Pizza Pizza

We have a wonderful group of moms and kids (mostly through the ortho program) who get together on Fridays for a playgroup. Today we met at Happy Pie and made pizzas!  Lola needed some serious help (apparently she gets her lack of culinary skills from her mother) but together we made quite the delicious pizza.  Special thanks to LeAnne for setting everything up (and for the pictures), to Catie, without whom we'd all be sitting around our houses eating bonbons every Friday, and Happy Pie (by the way - best pizza in Greenville.)  

 

Baby Stew

Lola ate orzo for dinner tonight. And by "ate orzo" I actually mean "did everything with orzo EXCEPT eat it." Including, but not limited to, throwing it on the floor, rolling her cup around it in, scattering it across her tray, and (her very favorite) feeding it to me. When I gave her a bath tonight, all the little pieces of orzo from the cracks and crevices of her fingers, arms, and neck (and believe me, there are many) began to float to the surface of the bath (along with some other assorted food particles), creating a visual of exactly what it would look like if I decided to make some sort of baby stew.

It's been a while

It has been a while, my friends.
First off, I realized that I had never provided an update on my job (which I attempted to quit, quite unsuccessfully, back in August). Last I mentioned, they were hiring my replacement to start in early January. And since I'm still showing up bright and early 3 days a week, it is evident that things didn't go as planned. Back in December they realized they hadn't yet found what they were looking for and they asked me to continue part-time through the end of the spring semester. In the meantime, I've already starting taking on tutoring clients (which was going to supplement our income when I was no longer expecting to be making a salary after January) so in my attempt to work less - I am instead working slightly more. Intriguing.

I upgraded to an iPhone. I used to joke with my dad (who has had one for some time) that you could just say "iPhone, find me some ice cream" and it would do that. Turns out, that is not too far from the truth.

Mom is doing great. The Gamma Knife procedure (to zap the two tumors that recurred in her brain) represented everything that is good and right and mind-blowingly-amazing with science/medicine/technology. Lola and I have been in Atlanta since Tuesday night and mom is feeling great. We have gone on walks, taught Lola some new tricks, and just enjoyed hanging around the house. We'll know more about how things went in 6 months when they do a follow-up scan.

Lola enjoyed plenty of love and visits from our Atlanta friends and family while we were here. She showed off her clapping, crawling, pulling up, "walking" with assistance, and playing "so big." She's also building quite a repertoire of sounds that sound like words. (It might be a stretch to call them words . . . but she definitely seems to understand the meaning and I know what she is saying - and isn't that all that really matters?)

We head back to Greenville tonight and look forward to returning to our somewhat normal schedule.

Peek-A-Boo

(Wo)Man in the Mirror

Seconds after I took this picture, she french-kissed her own reflection. Hysterical.

Get in my mouth

11 Months!

Gratitude: UPDATE

This morning, Lola greeted me with a chorus of "ma ma ma ma ma" - so it turns out she DOES know who I am.  Instead of mistaking me for her daddy - she was evidently just asking about him. 

Gratitude

Today I woke up at the crack of dawn with my daughter.  I made her bottles and fed her breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  We played for hours in the living room and ventured out to a little gym class where we did somersaults and played with bubbles and bouncing balls.  We did countless laps through the kitchen, dining room, and hallway as she held my hands and "walked."   During her naptime I washed her bottles, put away her toys, and did her laundry.  I gave her a long bath and sang every song I knew about ducks (and there are a lot of them).  We read 4 books before bed.  As I turned down the lights and got ready to lay her down to sleep, she looked up at me with the most beautiful blue eyes and clear as a bell said, "Daddy."  Works for me.

Playtime

I love these two pictures, both caught on my cell phone (hence the grainy footage).  She loves this green rubber ball from K-mart that her PapaDoug got her.  She carries it everywhere, and I just love her little crossed hands. 

This one I took this morning.  She was dying to play with the bath toys so I just plopped her in the tub.  She was perfectly content in there.  (For some reason, she always plays in the bath with her back towards us. . . no explanation)