Mohawk

While getting ready for church this morning, Tyler re-styled Lillian's hair.

It didn't lay right all day.

Boo allergies

Year one: I never had allergies until I moved to San Luis Obispo. My first spring here, I thought I had a cold that was lasting for months. Tyler suggested it could be allergies, so I got a prescription for Allegra, and life was wonderful again.

Year two: My second spring here, I was married and had no insurance. I got through the first part of allergy season with a lot of Kleenexes and Claritin, but was still mostly miserable. Then, I experienced something called Eustachian tube malfunction (Caitlin, I know you feel me on this), and I couldn't hear or breathe, or see. Thus, going from mostly miserable, to all miserable.

Year three: I was pregnant and developed asthma to go along with my allergies. My doctor said that Claritin was no longer an option, so I got along with Benedryl and lived in a fog for 3 months. Then my asthma got worse, so I had to use a steroid inhaler, which gave me a permanent sore throat.

Year four: Which brings us up to date. I took a Claritin the other day, and it did about as much good a mint. I tried a Benedryl against medical advice, and Lillian slept for 17 hours. What to do? I bought some allergy relief eye drops, but the soothing relief promised remained illusive. Then, I saw it on Oprah:
The one they had on TV looked like a little tea pot but they didn't sell those at the neighborhood Rite Aid. This is the one I bought, and it's essentially a squirt bottle. It comes with little salt packets, so you mix up your own saline, and rinse out your nose. It's very far from what I'd call 'pleasant.' I do it twice a day and while it doesn't keep me 100% allergy free, it keeps me at a tolerable level.

Garden!

I decided I wanted a garden, which was tricky because of our living situation: upstairs apartment, all parking lot, no grass. So, I had Tyler build a planter that would stick in between the cars and the gate at the end of the parking lot.


Our bishop lives on a couple acres, so we went up to his property and asked if we could dig a hole. Not only did he give us that dirt, he also donated their compost pile, which is contained in the black trash bag.




Because we got started late, we just bought starter plants. Italian giant and Sugar sweet tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, basil, red bell pepper, cucumber, watermelon, and in seed form: romaine lettuce, giant radishes, and one pumpkin.

The dog sweater

I have a friend named Patrick. Patrick is an engineer, a mechanical engineer I believe.


Whether it's the fact that he's Chinese or an engineer, I'm not sure, but Patrick views the world very differently.


He thought about what to get Lillian. He pictured a baby crawling and thought, "babies crawl on all fours, just like a dog.


"Wouldn't it stand to reason that if a baby assumes the posture of a dog, then dog clothing would fit much better than people clothing, which is designed to have the arms coming out at the sides, instead of the front?"


And that is how Lillian came to be the proud owner of a doggie sweater.

Pillow to the face

Why do babies like this?

Easter Eggs

In the spirit of the Ashby family, we tried to take our easter egg dying up a notch this year. Notice the use of crayons, and this year met the debut of using candle wax.



Also, I came out of the bedroom to find this, and no Tyler, who was supposed to be watching the baby. Apparently, he found a new babysitter.

Bib Advice

Lillian hates her bib. Sometimes. Well, maybe 70% of the time. If she forgets it's there, or if she doesn't see me put it on, there's no problem. But, other times... tonight, for example, Tyler was feeding blueberry and apple puree to a bibbed Lillian. She noticed her bib and started to tug at it, but I told Tyler to not let her take it off; who wants more laundry? She pulled and pulled until it came unvelcroed. Later that night during her bath, I noticed that in the throes of bib-pulling passion, she had actually cut up the back of her neck. That was a first, but is it the last?

Do I force her to wear one?

Do I just feed her naked?

Do I only feed her non-staining foods like cheerios and vanilla yogurt?

Do I just let all her shirts get stained?

Am I fighting a losing battle against the laundry anyway, thus any attempts at prohibiting staining or soiling are, in essence, futile?

Taggie blanket 1.0

With Allison's help and good suggestions, I have completed my first taggie blanket. It's pretty much just a square of fabric with little ribbon tags all along the outside. My husband was very confused about how the baby was going to fit into such a small blanket. It's not for wrapping them up, it's more of a toy.

Thanks Allison!

Alcatraz

When you break the rules, you go to prison. When you break the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz.


On the ferry.


Everyone around us thought this was pretty much the cutest thing they'd ever seen.


San Francisco from the island.


This cell was where Frank Morris made a dummy head to make it look like he was asleep, and with two others escaped through an air vent. They were never seen again.

Lillian was such a trooper. After this we took a bus to Chinatown, which for her, was the highlight of the trip; every bump in the road, every person who walked past, it was all pure ecstasy.

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.

It's always fun when Grandma comes!

Mom came to visit over Presidents' Day weekend, so these are a few weeks old. Mom, using her new fangled camera phone.



Remember this?

Cure Autism Now

My nephew Tyler is autistic. Amy (his mom and my sister) set up a walking team to participate in the Autism Walk. I'm really excited to walk with her and show my support. However, just walking won't cure Autism, or help Tyler. What we need is donations. If you would like to help out, and really, five dollars will help, go to the Walk Now website and click on Los Angeles, April 28th from the list on the left. You can search for my name, Amanda Ball, or you can poke around and donate to Team Tyler. Thanks.

It's February!!!

I opened up my eyes this morning to a beautiful day, more beautiful than I had seen in months, or maybe a week. I walked outside, threw my head back, and laughed; it's February and 70 degrees outside. I am going to be sad when we have to leave this place, but I'm even more determined to enjoy it while I'm here.

Celebrity Look-alike

Lillian looks like these celebrities, apparently.

Irish Hills Natural Preserve

Irish Hills Natural Preserve is just to the west of San Luis. I had never been there before, but was told it was beautiful. Which is true, it is. It gave us a chance to try out our new hiking backpack, graciously donated by my wonderful sister Amy. While I thought it was great, and still do, Lillian was a little less than thrilled with the whole set up. Even after my suggestion of pretending we were pioneers working to cross the Rockies, she was still screaming. I thought it was a fun game.


These mountains (even though people from elsewhere insist that they aren't mountains, yet the definition of mountain is just an area that is noticeably taller than the land around it) are called the Seven Sisters (even though there are officially nine of them). They are volcanoes, which I think is cool, and they string all the way from San Luis to Morro Bay, Morro Rock being the last in line.

We went with our friend Liz, who is an avid biker, both road and mountain. Here she is pretending to be on her bike like in the Citi Bank commercial.


By the end, Lillian reconciled herself to the back pack. Maybe because when I was wearing it, she could pull my hair.