Poodle McPoodleton

Poodle,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

Here are the pics from Anna's first Halloween. She was so happy in her costume! We went to our neighborhood block party and she was quite the star of the show (as usual). She really embraced her "inner poodle" and even began to smell like a puppy dog by the end of the evening. Needless to say, the poodle is currently in the bath, getting a good flea dip.

Froggie Went A' Courtin'

DSCN0978,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

There was a frog in our house today. And then it went outside and ate leaves on our porch.

Halloween Eve

DSCN1014,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

Happy Halloween from senorita ojos bonita!

The "official" costume pics to follow tomorrow...

Halloween-ish

We have 3.5 options for Anna's Halloween costume this year. We have 2 occasions to dress up. If you're bad at math like me, I'll just tell you that we have a costume surplus. So, I think that tomorrow and Wednesday, we'll do several costume try-ons and take lots of pictures. The bad news is that AC has developed an extreme hatred of having to put on anything with long sleeves. Once the top is on, she's fine, but she really hates having her arm yanked through a long tunnel of clothing. Coincidentally, two of the costume options involve long-sleeves. One option involves tights. Needless to say, there's going to be some intense fashion-related drama in our house in the next two days.

We watched The Great Pumpkin this morning. It comes on tv tomorrow night, but not until 7pm, which is bedtime for Bonzo, so I put in our DVD of it and we watched it. Anna made it through about 17 minutes of it, which was really good, I thought--especially since it doesn't have the 21st century computer animation and bright colors that she's grown accustomed to, thanks to Noggin.

As for Halloween night, we'll be attending our neighborhood block party and then we might take AC for a very, very light round of trick or treating (just to our immediate neighbors' houses and maybe a few friends'). We'll be keeping it very low-key this year because Halloween can be a pretty odd holiday as it is, not to mention very odd when you're only 9 months old and still trying to get used to the world.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Good times,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

We took Anna to a local pumpkin patch this morning. It wasn't a real pumpkin patch, but rather a photo op at a real estate office. It was pretty lame, but it was close by and the weather is gorgeous, so I thought, "Why not?".
Everyone was fussy and just generally pissed off to be there...except for me (you do the math on that one). Anna didn't want to be set down on the ground. The sun was in her eyes. It was precariously close to nap time. Daddy wasn't interested in being there, so there was friction between the two parental units. Oh, and then I fell down, twisted my ankle and made a scene. It was a full-on, four alarm good time, I tell ya. We were all whistling "zippity do dah" out our assholes.

Typical 5pm Drivel

me: you around?

kjurica: yup

me: eta?

'cause that smallish, human who poops in her pants and sometimes wears pink is driving me crazy today.

very clingy...

kjurica: I need to finish up some time entry and i'll be on my way home

me: so, the end is near?

kjurica: yes. I think another 10 minutes or so.

me: excellent.

Sent at 5:20 PM on Thursday

What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

This was an eye-opener for me...

What does 200 calories look like?

I'm not a huge butter person, but that doesn't look like much butter. Also the peanut butter. Funny how I buy those 100 Calorie Pack snacks and diligently limit myself to one package a day, but then put easily 250 calories in butter alone on my baked potato at dinner, without even knowing it. I'm officially back to eating only the Earth Balance (80 calories per tablespoon) from now on.

Shoe fetish

Shoe fetish,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

Anna's new shoes. God bless Target.

Sick 'lil oompaloompa

Sick 'lil oompaloompa,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

Anna had her first cold last week. It was rough. We mopped roughly 35 gallons of snot off of and out of her nose over the course of the week. Kevin got the "Dada of the Year" award for sleeping with her on the floor in the living room because she was so clingy and wouldn't let us put her in her bed. Luckily, she's much better now--still a little snotty, but nothing like last week.

Chicken wings!

Chicken wings!,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

We went to New Braunfels and Austin to visit some family and friends this weekend. Anna was a trooper, despite the fact that she's had a nasty cold and doesn't feel 100%. We quickly learned that you can give a fussy, bored baby a chicken bone (or rib bone) and they'll stay occupied and happy for hours.

(if you click on this picture, it will take you to the entire set of pics from this weekend)

Hello, Goodbye

For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me post pictures, so you're stuck with only the colorful canvas of my words.

A few of Anna's recent milestones:

Anna woke up yesterday and suddenly understood how to wave. She had been sort of waving, but yesterday, when I went to get her out of bed, she waved at me. Then, she waved at each and every one of our cats. Then, as we passed the mirror in the living room, she waved at herself. Friendly one, this Anna Claire.

She's also mastered the art of the "commando crawl". She's quick as a bunny and gets exactly where she wants to be before I can usually catch her. Her latest obsession is with the cats' food bowls. My days are drastically different now. I have to watch her every. single. second because as soon as you look away or turn your back, she's chewing on a power cord or eating cat food.

Community Service

Community Service,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

I took this picture last week, before Anna and I went to the assisted living facility to visit with our elderly pals. She looks so grown up in that skirt and she NEVER gets mistaken for a little boy when she wears it!