Giggles Update

To start things off, here are Giggles and Pumpkin enjoying a ride courtesy of Daddy.











My giggly little girl is getting around better and better and just plain doing more every day. And, she's full of surprises!

Yesterday, the kids and I went over to a friend's house to visit, and wouldn't you know it, the toy that most attracted Giggles was (drum roll please)....a baby doll with its own pacifier and crib. Giggles would clamber into the toy crib and try to give the "baby" its pacifier. So cute!!

Week before last, she started eating more regular food and also drinking water from a sippy cup. Finally. I think she'd actually been ready to do these things for a while; however, her parents had simply failed to notice that she was getting older and more able, hehe. So, now the kids and I might enjoy a nice breakfast of cheesy ham and eggs or some oatmeal with yogurt and fruit or bagels and/or muffins or bread with jam. For lunch, she'll have bread and chicken or turkey...all of this in just-barely-visible-to-the-eye pieces, of course (meaning she's graduated from the microscopic pieces I used to give her). She also enjoys finger foods like Gerber's wagon wheels or veggie crisps, which are like Cheetos but made with veggies. She also still eats #3 baby food from a jar. Lately, she's been sampling Earth's Best "My First Soups." Her favorite so far is Butternut Squash Bisque.

Last week, Pumpkin and I were in the kitchen after breakfast, and I happened to glance over to the family room. Something totally incongruous caught my attention, and it was a few beats before I realized what I was looking at. It was my baby girl STANDING on the arm of the sofa with her little leg stretched out as if about to walk right off! Talk about a heart-stopper! I don't even remember what I was holding in my hands, but I dropped whatever it was and raced to family room to (hopefully) catch Giggles before she leapt from the sofa. (I caught her.)

The following day, I was in the office, and Giggles was playing on the floor behind me. Next thing I knew, she was standing on top of her brother's desk chair, happy as a clam. This time, I decided not to rescue her from the chair. I figured the fall from his chair is a lot shorter (and less harmful) than the fall from any adult-sized piece of furniture in our house. Sure enough, she fell off the chair. She cried. I picked her up. She stopped crying. She moved on to other mischief. Lesson not learned.

As I sit here typing, she has once again clambered onto her brother's desk chair to watch him construct the Transcontinental Railroad on his Lionel Trains Trans-Con! PC game. Perhaps I misspoke and she did learn a lesson because, this time, she's sitting on the chair instead of standing on it. I'll take it. Anyway, the two of them look so cute sitting together at their little desk.

It's Been Crazy (but fun)

As usual.

I apologize for not posting anything in a while. As you've read by now, Giggles started walking a few weeks ago, and she is literally all over the place now. On top of that, she's not napping as often or as long as she used to either. Might be teething or the cold, which has been sticking around since last week. So, yeah, it's been a bit crazy here and there.

So what's new, you ask? Hmm...well, Giggles had her 3rd haircut today. It's kind of weird getting used to the way she looks all over again, but I think she's probably more comfortable now that she's not as shaggy.

We went to a birthday party this weekend at one of those bounce places. QT took Giggles on the big kid slide a few times, and she LOVED it! We forgot to pack our camera, but fortunately, we were able to borrow one from a friend. I'll post a pic from the party as soon as I get them from her. Hopefully, we were able to get at least one good shot. BTW, here's a picture from a birthday party we attended the week before. It was held at a splash park, but we didn't pack swim clothes since it was (supposed to be) a bit chilly. Turns out, it wasn't chilly at all, and Pumpkin ended up getting wet in his regular clothes, which then proceeded to get chilly once he got out of the water. So, here's Pumpkin enjoying himself at the party clad only in his skivvies. Well, that, his shirt, and his Pumas, of course.



For his part, Pumpkin seemed to enjoy himself very much at the party though I confess that I'm starting to worry just a bit about him. Over the past few months, I've noticed that he develops very close relationships with his peers. However, it seems like he can be "close" to only one child at a time, and then he gets so attached to this child that he wants to exclude all others from his life...er, I mean, play. What worries me is that Pumpkin seems lost whenever his special friend is not around. Is it normal 4 y/o behavior to want to cling to one special friend at a time at the exclusion of all others? I simply don't know.

When he was in school, he'd often tell me that he spent the day playing by himself because everyone else was already playing with their own friend (as in, "Kid 1 only plays with Kid 2, and Kid 3 only plays with Kid 4, etc etc). When I talked to his teachers about it, they said they hadn't seen that. According to them, Pumpkin got along well with all the kids in his class and was able to fit in with whatever playtime activity and with any group of kids. So I'm left to wonder whether this is for real or another one of those things that is more anxiety (on his part) than reality (like the infamous gym time-out episode that never happened). He believes it enough to cause himself real concern even though there isn't anything actually there. I'm concerned enough that I'm considering calling his doctor, but I'm not quite there yet. I'd like to do some research on my own first, but I don't really know where to begin...except the Internet. Oy.

Anyway, other than that...or should I say, despite that, Pumpkin is enjoying the remainder of his summer vacation. He's got his new DSi (a story for another time...grrr). He's got his best dog. And he's got me, which reminds me...



Last week, QT stayed home with Giggles while Pumpkin accompanied me "into town" to run an errand. He behaved very well on our errand, which involved much waiting in line, so I offered to take him out to dinner afterward. To a "real restaurant" as Pumpkin would say. He picked Johnny Carino's, and we had such a nice time! It was like a little mini-date, just my baby and me. He even insisted that we sit on the same side of the table so that we could hug and kiss and hold hands, LOL! It was really a wonderful treat for both of us. We may even start doing that on a regular basis.

And She Let Out a Mighty Roar

Here's a picture of Pumpkin showing off his new Pumas, which make him run really fast, and a few more of him and Sunshine goofing off.




























And here he is below with his adoring baby sister. :)

The Big Heist

Today, Giggles took a glitter crayon away from her big brother and then RAN as fast as she could to get away from him. LOL!!! He had to chase her down in order to take the crayon away. It was hilarious! She does something similar whenever I catch her trying to go up the stairs. It's like a game. I say "Where are you going!?" and she starts to huff and puff and giggle while climbing the stairs as quickly as possible...ostensibly to get away from me before I bring her back down, haha.

So, as you've probably surmised, she's definitely walking now. Further and further every day. She's still unsteady on her feet, but she can cross an entire room, stop, stand, turn around, and take off again before finally falling on her tushie.

I wish I'd gotten this morning's crayon theft on camera. It was precious. I'll see if I can get her to recreate it when she wakes from her nap. And, on that note, I'll be off. My time is limited so I'd best eat my lunch before she wakes.

Giggles First Steps

Giggles took her first steps while we were on vacation with the fam in Silvercreek. It's tough to get something like that on video so we don't have anything from that weekend, but we were able to catch her on camera taking a couple of steps on Tuesday as the fam got ready for their return trip to Texas. So, although not technically her first steps, the ones we caught on camera are still among her first dozen. ;)



Here, too, is a collage of Giggles enjoying the fresh air on the Georgetown Loop, the scenery at the Lebanon Silver Mine, in a mine cart, and chillaxin' with a teta in one of the miners' cabins.

Today's the Big Day!

Today, my little Pumpkin comes home!!! I'm so excited. :)

I'm also very nervous...the most nervous I've been since Pumpkin's odyssey began 2.5 weeks ago. I feel like I might puke...or cry...or both.

Today, they (meaning Pumpkin, my parents, and my nieces & nephews) have to travel by car 2.5 hours to San Antonio to catch their flight to Denver. My sister and brother-in-law are driving them to S.A. in 2 separate cars in order to accommodate everyone, and they'll continue from there on to Dallas to take their goddaughter back home. (She spent part of the summer with them.) Obviously, with so much traveling and so many people involved in this trip, anything could go wrong. I pray that nothing does. In fact, I'd greatly appreciate it if y'all would pray along with me for safe travels for my family and my boy.

******Six Hours Later******

Reunited and it feels so good!

The day after the family's arrival, I took the kids to the Zoo while my parents stayed home with Giggles. I meant for them to get a break, but as it turned out, Giggles apparently refused to nap. Still, on her own, she's infinitely easier to deal with than dealing with 6 grandkids at the same time so it wasn't a complete waste. At least, they said they enjoyed their afternoon at home. Maybe they were just trying to make me feel better....Nah!!!

We Start 'Em Young

I'm referring, of course, to their (our) indoctrination into all things Texas. Texas flags, Texas cookbooks, Texas mugs, Texas keychains, Texas maps, U of Texas, etc etc etc. I mean, what other state can boast a state-shaped waffle maker?!!! Oh, ok, you got me there. If you had a rectangular waffle-maker, I suppose you could technically say it was a Colorado-shaped waffle maker. Hmph.

Anyway, these pics were taken during our trip to Houston. Our vacation within a vacation. At Buc-ees to be exact. This summer, we went to Houston because we wanted to take Pumpkin to Space Center and also to ride the new and improved train at Hermann Park . He loved both activities! We also spent some time at the hotel pool and putting green and having fun with friends and family.

Crazy Girly

The big news is that Giggles stood up unaided this past Friday. She stood twice and only lasted 2-3 seconds upright each time, but she did it! So far, she hasn't shown any inclination to do it again, but now we know for sure that it's coming.

Then, earlier today, the 3 of us (sniffle--there should be 4)...anyway, the 3 of us were playing in the living room, and she crawled off after Sunshine. I stayed in the living room, and I could hear her nearby. Next thing I knew, she was on the stairs! She ended up climbing the stairs all the way to the top! I was right behind her the entire way, but she didn't need my help. She didn't stumble or falter or anything. Just climbed on up like she'd been doing it her whole life. (all 10 months of it ;)

No telling what's coming next with this crazy kid! I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, enjoy this short video of Giggles playing with Sunshine.

Another Birthday, Nintendo DS, and Water Fun

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Alyssa Bday Slideshow

For Lys' birthday this year, we enjoyed a Mexican Fiesta! Since some of us weren't aware of the party theme until the day of (A-hem!), we weren't able to acquire a decent Mexican blouse to wear to the party. But there were some who did. And, my sister Chela was kind enough to get a blouse for Giggles too though Pumpkin had to make-do with wearing a "Backseat Driver" shirt, which we thought was still appropriate for the birthday theme, hehe. (just kidding!)

The following pictures are from the party and also from the subsequent family carne asada held every Sunday at my parents' house. After the carnuk, the girls put on a thrilling "show" which we all watched with bated breath (as evidenced in the pictures). Giggles spent quality time with her Grandpa and her cousins (notably Ron the punk). Happy days!

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114 Hours

I fear my son is having a harder and harder time being apart from us as his "vacation" stretches on. He's been exceptionally whiny and/or cranky the last few times I've talked to him on the phone. Earlier this evening, his (paternal) grandfather went to pick him up to take him out for pizza, but according to my mom, Pumpkin burst out crying and saying that he didn't want to go!

I guess, in a way, I understand...I think. He's probably exhausted and feeling all out of sorts by now. My mom tells me that he's become a "chicle" and barely lets her out of his sight anymore. Compare his current behavior to that of his first week in Texas without us, and there's a marked difference. I feel so bad for him that I almost started to look up last-minute airfare to go get him, but I held back. The cost of booking a flight all the way home is prohibitive under most circumstances but especially so at the last minute, and I'd need to buy 2 tickets. Not to mention, the ticket he has for his trip from San Antonio to Denver next week would pretty much go to waste once you factor in rebooking fees. So no go. He and I will both have to make do without each other for a while longer. 114 hours to be exact. Hang on, baby. :(

216 Hours and Counting!

Goodness, how time flies! We've been back from Texas about a week and a half, and I still feel slightly exhausted. Of course, this may be because I went to sleep so late last night, and Giggles woke so early this morning so perhaps I can't blame today's exhaustion on our marathon trip.

I meant to post pics from our trip as soon as we returned, but it turns out, I haven't updated this blog since before we left so I'm going to remedy that first and work my way to our trip. Warning: these go back a bit so please be patient. BTW, I also (finally) posted pictures from our Memorial Day ride on the Rio Grande Scenic Train so check those out too when you get a chance. Ok, here's May 2009:

1. Pumpkin's last week of school was one party after another. In the 1st picture, Pumpkin appears to be discussing water slide physics with his friend Reese (y'know, acceleration, displacement, velocity ;). In the next picture, he's preparing cards and end-of-year gifts for his teachers and classmates, and in the final picture, he's playing with BFF Amira at Westlands Park. Happy times!











BTW, if you're wondering about the title of this post, it refers to the number of hours before Pumpkin returns from Texas! He was having so much fun with his cousins that he elected to stay behind when we returned. Lest you think we simply left him there without a thought, my parents were already planning a visit up here at the end of July so he'll be flying up with them.



2. Giggles: With Daddy and having a bath prior to our Texas trip.

Percy Jackson and The Olympians

I just wanted to tell y'all about a fun book series I read during my sojourn in Texas. It's called Percy Jackson and the Olypians. The first book is The Lightning Thief, a rip-roaring ride, which I hear is to be made into a movie soon.

Incidentally, I'm feeling half & half about that. The only movie I've ever seen that mirrored its print version and didn't ruin it for its readers was The Princess Bride, a movie I still love to this day! The Harry Potter movies were also pretty good at keeping in tune with the books, but for obvious reasons, the studios had to cut out a lot of the book details in the movie versions so....half & half. All other movies that started as books that I've ever seen didn't go nearly as well. I guess we'll see.

Anyway, if you're looking for something fun to do this summer, pick up The Lightning Thief and read it! I promise you won't regret it. And, if you're not a "reader," don't worry. This series is written for grades 5-9. I'm sure you can handle it. ;)

Heat Wave

This was not a good day for a power outage, but that's what happened. Heck, it was probably due to this heat anyway.

It took the utility company about 4 hours to restore power. Consequently, we spent the afternoon at my sister's. It was a tiring day.

Giggles Makes A Mess

Hard to believe, I know.

Grandma's out of town, and Giggles has been busy strewing toys around the living room, tearing into the newspaper, and taking every single tissue in the house out of its box! On the plus side, after a crazy week, she's back to sleeping like a champ!

Pumpkin is also doing much better after his most recent bout of croup. Last week, he woke one night (4 AM actually) with a croupy cough, rattling breath, and chest pain. For the next couple of hours, he and I alternated between sitting in a steamy bathroom, lying down in the living room, which is much cooler than our bedroom, and chatting on the phone with our pediatrician's afterhours nurse line (well, I did anyway). The next morning, I took him in to see a good friend of mine, who's a Nurse Practitioner at an ENT clinic, and she was wonderful! She loaded us up with samples of Z-Cof and Pulmicort for the nebulizer and a prescription for steroids and antibiotics. I borrowed my niece's nebulizer and some of their Xopenex since our supplies were, um, left behind in Colorado (for which my friend gave me a bit of a scolding, btw), and we were on our way.

Unfortunately, Pumpkin missed his last 2 days of swim class because of all this, but his lovely teacher, Miss Bede, invited us to return this week free of charge to make up the missed classes. Now, how thoughtful is that?!! :)

I still don't know exactly what Giggles' problem was last week, but I attribute her odd behavior to teething...and perhaps heat and noise. I don't recall if I'd already mentioned, but she has 4 new upper teeth coming in right now. I figure she's been pretty uncomfortable lately, which may account for her waking at all hours of the night and crying nonstop over the past week or so. And when she wasn't cranky, she was unusually quiet, which as y'all know, is not like Giggles at all. So it's good to see her back to her giggly, playful self.

With everybody out of town this past weekend, the kids and I have all gotten some much needed rest, thank goodness. I honestly don't know if I could've lasted much longer at the rate of sleeplessness I was going (see previous post). ;)

Baby Offer

Used baby free to good home. Cute as the dickens. Lungs work great. Crib included. Must pick up now!

Today's Temp

Typically, I've found that the reading from the car is a bit lower than the "official" reported temp readings in town so it's probably closer to 108 today. Guess the nice weather's over.

In other news, Pumpkin and Giggles are both feeling better. They've both had low-grade fevers over the past few nights, and they've both been fever-free all day today. So that's good news. Especially for Pumpkin. He's still on nebulizer treatments until his croupy cough is completely gone...all cough actually. Might take a while. Giggles, on the other hand, is back to her normal rabble-rousing self. She had me worried yesterday because she was unnaturally quiet and still. Everybody who knows her who saw her yesterday commented on how quiet she was, haha. Gotta run now. Tonight is Pumpkin's last night of swimming class, and we're having a pizza party. :)

Weather (Text)

It's 7PM and a balmy 98 degrees outside. At the pool, this is downright chilly!

I forgot to mention that the wonderful rug in the pictures came from my brother's office. From his storage actually. It used to be in his house. He lent it to Mom while we're visiting so that Giggles could crawl around the living room without hurting herself. The older kids seem pretty happy with the rug too, and it seems that they all end up playing on it at some point throughout the day. It's cute.

Pictures! Finally.

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Tuesday

Except, I think it might actually already be Wednesday.

Anyway, here's all the news that's fit to print. At the very last minute on Sunday evening, my sisters and I decided to enroll our kids in a week-long summer camp that was starting on Monday at the Imaginarium (formerly the Laredo Children's Museum). I thought of putting Pumpkin in the same class with his older cousins. I actually think he would've handled the content matter just fine, but as soon as I heard the instructor say "ancient Rome," I knew he'd be better off with the other preschoolers. QT & I have introduced the concept of countries to him before, of course, but I don't think Pumpkin has any idea what ancient even means. And that was just in the first 15 minutes on the first day of the class! Now, if she'd said "Very Old Rome"....well, maybe that would've been a different story, hehe.

He seems to be enjoying himself regardless. As a preschooler, his lessons are much shorter than those of the older kids, and he also gets more playtime so I don't think he's minding it too much (being w/o his cousins, I mean). He still gets to see his cousins during shared playtime and at lunch. I also paid a bit extra to leave him there an extra hour after preschool camp is over so that he could stay until his cousins' class is over.

In the evenings, Pumpkin is taking swimming lessons with Sofia, my brother's daughter. The classes are being given by my brother's neighbor, who is a former well-known dance instructor here, and Pumpkin's doing great with her. He's taken to the water like, well, like a fish to water. Yesterday, he even jumped in the water and dunked his head TWICE. All on his own. To be fair, I don't think he meant to dunk his head either time, but he also wasn't upset when it turned out that way.

In between camp and swimming, he just runs around goofing off with whoever's here. Usually Lissa. By the end of the day, he's so tired that he can barely finish dinner, and he slurs his words like a little drunken man. Last night, he told me that it was his bedtime already. Poor baby. Unfortunately for him and for me, Giggles picked last night to wail, scream, and generally carry on like a mini-banshee. The noise kept Pumpkin awake, and I finally just took him into my parents' room to sleep. Even though he could barely even walk by then, he still didn't want to leave Giggles behind because she was still crying. What a good boy!

Giggles...well, she's a handful. No surprise there. She's crawling all over the place. She pulls herself into a standing position in her crib, in the living room, and pretty much wherever she happens to be. I'm afraid she'll be toddling soon. Since hardly anyone here has carpet in their homes, we brought a walker for her to use here, and she tears around in that thing. So far, so good. The only things that have been broken are those I dropped while attempting to baby-proof my mom's living room so that Giggles wouldn't knock anything over. LOL!

I finally took some pictures at swimming yesterday. Now to figure out how to post them from a borrowed PC. Tomorrow, we're going to a birthday party! Busy busy. Stay tuned!