Baller

I should probably start by admitting that I’m so tragically unhip, I’m not entirely sure what a “baller” is.

I think it’s just someone who plays ball (like basketball, maybe?), but all Merriam-Webster.com would tell me is that it could also be a melon baller, which is certainly not the direction I was going with this post. 

But I was struggling for a title other than the gimmee “Let’s play ball.”  I figured that since a good number of my 5 readers are related to me and older than I am, we can all pretend it’s a hip and appropriate title.

Shazam!

So on October 7th, I realized that Lily was ready to “play ball.”  She would throw it back and forth, and it was just the cutest thing ever*. 

          *That day.

I was home by myself and set up the camera on the mini tripod so I could capture Lily’s new skill.

Well, you can take videography off of my list of talents.

But it’s still a cute video of MOST of Lily playing ball and repeatedly toppling over in excitement, and a less cute video of me saying “oh, yay!” over and over again.

You’ll just have to imagine this face on top of the headless, ball-playing wonder.

 

 

While we’re on the subject of bouncy balls, did you know they are also incredibly funny?

 

Busted!

Little Miss isn’t supposed to watch TV.

But good Lordy, does she love the remote.

I mean, seriously.

It doesn’t even DO anything when the TV isn’t on.

We have WAY cooler toys that also have buttons, but play music and light up or move when you press them, too. 

But she is FASCINATED with the remote, and would crawl over hot coals…or {at most} a six-inch high barrier in order to reach it.

So weird.

She also LOVES Michael’s Blackberry, even though he locks it and she can’t do anything with it.  We have a sweet little routine where I get up with Lily every morning, and Michael sleeps in. 

Hmm…okay, so that’s not really the sweet part, but never you mind.

Anyway, after I feed Lily, we go wake up Michael, and she gets to play with his phone while we all sit in the bed for a few minutes to say hello. 

Lily loves to take Michael’s phone, and wave it around in the air (after a good nibble, of course).  Now, when you say, “Bam!” she will also throw it on the bed.

It’s called “bamming” something when you throw it down, didn’t you know?  {Not to be confused with “bang,” which is when you hit it on the ground without letting go.  Got it?}

Not a very useful or practical trick, but it’s entertaining nonetheless because she always looks so proud of herself.

In sum, we have been teaching our daughter to throw cell phones for laughs. 

What could possibly go wrong? 

More family fun

The weekend following my swine flu diagnosis, Michael and I decided that I was well enough to risk infecting the general population by attending the football game.

Seriously, I hadn’t had a fever in 4 days, and we already had the tickets, so…

Off to Columbia!

Our other motivation for making the trek was to see more of Michael’s family.  His grandmother (Memere) was still in town, and her sister Jeannine as well as her daughter (Odette) and granddaughter (Ella) were coming to visit.  Lily just HAD to meet them, of course.

As much as I was pretty sure I was no longer contagious, I still tried to stay a bit removed from everyone just in case.  Thankfully, no one did get sick, and it was great to see the family.

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With cousin Odette and her sweet daughter, Ella.

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Michael’s mom with her mother (a.k.a. Memere, left) and aunt Jeannine.

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The whole family, with Michael and Lily serving as a swine-flu-buffer!

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Sisters, reunited! 

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Those leaves needed a serious shaking.  Good job, Lily!

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With an oink oink here, and an oink oink there…

Hmmm…let’s see.  I think we left of mid-September, so let’s get going. 

September brought us a bit of a hiccup.  I was diagnosed with H1N1 or “Swine Flu.”  Ugh.  Woke up one morning with a sore throat and a bit of congestion.

A few hours later, I felt like I’d run a marathon.

Which we all know is probably NOT the reason I ached over every square inch of my body, and felt like taking a 14 hour nap.

One bout of chills and one fever later, and I ran off to the doctor so as not to risk infecting the little one.

One short visit later, I was off again with a prescription for Tamiflu, a diagnosis of Swine Flu, and instructions to minimize contact with Lily.

Easier said than done as a stay-at-home nursing mom, but fortunately, Michael was able to take a few days off and log LOTS of Lily time.

He did mention that he found it a LITTLE tiring to care for her all day.

Which, of course, made me smile.  :-)

As a side note, Michael took Lily to the doctor while I was sick.  She weighed in at 13 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 26.75” as of September 17th.

{Kind of irrelevant since that was two and a half months ago, but there you have it! Lily had moved down on the growth chart for weight, and was down around the 9th percentile.  So, the last two and a half months have consisted of stuffing her full of food every waking minute of the day, and I’ll be interested to see if we’ve made a difference when we go to the doctor in the next couple of weeks.}

Throughout his days of Daddy Day Care, Michael did a FABULOUS job.  But, at the end of the day, it was nice to know that I was still needed.

You know, to point out that Lily’s dress was on backwards.

In closing, I think this is the part where I’m supposed to say that I hated being sick, and I didn’t at ALL appreciate a few days of getting to lounge in bed “off duty,” reading books, watching movies, and resting.

Boo Swine Flu.

Can’t stop, Won’t stop

Oh, dear.  It seems I have developed a slight addiction to Photoshopping.

Is there a 12 step program for this sort of thing?

I just had to do another one that was a real close-up because her eyes are BLUE blue in person, but in photographs they never look as blue as they really are.

Oh, brother.

Here it is straight out of the camera. Notice how the eyes are darkish blue and flat? {You know you can click the pictures to view them larger, right?}

Here she is again…now with unnecessary fiddling in Photoshop!

 

Ta da!

{Help!}

Fun with Photoshop

Remember when I told you I was going to try to learn some Photoshop techniques months ago?  Well, I have finally gotten started on some of that. 

I still don’t really know what I’m doing.  In typical Kristin fashion, I like to jump in without reading instructions and just figure it out as I go.  I don’t totally understand layers and masks, but I’m slowly getting more comfortable. 

Here’s a photo that I liked from last week.

Cute, right? 

So, I played around with it, and this is what I got:

I certainly wouldn’t do this for every picture, but it might be fun once in a while. 

What do YOU think?  Too much?  I’d love to hear what you think!

And now for something completely different

Okay, so I have this cute baby and all, but did you know that I used to have a life outside of diaper changing and spit-up cleaning? 

I know, it wasn’t nearly as adorable, but it was a good life nonetheless {hmmm…about mid-word…you know, somewhere around the “h,” it occurred to me that “nonetheless” was an odd word to choose and may not even be a real word.  Thank goodness spell-check was there to withhold the red squiggles and reassure me that I was on the right track.  Thank you, spell check.  Now where were you when I spelled “Jesus” “G-E-A-S-U-S” in front of the class at my CATHOLIC elementary school?  Thanks a lot, spell check.  Way to leave me hanging.}.

But I digress.

My point is, that in this post, I will attempt to share the life of the Bogles without even mentioning “Little Miss Not Appearing In This Post.”  That’s because on September 11th, we had some wonderful visitors from my non-baby years.  Grad school buddies AD and Scott McVeigh and Wes and Carrie Cole came to stay with us for the weekend.  Also-grad-school buddy Julie Kellett (who lives in town), also came over to join in the festivities and get the old gang together. 

We had dinner together on Friday night.  Here we are, with nary a high chair in sight.

 

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The Coles!

 

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Wes and Julie

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The McVeighs

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The Bogles

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This would have been a cute picture of Michael, but he was blinking.

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Isn’t that better?  You’d hate for something like blinking to ruin a picture, right?  I should get this one framed!

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AD was eager to share her wine with us.  VERY eager.  :-)  It was yummy, though!

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Wes and Julie were ready to dig into dinner! 

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All in all, it was a great weekend!  Saturday, we all went to Fall’s Park with Julie’s kids and “Little Miss Not Appearing In This Post.”  The USC-UGA game (and the Tennessee game for Scott) were NOT the highlights of the weekend, but good friends, food, and wine more than made up for the losses.  Hope to see everyone again soon!

And now back to your regularly scheduled [NAME REDACTED] love-fest.

Look into my eyes…

 

 

…and wish me a {belated} Happy 6 Month Birthday! 

A very, merry half-birthday to Lily!

Goodness, how time flies.  On September 10th, our little peanut reached the half-year mark.  I know I keep marveling at how time flies, but it really does!  {I won’t even mention how this was, ahem, two months ago!}

Happy 6 Months!

Annabelle Persephone Kittykins

From the ridiculous parents who brought you the likes of Lucy Bumblegarden…

We proudly introduce the newest member of the family.

Meet Annabelle Persephone Kittykins.

Okay, so the little jailbird isn’t actually a “new” member of the family. Annabelle actually joined our family last Christmas. Michael bought her (and the pink bear you see Lily photographed on every month) for Lily for Christmas 2008. I hadn’t even thought to wrap up any presents for Lily since she wasn’t “here” yet, but Michael did. How sweet is that?

On September 15th (6 months old), we decided to let Lily try napping with a lovey, to see if she’d take to it. Well, let’s just say that she and Annabelle became fast friends. Lily loves to fling her back and forth in the crib, and then cuddle her up to her cheek while sucking her thumb (Lily’s thumb, that is…Annabelle doesn’t have thumbs, of course, with her being a cat and all). It’s so sweet, and by 7 months, Lily will now instantly cuddle up against your shoulder and suck her thumb whenever you hand her Annabelle. If she wakes up during the night, we can also watch her on the monitor searching for Annabelle. When she finds her, she’ll cuddle back up with her and fall back asleep.

So incredibly sweet. Clearly they are best friends already.

Their incredibly tight bond was only slightly questioned the day that Annabelle had a bath in the washing machine.

And Lily was forced to nap with…ummm…Unnamed Bunnykins instead.

And Lily didn’t bat an eyelash.

I mean, other than that, I’d say that Lily and Annabelle are best friends.

Friends for life.

Or until Bunnykins edges her out.

Either way.

Baby Mine

I don’t even remember this song from Dumbo since I haven’t seen it in forever, but I listened to it a few months ago and (sap that I am), it chokes me up every time I try to sing it to her.  Seriously, I do just fine listening to the song, but I suddenly sound like a blubbering idiot every time I try to sing it, so don’t expect any videos of that any time soon. 

Or ever, really.

Just so we’re clear. 

Anyway, this isn’t a song for when she’s all happy and playful during the day, or cranky and tired in the backseat. 

But when it’s late in the evening. 

And she’s all snuggly and ready for bed.  It’s just the sweetest, in my humble opinion. 

(This is a video with the Bette Midler rendition dubbed…couldn’t find just the audio…any fellow blogger tips on how to add an MP3 I already own to the page would be helpful…not a whole-blog playlist, but just for one post.  Thanks!)

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I love this little girl so much, and it warms my heart every day that I spend with her. 

Yes, some mornings my weary eyes are screaming at me to let them rest just a few minutes more, but her “good morning, Mommy!” grins perk up my tired eyes every time.

And, I realize that her babyhood is all too fleeting.

I love you, baby of mine.

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Baby Mine

Baby mine, don't you cry.
Baby mine, dry your eyes.
Rest your head close to my heart,
never to part, baby of mine. Little one, when you play,
pay no heed what they say.
Let your eyes sparkle and shine,
never a tear, baby of mine.

If they knew all about you,
they'd end up loving you, too.
All those same people who scold you,
what they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your hair down to your toes,
you're not much, goodness knows.
But, you're so precious to me,
sweet as can be, baby of mine

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Viva la French great-grandmother!

September 7th, Lily got to meet her great-grandmother!  That’s Michael’s maternal grandmother who we call Memere.  Memere is originally from France and now lives in Arizona, but came to visit SC for a few weeks.  We were so happy that Lily got to see her a couple of times while she was here.  It was so sweet to see them together, and we got some great photos. 

Voila!

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Memere et Mimi.

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Memere et Lily.

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C’est difficile à choisir les meilleures photos!

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La famille.

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Lily mange.  Mimi l’aide, mais Lily aide Mime aussi!

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C’est tout que je peux dire en français!   C’est pathetique!

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Le prochain jour.  Elles sont adorables, n’est pas?

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À bientôt!

{Oh, Lordy…that was my attempt to remember some French that I really haven’t spoken or written in 9 years…please excuse my numerous spelling and grammatical errors!}

Our little “Gourmet”

Pre-Lily, I would have told you that I did not plan to make my own baby food.  It seemed like a lot of work, and really just not necessary.  Then I tasted Gerber brand pureed chicken. 

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

It was such foul-smelling, gritty, pasty ick, that I couldn’t help but wince as I tried to feed it to poor Lily.  She wholeheartedly agreed with my assessment.  Two thumbs down. 

Lots of the other foods are also quite…um…gross, so I thought I’d give baby-food-making a whirl…in the food processor…bad pun intended.  I have to say, it really doesn’t take that much time, and the food tastes so much better. 

I mean, would you rather eat the homemade peas on the left or the Gerber peas on the right?

 

I thought so. 

And I don’t even like peas. 

{Or so I thought.  I apparently do like peas now, because these homemade ones are quite good.  Who knew? }

Lily apparently does, though.

 

Back to the point…Lily started out eating commercial baby food, and accepted all stage one foods except green beans.  After the first couple of weeks, I ended up making the majority of Lily’s food – apples, plums, peaches, peas, chicken, banana, sweet potatoes, mango, pumpkin, acorn squash, butternut squash, avocado (although she’ll only touch that when it’s mixed with banana!), and others I have surely forgotten.  She has enjoyed everything I’ve made so far, eating her vegetables, fruits, and chicken with relish. 

These days, I only give her commercial baby food when we’re traveling or when she’s obviously wants a little more food, and I don’t want to defrost any more homemade food for whatever reason.

Unfortunately, having a personal chef seems to have turned Lily into a bit of a gourmet.  She will grudgingly eat most commercial baby food fruits, but resolutely turns her nose up at all commercially prepared vegetables.  As in the “dramatically gagging while shaking her head and then clamping the lips shut and fussing” kind of turning up her nose.

Bottom line?  Our little girl has apparently developed a highly refined palate.

Someone call Maury.

We may need a paternity test.