With the almost daily rain we’ve had for the past few weeks, I didn’t manage to get the DADDDY pictures done yet. But we still wanted to say “Happy Father’s Day” to Denis, Grandpa and Poppy!
Author: Sarah
Three Teeth
I bravely stuck my finger in Anna’s mouth this morning and found a teeny-tiny top tooth poking out (her right, center top tooth). There was no crying or any other sleep interruption, so it must not have bothered her at all. Bring on the steak now! (Just kidding.)
Clean Windows
We had the windows cleaned professionally today. We had to get the gutters done, because the back of the house is on a hill and the roof is essentially three stories up. And the place we went with also does windows. So we decided to splurge. Oh, my, do they sparkle! We also took down all of the fake window-pane things that were in them, and I just love the clear view of the outdoors now.
However. I really think I should call the company and suggest that they talk to their employees. If you’re going to go into a customer’s home and do some work, and while you’re there, if you are going to be disrespectful about that home – say, maybe, if you want to comment to your co-worker about the clutter, or the fact that the windows are filthy (um, yeah, that’s why we hired you to clean them), or that you find the naked Barbies on the floor hilarious? Maybe, just maybe, you should check to see if there’s a baby monitor on in your vicinity. Just sayin’.
Pool Season
Anna had her first dip in the pool today. A rather chilly dip, as we haven’t put the solar cover on and it’s really been rather mild so far this summer, but she seemed to enjoy it.
Carrie discovered that she can stand on her tip-toes in the shallow end and have the water only come up to her neck. She’s getting tall, my big girl!
Dance Recital, The First
Carrie did very, very well at her recital today. All the girls did! It was a very long time for her to sit in the auditorium, so we did spend some time hanging out in the cafeteria in the building. But she watched a lot of the other performances, and stuck it all the way through until the end so she could go up and take a bow with everyone else.
The building the theater was in had an escalator, and Carrie was so excited to be able to ride it. She kept begging to go back on the “elescator” again. I kept asking her what she wanted to do just so I could hear her say “elescator”. :)
Eleven Months Old!
Dear Anna,
One more month until the big first birthday! Time flies when you’re having fun!
You haven’t tried too many new foods this month, let’s see…tuna fish, raspberries, yellow beans and sunbutter (like peanut butter, only made with sunflower seeds). But you’ve tried many new table food versions of things you’ve had before. You adore Grandma’s mini-meatball soup (aka Italian Wedding Soup). Actually, you adore anything I let you have in a suction-bottomed bowl with a spoon – you just think that’s the coolest thing. Especially when you eventually pry the bowl off of your tray!
I think your first official word is “book”. You say “boo-uh” and lunge towards the pile of books on the shelf next to the chair when we sit down to nurse in the morning and at bedtime. And you say it consistently enough that I think I’m going to declare it your first word. You also say “dis!” and “dat!” when it seems like “this” or “that” would be appropriate, so I’m wondering if you actually are saying those words too…?
You’re not walking yet, but you are climbing – stairs, that is. And you know you’re not supposed to, because you look back at me with your stinker-pants face like “See, Mom? See what I’m doing?!?” You do that a lot, really, and one of your favorite games is to crawl away from me into a room you’re not really supposed to be in, look back to make sure I’m following, and then crawl as fast as your little hands and knees will go until I pick you up from behind and you squeal with glee.
Speaking of squealing. Baby! You and your sister need to tone down the high-pitched shrieking! You would make most opera singers weep with jealousy – I’m shocked we haven’t actually had any broken glass yet. You know, everyone always waxes poetic about the pitter-patter of little feet, but nobody warns you about the high-pitched shrieking and squealing of little girls…
In a few short weeks we’ll be celebrating the fact that we all made it to your first birthday – and I have to be honest, I think we kind of got off easy. You’ve been, so far, an extremely easy baby. You slipped into our lives and it wasn’t so long before it felt like you’d been here all along anyway. I’m sure we’ll have challenges and changes ahead, there always are, but this part where I’m your mama? That’s the easy bit. Thanks for choosing me to be your mama, thanks for choosing us to be your family.
Love, Mommy
Dress Rehearsal
All I can say, is that while half of them don’t really know most of the choreography, Carrie’s class entirely makes up for it in extreme cuteness. And they’ve all clearly worked very, very hard on their dances. I can’t wait for the recital on Saturday!
The Yarn, oh, the Yarn…
We’re getting our windows cleaned next Monday. The kind of cleaning where they have to come in the house. Not just that, but they need to be able to actually access all the windows. I didn’t take a before picture, but short of tip-toeing through the pile of crap crafts all over the floor, there was no way to get anywhere near the craft room windows.
So I just want to know one thing…
When did all my yarn get replaced with tribbles? And why couldn’t the good stuff be the yarn that was mysteriously multiplying??
On the upside, I’ve found a lot of my “missing” needles – they’re all in UFOs, many of them just stuck into incomplete swatches. On the downside, there’s seriously not enough hours left in my life to knit up everything in there. And even if there were, there’s new stuff out there that’s way nicer than a lot of my old stuff. So once again I have a big pile of stuff to donate. Another sizable pile of nicer yarn is probably going to go up on Ravelry as stash that’s available for sale or trade – I might be able to fund my etsy habit for a while off of yarn that deserves a better home.
And I haven’t even started on the sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, beading or scrapbooking supplies…
He’s Home (and Funny Kid Stuff)
Denis didn’t make it home until almost lunchtime. Poor guy had to sleep in the airport last night after missing his connection by 10 minutes. :(
In other news, four-and-a-half can really be a wonderful age!
Carolyn thought she saw a firefly outside around 6:30, which at this time of year is still full daylight. So I said, “Honey, I thought the fairies didn’t light up the fireflies until after sunset?” (From the Tinkerbell movie). And she said, “No, Mommy, that’s silly! The fairies don’t light up the fireflies in *our* world, they do it themselves.” And I said, “How do you think they light themselves up?” After a moment, she said, “I think they turn on like a flashlight! Like this!”
And then she got the mini maglight off the key hook, turned it on, placed it on her chair, and bent over in front of the chair so it was shining on her butt. I about died laughing – Denis came in and I could barely explain what was going on.
Then she said, “Wait, it would probably work better like this!” and pulled down her skirt so she could shine the flashlight on her bare bottom.
Denis and I were laughing so hard we could barely breathe! Now we’ll have a to have a discussion about why she probably shouldn’t show anyone else her new firefly trick, though…
(And yes, I’m aware that she’s going to be really embarrassed by this post when she’s a bit older! At least I didn’t take pictures…)
Three Down, Four To Go…
I’ve decided I really, really don’t like bedtimes as a “single” parent. At all.
But I at least have a project. I’ve been cleaning out the linen closet. I swear there were dish towels breeding in there, as I don’t remember ever buying them or even receiving them as gifts. Not to mention the extra-long twin sheets from college, the jersey knit sheets with holes that never actually fit well on our mattress, the curtains that came with the house (and came down just as soon as possible…they were ugggggly)…you get the idea. There’s several bags of “stuff” waiting to be donated somewhere they might be put to good use.
I should be cleaning out the craft room, but at least the linen closet is going to be quite lovely and organized when I’m done!