Easter Bunny visit!

This visit went a little better than the visit with Santa in December. Though Victoria fell asleep on the way to the mall, so her face is all red and had a few sleep lines. She was so interested in his colorful vest and tie, we had a hard time getting her to look at the camera!

What nobody told me

Just one more thing to add to the list of things nobody every told us about kids: Apparently it's a LOT easier to teach a toddler how to use a fork than it is to teach using a spoon. Victoria has been working on the fork thing for a while, getting much better at it. Spoons, however, are a much slower process. Probably in large part my fault, as anything that can be "spooned" is much messier to clean up.

And yes, that is a Happy Thanksgiving bib she's wearing!!!

Hey! Who stole the warm weather?

Missed my calling

I was looking through the vacation photographs and realized just how damn cool this picture is. Had to post it! BTW, we have set up a page for the annual March of Dimes Walk in Port Huron. The walk is on April 29th and everyone is encouraged to participate. If you happen to support the March of Dimes, in their quest to stop premature births and birth defects, please go to our donation page and sponsor our walk. Last year "Victoria's Voice" raised over $1300 and we would love to get to a minimum of $1500 this year.

A Beautiful Day

In our neighborhood! It was 75 and sunny all day today. Victoria and I spent a good majority of the morning and late afternoon outside. I got some peas and spinach planted, and picked up the yard a bit. V tried to help with picking up some leaves and acorns, taste-testing a few as we went along. It was also nice to open up the house and let some fresh air blow through.

She's definitely an outside girl - barefoot and loving it already.

On another note, I finally got a bow in her hair!

Dear Easter Bunny,

I know mommy doesn't let me have too many sweets, but please don't forget to stop by and drop some goodies off for me!
Photo also titled: Can we go back to Florida where it's warmer?

15 month stats

It seems Victoria really hasn't grown much since her 12 month appointment at the doc's. Today she had a well-baby check, and one shot. The nurse-practitioner, Erin, said it looks like she's working on cutting her incisors. That would explain a LOT of the unusual behavior the past few days.

The updated stats:
Weight: 20 lbs, 9 oz (50th percentile) gained 2 lbs
Height: 29 inches (25th percentile) no change
Head: 46.75 cm (75th percentile)
All percentiles are still on adjusted age (13 months) and will continue to be on the adjusted chart until age 2.

Promised photos

I won't overload this post, or will try not to, with more pics from our trip. We're home now, and settling in for a while. After returning from our vacation, we had to attend the events surrounding my grandmother's funeral. Though there's never a 'good' time for a loved one to pass on, we can truthfully say she lived a long and full life. She will be missed.

Now happier thoughts:

Traveling lightly? What's that???

As you can see, there's no such thing as traveling lightly these days. Going away for a week includes a stroller to be gate-checked, along with three carry-on bags:food/diapers, books, movies, and a DVD player. Checked luggage included a carseat, pack n play, and luggage for 3. We needed a cart just for the carry-on stuff! So far, so good, though. The laptop is slower than dialup (figuratively) so I'm not going to upload too many pics, but here are a couple.

We're having a blast down in the sun. It's been in the low 80s every day, though a little windy.

More pics

It seems I'm finally back to taking photos more often these days (now that we're all feeling better!), so here are a few more from yesterday. V got to go for a ride in Great-grandma B's wheelchair. She spent some time walking down the halls of the nursing home, but wanted to go in every door she came to!

Victoria finally has her appetite back. Today she had a banana, cereal, a yogurt, some crackers and peanut butter, mac & cheese, half a hot dog, some peas, some carrots and sweet potatoes, half an oatmeal-raisin breakfast cookie, and her usual milk and a little juice. Woo Hoo!

Hugs & Kisses

Hugs and kisses to you all from Miss V!

Still busy...

And working on getting un-sick. Victoria isn't 100% better yet (neither am I, for that matter - yes, I did manage to get sick the day after she did) but is headed in that direction. I think we both lost a little bit of weight this past week - I had a few more pounds to spare, though. She'll get back to normal soon.

Our routine, however, is far from boring, or normal these days. Rod and I had to go to a conference this weekend in Grand Rapids, so Victoria spent the weekend with Grandma Penny and Papa Jim. Unfortunately, Grandma Penny got sick either from V or from Steven :( .

So now are we home for a while with nothing going on? No - of course not! We just got plans finalized for a short trip to West Virginia to see Rod's Grandpa Jack and Uncle Johnny and his family, then we get to go to Florida for a few days! I'm not quite sure how I feel about flying with a one year old... should be interesting. The flight does have a layover though, so hopefully that will break it up enough that Victoria doesn't drive everyone on the flight(s) insane. Just one more first to add to the list!