StevenLaura

E was playing with her Dora doll yesterday. Everything Daddy would do, E would do. It's subtle in this video, but watch carefully. (Sorry, no sound on our camera.) Even while she doesn't seem to be watching him, you can tell she's aware, and she'll try to copy. The two pictures below were taken one right after each other. Upside-down baby time!

Incidentally, and my mother and grandmother will laugh at this one, E's favorite phrase, is "I do it!" Getting in the car seat? "No, I doooooo it, mama!" Putting the milk in the fridge? "I dooo!" Feeding the baby? "Eyya do it, mommy, Eyya doooo!" ... the list goes on. And, if mommy doesn't think "eyya" should do it? Tears. Lots of tears.

Hmmm... who do you think E takes after here?

Also, last night, she spent no less than 10 minutes rearranging a blanket on K until she got it on her JUST RIGHT. E proclaimed "I did it!!!" just as K let out one big KICK of her leg to undo the whole thing. E was in good spirits, though (because SHE was doing it) and got right back to work rearranging the blanket. S wonders if there's any obsessive compulsive disorders in my family's past. (I wonder what makes him think these behaviors are coming from my side of the gene pool.)

We like our new house. We like to watch after our baby dolls in our new house.











We like to bounce in our new house.

(E LOVES the purple rocking horse you see in the background, a housewarming gift from her little friend, R. Thanks, R!)

Good Idea: Cleaning the cupboards and kitchen appliances in your old house so that your landlord can show and rent it out faster (thus getting you out of your lease agreement early).

Bad Idea: Going five days without any solid food, puting narcotics into your system, and then getting on a step stool in a warm and humid house to clean out the top cupboards.

Okay, so maybe it's a bad idea, but it sure did make things more exciting! Weeeeee!!!

(And, I'm proud to say, I didn't fall. Not even once.)

Total caloric intake today: around 1000 calories (and I was taking in liquids seemingly nonstop).
Recommended caloric intake for a nursing mother: 2500 calories per day, 500 of which go to baby.

I'm not usually a counter of calories, but do you think I might lose weight if I keep this up for the recommended 7 - 10 days?

Funny thing, I'm not hungry. Probably because of all the drugs.

And, for those that may worry about this sort of thing, no, I'm not letting K have my milk today (although she basically begged). I draw the line at passing morphine on to infants. Mmm... morphine....

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Cute baby story (since I'm loopy and have nothing better to do):
For Easter, Grandpa Rocky got E a swing for our new back yard. It was a huge hit. "Big poosh, Bampa Rocky, Iwanna big poosh, big poosh, peez!" .. "Eyya up in da sky, gammpa! Eyya up in da sky!!!"

Last weekend K was in her small baby swing in the living room. E saw her, "Mimi swing!" she said, "Mimi wanna big poosh? Big poosh Mimi? Say peeze!"
Then E took K's right hand and had "Mimi" sign "please" on her own chest. "Big poosh peez? Okay, big poosh!" And then E gave K a "big push," which, thankfully, wasn't TOO big, and which Mimi absolutely LOVED.

In general, the two girls love each other. It is fun to watch.

Quick update for those keeping tabs (at this point, it seems like "keeping tabs" is about all we have time for. We apologize and hope to emerge from this soon).

1. We have moved into a new house. Thanks to the generousity of near-strangers, we have clean windows. Thanks to my parents and friends in town, much of our stuff is in the new house and the new house is mostly operational. Thanks to the good folks in the Sears appliance section, we have ways to cool and cook food.
   
2. Steve is going to his first professional conference this weekend. Bonus that it is in a town where a grad school friend resides, so he'll (hopefully) get to see her while he's there and pass along our greetings.
   
3. When Steve gets back, we have approximately one day to complete cleaning in our old house before it goes up for show (the sooner it's rented, the less double-payments we make!)
   
4. Then the next day, I get my tonsils out. I am going to stop blogging now so that I can do research on adult recovery times and what to expect. I hear usually one is out for two weeks, ten days for the really tough. That's convenient, since ten days after they're taken out, we'll be "back home" for a wedding. I hope I'm really tough, or I won't be able to eat any of the yummy goodies my in-law is making!! (Or read the scripture in the service -- yikes!)

Those of you who know S and me will be shocked, but E is proving to be one of the "cool kids." That's right, she's self-confident, has GREAT dance moves, and is a bit of a two year old jock. Uh-hu, E loves sports. We don't know where she gets this, but as her sport of choice is basketball, and her team of choice is Carolina, we're more than alright with this. She loves to RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN (this comes from being two years old, I think). Here are a few cute stories to demonstrate.
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E has learned what numbers are, but isn't good at getting them in the right order when she's counting. That doesn't stop her from counting down to the next race down the hallway, however.

From one end of the house I will hear a little voice, "one, toooo, teee, eight, fo, nine, WUN!" (1, 2, 3, 8, 4, 9 RUN!) and then the stomp-stomp-stomp of a two year old sprinting down the hallway from her room to the livingroom and back again. She'll burst into whatever room I'm in and say "Eyya WUNNING, mama. Eyya WUNNING!" ("Yes, Ella, I know you're running.") And then, before I can say anything more, she turns around, gets this "I'm going to beat my old record" look on her face, briefly turns to see that I'm watching, turns back to the hallway and shouts "One, tee, six, seben, nine, WUN!" And she's off again.

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E LOVES basketball. She sat and watched Carolina play for the first half of last Sunday's game. (Yep, that's right, a half an hour before she got bored.) Not only that, but she narrarated the game for us most of the time, so you knew she was paying attention. "Da ball! Da ball, momma! Da guy, and da ball!" "Bak-ket. Da guy, da bak-ket. YEA!" (Basket, the guy made a basket.) "Wunning. Da guy and da ball wunning, mama!" (This of course, was very exciting to her, as balls and running were two of her favorite things, as well) "Bak-ket! YEAH!!!! Bak-ket!" "Oh, no! Oh no, da-yeah [daddy], da guy! Da guy fall down!! Da guy fall down!" During the whole game, she never ONCE rooted for the wrong team. (Smart girl... or perhaps it was just that a lot of her exclamations falled on the tail end of our own shouts.)

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She eventually bored of watching the game and we got her ready for bed. Then I sat and fed K in their bedroom while E played around a little bit. The first thing she did? With great purpose she dug into her blue toy box and pulled out her Dora soccer ball. (How a-dora-ball.) Then she said "Bak-ket ball, mama." and tossed the ball into her clothes hamper. "Eyya, bak-ket ball!" (Ella basket ball.) She pulled the ball back out and did it again. "Fy-ying! Da ball fy-ying momma. Eyya bak-ket ball! YEA! Diddit!" (Flying! The ball flying, momma. Ella basketball. Yea! Did it!)

I guess watching the game isn't enough for her any more. Glad the house we bought comes with a basketball hoop! Now all she needs to do is grow two or three feet.

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[In health news: two days after finishing off my antibiotic, the strep appeared to have come back for me. I was put back on antibiotic and am going to see my doc in an hour to talk tonsilectamy. (Oh, and just because I think it's funny -- This weekend, between both bouts of strep? That's right. I got the stomach flu. Ah, lovely.) E is on eye drops for an infection in her eye that has basically cleared up, so she's definately on the mend. K is on antibiotic for double ear infection still, but recently picked up bronchilitis as well. She's in great spirits, though, and has spent the last two days with either mommy or daddy. She is currently sleeping in her car seat next to me in the office. My boss loves having a baby around, so that's good. Based on how K is doing today, she's definately on the mend. S is feeling better although a cough persists. His recent visit to a specialist shows some promise.]

[In house news: Our new fridge comes tomorrow! Our garage no longer allows rodents into our attic, and we're a little closer to having the kitchen cupboards painted. We had planned to move in 10 days, but given the likelihood of surgery for me, we're probably pushing that off a bit.]