Santa, Ho ho!

Jill is loving this season just as much as we are. We went to get our tree last weekend, and we put it up while she was asleep. When she came down in the morning there was the tree, and she was mesmerized. She loves it, and she gets so excited when we plug the lights in at night (which at this time of year is about 4pm). "Tee!" she yells and touches it gently. It's very sweet.

She has also discovered (through her favorite tv shows) Santa. She knows he says, "Ho, ho, ho!" You can see her version of saying it in the video below, "Ho, ho!". We took her to see Santa yesterday, and she wasn't sure what to think. He was at the gift shop of our local nursery, which was great because it wasn't crowded. He was sitting right inside the door with no one around. Jill smiled really big when she saw him and said, "Ho,ho!" When he answered back, "Ho, ho, ho!" I thought she was going to go crazy from excitement. She didn't want to get too close, so we just walked around the store taking pictures, and coming back every so often. He knew her name, so it helped that he called out, "Hi Jill," every time we got close. The only bummer was that there was a CRAZY (totally white trash, smoker, nasty) woman carting her little dog around. The dog was dressed in a winter sweater and Santa hat, and every we got near Santa she would bring her dog which would start barking and Jill would get nervous. Then her even more white trash (I didn't think it was possible, but he was worse: mullet, Larry the Cable Guy T-shirt over a sweatshirt, ugh) husband came over and they chatted up Santa for a REALLY LONG time. The woman kept talking baby talk to her dog about how he was going to see Santa, "tomowwow." Puke! Wew hung around waiting for them to leave, and then Steve took a turn bringing Jill to Santa. He got right in there, way closer than I did, and sat her on his lap!!! I was not expecting that, and neither was Jill because we said we wouldn't force her, but Steve said he wanted me to have a picture. So I now have the stereotypical picture of my child sitting on Santa's lap, crying. Oh well, she didn't really cry in earnest, and she happily waved bye-bye to Santa, so I think she's fine.

Here are some tree, nursery, and Santa pics and videos.

loving the tree

the Mickey Mouse ornament

the Mickey ornament

talking to Santa

first glimpse

not frowning, talking

playing with Daddy

so cute!

Hi Daddy!

running

approaching

handing off to Santa

Daddy, what's going on?

Save me, Mama!

What's Going On?

Traitors!

playing with her kitchen at home

Seventeen Months!

Today Jill is 17 months old, and to celebrate she got a new kitchen! She LOVES it, and has spent the entire morning playing with it...until she discovered her Toy Story DVD. That girl LOVES Toy Story. So, we've been watching it a lot. She weeps bitterly when it's over. Good thing there is the kitchen to distract her. We bought her a shopping cart to go with the kitchen to hold all of the food. She loves that too.

At 17 months Jill is a super picky eater and the only way to get her to eat dinner sometimes (breakfast and lunch are better) is to distract her with something and put food into her mouth while she's not looking. I'm hopeful this stage passes, as well as the "I refuse to eat veggies" stage! She's also REALLY into animal sounds. She can do most anything you can think of, and you can see her owl below. It's her new favorite. She's a huge talker, and knows more words than I can list now. It's very fun to hear her when she's working out a thought and she finally says something new to me. So cute!

We are having a great time, and are getting a taste of tantrums lately. She is a feisty little thing when she wants to be, let me tell you! But, we wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Enjoy our 17 month old beauty.

Hey everyone!

Who, who? (owl sounds)

helping with the yard work

riding the fire engine

"Awww," (that's what she says when she hugs anything or anyone)

Cute new photos

Jill had a great weekend. We had lots of fun doing things together, including her H1N1 shot. She DID NOT like it, but the nurse was really fast, and after we left we took her directly to Starbucks where she got an apple fritter. All was forgotten as soon as we left the doctor's office and told her about the fritter stop. We then proceeded to have fun all weekend!

at Police Academy

getting thrown

tasting a pine cone

"nat nat" (night night)

her new favorite blanket "bit"

safety first

I LOVE this one!

Grrr!

crazy post-nap hair

Not much going on...

We've been hanging out at home (as usual) these past couple of weeks. I chickened out of getting Jill the H1N1 shot earlier, but she's getting it at her doctor's office on Saturday. I was super worried about the thimerosal in the vaccine, but as long as those nice people who have medical degrees think it's okay, we'll do it. That, and I can't stay in this house another minute without going nuts. I'm glad, though, that we have an appointment this time and no one has to stand in line for 4 hours. That's definitely a plus!

Also, you may notice that in some of the pictures here, Jill is sporting bangs. She won't let me put barrettes in her hair anymore and I was tired of looking at it hanging in her eyes all the time, getting covered in food, so I got out the scissors. Steve gave her bites of ice cream to keep her somewhat still, and I went for it! Keep in mind I've never cut hair before, and it's not even, but it's close enough, and for an active little girl whose hair is always messy, it's just fine. She has also now developed a healthy fear of scissors. She REALLY didn't like the snipping sound! Now I want to take her to someone who knows what she's doing to get the back cut and the bangs evened out, but for now this will do...especially because they're too short so I need to let them grow out before we do any more cutting. I sometimes miss her old hair, but I think this is cute too. We'll see whether or not the bangs are here to stay...

Big Fun

We've been having a lot of fun over here, as we stay inside or enjoy outdoor only activities until we get Jill fully vaccinated against H1N1. I MAY be going overboard with the self-imposed isolation, but oh my goodness the thought of a baby with flu scares the you-know-what out of me! Steve has been wonderful, doing all of our errand running and working overtime even though he's got a cold that just won't go away. I have gone out a couple of times without Jill to buy diapers for her sensitive eczema riddled skin, but that's it. The eczema is marginally better, and we hope to get her the first dose of H1N1 on Wednesday....then she'll need another one in 28 days, and 10 days after THAT (December 19th, if you care) she'll be immune!

Here we are:

walking at Des Moines Beach Park, before she fell and skinned her cheek while I was trying to get her to run with me...sorry Bean

playing at the park, annoyed because I wouldn't let her touch the chicken wire rolled up behind us...such a mean Mama

swings at Westcrest with Daddy

so much fun!

double-handed coloring