Pops b-day

We had Pops' birthday celebration last weekend. The girl looks like her Pops!

She was mad when we traded her Meyer lemons (that she was chewing the peeling right off... yuck!) for this lousy asparagus stalk. But she chewed a bit anyway.

Pops acting silly when the trick candles re-lighted. I was so excited they actually worked! I always try these things and they never work!

Then the party got pretty wild... can't even show you the rest of the pictures! ;)

Volume

So Kevin has always told me I am loud. I don't mean to be, I don't try to be, and truthfully I never really believed that I was. Although my parents and other family members have always told me the same thing... And then my mother-in-law told me the other day how surprised she was that Leah was getting SO loud... because Kevin never was. So, I guess its probably true about me, and I guess she got that gene from her mama.

I was trying to capture one of the MANY humorous moments in our day today. Leah was jabbering UP A STORM... kind of like a crazy person if I'm being totally honest. Jabbering and climbing in and out (and in and out) of her chair at lightning speed. So I pick up the camera and of course she stops doing it... but I accidentally caught this little display of her volume experimentation.

Bow Headed

Leah's Grannie gave her a much needed bow holder for Christmas! You know, all the money I've saved by using cloth diapers and making my own baby food all these months has already been spent (plus some, I'm sure) on BOWS! Ridiculous! But oh-so-cute.

And yes... I was the one who said I wouldn't put the brain-squeezers and giant bows on my little girl.... but.... I found out that sometimes a girl needs a bow! Especially when she looks an awful lot like her daddy in a dress. (I try to be reasonable with the bow size though.)

Bitty was over at our house and Leah would point to a bow on the bow holder and Bitty would take it off and put it in Leah's hair. So Leah would point to another... and on and on until Leah had 10 bows on her head. Then Leah took them out one by one and put them up to Bitty's head... here are the results of their little game.

These days, if I put a bow in her hair then she has to pull it off, check it out and then try to put it back on her own head... which doesn't work. So I have to do it. But since SHE didn't do it, she has to pull it off, check it and try to put it back.... and round and round we go. So we're having a hard time keeping bows on these days.

Let 2010 Begin

I know its February and no one cares about New Years anymore, but I just have to get it done. I've been feeling so inadequate in the blogging arena.

We spent New Year's with some good friends. We only had to travel about an hour away, but we packed up what seemed like our entire house and spent the night in one of their extra bedrooms. All 4 of us. Yes, you heard right, we took Beans too. Our friends have two of Bean's sisters... and they invited Beans to come too. How lovely!

What we all forgot was, while those other dogs just hang out in the back yard doing dog-things, Beans spends all her time pouting on the opposite side of the yard from her sisters, wondering why she has been relegated to the backyard with these ANIMALS... or whining at the back door waiting for someone to let her into the house with the other humans.

We had such a great time though! Side note -- Leah started clapping on New Year's Day! I was so excited. I'd been trying to get her to clap for months! And out of nowhere it came. Now she claps when you ask her to, when she's excited, when she sees someone else clap OR when she's TICKED OFF! She puts her mad face on throws a little clapping fit! Oh my! I have to try REALLY hard to keep from laughing. (She also cut her two front teeth that weekend.... :( Ouch... Those are biggies...)

Anyway, that night we put Leah to bed in her portable crib in our room and we played some games. But another thing we had not considered was sleeping all together in the same room. Beans hasn't slept in our room since we brought that crying baby home from the hospital almost a year ago. (Leah woke her up every 3-4 hours and she was SO over it after a few nights. She found a new spot in a chair by the front door.) Then Leah moved out of our room back in April or May. So we've had relatively peaceful sleeping arrangements ever since....

...Until that night when Beans' tail thump thump THUMPing on the crib woke Leah up.... Then once they fell back asleep Beans' whooping and sleep-growling woke me up. And Kevin got up about 4 am to go hunting which woke us ALL up again. :) It's the stuff memories are made of!


So since then Leah has been VERY busy...
doing puzzles...
learning about barnyard animals and their sounds...

"That heifer has to be around here somewhere!"

She's been talking up a storm... she says Mama, Daddy, Duck, Doggie, Stopper, Apple, Bottle, Moo, Bye-Bye, Hello and more! But let me translate a few things for you in case you run into her sometime and don't quite understand her language...

apple = bapple bapple bapple

stopper (pacifier) = toppa or boppa

doggie = docky

bottle =bobble

moo = ummMMm

thank you = nnn-que

'

She's never actually said "hello" but she puts the phone to the back of her head (no, not her ear...) and says "woh?" and today I'm pretty sure she said "heh-woh?" And after her bath every night, I say "bye bye bathwater" as we watch and listen to the water go down the drain. And she says "bah bah ba-wa-wa." She talks ALOT but mostly we haven't the foggiest idea what she's saying. But we know she's serious about whatever it is.

Her Great-Grannie brought this tiger over that used to be Kevin's when he was little. She stays very busy moving the tiger's hat back and forth across the room, filling it with blocks, putting it on her head, putting it on my head, putting it in a chair and starting all over again.

It's gonna be a busy year!

A Time-Lapse Christmas

I'm just going to time-lapse our Christmas festivities for you so I can feel caught up without spending the actual time it would take to get caught up!

Mainly in our house Christmas was about Jesus. We celebrated his miraculous birth and what that means for us. We read the Christmas story to Leah and I envisioned many years of reading this story together and talking about its meaning. And I hope she comes to understand in her heart, as well as her mind just why Jesus came to Earth and made such a deep impression in time.

Some other fun stuff from Christmas... Since she's a little skimpy in the height department, I bought her this cute shirt (and a cute brown bow to match) for the holidays. I didn't want there to be any confusion.

Snow on Christmas!! Perfect!!!
She got this polka-dot arm chair from her Bitty and Pops.... she gets in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out.... all the day long. Makes us tired just watching her.

She got her first stocking too!
Wrapping paper and ribbons still fill her play room... in February. It looks like we have only given our baby a bunch of trash to play with, but they are her favorites.

Grannie and GranStan gave Leah a super fun gift too..... no, not a box to sit on... although that's always fun...

A RED WAGON! With a canopy, cup holders and cushioned /convertible seats! Fancy! She loves it so!

And her Abby Cadabby doll...

The dads had cigars on the porch with Beans as they enjoyed the burning pinion wood in the new chiminea! (A gift from the Kevin's parents) Inside, we were having Keurig-brewed tea and coffee from our new coffee maker! (From my parents)

That quick overview doesn't do justice to the many parties we attended, families we visited, gifts we exchanged, food we ate or celebrating we did, but it will have to do. I hit high points anyway.... Leah's first Christmas highlights and Jesus, of course!

(Beans is still celebrating. She has been festively wearing her Christmas collar a little longer than usual this year. We keep forgetting to change out the tags. )

Project Puree - Corn Fed

So, this is not the most exciting stuff that's been going on in our house, but I happen to have the pictures organized better than anything else. (So keep tuning in!)

About a month ago I decided that, difficult as it was, I needed to stop making baby food and use up what I had. So, I abstained for several weeks, and THEN.... you guessed it... I had zillions of baby food jars to fill! SO I went on a filling spree!

• Carrots and zucchini... old faves...

• Asparagus/zucchini and...
• Several fruit mixtures. Pear/blueberry is the big favorite.
  
• Steamed rice and corn... mixed with peas and carrots. This one looks gross and it is SUPER sticky but SHE LOVES IT! Not sure if its the rice or the corn she loves so much, because I mixed them, but she dances in her seat when she eats this one. (She dances when she eats any fruits, cheerios, oatmeal or any food off of her mom or daddy's plate too.)

• Green beans (my first successful batch... the trick is chop them small - half inch or so - and steam them to death... I boiled them the first two times and they were a stringy mess
• Mango/Pear
• Mango/Blueberry
• Mango/Pear/Blueberry
• Mango/Nectarine (I eat this one.... so yummy)
• Pear/Nectarine/Blueberry
• Pineapple/Banana (First banana mixture I have been able to keep from turning brown, due to the pineapple's acidity) It's Leah's favorite behind pear/blueberry and applesauce straight up. She told me.
• Green Bean / Blueberry -- I actually don't recommend this one. I tried it and thought it was fine. The blueberry flavor takes over, but the texture is green-beanish. Weird. Leah eats it but seems to like it less and less each time. I know.... I got carried away.

She also does lots of big girl food these days. But due to teething (about 6 teeth at once) she has major appetite and mood inconsistencies. ;-) (That's the nice way to say it.) The grapes in the picture above are frozen, and if you don't know about the yummy-ness of frozen, red, seedless grapes, let me inform you... I have been freezing them and snacking on them all my life. They taste like candy... so good! Wash them and then put a bunch in a freezer bag. You'll thank me!

Leah loves them cut into little pieces. Good for cutting new teeth, too. The yellow lump seen above is a frozen, steamed apple. When I'm making apple or pear sauce I freeze a few of the quartered, steamed fruits for Leah's gnawing pleasure later. Cold hands... soothed gums... full tummy!

Not pictured here is spinach and a 5 lb butternut squash that filled tons of jars and big tubs. I made several interesting b-nut squash batches...

• b-nut + green peas + spinach (good way to hide those high vitamin veggies if your little squirt won't eat them)
• b-nut + pimentos
• b-nut + sour cream
• b-nut + prunes (old favorite... careful with prunes... a little goes a LONG way!)

Gotta get blogging! Happy Groundhog Day everyone!!

Moses Curley

Happy New Year to all!
One of these days I'll have a moment to write a post or upload some pictures... but for now... And though all my recent pictures would suggest otherwise... she does still smile pretty much all the time. Sort of like this...

A good effort

"All done with my Christmas shopping... let's see if we can find the big guy!"

"Hello Santa! I like those jingle bells and I really want to pull on that beard of yours..."

"Really nice ornaments too! OooOOoooh!"

She's warmed up now don't you think?

How bad could it be?

After all, this guy is the REAL Santa!

We know because his beard is real AND he's 783 years old!

And look how jolly!

Too bad we didn't have this in time for the Christmas card.

a little curley Christmas

Just gonna tickle the ivories a bit... maybe a Christmas carol...

Is this real candy??

Who is this? WoooooooOOOOOooooooooo!

I like him!

I love his stache! What a cutie pie!

We tried to do an inexpensive photo shoot with baby and dog... Not successful. I swear this was the ONLY day in her life she wouldn't crack a smile!! She usually giggles all the day long. But her looks are priceless....

It was a bust. The place we went says they photograph pets.... which is partly why I picked them. But I guess they mean they will take a picture of your dog if you bring it in... they don't help you much or do anything special; no tricks or special handling of animals or even any interesting props that an excitable 80 lb Labrador might find amusing.

The photographer I initially wanted to use does have all those special skills and shoots BEAUTIFUL portraits of children and their pets.... and she charges $400 for her sitting fee alone! I guess you do get what you pay for, but I'd rather have a funny story to tell and 400 bucks in my pocket.

Project Puree - I'll show you mine...

I feel so weird about showing you the inside of my freezer.... it feels like its a very intimate thing! And so now I feel like you should show me yours... its only fair. What you can't see is the very top shelf where we keep some frozen milk and sugar free fudge bars. I'm not proud of how everything is stuffed in there, but I do like my stacks of brightly colored baby purees.

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I actually get sad when all my jars are full, because I love making the stuff. (I feel like Diane Keaton in Baby Boom.) But Leah averages 4-5 jars a day so I never have to wait long before I can wash and refill!

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The first food that our girl really didn't like much was asparagus. She always makes the "IT'S SO YUCKY" face during the first bite of something new. But she flat out refused bite #2 and SLAPPED my hand away... including the spoon full of asparagus that went EVERYWHERE! Then I mixed it with sweet potatoes to make a tasty treat. It also went well with butternut squash. Now she'll eat it alone. We just had to ease into it. Its quite fragrant you know.

Here are my most recent creations. (bluestrawpple, strawpple, bluepear, raspapple) The Raspberry-Apple is not only a lovely shade of hot pink, but it is YUMMY! Too tangy for Leah (unless I cut it with a little oatmeal), but just right for mama.For the 3 people who are actually interested in this, I steam or bake everything first except for the berries. I just threw them in with my applesauce and pear-sauce and tasted stuff til I liked it. I have yet to give her anything I haven't tried. I know its weird, but I'm kind of proud of myself for trying "new things."

For cuteness sake...

November 31st

This morning I JAY-WALKED in front of a POLICE CAR as I was running into the CHURCH because I was late for my BIBLE STUDY.

I have been feeling so frazzled lately. But in a good way. Not a put-my-shirt-on-backwards-and-wore-it-like-that-all-day-way... Ok... so maybe that is exactly the way it has been. AND it was a shirt with a pattern on the front that CLEARLY should have been on my front. Why didn't someone tell me?

Its a good thing it is nearly impossible to embarrass me. Let me illustrate... the other day at CHURCH, I was trying to tell someone how ironic it was that I have been trying so hard to keep from getting sick, but then I volunteered to give flu shots to the City's police department, just giving myself an extra opportunity for exposure to LOTS of people with LOTS of germs. But... what I said to her was "I exposed myself to the whole police department!" I know I should be embarrassed... but like I said, its nearly impossible.

You would really think that this next one would do it... That same day at CHURCH, I had taken Curley Q into the nursing mother's room to do what mother's do in that particular room... you know, to be discreet... and when I came out, I was sitting down talking to a good MALE friend of ours and all throughout our conversation my daughter was apparently EXPOSING me by pulling down the neck of my shirt... and not just a little bit, but I was engrossed in conversation and didn't even realize. This MALE friend finally told me what was happening and that he thought I would eventually notice so he didn't say anything right away! Any normal person would have been completely embarrassed! Not this mama.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I keep blaming all my disorganization and silly behavior on having a baby. Well... last year I blamed it on being pregnant, then on having a newborn. I guess the reality is that I'm just a little disorganized and silly.

Excuse me, but what happened to November? I'll tell you what happened... Leah and I went to have her 9 month check up (which I blogumented in a timely manner)... Then there is a big blur... I got a cold, after exposing myself to the police... there's another blur... we packed up everything in our house so we could get new carpet (I decided that when your whole house is packed up you should just go ahead and move)... more blur... We gave alot of thanks... ate alot of turkey and pie... Leah got a cold... And now its the 31st.

So when I looked down at my watch today and saw that it was November 31st.... I decided that was just fine. Usually by December 1st I have my Christmas tree up. (And if it were socially acceptable to have Christmas decorations out from October to March, I would.) But, all this blurriness and disorganization has taken November away from me... so I'm just gonna take the extra day. I'll just make up for December 1st by stealing a day from January, and then make up for January in February. February is already pitifully short... it won't care.