Mike Took This

Isn't he a great photographer? He gets the best shots of these kids. He has a good eye and I'm not just saying that because he picked me, ha!

Unimpressed

She is in clothes of Maria's here, those pants are 6-9 months and the shirt is 6 months. She has been eating like a crazy person so I am hoping she will start to put on some weight here soon. Veronica is as happy as ever, Lord is she sweet! She has changed from calling every ing "Mama" to calling it "Nana", so I guess maybe she's working on her consonants? Who cares, it's super cute, whatever it is. If she slept later in the morning I would nominate her for Baby of the Year.

I guess she is all done nursing, it's been several days now and I don't want to go back, since she seems fine with it. I'll miss sitting with her so quietly. She is still a pretty cuddly person, so it's not like I never get to hold her anymore or anything. I'm happy and proud that I nursed her for 13 months and I'm happy that it's over, too, I guess. Waah!

Good Time Charlie

 
She is a funny, sweet thing. She points at EVERYTHING. Sometimes I feel like God himself is telling me to RELAX and not worry about this one. She is a happy person, she is still nursing once a day. She is a good napper, a funny thing, a cuddler. We love her like crazy, all of us. Even Anthony! :)

Danger

She's a) on the stairs, b) holding and about to eat a dirty old shoe, c) headed for the open electricial socket behind her, and is probably going to press the d) carbon monoxide detector as she goes past it, which sets off a LOUD buzz. She loves nothing more than those stairs. I have diaper boxes on the first step to stop her and she has recently started to just REMOVE them, like she sees Maria do.

She and Maria are up in their room, where we moved them the night before last. It hasn't gone great, in fact I'm not sure that they're sleeping now. Last night was better than the night before, and today Veronica did nap in there, so I guess things are looking up. I get so, so mad and dejected when things go badly. It's hard for me to remember that this too shall pass. I mean, I know it will but I am always wondering what is going to be next? Frogs? Plague? Sheesh. Anyways, now they are in their room, there's no going back. Their room is painted a new, lighter shade of green, it's beautiful. They fit in there just fine and I know they will like sharing a room, someday. Someday Mike and I will have to say "Maria and Veronica! Stop that giggling and get to SLEEP!". I know it, but I can't believe it.

Stairs

"I know, can you believe it? I'm up on the damned stairs again. I don't care what's behind me, and I could fall to my death at any second! What's more fun than that?"

Yum!

Eating a hot dog. Normally we chop it up into tiny pieces but Mike gave her Anthony's leftover hot dog, just to see what she would do. And what she did was choke! Ha, kidding! She was fine. She got *really* mad today when Maria went down the stairs and we closed the door. She is getting more aware, which is great, but also more aware of when she is NOT allowed to do things and that is NOT COOL. She's a funny little thing, and those top two teeth are ca-razy looking. We are eager to see her next teeth, both because we want to see what they look like and also because we want her to be done with the teething for five minutes, already.

Chair

Ooh she is driving me crazy with the climbing! She climbs up the stairs, up into this chair, up on EVERYTHING she can get to. She's sweet, though, so it's all fine. I was gone this weekend and missed her and she did fine, I guess, but I was glad to see her. Today she's not napping and I am SO tired and I wish she would nap, but I also like to have some time with her. She's 13 months old today, I just realized.

Eating

She's a good eater, but she doesn't love the veg. Sometimes she'll put green beans in her mouth and then just POP them right back out. She was eating a pickle here, which she liked but hated, you know? She would bite it and it would give her shivers and then she'd go right back to it. Her old high chair (Anthony's old high chair, really) was recalled and so we got her a new one that pulls up to the table and she seems to like it a lot more.

Sweet Veronica

Isn't she so sweet? She is a daring, daring thing - she will climb up on *anything*. We are having our house painted and we had to take down the gates and my GOD it's hard to keep her off the stairs. She hasn't the first idea about getting back down the stairs, so I have to watch her every second. She climbs up on Anthony's trampoline, out in the yard, and then she just dives off into the grass, face first, when she's done. Look at her sweet, fat thighs. It's so hard to believe she is so small, when she is also so chubbins.
OMG this is taking forever. I borrowed my parent's camera and my brother's camera and have been taking pictures and now I'm trying to upload them quickly, while Maria is napping and Mike is keeping Veronica busy and man oh man, blogger, WHY are you taking so long? I only have 30 seconds to do everything and everything takes ten minutes. So I hope you appreciate these damned pictures, is what I'm saying.

Break

I have taken an involuntary break from taking pictures, as our house was broken into and the rat bastards stole my camera! I am going to replace it soon, I just have to make a list of all the jewelry that was in my armoire. They stole everything out of it, including my wedding ring, and I am supposed to tell the insurance company what was in it, like dollar amounts, which is going to be really difficult, but I want to get it done, since they won't send us any money until I do this hard assignment. This is what makes me mad about the insurance company, and I'm sure my brother would disagree, but I think they suck. I've already been robbed, now I have to prove and prove and prove and prove what they took, and, like with the camera - I have to get the DEPRECIATED value on it and then buy it and THEN they will give me as much money as it costs to replace it. Whatever, sweater, I'm doing it but I have NEVER made a claim on my homeowner's insurance and I have been paying it for like 15 years or whatever the hell so guess what? They are STILL COMING OUT AHEAD. I don't feel sorry for them whatsoever! I am not a person who would commit insurance fraud, so I am punished because the insurance company has to deal with people who are. Whatever, thieves. Thieves broke in and thieves run the insurance companies, too. In my opinion.

ANYWAY. Back to Veronica. I took her to the Y today, her and Maria, so they could stay in the childcare and it went very badly. The girl said Veronica was fine, when she came and got me 20 minutes in. She said it was Maria that was the problem, but by the time I got there, Veronica was crying too. Ugh. She still has only four teeth, but she went to the doctor today for her one year checkup and he said she's looking good. She's almost 19 pounds (10th percentile, who IS this baby?) and we don't remember how long she was but it was in the 25th percentile. He said she's fine. She's been sleeping fine and she's a good eater. She is only nursing once a day, and that will stop, I suppose, when I leave town next weekend. I am nervous about it, I am going to miss nursing her and I never thought I would say that in ONE MILLION years! I'll tell you what, I was kind of EXCITED in the hospital a year ago when I thought she wasn't going to be able to nurse. And now, look at me, all crazy about it. It's probably my advanced age. :)

She loves to go up the stairs, she says "mama" and "dada" and *sort of* says hi. Today she went and *got her shoes* and *tried to put them on*. Genius! :) I wish she pointed more, but I am just a nervous person about milestones, I guess. She's fine, I think. She's superfine!