Happy Half-Year, Babaloo

This baby girl is six months old this week, and here are her quick stats:

Height: 25-ish inches
Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz
Favorite song: Still the Duck Tales Theme Song.
Favorite toys: Mom's glasses, Mom's Nalgene, Mom's laptop, Mom's books, Dad's watch, Mom's hair, Dad's hair
Favorite baby food: Carrots!
Favorite book: Baby Sees Colors (the red page is the favorite page)
Teeth: Still none.

Hollie can roll from her stomach to her back and her back to her stomach pretty well these days, and her new trick is getting her arms and legs stuck between the crib bars. She will do anything not to have to fall asleep. She sits up like a pro and only topples when she is reaching for a toy. She also likes to stand up at church and hold onto the back of the pew for balance (and that's about the only thing she likes about church). Rather than experiment with consonants, this baby has been more interested in voice-range exploration. She likes to practice her high notes (think dog whistles) and her low notes (think dinosaur-grandpa-wolf grunts), instead. This last week, she expanded her repertoire with under-the-sea gurgle-singing. This is always accompanied with big smiles and ends in coughing (still learning to control that spit).

Grandma Hollie came to visit for a whole week and a half! We loved it! Baby Hollie got spoiled, and so did David and I. Utah is too far away from Texas. We did get lots of pictures of Baby Hollie smiling with Grandma Hollie, but I like this picture a lot. Her eyes and lips look so pretty, I think. (Speaking of eyes, they still change colors a lot, but we noticed this month that she has an eye-freckle in one of her eyes, just like her Dad does. I love that.)

While my mom was here, she got us a swing for the backyard! We're looking forward to some early morning and early evening swings (since West Texas summers are TOO HOT between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.).

A very rare photo of Hollie actually sleeping.

This is a typical picture of what you find at our house on weekends. Babaloo manages to get plenty of sleep, but David and I are still a far cry from fully rested. This girl has yet to sleep more than four hours at a time, and I can count on my fingers how often that has happened. She still wakes up every two or three hours in the nighttime to eat, and she still refuses to take naps in her crib. The pediatrician recommends tough love, but that will have to wait until school gets out. It's easier to read books and type papers with a baby sleeping on your chest than it is to read books and type papers while a baby cries in the next room. She's sleeping on me right now, if you want to know the truth.

We had to take a picture of Baboo's "hobo toe." What can I say? She kicks her feet with too much gusto for us to expect her jams to survive long! (I hope she blows the knees out of her jeans when she gets older, too. I always had blown-out knees as a kid.)

I can't believe our Babalina is halfway to a year old. We are so in love with this baby. People keep asking David and me how we are hanging in there with a six-month-old while also attempting to complete PhD coursework and teach college classes. We don't know how to respond except that it is the six-month-old baby that is helping us get through it! She is a delight and a surprise, and she makes us laugh every day. She puts our feet back on the ground and inspires us to work hard. She reminds us of what matters and keeps us from wasting time on what doesn't matter. It's all for you, Bean! Thank you for being a part of our little family!

For Sarah

P.S. Sarah: Aren't those YOUR hair extensions that David is wearing? Or was this a cover-up story Dave made up to protect me from a past butt-rocker phase?

Scholar-in-Training

Captured on film by our supervisor, Hollie and Dad look over grading materials for a freshman composition workshop. Our good little scholar is always on her best behavior at school. Of course, I was in the next room over with my own grading group when this picture was taken. By the time I came to pick up Hollie, David had his feet up, reclined as far back as those swivel chairs can get, with Hollie asleep on his chest and his own eyes shut. Fortunately our supervisor had put her camera away for that photo opportunity. (Though most scholars will tell you that another great characteristic for PhD candidates is the ability to fall asleep during mandatory meetings.)

Easter Miscellaneous

 

Oh, my. Time is passing so quickly this semester! David and I have been up to ears in schoolwork, grading, and a cute little baby. Unfortunately, we're not out of the woods yet, and I am technically supposed to be working right now...but I need a break. So I give you: Grover Family Easter 2012, in which Hollie wears a frou-frou hair bow (for ten minutes) and Emily learns to tie an Easter bow for the first time without her mom's assistance (also lasted for ten minutes).

Our loot! Hollie got a Hello Kitty Easter basket that her Grandma Hollie picked out for her while she was in town (pictures of that soon. I love my mom and miss her dearly. *sigh* It is hard to be away from my family sometimes). The gorgeously wrapped-and-ribboned stack of book-and-game-shaped presents is to me from Davey (he even stamped the paper all cute with our bird stamps and label-makered my name to the top. *swoon!*). The handkerchiefs-shaped present is from me to David.

After church on Sunday, we somehow managed to invite eleven big people and five little people to our house and get them all fed (with some pot luck help, of course). My contribution was this Boston Cream Pie. It looks sloppy, but I have to admit I was pretty proud of it. David helped me to "render" the egg mixture of the cream—it was a first for both of us, but super fun.

Then, we tie-dyed eggs! Check out this awesome blog to see how you can, too! This is a new Easter tradition for the Grovers.

The end results!

Buzz-Buzz-Buzz, I'm a bumbley egg.

Look at gorgeous red. Fire engine art deco.

I love how the paisley showed up so clearly here.

I wish this one had had more contact with the silk to cover more of the egg. So rad. I can't wait to try this again next Easter. I'm on the lookout for terribly gaudy and bold silk ties all year long in the meantime.

My favorite egg. It looks like stained glass with little yellow paisleys. I can't wait until Hollie is old enough to understand how magical tie-dying eggs is!