Tue Oct 04 2005 15:33 Drunkard: It's official. Lily can walk, albeit like a drunken sailor, but her preferred means of getting around these days has been walking. I was a little worried there, but she finally learned.

Wherever she walks now she has to have some sort of doll in her hand. Whether it be her lamb (her favorite), her yellow Carebear (her second favorite), or these other two dolls she has, she has to be dragging something in one hand or hugging it in her carseat.

She has been extra clingy this past week too. Not necessarily fussy, just clingy. It is kinda cute, but a little alarming to. I want her to learn to play by herself. It's been kinda hard too lately to get things done around the house.

We found Lily's Halloween costume on eBay. She is going to be a pig and an adorable one at that. Pictures soon to come.

(9) Thu Oct 06 2005 14:10 Media Junkie: Somebody shut me up because here I go again.

First off, I have completed the highly recommended Alias Grace. Superb! A must read murder mystery with a twist. I love Margaret Atwood's writing style even more now. She really is a fantastic writer.

Secondly, Aaron and I watched Sahara last night. I folded clothes while watching it so I do not feel it was a complete waste of time. Very lame and cheesy, but I have seen worse, and at least it was clean.

And finally, a confession. I like to read MSN Entertainment online. It keeps me up to date with celebrities' lives. And I like to see what they are wearing and such. You need not tell me I am shallow, I already know. I am not really surprised to find out Katie Holmes is pregnant. With Tom Cruise's offspring I am not yet sure b/c I thought he was impotent. This new Hollywood trend is starting to bug me. Everyone get pregnant, anybody who is anyone has a child. Well bull crap. Madonna, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, Tom and Katie, and much more. So it is not ok for 15 year olds to have babies out of wedlock, but it is fine and dandy for them? What because they have money? Well, that is a good point, but still. This whole baby having craze is nice, but is it really? I mean I love seeing children being relished and treated as a blessing. That is what I believe. But Hollywood is making it out to be a bandwagon. It doesn't matter if you are married or not. Or it is ok, we'll just get married when I'm huge before the baby comes. I mean how many of them really raise their own child? I really wonder how many times they get up at night with the baby and how many times the nanny does it? I am not trying to be judgmental, I am just saying that having children is HARD. What kind of human beings are being sent out into the world ill-equipped b/c they never really had a mom or dad around. I am not saying that everyone in Hollywood is a bad parent, b/c I don't know everything. I am just saying it cannot be healthy for a child to not have stability in their life and being dragged about the world whenever their mummy and daddy has to make a movie.

Ok, done bashing on Hollywood for a while. I don't want to come off to brash, I'm just being a child-advocate which is very badly needed in this world.

(6) Thu Oct 06 2005 15:20 Just like her mama: Lily is taking her nap still after 3 hours and 15 minutes of silence bliss. Not only that, the past 10 days she has not woken me up before 8:00 yet. In fact I wake up on my own. Am I lucky or what? I don't even have a clue what time she really wakes up, b/c I am asleep, but she quietly plays in her crib with her lamb until I come get her. No screams or anything.

How long will this last? I don't know, but I say I darn-well deserve it. My body is replenishing itself from waking up every 3 hours until she was 9 months old. This way, when the second one comes along, I will have a nice store of sleep energy so I don't neglect them. For some reason my body like at least 8 hours of sleep, preferably 8 1/2-9 hours.

Sun Oct 09 2005 09:01 Rough House: The good thing about having a baby at this age, her's not mine, is that you can roll around with them and hug them tightly without hurting them and without hurting yourself (b/c they are still light).

Sun Oct 09 2005 22:42 Oh my gosh:

Me: Earthquake in Asia. 30,000 dead!

Aaron: 30,000?! This is the end of the world.

(1) Tue Oct 11 2005 21:57 Medium-Rare: I just want to say that finally having our own gas BBQ has been one of the most important and rewarding things we have done so far. I like meat, and I like it even more when it is BBQ'ed. There is such a difference with our grill, rather than our giant George Foreman grill we had in UT. It just tastes so much better. Whether it is our steaks, beef sausage dogs, pork chops, chicken breasts, or whatever we want!

There is absolutely no clean-up with a BBQ. We use it probably at least 3 times a week. I am getting the hang of it too, like knowing where the knob should be on temperature-wise so the steak is not over-cooked. Yes, I do say that if you don't have a BBQ, get one or you are missing out. (That is unless you don't eat meat.)

(16) Wed Oct 12 2005 12:57 Serendipity: Two days ago, Aaron cut my hair. And he was pretty good at it too. I didn't really want to pay money to get a trim, and I didn't need one more appt to go to after Aaron was home to watch Lily. He didn't cut much, seeing as my hair is/was passed my mid-back, but he gave me a good 2-3 inch trim. He even cut layers.

I like the way it turned out. My hair was just getting so long and out of control. Not to mention, it was used as a rope swing for Lily. The only thing that I am kinda regretting is not having super sharp shears. The ones the salons use. Our hair cutting scissors were a little dull. I hope it didn't damage the tips of my hair, causing them to split sooner rather than later.

(5) Thu Oct 13 2005 13:00 Prams and nappies: The weather has been very nice lately. Cool and breezy, making my walks very enjoyable. I have finished No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency as per Sumana's recommendation. I loved it. I liked learning about African culture. I don't get much of that anymore now that I am not in school. I really liked all those Anthropology, Sociology, and Archeology classes. I'm halfway through The Handmaid's Tale and it is written much like the style of Oryx and Crake. Pretty weird freaky stuff. I think I will go onto Deception Point to lighten things up after.

Yesterday while I was changing Lily's diaper I usually have to do something to distract her so she will sit still long enough that I can wipe her bum without getting poop everywhere, so I was singing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree". I have sung this song to her many times while doing the hand motions. Well, yesterday as I was singing, she started doing the popcorn popping sign. It was so funny to watch, she not being able to make a clenched fist and bursting her fingers. It was more like a flipping of the wrist and "spirit fingers". I am happy she is learning these things because I have been teaching her baby sign language hoping to communicate her needs with her before she can speak. So far she can sign "milk" and "all done", but she recognizes the signs for other things like "out" and "water" even though she cannot sign those ones yet.

(1) Sun Oct 16 2005 20:59 Newsweek Article: The article is actually pretty good. It talks about the LDS church and Joseph Smith. Anyone can check it out here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9630255/site/newsweek/

Tue Oct 18 2005 13:10 Everything Zen: I bought Lily her first real pair of shoes today. I actually bought a pair of shoes and sandals because Payless was having a buy one get one 50% off. The total was $8.63 for two pair of shoes! Now I can put her down at stores and other places because she can walk and has shoes. I didn't get her shoes before b/c they say when babies are learning to walk, they need to do it barefoot. Plus it was summer and I didn't want her hot with socks and shoes.

(6) Tue Oct 18 2005 21:50 Sigh of relief: When the kids are in bed, their sins are forgiven.

Thu Oct 20 2005 11:46 Petite: The good thing about have a little baby (she's 5th percentile in weight and 10th percentile in height) is that she fits in all her winter clothes from last year. Yay!

Fri Oct 21 2005 12:06 You call this NEWS: I can't believe this is in the news even if it is a joke. Plus the 2000's Ken, looks like Kim.

(2) Mon Oct 24 2005 20:57 Crummy: Last night was a rough night. Lily had diarrhea and diaper rash pretty bad, and I woke up again with an upset stomach. I vomited (is there a prettier way of saying that- please let me know) this morning and the hurtie tummy didn't go away like it normally does when this happens. So I closed all the doors and put up the child gate in the kitchen and let Lily roam the family room and hall while I laid around on the couch trying to catch some sleep in between Lily scratching my face and yanking my hair. Somehow I don't think she wanted me to sleep. I finally put her down for a nap and took one myself and felt better.

Aaron has been gone all day, and won't be home till 10:00pm maybe? He has his major gross anatomy test tomorrow and has been very busy studying all week. I will be so thankful after tomorrow is over. It is no fun being sick and having no company and a baby's sad red bum.

(8) Tue Oct 25 2005 09:05 Master of Disguise:

Dear Mr. Insect-that-looks-like-a-twig-man,

I can see you. My screen door is not a tree. You are not camouflaged. And if I can see you, your predators can see you. Plus you have been there for a day and a half and I have not seen you eat one bug. So you might want to reconsider your chilling place, one that is in a tree, and one where bugs that you eat are.

Love,

The Woman-with-concern-for-all-creatures

(3) Thu Oct 27 2005 22:02 A moment to myself: Yesterday was a treat. I was able to go to lunch with mom and Kirsten Searle, who was my 11 yr old Sunday School teacher and who I babysat for all the time growing up. They were a medical couple in our ward so they have moved, but she is in town. We went to Bravo Italiana Cucina for lunch and walked around the new fancy schmanchy Shops at La Cantera. I got a new pair of pants and a new purse. I also went into the new Tiffany's since I have never been in one. Pretty things, but way overpriced. Even if I could afford the jewelry I don't think I would own something from there because 1) I am all about getting a good deal- not happening at Tiffany's and 2) what if I lost it and whatever was worth bucco bucks. I could never forgive myself. I already almost lost my wedding ring b/c is doesn't fit me anymore so now I have to wear it on my middle finger...nice, huh?

It was nice hanging with the girls and Aaron had Lily. The past two weeks Aaron had been studying a ton for his Gross Anatomy test, so I was home with Lily alone, and it was nice to get out and have a break. But when I got home, Lily emptied the entire shelf of books that she could reach, dumped out the dirt in out plant, and completely trashed the house with all her toys...and Aaron was playing Xbox. Oh well, Aaron needed the break and playtime and I am sure Lily had fun exploring which she is entitled to every now and again.

Tonight Aaron is at the Spurs game with his brothers living it up with his 10-pack Season tickets Christmas present. We also went to Pappasitos for dinner because they were having a special on their fajitas for two. It was yummy. I love having family nearby so we can play with them.

Oh yeah, and I finished painting the master bathroom today...finally, I can't believe that is done.

(6) Mon Oct 31 2005 14:48 "Words, words, words": So, I suppose Lily's first official words are, "hot, hot, hot, hot". She learned that one of her words of gibberish meant something to us as well as her and she now uses it for everything. Well, not really but she did know what hot meant and she still does in a way but she now uses it for "food" b/c now all the food we put in front of her is "hot". She also uses it for communication to us, just for fun she'll say it so we get all happy and encourage her by repeating the word "hot" and then she goes on for minutes saying, "hot...hot, hot...hot" testing out different fluctuations in her voice. "(high)hot, (short) hot, hot(with an enunciated 't').

I guess you could argue that "uh-oh" was her first word (and knew the meaning of it too), but Aaron says it is a not really a word, but a conversation filler or an onomonopia. Which is true, but it is still a word(s). To say the least, her gradations are very endearing. She also loves her newfound freedom by walking around, and outside she throws her arms up and arches her back to try to wriggle her way down when I am holding her...great.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, I forgot she knows yum-yum and has for awhile because she said it at her first birthday party when we put her cake in front of her. But still, hot is her first real word.