Catching up

Ok, so I'm obviously not so good with New Year's resolutions. But, once again, here's a series of blogs to update you on everything. Enjoy.
-H

Belly button!

Among other things (like her love for peek-a-book, her obsession with her "Lady Bear," her cackle when she's being silly and her temper tantrums - yes at the ripe old age of 13 1/2 months!) Ilana has recently found her belly button!
We were sorting clothes one afternoon and I peeked over my shoulder to check on her, only to find her hunched over with her finger sunk, completely mesmerized. ("What IS that thing? How did THAT get there?")
Of course I quickly grabbed the camera to get a few snapshots...
and, of course, a video...

She's way too cute...sometimes. :)
-H

Moses loves chili too

One night we had chili for dinner. It was really great. As usual, we let the left-overs cool on our counter top before putting them in the fridge. Paul and I were in our bedroom when we heard a strange sound. We turned the corner, looked down the hall and realized that Moses loved the chili too! We had to laugh.
All the dark orange specks on Moses' face are the chili...He seemed to be pretty happy with his "help" in cleaning up the left-overs ("What's wrong guys? Why are you laughing? I'm just helping to clean up the left-overs.)...But boy, it was a really sticky mess!!What you can't see in this picture are the spots of chili on the floor and on the ceiling right under the cabinets. It was a total mess!! We were gently reminded again that Moses can get to a lot more on these counters than we think he can. Where there's a will, there's a way, especially when it comes to chili!
-H

The dirt on dishes

While laundry has not been much of a problem these past 10 months, another thing that has drastically changed since moving to Baylor is our dish-washing situation. We used to have a wonderful detached-made-permanent dishwasher that was given to us (for FREE!!) in our house in Gettysburg. I loved that thing. It was more of a "dish disinfecter," but I didn't mind pre-cleaning and rinsing our dishes before it was loaded. It was a minor inconvenience for the all the time it saved me. We knew all the kinks and quirks about it. I got the most satisfaction in loading the thing up, waiting for it to reach the dry cycle, then turning it off and just letting the dishes air-dry. What a wonderful way to end an evening!
Our story is not so joyous here at Baylor, for the dishwasher is currently typing this blog. Dishes have become...a major chore. So, after about 10 months of doing dishes, I decided to document how long it takes me, on average, to clean the kitchen every day. The findings were quite eye-opening to me. On average, I am cleaning the kitchen and doing dishes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours every day. Now I know that I am a little OCD about the cleanliness of our dishes and kitchen, but WOAH!!! Oh dishwasher, where art thou?
Then I decided to take some pictures, just for old time's sake. One day I'll hopefully see these pictures and just smile, remembering how many hours I must have spent in our college apartment, not-really-designed-for-every-day-cooking kitchen. These were all taken after an hour of doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen one night (this is fairly normal).
Not only did they not completely fit in the drying rack...nor did they completely fit in the sink...but we had piles of clean and drying dishes all the way to our countertop...When you stepped back, it was an amazing sight to behold, lots of work, but beautiful...Yes, the clock says 11:08 and that's also normal.
Paul promises me that whatever our next living situation is, we will have a dishwasher (and it won't be the human kind). :) I'm banking on that.
-H

A girl and her balloons

Ilana LOVES balloons.
I think it started at her birthday...But now it's just become an obsession...
She likes to have balloons with her no matter what she's doing. Whether it's investigating her high chair...or eating...having a balloon always makes Ilana a happy camper...So, don't let the balloons fly unless it's to our home!
-H

A1A Beachfront Avenue!

We spent a lovely week on Florida's Singer Island (off the coast of West Palm Beach, just north of Miami) with Paul's family.
Ilana flew first class and loved looking out the window, the snacks weren't bad either...
This is the sun setting overlooking the east coast on our flight down...
This is where we stayed...Ilana was mostly great (especially once we figured out a good sleeping arrangement). It was wonderful to get a break from her every once in a while. She loved playing cards with the family...She LOVED the pool (wasn't too crazy about the beach, but loved the pool), apparently she didn't even want to get out of her floatie inside...But I think one of her most favorite things was to sit on Grammy's slippers and look out over the edge of the porch onto what was going on below (she has no fear at all)...Our rooms were on the top floor, the 3 porches and the windows in between were all 3 of our rooms combined...Whenever we'd go anywhere we'd have to drive along A1A, so we sang Vanilla Ice all week. :) Thanks Mom and Dad Miller, Aunt Erika and Uncle Timmy - it was a great time! I'll post more pictures when I get a chance to see everyone's and edit a few.
-H

Happy Birthday Daddy (Paul)!

Paul's birthday was two days ago, and we had a very fun day. I made banana chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. After we cleaned that up, I embarked on doing something I had never had to do before (since we lived so close to Mom Miller) - I made his favorite cake (yellow cake with chocolate frosting). I must say I was pretty proud of how it turned out...all it needed was the birthday boy's approval, and of course he added one final touch...Perfect!! No candles needed. :)
It gave Paul motivation to finish the paper he was working on. In between meals and my interruptions, this is what he looked like all day (poor guy)...
But by 4:30 he was done with his paper. We went to the mail room where his surprise gift was waiting for us (it was just a knife sharpener - we're to the age where birthday presents become practical). Then we met some of our favorite students from the Rock Staff for their "Wasabi Wednesday" tradition at the local Chinese place. (I forgot to get a picture during dinner!)
We ended the day with giving Ilana a bath and after she was down we watched a movie. It was a fun day (except for the whole paper part).
Oh, and this is what Ilana did for Paul's birthday...

Happy Birthday, Daddy! Ilana's quickly caught on to what this means and she's using it more and more every day. She's becoming very opinionated. Happy Birthday, Paul! :)
-H

Size: 3

Ilana has really been pulling up, trying to stand on her own and trying to walk more these days, so I figured it would help her to have some shoes...you know, stability is always a good thing when you're learning to walk, right?
So, while we were out running errands yesterday I picked up a pair, but was overwhelmed by trying to figure out what size to get her. The size 1s were way too small, the size 2s were tight around the sides, so size 3 it was. They're a little big on her still, but she's got some room to grow (hopefully they'll last more than a few weeks!), and they seem to add a bit of support to her mobility efforts.
Here they are in action...
And here are our family's shoes at the end of the day...Her feet are so tiny! :)
-H

Where did April go??

So much has happened in April that I haven't been able to blog about until now...

The 4 of us went to Austin for Good Friday. We LOVED it and will gladly go back any time. We began the day at a dog park and ended it with a 5-mile walk around the river in Zilker Park. It was a blast! We had such a happy dog that day. Unfortunately, this is the only picture we have of our adventure.

Ilana wore my first Easter dress for her first Easter. This was after church, and it took a baster to keep her happy, but she was really cute.

We hosted an Easter luncheon in our apartment. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon and the food was delicious!

Then a few days after Easter, Ilana and I flew to Annapolis to celebrate her birthday with family and friends up there (Paul was super busy with projects and events, so he couldn't make it). We had a great time visiting friends and family...

being thoroughly gifted - thank you all for just giving money or gift certificates...
eating cake...(or getting over sugar comas)...and generally just having a great time!Thanks again, Nonni and PopPop for making the trip possible. We had a great time!

Then we got back and decided it was time to introduce Ilana to one of our family traditions, pancake breakfasts. Needless to say, she loves them!! (Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture?)
Ilana is growing up so quickly, it's crazy. She's definitely becoming opinionated these days and wants things her way. The only problem is she's not talking yet, so there are a fair amount of temper tantrums when I don't understand what that way is. It's been crazy around here recently! It's a good thing she's cute. :)
-H

Does this count as "cruising?"

I know it's slow and wobbly...but maybe she's starting to get the hang of it...?

-H