Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Update

I was looking into past blog entries and remembered that this acts as an online journal of sorts. I have recorded all sorts of things on here about our daily life and about Holly that I have completely forgotten over the past several months. I'm going to try and do better about posting stats and daily occurrences. Not that you, my lovely readers, really care; but so I can go back and see and remember what life was like.

Holly had her 15 month well baby check-up about 3 weeks ago. She weighed in at 23 lb. 5 oz. which puts her in the 50th percentile for weight. She was 32 inches tall, which puts her in the 90th percentile for height. The past few visits, her weight has been in the 30th percentile and height around the 70th percentile. So our girl went through a growth spurt!

She's also growing hair and teeth like crazy. Her hair is getting thicker daily and is curly in the back, which I'm in love with. The biggest change (to me) is the teeth, though. All of a sudden, they started coming in left and right. She's like a little pirahna! Teeth make babies look so different. I stare in amazement at her teeth daily. I don't know what my problem is; they have to come in sometime!

Holly is a good sleeper. She sleeps around 12 hours a night, give or take. Makes my life wonderful! I get lots done in the evening after she goes to bed (around 7:00) and, if I can get it together, still go to bed early myself. She's transitioning from two naps to one, which can get ugly around dinnertime. But overall she's a pleasant, sweet girl. We are so lucky to have her!

Tonight

Tonight after dinner, we had some down time so we three Kings decided to do what we do best: veg out and watch some TV! (We're really exciting people.) After Andrew and I watched the news, we turned on Sesame Street for Holly, or "Elmo," as she calls it. Pronounced elbow. Very cute. She's really into the "b" sound right now. Anyway, she and Andrew got very cozy on the couch and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.


Holly smiles for the camera, but also squints in anticipation of the flash. So pictures of her are pretty funny right now. What makes this picture special is that she almost never gets this close to Andrew! When he comes in the door from work, she acts interested in him for about 30 seconds. Then she hides between my legs whenever he tries to interact with her. Crazy kid! To quote Andrew, "she acts as if he's a piece of furniture."

So it was nice to see my little munchkin daughter cuddled up with her daddy for a few minutes.

Family Pictures

My dear friend Tiffany so kindly agreed to take some family photos of us. I felt an urgency to get some of just the three of us before the baby comes, so we took them last weekend. Holly was interested in everything else but the camera, so she was not easy to work with. All of the pictures Tiffany gave us were fantastic. I am super impressed and excited about them! Here are a few for you to enjoy.


A very flattering picture of the three of us.


My sweet, beautiful baby. (Am I allowed to say that? Does that sound braggy? Sorry.) This was one of the few smiles caught on camera.


35 weeks and so over being pregnant.

Thank you so much, Tiffany! The pictures are beautiful and you made us all look great. I love, love, love them.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

What Is She Thinking?

The other day I walked into the living room to find this:


That is a shopping cart full of play food. I guess Holly thought she needed to have a bird's eye view of everything? No idea. But very funny.

Oh! Yesterday, my dear friend Kathryn and her little guy Aaron stopped by for a visit. Aaron is almost exactly a year older than Holly. The two squirts had a great time playing together. When it was time for them to get going, Kathryn told Aaron to say goodbye to Holly. So he walked over to her, puckered up, and leaned in for a smooch! Holly was quite a willing participant. So Holly had her first kiss at the age of 15 months. We're going to have to keep an eye on her from now on!

Goodbye, Friends

For about the past year, I have enjoyed serving in the Young Women presidency in our ward. A few weeks ago, the presidency got released and I was very sad about it. I miss my girls so much! Anyway, we (the "old" presidency) decided we needed to get together for a celebratory/pity party a week or so ago. It was one last chance to get together like old times and eat good food and chat it up. Lori brought a cookie cake. After much deliberation, she decided what it needed to say:


Truer words have never been written! Especially in frosting. By the way, the cookie cake was delicious. Makes me want a giant cookie right now...

Anyway, these girls have nothing to worry about yet. I was assigned another calling before I could get over being released from Young Women. Guess what it is? Primary chorister. I'm getting used to the idea and after two weeks in the trenches, I can honestly say that I think I'm going to enjoy it. Ask me two weeks ago, and I would not have been so sure. It's a lot of work and it's tiring, but fun. Those Primary kids sure can sing! They have won me over completely.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Little Puppy?

Today Holly and I paid a visit to my mom (aka Mimi) so I could get some work done on the quilt I'm making for the new baby. I need lots of supervision from my mom, plus her sewing machine is about a million times better than mine. Anyway, Holly came out of my parents' room looking a little bit like this:



I couldn't get her to pose for a really good picture, but she looked like a little puppy with that ball in her mouth! Of course, when we laughed at her, it only egged her on. What a little ham.

Dress-Up


Awhile back, Holly inherited some dress-up items from one of her cousins. She had only really shown interest in the accessories (fairy wand, etc.) until yesterday. She decided to dress-up and was determined to put the princess clothes on. So I helped her put on some clothes she took out of the box. She kept taking clothes out of the box, so I decided to keep her happy and I just kept putting them on. Hey, it's all about keeping her happy right before dinnertime!

This is two complete princess outfits. I especially love the pacifier. Part grown-up big girl, part baby. I love this sweet little thing!

When Mommy's Busy...


...a little girl has no choice but to find some way to amuse herself!

I was in the kitchen making dinner and Holly was quiet and content playing by herself. This should have been my first clue that something was not right. When she reappeared, she had a black pen in one hand and this little number all over her leg. Thankfully, she had only drawn on a blank yellow poster and on herself. My furniture and walls are still safe...for now.

Breakfast

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Pancakes, waffles, muffins, French toast, omelets, bagels with cream cheese--what's not to love? My girl also quite enjoys her breakfast. One thing I love about being home with her is, I can make French toast on a Wednesday morning if I want to! Life is good.

We also both enjoy cereal when I don't feel like breaking out the frying pan. One of Holly's favorites is Frosted Mini Wheats. She has loved these since she has eaten solid food in any form. We just soak some in milk and let her at them. Last time we had some cereal, here is what she did:



Milk in the hair. Awesome. I had just given her a bath before bed the night before, so I made do with some baby wipes. Needless to say, her hair was a sticky mess all day long. But she had a good time. That's all that matters, right?