Pics from Palm Sunday

Pictures from Palm Sunday -- Grandmommy and Grandaddy's visit:

Playing with her Easter Hat and gloves before the big day!
Getting lots of attention from Grandmommy and Grandaddy!

Daddy and Holly before church

Looking pretty in her Palm Sunday dress.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!
Holly had a grand time Easter egg hunting, playing with her Easter loot and being showered with attention!


Below is the video of her Easter egg hunt. See if you can hear the words Egg and Hat.

Love, Tea and Cats

Last night, prompted my my encouragement, Holly told me she loved me "uv moma".... it was the most precious thing ever spoken.... my heart melted!!!

Below are pictures of Cleocatra kneeding on Holly and Holly actually NOT attacking her and trying to kiss her..... a first. Holly does love her kitties.

Today I had Tea at the Adolphus with my Mom, Sister, and Peggy Pate. Mom took me to celebrate my birthday. It was a lovely experience. Holly wasn't allowed, too young. Daddy took care of her at home. David read to Holly from TS Elliots book of practical cats, which is what the musical "CATS" is based on.... particularly they read about Rum-Tum Tugger.... my favorite cat from CATS.

Lovins

A special treat.... something very difficult to catch on video..... the illusive "Lovins" given by Miss. Holly Lyn. She used to do this all the time when she was first learning to walk, but lately she hasn't done much of it, so we thought we better catch it on film!

For those of you that don't already know.... I've finally finished reading the last book (Breaking Dawn) in the twilight series. I really liked it and I am still firmly planted in team Edward..... that's not to say I don't like Jacob just fine.

Holly's Tummy & Valentine's Day

As you all know by now, Holly's had tummy troubles. We found out (via a miserable upper GI) that she has Reflux, which most children eventually grow out of. Her formula has been changed (by her new pedi.) and she has not thrown up in two and a half weeks.... that's the longest she's gone since December 19th..... woo hoo!!

We think that when you combine the Reflux with the formula and some food intolerances, as her little body learns to adjust to "table food", you have the answer to why she's been so sick and why she's doing better, now.

Also, we now know that what her other pedi thought was an eye infection is actually eye allergies. We have been given allergy eye drops to help with that.

Going back a month or so (sorry I'm so delinquent) here are some pictures from Valentine's Day.

Her Daddy gave her flowers, which she loved smelling and feeling.

Our visit to the Arboretum

Over the weekend Holly, Marmee and Mommy took a trip to the Dallas Arboretum. It was a lot of fun and a perfect day -- cloud covered but still warm.



Here's Holly at the entrance in front of some very lovely daffodils.





Holly was fascinated with the misters that kept the plants moist.

The tulips in this picture were Holly's favorites.

Holly liked to sniff the purple hyacinths.

Her favorite part of the day was running around in circles in the beautiful grass!

Holly's Eye

Doctor thinks that Holly's eye irritation is some sort of allergic reaction to something that got in her eye. They did a dye test to check and make sure it was not scratched (Holly hated it!) and it is not. It is not Pink-Eye because there is no congestion in the eye. She did say it is very irritated from her rubbing it. We're putting saline drops in every few hours (except at night) and if it is not better by around noon Monday we're supposed to start giving her antibiotic eye drops. We're not suposed to give her any allergy type drops yet, she's still too young for that. We were given sample size saline drops from the doctor and we have a prescription to fill if we need the antibiotic drops.

My MIL brought up a good question... had I tried to explain Emily (Katie's new sister) to Holly. No, I haven't. I can't even imagine how to explain that. I think I'll just wait until she actually sees Emily, then try to explain. I wonder what she'll think. It makes me feel for Heather... she must be so excited to see Katie and Emily interact.

PS.... My sister (Aunt M) is bringing me the fourth Twilight book tomorrow. I can hardly wait to read it!! My friend Rene read them (all four) in seven days..... that's over 2,000 pages.... she's like the fastest reader ever!!

Pictures of Emily

Happy Valentine's Day!!! XOXO

You can see pictures of Emily (Katie's new baby sister). Look on the left undery my blog list, you'll find "Katie, Emily, Heather and Karl - The Keatings".... click on that, then you'll see a pictre of Emily to click on that takes you to more pictures. I went to see her at the hospital yesterday. Heather and Emily are both doing amazingly well.

Holly's eye is irritatied - it's been this way for a couple of days. Her Daddy is going to take her to see doctor Hull today.

We haven't been doing much, except get ready for the floors on Monday. Thursday afternoon Marmee came to watch Holly while I worked. Yesterday, Grangie (Dawn) came to watch Holly. Holly was lovin' it!! They had loads of fun!

Emily has arrived!!

Good News! Our friend Heather (Katie's Mom) had her baby, Emily Marie at 9:17 this morning. She weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces and is 19.25 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing well. Emily is reportedly eating like a champ! Woo Hoo! We are so happy for the Keating family! I'll post a pic as soon as I have one.


In the mean time, here are a few Holly pics..... she loves to play "IN" boxes or anything that seems like one.

Holly is really into the word "NO" right now. I don't think she knows exactly what it means. She seems to say it whenever she wants to control what is happening, not when she really means NO. She has also learned to shake her head "Yes" which is coming in handy.

Daddy gave Holly a "Heart Bear" for Valentine's Day (Mommy got a dozen red roses). The bear is red and has hearts all over it, including a heart nose. Holly loves to point them out and say "hot" (which means heart). She knows what it is and loves to show it off. She made the sign for bear today..... so cute! Very rewarding when she picks up a sign.

Picky Eating

Holly's officially in the "picky toddler" eating phase (per Dr.Hull -- I was worried because she wanted more and more formula and quit eating fruit and most veggies).

She eats mostly formula (in a straw cup), avocados and cheerios.

The other day she got a bit overzealous with the avocado and then fell asleep in her high-chair. It was sooooo adorable! As long as she's eating her formula she's getting all the nutrition she needs, but she does have to learn to eat eventually so we're working on getting it down to three formula cups a day.

I tried to skip the morning cup the other day.... big boo boo.... suffice it to say, she was not happy, she thought it was bottle weaning all over again. So, we will continue to have the morning cup. I'll try one of the mid morning or mid afternoon cups instead.

Sunday we went to Pojo's birthday party -- it was a lot of fun. Holly was so busy, the whole time. Mary and Matthias were helping her a long and Pojo and Grangie were just enammered with their grandbaby!

Monday we went to the St.Vincent De Paul's (Heather & Katie's church) Mommy & Me -- it was lots of fun, we got to play with all kinds of unfamiliar toys.

Yesterday we went to Kindermusik and learned some new signs (which help stimulate additional vocabulary). Holly can now say keys (which she already said, but didn't know it ... she says Key for Katie). We also realized that she is making her own sign for more (or a lot). She touches her right index finger to her left palm.

We're having our floors re-done next week. Holly and I will be at Marmee's during the day while they work on the house. We're looking forward to the adventure!

Holly has decided that it is hilarious to pull Cyndell's tail..... as you can imagine, Cyndell isn't so happy about that. We're working on it.

Holly LOVES her blocks -- her favorite toys right now. We clap together every time she stacks a block. Also, she is OBSESSED with "The Going to Bed Book" by Sandra Boynton. She doesn't want me to read any other bed time books except that one. Over and over and over. It's really cute... but I'm getting a little sick of that book. I think she likes the animals (there's a pink piggy, a cat, a moose, etc...), moon, and boat.

She is so much fun to play with, now days, and she is so adorably cute.... I just love being her Mommy. Better run... we have a play date this morning!

Baby Love at the Ziplock Party at Alec's

Today we went to a Ziploc Party at Alec's. Sherri (Lily's Mom) won the party from an organization called House Parties and we got all kinds of free stuff from Ziploc. Good times! It was at Alec & Kristin's house. At one point Holly went up to Johanna (the twins, Camden & Greyden's Mom) and hugged her... it was super cute. Here's a picture of what happened next....

I don't think I can say this any better, so here's what Johanna had to say about this picture (above). "Here's a picture of Holly being kiss attacked by the twins... I still get all warm and fuzzy thinking about it. And - Holly totally made my day by deliberately coming over to give me a hug!!!"

I LOVE IT!!!

Holly took a two hour nap after we got home! Woo Hoo!!!

Katie's

Left is a picture of Holly trying to "sample" the Ephiany cake that I made (trial run for Pojo's b-day).

Hollys allergies are still acting up a little bit, but she doesn't seem to notice, much. Last night she woke up screaming -- we think she must have had a bad dream. She stayed up for about an hour and then I was able to coax her back to sleep.

Yesterday we brought lunch to Katie & Heather's. Heather is going to have a baby, Emily, any day now. We are sooo excited for them. The girls were so cute together -- they were chasing each other around in a big circle (from the living room, through the kitchen, down the hall and back around again) , just for the fun of it. It was particularly cute when Katie was chasing Holly because she would say "Haw-ee" in a worried voice when Holly went around the corner and then laugh like crazy when she saw her again. At one point Heather, had Holly on one side of her lap and Katie on the other... with her pregnant tummy between them! So cute. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Holly got sick last night

Holly woke up at about midnight last night (half an hour after I went to bed... ughhh...) and threw up about three times (we gave her a zofran after that). She seems fine this morning (stomach wise). I don't know why she was sick. She's also got some congestion, coughing and sneezing, which doesn't seem like much more than allergies. We're going to try to see doctor Hull today.


Below are some pictures of Holly sitting backward in her chairs at her new table. The pajamas she's in are really cute... they've got owls all over them.

Good Video

The video below is hilarious!! See if you can spot Holly saying, One, Dada, Cat and Again. She also laughs like crazy and kisses the cat.

Burrrr!!

Wow is it cold! This morning we bundled Holly up and took her outside to "walk" on the ice -- which she hasn't ever seen before. We waited until the sun was out, but before it had a chance to melt the ice. Holly liked walking on the crunchy grass -- she was very puzzled by it. Then we held her up (we were in the grass) while she "walked" on the ice on the sidewalk -- she loved slip sliding around. She was mad when we went back inside.... but it was just too cold!

Kissing her favorite toys

The latest super-cute thing that Holly does is..... If she likes a toy (i.e. her stuffed kitty) she kisses it over and over, while making an adorable smacking noise. I'll have to see if I can get a video of her doing this.

Socks in the Toilet & our friend Megan (or is it Eggin'?)

Yesterday Holly deoposited four pairs of socks into the toilet -- before I realized what she was doing! Little sneek. She loves to play in the sock drawer... always good for at least 20 minutes of entertainment while I get ready in the morning. Above is a picture of Holly wearing one of Mommy's socks -- she's convinced they belong on her arms instead of her feet.

We went to story time at the library yesterday. We hadn't been in a while, so it was really nice to sing the "old" songs. Holly decided to say bye to her friend Megan, so she said "ba ba Eggin"... it was soooo cute!! Below is a picture of Megan from one of our recent play dates.

Getting back to it

Well, we've been out of it for a few days. Recovering from our trip to Friendswood (getting back on schedule) and preparing for and throwing a shower for Heather and her soon to be delivered baby Emily.

Monday we went to a Popcorn Playdate at Rian and Kenleigh's house. It was good to see everyone. I've never seen that many flavors of popcorn in one place! Fun times.

Tuesday we did some last minute preparations for Heather's baby shower and we had lunch with Heather and Katie at Gloria's.... YUM!

Today we were at Stephanie Cole's house, which is where we had the shower for Heather. It was a success. Heather's Mom, Nana and several of her friends were there... along with six babies! It was a busy day and lots of good fun. Holly only took one little 45 minute nap, before the shower, so I'm thinking she's going to be easy to put to bed tonight, hopefully.

Holly's naps haven't been going very well lately. She wants to take one short nap in the morning and then that's it. What she needs is one LONG nap in the afternoon. We'll have to work on that. She still loves the word button.... first thing she says when she wakes, last thing she says before bed. I have a video of it.... I need to post it.... maybe tomorrow.... must go bathe Holly.

Dancing, Sick, and Katie

This is a video of Holly doing her dance:

Holly got sick, again, last night. She had fish for dinner, we're sure that's what did it. She must have an intolerance, since she is not showing any other signs of allergy, like hives, rash, or breathing troubles. She was perfectly fine this morning.

I would be totally remiss if I didn't publish a picture of Holly's best-little-friend Katie. Katie and Holly were born only two days apart and have been around each other since they were four months old. I love this picture of Katie.

Play Date at Adam's

Well, it's official....Holly is completely weaned from her bottle (since the weekend after New Years) and is down to one nap per day. My little girl is growing up!

Today we went to a play date at Stephanie and Adam's house. Left is a picture of Kristin & Alec (left) and Stephanie & Adam (right)... Colin is hanging out, too (far right on the floor). It's from a play date at our house during Christmas.

Still haven't finished packing away Christmas decorations... maybe tonight?