Three videos in one post - Jackpot!

Well, she almost managed to escape her first year without getting sick - the poor baby is currently feeling miserable with a runny nose, red, watery eyes and annoying sneeze attacks. I'm hoping it's just allergies from the big dust storm we had a couple nights ago, but it may be a full fledged cold. She's not running a fever yet, she's still eating and she seems to be in pretty good spirits, considering, so we'll wait and see. Now as promised, here is video of the big girl walking! Please ignore my disastrous house - we're also in the middle of "renovating the master suite" (painting the bedroom) so all of our furniture is crammed into the living room along with all of the fallout from Christmas. So just look at Aurora, not her surroundings :)

Little Drummer Girl
Completely gratuitous inclusion of the cutest thing I've seen all year:

Uh oh...

We now officially have a walker in our family! She's been tentatively walking for a couple of weeks, but as of yesterday she now walks more than she crawls - but it's still pretty freaky to see her come walking around the corner. She even tries to run on the carpet when she gets excited about one of her new Christmas toys! I think the motivation behind her walking was the fact that when she walks she can carry things in both her hands - so now I have books and shoes and balls all over the house! I have a bunch of pictures and video that I will try to get online tonight.

Merry Christmas, Baby

Our friends Chris and Kelley had to go and trump everyone's Christmas presents this year:

	Isabelle
Birthdate	12/24/2007
Birthtime	01:32 PM
Weight (lbs,oz)	8lbs, 6.8oz
Length (in)	20.5
Parents	Kelley and Christopher

Isabelle didn't want to miss out on a white Christmas in North Dakota with her parents and big sister Keira, so she decided to make her entry on Christmas Eve!

How I spent my winter vacation

Okay, so a few days got by me, but here's my report on How to Vacation On Your Own With an 11 Month Old:

Day 1: Wake up at 2am, shower, load up the car, and pack a formerly soundly sleeping infant into her carseat, praying that she won't notice the interruption and will soon fall back asleep for the upcoming 3 hour car ride. Arrive at Phoenix airport 3 hours later, ears ringing from the incessant screaming and conspicuous lack of sleeping by said infant. Shuffle like a pack mule through security with baby, backpack and carseat, and board the plane. Enjoy an amazingly peaceful plane ride as infant discovers the joys of a window seat and a luxurious free row! Arrive in Dallas to much rejoicing.

Day 2 thru 12: Watch as infant is smothered in attention, affection, hugs, kisses, and more presents than you can fit into your house. Eat a ton of great food, go shopping, play cards, and sleep when you can. If you're feeling particularly brave, fit a car trip down to Houston into your schedule! The food is great there and everyone knows how much the kid loves a car ride! If it happens to rain the entire way there and back, turning a four hour trip into six, just look at it as valuable driving experience. Try to maintain constant vigilance as the infant discovers that everyone elses' home is full of beautiful treasures and fun climbing activities. Wish you had more time to spend with everybody.

Day 13: Enjoy another surprisingly great plane ride (another free row?! Truly a Christmas miracle). Eat lunch with your husband in Phoenix and brace yourselves for the agonizing 3 hours of screaming in the car until you get home. Get home and feel your anxiety melt away as the infant recognizes all her familiar toys and furniture with happy yells and dancing. :)

In all seriousness, we really had a great time. It was so nice to see everyone and finally get to eat at some great restaurants for a change! Aurora did better than I expected with all the new sights, sounds and people - the worst parts were the car trips. But that was because I was alone and trying to drive the car, thus unable to supply her with the nonstop attention she had become accustomed to at her grandparents' house. So all in all, we lived through it and may even do it again on day - maybe when she's 9 or 10.

Here's all the pictures but I have to say that I was a terrible photographer the whole time. So my apologies in advance! If you got any pictures of us while we were there, please email me!

Texas Trip

Home Again!

Didja miss me??

We made it home! We had a wonderful time in Texas seeing all our friends and family, but we are definitely glad to be home. I have a ton of pictures and videos to come, so check back tomorrow!

Over the river and through the woods

Tomorrow morning Aurora and I will embark on a journey to adventure...we'll be flying by the seat of our pants for 2 weeks, but I'll try to get the occasional picture posted up here. But no yelling at me if I forget to!

To tide you over until we meet again, here are two pictures from JoAnn's birthday party on Saturday - it was cold outside!

Random happenings

This past weekend we went to get our Christmas pictures made, and while we were waiting for the appointment in front of us to finish up, we ran around the store taking pictures of our own! And on Monday we went to the Promotions Ceremony at sector headquarters to celebrate Mike's promotion to supervisor! It was very nice, they had the spouses pin the new badges onto the agents' uniforms and they took pictures and everything. I had quite a time trying to keep Aurora quiet through the whole thing, but she did okay. Of course it looked like a goldfish cracker bomb went off around our chair by the end of the day, but oh well!! Here's a picture of me pinning his badge on:Not much else is going on around here - for more pictures go here!

11th Month

Happy Turkey Day!

Today we celebrated Aurora's first Thanksgiving, and she really enjoyed it! I went way overboard with the cooking as usual, but at least we'll have plenty of leftovers. Her favorites were the stuffing and the pumpkin pie - everything else on her tray became a bountiful feast on the floor for the dogs. I hope all of you had a great day off with friends and family - now on to the pictures!!

Yay! Turkey! Dad, come eat!!!
Quit bothering me - can't you see I'm eating pumpkin pie??
Special bonus video for her fans!

Some babies have a favorite blanket, or a stuffed bear, or a doll for a lovey. MY kid has none of those. Instead, she carries Jacob's sock everywhere she goes. Make of that what you will.

Oh and I just found this site - I'm at level 46 and have donated 810 grains of rice so far! It's pretty addictive and it feeds hungry people so go check it out.

Jeez!

So my darling aunt sent me a very demanding email requesting more pictures, so I must comply! Unfortunately, things haven't been terribly photogenic around here this past week. I got a couple, but she's had a runny nose the past couple of days that just doesn't inspire me to bust out the camera and commemorate it. We even went to the photographer today to try and get some Christmas pictures made, and it was a total bust - between her drippy nose and terrible attitude, we couldn't get even one decent picture. So, we'll try again next week! Not only all that, but I also let her ten month birthday pass without so much as a word here! I am so negligent. Here are the few pics I've gotten lately:

JoAnn's baby shower

Daddy's hiding

Daddy attacks!

Would you let your kid take the date rape drug?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is charged with testing the toys that our children play with every day, has only ONE toy tester on staff. How many billions of toys come into our country every year? And how can ONE tester possibly verify the safety of all those toys? This site is teaming up with Consumers Union (the folks who bring us Consumer Reports) to organize parents to take action against unsafe toys.

"They’ve put together a fantastic campaign for the holiday season called “Get the Lead Out This Holiday Season!” Sadly, it’s not just lead anymore. It’s small magnets that kids are choking on and it’s chemicals that can put our kids into comas.

And do not think that wood toys and plush toys are safe!"

Besides buying toys you KNOW are safe, what else can you do? Go to Consumer Union at http://cu.convio.net/FixTheCPSC, fill in your contact information, add a sentence or two to the beginning of their prewritten letter, and click to send it to your congressperson. And if you're shopping for any little ones this holiday season, might I recommend this site? (So much cute stuff!!) And if you're crafty yourself, handmade toys are always welcome around here!

Also, I'm joining in on the Christmas giveaways here!

By popular demand

No time to talk, but y'all only want pictures anyway!!

New toy

Jacob getting fresh on their lunch date

Couch potato!

Pumpkin Patch Photos!

Okay, so it was 97 degrees, the place was empty, and most of the pumpkins were in various stages of decomposition, but we had a good time anyway! There are a few more pictures here... she did NOT like sitting on the pokey hay!

Cute videos

I took these videos about a week ago and just now got around to uploading them. They are both of her playing with her shakers, but the first one is the super long extended version! Please ignore her raging case of bedhead :)

5 minutes of shaker fun:


The abridged version (30 seconds):

My little punkin

Uh oh...

Look who was sitting on our roof, eyeing our fish pond...He's been here a couple of days, and hasn't managed to catch dinner yet...hopefully he'll lose interest soon!

9 Months today!

Our little monkey is nine months old today! It's amazing how fast time flies... and amazing how much she's learned to do in just nine months! Yesterday we were sitting in the backyard, and she just stood up! I mean, she got up from a sitting position with no help and no 'props' to pull up or lean on - and she stood there for a little while before she sat back down. That's pretty amazing! She's gotten to be so much fun to play with, too.. she likes to hide behind the couch or the coffee table and pop out to play peekaboo, and she loves to jump and sing the 5 Little Monkeys song. And she has such a great sense of humor - she's developing her own personality and it's pretty cool. We've also discovered something else she really likes to do - too bad the park is a 40 minute drive away so we can't go every day!

Happy Anniversary!

Just for Grandma and Grandpa Miller:

We're here!

Did ya miss me??

So its been a while since my last post! I haven't been taking quite as many pictures these days, mainly because she won't sit still long enough to be captured on film! But we're still having a good old time.. she's not quite walking but she can stand on her own for almost a full minute. As long as she isn't thinking about it, that is - as soon as she realizes what she's doing, PLOP to the floor she goes! And she's introducing us to the joy of teething + separation anxiety...I must say that whining is not her most endearing trait. But, this too shall pass, I'm sure! Here are a couple pictures I've taken over the past week or so:

Beating dad with a stick:

"I said I wanted a PONY!!!"

Having vanquished Dad and Chance, now she's coming for me:
No paparazzi!

Talking on the phone in a bubble bath:

"It's for you!"

More photos here!

Two more pictures

I found these two pics on the camera from the last time Jacob came over - they really are inseparable!

Playdate!

Aurora's friend Jacob came over yesterday to play! She loved it...he's older than she is so she just followed him everywhere. Everything he played with, she wanted to play with too because he made it look so cool! And he's walking like a big kid so I'm betting she'll start any day now, just to keep up with him :) Here are some pictures:

Bill who?

So the latest news in the mommy blogosphere is all about Bill Maher's rant against breastfeeding in public. When I heard about it, frankly, I was shocked. Bill Maher is still around?? He even has a show? Unbelievable. So I clicked over and watched the rant in question. Sure, it's obnoxious and ridiculous:

"Look, there's no principle at work here other than being too lazy to either plan ahead or cover up. It's not fighting for a right it's fighting for the spotlight you surely will get when you go all Janet Jackson on everyone and get to drink in the oohs and ahs of the other customers because you made a baby. Something a dog can do."

Chicky Chicky Baby has a much better post about this subject than I do today, but I wanted to throw my two cents in too. Honestly, I am not offended by his stupid comments, as he is so far off my radar that it truly doesn't affect me one way or the other. I just rolled my eyes when he started going on about it, but I'm lucky to have never had any problems nursing in public the few times I've had to. I do try to avoid it though, simply because I don't want the possibility of dealing with A-holes like Maher. The thing that really bothers me about his rant is knowing that his opinion is shared by lots of people - mostly men - people who have never been in a situation where their child is starving, won't take a bottle, and screaming at the top of their lungs in a crowded restaurant/grocery store/mall/movie theater. And it is so hypocritical to me that this society - one that glorifies porn, violence, and celebrities minus their underwear - would be up in arms against seeing half a boob. Really, which would you prefer to be subjected to? A) The possibility of accidentally seeing the top part of my boob if you happen to glance in my direction, or B) Listening to my child scream and flail about in hunger? One would think A would win in a landslide. But, Bill Maher is an idiot who panders to other idiots, and shouldn't expect to drink in the oohs and ahhs of America just because he gets to be on TV. Something a monkey can do.

8 Months

I didn't post yesterday, but the little monkey is now 8 months old!! To celebrate, I put her down in the living room to play with her toys and went to the garage to get another pack of Diet Cokes for the fridge. I came back in the house, only to find that she was nowhere in sight! Of course, I freak out slightly and start checking all the usual hiding places - under my nightstand, in the bathroom, on the bottom shelf of the changing table - no baby! So I go back to the laundry room, and lo and behold, there she is!What?!

In other news, this blogging stuff is really paying off! First I won a t-shirt for me and Aurora, and now I've won these!! And the weather is finally cooling down here, so now I have no excuse not to get out and start pounding the pavement.

Too cool :)

Laughing at Cucumbers, Parts I and II

Some random pictures

Checking the brakes on her spaceship:Oh no! Daddy's got me!

I guess it's okay - he's not so bad!

Got some insanely cute videos coming up tomorrow!

Advice

If your baby is eating solid foods and just not pooping like she used to, might I recommend curried lentils and rice? Aurora loves it, and it works like a (disgusting, messy) charm!

I just realized I've posted almost no pictures of her this month, and she turns 8 months old on Monday! I'll try to get some pics up later today after the camera charges.

Welcome home, honey

Meet the newest member of our family, the DiaperSanitizatron 2000:

I hope the dryer doesn't get an inferiority complex - we can only replace one ridiculously expensive appliance at a time!