Saturday, April 29, 2006

Fun day with friends

Avery and I went to visit Andrea and Henry today in Palm Springs. They were in town for a long weekend and had us over for some fun in the pool. We had some awesome guacamole, sandwiches, lemonade, and great conversation. Avery and Henry had fun splashing in the pool and Avery learned how to fight off Henry's romantic advances by crying whenever he hugged her. Thanks to Andrea for the great hospitality! We had so much fun!


I pity the foo

...whose pictures come up on a Google search. Hell, many of my pictures probably come up too. Who knows. Today while searching for an image of a rubber ducky on the Google image search, (trying to make a blog header for a blog for baby #2) I got this as one of my results. I love me some Mr. T, don't get me wrong, but Mr. T with a duck bill is just weird. And let's be honest, there is no way in hell that Mr. T would float what with all that gold he wears.


I got some other results too -- some equally as strange, some just downright scary. Even one of a naked man. I think the power of Google image search scares me just a little. Here is a sampling of the results...


Now my question is, how do you name your pictures so that they don't come up on a Google search... or are we all screwed?

Friday, April 28, 2006

Week in Review:

Monday.

Opened cabinet to get frying pan. Made a discovery.


Tuesday.

Continued to provide a "girly" room for my girl.


Wednesday.

Start to clean up kitchen. Check on baby. Make another discovery. Vacuum.



Wednesday. Ten minutes later. Vacuum again. Bring baby inside and lock door.



Thursday. Run around the pool table. Notice the dust collecting on the pool table leg. Ignore it.


Thursday, after dinner. Teach child ridiculous table manners. (Click picture for video.)



Friday. Make stars at Gymboree. Look forward to more mischief this weekend.

Monday, April 24, 2006

"Who's on first?"

Avery and I had an actual conversation today.
It went something like:
"Listen, do you hear that?"
followed by Avery cupping her hand to her ear and saying "something?"
and me replying "Do you hear something?"
Then she'd say "Chee-chee?" for birdie (which was what the sound was that we were listening to)
and I'd say "Yes, I think it's a birdie"
and she'd say "Where?"
"Outside," I'd reply.

Then we'd hear the bird again and I'd say "Listen, do you hear that?" and the whole thing would start over again.

We must have gone on that way for 30 minutes.
Now she keeps putting her finger to her mouth, saying "Shhh," and then cupping her hand to her ear and saying "Sissen" for 'listen.'

Maybe we'll learn to be quieter this way? She's also picked up screeching at the top of her lungs for no reason and absolultely unprovoked. Fun fun.

It's amazing to me the things she remembers after only being told them one time. Today we were looking at shapes, and I explained that a kite is in the shape of a diamond.

Later, we were at Target, and they had a bunch of photo albums with a window on the front for a picture to show through in the shape of a diamond. She kept pointing at them and saying "Kite, kite."

At first I had no idea what she was talking about, so I said "Light?" thinking she was pointing up at the lights. Then she'd answer "Where?" which means to me that no, that's not what she was talking about. (If I acknowledge the thing she's trying to point out to me correctly, she'll stop saying it and move on to the next thing of interest).

I looked around, pointed to the diamond shape and said "Kite?" and she said, "Okay." I was amazed.

Melt my heart!

Avery told me tonight "Lu boo" in response to my "I love you" as her daddy was putting her to sleep. So sweet!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Daylilies

This plant rarely produces more than 1 or 2 flowers at a time, but the other morning I woke up to find this. I was a little confused -- did I do something differently? I can't quite figure out why there are so many daylilies this year, but I'm not complaining. It makes my normally plain-looking front yard a little more, well, flowery.

This past week's art project

I'm sure you OBVIOUSLY already know these are sunflowers...

Movin' on up...

We bought Avery a toddler bed today. Now of our four bedrooms, she has fully claimed two -- having a bed in each one. We're going to slowly make the change from her current room to her new room, and once she's out (we're hoping it's within the next four months) the nursery and the office will switch rooms. We have a lot to figure out and how to make it all fit functionally.

Who would have thought that we could go from barely filling a 2-bedroom condo to having too much stuff to fit into a four bedroom house that's more than twice as big? Whew...

Here's Avery trying to help her Daddy put the bed together:


Can I test it out yet?


Now we have another dresser to buy, and probably an area rug for Avery's room too to help protect the carpet. So much to buy, so little money!

Since when?

We rarely watch Thomas the Train here, but I noticed today that George Carlin narrated the episode we saw. Has this always been the case? I must say it was pretty odd to listen to him narrate the show after having seen his latest stand-up show on HBO recently. It just didn't sound quite right...

Friday, April 21, 2006

Trip to the San Diego Zoo

I took the day off today and Jed and I took Avery to the zoo. The whole "best laid plans" notion bit us in the ass, yet again, in the realm of sleep. We had hoped Avery would sleep on the way down there (it's a 1:30 minute drive with no traffic), but of course, she didn't... in fact, for the last 30 minutes of the trip she was so sick of being the carseat that she screamed and kicked and cried. It was a fabulous experience. I saw a glimpse of the terrible two's starting early...

Once we got to the zoo and got out of the car, however, she was an angel. She ended up getting pretty whiny and grouchy after being there for about 4 hours, so we left a little earlier than we had hoped, but again, the whole "best laid plans" thing...

The drive home took twice as long -- it was a Friday and it was afternoon, and it is Southern California. We expected no less. Fortunately Avery did sleep for much of the drive home and woke up in a good mood and tolerated being the in the car the entire trip home.

Here are some pictures to share -- click on the picture below to see the album :)

Thursday, April 20, 2006

So who is the person in your life...

that sends you all the stupid forwards that you don't read?

I have two of these people, unfortunately. My friend Jill, who has only been active on the internet for a couple of years, hasn't realized that no one wants to read the forwards she sends. Maybe someone reads them, but it's not me.

The other person is my mother-in-law. The problem with automatically deleting the forwards from her, though, is that she'll actually ask me if I remember them and/or read them. Grrrr...

Die forwards, die!

Monday, April 17, 2006

Attention!

This and this and this are what happen when an 18-month-old child is left unattended in a plot of dirt.

Take heed.

Easter Pictures

I wish it had been a little warmer so Avery could have shown off her cute spring dress a little more, but it was a nice, sunny day nonetheless. Click on the picture below to view the slideshow.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

An improvement on the vocabulary front...

It seems that Avery has gotten over her mispronunciation of "puppy," finally. For a long time, she was obsessed with dogs and puppies, and overgeneralized on calling them "puppy," which makes total sense to her. I never tried to teach her to be able to distinguish between a dog and puppy, they were just all "puppy." However, she insisted on calling them "pee-pees," which made for some embarrassing moments over the last several months. It seems now that she's gotten over both her obsession with puppies and her mispronunciation.

The downside is that she's replaced the puppy obsession with a clock obsession, and whaddyaknow, instead of calling them "clock," they're all "cocks" to her. Grrrr. Yesterday we ate lunch at the deli downtown, and across the street is a big clock that stands on the sidewalk like a lamppost. As we sat there, looking out the window and enjoying our lunch, Avery announced to all the restaurant patrons that she could see a "cock" across the street. What fun!

My caped crusader...

For some reason, this favorite blanket of Avery's has now been transformed into a hat or a cape or a cloak or something. All she wants to do is wear it on her head. She'll walk in circles, get dizzy, fall down, and do it all over again. Next I suppose we'll move on to eating paste.


Avery's First Official Art Project

We've done our share of painting and coloring here, but this was one she did at Gymboree. My sister was the one to take her this time, so I'm not quite sure if the painting is supposed to be something in particular, but I do know the cotton balls and shredded wheat are a bird's nest. I am going to have a hard time trying not to save everything!

Friday, April 14, 2006

"Big Love"

So, I'm totally hooked. I'm so glad HBO was able to create a new series that I can get into. It's dark and strange and I'm completely into it. The last episode was particularly entertaining... the husband had to sneak around with his first wife so the other two wives didn't know that they were all of a sudden all hot for each other again. It was like they were having an affair meeting on her 'off' days. It's so totally weird to think that people might actually live that way.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Mua hua hua!

Grandma took Avery to her house for an hour so I could "clean." I am sitting on my ass watching HGTV and eating ice cream instead. I need a mental cleansing more than my dishes need to be washed, and HGTV and ice cream are a perfect combo. Ahhhhhhh.

Counting to ten, take two!

Avery has been practicing her numbers all week. It's tough to get on camera because she doesn't sit still for long, but here goes nothing.

Counting to ten!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Newest seating preference...

Forget the Bumbo, the flower chair, the princess chair, and the rocking chair. Avery's new seating preference is the dog bowl. For the past two mornings, she has dragged it out onto the area rug and plopped down to watch her morning Sesame Street. I'm thinking it's just a novelty and not really all that comfortable. We'll see how long it lasts.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

My growing gut...

I am definitely NEVER doing this again. I am already sick of being fat and I'm only 21 weeks along. The only thing that makes me happy is ice cream. Ice cream also makes me fat. Damnit.

County Fair, here we come!

There's a special award given for the "Biggest Weed," right? Here's Jed, proudly displaying his prized specimen.

"Junior Wild Hairs"

The nickname is courtesy of my mom. It was my brother's nickname at one time too.

Here is Avery after her hair has been towel-dried after a bath. You'll see she does indeed have hair. It's sparse and thin and still fuzzy in places, but it's there!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Today's Backyard Activities...

They consisted of picking weeds and bouncing on the patio furniture. We've had so much rain lately that there was no going in the dirt (which is mud right now) and Avery wasn't all that happy about it. I got some great pictures though! I am thinking that the top left picture is frame quality!


Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Oh, I am sooo in trouble.

Cheetos have always been a weakness of mine. I rarely eat them because they're so bad for me, but that doesn't mean I don't love them and want them. Today I saw Baked Cheetos for the first time. They still aren't exactly healthy, but less bad for me is good too.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Hey lurkers! De-lurk today!

It's the thing to do ;)

I get lots of hits from all over the place and I'm wondering who everyone is. Leave a comment to tell me who's visiting!

This started innocently enough...

She stuffed one up her shirt and walked around with it for a while. I couldn't resist evening her out. It just looked funny with one. I realize this probably crosses the line into the realm of inappropriateness, but what the hell.

Counting to ten

Or, we're getting there anyway!

Counting to ten

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Courtesy of...

www.engrish.com



I never expected Elmo to teach Avery that. I thought for sure it would be Jack's daddy, Rich, who'd teach her a trick like that.

Making Auntie Anna proud


A Grand Adventure
Blogroll Me!