I'll be home for Christmas!

Okay peeps... tomorrow is travel day! We are braving the traveling crowds and taking a let-me-do-it-but-I-still-want-you-to-hold-me nine-month-old on a pair of flights cross country that should take about eight hours. Of course that's just from departure to landing. Really it's an hour+ to the airport where we are supposed to arrive hours early and then there will be collecting bagage and an hour's drive on the other end... so more like twelve hours worth of travel. Okay Mommies who have done it, any advice? At least say a prayer for us!

We are headed for the land of the dreaded Dial-Up Internet. That's right, my mom still has dial-up. So posts will be fewer and farther in between. Sorry. I know you will miss me and all. ;) We wish you a very Happy Hanukkah this weekend and a Merry Christmas next week, heck while we're at it, Happy New Year too! We'll be sure to post pictures soon.

Catch you on the flip side.

What a day!

It's not even 2:00 yet and we have had a very busy morning. It all started with yogurt for breakfast. Yes, I realize her hair is in her eyes.
Then there was the half an hour of crying because someone did not want to take their nap.... This is the colapsed-on-the-stuffed-animals pose that is getting to be pretty popular around here.

Next up on our list of things to do today, make a liar out of mommy. This is what happened when Lily went for the tree and pulled off a bright red apple, I think she really thought she could eat it. Nope, just paint all over the face. (Note the lovely bruise under her left eye... there was a fight with the coffee table a few days ago.)

Ah, time for some chores. Laundry anyone? Look familiar? How many of you Mommies are smiling and nodding?

And then for the really fun stuff, Lil and I in our matching aprons, whipping up a batch of gingerbread. She just went down for her afternoon nap, so we will have to cut them out and bake them later, but we'll be sure to post pics.

Lights

We went for a walk this evening, all bundled up, to see Christmas Lights. Lil wasn't all that impressed. I think she was confused being outside when it was dark.

Our house is not super fantastic or anything, but we did put up lights. :) They are a little straight for my liking, but when you use gutter-clips this is what you get:



And Lily loves to look at our tree. She has been super good about not touching it... I think I only pulled her away from it once. Look out Gramma, that must mean she is waiting for your tree!

OH! and before I forget... Lily is nine months old today!! Time flies. :)

Whatever keeps her happy

... sometimes it is all about whatever keeps her happy...

Santa Baby

We decorated for Christmas in the Barracks a couple of days ago. A bunch of us ladies from the FRG got together and put up a tree and some bows and the like to make the "dayroom" look nice for the single soldiers. Lily, of course, had to dress for the event:

I know I am so totally biased, but she is So Stinking Cute!

Hahahahah!

Oh My Goodness! My cheeks and ribs hurt from laughing. I can't believe it actually happened... I guess I knew it could... I never really thought about it.

But it did...

Jacob got a new 1st Sargent today and you'll never believe what his name is.....

Captain White and 1st Sargent Black.


okay... so I'm being a little silly, but that strikes me as so FUNNY! You know, like Major Major. :D

Bummed

So I was looking forward to making my new blog background for Christmas. I stole many precious moments when Lil wasn't looking, and enjoyed learning more about my Photoshop, crafting away a new background. And, as usual, I went to photobucket to upload my image file so I could link it to the blog. Apparently photobucket has recently decided to charge membership for those who wish to have files that large hosted on their site. :( All that work for nothing....

So instead, I popped over to thecutestblogontheblock.com to find a premade background. If you dropped in yesterday it was quite red around here... too much for me. So today I am trying again with a premade in green.

In my own little perfect world it would have looked like this:

There, now all that work wasn't for nothing!

Off topic... I did manage to figure out how I screwed up the whole comments thing... they seem to be working fine, once again. :)

Meme away everybody!

Okay, so I was curious and had to check out what the sixth picture in my sixth file was. Alas, the sixth folder only had 4 pictures in it, so I doubled back and you get to view #2! This past July, my three sisters and I convinced our husbands and kids to go camping together at Morro Bay! Actually, this was our second trip, but last summer only three of us girls went. Next summer, maybe we can convince my brother and sister-in-law with their three girls, too! This picture shows my sister, Helen and I with 7 of the Huerta cousins. Our sister, Monica is standing to the back with the baseball cap on. Our youngest sister, Amy, is the photographer. My son, Jake, was there but didn't make the shot. My girls, Sara and Stevie, have lives of their own and didn't join us. Pretty good looking family, I think! ;)

Oh yeah, and for those of you who think I should have used the last picture since there wasn't six . . .

. . . meet the brothers-in-law: Scott, Kim, Fred, and Jim!

Doing a Meme

According to Urban Dictionary, the fourth definition for the word "meme" is "in blogspeak, an idea that is spread from blog to blog."

My friend, Beth, did this particular meme on her site and invited us to do the same. (Sorry I never posted where I blog from Beth.) The rules are as follows:

Go to your sixth picture folder
Select the sixth picture
Tell the story behind the picture

Since I have a billion pictures of Lily you can bet who will be in the photo. My folders are alphabetized by month, so our picture comes from April:

This is my mom and I (no resemblance or anything) with little Lily out for a day of baseball watching. My brother, Jake, was playing for his high school team. Let me see... that would make Lily 23 days old in this picture.

What's the sixth picture in the sixth photo folder on your computer?

Dancing Fool!

I couldn't resist because I think this is toooooooo cute! The music is from one of Jacob's video games, but Lily digs it, so I put it on for her.

The next question is whether she got her sense of rhythm from her mom or her dad. :)

(...if you ask me, it looks like her dad...)

Keeping one step ahead

Last week, not a day after I covered all the plugs in our living/dinning room , Lily began to crawl. You'd think it would take some practice... the crawling I mean. One day she couldn't do it, and then the next day she was all over the place. I can't think of anything I learn that fast. I can just imagine trying to learn to water ski (or something unlike me like that) and doubt I'd be anywhere near proficient the very next day!

At any rate, just this week, Lil has started pulling up on the coffee table and couches. She promptly falls back down... well, less promptly today, now that I think about it... but she pulls up none-the-less. She has way more strength than balance! ;) So I figured I better get that crib dropped down pretty soon. Procrastinating as usual, I went to check on her during her nap today, only to find her kneeling at the rail, eyes just above her little hands. Soooooo... I went straight for the tool box and put that baby down.

My goal for this weekend? Maybe I can get all the cabinet locks installed in the kitchen.

Beth

I started blogging b/c Beth had a lovely blog. And we all know I want to be like Beth when I grow up.

She does it so well. Not like me and my little posts... "here's what happened" and have a picture or twelve. She manages to actually get her thoughts down in writing and actually tell you a story. I am jealous of her mad skills.

If you don't know, November is National Blog Posting Month, aka NaBloPoMo, in which Beth is participating. I am thouroughly enjoying reading about her two (three if you count Josh) boys and of course her own adventures every day. Yay Beth, you rock! Thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us. :)

Beth gave me and Lily the sweetest Christmas/going away/ baby shower gift last year. A hand made Nativity from Poland. This post is actually just an excuse to share another (yes, another random) picture.

We love you Beth.

Thanks Gram

Gram made Lily a CUTE! new sweater. We love it!

Lily did it!

Lily is crawling!

And its not like she's really been working up to it, she just barely started spending time on her hands and knees. But today, just on a whim I put her in a disposable diaper instead of the cloth after her afternoon nap. That's all it took for her and she was off!

Guess I better go weigh her down again....

Out to eat

Jacob took Lil and me out to dinner tonight. Spur of the moment kind of thing. But I just couldn't see our almost 8 month old being happy strapped into her infant seat while we ate, so... Lily got to sit in a restaurant high chair for the first time. (We don't eat out much.) She was quite pleased with herself.

She even got to share our food. A few black beans and some pieces of tortilla, yum!

Jailbird

Lily had a rough night last night. Her second tooth broke through today (bottom left) so I'm sure that had something to do with it. She woke several times; times she doesn't typically wake, along with those she does. She was even awake to start her day a whole hour earlier than she usually is. (I'm blessed with a child who will sleep/play quietly until seven.) How did I come to know this, you might ask? I could hear the clack-clack-clack-clack-clack, clack-clack-clack-clack-clack, clack-clack-clack-clack-clack of her pacifier being dragged against the slats of her crib.

The poor jailbird.

My latest creation

It has been a slow project that is for sure! Mostly done during nap times and after Lily has gone to bed.

The cell phone is for size comparison. Note it is not completely done. Yes, those are pins holding the handles on, I have some hand stitching to do.

But I like it... I think I'll keep it for myself, lol.

Oh Lil...

So here's a pic of my girl and my guy at our Battalion picnic last week, where Lil took second place in the costume contest in her age group. Her face says so much. She has hit a new stage/phase (whatever) where she is a doll when we are around other people and she is entertained. But during the day, when it is just her and me, she refuses to play nicely by herself and heaven forbid I put her down and walk out of the room. She has discovered how to scream.

I thought I would just ignore it. When she realized that screaming and pitching a fit wouldn't get her what she wanted she would stop. Boy was I wrong. That just makes her madder. The poor kid is going to scream herself hoarse. I was making dinner this evening, before Jacob and one of his LTs got home, and Lily was on the rug in the kitchen with me just bawling. I'm talking to her the whole time; telling her what I am doing, telling her crying like that is not okay, telling her that I can pick her up again when I am done. I finally had to put her in her crib, I just couldn't get anything done. When she finally stopped screaming (fortunately I was done) I went back and picked her up. Is she too little to understand a time out? Is that essentially what I did to her? Any ideas?

Sometimes it's so bad, she doesn't even want me to just sit on the floor with her... she wants to be in arms or in my lap. This cannot fly in our house. I've got crafty things to be doing people!

Yay Lily!

Warning: This post might have TMI.

Hahaha, mom's won't care.

My Lil is still doing the combo diapering; cloth during the day and a disposable at night. She has a tendency to poop first thing in the morning, right before I get her up, in that disposable diaper. Yay, easy cloth diapers to wash!

And, knock on wood, Lily slept from 7:30 until 4:30 the last two nights. Crossing my fingers we are finally sleeping through the night!

Lily Rocks!

The new digs... a few pics

The front of the house before we moved in.The front of the house once my sister and I did some planting. :)My living room. (just inside the front door)My dining room which now has curtains that match the living room.

I tell ya, getting the house on a Friday and not getting our household goods until Monday was a bit of a bummer, but I sure am glad we utilized that time to paint!

Naptime

So it's naptime. And I can hear all kinds of squeals and giggles coming from Lily's room. Armed with the camera, I quietly approach (I edited that part out for you) to see waving limbs and peaking eyes. Note: it is morning nap, so we are still in our jammies b/c we have a slacker mom who doesn't change our clothes first thing.

Post Edit: Her head is on the left side of the crib... Sorry it was more interesting in my mind...

Making up stuff

Lil made up a new game today.

I was teasing her, I put her pacifier in my mouth, nothing I haven't done before. She usually snags it and it goes right into her mouth. Well today she giggled and stuck it back in my mouth! Which then cracked her up even more and she squealed... and proceeded to do it all again.

Silly girl. :)

This and That

Lily wanted to share our Jack-o-lantern with ya'll.

And share with you that she likes to make her mom a liar... we have stepped up from the flail, to the all fours.

And lastly, she is just a ham... so this one is just for kicks.

BTW... I'm totally curious, do you skype?

poll by twiigs.com

Late Crawler

You took your sweet time about crawling, too. You didn't crawl until after 8 months or walk until 14! Every day your sweet baby girl brings back more and more memories of you growing up! I bet Dianna thinks the same about Jacob. Daddy says the video of Lily "not" crawling reminds him of this shot from Spring 1980. ;b

Not crawling and funny noises

Lily doesn't find herself in any hurry to crawl. In fact, when she finds herself on her tummy she just flails and cries. In the last couple of days she has started lifting her butt in the air... but her upper body is still on the ground.

As a side note, around second 14 of this clip you can hear Lil's favorite sound. Does she mamama? Does she dadada? No. My daughter is practicing her t-h blend. Thhhhhhh.... Go figure.

Can you see it?!

I actually caught a pic with that little tiny bit of tooth! Can you see it?

The Kitchen Again

Just the slightest change from the last time I shared... but the "handpainted" tile look was what I had in mind in the begining.

The Kitchen

Ah, its coming along... just one more step. I finshed the tiles for the Faux Tile Backsplash today. I just want to add a little bit of detail to a few of them with some cute foam stamps I found, so they will kind of look hand painted. This post reminds me... I really need to clean the house so I can take some pictures share. :)

I don't know if I told you, but...

Jacob takes over A Co, 1-508th PIR (That's parachute infantry regiment; aren't you proud of me?) on Friday morning at 11:00. That means I get to be an FRG leader. (Yes, I use "get" loosely.) I'm meeting some of the ladies of A Co tonight for dinner tonight, and would you believe it, I'm a bit nervous. I have the beginings of a headache, Lily is being very clingy and I'm in that place where I just wish it was time to get ready and go, so I can just get it over with. Know what I mean?

Anywho, keep us both in your prayers.

Finally!

I finally finished the "fancy" wall in Lily's room, yesterday. Not quite as "professional" as I would have liked; no matter how hard I tried to press the tape down, my paint still bled underneath so my lines aren't perfectly crisp. But all-in-all not too shabby; I'm pretty proud. :)

Copying Kelly

As usual, my friend Kelly has the most adorable blog background. So once again I am following her lead and changing it up a little. Thanks for the inadvertent link Kel!

Guess what!

Lily turned seven months old yesterday!

But that's not the big news... as I was getting her ready for bed last night... I noticed that Lil is cutting her first tooth! It just barely split the gums but you can see the very tiny tip of a tooth! Bottom right, for those of you playing along at home. :D

Just for the fun of it :)

Here's a pair of shots from the day we spent painting.




Somehow we managed to get the house on a Friday. But we couldn't get the furniture delivered until Monday. So what did we do? We decided it would be the perfect time to paint. Lily's room is pink (of course!) and the kitchen is a nice sunny yellow. I have to get some pics of the place so I can share... you know... when its clean, lol.

The one when Lily got her hairs cut.

On the 20th of August little Miss Lily had her first hair cut. No, we didn't have any tears. And, no, I didn't save a lock. :p

Her hair was so long in the back! And the place where babies tend to rub their hair off while lying on the floor was missing, so there was a big "step" in the middle. I think she looked like she was sporting a baby mullet. At any rate I had hoped to do it before her baptism but poor Nancy, our friend who cuts my hair, had hurt her arm. So we made a special trip after the baptism to see Nancy and get Lil's hair trimmed. It looked sooooo much better when she was done.

Sadly, Lily is in need again... and we won't be anywhere near California until December. :(

Lily's Baptism

So we managed to time it so that we could have Lily's baptism while we were on leave in California. That meant we could have it in Southern California where most of mi familia reside. And it meant that she could be baptised at St Elizabeth's, the parish were I (and many of my cousins) attended elementary school and made my first communion. :)

Lily was great and didn't make a sound as the water was poured over her head, but she didn't like lying back too much. :) And boy, did she want that candle flame! Lily is blessed to have my cousins Ben and Kaitlin as her godparents.