(3) Thu Feb 02 2006 08:31 Toddler Lily: No one told me when your child turns 17 months old, it will seem like their understanding triples. It has been so fun and entertaining to watch Lily repeat the things I say. Half the stuff she probably doesn't understand, but it seems like she is learning a new word every day. It is funny to see how her brain works because right now she calls all fruit apple. I pull out a strawberry, "apple?". No, Lily, Strawhhhberry. An orange-"apple?". The same goes for milk and water...it is all wa-wa or 'agua' as I swear she sometimes pronounces it. And I have caught her many times on the dog page of her books going "meow", and when we see birds, she says "meow". I guess she likes to categorize things into one simple word. For some reason, she loves getting her shoes and socks put on...maybe because she likes to take them off every time we get in the car. She likes to say socks and shoes and pretend to put on her socks while I am putting on the other.

Lily also found out she loves toothbrushes. She carries about 2 or 3 around with her all day long. Whenever she sees me brushing my teeth she always wants me to find hers or she'd settle for me giving her mine. This causes problems b/c right now we are down to Aaron having the last pink toothbrush. So yesterday I let her hold Aaron's toothbrush until we were about to leave, them I took it away. She caught wind of what I was doing and gripped even harder, so I had to yank it from her. Well, you would have thought I told her she could only drink her milk in the kitchen because she wept and wailed and hyperventilated and was very angry with me for over an hour. It was the first time she really cried like "my life sucks, I hate you mom" sobbing with the shoulders shaking and the hiccups of gulps of air.

See, in the past, all I would have to do is give her two different toothbrushes...the ones already ruined. But she knew she wanted the other one...the forbidden one. See, she can tell the difference now and forget about distracting her with another toy...she can remember what I did to her. Mom said that we kids went through our terrible two stages early. So, indeed Lily, get this out of your system early so we can be over and done with it already, that is fine with me.

(2) Thu Feb 02 2006 19:25 Groundhog Day: Who'da thought that I would ever wish for the groundhog to see his shadow and get scared?! Here in San Antonio, I hope to have 6 more weeks of winter. I am liking this. Today it got up to 85 degrees. Let's keep it cool, I don't want there to be an early summer!

(2) Sat Feb 04 2006 16:56 I acted like that once?!: Today is Lorna's 14th birthday. Yesterday at school I went to surprise her with balloons and a cookie cake. I didn't know if she would get embarrassed or not, but it was all in good fun and she loved the attention and was not embarrassed.

Then last night, mom and Ben rented a couple hotel rooms at Riverwalk Marriot so Lorna and her friends could hang out and play. Aaron and I drove them there and hung out as well to score some pizza and swimming in the heated pool and hot tub. In the car on the way up I was reminded of just how 5 14 yr old girls act when they are all together. At one point I just wanted to scream for a moment's silence so I could hear myself think. With all this giggling and shrieks of excitement I was going crazy. I looked at Aaron and he had a wide grin on his face and just rolled his eyes. Yes, I too, acted like this when I was 14 and around all my friends all at once. I admit it, and I had the time of my life!

(2) Mon Feb 06 2006 08:19 My baby is so cute!: I just love her so much.

(3) Wed Feb 08 2006 13:02 V-Day: Aaron and I are so horrible at surprises. For this Valentines Day we already have the presents we are giving to each other, and we have already used them. It is like this every holiday. I don't know why we just can't wait. I felt like I made progress on our anniversary because I gave him his gift the day before, but only because he wanted it! I just don't know why Aaron and I are so impulsive. I would really be mad at myself if I didn't really think it was more fun to find things out early. Like why wait when you still get the same effect? I guess I look at it like when you are having a baby. Why wait to find out the sex? Is it more gratifying waiting out the whole 9 months? I don't think so. It is still a great surprise whether it is at 20 weeks or 40 weeks. So why go threw the torture on the "unknown"? Plus you kinda need those exciting things since pregnancy is so long...but that is another subject for another day.

Back to Valentines Day gifts. I like picking out what I get, that way I know I like it. Aaron and I got each other board games. Not just any board games. We went ahead and took the advice of some friends and family and bought the game Ticket To Ride. A game tried and true, and it is fun. We played it last night and the night before with Lorna while house-sitting. I also think it is way fun because I won 2 out of 3 times, and the time I didn't get first I was barely second. I love being good at games.

The second game we got was Tigris and Euphrates. We haven't played it yet because you need at least 3 players and it is kinda complicated for Lorna, so we can't wait to try that one out. Anyway, I love, love, love playing games. I am a big Settler's fan and anything like it. I could never get sick of Settler's because it is different every time between whom you play with and how the board is set up. You will never hear me turn down a chance to play it.

On a more melancholy note, Aaron has finally broken me down and he got his own Xbox 360. Just when his old one was turning out to be my friend and frequently over-heating. I'll guess I will just have to have fantasies of smashing the 360 with a hammer (I think stemming from my childhood) or hurling the console onto the cement pavement.

(3) Thu Feb 09 2006 20:59 Trees! In color!: Well, instead of spending money on a Spring Break, Aaron and I decided that we would spend it on landscaping the backyard. Ok, let me clarify: I decided to spend it on the backyard, Aaron decided to spend it on an Xbox 360. So long cruise, maybe next year--which is a lie, because I know I will not be able to go in the next two years because of an expanding family by then. My window of opportunity will have closed, but that is ok because there is still NEW YORK!! this summer with JULIE!! Yay NEW YORK! and yay Julie! (Ever feel like someone is screaming at you because they use so many exclamation points!!!?)

Anyway, since summer is rapidly approaching already in February, and I am starting to think about what to do with my newfound hobby. Aaron and I went to an inexpensive nursery (ok, fine it was Walmart's nursery, but we got the same tree we paid $90 for on sale at another place for $30 at Walmart) and got 5 baby trees to plant, yippee. I love trees, flowers, plants, anything green really and I can't wait to see what we can do with our backyard. I am anxious to start a garden and be able to go out back and get everything I need to make fresh salsa whenever I want. Or make a salad whenever I want. Or put flowers in a vase whenever I want. There is lots of work to be done though because last I checked half our yard is still covered in hip high weeds. How I would love to have grass in my backyard so Lily could play out there instead of a front yard where she immediately runs off to play with the dead mice in the field to the left of us, or to our neighbor's yard on the right of us. What is so great about his yard? Ours is bigger and better. Why can't you stay in our front yard?

My friend said having a backyard is like having an extra room in your house. Indeed. So this weekend, hopefully there will be a little 'by the sweat of your brow' business going on with 5 new trees planted and the ground cleared and prepped for some grass seed and vegetable garden. Yee-haw!

(3) Thu Feb 09 2006 21:22 What if the hokey pokey is what it is all about?:

Some offensive bumper stickers I have seen:

"Jesus died, get over it."--I mean maybe you think that, but why advertise it on a bumper sticker? You want everyone to know what a bigot you are? It's so thoughtless and tacky.

"Stop litter, get your pets neutered." I agree with the getting pets neutered and everything, but I wouldn't say an animal was trash. Sheesh, some people...

(1) Fri Feb 10 2006 12:43 Tax Man: I just finished my taxes, phew. I am a pretty happy person right now waiting for my refund.

(2) Tue Feb 14 2006 09:07 When you get a second: I love when Lily sleeps in. So I thought I'd update my blog with the extra time since I can't be on the computer when Lily is awake because then she wants to be in the room I am in and the office is on it's way to being more organized to my craft/scrapbooking room and she always comes in and throws pictures around and crumples expensive scrapbook paper and what-not. So when she is asleep I get to get on the internet which is Aaron's version of my version of Xbox for him.

I love, love, love, love getting on the internet and feeling a little connected to people, news, family, stuff! I thought I would lay off it a little once I quit work since I wouldn't be in front of a computer all day with stuff to come up with to do on the internet to keep from getting more bored, but I still do that. Granted not as much because I hang with Lily mostly, but every second I get...

In my defense Aaron and I gave up TV (not movies) so I have to have some sort of medium past time for myself. Speaking of movies, I have watched a few good ones which are becoming rarer and rarer. Maybe because few good movies really come out or maybe because with our Netflix subscription we have seen just about all the good movies out there. I was going through the list of top 100 rentals and Aaron and I had seen most of them. If not from there, then from Clean Flicks. Speaking of Clean Flicks, we have a free month trial there so we have seen some good edited ones. Crash was very innovative, "riveting", cleaver, and thought provoking. I liked it. I also watched The Chorus which is a French film with subtitles, but do not let that disinterest you. It was an excellent show. Not some Hollywood pile of garbage served in pretty packaging.

Didn't like Corpse Bride that much, it was ok. I surprising liked Elizabethtown a lot. Kirsten Dunst was very good in it, making me like her when I usually don't. The Island was ok, and I have watched a lot of IMAX/discovery channel documentaries because who doesn't like a documentary? Ok, Aaron's not so fond of them, but I like them.

It is kinda funny that I went off on that tangent because I was going to post about V-day celebration last night. It was early because Aaron has a few tests this week he has to study for, but we tried a new Mexican restaurant Chuy's, and loved the salsas. Everything else was fine. Then we went to the video store and rented 24 Season 1. We watched a couple episodes and went to bed. Exciting I know.

Lily is now awake, and probably hungry because she is saying to her self, "mmm, yum-yum". I'm off...

(3) Wed Feb 15 2006 12:21: I wonder what is worse. A weepy newborn or a weepy toddler? Well, I got the latter. Constant crying and whining all the time now. She wakes up in the morning and I put her in her highchair, crying of course, and sometimes she is so mad that she crushes the fig newton or Nutri-grain bar in her hand and it squeezes out in between her fingers. How and why could she possibly be this mad? I just don't get it.

She has done some cute things though. This morning she saw me putting on my shoes and she said "go walk", because she knows we go on a walk every morning.

And last weekend she wanted something so she was grunting "uh,uh,uh..." (those of you who have watched Series of Unfortunate Events are familiar with this next part) I said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak monkey." And she paused and pondered and then responded, "who-ha". Good job Lily that, indeed, is 'monkey'.

(3) Thu Feb 16 2006 18:53: It turns out all the FUSS was about an ear infection. Dumb mommy.

(2) Mon Feb 20 2006 20:07 Rain, Rain, go away: It has been chilly and rainy the past couples days. I like rain, but when it is freezing outside and when it stops the next day. I guess it is good to get the moisture, but I just have felt so lazy lately. I hate that feeling where you are unmotivated, and you feel worse for not doing anything about it. Plus you can't really do anything outside anyway. Two more weeks before Aaron's spring break.

(2) Thu Feb 23 2006 16:40 lol: Aaron: You know you are getting old when Willem Dafoe has better skin than you. (Re: Robert Redford in The Clearing.

Sat Feb 25 2006 10:39 Yay!: Happy Birthday Ethan. 3 yrs old.

Sat Feb 25 2006 11:12 Daddy's girl: Sometimes I feel like Lily takes it out on me that her dad is not around as much as me. Every morning now she wakes up and I go and get her, she will go to the door leading to the garage or the window and say, "Papa, daddy, papa." It cracks me up because we have never said daddy to her, and the very few times I suppose other friends and relatives have maybe said it to her, she has picked up on it. We'll see which usage she settles on. She definitely loves her daddy though.

The other day a friend came over to play. Her friend picked up Lily's book, and oh my gosh. You would have thought she kicked Lily in the teeth. Lily didn't want her touching any of her toys. Everything I did to help make it better was for not. She was not happy until 20 mins later I took them both outside. Everything Caylee touched, Lily would have another meltdown, throw herself on the floor and cry and cry. My child is officially a brat.