchen table, eating my cereal and going through the 6 inch high stack of catalogues I have. I may have looked like I was enjoying myself, but really, I was cleaning.

Let's see, we have also cleaned off the top of our tv (a big deal, I don't think it's been clean since Butterfly's first birthday), did 2 loads of dishes, cleared the clutter from my scrap booking desk, got the guest bed half way set up, and cleaned all bathrooms. Plus, we went for a walk to the post office about a mile from here to get holiday stamps. And to give Soot some exercise.

I still have a few places to straighten up. Like the computer desks and the other table in our kitchen. But it's coming together. Thanks bro, for giving me an excuse to get my house picked up before the holiday season. :)

Please excuse me while I go scrub my kitchen floors. Thank you.

Safire

Infant Study

Everyone,

Today Butterfly and I went to the University of Maryland to participate in an infant study they were doing. The study is run by grad students in the psychology department. They have set up the waiting room with toys, games, diapers, and all sorts of kid friendly stuff. The girls were fun and engaging. I wanted to hire them as my babysitter.

After Butterfly and I played a little bit in the waiting room, we went into a small back room where they had a puppet stage set up. One of the girls was on the 'stage' and they had a curtain and a camera set up. I won't say specifically what were studying (they asked that I not) but they were very good. They wanted her to look at an object and when she looked away for 2 seconds, they put the curtain back up. My baby has a super long attention span. For an 18 month old. It is short at home, but play this game with her and she will stare for minutes at a time. The girls even commented on how long her attention span is. I got bored with the test. She didn't.

It was a really cool experience. I think they will send me the results of the study when they are finished with it. They gave Butterfly a toy to take home, and they will call me if they start a new study. I want to do it again. We both had some fun. I got to learn a few things about baby psychology (they are very visual learners at this age, and will touch everything to connect it in their brains...I never thought about that) and she got to play with a bunch of really nice girls that were focused on them.

Of course, I ended up getting on 495 going the wrong way. I went 10 miles before I realized it, and had to turn around. Of course, it was Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. 10 miles one way was no big deal. 10 miles on the outer loop meant 45 minutes. So I spent 2 hours in the car trying to get home. It wiped me out. But it was worth it.

Next time I'll know to go north instead of south. No trips to Richmond for me.

Safire

Spin class

Everyone,

Last January, like most people, I made a resolution to get in shape. I figured I was healed enough from giving birth to try and loose some of the baby fat. Okay, I really didn't have any baby fat. I actually lost 30 pounds during my pregnancy. Yeah, 30. I was many pounds lighter at my 6 week post baby appointment than I was my first prenatal appointment. Hate me now? Sorry.

Anyway, I wanted to get a little more in shape. Especially since we were going to Hawaii and I wanted to look really good in a bathing suit. So I joined the local Y, and looked at their class schedules. One that kind of stuck out to me was spinning at 6am. I started taking it so Juice could be home with Butterfly and I could get back before he had to be into work.

My first class I thought I was going to die. Seriously, it was so hard! My heart was pounding, my legs were pounding, even my head was pounding. But I was determined. The second class was worse. I could barely make 10 minutes on the bike, let alone 1 hour. My butt was sore, my legs, my abs, everything. I was achy for days.

But then it started to get better. I started to actually be able to do what the teacher asked. I was starting to not be so sore for days. And I started to feel really good. I could tell when I missed a class because I had no energy that week. So I bumped it up to 2 classes a week. The teacher is hysterical, and has really good music. The other class members are a mix between old and young. I think I'm the only one with a small child at home.

Since I started babysitting, I haven't been able to go to my spin class 2 days a week. I just go on Thursday morning. I went today and I am tired. I haven't been for a few weeks, and I'm not going to be able to go for another 2 weeks (Thanksgiving and then Juice is out of town). But I'm so glad I went today. I feel like I can take on the world!

As long as I'm sitting down because we did a lot of dipping below the saddle today and I am SORE.

Safire

Phone calls

Everyone,

Butterfly loves to play with my cell phone. Most of the time, I just turn it off and let her have at it. She will put it up to her ear, and jabber away. Today she was saying "I call!! I call!"
"Who are you calling?"
"Dada! Nana! Gamma!"
I didn't even know she knew Nana or Grandma. You can tell who I talk to on the phone though. :)

When I'm on the phone, she has to pick what ear I have the phone against. And she throws a royal fit if she doesn't get a turn on it. Bad when I'm on the phone to the insurance company or something like that.

The best thing she does with the phone on her turn is giggle uncontrollably. It is SO cute and so much fun for the grandparents. :) I can just imagine what it's going to be like when she is a teenager.

Safire

Butterfly and her thoughts on Thanksgiving

Everyone,

My daughter prays. It's so cute. She will stand at the side of our bed, fold her arms, bury her head in her arms, say "Heavenly Father, thank you. Amen!" (comes out more "Hev Faaaa, tank ooo, men!") It's so so so cute. And such a sweet little prayer. She asks for nothing. This has really struck a chord with me this past week as we come up on Thanksgiving. What am I thankful for?
Juice, I love this guy. :)
Butterfly, what else would I do with my day other than work at a job I don't like? She is my life. She made me the mother I always wanted to be.
Soot, this dog is so funny and cute! She is so obedient, and knows tons of tricks. I like to show her off.
Our house, as much as I dream about our permanent home, this one has been fantastic for us. We kind of fell into it at the perfect time.
Juice's job, they took him in when they really didn't know what to do with him because they paid for his undergrad degree. Since then, they've taught him about monitors, paid for his graduate degree, gives great benefits, and pays us enough to live on. Without his job, we wouldn't even be here.
My Internet connection, I talk to everyone on it. I'd give up cable before I'd give up my Internet connection.
My parents, they listen to me gush about Butterfly all I want, and all the good things parents do. :)
Family, I miss everyone. But I'm glad that I know they are always there for me, no matter what.

It's the little things that make life good. Now when I watch Butterfly scrunch up her little eyes and say tank ooo with gusto, I am reminded to say thank you myself.

Safire

My daughter, the genius

Everyone,

That's right. Butterfly is a genius. Last night, Juice was reading one of her favorite books to her. I've talked about it here before. She carries around this book shouting "Child God! Child God!"

Juice was sitting on our bed, reading the book to her and pointing out things in the pictures. There are lions, elephants, shoes, balls, airplanes, trees, etc. The last picture in the book is of a boy kneeling in front of Jesus with his hands folded. (See it here.) She was pointing at Jesus and naming him, and then at the little boy and calling him Jesus too. Juice was correcting her, saying, "That's the little boy." Butterfly points. "That's Jesus." Butterfly points. "That's the little boy." You get the idea. She finally stopped pointing and stared at the picture for awhile.

She then turns to Juice and says, "Little boy praying with Jesus." I kid you not. Loud and clear Juice heard this. Wow, she is growing up so fast.

Other sentences lately have included: I want to go outside! I want that! I want soup! It's cold! It's for Cinder. I want juice! Dadda at work? Go get Dadda! I want to phone! Ouch it hurts! It hurts ___ (where ever the hurt is). No Mommy other ear! I'm not allowed to talk on the phone with the ear of my choice. She has to choose. Okay then.

I can't believe how fast she is learning to talk. And how big and long and strong she is!

Safire

Word play

Everyone,

I thought this would be interesting on a Sunday afternoon. I found it lurking on another blog. We are doing some word free association here. And what is that? Go HERE to check it out. Until then, my words.

1. Nick :: Santa


2. Focus :: camera


3. Police :: car


4. Miles :: earning


5. Earn :: miles


6. Twice :: baked


7. Razor :: burn


8. Personality :: shot


9. Dumped :: hard


10. Reliable :: remarkable

Don't ask me what the words mean. I just type the first thing I think of. :) I like it, I may do another next week.

In other news, Butterfly slept for 4 hours this afternoon!! This is the first time in a long time I've seen her without bags under her eyes. I sure hope we're done with teething for awhile. It's been a really rough ride.

Safire

It's cold!

Everyone,

Butterfly learned a new phrase today. Check out the video:


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That's Juice cleaning out the car in the back ground. We are getting ready for my brother and sil to come to visit us in a week and a half. As I got around to thinking about things that need to get done before they get here (clean sheets...Mom, you will be horrifed that the sheets are still dirty from our last visitors in May. But I had a good reason for it! They were hiding Christmas presents from Butterfly. I suppose they could have done that just as well clean...)
I figured that Bro and SIL's suitcases wouldn't fit in my car unless I took things out of the trunk. Like the bumper that Juice broke off last year trying to drive over a snow drift. Or the box to the carseat. I also had Juice vaccuum out the 20 lbs of gold fish and cereal we had in the back seat. He found half a banana from yesterday, and half an apple from sometime last month. Maybe? Icky stuff. So thanks Bro for motivating me to clean my car! :)

Juice was so productive today. All I did was watch Butterfly out the window, stay in my pjs until 2:30pm and wrap Christmas presents. Ahh...I love Saturdays at home.

Safire

18 Months Old

Everyone,

Butterfly turned 18 months old today. I can't believe how much she has changed in the past month. We took her in for her 18 month check up and she is 26 lbs, 5 oz and 34 1/2 inches long. This is one tall girl we have. She's off the charts in height, like 117%. She has only gained 1 pound in 3 months so her doc said to make sure she is eating at least 3 meals a day and 3 snacks a day. Hello, this kid eats ALL DAY LONG. Here is a breakdown:

Breakfast: she normally eats about half of my bowl of cereal (won't eat her own, monkey) and 2 scrambled eggs. She also has a sippy cup of milk, and a package of fruit snacks. If she's really hungry, she will eat some of Juice's cereal too.

Snack: she always has a snack mid-morning, about 9:30 or 10. It's either string cheese and more milk, or an apple or banana.

Lunch: her favorite thing is mac and cheese. She will eat half a box, if not more. We also have applesauce, milk, maybe some string cheese and a cookie.

Snack: after her nap I always give her a cookie and milk, dried cranberries and raisins.

Dinner: anything we are eating. She loves beans, rice, lentils, chicken, pasta, and guacamole. It's been a struggle to get her to eat dinner the past few days. She's more interested in playing and doesn't want to sit and eat. Tonight she had veggie lasagna, turkey, jello with berries, salad, some pasta tomato thing, and water. (We went to a potluck for our church.) This is the meal that I try to get her to eat more veggies, but she typically refuses anything but broccoli stems and frozen peas. Yum.

Snack: right before bed she always wants something to eat. (Probably because she didn't eat all of her dinner.) I try to offer her the rest of dinner, or string cheese. Oh, and milk.

I don't think she is starving. They just want to make sure she stays on her curve for growing. But of course, it's made me slightly paranoid that she's not eating enough. I know she is, but I guess it makes me doubt myself. Stupid doctors.

Let's see...she got 2 shots today. DTaP #4 and tetanus. She did not scream this time. Probably because she had a sucker in her mouth. The first sucker she's ever had. Huge amounts of drool during her shots, but no crying. It wasn't until after she was done and I took the sucker from her that she bawled. I don't mind that they give her a sucker for her shots I just wish they could pick something healthier. And also ask me if a sucker is okay. The nurse ripped the paper off and gave it to her without okaying it by me. I could have said no, thanks, but Butterfly had already tasted it and I knew we would have a battle. Better to battle the sucker removal after the shots than right before.

We went to the park today with my mom's group. Butterfly ran, and ran, and ran. She never stopped running from the moment her feet touched the ground. She is a mover, that one. She loves slides so much and I like that I can just be near the slide and she can get on it, slide down, get on it, slide down, without my help.

I'm looking forward to the days of going to the park and sitting on the benches and watching her run around. Soon.

Safire

PS- She spilled something on her shirt right before we went outside to take the pictures. I like that shirt or I would have changed her. It makes her eyes look so green!

Boots

Everyone,

Yesterday evening, Butterfly and I were dancing to a CD my good friend Julia and I had made in college. It is a compilation of a bunch of really up beat country songs. See, Julia and I were avid country dancers at college. We would go faithfully every Wednesday night. And sometimes even Friday nights at the local club (only sometimes, Friday nights were my study nights). We never did dance much that year with partners. We lived to line dance! And we knew them all! We were almost always front row center and people would get behind us to watch the steps. The Boot Scoot 'n Boogie, the Watermelon Crawl, Cotton Eyed Joe. Ahh...I love those songs.

Sadly, I have forgotten most of the steps. Juice really isn't into line dancing and Julia lives 3000 miles away. But last night I turned up the volume and boogied with Butterfly. She had the best time. We jumped, we twirled, we shook, we hopped. She would point frantically at the cd player when a song was winding down and nod her head up and down. You want more music? Okay! Here we go!

There is a song on the CD called Whose Bed have your Boots been under. We weren't dancing at the time (I was getting ready to go to Mutual) and she disappeared. I finished putting on my makeup, and she arrived with her boots! My daughter is a genius and holy cow she understands things! Here she is trying to give me the boots.

In other news, we all went to the dentist this morning. No cavities all around. Butterfly was so interested in what they were doing that they are going to start cleaning her teeth in 6 months. Our appointment is on her birthday. Will she really be 2 in 6 months?!

Safire

Service call

Everyone,

It doesn't seem like a normal month unless someone comes by to check up on some appliance of ours. The dryer, being our biggest epic service call. Don't even get me started on that one or I start to get mad.

2 years ago, while I was pregnant with Butterfly, Juice and I went to a holiday party at a friend's house. When we got home, our house smelled a little funny but it was late and we went to bed. Got up, went to work, and came home to a freezing house. The heater bit the dust. Great. It was a week before Christmas and we were leaving the day after Christmas for Utah. A very nice guy rushed out to see us, proclaimed the thing dead (it was 30+ years old...I was surprised it was still working at all) and ordered us a new one. We spent a week in a freezing house (not unpleasant to the pregnant me) and a week in Utah. And then we had a heater a few days after we got back. Bliss ensued.

So the other day when I got a little postcard in the mail asking if I wanted a pre-season check on my heater, I thought sure! Let's catch any problems before we go another 3 weeks without heat in the house.

Service call made, a gold star was given to the heater, and they went. Ahhh...I love those types of service calls.

Safire

Seriously?

Everyone,

I'm in a funky sleep deprived mood. I am exhausted by our 4 hour battle to get Butterfly to sleep last night. Juice lost it. This is big because he NEVER looses it. He was curt, waspish, and cranky that she was screaming in her bed. Amazingly, I found a whole other level to my patience. Who says being a parent doesn't bring out the best in you?

So, yeah, she didn't go to sleep until 11:30pm, and then was up screaming again at 4am. And because of this new well of patience, I got the least amount of sleep. I am starting to wonder if she has an ear infection or something physically wrong. We go in for her well baby visit on Friday so I'll see what the doc says.

Until then, she will continue to scream, shake her crib so hard I worry she's going to tip it over, throw all of her toys out of the crib and beg for them to be put back in (scream...*thud*...uh-oh!...me? me? me? [her version of 'mine', think Finding Nemo's seagulls]), and sobbing into her mattress. Poor girl. I feel for her that she is so unhappy at night. It's really not a nice to fall asleep when you are so worn out from crying. But we've all got to get some sleep in the house.

So far the only one getting any decent amount is Soot.

Safire

Daylight hours

Everyone,

I hate that it gets dark at 5:15pm. In the summer, Juice, Butterfly, Soot, and I would all go on these long wandering walks around our neighborhood. We learned people's names through the houses, and enjoyed seeing the deer in the woods. Butterfly rarely wore shoes in the grass and we just enjoyed each other.

Now that it's so dark so early, I feel like we never get a chance just to hang out. Granted, we are a lot busier than we were in the summer. But I miss those long walks we took together.

I am listening to Juice putting Butterfly down over the baby monitor. Some sniffling on his part (stupid cold won't go away!) and some babbling on her part. Every now and then she pipes up with a "Mama? Mama?" I can just see her sitting up in Juice's arms asking that and then nodding her head. I hear a little "ohhhh...." as she realizes it's Daddy, and not Mama holding her. I know she loves to have me put her to bed but I have done enough for her today. Beyond the normal feed, clothe, change, and watch out for, I have also been shoved in the house (she wanted to play outside, alone. Okay then...) stepped on, slapped, shoved, hair pulled, and caught puke. In my hand. Lovely. I'm getting a much needed break from all the kid stuff.

Now excuse me while I go watch re-runs of Buffy and eat popcorn all by my self. Thank you.

Safire

Arg.

Everyone,

I had a post all planned out about how I made rolls from scratch today (dry run for Thanksgiving) and how Butterfly is such a copy cat but she has just spent the last hour and a half screaming and shaking her crib because she doesn't want to go to bed. It has gotten me so frustrated tonight.

Butterfly has this thing with Soot's food. She really really really likes to touch it. And move it from the bowl to the floor piece by piece. We've started giving her time outs because of this. She had 2 today. After her last one, we sat in the kitchen chair and watched Soot finish her food. Butterfly was sobbing and hanging onto my hair. She kept pointing at the bowl and saying, "No!" And I would say, "That's right. We don't touch Soot's food." Finally she looked at me, said very clearly, "I don't touch Soot's food." Jaws drop here in MD. She then got down off my lap and hasn't gone near the bowl since. (Granted, it's only been a few hours and most of that she's spent in her crib but still.)

She's not even 18 months old yet and is starting to speak in full sentences.

Safire

Christmas and Waterfalls

Everyone,

Once a month, Juice and I try to get out to one of the several things to do in the DC area. We have barely touched the surface of what all we could do and we've been here 3 years. So far, our favorites are Mt. Vernon, Great Falls National Park, and the National Mall. Oh, and we've been to the Air and Space Museum 3 times, and no other Smithsonian. Can you tell I live with a aerospace engineer? Oh, the Zoo is great, the International Spy Museum is good but expensive, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore is fantastic but you can't take a stroller in with you. If you're coming to visit the DC area, seriously ask me what's good and what's not. I've seen a lot of it.

Anyway, today was our day to get out and see something. And since it's fall, we decided to go out and enjoy the leaves. The first year we lived here we drove to Shenandoah. Beautiful, but a little far away. We have been back there a few times and do have the car tour CD. Today, we decided to go back to the place we went last year: Great Falls National Park. It's right on the C&O Canal. They've turned the old mule paths that they used to pull the boats up the canal into walking paths. We've been here at least 5 times, and each time it is beautiful. Today we went a different way than we normally go. It was stunning! The Potomac River was raging above these huge granite monoliths. The red, brown, and rust colored leaves lined the edges. It was peaceful. I would post a picture but they are still on the camera. Maybe tomorrow.

Butterfly was a little scared of the leaves, but soon got into the fun after I let Juice bury me with them. (Yes, there are THAT many). Soot even got into it and was digging them up, throwing leaf bits everywhere. A good outing for us.

After Great Falls, we decided to go Christmas shopping. I love Christmas. And I think I am done buying most of it. My goal was to have it done before Thanksgiving this year. I think I've made that. We are getting Butterfly the little people castle, and some blocks, a baby doll and stroller, and some bath toys. She is in desperate need of some new toys. Some older toys. All that we have is baby toys and I think she's ready for little kid toys.

Is it sad that I am sad that I'm almost done Christmas shopping? As much as I want to avoid the crowds in the stores at Christmas time, I love the stores at Christmas time. I love the music, the smells, everyone seeming so happy.

When I was younger, I worked for a bakery in the local mall. We made cinnamon rolls and sandwiches and drinks. I loved Christmas time in the mall because of the bustle. Time flew because you never had a moment. And when I would go on break, I would get a cinnamon roll, put extra frosting on it, find an empty table and just people watch. It was one of my favorite things to do.

My local mall here has a cinnamon roll place. Maybe I'll take Butterfly there and show this fun thing to her this year. After all, she does have to get her picture with Santa, right?

Safire

Chatter Bug

Everyone,

Butterfly is a chatter box. She talks all day long. All. Day. She explains things to me. She reads to me. She yells at the dog, then sits down and talks to her. (So cute with Soot cocking her head like she is listening!) She tells Juice about her day when he sees her after work.

So what exactly does she say? I have no idea. It's still all a mystery to me what exactly she is saying. But she does say a couple of words clearly.
ball
duck
bird
Soot
music (muuuac)
up
downstairs (do sair)
milk (muk)
what's that? (wus at?)
that (at!)
bear
horse
spider (spudur)
NO (I hear this one the most)
car
truck
train
bug
dog
kitty
sticker
I want that. (yes, full sentences now)
I love Mama. (so so so so cute!)
nose
elbow
shoulder
shoe
sock
diaper
tissue
picture
Buzz (Buzz Lightyear)
Woody
Pinocchio (Ponono)
Nana
banana
more
bite
hot
ouch
uh oh!
please (pees)
coat
fish
book (I get this one a lot too.)
teeth

She will also say a few things that I haven't heard her repeat.
No, I threw it!
I want to go outside!
Here you go.
Hi there!
More please.
Thank you.
telephone
talk
ring
hand
knee
1, 2, 3, 4
cougar
ginsbuck (that's what we get for watching Animal Planet)
zebra
flower
camera
paper
Lucy's ball (a book we read about a dog and her ball, always followed by uh-oh because the ball is stuck)
cup
water
Jesus
I am a child of God
hair

She can now point out all the animals on this play mat we have, point to different numbers, point out various body parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, knee, elbow, foot, toes, fingers, head, hand, butt, etc.), she will pick up things when we ask, take things to us (give this to Daddy and she will), go get things (go get your shoes), and throw tantrums. She is a doll when she's good, so snugly when she's cute, and a complete terror when she's not. She thinks it's hilarious to talk on the phone, and we've had fun conversations with grandparents lately. Her biggest thing is to jump. Stairs, boxes, anything she can climb up on she tries to jump off. It's a little scary but at least she asks for our help if it's too high.

I can't believe she is going to be 18 months old next week. Where did the baby go?

Safire

Blood work

Everyone,

Since Butterfly was 12 months old, her doctor's office has been bugging me to get her hemoglobin levels tested. They are basically checking her iron count to make sure she is not anemic. I kept putting it off, and putting it off. Really, I didn't want her to have this test. I don't think there should be any more poking going on than necessary. But her doctor's office kept calling. And calling. And then Juice went in for his physical and needed some blood work. Then I needed some blood work. So we all decided to go in today and make it a family thing. You should have seen the looks on the ladies' faces as they realized that we all needed some blood drawn.

We checked in, took a seat in the exam room and proceeded to get stuck. I went first, then Juice, then Butterfly. Juice and I had talked about it before and had decided that we weren't going to be worried and talk her through it. She was so interested in all that the tech was doing. How she cleaned it off, stuck in the needle, everything. When it got to be her turn, she sat without any fuss. The veins in her arm were too small to draw it from there, so she had to be pricked on the finger. No fuss, no cry. She watched calmly. As the tech was almost done, Butterfly decided that her toy was more interesting than what was happening and she started to play with that. We have the most awesome baby ever. :)

In other news, I got stuck at the mall this afternoon. They locked the doors so no one could get out or in because there was a stabbing in the parking lot. Yeah, a stabbing. Welcome to Maryland.

I'm trying to do my writing job over here and I'm having a rough time. Everyone needs to submit a question through Mom Answers so I can answer it!

Safire

Day 1

Everyone,

Today starts the 30 days of posting from me. It's already 2pm in the afternoon, and I'm just getting to the computer for the first time today. It's been a busy busy morning! Let's recap...

1:30 am...I wake up to Butterfly screaming at the top of her lungs. I know she's screaming bloody murder because I have forgotten to turn the monitor on and her screams still woke me up. I groggily flopped over, discovered Juice was STILL playing his computer game, and everything went black.

3:30am...Again, more screaming. It's like she's reverted to her infant wake schedule or something. This time she doesn't go back to sleep, so I haul myself out of bed and stumble down the hall. On the way to her room, I discover Juice has kindly moved all the couch cushions right outside her room. With a pillow and a blanket, I haul those into her room and set up a bed while she screams. I hold her foot for at least an hour through the crib bars, and give up. I pick her up and we nestled down to sleep. Finally!

6:30am...I jolt awake and wonder where I am, then wonder where Butterfly is. She has crawled UNDER her crib and gotten caught. Light comes on, Butterfly is extracted, and we start our day.

6:35am...Breakfast. We're out of cereal so I'm eating her Cheerios. She eats most of the bowl.

7:55am...Juice comes downstairs mumbling something about Butterfly being a head jumper. I realize that I have fallen asleep and she went and got Daddy.

8:00am...Breakfast time for Juice. Butterfly is asking to eat so I make them scrambled eggs and cheese (Butterfly's favorite breakfast) and raisin bread toast. They even have orange juice.

8:28am...Shower, get ready. I'd like to be out of the door by 9:45am. Think it will happen?

9:51am...Out the door. Butterfly is asleep almost as soon as her head touches her car seat. I drop Juice off at work and head off to the local supermarket for my flu shot.

10:19am...Flu shot. It didn't hurt at all. The price did a little. Why is it 25 dollars? I talk to the pharmacist about my medication and buy Juice some deodorant. This whole time, Butterfly is asleep in her sling. I wonder what people think when I carry this huge child around strapped to me like that.

11:00am...I pull into our parking lot and debate about getting sleeping Butterfly out of her car seat. I opt for cookies instead, and she wakes up about 10 minutes later.

11:11am...Play time! The choice of toys today is her candy bucket from last night. I am slowly getting a peek of what she got. We went trick or treating down the main street in our town. They had a big festival with free food and entertainment. Fun!

12:30pm...Lunch. I make Butterfly's favorite, mac and cheese from the blue box. We also have apple sauce, milk, and cheese crackers.

1:30pm...I consider nap time but she is playing so well and having a ball. Toy of choice: dirty laundry.

2:00pm...Typing this. Butterfly is moving her dirty laundry from my bedroom to her room. Now she'd like to wear a jumper. Fun times.

Welcome to November!
Safire