Dan, Carina & Juliet

Photo Card

2011-12-13T13:08:00.001-08:00

Flourishing Frames Christmas

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Siobhan Lily

2011-11-17T17:29:00.000-08:00

Siobhan Lily joined our family on Monday 11/7/11 at 10:32pm. 8lbs 20.5in. Exactly one week past her due date as I predicted. The day she was born I had an OB appointment in the morning and was still 3cm as I had been for the last week or so. Having no contractions at all. Watched my friends daughter for a couple hours. At 3 pm I slipped and fell in the laundry room and fell flat on my back. Hurt my ankle alittle but nothing else. At 6pm Juliet pooped in the bath and I got to clean that mess up. At 7pm I had one tiny contraction, wasn't even sure it was one. Followed by two more that hour.
At 8:30 I called the OB since they were about 5-10min apart by then but still rather faint and I wasn't sure if and when to go to the hospital. She said I needed contractions 5 minutes apart for an hour that are strong enough so I can't walk or talk through them. Called grandma & friends to be on call for the night. Grandma headed over to spend the night. Contractions came less frequently then & I thought is was a false alarm and tried to go back to bed.
At 9pm they were coming every 3 minutes but still not unbearable so called the OB again and she said to come on down if I wanted to. Dilly dallied around at home making a few calls and tidying up. Told my sisters not to rush down, we'd get a room and give them a call. Figured I'd be there all night.
Got to the hospital just after 10pm and the contractions were pretty strong by then and still 3 min apart. Decided I wanted the epidural. They said they'd get right on it. And they were talking about maybe calling in the OB. Got checked in and checked and I was 7 cm! Walked me to my room and got in bed and my water broke(10:20?). Treeva arrived, Tasha thought she had time for a shower first.
Asked again about the epidural, they said it would be there in 10 minutes or so and I told them I didn't think I had that long. The doctor is still not there. I start pushing and they go frantically looking for the doctor. OB runs in just in time to catch her head. 2 pushes and she was out. So 3.5 hours from first measly contraction to holding my baby. No pain meds, and really it wasn't so bad. The contractions were strong, but not for long. So yeah, if we would have waited any longer I would have been having that baby in the car or lobby! Juliet was just about 24 hours from start to finish. Next time I know to hurry!

Juliet loves baby sister. She is so sweet with her, if alittle too rough sometimes. I love seeing my little girls together.

Siobhan seems like an easy baby. I think it's cause I actually know what I'm doing this time and can better anticipate her needs. Also feeding her more, instead on on a schedule or something like I thought I needed with Juliet, whenever she squeaks I feed her. And then she sleeps. She is so cute when she sleeps, and nurses, and looks around. Oh I just love a newborn. So floppy and soft and silky. Cute little squeaks and noises. So much fun!

How do you learn how to parent?

2011-11-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

I am feeling like a bad parent lately and not sure what to do. Juliet can be a very troublesome child and I honestly don't know how to handle her. Sometimes I feel like all I do all day is punish her. Do I expect to much of her? I don't know. If she can understand what I want her to do why does she choose to do the opposite...over & over again no matter the consequences? She throws tantrums. I feel like I can't take her out in public because I can't control her. Is it her personality or is it my parenting? I feel completely lost sometimes. How do you learn how to parent? What are good resources? There are other kids her age I observe behaving so it must be possible. I get mixed reviews from the grandparents. My parents always chastise me for not disciplining her more & letting her get away with too much. Dan's mom is always saying I'm too hard on her and that she is doing great for her age. I don't think she is the worst kid I've seen, but I'm very unhappy with her behavior and my inability to do anything about it.

I love her so much and I just want to be a good mommy to her and love her while also teaching and molding her into a good person. How do I learn how to parent?

I want to have a baby!

2011-10-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

Ok maybe not today, Halloween would be an unfortunate birthday I think. But anytime now, I'm ready and willing. My big sister pumpkin is very excited to meet baby pumpkin. It's so bizarre not having any lead up this time. No contractions, no swelling, not feeling hugely pregnant. Totally not complaining here, I'm very thankful I feel great. Last night I was dreaming I was in labor, everytime I had a cotraction in my dream I would wake up all exctied only to realize, "oh I just have to pee" or "darn it was only in my dream". Too funny. I keep looking around, watching my back, like labor is sneaking up on me and gonna get me if I don't keep a lookout. I'm seriously so excited though!!! I was alittle scared going into it the first time with Juliet, you'd think I'd be just a bit scared this time knowing what I'm in for :)

Juliet makes a cute little pumpkin don't you think?

39 Weeks

2011-10-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

39 weeks already. This pregnancy feels like it has flown by. Can't wait to meet baby sister. Juliet sure is excited about it all. She will be such a sweet big sister. Still haven't picked a name or even narrowed it down to a good handful. Oh well, it will come, and so will she...soon I hope :) So excited!

Juliet-isms

2011-10-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

I just want to jot down some Juliet sayings so I don't forget.

Anything she doesn't like or is scared of she will say is or has spiderwebs.

She likes to brush my hair to "get the bugs and spiderwebs out", not sure where she came up with that.

She calls things fatty-meaning big, pretty sure she got it from me. "the big fatty tree", the "fatty dog", "it's a fatty one", thankfully she has't called anyone a fatty. She says it very properly too, "fah-tee" so it makes it even funnier.

Her fire alarm once went off in her room because of the humidifier & to this day she is always on the lookout for fire alarms to tell me they are too loud.

She still kinda says things are "too gay", for the longest time I couldn't figure out what she was trying to say. Turns out she meant "too scary", she pronounces it better these days but sometimes it still sounds like "too gay".

When you ask her how a chicken pushes an egg out she squats down with a big grin and pushing face and says "EEEEEEEEE!"

One night the neighbors set off fireworks after she was asleep and it woke her up. She said "that's too loud, wakes Juliet up, thats not very nice"

When she wakes up in the morning she frequently says "I all done sleeping, I had a good nap."

She likes to "nuggle"

She likes to play a game with me where she she puts me in a bed and tucks me in then tells me to "close my eyes and go to sleep" and then as she is shutting the door she says "don't cry mommy" (but she really wants me to cry) so she can come back in and ask "do you need some cheese mommy?", or "mommy you need tuck-tuck?" She once even got daddy to get mommy some cheese for her, she was very insistent.

When you tell her to smile for a picture she does so with a big hissing sound.

She will frequently say "silly Juliet" or 'crazy Juliet" to herself when she is doing something. She jumped off the curb and said "whoa! crazy Juliet!"

When she spins around she says she is getting "busy" (dizzy)

She knows what a wedgie is and will let me know if she gets one.

She mostly refers to herself in the third person.

Everything has a mommy, daddy, and a Juliet(or baby). In Goldilocks there was the daddy bear, the mommy bear and the Juliet bear. Once she had a bunch of babies out at grandma's and there was a daddy baby a mommy baby and a Juliet baby. Since we had Haruka stay with us she usually adds a Haruka to the mix too: "daddy cup, mommy cup, Juliet cup & Ruka cup"

She frequently says things or people or animals are "sad, they miss their mommy", even inanimate things like the "tree is sad, it misses its mommy tree", occasionally substituted with daddy, but ususally mommy.

When telling me about things she likes to say "alittle bit". "I was sad in nursery, I cried a little bit, but the nursery daddy held me". Or "I missed you alittle bit". Lately she has also been using "so much", "I miss you so much".

She will sometimes say "I so drinky" instead of "I so thirsty", combining I want a drink with I'm so thirsty.

Thats all I can think of for right now, I'll add more as I remember.

Dying to know?

2011-06-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yep, we are having another baby girl! Juliet is going to be a big sister.

Real Adventures in Potty Training

2011-06-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

The idea of potty training has always really intimidated me. I really had no idea where to start and I was getting alot of misinformation/exaggeration so I felt very overwhelmed. So I am going to write about my saga for a couple reasons. First to document when and how it all went down. And second to maybe give comfort and info to other first time moms who are approaching the potty training bridge.

So ever since I had Juliet everyone and their dog began telling me "my child was potty trained by 2, by 18 months, by 1 year old..." For real! I think parents sometimes get a faulty memory about just when landmark events occurred. Sure you may have started potty training me at 1 year old but it says quite specifically in my babybook that I wasn't completely trained until 2 and a half. Yeah. Not to say there aren't some kids trained early, I saw my sister do it at 18 months with her first boy and have a couple other friends who also did it earlier than usual with their girls. Being a stay at home mom helps with this I think. You can give the child your attention 24/7 without having other caregivers to make it more complicated. I will test this theory with my next child when I am at home full time and I will of course have that child trained by 18months stat! ;)

My other misconception is people's definition of "potty trained". To me it meant "uses the potty on their own, doesn't have accidents anymore day or night". But I am gathering other people have more loose definitions. "I potty trained my child in one hour." one book said. Um yeah, he probably barely had time to use the potty once in that time and you are already patting yourself on the back? In the second hour I bet he has an accident and he becomes un-pottytrained again. So the child just knowing that a potty is for pottying in can mean their child is "potty trained". Or staying dry during the day, but needing a pull-up at night could also mean "potty trained". So I take people's assertions of "potty-trained" with a grain of salt these days because they everyone has a different definition.

I bought a potty chair for Juliet when she was 6 months old. I put her on it; I hoped she would use it. It sat collecting dust in our bathroom for the next year and a half.

At 18 months it was summertime and alot of people I talked to liked the buck-naked potty method. So I had Juliet running around pants-less most of the summer and she loved that of course. And I cleaned up tons of poop and pee off the floor. The thing I didn't get about this method(and maybe it would have worked if I had) was that you actually need to watch them closely and run them to the potty when they signal or begin to start going. We were in the middle of a huge construction project then and so I wasn't paying faithful attention to potty training and so we failed again.

At around 2 years old Juliet first used the potty on her own. We were all in the room, I was sewing I think, and she took off her diaper and went and peed on the potty all by herself. We got excited, we praised her. She was happy. She never did it again.

For the next few months I would occasionally put her on the potty at random times and sometimes randomly she would go. Nothing consistent. I figured she knew what to do so why didn't she just do it?

Then I decided last long weekend(May 28th-30th) to really buckle down and focus. Still not having read anything on potty training. We put her in undies, but no pants. Every 15 minutes or so I would remind her or ask her "are you was dry?" "do you need to go potty?" "remember to use the potty when you need to go?" Every 15 minutes, over and over and over. I didn't watch her constantly because, again, I was working on the never-ending construction project and couldn't. But she did great. She would go when I reminded her and sit on the potty and do her thing. She would get excited, we would get excited, and she would be supplied with a delicious sugary treat. She didn't stay dry during her nap that day.

That first night we did just undies for bedtime too since she had done so good in the day. Had her go pee before bed. Put her down. About 4 hours later she woke up calling to me because she wet the bed. Changed the sheets, had her sit on the potty. Reminded her to keep her undies dry and use the potty. Repeated two more times that night.

Church the next day went great. She wore undies. She told me she had to go potty during sacrament meeting and I rushed her to the bathroom...at the other end of the building...! She didn't make it, but I praised her for trying. New undies. She tells me her tummy hurts and she needs to go potty. Took her again. And she pooped on the potty big time. I was seriously so excited! I loudly praised her alot, and then felt alittle silly as I noticed some lady was sitting in the next stall over. Ah... new moms, they're so silly. I had no idea I could get so excited over poop. She stays dry until we get home from church. She goes pee on the potty when I remind her. She stays dry for her nap.

Next day(Monday) she goes potty alot, mostly on her own, but also when I remind her. She tries to get treats for just sitting on the potty. Denied! But I thank her for sitting on the potty and for staying dry. Have her go potty before we leave to go to the store. Go to a couple hardware stores (about an hour trip) and she did great. No accidents! I was nervous and reminded her often to stay dry and we even trying going potty at Lowes but she didn't have to go. She stayed dry for her nap this day.

Fast forward a couple more days of similar progress, her going more and more on her own, doing more successful pooping in the potty, averaging one wetting accident a day/night.

Then June 2nd(day 6) she stayed dry the whole night!!! Yay! 24 hours straight with no accidents!!! I woke her up at midnight to go potty and she got up herself early morning (4am-ish) and peed on the potty and called for me to empty it. And then again when she woke up dry at 8am she went potty on her own.

SO proud of her!!!

6/9/11 Update: It has been a few weeks now. She never wets herself during the day anymore, but does sometimes during her nap. We can go out and about and I don’t have to worry about an accident. Weirdly, she now will not poop on the potty for some reason, and will do it in her undies, usually right after being put down for nap. So we are working on this. Also she stays dry at night every third night or so. But all the other nights she has at least one wet accident in the night. I won’t give her back the diapers though; we clean up the mess and move on. I put on a mattress cover and bought a bunch of extra twin sheets at Goodwill so I can change the bedding as needed. She will get it eventually; we have to overcome 2 and a half years of habitual going freely in her diaper, especially in her sleep. That is a big change. People tell me it’s worth it. In some cases it really is, but in the middle of the night and I am sleep deprived because of potty training and cleaning up messes I wonder why I even bother.

I love my little girl. It is so fun to learn and grow with her. To teach her new things and experience her joy and delight in the world.

Chickens & Trampolines & Babies

2011-05-15T21:54:00.001-07:00

We have been keeping busy. I'm so so nearly done with our house renovations. Just one closet and the flooring to go. Yay! Work is going good, can't complain. We aquired 5 baby chicks at Coastal a month ago when we went there to let Juliet look at the baby critters. They were giving away free ones so we ended up getting some "temporarily" to give to my mom after they got too big. But we got attached and so we buildt them a cute little coop this weekend. Juliet loves critters of all kinds, including her baby chicks.
We also aquired a free trampoline on craigslist that needed a few tabs sewn back on. Did that and now Juliet loves hopping around on it. Mostly naked for some reason. I guess clothes just get in the way of a good jump?
Juliet is a sweet, smart little girl. We love her so much. She loves: babies and animals, the letter "O" (as in "go ducks"), counting things, reading her books, helping herself to things(her catchphrase is "I do that"), building towers with legos or blocks, coloring/painting, and nuggling with mom & dad while watching "baby cows"(ie: videos of baby animals on youtube). We are working on potty training, but I obviously don't know what I'm doing so we aren't making alot of progress.
Dan is working hard. Puts in alot of overtime most days being the head machinist now. It's hard work but he enjoys it and does it well. It sure is handy having a hubby who can make or fix anything, or even make a tool to do the job :) I love him so much. He is a great husband and such a sweet daddy.
And finally, we are expecting baby number two November 1st! I am 4 months along and get to have my ultrasound in about a month to find out what we are having. Everyone is betting on a boy, I don't really care either way. Juliet loves the idea of having a new baby and has been very understanding on mommy feeling sick for the past couple months. I should start showing here soon and then I can post some belly pics :) Being pregnant is so fun, for the most part.

16 weeks(or 4 months) pregnant :)

Too much time on Facebook.

2011-02-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well here it is February. Lots went on, just not alot posted since as I stated in the title, I spend to much time Facebooking. Oh well. Today was lovely. I am feeling much better & the weather is beautiful so I took the girls out in the back yard for playing in the sandbox and also a picnic lunch. SO fun! I hope the weather stays nice. I don't care for winter & rain much. Rather have snow or sunshine.

Oh yeah, and I was there too :) Smiles!

Juliet is 2! and a Merry Christmas

2010-12-31T22:25:00.000-08:00

Juliet had her second birthday on the 23rd. It has gone by so fast! I love my little girl. She is so sweet. Grandma Hallock had a little party for her and her favorite gift was.... yet another baby doll. She sure loves those things. Babies, dogs and other animals in general...those are her favorite things. Well besides mommy & daddy :)
She & I have been doing some water color painting, which is alot of fun. She does a great job at it too I think. I like this painting she did. I like the colors.
I also made her a new dress, blue gingham. I think it turned out pretty good. It came together in record time too. 2 hours! I think it would be fun to make & sell little dresses. I am going to make me a matching skirt so we can wear them on Sunday :)
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Scrimshawing it Up

2010-11-06T09:51:00.001-07:00

Here is my lastest scrimshaw project. A commisioned piece for a guy in Oregon. I think the Joker is a little weird, but it it the symbol for his motorcycle group- so that's what he wanted. I like the back better. I love doing swirls & scrollwork. (And yes "sez" is spelled wrong, but it is supposed to be that way :)

Coloring

2010-11-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

Mommy likes to color too! Juliet likes me to come hang out in her room & color with her. She is very particular which color I can use too.

I drew this picture today in colored pencil & a black copic marker. Not too bad.

Oh Man! What a Day!

2010-10-03T11:48:00.001-07:00

Such a fun day!!! Dan & Dave got to go backstage with Gameday & meet the people and get cool free stuff. He also got to meet Chip, and I'm alittle jealous about that. I love Chip. So Dan & I got to go to the UO-Stanford game. It's becoming a bit of a tradition. Dan & I went to Stanford to the UO game when we were dating in 2004. Then we went to another UO-Stanford game at Autzen with Jordan Bair in 2008. And now this year too, with tickets we won no less-which makes it even sweeter. It was so exciting, lots of enthusiastic fans & noise. I had to put in makeshift earplugs though so I could enjoy it. A great comeback. Beautiful weather. It was a perfect night, a perfect day, a perfect weekend!

Win!

2010-10-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

We won the Gameday signmaking contest at HomeDepot today. We have tried every time and always came in second place. So Dan gets to go backstage and have breakfast with the ESPN Gameday people and then we get tickets to go to the UO-Stanford game too. SO exciting!!!

August

2010-08-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures for August.

Moving the dirt, getting it done...

2010-07-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Juliet has been a very busy girl as you can see. After she learned to operate the bobcat she then proceeded to remove the HUGE pile of dirt that had been taking up our back yard, & make it all nice and level. Well, maybe she didn't do ALL of that. But she was a very willing helper. Whenever there is dirt involved, you can be sure she will be there to play in it.

under the tree, the pile of dirt before.....

....and AFTER!!! yippeee, there is a yard again!

view of the backyard

excuse all the cars & stuff. Dan likes cars.

looking at the back of the addition

look, you can see the whole door!

view from the back door, my favorite.

big ol' pile of dirt. can hardy see the tree trunk.

then... yard

so long big pile of dirt, you will not be missed :)

I Am America

2010-07-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

'Vampires Suck' Twilight Spoof Official Trailer [HD]

2010-07-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Summer

2010-07-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Having a grand summer so far. Been home with Juliet since the end of May & I LOVE it. She is such a sweet little spirit, I could spend every moment with her. I love her laugh. I love her naughty excited fleeing when she is doing something she knows she shouldn't and doesn't want me to get her. I love her helpfulness, with the dishwasher, with the laundry, with the animals, with my feminine supplies, lol. She can unload a drawer so fast, it's amazing. I love it when she lays her head on shoulder & snuggles. I love it when she goes around grabbing daddy's things & telling me they are daddy's. I love how she asks where daddy is all day long. I love how friendly and fearless she is. She will try most anything. I love my little girl.

Girls

2010-05-24T21:10:00.001-07:00

Back in the day, me and my sisters.

And this...

2010-05-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

I am obviously spending way too much time on YouTube but I just had to share this gem. I love a good parody.

Loving this...

2010-05-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

And on completely unrelated note, Juliet is doing much better. She was a happy little girl all evening.

Juliet's Surgery

2010-05-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

We are home now from Juliet's hernia surgery. Poor baby really wants a nap but just can't get comfy.

Happenings

2010-05-03T16:41:00.001-07:00

My girl

2010-04-29T17:22:00.001-07:00

Easter Pics

2010-04-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Juliet experienced her first Easter egg hunt this year at grandma & grandpa Conover's with her cousin Dax. Grandpa first hid her eggs inside for a practice round. She got the hang of it right away & had a lot of fun picking up the pretty eggs & putting them in her pretty basket. Until... she discovered the eggs opened & she promptly sat down & shoveled foil chocolate candies into her mouth as quickly as possible.

First experience with Easter egg hunting: a success. First encounter with chocolate: delicious!

Craftiness

2010-03-30T20:51:00.001-07:00

I get creative now and again. Frequently I start a project and fail to finish it, well at least in a timely manner. Just ask Dan, it took him a couple years of hinting for me to start knitting him a scarf. Which I then set aside for another year before finishing it in a flurry. SO the latest craft:...drumroll please... an Easter basket. For Juliet of course. I saw a picture online of s similar style of basket so I tried it & played around with it until I liked it. Cute, no?

No laughing matter

2010-03-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have."

5 Year Anniversary & Coast Trip

2010-03-21T07:48:00.001-07:00

5 years, it has flown by. 5 years ago we met at the institute(well Dan met me-I had known who he was since the family ward). We got engaged 3 months later & married 3 months after that. 5 years later we are a happy little family.

For our 5th anniversary(as we do for every anniversary) we went to the coast. The weather was cold & windy so we were about to give up & come home but then the clouds went away & the sun beamed down & we all played in the sand for an hour and it was wonderful! Happy anniversary Dan! I love you so much.

Feeding the Ducks

2010-03-19T15:51:00.001-07:00

Juliet really enjoyed our trip to the park yesterday to feed the ducks with cousin Dax. She was fearless, walking right up to those big scary geese and everything. Such a happy little girl.

Pictures & Things

2010-03-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

Braided her hair for the first time. She is my cute little doll.

Riding Slick.

Made Juliet a new dress for Easter or something. Turned out a bit big but that just means she can wear it longer.

Juliet likes her critters. She enjoys trips to the pet stores & feeding her dogs in the mornings. By feeding I mean rummaging around in the kibbles & getting them all over the floor.

Our house is coming together.

Eclipse!!!

2010-03-11T18:41:00.001-08:00

I can't wait...

Oh stupid me

2010-02-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

Grrrr!!! SO I just noticed that probably half of the pictures I took in 2009 were dated 2008. I had the date on my camera 1 year off!!! Not only that but I had the date stamp feature on so the wrong date is permanently emblazened on these thousands of pictures so my posterity will all remember how stupid I am. So frustrating.

I will say that I am kinda disappointed none of my faithful blog followers noticed this sooner & pointed it out to me. Could have saved me alot of self loathing. Tisk tisk :)

Diaper rash no more

2010-02-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

So Juliet has had a nagging diaper rash for a few weeks. It kept healing but not completely & then came back with a fury. I tried all kinds of techniques & products but without any success. So I called the Doctor & they reccommended I put foot cream on her bum. As in athletes foot cream! I did it for 3 days and her little bum is all better. Seriously, it was much improved even after one night. That & rinsing her with water whenever she has a poopy diaper because appearantly diaper wipes leave some invisible poop which can be irritating. Wish I would have called the doctor weeks ago.

Just thought I'd share :)

We've been...

2010-02-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

...doing lots of things. Working on the house. Working on the house some more. You know, the usual. Juliet got her first tooth last Sunday. She will be 14 months old in a week or so. She is a really good baby. We love her so much.

Here are a few other things we've been...

...walking like a pro

...sitting around

...looking adorable

...harrassing the fish

...taking naps

...dressing up cute for church

...harassing the cat with glee

...helping daddy

Walking

2010-02-03T18:16:00.001-08:00

Well, she finally did it. Over the weekend Juliet began walking in earnest. For a few weeks before she would take a steps here & there but since we had zero floorspace at home she wasn't really practicing. When we moved our bed out of the livingroom she decided she wanted to walk now, & so she did. Now she is walking around just for the sake of walking, just so she can turn around & walk the other way. It is so cute to see her tottering around(usually carrying something too). She is a little person!

Construction Pics etc.

2010-01-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Master bedroom, with french doors. 12'x16' I think.

To the left, master walk-in closet & master bathroom farther down as seen from the doorway to the master bedroom.

Laundryroom/mud room & back door.

Veiw of hallway from the back door.

Next two are of the boy's bedroom. Too be an office/sewing room until we have a boy to put in it :) Also 9'x12', but with 2 windows.

Juliet's new room 9'x 12', not done with drywall yet.

The new hallway, through the laundry/mud room to the back door.

The new attic space. 14'x9', it will have those boards down over the whole area when we get around to it. It is also insulated since I took the pic.

Daddy, Juliet & the cat just hanging out.

Juliet's first trip to the library. I suppose she needs to work on her library voice alittle, but she enjoyed the Juliet-sized chairs & the lamb puppet.

Alittle hard to see, but Juliet is hanging out in the truck with Tater. She sure does love her dogs.

Bath

2010-01-20T19:37:00.001-08:00

I forgot to post pics of Juliet's new tub situation. the kitchen sick was getting a bit cramped so I do this for her on our shower floor. She likes it much better. It will be some awesome when we have our new bath done with an actual tub. I could go for a real bubble bath myself :)

We now have ceiling drywall & attic & wall insulation. We started the wall drywall today. Pics to come after I upload them.

How it affects the little guy.

2010-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

I just have a little something to say about Measures 66 & 67. It increases taxes on those big corporations and evil rich people right? Sounds like Robin Hood …rob from the rich to give to the poor.

Wrong.

Dan & I, we aren’t poor enough. But we most definitely aren’t rich. I suppose you’d call us middle class. We have a house, a couple cars; we both have jobs to support ourselves so that we aren’t beholden to anyone. We aren’t living off the Dole or other people’s charity. We take care of ourselves & our family. And we take pride in that.

Now Dan works hard at a company called McGuire. Great company; really takes care of their own. We have been so grateful that instead of laying people off with hard times they just tightened their belts. No bonuses or pay raises for awhile.

Well Dan & I were counting on him getting pay raises each year so that he would ultimately be making enough to support our family & I would have the blessing of staying home with our children. This is a desire very dear to my heart.

So back to measures 66 & 67. They raise taxes on businesses; they will be taxed on their gross profits, not on their net. That means that even if a business is losing money they will still be charged taxes at the high rate. The $10 minimum tax they keep speaking of is for businesses who are not profitable, who are losing money. When a business is profitable they get charged a high rate of taxes, just like everyone else.

What does this do to McGuire? It makes an already burdened company not make as much profit. That means its employees (ie: Dan) will not get a raise at best. At worst, Dan will join the thousands of private sector employees who have already lost their jobs. All this so that the Oregon State government can continue to add jobs(they have already added 5000 since the recession began) and give raises to their employees who have already received raises even since the recession began.

That means it will be just that much longer until Dan is able to make enough to support our family, & I will be able to be a stay at home mother & take care of our children.

So you see, it doesn’t just come from the corporations & the rich. It trickles down & affects the very people they are claiming it will “protect”. By economist's estimations this will cost the loss of approximately 70,000 more jobs in Oregon.

So thanks alot, all of you who plan on voting yes on these measures.

Way to stomp on my dreams of getting ahead in this world and being able to stay at home with my babies.

Please vote no on 66 & 67

Alittle Christmas

2009-12-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

Juliet & Daddy

Juliet & my good friend Mandolin.

The artwrk I did for my mom's Christmas present.

1 Year Old Portraits

2009-12-26T08:26:00.000-08:00

A Taste

2009-12-24T08:53:00.001-08:00

I don't have time to upload all of the 1 year portraits we got of Juliet last week so here is one to hold you over until I get the rest up. We got her the sweet little Oregon Ducks cheerleader outfit at Goodwill the night before. Total score! It is adorable. And she is adorable if I do say so myself. 1 year old yesterday! Can you believe it? My precious little girl is growing up so fast.

Oh Christmas Tree 2009

2009-12-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

Since Dan & I have been married we have always had the tradition of going up to the mountains(preferably in the snow) & trekking out into the wild to obtain the perfect tree. It is always lots of fun, & I even made it up last year for our hike when I was due with Juliet in 2 weeks! But alas, this year with our house project still taking up our plate we opted to go to the tree farm & get a U-cut one. We had a free coupon so we were looking for a tree just shy of 5 ft. 5 foot trees actually look incredibly tiny. But considering we usually go overboard & come home with a 10 ft tree, we always have to vut off the bottom half anyways. It is an adorable tree & it doesn't look small at all once we brought it home.
I love this picture of Dan & Juliet. They are so cute together. Juliet loves her daddy so much & he is so good with her. I don't know what I would do without him.

I wanted to use this pic for our Christmas cards but yeah, I look stoned & the date got stamped on Juliet's face. Well at least Dan smiled nicely.

My little cutie.

Has it already been a month...

2009-12-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

Juliet & little buddy Bella Stockdale playing together. It is so cute now that they are old enough to interact with eachother.

Practicing walking with Grandpa.

A girl & her dog.

Helping daddy play on the computer.

She likes to hang upsidedown. Check out the length of her hair.

I just got a washer & dryer for the first time in about 4 months. It is so lovely to be able to do laundry whenever I want to. Juliet liked watching the laundry go round & round.

This is great

2009-12-01T17:28:00.000-08:00

Margaret had this on her blog. So funny.

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

BFF Lizzy

2009-11-18T17:50:00.000-08:00

Juliet has been having a marvelous time for the last couple weeks playing with her new friend Lizzy Teel. Ashey has been so amazingly awesome to watch her for me while grandma was out of town & Juliet couldn't be happier. They are so cute together. Thank you Ashley!!!!! You are wonderful!!!!!!

Halloween & baby Tripp

2009-11-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

Treeva had her baby Friday at 2pm(after 5 pushes!). Tripp Channing Pinnock was 8lbs 7oz & 22inches. So sweet. And so small! I can't believe Juliet was ever so small. She looks HUGE next to him.

Tasha & I took the kiddos trick or treating.

Juliet the piggy & cousin Dax the lion. Look at those little tails.

Dan & Shelly with the winning signs for Gameday. Shelly won first(with a sign using Dan's idea & a little drawing help from me) & was nice enough to give us the tickets so we could go to the awesome USC beatdown. Thank you Shelly!!!!

Juliet in her cute little piggy costume. So cute.

Pictures...of course

2009-10-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

with her favorite puppies

big smiles, wearing the dress mommy made for her.

with daddy

riding the rocking horse in nursery

watching the fishies

flying high with daddy

Juliet with Bellotti the rabbit.

Internet Issues

2009-10-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry to those who follow the blog. We have been having internet issues lately so I haven't been able to read blogs, much less post or upload pictures on my own blog. It sucks... er...actually Clearwire sucks. I have to call them every few weeks to get help with the internet. Either is doesn't work at all or it is really REALLY slow. Like takes and hour to load a page, ridiculous. Gosh dial-up is better than that. And then each time I call they make me try all the same things & it usually takes an hour or more. Really wishing we would have just gone with Comcast internet.

So to the update. We are all weathered in, roof, windows, doors. It is awesome. I am really excited. Dan has been working on the wireing & should be done this week with that & then the plumbing is also due for completion this week. Then a few inspections, some insulation & drywall & we will nearly be set. We will have a house again.

Juliet is crawling really good, getting into everything. But so cute & happy. She chases me & the animals around the kitchen mooching for food & squeeling with delight as she makes messes. SO cute, it is hard to resist.

Life is good.

Correction

2009-10-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

Ah ha! We have a roof. Well, most of a roof. It is so exciting though, it looks like a real house now. You have no idea how excited I am to have bedrooms again. It's been rough, camping out in our living room. No dryer, & my washing machine hooked up to a hose in the back yard. I want to live like a civilized person again.
It really hasn't been all that bad. Memories right? What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger? You have to experience the bitter to appreciate the sweet? Just keep swimming....... :)

September is over

2009-09-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Love the pigtails, & the mischievious face as she chews on my camera case. She is 9 months old, I just can't beleive it how fast it has flown by. She is the best baby, I couldn't have asked for more.

We have walls!!! Flooded at the moment with all the rain. Blah! I hate rain. But soon, very soon, we will have a roof & I will finally be safe from the rain!

I love her eyes. Stunning.

Juliet likes...

2009-09-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Mommy likes her pretty golden locks to play with.

She likes scooting & is so close to crawling around.

She likes to be wherever we are. Doing whatever we are doing. When we are outside working on the house I sit her in her kiddy pool(sans water) with a few toys & she has a great time. She is wearing daddy's hard hat here.

Juliet has always loved shopping cart rides IN her carseat. But without the carseat? Oh yes, it is even better.

Did I mention that I like to take pictures?

2009-08-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Seriously, like alot of pictures. Especially now that I have a willing subject. Juliet certainly wont be lacking in a well documented childhood.

American Lie...pretty funny parody

2009-08-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

Long time, no post

2009-08-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Things that are cute...

2009-07-25T16:50:00.001-07:00

Juliet wearing her daddy's hat. That's pretty cute.

Juliet playing in her bath; that is also cute.

Juliet giving the cat some love. How cute is that?

Juliet left her binky on her forehead(I didn't put it there). Awe...cute.

Juliet eating some Costco very berry sundae? Yep, it's cute.

Juliet sleeping like a little lady. Sooooo cute!

Juliet with a huge smile of her face. Well that is just adorable.

Did I mention Juliet is cute?

Melissa had her baby!

2009-07-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Tara Lynn Martindale
Weight: 8 pounds and 10 ounces
Length: 21 1/4 inches
Time: 12 00 a.m.
Date: Saturday, July 18, 2009

Timber!!!

2009-07-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

The bedroom roof came crashing down. That is 1/3 of our house gone. Dan used some chain & a wench attached to the maple tree to pull it down. Dan is working so hard it's like there are two of him (look closely)

life is good

2009-07-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Juliet makes me smile

Juliet has mastered the fine art of rolling over. she now does it whenever she wants to. She has also tried her hand at scooting; but as of yet only goes backwards, much to her dismay as she moves farther away from the toy she was aiming for.

to be or not to be...

Juliet says goodbye to her little friends Arabella & Emily. She will miss them for sure. They gave her lots of hugs & kisses and always looked forward to me dropping her off at grandma's so they could entertain her. Such cute little girls.

dan's company picnic. dan & bryan won the three legged race, despit the height discrepancy. juliet devours a plumcot, she LOVED it and made a huge delicious mess.

demolition continues on the bedroom. some water damage on the ceiling that i put my foot through while I was up on the roof. I also crawled under the house & did some plumbing. My first attempt at plumbing was a success. And I wasn't even too itchy afterwards, even though I ended up using a wad of fiberglass insulation as a pillow.

Hallock Happenings

2009-07-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Scoutmaster Dan.

Dan & Juliet in the pool. She almost flung herself off him into the water, but daddy caught her; and I caught it on camera.

Juliet's first baseball game & fireworks. She had a grand time & surprisingly really enjoyed the fireworks show after the Em's game. On the 4th of July she just went to bed at her usual time and slept through all the loud fireworks! I couldn't believe it!

Daddy & Juliet in our old bedroom, just prior to begining demolition.

Demolition of our bedroom. We spent the 4th of July ripping out boards and smashing walls to make way for our new addition. See the floor in the pictures: our bedroom floor was dryrotten & sinking. In some places only the carpet is holding you up.

Dan & JJ. Lucky Dan got a picture with Jeremiah Johnson(UO Ducks) at the Em's game. He was a very nice guy. We had a 7ft poster of him on our garage door for a few years.

Juliet at 6 months

2009-06-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Weight: 15 1/2 lbs 50th percentile
Height: 27 inches 90th percentile
Head: 17 inches 75th percentile

Juliet had her shots again but she did so much better this time. Last time she was choking she cried so hard. She cried during the shots but snapped out of it as soon as they were over and was happy baby again. I dosed her up with baby motrin and she had a great nights sleep.

Happy Father's Day Sweetie

2009-06-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

Juliet is a lucky little girl to have such a good daddy.

Babies, birthdays & other random things

2009-06-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

So many things. Life is good, Juliet is growing big & strong (and adorable of course). I turned 24! I feel much older, but I think that mostly has to do with the huge change in my life of being a mother now. My parents got me some binoculars I had been ogling & Dan got me some yummy Euphoria chocolates. I decided I want to wear skirts more often. Teresa always looks so cute(and cool in the summertime) in them. All my sorts are kinda ugly & I don't have any "casual" skirts. So I got some fun fabrics & have been making some skirts, I'll post pictures later or hopefully they will turn out nice & you'll see me wearing them & being more ladylike.

Today when I unbuckled Juliet from her carseat she flipped herself over to play with the toys above her head. Silly, happy little girl.

Juliet makes the most hilarious faces when I feed her solids. She loves it. So far she has tried & thoroughly enjoyed: rice cereal, applesauce, sweet potatos, bananas, peas, peaches and carrots. Although with carrots she started making razzberries at me & so I got some carrots on me too.

Our pair of convict cichlids had babies! Like hundreds on them. Dan sucked up a bunch of them before he realized they weren't fish poo(fish poo doesn't swim against the current:). But I think we may end up with alot of survivors, the convicts are tenacious parents & incredibly hardy. So if anyone wants some easy fish babies I can totally hook you up! They are way fun to watch. The big beautiful one is mama, & the babies are nestled into the gravel if you look closely.

Went for a drive up highway 58. Darn Oakridge cop gave us a speeding ticket because he was waiting on the edge of town looking for suckers who didn't realize they were coming around the bend into Oakridge. We slowed down immediately when we realized we were in town but he had his quota to meet & gave us a ticket anyways. Although he followed some other vehicle behind us first & pulled him over, then changed his mind and followed us through town before he decided to pull us over. Turned out the very same thing happened to my brother in law. I wrote a letter to their Police Chief, Mayor & City Administrator expressing my disgust for the practices of their cops & letting them know we would take our recreational dollars elseware in the future. I hate cops. It ruined our trip & we turned around & went home, this little creek was all me got to enjoy. Don't let my smile fool you, I was militant.

Enjoying playing with her sippy cup. She also likes me to let her "drink" out of my glass. I hold it up to her mouth & we pretend. She really enjoys that & wont let me take a drink in peace unless I am willing to share :) Also if I am eating something she likes me to let her try my spoon too, even if there is no food on it. She likes to do whatever I am doing.

How the babe sleeps. She arches herself like so & nuzzles her face into this knitted blanket. Just having that blanket against her cheek makes her eyelids droop. Juliet is such a great sleeper, maybe even too good. She has really progressed with her naps. Now I set her in her crip & she sleeps for a good hour or two & doesn't require me holding her to do it anymore. She has always been a pro at sleeping on the go, if I am running errands she has no problem taking a nap whenever she gets tired. At night though she has decided she wants to go to bed earlier so I usually have her laid down between 7:30-8pm and she will sleep until 8am if I let her, but usually I wake her up around 7am so we can get the morning routine going. Although the other night she decided to go to bed at 6:30pm! and slept the whole night until 7:30 am! That is 13hours straight! if she wasn't nice & plump I would be worried that she wasn't getting enough to eat. Now I didn't get to sleep that long however, I had to get up and pump at about 4am. She always sleeps through the night too, and has done so since she was about 2 months old (except for the nightmares phase she had that lasted 2 weeks, but that hasn't happened in 2 or 3 months now). She sure does like her beauty sleep, and I certainly appreciate getting enough rest as well.

The "ouch" game

2009-06-05T14:38:00.001-07:00

So Juliet & I have been playing a game. I am nursing her, & when she first latches on she does so rather aggressively sometimes & it hurts like crazy. So last night she latched on hard and I responded by saying "ouch, ouch, ouch" in a sorta funny voice. She pulls off & looks up at me & laughs! So then she thought this was pretty fun. She would latch on, pull off, look up at me (while I obligingly said "ouch, ouch, ouch" again) & she laughs at me. We did this for probably 5 minutes. It was so funny. Silly girl.
She also really likes the game where I say: "what does the cow say? MOOOO!" what does the (insert animal) say? etc..." Her favorites are the sheep "BHAAAAA!" and the rooster "cock-a-doodle-do!"
Babies are so much fun!

New Moon trailer!

2009-05-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

Swimming, cereal & a quilt

2009-05-31T12:13:00.001-07:00

First swimming in our pool. She enjoyed this quite a bit.

First rice cereal. She wasn't sure what to think of it, but she ate it all (or at least took all of it into her mouth before drooling most of it back out).

Juliet & her cousin Anna Mae

I made Juliet an alphabet quilt.

She Sits!

2009-05-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

Juliet sits up! Ok so she can't do it on her own just yet, but I set her up in a sitting position (not propped against anything) & she held it for a good 2 minutes before flinging herself over. She did it again when I sat her up in the sink for her bath. I can tell she is wanting to sit up because she bends in the middle nicely now & is always lifting her head off the ground when she is on her back; doing little baby crunches.

sigh

2009-05-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

mmmm...so romantic. actually one of my favorite parts in the whole Twilight series.

Free Stuff

2009-05-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

Who can resist the allure of something free. One man's trash is another man's treasure they say. We put a pile of free stuff in our driveway yesterday. A glider that didn't work very good and an old gas BBQ that caught on fire once so all the hoses melted & we then used it as a charcoal grill. So these people pull up in a small SUV thing. Two shirtless tattooed guys & a girl. First they try to fit the whole grill in the back of the SUV. After a few minutes & a couple different angles they couln't get it & decided to put it on top. Mind you it is full of briquette dust & stuff, but they put it on it's side, instead of upright. Some of the briquette dust dumped out on the guy putting it up there. I guess he must have thought the other guy was on the other side of the vehicle helping get it up there, because he then gives it a push to center it on top & it goes flying off the other side! Dan & I are both watching this & laughing. I wish I would have taken a picture. So they stand around it & decide to put it on top again, but they have no rope! So one guy sits in the back seat with his arm out the window holding this big old thing on top of the car, & they quickly make their getaway....leaving a trail of briquettes down the street. It was hilarious! A few minutes later someone snatched the chair too. Gotta love the free junk removal :)

We also had a stray blind dog wander into our front yard later that day. Poor old guy kept falling off the curb into the street. Since we live on such a busy street I just tied him up on our porch & a few hours later his owners drove by & found him. We have done this with a few other loose dogs too. Never fails, the owner will come driving by at some point.

New Moon

2009-05-20T09:38:00.001-07:00

I can't wait..... See this poster!

3 Columns

2009-05-19T12:21:00.001-07:00

Thank you to all my friendly blog stalkers who commented. I'm glad you all find the time to look at my blog, even if it is just for my voluminous friend list :)

I am feeling pretty proud of myself now. I have been eye balling all those bloggers with THREE column blogs & wishing I could be so cool like that. So I googled how to have a 3 column blog & found some instructions on the Cutest Blog on the Block website. Unfortunately, it involved editing HTML code & looked pretty challenging(since I know absolutely nothing about writing html code). But followed the instructions to the letter & miraculously ended up with a 3 column blog. I really like this layout better because then you can divide stuff up on both sides & have more room for "gadgets".

In other news, Juliet is doing good. Growing big & strong. I had to get out some new clothes for her this weekend since her current ones were getting alittle snug. We are also having to look at getting a bigger carseat now as her feet are starting to stick off the end. This carseat was a free hand me down, but it is older & doesn't have the growth capacity that new ones seem to. It is only good for 20lbs & 26 inches. Weight wise we could use it longer, but she is a tall one. I guess one of those reversable seats would be a good idea to she can use for front facing when she gets older. I'm bummed though that I wont be able to pack her around in a carseat. She so loves stroller rides & shopping cart rides, but they don't work so well without the portablitity of an infant carseat. Oh well, she likes to be carried too.
She is just so cute. I love how when she is hungry she will nuzzle my neck & lick my shoulder or arm. She'll do it to other people too if they happen to be holding her & it is hilarious to see their startled reaction. Dan is so cute with her too. Yesterday he texted me that he "misses jr" & wondering if I could bring her down to his work for a visit.

Friendly Blog Stalkers?

2009-05-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

So comments on my blog have dropped off to pretty much nothing now. I really don't mind as I am not the best at commenting myself; but I just don't feel as motivated to post if I don't think anyone looks at my blog anymore. So I added a sitemeter yesterday & wow! A ton of people actually look at my blog everyday. Do I even know 47 people? Hmmm... hopefully you are all friendly blog-stalkers :) But anyways, now I feel motivated to blog again for all my awesome but silent followers. :)

I found this spiffy digital collage maker so I can actually do something with the 10,000 pictures I have saved on my computer. Seriously 10,000 - what on earth am I going to ever be able to do with 10,000 pictures. Hopefully not make my computer crash & lose all of them. I looked at uploading them online to like Photobucket or something but their max is 10,000. Yeah already passed that limit. What do all y'all do with all your digital pictures. I bet I'm not the only one with ridiculous amounts of pictures.

Yurt Camping & Ducks Spring Game

2009-05-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

Favorite Things

2009-05-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

Juliet making eyes at Mr. Moose

Juliet really enjoys this bouncy swing at grandma's

Observe the adorableness of the curl above her ear.

The bumbo of awesomeness.

Thoughts on a First Mother's Day

2009-05-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday was my first Mother's Day & it was wonderful. First of all because of the little girl that made me a mother, my little Juliet. So sweet & dear, I love her more than I could have ever imagined. I have never felt so unselfish as I do with her. I don't find the enjoyment that I used to in "me" time, because quite frankly my world revolves around her now (and Dan too, I do try to remember my good husband now & again :)
Also in becoming a mother Dan & I have come to a new stage in our relationship, as mother & father together. It is such a wonderful development in our marriage. We have always been great friends. We have alot in common & enjoy spending all our time together. We can talk about anything & enjoy some good banter. But let me tell you, seeing Dan as a father has tremendously increased my affection & respect for him. He loves his little girl so much, he misses her when he is away at work & he is just as excited to see her in the mornings as she is to see him. It's darling. So for Mother's day Dan gave a wonderful talk in church about teaching in the home & mothers. He talked about his own mother & also about me & Juliet. It was very sweet.
I should also mention my mother-in-law Anita. With her watching Juliet for me while I work I have developed a new appreciation for her. She may not be outwardly affectionate like my mother, but she loves Dan. And she loves Juliet so much, & misses her when she is gone. She is a very kind person & generous to a fault. I am grateful to her for raising Dan, & for being there for her grandbabies.
And last but not least I am also very grateful for my mother. She is the sweetest person I know. She always puts on a smile even when she is in such pain. She would do anything for us girls, & she sacrificed so much to give us every opportunity. I love her so much & am so thankful that she has been able to hang on through all her serious health problems throughout the years. I hope that I can keep her for many years to come as I do not know what I would do without my mommy. She is the glue that kept our family together. I love you mama!

Pictures Galore

2009-04-28T21:08:00.001-07:00

Saturday we hiked Mt. June. in Pleasant Hill. It was a lovely & long drive out to the middle of nowhere. The guide book said the hike was easy. I would say moderate, at least. It was only a mile to the top but it ascended 1000 ft. SO yeah it was steep. We attempted to have Juliet in the jogging stroller but the trail was too rugged for that, so we ended up taking turns carrying her to the top. She had a great time just sleeping in our arms. Hiking isn't much work when someone carries you the whole way. But it's alot of work to carry someone, even if they are just 13 lbs. We ended up with sore backs & some beautiful pictures. Could have been much more beautiful though if it had been a clear day. We did get a wee bit of snow though!

New friends: Juliet with Bella Stockdale. They were awfully cute together there on the floor. I can't wait until they can play.

Juliet's Easter dress I made for her.

Juliet's 4 Month Old Stats

2009-04-22T18:44:00.001-07:00

Juliet is 4 months old. Crazy huh!

13lbs 9oz (50th percentile)
24in long (75th percentile)

She likes to blow razzberries. She loves shopping cart rides & stroller rides. She smiles alot & puts on a good show for friends & strangers alike. She loves her Grandmas, especially grandma Hallock who watches her while I work. Juliet likes to be upright, she does not like being held football style because it impedes her looking around. She can wear awesome pigtails. She likes to put things in her mouth, namely her hands & clothes, but anything else will do. She sleeps well through the night & falls asleep on her own without needing any coaxing(usually). She is a very happy little girl.

Doctor says she is growing well & is in excellent health. She hates shots of course. She is such a sweet & happy little person & we are so grateful to have her in our lives.

First family protest, Juliet's first Knife Show, New car...

2009-04-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

My cute little baby bug is doing good. Growing big & long; mostly long, she isn't very chubby. She has her 4 month check tomorrow so I will post her stats. Life is great. The weather is beautiful & I couldn't be happier. Juliet's night crying seems to have resolved itself for now. It has been a couple days since she has pulled an all-nighter of crying. She only did it once last night.

Juliet accompanied me to the Knife Show this year. She did wonderfully. Took plenty of naps, smiled & cooed on cue for everyone & didn't fuss & cry. What a wonderful baby I have.

Our new car! We traded Dan's cute 2-door Civic for this more family friendly 4-door Toyota Camry. It has AC...it is awesome.

?

Our first family protest was at the local "Tea Party" on tax day at the post office. We waved signs in protest of higher taxes & big government and had a grand old time. My sign says "politicians are like diapers, they should be changed often & for the same reason" - Mark Twain.

It was a great turnout & we got a very positive response. Most people honked & waved. Only one person I saw flipped us off. I guess I'm not alone here after all. It appears that Glenn Beck was right, "we DO surround them."

Some Advice Please...?

2009-04-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

I need some advice. Juliet has been a wonderful nighttime sleeper since she was about a month & a half old. For about the last month she has become even more compliant & usually requires no coaxing to get to sleep at night anymore.
For the last few nights however something has changed. She will cry many times during the night but when I go in to check on her she still appears to be asleep. Crying in her sleep? I will stroke her face or put the binkie in her mouth or talk softly to her & she immediately settles down into a peaceful state again. Seriously, it’s like I flipped off a switch or something she calms down so fast. But only to repeat this hour or so later.

I don’t know what to do. Is she having bad dreams? When she cries it sounds very distressed so I always come running, but I don’t know what the matter is. She isn’t too cold or anything.

Is this normal? Just a stage she is going through or something? How do I help my baby have good dreams? She was happy when she went to bed & is still always happy when she wakes in the morning.

Juliet met Rascal the wee puppy. Rascal climbed right into her carseat & wanted to play. Juliet wasn't sure what to think about him but she tolerated his presence.

adorable easter bunny hat from Mandolyn.

pink teddy bear

"this is my nose"

Funny story

2009-04-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago at church I had a funny. An adorable little girl (maybe 5 years old?) came up to me in the hall when I was holding Juliet & this is what she said:

“I’m really good with babies, I know what they need to eat and drink”

“The need to eat baby food & drink milk!......that comes from BIG boobies”(as she is saying this she reaches up & pats me on the boob)

“But you have to cover up & keep them to yourself (boobs)”

I was totally dying trying not to laugh, she was so sincere!

Tired Yet?

2009-04-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

And here are more pictures of my favorite little girl in the whole world. Life is so wonderful, I couldn't be happier!

Sister Haskin made her this adorable bonnet.

I can multitask...who knew! I'll spare you a picture, but I can breastfeed & sew at the same time too. Oh yeah I'm good :)

Daddy's little girl

Life is Good!

2009-03-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

I started back to work this week, 4 hours a day. The hardest part has been getting out the door in the morning. I mean I just have this one additional little person but for some reason that makes 4 extra bags to carry! I'm sure I'll get it all streamlined sooner or later. Juliet has been doing very well with grandma watching her; being happy & taking a bottle. It's hard to leave her, but it is so lovely to get an excited smile from her when I come to pick her up. Unfortunately it seems my three month maternity vacation(mostly spent in my house away from people) has weakened my immune system. Just as soon as I spent a day or two in public last week I come down with a nasty cold. Bah! No fun...but at least I have managed not to share it with Juliet or Dan. I have been doing alot of sewing. Mostly on custom cloth diapers that I am going to try selling. Because yeah, cloth diapers are awesome!
That's a little update. And now for my favorite part...PICTURES!

Once upon a time I was taking pictures of me & the wee babe when suddenly...

spit up happened! Ahhh!!! And now it is is caught on camera. Thats right... caught mid-spit up and I even unknowingly made a face to go with it. Although check out Juliet's face...oh dear :)

Our Anniversary...4 years together

2009-03-20T15:22:00.001-07:00

This cracked me up. Dan was trying so hard to keep her all bundled up & out of the wind but he didn't even notice her little feet sticking out the bottom.

Visiting cousin Dax

2009-03-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Cute little boy & such a ham

GIMMEE....!!!

Dax wears a purse...gonne have to watch that boy.

Dax gives Juliet some loves...and pinches her cheek...gently of course :)

Juliet's not sure what to think about this.

Is that not cute or what? In other news: Treeva is pregnant & expecting their 2nd in November.

Mommy customized Juliet's burp cloth. Mommy is silly :)

Not every day can be a good day

2009-03-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Juliet enjoying watching the fishies & holding her head up so good during tummy time. This was a good day.

Juliet is such a sweetie pie. I just love her happy little coos. But the last couple days I'm not sure what is wrong. She has been crankier & crying more, and not really enjoying the things she used to. Like car rides, she used to love then & usually fell asleep. But now she just cries. At least she still likes her baths & sleeps all night for me. Must count my blessings. I will be going back to work this week. Bummer, I was so enjoying my maternity vacation & playing with Juliet 24/7. At least it is just part time.

Scrimshaw

2009-03-06T14:58:00.001-08:00

I just finished up my last scrimshaw projects, just in time for the April knife show. I am trying to get more scrimshaw projects and so I am currently working on setting up a website showcasing my work.

This is front & back. A lion roaring and a lioness carrying her cub.

This one is poison ivy, stylized.

Blessing Juliet

2009-03-01T21:41:00.001-08:00

Today we blessed Juliet at church. Mommy made her a pretty dress to wear, and Daddy gave her a lovely blessing. We are so happy to have our little Juliet in our lives, she is absolutely wonderful.

Our first family picture:

Juliet all dolled up for her blessing day:

Girls are fun...

2009-02-27T15:38:00.000-08:00

Juliet was very patient with me this morning while I made heads bands for her. I sat her in my lap & she seemed to enjoy watching the sewing machine go. And this is why I am so loving having a girl...

Dressing up my little doll

2009-02-26T11:07:00.001-08:00

Juliet's 2 month Check Up

2009-02-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

WEIGHT: 10lbs 9.7oz (50th percentile)
LENGTH: 23 3/4 in(95th percentile, she's a lanky little girl)
HEAD: 15 2/8 in (50th percentile, thankfully she is perfectly normal for head size. When I was a baby my head size was off the charts which worried the doctors & so they did a CT. But I was fine, I just had a humongous head. I think I grew into it though :)

Doctor says she is growing great and is absolutely healthy. She got a few shots which she really screamed about.

2 Months old. I can't believe it! I feel like I just had her, but she has grown so much already.
She sleeps through the night.
She smiles and coos and gurgles to me & daddy.
She nurses well.
She likes a binkie to help her settle down at night.
She likes to be held and walked around, and I love to hold her so this works out great.
She loves car rides and always goes right to sleep; she also loves to be walked in her stroller.
She holds her head up really well and can support her weight on her legs while I hold her upright.
She loves her evening baths and wiggles & splashes her hands & legs in the water.
She is just the cutest, sweetest little girl and we love her so much!

Amy's got it right

2009-02-25T07:55:00.000-08:00

My friend Amy has a post about Obama that I just need to say amen to. Go here to read it.

Juliet's first trip to the coast

2009-02-22T15:38:00.000-08:00

Dan, me & Juliet went for a little drive to the coast Saturday. It was kinda rainy but very warm. Unfortunately Juliet didn't get much out of it. She slept for the entire drive there & back, & cried when I rudely awakened her for a brief walk to the tide pools. She'll probably have more fun in a year or two.

8 week pigtails

2009-02-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

So cute! Just 8 weeks old & I can already do her hair. Now we just need some ribbons...

When mommy was little

2009-02-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

What do you think? Does Juliet look like baby Carina?

The wee baby.

2009-02-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

I just love being a mommy, it's the best! So I weighed her yesterday when I stopped by the office. She is 7 weeks old today(it has gone by so fast!) and she weighs 10lbs 9oz. She sleeps great, usually just waking up once during the night but occasionally sleeps all the way through. I actually prefer it when she wakes up once; it's more comfortable for me breastfeeding wise, plus she is always so happy & making cute little squeaks when she just wakes up, & also it's nice that she needs me(I like being needed). Here are more pictures for your enjoyment, since I take pictures of nothing else these days :)

Cute little naked baby.

I just can't resist.

Mmm...delicious fingers

For once I got her wild hair to lay flat.

How does she sleep in such uncomfortable looking positions?

Such a face. Is that a smile?

Dan wanted me to get a picture of her death grip on his thumb.

My favorite. I just love it when she falls asleep on my chest like this.

Pictures

2009-02-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

Do as I say, not as I do

2009-01-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters during the campaign for President, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.
“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”

Now why isn't the President wearing a suit coat? Hmmm...well the New York Times had the answer to that....

The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”
New York Times

So I can't eat all I want & be warm all the time? You're uh...kind of a hypocrite there now aren't you Mr. President.

Good Baby

2009-01-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

Awe...I have such a good little girl. Now I don't want to jinx myself but she has successfully slept on her own for three nights in a row. So both she & I actually got more sleep this way...AND...I could sleep in bed with my hubby again who I was seriously missing...AND... I didn't wake up with a sore back & a crick in my neck from crashing on the couch. Hurray!!! Life is good. It's amazing the wonders a good nights sleep can do for your outlook on life.

So Dan mentioned to me that Juliet's initials are JR, you know...as is "junior". I just thought that was funny. I see nickname potential here.

Dan & I decided to go the cloth diaper route. I was a bit worried at first about how that would work given my gag-i-ness regarding all things poo. But since that has turned out not to be an issue I am really loving the cloth diapers. They are awesome. Especially when she soils it again (sometimes twice) right after I have just changed her. It is SO nice not to be dropping tons-o-money on diapers each week at Walmart; and honestly it is just as easy to toss them in washing machine & turn it on as it would be to put the disposables in the trash.

And now back to Juliet. She is so cute! I just can't get over it. I love to hold her & cuddle her & watch her sleep. This is really the best thing ever. I just keep praying that it works out that I can stay home with her instead of going back to work. I just can't bear to miss a moment of this!

And on a completely unrelated yet noteworthy note: my platys(pet fish) had babies! I was cleaning out their tank and what do I find? Adorable wee baby fishies. So cute! However not as cute as Juliet :)

Is it really so complicated?

2009-01-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

I got the "On Becoming Babywise" book that everyone keeps mentioning. Lots of good info in there. However now I have made myself paranoid. I am seeing that I have kinda been doing everything wrong. I frequently nurse her to sleep(that is a no-no I guess), because she likes to fall asleep after eating & that is when she sleeps the best is right after eating. The book says there should be "wake time" after eating before she goes to sleep. How much "wake time" are we talking here; does 5 minutes count? 30 minutes? Yeah I'm still not sure how to accomplish that one.

Also since she usually falls asleep while eating then maybe she isn't getting a full feeding each time & I guess the best milk comes last. I think she is getting bigger, she certainly feels heavier to me; but now I keep wondering if she is getting enough of the good stuff to eat. I don't eat very healthy-like myself. I have been on a caramel corn kick lately, but sometimes that is all I end up eating. Yeah, not very healthy or vitamin-y for making the baby foods. I keep thinking of those V-8 commercials where they thump them on the head & say "should have had a V-8." So I say to myself *thump* "should have actually eaten some real food today." (or a V-8 would work too; mmmm... V-8, that sounds healthy & vitamin-y. I'll go put that on the shopping list) And what if she sleeps too long & should be eating. Dan says let her sleep, she'll wake up & let me know when she is hungry. Will she? I hope so.

I think I am really over-thinking all of this.