So, unless you live in a cave somewhere, you've probably heard about all the snow that's blasted the Mid-Atlantic region over the past week. Some of you lucky readers may even have felt its frigid wrath. Those of you in New England who somehow managed to escape the snow TWICE....I'm not speaking to you for the time being. (Insert angry emoticon with his tongue sticking out.) I know, I know. I grew up in New England, lived in upstate NY for 5 years and even yearn to return to the Capital Region someday. But I must admit, in the nearly 5 years since we moved to Pennsylvania, I've become soft. One big snowfall per winter, with the average accumulation of no more than 6 inches, has become my norm. Like most humans, I want answers when unexplained phenomena such as this occur. I crave a reason for all of this crazy weather. To put my mind at ease, I've decided the blame rests fully on Punxsutawney Phil's
I plan to inundate you all with videos in today's post since we've actually taken and downloaded quite a few in the past couple of weeks. In honor of the weather, the first clip I'll share with you was taken yesterday evening, as the very wet and heavy snow literally poured down on us.
Alright, I feel I've whined and complained enough. Let's move onto something a bit less depressing. It's time to cheer up by reminiscing about the recent visit of Jesse's sister Kiara (aka Auntie Kiki) and her boyfriend Brendan (Uncle B). Since everyone is so spread out, we weren't able to celebrate Christmas with these kids until the last weekend of January. They made the trip down from Rochester and showered Eily with her third round of Christmas presents. Auntie Kiki went a little overboard, but Eily didn't seem to mind. Here's the bag of gifts she received...I would estimate it to be approximately three times the size of Eily.
The weekend was action-packed, complete with a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
where we witnessed some pretty interesting sights. Eily particularly enjoyed a temporary installation in the Modern section called Days by Bruce Nauman. This was a sound installation in which you walk the length of a large room and listen to different recordings of various people reciting the days of the week out of order and at various pitches, volumes and speeds. The cacophonous din begins to blend into a rhythmic drone as you process the lenght of the hall. Eily started yelling in the middle of the room, adding her own bit of music to the piece (an addition I think only enhanced it, to be honest).
She was also very interested in the Philagrafika installation - especially the animated video by Tabaimo in which a large hand arranges furniture in a dollhouse that eventually becomes overrun by an octopus, falls apart, and reveals human organs beneath its exterior. This may be a bit too "out there" for some, but Eily found the whole thing highly entertaining. Our viewing was accompanied by shrieks and squeals of delight from our little critic.
Another one of Eily's recently achieved milestones is her recognition of visually amusing events. In other words, we don't have to tickle her anymore to get her to laugh. If she sees something funny, she'll let you know what she thinks. Witness her amusement here as she watched Fionn playing with the plastic ring from the top of a water jug.
I just cannot get enough of that laugh. She laughs so much now, about everything. I don't care what kind of day you're having - if you hear that little giggle of hers, it makes everything seem right with the world.
Another milestone we've failed to adequately capture on video is her newfound verbal skill. She woke up this past Saturday morning and decided to start shouting: "Yahyahyahyahbahdahyahyah!" for the rest of the day. This new ability is pretty exciting for her. In fact, she refuses to fall asleep at nap time because she would much rather talk to herself.
Speaking of naps, Eily has taken to falling asleep on her stomach - much to my fear. The nervous mother in me totally comes out when I walk into her room and see her like this:
I asked the pediatrician what I could do to get her to stop this, but he has assured me (on two occasions now) that if she can roll into this position, she can roll out of it. In other words, stop being a nervous mom.
Which reminds me, I totally forgot to update you all on her weight check! If you remember my Mini Me post from last month, Eily was considerably smaller than most babies her age. After making the switch to formula and upping her solid food intake a bit, she managed to gain two whole pounds in one month! That's more than the previous 3 months weight gain combined! Here's a recent pic of her exploration with food. The blueberries were a hit, though they were a bit on the messy side. She even managed to give herself a blueberry fu manchu.
Her pediatrician was very happy with her progress and has absolutely no concerns about her growth now. She's also pushing herself up onto her arms a lot these days and appears to want to get up onto her knees as well. Perhaps she will crawl someday after all?
Okay, you're probably wondering when this one's going to end. But seriously, I don't update all that often these days, so this one has to carry you through until I find time in March to write again. Besides, I've only got the kitchen update, and then I'm calling it a day.
So here it is. The video pretty much speaks for itself, but here's a quick rundown of our progress. Jesse has a friend named Jesse (making it very confusing when the three of us are in the same room) who is a contractor. He offered to take a look at our plans and gave Jesse (mine) some great advice on how to proceed. We've officially obtained a building and plumbing permit for the work, which thankfully does not need to be done by any licensed individuals. It all just needs to pass inspection before we finish everything. This video contains yet another interesting (but good) find.
And here are a couple of photos with all of the plaster from the walls and ceiling removed.
Finally, here's one last video for you to enjoy. Eily has started making this silly face where she smooshes her lips together and breathes really fast in and out of her nose. It's hilarious to watch, and I got her doing it on video this morning. (Be sure to give a listen to David Bowie in the background. Eily already loves him almost as much as I do.)
Alright, I think it's time to call it quits for this post. I've exhausted everyone, including poor Eily.
