Photo/Video Friday

Everyone,

We've been a lot of fun places this week, and gotten a few cute pictures of Butterfly. I thought you'd like to see them.

Butterfly on one of her Christmas presents, Christmas morning. She got a few more things (okay, lots of things) but this was an early favorite. I like it too. I used to have one when I was her age.

She loves to pull out Juice's engineering text books and go through them when I change her diaper. I swear this girl is going to do something special with her life!We went downtown to just hang out (our second trip this week...Juice has had the whole week off!) and we went to the World War 2 Memorial. It's very nice, very peaceful. Butterfly loved running around and desperately wanted to swim in the pools. I like that right now, they have all the grassy areas fenced off. It basically makes a tunnel for Butterfly to walk down. She had a great time, and she didn't run all over the place!

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We've basically had a really great week and it's going to be hard for Juice to go back to work on Tuesday.

Safire

My best Christmas Present

Everyone,

About a week before Christmas, my washer died. If you are long time readers, you remember last year at this time we had the great dryer fix. The washer going out was just the last straw. I had been running to the laundry mat for essentials, and Juice kept telling me to wait on the washer...he'll take care of it.

Boy did he ever! This is what I found under the tree.

And then it came today!

I am so not sorry to see this one go. Good bye and good riddance!!!

Safire

PS- Sorry about the pictures being sideways, I can't figure out how to change them.

Merry Christmas!

Everyone,

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Love,

Juice, Safire, Butterfly and Soot

Answers to your questions...

Everyone,

Part of the counter I have at the bottom of the page is the ability to see who is coming to my page and what they are looking at. Or for. I thought I would address some of these queries, and we can all wonder how they got to this blog.

1. girls in white keds pics (AOL search). Hmmm...why white keds? Butterfly has pink keds.

2. baby swimming class maryland (Google). This I can help with. If you are looking for a baby swimming class in Maryland, check your local YMCA. They had great classes! Or there is always your local pool, or country club. I highly recommend swim classes. Besides, the babies look so cute in those swim suits!

3. keds shoes hole in toe (Google). Not sure why we're looking for holes in the toes of keds. And who knew that Butterfly's pink pair would get me so much traffic on this site!

4. tushy video sharing (Google) Hi pervy googlers! No tushy sharing here. In fact, Butterfly screams bloody murder if you even mention her tushy lately. Poor baby has flaming diaper rash, again.

5. daylight hours - baltimore md (Google) I wonder are they looking for exactly how long Baltimore has daylight hours? Because tomorrow the sun is supposed to rise at
7:24 AM and set at 4:48 PM. The day will be 9h 24m 04s long. If you are looking for something to do in the daylight hours in Baltimore, the National Aquarium is fabulous. I believe that is open during daylight hours, and probably a few hours after (considering a quarter to 5 sunset is a little early for them to close). There is also Fort McHenry, which played a roll in the writing of our National Anthem. Francis Scott Key watched the flag wave above this fort during the 1814 Battle of Baltimore and was moved to write his tribute to the Stars and Stripes. The place is awash with history and culture. There are also a lot of things to do after daylight hours, if you're interested.

Periodically I will post a series of searches on here. At least, I hope to remember to.

Safire

2006 In Review, Blog Style

Everyone,

I saw this on another blog, and thought I would copy it. Here is the first line of the first post each month this year.

2005 was a year of change for us.

Butterfly turned 9 months old on Friday.

This is a test of my abilities to put a video on this page.

The cherry blossoms are out in peak right now.

Butterfly is babbling up a storm.

Now that my company has all gone, and I've spent a few days recovering and not sleeping (another tooth...sigh...) I thought I'd update you on all of the fun we had with the grandparents.

On Friday morning, my favorite radio station was giving out free pancakes and prizes at the local diner.

This passed weekend my Dad was here to visit.

One of the joys of living on the east coast is these great storms and hurricanes that occasionally go through our area.

Suddenly it seems like our life has exploded in activities.

Today starts the 30 days of posting from me.

Turns out my writing gig is going to stop.

There are a whole lot of highlights that were missed. Butterfly's first birthday, Hawaii, first word, walking, Juice's graduation, and all the other little things that go on in a year. We've had a busy one. I hope next year is just as busy and fun! Come on 2007!

Safire

Butterfly-isms

Everyone,

Butterfly is just so funny. She really is making connections at an amazing rate. Here are a few talking stories.

The other day we were listening to Christmas music while I folded laundry. Jingle Bell Rock came up, and she started running around the room yelling, "Rock! Rock!"
"Yes, baby! Rock! It's the jingle bell rock! Are you dancing?"
"Nooo. Rock!" And she ran out of the room. I finished the laundry and went to go find her. She was in our rocking chair, rocking away. "Rock! Rock!" So smart.

We were eating dinner and still had the blinds open to our sliding glass door. Butterfly starts pointing and babbling at the door, gets off of her chair and looks outside for awhile. Juice and I were amused, but didn't think much of it. Then Butterfly turned to me, said very clearly, "Dark outside!" and pointed. Holy cow, yes, it's dark outside. She is so smart!

She has started to voice a preference towards her clothes. Her favorite things to wear are her purple coat, and her purple shoes. She will ask for these by name. "Puple coat! Puple shoe!" It's really really cute and I love that she is starting to learn her colors and other things.

In other news, we tried to get a picture of Butterfly and Soot. No such luck. I was really frustrated last night, and pretty disappointed. We went to the local kiddie picture place and they usually are very good. The photographer we had just stood there. No noises, no peek a boo to try and get her to look at the camera, nothing. Butterfly is crying, Soot is terrified, and Juice and I are frustrated. We ended up leaving without any pictures being taken. I'm going to see if I can try again, maybe on Saturday or next week.

I'm determined to get this picture and if we have to try for weeks, we'll get it.

Safire

Butterfly Videos

Everyone,

Butterfly asks for these videos over and over, so I thought I'd share. I clicked on them first because I like horses. Now she sees horses ALL OVER. It's so cute.

HERE and HERE

Safire

Library Adventure

Everyone,

So remember a few days ago how I brought Butterfly to bed with me because she wouldn't sleep and I was just so tired? Yeah, should have sucked it up, been tired, and made her sleep in her crib. Because now she won't sleep without me. Oh sure, Juice is fine after 15-20 minutes of screaming for Mamamamama! But she WILL NOT sleep in her crib. She goes down fine, and then within an hour, is up screaming. Juice slept in her room last night (in his clothes, didn't even knew he fell asleep till I went and woke him up this morning) and she fell asleep in my bed this morning and woke up angry. It's an angry day! I'm feeling slightly frazzled and pulled out. And all I want it the baby to SLEEP.

In an attempt to get out of the house, I took Butterfly and Miss Long Hair (the girl I babysit) to the local library for tot story time. I've been to a few of these before with my mom's group, and they sing songs, do games, read a few books out loud, play with toys, etc. It takes Butterfly awhile to warm up so by the time we are all putting things away she's ready to play! So yesterday I decided to go a little bit early and wander in the children's section and see if she wouldn't warm up a little sooner.

We were there maybe 5 minutes, enough for me to read a book to Miss Long Hair, and Butterfly had that serious "I'm pooping" face on. I wait, she says, "I change!" and tries to start pulling her diaper off. I grab her hand, and we march off to the bathroom. (Miss Long Hair along for the ride, of course.) I get to the bathroom, get all set up to change Butterfly's diaper, and put her on the changing table.

That's when I noticed it. The bright green splotch on her shoe. What the...?

Further exploring lead to a very disgusting realization. Butterfly has diarrhea. And that poopy diaper? It was more like soup which ran down her leg, coated her pants and socks, and filled her shoe.

All together now: Ewwwww.

After much cleaning up and cursing the fact that I had no other clothes for Butterfly, we left. Poor Miss Long Hair was looking forward to some story time but we had to go. I'll try story time again. Maybe.

Safire

The Creeping Crud

Everyone,

Juice is sick. It could be because the baby threw up in his face the other day. He spent the night puking and is now achy and cold on the couch. Poor guy. I seem to be doing a lot better. I can eat, and sit up for long periods of time. Butterfly is still throwing up, but is also eating so this is a good sign.

I had a very rough night. I was having some dream about my Nana and her new ring on a tea cup (all I remember...) when I was jolted awake by Juice bounding out of bed. Poor guy. I got him some water, he made some yarrow tea, and I got him a blanket for the couch. Just as I had gotten settled in and was almost asleep, I hear the unmistakable sounds of Butterfly puking in her bed. I rushed in there, saw her covered from head to toe and scooped her up for a wash down and change. She then screamed in Juice's arms so I could wash down her entire crib, get her sheets (I had put a double layer of sheets and water proof pads down for this reason), and clean the dripped stuff on the floor.

For the next 2 hours I tried to get her to go back to sleep in her crib. No luck. I think it was around 4:30am when I finally gave up and brought her to bed with me. I had been up since 1:30am. I'm tired today.

And all night long while I was cleaning up everything, I kept thinking I want my Mommy. Sometimes it's hard being so far away from family that could help.

Safire

More sickness

Everyone,

So, what's worse than a sick mommy and daddy? A sick baby and daddy. Butterfly seems to have caught up with my flu. Yuck. It started yesterday around 3:30 when she puked on the floor and looked up at me and said, "Uh oh..." I didn't see her puke, so I thought maybe the dog had done it. As I'm bending down to get a better view, more comes out. On my head. Trying not to gross out, I sweep her up as she pukes down my clothes, and rush her into the kitchen to the sink. On the way, she puked all over herself (some how getting it into her hair...not sure how, unless it dripped from my hair to hers) and puking all over the kitchen floor. Lovely.

Once she seems finished puking, she insisted on being held (puke side in, of course) and rubbing snot and tears all over the one clean shoulder I had. Tub time. I strip her down, and wash her up. She is screaming and begging to be held. Once she is dry, I change and get her ready for bed. Then we went back downstairs and I tried to convince her to let me clean up the puky carpet.

Juice came home, and he got her to drink a little ginger ale (yes, soda...bad for her I know). She fell asleep while I showered and cleaned. Somehow our house still smells sickly.

She slept for a good 2 hours, and woke up puking again. This time all over Juice's face and down his clothes. And he's the only one that hasn't caught it yet. At least it was just water puke, and not the chunky puke I got.

She went down pretty easily, and woke up at 1, 2, 4, and 5. She didn't puke but I think she was just feeling unhappy. Poor thing.

She's happy and eating today. But I have changed at least 4 poopy diapers already. She is on her second 2 hour nap of the day, and she has a temp. But if she's anything like me, she'll be completely better by tomorrow.

We can only pray.

Safire

Sickness

Everyone,

Why is it when you have a child you are sick more often. Or maybe it's because you notice how sick you are when you have someone depending on you for their every need. Add a sick husband to the mix and what do you have? One very sick Mommy.

This time I am sicker than Juice. He did not spend all night puking his guts out. I did. He just has a cold. He can manage. And he did very nicely. He stayed home from work yesterday to take care of Butterfly. I was so sick I could barely get out of bed. I'm feeling better today, and I bet by tomorrow I'll be fine. But still, I hate being sick. And worse, I hate throwing up. It's the worst thing that could happen to me. I just hope Butterfly doesn't get it. That would be bad.

She was very good for him yesterday. And freaked out this morning when he left for work without her. How could he leave her with this women who hasn't showered or done anything for her all day yesterday?! She got over it, but is still wandering around the house saying "Daddy bye bye!"

I hate being sick.

Safire

Bad news

Everyone,

Turns out my writing gig is going to stop. They are going in a different direction and will no longer be paying me. BUMMER! I was so enjoying the extra money a month, and not to mention the fact that people ask me what I do and I say I'm a writer! I loved that. Looks like I will just have to start looking around for another writing gig.

An all around bad day today.

Safire