Merry Christmas

Lea learned part of a Christmas song...


We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family. We were lucky enough to see many family members over the holiday, but it kept us running. On Tuesday, Mom, Grampy and Margarete met me for the long wait to see Santa at North Park Mall. We heard stories from him and took some photos in the mall. We talked about Santa, played with a santa doll, watched Santa hold other kids, and Lea was saying "Santa, Santa" as we were next in line. We put her in his lap and the crying began! Santa didn't have as much patience as I would have thought for her, but he was sweet about it, albeit in a hurry. He said "She must be one. One is the hardest age." So we took it in stride, got out with our self taken photos for free and called it a day. We did get some cute portraits in her fancy dress.





We met Linda's family on Thursday with an informal dinner and a rousing game of bingo with prizes! Great Grandma Dusty was there, if a little worse for a fall. She was sore in the ribs, but a joy to be with.
A cute pink Santa hat from Linda! What a perfect baby hat!




Friday we finished our Christmas things and headed to Emory to spend the weekend with mom, Grampy, and Margarete. We went to a German restaurant in Emory Friday night. Margarete got to talk to the owner in German and compare recipes. Very good food and a fun dinner. Saturday afternoon brought a drive to Denton for dinner with Dan's Aunt Bonny, a wonderful afternoon with Sonny and Dusty, and toys thanks to Lalania. A fabulous dinner and wonderful presents. Thanks so much. Chrismas eve we had early gift giving in Emory because we were expecting a visit from Margarete's friends (she hadn't seen them in 15 years). Due to car trouble we didn't see them until Christmas day, but it was a wonderful visit. Margarete really enjoyed seeing them and we enjoyed meeting them. They travel much of the time but live near mom, so perhaps we will see more of them. Christmas Eve was full of presents from each other and while we felt like we'd kept it to a minimum there were boxes and boxes of great stuff! Lea got an Elmo rocker from Grandma Lynn... we opened the box and Elmo was without eyes... Lea didn't seem phased and, with some adult assembly required, Dad had it together in a flash and Lea was off surfing with Elmo.




We got great presents sent from Grandma JoAnn and Aunt Marie & Uncle Dave & Godfather Joe! Again thanks so much! Then Christmas morning brought a sweet letter from Santa and more little presents left in our stockings. Santa was very practical with windshield washer fluid for everyone, among other little gifts, but the washer fluid brought the biggest raised eyebrows! good ol' Santa always knows what you really need.

Christmas Day brought the tastiest turkey ever and Dan V., Linda, Teresa and Robert to share it. More presents, wonderful sweet gifts for all. Another hearty thank you!
A great family time. And the day after left Lea looking around for presents... why could she open them 4 days in a row and then not today, she seemed to say, but she took it in stride and the present of babies printed on magnetic paper seemed to be a hit. There was much sorting of the babies, out of the bag, on the table, in the pockets. She loved all of her toys and has played with them all!
One of the fabulous gifts from Linda & Dan was a towel with princess crown that Lea has taken to wearing like a cape. She wore it for quite a while christmas day and when we got home on Wednesday she wanted to wear it. We also did use it for a towel... silly us





Grampy and Lea playing together. It took her a while to warm up but then she was flirting and playing with her new best friend... although she still wouldn't sit in his lap. She's got stranger anxiety something fierce. Lea got pictures of babies on magnet paper and she loves to sort the magnet babies and put the magnet babies in pockets!


A glimpse into the holiday festivities in Emory. Appearently no one but grandma knew I was trying to video Lea...

Snow Day

We had an Arctic blast the week after Thanksgiving. Dan, Lea, my mom and I drove to Minnesota for Thanksgiving where the weather was a balmy 50... but we come back to Texas to an ice and snow storm. It was not as severe as the news would have had us believe, but Lea did get to see and play in her first snow fall.

Wilder Sleeps over

At the beginning of December we took our sanity in our hands and offered to babysit overnight. We kept Kris & Jerry's wonderful son Wilder. I was worried what it would be like to have two toddlers in the house, but both Dan and I said we were vastly UNDERwhelmed at how hard it was... now don't get any ideas. We're not aching to have two wee ones permenantly, but it was fun to have a playmate overnight. They played and ate and bathed together.... the scandal! And in the morning I got Lea out of her room, trying not to wake up Wilder in the pack N play in our extra room, but to no avail. They were both awake and pointing at each other saying "Baby, baby, baby" It was adorable that they both recognized that there was different little monkey in their territory... but they weren't territoiral. That only happened when it came to spoons!

Lea tries to welcome Wilder with a kiss. Wilder plays hard to get.


The baby's each had a spoon. Then suddenly one baby had all the spoons. So I gave the other baby two spoons, thinking 4 baby hands, 4 spoons, what more could they want... they just wanted what the other baby had.


Bath time fun... Here I learned the differences between boys and girls... No I don't mean their physical make up. Lea loves to pour water from one cup to another... Wilder... he's a thrower!


And finally the bed time pajama race. It was exhausting just to watch.

Old McDonald's Wild Cat Farm

So I have much to post from Santa pictures, Thanksgiving pictures, videos of Lea's first overnight guest when we babysat another child... and I'll get to all of that. Perhaps even before chirstmas... However I have to tell the story of the drive home last night. So for dinner we met my mom and Grandpa & Margarte (who are in town until Christmas) in Greenville — half way to mom's house. On the way home, although it was much less than an hour Lea was a bit bored in the dark. So I began to sing. I sing Old McDonald and when I come to an animal she says what it says. Old McDonald had a cow, what does cow say. Lea says Muuuu. She knows her animal sounds well. My favorite currently is Lion says Rawr... I think it is the first sign of her Texas accent... but I digress. So instead of just letting her say the sound and me singing, last night I tried to get her to say the sound every time it came to it... Old McD had a Sheep ... With a ... you say it .... [With some prompting Lea quietly says Baa] ... here and a ... you say it [Lea quietly says Baa] ... Here a ... you say it [Lea pipes in with Mew mew - She loves the cat noise ] So we did cat and she enjoyed that... Here a Mew Mew, everywhere a Mew Mew. Then we went on to other animals like Cow. We got two Mooos out of her and then everythig turned to Mew Mew. We tried another animal and it too turned to a Mew Mew by the end. I said she was raising an evil cat farm where all her animals turned to cats by the end of the song. It perhaps seems mundane, but driving in the dark, getting her to sing we laughed and laughed. She thought I was funny and I thought she was funny and Daddy thoght both of us were funny. When that wore off we laughed and laughed about those silly pigs who go to market and stay home, they eat roast beef, some have none, but that one little piggy that goes wee wee wee all the way home, that is hands down our favorite piggy. And suddenly after so much laughter we were home.

I was uploading other things and I found this perfect and rare preformance by Lea. She is usually not so willing to preform on que, but this is her entire repertoire...

Time

In a rare post, but true blogger fashion here is the rambling of my sleepless mind from last night. That's what bloggers are supposed to do, right? Spread their stream of consciousness across the web in a hopefully coherent fashion...

I sit ravaged by time, literally if only emotionally. I can feel time weighing down on me, squeezing every plane of my existence as I stand on the bottom of its ocean. The equal pressure of its all encompassingness squeezing me, crushing me until I can no longer breathe. I fear I will close my eyes and open them, as I imagine my mother has, to look into the eyes a married daughter and her own granddaughter, wondering where all those treasured baby days have gone.

Feeling time come at me from all directions overwhelms me, but it is its strength that leaves me sleepless. In its very dimentionality, it becomes a force at my back pushing me forward as my heels drag along the fabric of time leaving creases that hopefully those behind me will heed. Would it truly be so awful to have a Bill Murray like Groundhog Day experience. To wake every morning in the same point in time, knowing those you love and who love you will also wake to that day. To have a lifetime to memorize the little things like a wrinkle of a nose, the sly smile of a toddler with a thought, or the feel of an unanticipated hug. The thoughts that I can’t seem to hold on to day to day, month to month, let alone year to year. The precious memories that I would wrap in tissue and bubble wrap if they were tangible. Thoughts that would have a very special shelf, visible,but safe. But no these thoughts fall from my head like detritus from an overloaded wagon. These thoughts, the sound of my grandmother’s voice, the smell of my dad’s neck when he hugged me tight, the physical feel of nursing my newborn… those are lost in the blur of the pitter patter of my toddlers feet racing through the house. A memory which will be too will soon be gone when words go together in sentences, when thoughts become imaginative whimsy , when school starts, when boys take notice, when the bills for college come. Today will be swallowed up bythe tomorrows to become a long forgotten yesterdays. These thoughts I can’t hold in my head, but the horrid, embarrassing moments… those and their pointed corners and jagged edges stick in my brain to rattle about and keep me up at night twenty years later.

I fight back against the push of time with more than my dug in heels. Photos and videos, written accounts on this a media as stable as sky writing and etching in the sand, mark the progress of my family. But in sixteen years the hundreds of photos taken in just one year will be sorted to a mere two or three on a dusty shelf. A chipped coffee mug may live in a cabinet somewhere. An archive of outdated media that no one has a drive to support will hold the most fantastic year of my life. And eventually a suitcase of photos and disks will be sold, or understandably, but sadly, thrown away by a great great granddaughter who can no longer distinguish which member of her long gone family belonged to that cute baby picture. Such a tragedy lives in a suitcase in my attic. Family whose name went with my father. A pack of strangers that I feel a debt to, but no recognition. It will not be as difficult for my daughter to throw those in the bin. And that is the forward progress I fight with fervor and futility.

With equal force to the surge at my back, which I continue to resist, there is a tug forward to which I happily acquiesce. As though I had a choice, I move forward through time. I let my life, my child’s life wash over me and take joy in those grains of memory that get stuck between my toes, in my hair and anywhere else they may collect because there is apparently no room for them in my head. Occasionally, they shake loose and must magically fall from my toes to my ear, for out of the blue a brilliant crisp memory will pop into play like a video of my life. I will be happy with my grains of sand. And eventually I will fall asleep tonight and I will wake to a tomorrow and God willing, my family and I will wake to the day after that and day after day will pass whether I protest or not. And each day will hold a new joy, a new first. And things as mundane as washing baby toes, when done all on her own for the first time leaves me standing open mouthed with awe as if someone had performed magic in front of me. Not illusionist Vegas magic, but Alchemy, age of dragons, Harry Potter magic. That is the amazement that hits every time a first comes, not matter how large or small. It is the glory of your own baby to revel in the mundane and to want desperately to remember it.

So as time bares down on me continuing to make my heart heavy that I have to say goodbye to today and yesterday, I hear a little girl’s voice calling to me from the many tomorrows ahead. That makes me want to race ahead and see how it all turns out, but since I do not have the gift of Life Tivo, being able to record the minds eye and the added luxury of a another lifetime to watch it unfolded and savor it, I will simply hold that wee hand and as slowly as possible travel the path that Time is pushing me down.

Dan sings

We were out shopping on the coldest windiest day yet and Dan sang a little song to Lea.

Halloween

Lea dressed up as Piglet and we went with friend trick or treating. We only hit about 5 houses before the wee ones had had enough. Lea got a good dose of her first real halloween where she was able to walk from house to house.

This video is Lea bouncing with her toy piglet.



This is Lea running up to a house to get candy and racing back to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz_0hAB2MXM



This is Lea looking at her candy bag.



Carving pumkins, dressing up and eating candy!

The pumpkin we carved had the same amount of teeth as Lea. 4 on top and 2 on the bottom!

pumpkin carving

We carved out pumkins. The jack-o-lantern has the same amount of teeth Lea has... 4 on top, 2 on bottom.

1st Birthday

I tried to make a deal with Lea that she would stay a baby until her first birthday... does this photo look like a baby? No, she broke her deal, she became a little girl much too quick. This photo was taken a few weeks ago, but the others are from her actual birthday or her birthday party. We had a wonderful time.

QUICK NOTE: There is mostly video here. For more pictures and another update go to http://www.babysites.com/sites/leannette/
and for all the photos go to the walgreens (this link should link to all the photos from the past year, but especially the new birthday photos and birthday portraits)
http://photo.walgreens.com/share/p=59831154617541623/l=7861172/g=3332328/cobrandOid=1009/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

All the kids seemed to have a great time and the parents (especially those with more than one) said that all the kids had plenty to entertain themselves and while I was worried about uncontrolled chaos, it was explained that for 8 kids in a room — that WAS controlled chaos! Everyone played with toys and then we headed to the back yard where all the kids got a bucket, a boat, a duck, bubbles and a sailor hat. We had half barrels (for those from Wisconsin — not a keg — actual barrels cut in half - for those in West Texas, they were from a cow pasture used to feed & water livestock) and we floated boats, splashed and played in sand. There were some kids' clothes in the dryer before it was all over! Lea didn't know what to make of it in the beginning, but then jumped in with both splashing paws!






Lea also got to partake in some of her favorite pasttime — Swinging — sorry I forgot to keep the camera straight for a few seconds. I get used to taking pictures that way. But hey it creates an interesting effect, if it doesn't make you dizzy.



After play time we opened presents. Lea got wonderful presents from everyone! She played with everything Saturday night and Sunday. Sthoroughlyoughly thrilled with her new toys! What wonderful friends we have!

And of course there was cake eating! This is not video of the actual birthday cake, but later after dinner Lea had chocolate cake... and continued to enjoy herself.




On Tuesday, July 25, Lea's actual birthday I got to take the day off and we spent all day together playing on the swings and going to a water spray park. I can't believe we didn't get any pictures there, but it was very overwhelming for Lea. There were a lot of squealing kids and one boy almost lost his shorts and ran around with with his tushy hanging out. All the water coming from the ground and tubes and towers kind of scared out little one, but we found a sigeysergeiser" and played for a long time with that. It was fun to do something different on that special day. Then Grandma came to town and we went to Applebee's for dinner. But not before Grandma got Lea her first baby doll and some new shoes. Lea is getting used to wearing shoes and taking it in "stride" but she walks a little different still in shoes. Here is Lea in her new shoes and her "birthday suit" ... no, no, no... no more bath pictures... this is the outfit she wore to dinner. Lea also got (from Grandma) a Hokey Pokey Cookie Monster -— We managed to have an Elmo free birthday - that sings and dances the hokey pokey and says "That what it all about!" It is so cute!

Bathtime fun

Last night we filmed some bathtime. Is this inapproriate for the web? Well I can't help but post this cute little tushy picture! We always have a good time at bathtime.



If you look very closely at this second photo you might see some teeth! This is a great open mouth laugh showing her bottom two teeth poking through. They are taking their sweet time becoming actual teeth, but they're there and she knows how to use them. I noticed this morning she was tearing pieces of toast with her teeth, taking actual bites! What a girl!


Bathtime:


And once the splashing began, we couldn't quit!

Watching Big Big World

This is Lea wearing her 4th of July outfit (I think it was actually Flag Day, though). I'm trying to get her dancing or clapping to Big Big World - her favorite PBS show. She gets very excited when the big sloth sings.



Lea and I sat at the back door yesterday and watched the rain. Yes for those of you not in Texas, it actually rained in July! It actually rained 4th of July too to put a damper on our fireworks watching, but perhaps that's a story I've told. So Lea sat in my lap getting a few raindrops splashed on her watching the rain hit the sidewalk. She seemed facinated and I certainly enjoyed it. Until however our retractable screen door snapped shut when Lea touched it... that sent her into crying fits, as it scared her pretty bad. It was time to shut the door and put the rain away for another time. Until then, however, it was a rather peaceful few moments.

Overall the weekend however sucked. Lea had a tummy bug on Thursday (so she didn't get her birthday picture taken) and Mommy got it Saturday and was down for the count. Daddy had it most of saturday night and sunday, but was able to play through the pain for mama and baby. Without him we'd be huddled on the floor starving to death. Yeah dad! But we all seem fully recovered and Lea's photo shoot has been rescheduled.

Queen of the Straws

There is new video of Lea wielding straws. I don't know if this will work, but its supposed to show up in the post. Lea believes every straw in the house should belong to her. She takes the straws from my glasses and walks around with them.

This video also shows her adorable little babble. I was trying to get a shot of her from the front, but she kept turning the other way. She's a wiley one that Lea.

The first blog

We'll give blogging a try.

Check out www.babysites.com/sites/leannette for the latest baby update. I know I've ignored it for so long, many of you are jaded, but I promise it's new, with new photos and an update.

I guess what I didn't say there was about our very scary car ride in June. We went to help my mom move from Arkansans and while hauling her big brown van (once known to Gavin and I as "the party van" because we drove it to Houston on occasion and it was so huge we felt we could bring the whole party home with us) we had an accident. While going around a cloverleaf highway interchange we jack knifed and it was very scary. Thanks to Dan's expert driving skills we were all fine, but it was very scary. Dan's dad was following us and he said it was even more frightening watching and being helpless to do anything. Thank God we were all ok. There were so many things we kept saying we'd do differently, but I said if one thing had been different perhaps the out come also would have been different. That whole "Everything happens for a reason." So we're just thankful we're ok, and despite some cosmetic damage to the truck and van we got home in once piece.

As for our 4th of July, Lea and I spent it with my mom who has just moved to Emory. I worked pretty hard unpacking and all, but its worth it. I'm so excited to have mom here and her place is so beautiful and peaceful.


But it rained here on the actual 4th, so we put off going to see fireworks in favor of haning with friends sipping some peach wine (thanks to fresh peaches from Dan's dad and Linda!). I did see the tips of fireworks over the trees. I was a little bummed, but it will be more fun next year when Lea is scared out of her gord with the kaboom and kapow!

Well that's it for the first post. Adding photos is not so much easier so I don't know if this one will stick, but we'll give it a go.