It's Christmas Time

There's nobody to blame about the lack of activity on this blog except Dean!! I've been lax in doing so, or for those that really know me, lax means just plain lazy.

Things have been going great the last couple of months. Holland is growing like crazy and still changing every day. Jenn and I both feel so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy, happy little girl. She is such a joy to be around and makes our lives complete!! Even when she almost bit the tip of daddy's nose off!!

Alright, enough of the sappy stuff. Here's the Reader's Digest version of the last couple of months. Holland was an angel (of course she was) for Halloween. While Jenn was off in Cabo, Dean's mom came in town and we had our first Halloween together. Holland has continued to support LSU on Saturday's, even though they have been stinking it up like her diapers!

She hasn't found any food that she doesn't like so far as seen with it all over her face. If it isn't nailed down and in arms reach of her, she's going to get it and it will end up in her mouth. Even Bella's nasty toys!!

We all went back down to Pineville for Thanksgiving and she loved seeing her grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins. Her grandparents in Bowling Green come down when they can to see her but everybody just can't seem to get enough of her.

Bella is still doing very well with her. Bella and I get her up every morning after Jenn leaves for school and we all hang out and eat and then I take her to the sitter's house. Our sitter is awesome about sending pictures almost every day so that is actually why I don't update this very much. I just forward those photos to people and then don't think about doing this.

We took her to see Santa yesterday and she was awesome!! As we expected, she was interested in Santa's beard but when we finally got her attention, she smiled right at the camara with her tongue sticking out, which is another of her favorite things to do.

Enjoy the following photos and if there is not another post until after Christmas, we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or Happy Channukah and a Happy New Year.

Look at me Jump

I know it's been a while so here a bunch of recent photos. They include her first injury from a dopped toy on her face/eye, her first Western Kentucky tailgating experience, a trip to Jackson's Orchard, rolling under her Boppy and getting stuck, sleeping in the car and just being cute. Enjoy.

Growing Like a Weed

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated everyone. Things are going great here. Holland is growing like crazy and is so much fun to be around. She is such a little clown and cuts up all the time. A lot has happened since our last update so let's see if I can get everyone caught up.

We had baby dedication at church a couple of weeks ago. Her Gigi came from Louisiana to spend a few days with her and stayed for the dedication. Jenn's family came down from Bowling Green and we had a good time afterwards eating bar-b-que and hanging out. Her great grandfather held her for the first time and looked good doing it!!!

She is finally starting to figure out the whole sitting up thing. She can't quite do it by herself for a long time but she's getting close. She loves eating her cereal!!!! She caught on pretty quickly and knows what's coming when she sees the bottle and the bowl. She even grabbed the spoon from Jenn and tried to feed herself but it didn't quite work. But, she knows what it's for.

She still has not watched her first LSU game with daddy yet. She was in Bowling Green for the first game and the second one was rescheduled due to Hurricane Gustav. The game this weekend won't be on local TV so she'll have to wait until next weekend for the Auburn game. We made sure she had on her LSU gear for the Applachian St. game, though.

She has started to crawl, but only on her knees and face!!! She hasn't quite figured out that her arms and hands are for locomotion too and not her face!! We're scared if we don't keep a close eye on her that she'll end up with carpet burn on her cheek.

She's also cutting a tooth....a back tooth!!!! We never thought she wouldn't cut a front tooth first. Knock on wood, but it hasn't bothered her too much. She just chews on her thumb and makes it feel better.

Anyway, enough of the words and enjoy the slideshow. We'll try to update it more regularly. It's been crazy around here.

Whassup

Well, Holland has discovered her bottom lip. She won't suck on a pacifier, she will suck her thumb every now and then, but yesterday was a first. She was sitting in her swing and I looked over at her as she was making a loud noise and saw that she had completely sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen or heard!!! We're scared, though, she is going to end up with badly chapped lips if she doesn't stop it.

We went to church Sunday and put her in the nursery for the first time. They absolutely loved her. They said she was so much fun to be around and that she smiled the whole time and had a blast with everyone.

Daddy is trying to get her ready for her first football season. She looks really good in purple and gold and it won't be long until she has the Golden Girl Stadium Salute down!! That's going to be awesome!!!

Anyway, her Gigi will be here Wednesday and get to spend several days with her so we'll talk to everyone soon.

Olympics and Cereal

Well, it was an interesting last week and weekend around the Bates household. We had an Olympic Opening Ceremony party Friday night and all that came brought a dish from different countries. We had dishes from America (obvious), Thailand, Japan, Germany, Ethiopia (Dean), Greece, Italy, Mexico and China (Jenn). It was a great turnout, and, as usual we had way too much food. Holland represented France as she had on an outfit Jenn's mom got her in France a few weeks ago.



Holland also went to the doctor last week for her 4 month shots. She was 16 lbs 2 oz. which is in the 75th percentile and was 26 inches long which is in the 97th percentile for her age. She is definitely following in the footsteps of the Hollands with her height and is slimming down quite a bit. She also had her first encounter with cereal this weekend. It was quite interesting as she was trying to figure out the texture and the idea that we were putting something in her mouth besides nasty tasting medicine (she is still being treated for reflux). Her second encounter with the cereal went very well as she started to recognize the spoon and the idea that something warm and good tasting came along with it. We miss all of you and hope to see everyone soon.

My First Ski Trip

We all went to Barren River Lake up in Kentucky Saturday and went skiing!!! We rented a pontoon boat in addition to Jim Ed's ski boat and Holland did awesome!! She stayed on the pontoon all day under the canopy and out of the sun. She loved feeling the wind in her hair as we rode around the lake. We also put her life jacket on and got her in the lake with daddy. She did not have a problem with that at all and she stayed in the water for about 10 minutes. Her chin started to chatter when she got cold in the water so we got her out and she ended up taking about a 45 minute nap on the boat after that. We brought some small fans and put them on her while the boat was not moving and she was very comfortable.

All in all, we had a blast and it was well worth bringing her out there. Daddy can barely move today after skiing all day. He hasn't used a lot of those muscles in quite some time and they are letting him know about it. We taught Holland's Uncle Brian how to ski and we think he is ready to take it up as a sport. We have a feeling he is just a sore!!!

Sitter

Holland went to the sitter (Ms. Lori) today for the first time. Jenn went to school to work in her room so she took Holland to Ms. Lori's mid-morning to get used to the surroundings. The other kids loved having Holland around and were very curious. She took her full nap while she was there and was in a good mood when she woke up. Jenn got there to pick her up right before she woke up and said she could see her in the monitor as she was waking up. She looked around for a second or two trying to figure out where she was and then started to smile and "talk."

We feel really good about Ms. Lori's and hope it goes well. Holland will be there all day starting Friday, that is, if daddy doesn't try to stay home with her all day!!!

This weekend is going to be a big weekend for us all. We are going up to Kentucky to go skiing!!!! It will be Holland's first trip on a boat. We want to introduce her to boats and the water as much as possible right now since we will be getting a boat next spring. This will also be the first time we've skied in 2 summers. I just hope neither one of us hurts ourselves!!! We'll take plenty of pictures and post them when we return.