I'm a quitter

As some would say, "Rehab is for quitters." Others would say, "No one likes a quitter." As the little engine would say, "I think I can." But the squirrels say, "We won! You quit. Haha!" I give up. The tomatoes will go with the rodents and next year I'm planting jalapenos. I tried the chili pepper. I tried the dish soap. I even tried a net (which did nothing but mess with the dog). And there's a chance, a small little chance, that I threw a rock at a squirrel as I called it every name in the book. Those stupid squirrels (and chipmunks, I think) have had a field day with my tomatoes. There's nothing left for me. Sure, there are some tomatoes still on the plants but lets face it, they will probably magically disappear overnight, and if they don't, well, they'll never make it to ripe. So that's it, I quit. I didn't have this problem last year, I don't know why this year they're attacking me so vigorously.

If they touch my basil, I'm going to go postal.

The girl's a flirt

On Friday, Courtney and I went to one of our first official play dates at someones house. We've spent a fair bit of time around other babies but this was our first time with Courtney as a crawler (she's DEFINITELY a crawler now) and not a baby lump who just lays there. It was a riot!! Our host has twin boys, Leaf and Sam (9 months), and another friend has baby Tessie (8 months), then Courtney at 7 months and another little girl who is 4 months. Other than the 4 month old, all of those babies are on the go.

Let's just say my girl is a brute (I wonder if she's on her way to being a tomboy??) and we need to work on her social graces. First she tried to use Tessie as her stable object to pull herself to her feet. Needless to say, Tessie didn't appreciate that. Then, she grabbed Leaf's nose in a not-so-friendly manner and he cried. But Sam provided her with the most entertainment - he was a human jungle gym. She crawled all over that boy!! She'd want the toy on the other side of him so up and over him she'd go. He would be laying in front of her so she would lay on top of him. He would try to get away and she'd attempt to suck his foot. Luckily for Courtney, Sam took it all in stride and didn't balk at all of Courtney's activities.

I told Paul that he'd half to keep a close eye on his little girl, she's already after the boys and she can't even walk yet!!

Is she grabbing his butt?

Courtney crawling on Sam

Courtney making a move for Sam's foot

Tessie, Courtney and Leaf all enjoying some frozen teethers

(Excuse the quality of my pix - they're from the phone)

Crawling?

Well, Courtney did it, she crawled! It may have only been a foot or two but she was on the go. Hopefully she won't realize she can crawl if she wants to, I'm not quite ready to lose my "freedom."



You be the judge, it looks like crawling to me...

Courtney in Action

Here's a little bit of Courtney attempting to be on the go. She's also started waving, it's SO cute!!

What's wrong with this picture?

Tomato Wars

I read online that chili powder and liquid dish washing soap would deter the varmints from my plants. So I did both. There's chili powder all over my yard and the next time it rains, there's going to be bubbles everywhere. Anyway, after 24 hours, my 3 (or 4) ripening tomatoes were getting redder and redder. I have been watching the plants like a hawk (when I'm home), hoping to salvage something from my plants.

Paul comes home from work tonight and comments on how I have a few red tomatoes growing and perhaps my methods are working. He then goes to take out the trash. Not 1 minute later, not ONE, I look out the window and there is this POS squirrel eating my tomatoes!!!! I couldn't believe it. I mean, there were 3 or 4 tomatoes that were just a day or so away from becoming a tomato salad, and now there's only 1 left.

That's it, game on. That squirrel is meat!

Updates

Today is our two year anniversary! We didn't go out for dinner or anything, I actually just cooked (which can be a rare occurrence these days). I've been wanting to make beer can chicken for quite some time now and decided today was a good day to give it a go and, I must say, it was excellent!! (And, it was Paul friendly!) Happy Anniversary to us!
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My baby girl at 7 months!

Courtney is ADORABLE! Today, Paul get's home from work and she raises her arms to him and just squeeeeels in delight! It was so cute. Shortly after that, Paul was sitting on the floor and Courtney just clamored up him until she was standing on her feet!! She's pulled herself up, kind of, before but this time she was up on her feet in no time at all!!

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We returned last week from SC, having been out of town for 5 days. I was a little confused to return and have not 1 tomato on my plant that was red. When we left there were tomatoes that were turning red and 5 days later, none. The next day I find some on the ground, with little nibbles out of them! Then Saturday, I look out the window and there's this POS little rodent squirrel in my tomato plant!! Eating my tomatoes! And the thing is, they don't even like the tomatoes. They bite a hole in them, take out the juice and leave the rest of it on the ground!! I could kill the little *$()#$*@#()!*$#&*&^$#!!!

Another year older

Lounging on the couch

The first time C pulled herself onto her feet

Some of the Holder cousins

Courtney and her cousin Eric are fascinated by the shoe lace

We spent the better part of the past week with the Holder's in SC at my sister-in-laws lake house. It was a very nice week with quiet moments, relaxing moments and some moments of pure bedlam and mayhem. There was a 20 hour window where we were swarmed by some of Paul's cousins and their kids leaving us with 25 people sleeping in the house. Craziness!!

It was nice for me personally because Courtney got to spend lots of time with P's immediate family. Courtney's grandmother was there as well as her immediate cousins who range in age from 8 - 14. My nephew, who's 14, may win the prize for the cutest with Courtney. You wouldn't think that a 14 year old boy would be in the least bit interested in a 7 month baby but he was definitely interested. He held her a LOT and was even tolerant when she drooled a small pond on his shorts and even spit up on him. I just love that these kids are so interested in my baby girl. I don't know that I cared about babies when I was 14.

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On another note, I turned another year older yesterday. I feel older although that could have something to do with the lack of sleep I got last night (and that lack of sleep had nothing to do with the baby). Every passing month Paul and I will say, "I can't believe Courtney is now X months old," it's already gone so quickly and she's only (almost) 7 months old. If Courtney's first 7 months have gone so quickly, what's that going to say/do for our ages? I mean, in 5 years I'll be saying, "I can't believe Courtney's already 5!!" but really what I'll mean is, "I can't believe I'm XX." How did I get to be in my mid to late 30's and is 37 mid or late??? Oh my. Hopefully Courtney will keep me young because getting old is for the birds.

GULP

It's amazing to watch the changes in Courtney occur before my very eyes. Not 2 weeks ago, she was a roller. She could roll all around and push herself up on her arms and have a little mobility but she basically wasn't going anywhere. She has mastered the art of the 360 turn. If you have a spot on your floor that you just can't get out, lay her down and watch her turn, turn, turn. Next thing you know, you have a VERY shiny floor and I have a very dirty baby.

Then last week (Thursday, June 4th to be exact), I turned on the baby monitor and there she was, just sitting up. It was like she'd been doing it all her life. (She then fell over and hit her head and cried but still - SITTING up.) I thought she'd used the bumpers in her crib to pull herself up but now I'm thinking that's not the case. As if sitting up wasn't a major milestone last week, she has also started to "wave." If you wave at her (by folding your fingers in and out), she will kind of wave back. Although, her hand is facing in so she's basically waving to herself but STILL! Waving!!

But now there are motions, steps, movements that all lead to crawling. YES. CRAWLING. She gets up on her hands and knees and she thinks. She thinks really hard. And then she lays down in exhaustion. Then she'll do it again. And then she lays down and scoots backwards around the room. I find if I put her down and leave the room, when I return she isn't necessarily where I left her. All of this movement is going to make my life exponentially harder. What do you do when you need to go to the restroom? Or how will I get the laundry folded if I have to chase her around the house?

Add to all this movement and waving the looming introduction of teeth. I do believe my little baby girl is getting some choppers. She's been waking in the middle of the night (she never does that), she's drooling gallons of saliva a day (as opposed to the liters she was drooling before), and she's very irritable (she's never like that). Every time I try to take a look in her mouth or stick my finger in there, she jerks her head away and screams. And lets just say there's some biting going on and it's not all that comfy.

I can't believe my itty bitty baby girl has SO much going on in her ever evolving life. Before I know it she's going to be walking and then what will we do???

Tomat's

I love tomatoes. In my humble opinion, the best tomatoes in the world come from New Jersey. I think it has something to do with all the radioactive trash that's up and down the NJ turnpike and is seeping into the soil. Man, are those some incredible tomatoes. I love tomatoes all kinds of ways. A tomato sandwich with mayo on toast with salt and pepper. A caprese salad - tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and basil. Salsa. Gazpacho. Plain with salt and pepper. It's all good to me.

That's why things here are getting very exciting. I planted these a couple of months ago and my tomatoes are starting to turn red. I can't wait to enjoy the fruit of my labors. OK, I didn't work that hard at all but yum, they're going to be so good.

Time's are changing

We've had a very nice weekend here in the Holder house. Friday night we had dear friends over for dinner and had a chance to catch up over dinner on our deck. It was nice to see everyone but in days gone by, we'd hang out, visit and drink wine until at least 11 or 12. Nowadays, everyone was GONE by 10 and I think I was in bed at 10:30 on a Friday night.

Saturday Courtney and I went for what one would call a "run." Well, I'll call it a run and the rest of you can call it a "pathetic attempt at jogging, while pushing Courtney along and having a 6 month old laugh at you." Pathetic. I was beet red by the time it was done and I'd only run maybe a mile of the 4 mile stint. Pathetic. I guess I got out there though, that has to count for something.

But then, Paul, Courtney and I went to the Honda dealership where I got a new car!! It started out by our heading to the dealership and on the way, a rock falls from the sky, hits my windshield and puts a crack in it!! I mean, what??? I'm on my way to trade the car in and WHAM!! CRACK!! Anyway, I get my new car and all is right in the world until this morning, after my trip to Publix, not even 24 hours after purchasing it, I get REAR ENDED on the way home!! By a cab driver!! I mean, really???? I think the car Gods are trying to tell me something. I couldn't believe it. I was livid. And, said cab driver, Pedro says, "Oh, it's not a big deal" and in the next breath he says, "I don't know why my brakes are making that noise." Perhaps because they DON'T WORK PEDRO!!! Really, he just scratched the bumper but the bumper is NEW and it's plastic and I'm not so sure it's going to buff out. But that's Pedro's problem, not mine.

My pretty new Honda Pilot
My pretty Honda's new scratch and dent.

Courtney got a new toy from her favorite Aunt Ellen this weekend too.

Courtney's new doll house but we don't have any dolls...

Today we had some of our new friends over for lunch and swimming. I've met a bunch of new moms and their kids (mostly girls) in my exercise classes over the past few months. I've really enjoyed getting to know these women and to experience all the same baby adventures at roughly the same time. So today we had them all over, as well as their husbands, so we could get to know one another better without having to "exercise" to do it. So we had 3 families over and had a really nice time. One of my mommy friends has a 6 year old who was just precious. She was very chatty, loved the pool and the dog and I think she may have had a good time. Except for the fact that this fabulous doll house has no dolls, no furniture, no nothing. Doll houses without actual dolls aren't much fun, or so I've been told. (So, if anyone has any dolls/furniture they're looking to get rid of, I'm here for you.) It was a really nice afternoon and Courtney fell asleep tonight before her dad even shut the bedroom door!

Anyway, we've had a great weekend. And Courtney continues to be a true love.

Does this remind anyone else of a monstrous turkey leg??
Nom nom nom nom nom nom goooood.

New pictures (per Kevin's request)

Courtney's First Surfing Experience

Courtney in her bathing suit, getting ready to go swimming.

Fear

I didn't sleep well at all last night. Part of it was that I wasn't really all that tired at bed time but the other part was due to my overactive imagination. I'm petrified that Courtney's going to get kidnapped while I'm sleeping. At every noise, creak and bump in the night, I'm convinced that someone is in the house. I don't feel like this during the day, just at night. During the day, I'll be sitting on the couch playing on the computer or sitting outside reading the book, and I'm not in the least bit worried. But at night with our door shut and my mind going into overdrive, I'm freaked out. I find myself staring at Courtney on the video monitor just waiting for someone to reach into her crib and make off with my baby. It's ridiculous. There's no one in the house and no one is going to take my baby, I just need to fall asleep already.

Once I get past my kidnapping fear, then what? When I was pregnant, I was afraid of the unknown: would the baby be healthy? Would she have all her fingers and toes? What if something goes wrong? And most of that stuff are things that you just can't control. Then the baby is born and (with the first child, especially) there's so much to worry about: why is she crying? Is she getting enough to eat? Why won't she sleep? How do I cut her nails without cutting off her finger tips? And there's all the fear about SIDS. There's always something.

This is a lot of worrying about someone who's only 6 months old. I have YEARS and YEARS of worrying to go. Does this mean that for the next 18 years I'm not going to sleep at all? I don't know if I can handle 18 years with no sleep. Will I start worrying less at some point? I sure hope so.