AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

This video is just a conglomeration of stuff from this week. The first part is Jordan spinning Serena and making her dizzy. I promise we have only done this 3 times, and there don't seem to be any negative side affects...other than her staggering about and looking totally stoned for a minute afterwards, haha! Also, Serena has added a new animal sound to her vocabulary (the only other one so far is the lion...ROAR!). Her new one is Macy: "What does Macy say?" "Ahh-ooooooo!" She loves that one! Especially when Macy responds with a howl! :D She's also added another body part to her repertoire (though her bellybutton is by far her favorite still). Serena picked up on where her nose is at thanks to a book Aunt Julie sent for her birthday, The Nose Book. I always point out Serena's nose when I read that book to her. Let's see...what else did I stick in this video...? Oh, her "I love you" sign, which is her version of crossing her arms in front of her...she crosses them down and grabs her wrist. ;) And then there's a bit at the end where she's going to get her diaper changed. For some reason she likes to get her diaper changed, and when I say, "Let's go change your diaper!" Serena will march happily to her room and lay down on her changing pad! Usually she swings her arms along the way (she always does that when she's in a particularly good mood), but she didn't in this video clip...I think she was being shy because I had the camera out. :P Anyway, I hope this one's not too long for you all to be able to load and watch! There's some pretty cute stuff in here! ;)

Playing at the Park

This afternoon, I was pretty tired and not sure I really felt up to my intended walk to the park. So, Jordan made it a lot more fun by driving us there, dropping us off, and then going to get limeades at Sonic for us to enjoy while we were there! He brought the doggies along too, and the kids at the park loved petting them! :)

Serena loves swinging!

Very serious about her self-imposed job of transferring all the wood chips from the playground to the cement

I totally forgot yesterday to mention that it was this blog's first anniversary! Serena has changed a lot from that first post! Keeping this blog has definitely been one of the most rewarding endeavors I have undertaken. It's just amazing to look over the past year on here! With so many of the posts I feel like I just posted them, even though they are already months old. Crazy how time has flown! I'm glad that this blog has helped me capture little bits of these precious days to cherish in the future! Here's to another year of Daily Serena! ;)

Watching the Doggies

Serena loves to go down to the park area by our house to watch Daddy train the doggies!

Sneaking a Little 'Snack'

With the gorgeous weather we've had the last couple of days (highs in the mid-70's, lows in the mid-50's), we've had the windows and the back door open and have been spending a lot of time out in the back yard! It's been wonderful!

As I've mentioned before, Serena likes to pretend to eat things. She'll just randomly put her hand in an empty cup or box or corner and pretend to pick something up and then put her fingers in her mouth. She always gives me a little 'look' when she does it too...like, "Did you see me eat that?" So, I thought nothing of it when she was doing that outside this evening and I snapped this picture. I only wish I'd thought of snapping another picture a couple minutes later when I discovered there was mud dribbling down her chin! Apparently, she had found some tiny clods of dirt that she was putting in her mouth! :P

Funny little eater

More Big Smiles!

Serena looks SO pretty in this dress! I love it!

I taught Serena to sign "I love you" this morning. I made it really simple and just did the one where you cross your arms in front of your chest. She slept till about 7:30 this morning. Jordan and I were already up. I had taken a shower and Jordan was in the process. I was going to start blow-drying my hair, but then thought I might wake Serena up and I wouldn't be able to hear her because I would have the dryer going. And since she was on our bed, that might not be a very safe scenario. So, I decided to just lay down on the bed until Jordan got out of the shower. Of course, as soon as I did, Serena rolled over and opened her eyes and looked at me! I started talking to her really quietly and after a bit she started 'talking' back. We had a nice conversation for a couple minutes and then she sat up and crawled over to me. I said, "I love you!" and she looked at me ever so carefully. I've noticed that she's been doing that lately with that phrase, just like she used to do with "Uh-oh." I said it a few more times, thinking she might make an attempt at saying it. But, "I love you" is a whole lot more complicated than "Uh-oh"! ;) Then I thought I should make it easier by putting a sign with it. So, I said "I love you!" and crossed my arms in front of my chest. Then I said it again and crossed Serena's arms in front of her chest. I did this 3 or 4 times, and then she did it herself! She was so pleased with her new ability and we both laughed! Jordan was out of the shower by then, so I took her in to show off her new sign to Daddy! I'll be working on getting it on video for this Thursday! ;)

Dog Groomer-in-Training

Serena is starting to learn the sign for "all done." I actually use it most regularly when I'm changing her. Since we still don't have a changing table, her pad is on the floor. That's definitely not a big deal at all, except that she can climb off of it a little too easily...like sometimes when I'm not actually done changing her yet! So, she's learned that she's not allowed to get off the changing pad until I say "all done" and do the sign (to do the sign, you have your hands palms up and just turn them palms down). Lately, when I'm about halfway through changing Serena, she will put her right hand out and start twisting it in the air and saying in her high-pitched voice, "uh? uh?" "No, not yet, Serena!" But, when I do give her the "all done" sign, she is so happy as she rolls herself over and climbs off of that pad and walks herself out of the room to find the next thing to do! ;) Signing makes her so happy. Almost every time she signs "more" or "eat" or I do a sign to her, she laughs.

Jordan really got her laughing today! He got her all dizzy for the first time. It was SO funny! We were laughing so hard at her! It all started when he offered to let her hold his finger while he walked her around the house. (I think they were waiting for me to finish something and he was trying to keep her happy.) She thought that was great and didn't want to stop. Whenever he would try to stop, she would come over to him and try to grab his finger again. So, he held her hand and then just turned in a circle while she circled around him. She started laughing and we soon noticed that she was getting a little dizzy! Later, Jordan picked her up and spun around. She laughed and laughed! But, when he was done, we noticed her eyes were going back and forth as if she was watching the room spin around! Haha! It was hilarious! Jordan put her down and she fell sideways onto the floor. It took her a couple minutes to be able to walk straight again! We're definitely going to work on getting a good video clip of it for Thursday! ;)

Oh, and one more funny thing she's up to now. She loves throwing balls. Because of the dogs, we have a few tennis balls around. Tennis balls are perfect since she can pick them up with one hand and they don't cause any damage when thrown! Most of the time when she throws a ball, one of the dogs (usually Rocky, since he loves retrieving the most!) will run and pick it up and bring it to Jordan (if he's home) or to me. Serena is so pleased when the dogs retrieve her ball and she comes and takes it from us so she can throw it again (apparently it doesn't bother her that the dogs NEVER retrieve it back to her). But, when the dogs don't retrieve the ball for her, Serena will stand and point at the ball and point at the dogs and shout commandingly in her high-pitched voice, "Da! Da!" The dogs don't even show any response! Haha!

When Serena saw Daddy sitting on the floor combing the dogs this afternoon she ABSOLUTELY HAD to try it herself! As you can see, she was pretty serious about it (even had the tongue sticking out!). But since we were laughing at her, she started being silly and gave us the enormous cheesy grin you can see in the top right picture! She's such a ham these days!

I definitely see "Brush the dogs" as one of Serena's regular chores someday! ;)

Important Work

Serena likes to sit on Daddy's lap and watch work on the computer

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Today's video got really long...sorry, you guys! Let me know if this is too long for your browsers to download and play. I can always cut it up into shorter videos, though I can't guarantee that I can cut out much content! ;)

The first video has Serena saying "Uh-Oh." The very first clip was Friday afternoon, and you can see how much she improves in getting the "oh" part by Saturday afternoon (which is the clip where she's in her carseat). She still loves to copy Jordan the most, as you'll see when she's in her highchair and growls!

The second video is Serena demonstrating her first signs. :) Neither of them look too much like they're supposed to, but at least she's consistent! "More" is her pointing with her right hand to her left hand and "Eat" is random pointing at her face, haha!

The third video includes a clip from yesterday when Serena was chasing dogs and then a little bit from today when she was yelling at Rocky through the window. She's so funny with him!

"Uh-Oh"

"More" & "Eat"

Chasing the dogs

Rocky Love

I'm not sure if anyone is going to enjoy this picture collage as much as Jordan will! ;)

I promise I did NOT pose these two or do anything to encourage it! I saw Serena giving Rocky 'loves' at a moment when I just (amazingly) so happened to have my camera handy! Since Serena & Rocky's relationship has been a little...um...rocky?...hahaha!...this was truly an amazing moment!

Serena & Rocky. I just had to include the upper right corner picture of Rocky because it's so hilarious! He totally looks like he's winking!!!

Stacking Expert

Serena has suddenly become a stacking expert. I have often stacked the blocks when playing with her, but never coached her in doing so. I was a little surprised when I looked over at her playing and saw that she had carefully stacked two blocks! Now blocks are a lot more fun for her to play with! It's so amazing to me how quickly she's picking up on things and trying to copy us these days!

Stacking (Her bangs are slicked over because she got cantaloupe juice smeared in them during lunch! :P)

Smiles & New Shoes

If you're able to, when you blow up this picture you can see Serena's new tooth poking through on the bottom. That's the one she decided to cut the week we moved. Lovely. :P

Serena LOVES wearing shoes! Whenever I get them out and ask her if she wants to put them on, she comes right over and sits down for me to put them on her. A couple days ago, I got her shoes out and laid them on the floor next to her changing pad (we still don't have a changing table), and laid her down on the pad to change her. She caught sight of the shoes, though, and started pointing at them and going, "Mm, mm!" and making the sign for 'more' because she wanted me to put them on her right now! It was cute! She also goes into my closet and pulls out my shoes now and then and brings them to me, wanting me to put them on even if I am already wearing shoes.

Serena's new (and much-needed) shoes!! They were a 25-cent garage sale find. Baby Gap brand, too! They looked like they'd never been worn, or maybe the baby who owned them before just never walked in them. Serena's wearing size 2 right now, which she is almost ready to grow out of. Size 3 is just way too big and she can't walk in them. Is there such a thing as baby size 2.5? Wish I could find some!

Hodge-Podge

Me & my baby girl :)

For some reason, Jordan's always the popular one at home! If he sits down, Serena and the dogs quickly descend upon him!

I don't know why, but I just love Serena's 'sippy-face'! ;)

Neither of these are super great pictures (she was eating at the time), but I just love how her lashes look in them!

My little Jordan-look-alike!

Backpacking

A couple days ago, Serena brought me her baby doll's backpack/diaper bag and was not content with anything I did with it until I put it on her. She'd never worn it before, and it seems kind of surprising that she would know that was what it was for. But, Jordan mentioned that she would have seen him using his backpack last weekend when he went hunting, and she definitely has been trying to copy him a lot lately! (For example, often when Jordan spoon-feeds Serena, he waves the spoon around to make each bite a little more 'fun.' Today, after Jordan would give her a bite, Serena would start waving her arm around with her hand clenched like she was holding a spoon. Jordan was like, "Why is she doing that now?" And then we figured out that she was copying Jordan!) Anyway, so whatever the reason, Serena now sees her backpack and thinks that she must be wearing it ASAP. She toddles around the house playing with her toys happy as can be with her backpack on her back!

Serena wearing her backpack

She was too intent on 'reading' this book (for the 1,505,603rd time) to give me a smile for the picture

I love when she squats to examine something!

And a bonus....

This is the look she often gives me when Daddy is about to 'get' her!

First Tan Line and First Word (Besides Mama & Dada)

We've been taking Serena to the pool with us 3 or 4 afternoons a week since we got here. We just go for an hour or less, usually, and not until late afternoon. I make sure to slather sunscreen on Serena, and so far we have avoided her getting burned. However, yesterday I noticed that she's getting a tan line! It goes across the middle of her back where her swimsuit hits!

Serena's very first (and very cute) tan line!

All day today Serena has been working on saying "uh-oh." For the last couple days, whenever she would fall down and I would say "uh-oh," she would look at me very carefully. So I would say it again because I could tell she was trying to figure out how I was doing that. Finally this morning she started making attempts at saying it. Until about 4 or 5 o'clock, she would usually only manage the "uh" part. Maybe 30% of the time she'd get an "oh" out...but even that was pretty delayed after the "uh." So pretty much all day I've been saying "uh-oh" back and forth with her. And listening to her say "uh" while she eats, while she plays, while I change her diaper...you get the idea! This evening, when she finally figured out how to put the "uh" and the "oh" together, she became even more obsessed with the word! It's pretty cute and I'm going to try to get it on video tomorrow. This is her first word besides "Mama," "Dada," and "Dah!" (which is doggie), so that's pretty exciting! We've been wondering when she was going to try to come up with a new word. However, unless her enthusiasm for "uh-oh" abates soon, we're going to be even more anxious for the next word to come along, haha!

Oh, another thing we did today was learn the sign for "more." Usually Serena just goes "Ah, ah, ah!" and points at what she wants, so hopefully this will be a step towards learning some table manners. I'll have to work on getting video of that too!

This afternoon, Serena brought me one of her rings from her stacker and I put it on my finger. She thought that was SO neat, and after that she kept wanting to stack rings on my finger! Even later on, when we were sitting on the floor again, she went and got a couple rings, brought them to me, picked up my hand, and started putting them on my finger again! :D

Serena loved the new twist to her stacking game!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Here's a clip of Serena's walking which has earned her the nickname "Frankensteinetta."

Serena is starting to copy sounds more and more. She especially likes to try to growl like Daddy. She is also getting really good at finding her bellybutton, which is pretty cute!

How to Climb into a Crock

First, here's a few bonus pictures...

Playing with her dolly's diaper bag ("What's this, Mommy?")

"Hmmm...what else can I find in here?"

Happy play time!

_____

And now for today's

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

How to Climb into a Crock

"You put your left leg in

You put your left leg out..."

Oh, wait! That's something different!

Keeping your hands on the floor for balance, lift your right leg into the crock next to your left leg.

Next, sit up, not forgetting to grab your toy or book off the floor that you brought over for this purpose.

A crock can be very useful. For example, it is a great place from which to make phone calls.

If the reception is bad, you might have to stand up and move around a little.

To dismount, follow all the same steps in reverse. It can be helpful to have a dog bed on the floor to ensure a soft landing.

Puma Shoes

Serena in her Puma shoes from Aunt Julie! They're SO cute!

I gave Serena a cracker this afternoon for a snack. The silly little girl took it and walked over to the carpet where she laid down to enjoy her cracker! Apparently she was ready for a break! ;D

Baker-in-Training

The oven light at our house in Des Moines did not work, and we just never got around to replacing it. I think that's why Serena is so fascinated with looking at what I've got going on in the oven now!

Watching oatmeal cookies bake

Little Walker

She looks so big toddling around the house!

Busy Getting into Things

Serena walks much more than she crawls now. She toddles around the house, often carrying a toy. Jordan calls her "Frankensteinetta" because her walk is a little reminiscent of Frankenstein! ;D

Serena needs help to play with her shape sorter, so she brings it over to whichever of us is lucky enough to be her choice that time. :) She often pretends to eat/drink out of the shapes (they are hollow), as you can see in the top right picture. It's pretty funny, because she really tries to make it believable!

Serena still loves climbing! It's been kind of a nice break for me that we don't have stairs here so I don't have to try to keep an eye on that potential hazard anyway! However, she finds plenty of boxes to climb on since we still have a few sitting around! I love this picture because her expression here says, "Seems like I could potentially get in trouble for this. I'm going to check with Mom and see how serious it's going to be." I see that look a lot! Like on Thursday's video right before she threw her spoon on the floor! Haha!

Not sure what she was planning to do with the duct tape, but she looked pretty cute carrying it around!

Still So Little

Nana gave us this crock for our anniversary last year (or maybe the year before; I can't remember for sure). At the old house, it was sitting on a shelf, so Serena never really noticed it. Here, it's been sitting out in the living room, and Serena thinks it's a spot designed specifically for her! It's kinda sweet to think she's little enough to fit inside of it!

She brought a book over and then climbed in and sat there and read it! Haha!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

At Ft Worth, Serena was so excited about the longhorns that went walking by during the 'cattle drive.' She pointed and said "Da! Da!" in the highest of high-pitched voices! I got a little of it in this video.

Also, the other night, Jordan was feeding Serena some sweet potatoes and thought he'd let her bring the spoon to her mouth herself. She did it really well, so I got out the video camera. Then things went downhill. She is naughty at the end, but I left it in because it's so funny! It was hard not to laugh!

Stacking Expert

Up until we moved, Serena was not very good at this stacking game. She usually would just get too frustrated and quit before she ever managed to get one of the rings on the stick. But, when I unpacked the toy here at our new house, she was suddenly an expert at it! She loves stacking the rings and plays at it for a good 10 minutes straight even without an audience. Of course, if you do happen to be her audience, she expects you to clap whenever she gets one on! ;)

Shoes!

Now that Serena is walking so much (she's really started doing a lot more of it in the last couple of days especially), I've started putting shoes on her when we go places. Unfortunately, her feet are still too little to fit into most of her shoes so she just has a pair of silver jellies and some white sandals. She thinks it's great to wear shoes, though! She mostly wears the jellies because I try to keep the white ones looking nice for church. The jellies have a velcro strap that goes over the top of her foot, and she pulls that strap off and then swings her feet by them when she's sitting in her car seat!

Happily swinging her feet to the tune of some Raffi music on Pandora while we drive somewhere

I thought I should try to get another picture of Serena crawling since she's doing less and less of it every day!

Little Teaser

Back when Serena first started using a sippy cup with a straw, Jordan would take it and flick the end of the straw at her after she took a drink because there's a few drops of water that pool in the tip of the straw. Of course, it didn't take Serena long to figure out how he did it, and now she does it All The Time! She flicks the end of the straw (not in any particular direction; her aim isn't too good yet!) and then looks up at you fully expecting a reaction (i.e., pretending you just had a few drops of water hit your face)! It's pretty funny, and the expression on her face is just great!

Ft Worth

Today Mike & Eltza took us to Ft Worth for some sight-seeing! It was a beautiful day for it and we had so much fun! We got to watch a "cattle drive" (which was more like 20 or 30 longhorns plodding slowly through the street with a few cowboys on either side of them; it was neat to see the longhorns up close, though!). Serena loved all the longhorns and horses we saw. We stopped to eat at a little restaurant there and ordered fried pickles as an appetizer. Wow, I can't believe I've lived so long and never had a fried pickle! ;) We put Max & Serena in highchairs right next to each other at the end of the table, and at one point we looked over to see Max sharing his food with Serena! It was so cute and funny!

Serena's first French fries...courtesy of Max

We couldn't resist the adorable little cowboy hats and had to get one for Serena!

A Little Tired

Today was our first Sunday down here in Texas. We visited Mike & Eltza's church, Denton Bible. It's HUGE! Definitely different from any church we've ever attended before! We decided to go ahead and put Serena in the nursery this morning. After we went through all the registration, etc., we dropped her off in her room and she didn't cry or anything as we left (which was a good thing, since I probably wouldn't have been able to leave her if she had cried!). When we came back a couple hours later, she was sitting with 5 or 6 other 1-yr-olds around this little horseshoe-shaped table. There was a man sitting in the middle of the table singing a song with the kids and holding a Bible as he passed it around in front of the kids, "Pat the Bible, pat the Bible!" Serena was LOVING it! When the Bible ended up on the end of the table farthest from her, she started saying, "Ma, ma, ma!" (which, being interpreted is, "Bring it back over here!")! Jordan & I had fun just watching for a minute and then he went in and tapped her on the shoulder, fully expecting her to turn to him and want to be picked up right away. But, she just looked at him and went back to trying to get the teacher to bring the Bible back over where she could get her hands on it! Haha! Of course, when he picked her up, she was very happy to be back with her Mommy & Daddy!

I took this picture of Serena after we got back from the pool this afternoon. She was so worn out!

Pointer

Serena uses her pointer finger for everything! She points in the direction she wants to go, or at something she wants, or she just waves her pointer fingers around while she talks!

IKEA!!!

We made our first trip to Ikea today! The only thing we walked out of there with was a rug, though. Not too exciting. BUT! We'll be back! Or, at least, Serena and I will! ;) Serena got pretty excited when we got to the kid's section because they had lots of toys out and little tables and chairs that were just her size!

Playing at Ikea

Having a lot of fun playing in our new house!