New Years with Old Friends

Just came across some pictures from New Years Day spend with our favorite friends, the Richards.  Maria and I met in 6th grade when my family moved from Louisiana from New York. My earliest memory of her was in P.E. class when she confronted me and communicated her irritation that she was the only Maria in our grade - until I moved here and messed it all up. Now that's a good Southern welcome, huh?  Apparently she got over her little "issue" and we discovered we had a lot in common.  We were both very Italian, very active in our faith community, were later involved in retreat ministry, were considered "good girls" and were known to most as "The Maria's." 

Maria and her husband, Mickey, started dating in high school, so we have decades of memories we share.  Iain, of course, came into the mix seven years ago, but was so welcomed and celebrated by them, that it just feels like family.

The Richard kids (there are 3 boys and a firecracker of a girl) have been head-over-heal-nuts for Gianna since we first brought her home.  The two youngest kids, William and Sarah, have an intense fondness for her.  For three hours that afternoon...I didn't have to chase Gianna. Those two were amazing with her.  I was so grateful for the gift of being able to eat and visit without constantly getting up.  (Not that I mind taking care of my child, but the break is refreshing.)

I didn't pull out my camera til we were getting ready to leave, but I managed to get a few shots...

Sarah got tickled by Gianna's "bear" bottom.

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As we were pulling out of their driveway and heading down their little country road, we saw all sorts of amazing wildlife in the ravine alongside the road.

We love you, Richards.

New Face

Gianna tries out new faces on a regular basis.  Every now and then, one of them intrigues her and she makes it constantly for a period of time.  Last week, she began sporting this new look:

 

For the first couple of days, my husband and I started following her around coaxing her to, "Spit it out!" knowing she has a habit of hoarding acorns, bottle tops and other various and assundry objects in that cute little cheeky mouth of hers. Nope.  It's just the new face.

A Chip off the ol’ Tooth

During the week in between Christmas and New Years, my maniac munchkin ran, fell and broke her tooth.

And, of course, the pediatric dentist’s office was closed that week, but after chatting with the Doctor, we decided it wasn’t an emergency and she could be seen the next Monday.

We called Monday morning and they squeezed us in a couple of hours later. I’ve know this dentist and his family for years, but I have to say, he (and his staff) was absolutely wonderful.

“I’m going to have to check her teeth. You’ll have to help restrain her. She’s not going to like this and she will cry.” he said.

She sort of panics when she lays flat on her back, so I was not really optimistic about the potential reaction.
I was mistaken.

She laid back (a little nervously) and opened her mouth (saying “ah”) and let him count her teeth, check them, wiggle them – he even used that little hook tool. No tears. What an amazing little trooper.

He then decided to file it down just a bit where it had a sharp edge at the point. Ugh.

He warned me that I’d need to restrain her arms AND legs. Crud. They blew air on it and used the nasty little file drill thingy. Of course, my head it right over hers so I could see everything even though I didn’t want to. There were tears that time, but not near as bad as I imagined. I think she was just freaked out but the sound and feeling. (Can’t blame her.) It took maybe 7 seconds. As soon as I picked her up, she pointed to the light, “Yight!” Tears dried up. We did have to fetch her shoes which she managed to slide off during the ordeal. We have a follow up exam next month.

The doctor said that he could repair the tooth, but she would be MISERABLE and it would be traumatic for her. He shrugged and said, “She is a pretty little girl….we could do it if you want to.” I just couldn’t imagine putting her through that. (Thanks for sharing your experience, Liz!) If she were older and it was a permanent tooth – that would be different. I asked the doctor my standard question, “If this was your child/grandchild would you do it?” His response, “Absolutely not.” Decision made. She’ll just have a smile with “character.”

I don’t even notice it much anymore. Every now and then I’m aware of it, but she’s so darn cute, it doesn’t even matter. Thank heavens it wasn’t worse.

Lewis Land: The Book

Remember that blog book I talked about a couple of weeks ago?

Well, I ordered it about ten days ago, and it arrived yesterday.

The thought to print my blog came soon after the discovery of missing blog posts on more than one occasion. Plus, I just liked the idea of having a hard copy in hand. 

All the companies that I checked out seemed to have fairly positive reviews. I was leaning toward a company Blog2Print since it seemed to entail the least amount of work. I didn't want to have to go through and edit and add or delete posts. I just don't have time for another time-consuming project.

As I read reviews, I found that the biggest complaint about this company seemed to be that you didn't seems to have much creative control. That's usually a big deal for me, but all I wanted was to print out what I posted in book form.  I really didn't mind if the photos were small or there was a heading on one page and the post on the next. (I know, I was surprised by my lack of concern too.).

Basically, I didn't have to do anything but plug in my blog address.  They "slurped" the posts right from my blog.  You actually give them the range of dates you want printed.  For instance I specified I wanted to begin October '08 (when I began the blog) through December '09.  Next year I'll just do 2010.

You get to pick the cover (hard or soft) design out of some pretty decent options.  I chose one with 2009 on the cover even though there were a few months of 2008 included.

The book itself looks like a really nice high school yearbook. I have to say that I'm really impressed.  For some reason I thought it would be smaller, but it measures about 9 x 11. Seeing the book in it's finished form is inspiring me to tweak my blogging habbits a little bit in the future.  For instance, when I post a video or slideshow (which obviously don't translate into book form) I'll try to post at least one individual photo and a little bit of text relating to the topic. That way won't just have a title listed.  (You can acutally delete and add any posts you want, but as I said, I didn't want to mess with all that.)

The book included 188 posts and took up about 240 pages.  It cost right around $100. (It was my Christmas present from Max....my dog.)  It sounds like a lot of money, but the way I see it, it's a piece of our family history and the time I took in building this blog is AT LEAST worth $100 bucks. And if you're anything like me, you don't go back and read your old blog posts.  This is such a fun way to look back.

I let Gianna hold the book just so I could take a few pictures of her with it - and to my surprise...

She was mesmerized!  She pointed and named people and objects.

I thought that she'd really enjoy it a few years from now, but who knew she'd be so taken at this young age?

Two enthusiastic thumbs up from this Mommy Frogger Blogger.

* This morning Gianna somehow reached the book off the counter and brought it to me.  We spent 20 minutes looking through pictures and naming people and things. 

Porta Potty

Gianna got a potty for Christmas.  I figured it was time to introduce the concept.  I haven't done much in terms of training at this point, but I have put the potty in the bathroom.  She names it, sits on it, puts toys in  it, and yes, carries it around.

We also got the Elmo Potty Time video for Christmas.  I had used it before when potty-training Hunter. 
SO cute.

At the close of every Sesame Street show, they always say, "Sesame Street was brought to today by the Letter ___ and the Number ___"

At the end of this video, it's the Letter P and the Number 2. 

(Tell me that's not funny!)

She actually sits through most of the video without losing interest.

I think she's beginning to get the jist of it:

Do you think she might be taking the concept a little too literally?