Skippin' the sippy cups

Apparently we're just going to skip over the sippy cup transitional phase (all she wants to do is chew on the mouthpiece!)

Victoria now likes to drink water from a straw...

Or straight from the glass.

The former of the two is much less messy, though! She still drinks milk from a bottle, just can't get her to give that up... it's more the security of it than anything, I think.

Our Day

Oddly enough, Santa made V smile, but the two workers made her cry!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

We're celebrating by playing even more with Jaj and Busha. I think it's time for a nap.

More babies on the way!

Or at least, could be more... we'll see.

Congrats, Nat & Joey!

Go Team!

Deeetroit Basketball!

Not always rosy

For all of you who think every day is all fun and games... sometimes there are fits.

Then there were three

The third tooth (top left) appeared this afternoon. At least, it's slightly visible, and I can feel it. That may have had something to do with why Miss V decided that 4:50 AM was when it was time to get up this morning!!! Hopefully we're not in for too many of these early mornings... I had enough of those a few months back!

Day In, Day out

Not too much going on around here... Rod's off hunting for opening day/week. We're here and there, visiting family, etc. I can't really share any new pics, as Rod took the digital camera with him!!! Oh... here's the official birthday party invite! Everyone's welcome to attend, invites mostly went out yesterday (except for the few whose addresses seem to have removed themselves from my book).

SHE's here!!!

Last night Mandy had a (not so little) baby GIRL!!!! Kathryn Elizabeth came via c-section last night weighing in at a whopping 8 pounds, 10 oz... two weeks early!!! Congrats to their whole family... one more little girl for Victoria to play with!

How things change

I think Mandy and I have some wierd cosmic connection. A year ago, our little nightmare/scare began with a flu shot (I think, anyway) on Nov. 8. Nov 9 I started feeling really crappy, Nov 12 marked the first of many trips to the hospital. Victoria was born on Dec 9, which should have been Mandy's due date but she lost the baby.

I've been thinking about last year's events the past few days, reflecting on all we've endured, hoping I wouldn't always have a negative connotation to this time in November. Well, Mandy's pretty much taken care of that for me. She went into the hospital last night because her water broke!!!! That baby's coming today or tomorrow. If you get a chance to send her well-wishes, please do. So now we've both been able to take a date that held some pain and add some joy to it.

And of course, I'll leave you all with a pic of a sleeping child in her pack n play.

A Bit Early

Victoria wanted everyone to know that she accepts Christmas gifts at all times during the year and of all shapes and sizes. How could you resist this face?

My gift

Apparently for 5 years, the anniversary gift is supposed to be something wood. Rod spent the past month(s?) over at Scott's building this rolling island for me... from scratch, complete with marble tile top. Guess I can cross one thing off my Christmas wish list!

0 to 60 in no time flat

Or more like 10 to 60 in a week. Victoria pretty much got the hang of the crawling thing this week (Tuesday she really started to take off). Now, four days later, not only is she crawling everywhere, she's also seemed to master the art of climbing up, pulling up, and overall getting into everything! I guess I'm back to sitting in the living room making sure she's not getting into anything she shouldn't for a while. Here's what I found when I walked into the room this evening (and don't worry, there's no fire in the woodstove) - Miss V trying her hardest to ignore all the baby toys and get into the dog toys!

On a side note, Rod and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary yesterday. We headed to Traverse City for a couple of days to take in the sights/smells/tastes of the local vineyards. We came home a few dollars poorer, but a few bottles of wine richer! Happy Anniversary, my love. Here's hoping the next 5 hold fewer life-threatening situations.

The downside

The downside to having a great piece of property with lots of mature trees is the gathering of the leaves. Rod and I spent a good 4-5 hours out there raking leaves onto a tarp and hauling them off into the field. I think he made 10 or 11 trips. We're both going to be sore the next few days. And it started out 34 degrees and sunny. By the time we were done, it was 29 and snowing! Victoria hung out with us, all bundled up, and loved it!

Posting catch-up

A few other photos from the past few days:

Faith and Victoria in their matching Dora outfits Grandma Penny bought.

The girls with Great-Grandma Mavis.

Oops.

Ugh. Mommy brain struck again the other day! I had bought the cutest costume for Miss V to wear for Halloween. So what do I do but forget it when we went up north for 3 days!?! Luckily Uncle Steven and Aunt Pam had cousin Faith's costume from last year (a pink leopard). It was way too cold (for me, anyway) to go trick-or-treating, but the girls got dressed up and went to visit their great grandma.

What should have been the cutest halloween costume EVER: This ain't my first rodeo, cowboy!