Weekend in the Lou

We went to St. Louis for my grandma's visitation and funeral and stayed to spend some time with one of my aunts who was in town with her grandson.

While we were in we also spent some time visiting old friends and neighbors. We stopped at one of my friend's parent's house (she wasn't there) to show off Miss Libby and they of course LOVED her! Next stop was to my best friend from elementary school's house. We saw her, her parents, and her sister who is also named Libby. We didn't name our Libby after her but she is how and why I loved the name in the first place.




















Libby in the pool. She's unhappy because she doesn't like that hat. It slides down and covers her eyes at times.






















Karl discovered Libby's big girl carseat this weekend too.

TLA

Just a Sunday Post

I hate to start off a posting with sad news, but this afternoon Tricia's grandma passed away. She was 81.

On Thursday evening, our Parents as Teachers parent educator came by the house for her scheduled visit. PAT is a really good program that is offered through Columbia Public Schools, and is offered in many school districts throughout the country. The parent educator comes by prior to birth, and then about every 6-8 weeks afterwards. When she comes by, she always hands out literature to us about what Libby should be experiencing as she grows older, what milestones she'll hit during the next 6-8 weeks, and how her development should be progressing. Some of these flyers will talk about not smoking around the baby, how you shouldn't let the baby cry too much, attachment issues, etc. One of the ones that we got on Thursday dealt with the important role that fathers play in the development of the child. Begin rant now.

This flyer got me thinking about how many fathers really aren't around, or how many fathers are passive performers in their child's infancy. Maybe I take fatherhood for granted - my dad was always around for me and helping me learn. However, there are many dads who don't take the time to really become an active participant in their child's lives. It's just something I don't get. For Libby, for example, every night before bed I feed her and get her ready for bed. I always tell her good night and give her a kiss before she goes to bed. We take turns changing her, feeding her, holding her...you know, all that stuff. Now, I know that it's probably just my naivete coming through when I expect dad's to really be supportive of their wives and their children and to share the parenting duties, but that's not the case. Soapbox rant over.

MK

We should go swimming everyday

Libby went swimming for the first time yesterday. She seemed to like it. We went to a public indoor pool and played during their swim time for 0-5 year olds. She sat with me and looked all around at everything. Then we got home and she slept the rest of the day! She was worn out!!

We've noticed that she's starting to get bored with some of her toys, for example, her bouncy seat that she loved is less than entertaining these days. So we've started putting her in her exersaucer, which she doesn't really know how to entertain herself yet but seems to like it. I also bought her a seat that will sit her upright. She loves to sit in it and look at a mirror! She knows that she's hot stuff!




TLA

Drooling and Pictures

Libby turns 3 months old tomorrow - it's really hard to believe that she's really that old already!

Today's been a difficult day for her. Most likely, we played a part in it - last night, she was sleeping so soundly in her swing that we let her sleep. I got home at 6:45 or so, and she didn't wake up until 9:00 or so. Now, on the whole it doesn't sound that bad. However, she decided that since she missed a meal while she was sleeping, she wanted to wake up every couple of hours. Tricia got not much solid, straight through sleep last night because of this. Then today, she's been really fussy and hasn't wanted to rest much at all.

We've been noticing in the past couple of days that she's been drooling a whole lot more than she ever has. Well, we, being the dorks that we are, start looking up symptoms of teething in our baby books. Could this be it? Is this why she's fussy and drooly?

Earl absolutely loves Libby. It's really funny to see his interactions with her. He always wants to be near her if she's in her bouncy seat or playing on the floor. If he can get near her feet, no matter if she's asleep or awake, he must lick her feet. Definitely a cute thing.

We've taken a few new pictures of Libby in the last couple of days, and considering that's the main reason that most of you all come to this page, here you go. Enjoy!

MK


Libby being Libby and smiling




Libby as a cow with her hooded towel on her head

Libbydini

Up until this week at bedtime we would swaddle (wrap her very tightly) Libby in a blanket and she would sleep that way. Well, this week she learned how to get out of it sometime through the night. I'm not just talking about getting one arm out or something like that - I would go into her room and find her with both arms out and her legs totally uncovered as well. She's "Libbydini"! So today I was on a mission to find some sleep sacks for her to sleep in. It's basically a fleece blanket that she can wear so that it won't end up around her face and I don't need to worry about her suffocating. I finally found some at JC Penney which is great because they have "The Biggest Sale of the Year" pretty much every week.

I've had some people ask how to comment on here. I believe that you just click that you'd like to comment and you can write comments as an anonymous user. When you are finished you need to "publish" your comment and it should show up. We love to read people's comments!!

Daddy and Libby taking a little nap...



Libby in her favorite place - on her changing pad



TLA

Just a Picture

Here we are on the 4th of July.

Things you learn after a year

We found out tonight that our backyard used to be a dump for the neighborhood. The front half of the neighborhood is about 20 years older than the part we live in and apparently our yard was the dumping ground for the builders when they were finished with paint cans, concrete slabs, etc. It sure explains all the gravel in the yard (there was a gravel road that pretty much circled our backyard). And it also explains why our fairly flat yard turns into Lake Kosher when it rains any little bit. I guess water doesn't drain too well through trash. Our neighbor lived in their house when ours was being built and said that when they built our house they tried to dig up as much of the trash as they could but soon gave up and just put some soil and seed on the ground instead (which tells us why we can't seem to keep a living lawn in the back). I guess our neighbor one time dug up a concrete slab about the size of a front stoop from his yard...

TLA

More Quiz Fun and Life in a War Zone

OK, seeing as how we don't know if anyone will be deported from the last quiz we posted, how about checking out this logic quiz: http://www.astrohoroscopes.com/puzzles/quiz/astro_quiz.html. I think this is pretty good!

Our 4th of July went well. We went to a BBQ at some friend's house and had a really good time. Libby was awesome! Of course everyone wanted to see her and hold her! She laid on a blanket on the floor and was cooing and making all kinds of noises trying to talk to everyone. She thought really hard about rolling over to see me a few times...she lifted her shoulder up but just couldn't manage to get her hips going too. We're thinking that it'll be no time at all that she's rolling over on her own. She's growing up!

However, the 4th of July night was a different story at the Kosher household. Our house is outside of the city limits, which means that anyone and their brother can let off fireworks from their homes. I'm not just talking about bottle rockets and Roman candles...I'm talking big-deal fireworks. Starting around 9ish, it sounded like we lived in downtown Baghdad. Libby couldn't sleep - she wanted to cuddle with us. Earl was terrified - he wouldn't go outside unless we went with him, and even then it was sketchy. Bubba laid on the bed with us and wanted to be near us the whole time. Zeb curled up with me and was cowering down during the big booms. As much as we love living in the county, the whole fireworks issue would make us leave to go back inside city limits. I know tonight'll probably be bad as well. I dread the times that the fireworks stands are open, as all the idiots are out wanting to blow stuff up. Ugh.

MK