the third is the hardest

I think Virginia is cutting her third tooth. She has some white spots on the top and it seems to be pretty sensitive. She didn't have any problems on the bottom two, in fact I didn't even know she was cutting them. She hasn't been terribly fussy but she does squirm and whine more than usual.
I started quilting V's stocking for Christmas. I gave myself a schedule of quilting so many flowers per day and was actually ahead of schedule until I ran out of thread this morning. I was so frustrated so I started on John's again. His is more intricate so it is pretty tedious but it will look good when I am done.
I received my Baby Sign book in the mail this morning and started implementing some of it. I hope it works!
I added some pics of Thor and Fallon on here. They are starting to take naps together which is amazing since Fallon is the cat from hell!

...and the shopping begins!

I skipped out on Morning 4 Mom's today. My mom had the day off and was going to start her Christmas shopping so I thought V and I would tag along. I hadn't spent an entire day with my mom in quite awhile. It was a lot of fun. My mom was looking for a riding/pushing toy for V for Christmas and we found a Baby Einstein one at Target that was only 10 bucks (normally $40). We were pretty excited about the bargin. Virginia already loves it. My mom was pushing buttons all over it to see what it did and V couldn't keep her eyes off of it. She kept wanting to play with it.
For lunch we went to stand alone Chick-Fil-A and ran into Kent and Anna. That was exciting. I hadn't seen them in probably a month. Afterwards we went to Best Buy and saw Eli Chambers whom I haven't seen in probably a year! It is so crazy how you can live in close proximity to so many people and yet you run into them maybe only once a year or more.
I keep telling my mom that I don't need anything for Christmas. I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear and shoes that fit, but she said that she was going to get me presents anyway. I think my mom bought me the Kathy VanZeeland bag I liked at Macy's, as well as the flat wallet I saw there too. She was hinting around about the Vera Wang shoes that were on sale at Kohls.
I think I have finally decided on what to get V for Christmas. Target carries Parent Magazine toys and they make a band set that has a drum, cymballs and other kiddie items. Erin Karnes said that Libby has it and enjoys it and it is not as annoying or loud as someone would think. I have purchased one thing for John and have one other left to get. It is going to be a small Christmas but I am actually happy about that. I don't want to raise V in a house that showers her with phyiscal gifts. I want her to understand what Christmas is about.
Our sink is completely broken now. John had to take it apart to snake it and hasn't de-clogged it yet. That means I am doing dishes in the bathroom...YUCK! Plus our washer is still broken. Virginia is running out of clothes and that is saying something considering how many clothes she has. I try not to think about it too much or complain about it. I just keep reminding myself that it really is not that big of a deal.

Growing and Growing

I was feeding Virginia today and noticed just how big she has gotten. She let me hold her like a baby when I was feeding her the bottle (which she never lets me do anymore) when I noticed how long she was. It made me a little sad. I can't believe it has almost been a year.
I also can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week. It seems like it should be another month or two away. Time has been really flying by lately.
Because we have a floor furnace at our house I have to set up a corral of sorts. I have to move the chest, pack and play and couch to form a wall to seperate the family room from the floor grate. Saturday I was getting V some applesauce when she pushed the pack and play and crawled to the grate and stuck her left hand on it. Thankfully the furnace was not on at the time but the grate was hot from when it was on previously. Also thankfully she was not burned badly. She has a couple of lines on the palm of her hand that I am praying does not scar. I felt so badly. She cried so much which made me cry hysterically. She is doing fine now. I wrapped it up Saturday night and since then I haven't had to wrap it.

Craziness

I purchased some new diapers for V the other day. They are gDipaers which have disposable, flushable liners in them. I liked them because they are biodegradable and are made from nature. Since they are flushable I thought I would try one down the toilet and work from there (we don't have the best pipelines in our house). Well...they may be flushable for everyone else but not us. I tried to wash some dishes this morning to havine three inches of water standing in the sink before I could even get the hot water hot enough. It was a mess. I went and purchased some Drain-O and that didn't work either. Everytime I think I have one thing figured out and am proud of myself, something else has to break or completely shut down.

I watched Avery and Libby tonight like I do every Thursday night. I really enjoy having them over but tonight they were in rare form. Everything seemed to set them off. They kept yanking things out of eachothers hands, they were even yanking things from Virginia (which she did not like at all!). After Virginia went to bed all things seemed to settle down. I am guessing they didn't have their naps this afternoon. I sure do love those two little kiddos though.

My mom came over this morning and gave me an early Christmas present, a Cuisinart mini prep food processor. I saw it in Parent's magazine and it was top rated for making baby food. I am so excited! I made a pumpkin smoothie for V in it today.

I have decided to cash in my 401a. I printed off the paperwork that they e-mailed me and it is pretty much a foreign language. I sure hope my financial person at Freeman can make sense of it.

pumpkin guts everywhere!

I went to Wal-mart last Friday and saw that they had all of their pumpkins for $1. That is a whole lot cheaper than buying a can of pumpkin so I thought I would just bake the pumpkin myself and make V some baby food and cereal and freeze some for some pies in the future. It took forever! I had to microwave small pieces at a time and the pumpkin was huge.

V and I are off to run errands today. We have to go see Nana at the DMV so that we can renew our tags and pay our sales tax for the year. Fun Fun.

Took some pics of V this morning:

Sad Sad

I have been crying the last hour because I have lost the memory card to my camera that has pictures of V on it. I took it out of my camera yesterday to print some pics off and have lost it either at Target, Babies-R-Us or Wal-Mart. I called all three places and no one has turned the memory card in. It had pictures of V pulling up and taking steps and her Halloween pics and many more. I just can't believe I lost it. John took the car to work so he is going to check the inside and make sure it didn't fall out in the car. I am praying that it is in the car. I just can't believe it.

On a brighter note...V tried cottage cheese yesterday. It was pretty funny. She ate a few spoonfuls and then had enough. She just wasn't too sure about the texture. I think she likes it though.

Tonight I am going to try to make hummus and some chili-cheese phyllo cups. It can't be too hard to make hummus, its just chickpeas, evoo and garlic. I just get nervous making new things that other people have to eat. Don't get me wrong, I love to make new things, but these items are going to church tomorrow night for the new members reception. Hopefully they come out okay.

Deep Thoughts

Now that V is in bed, I can actually type without ten little fingers trying to reach for the keyboard or the mouse.

We just got back from Home Group and John and I had a pretty good discussion on the way home. Why is it that there is always that person or couple that want to be the complete antithesis of everyone else in the room. I can understand being devils advocate but to actually believe and to live out those thoughts and actions, I just don't understand. Why is it that people feel proud and accomplished knowing that they annoyed someone by their beliefs when in all actuallity we all just want to be loved and to love others. It makes me really sad. Also whats sad is that I will dismiss it by saying that these people are young. I shouldn't let age be an issue but I don't like confrontation and I let that excuse be my way out. I also seem to forget that prayer should always be the answer. I slack off a lot in that area.
Also why is it that people get so amped about political issues? It is usally just so that they can have something to argue about with someone. Sorry I am just ranting here. I have a lot on my mind.

Back to V: She is pulling up like crazy right now. It is so cute. The first time she pulled up was at her bookshelves. It was amazing!! I am so proud of her. Now she pulls up in her bed, our bed, couch, everywhere. She is growing up so fast. I think she is cutting some more teeth. Everything is going into the mouth...EVERYTHING!! Even the heating grate in our family room, she loves to lick it. I have to get her cut off from doing that before we have to start using the heater. She is such a goofball!

We now officially have internet! Hopefully I will be able to update this more.
As I am typing this V is sitting on my lap trying to help me type.
She has been pulling up on everthing!! Her bookcase, bed, couch, our bed, everything!!