Thanks Uncle Sam!!

With our tax return, I bought a sewing machine. The extent of my sewing history is as follows: I made a pillow in 8th grade home ec, one pair of capri pants with a zipper, and an skirt with an elastic waistband. I felt like I could tackle anything in the 'Sew Easy!' section of the pattern book. Pictured above is me cutting out the fabric that was to become the little dress, pictured below.


Not pictured: at least five phone calls to Allison, three to Mom, searching the internet about things I felt I should know (like, what's bias tape) so was too embarrassed to call Allison (or I had just gotten off the phone with her), numerous cursings of the bobbin, unpicking each sleeve twice, and wondering at least 100 times why people think sewing is fun.


But, it's so (sew) cute. I made a larger size, which is why Lillian is chewing on it, and not wearing it. A big thank you to all who contributed to this dress, including Uncle Sam.

Geez.

As seen here, Lillian has developed the pincer grasp and can feed herself. The day this happened, she said no thank you to being fed. Goodbye applesauce and yogurt. Hello puffs.


The problem was that she was never hungry enough to eat, so I stopped breastfeeding her so much. Then she got a cold, which threw everything out of whack, and she wanted to nurse all the time and never ever eat solid foods (yogurt or otherwise).


Now, mealtimes are extremely distressing. We've gone back to less breastfeeding in an effort to get her to eat more solids. But, as you can see, it's not going well. Everything makes her cry. We tried these eggs only after trying two different types of crackers, applesauce, yogurt, bananas, and the chicken casserole that we were eating for dinner.


This is Lillian spitting out the scrambled eggs, like she spit out countless foods before. I think the problem is that she doesn't realize that solid foods will make her full when she is hungry; it has heretofore been more of a game for her. However, my efforts to make it more of a serious affair, by forcing her to be hungry at mealtime, are just making her distressed, so she refuses to eat.

I'm not sure what to do. Any ideas?

Inspired by Amy

Trying to crawl. Not quite there though. My visiting teacher predicts that she'll crawl within the week.

Toboggan ride

A couple weekends ago, Lillian and I braved the wild mountain snows with the young men and young women of our ward. Tyler had work and school and such, so he stayed home. It was so much fun, but equally hard as Lillian is developing stranger aversion, and here's 15 or 16 very loud, very "helpful" strangers in her face. She did well, though.

Eating habits

Foods Lillian likes:
Pears, apples, bread, crackers, waffles, bananas in the mesh thing, yogurt

Foods Lillian despises, i.e. she cries upon tasting:
Sweet potatoes, rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas out of the mesh thing, apples with anything mixed in (like apples and bananas or apricots), peas, green beans, any kind of baby food dinner

Foods Lillian tolerates:
rice, kiwi, tofu, cheese

I'm secretly Kathleen Turner

The Ball household, Lillian excepted, has been taken over by the common cold. We've both had sore throats and coughs for a full week now.
The problem is when I get up with Lillian at night, she thinks my coughing is funny and laughs, which is the exact opposite of going back to sleep. So last night, I put a cough drop in my mouth before I went into her room. Upon waking this morning, it was still in my mouth after 4 hours of sleeping. Maybe not the safest thing, but hey, I got four hours of sleep.

Expect the Unexpected

March Madness is in the air. Starting on Thursday, all productivity will cease in the Ball household, and the trash talk will start. March Madness is so much more than college basketball... My involvement started four years ago. It was all so innocent; I hadn't even really heard of March Madness. Claire invited me to be in their family's pool. I was hooked. The desperation of the players facing single elimination, the unrestrained arbitrary attachment to teams with names like Gonzaga, Villanova, and Syracuse (who aren't even in the tournament this year). And the trash talk, which is why filling out a bracket so important. All of a sudden, my split second decision of picking Virginia over Tennessee (because George Washington was from Virginia) is life-or-death.

Tyler and I set up a Challenge on ESPN.com, where you upload your bracket and it keeps track of who's winning for you. If you want to join the fun, leave a comment, and we'll send you an email.

Flying Lillian

Checking for Teeth

Score: Tyler 28, Lillian 0

Favorite Andrew memory

My favorite Andrew memory is when we were little, and we had the white metal bunk beds. He would ask me to tie him up to the bed, and he'd try and get out. I would think and think and try to come up with the most impossible knots and weave the rope through the slats underneath the bed. But, somehow, 5 minutes later, he'd come and get me and ask me to do it again.

Happy birthday, Andrew.