Lilly's First Birthday

This is Lilly.
Lilly is one year old.



This is Lilly's cake.



This is Thomas and Willem in Lilly's kennel.



Happy Birthday Lilly!

Dentifrice et Wedding Gowns

Auntie Amber is getting hitched!! Willem gets to see the gown in the final fitting... but first he has to get ready for the day.

Halloween and the Blue Devil

Super Dukie to the rescue!!

Duet and Solo - Bravisimo!

Aunt Judy and Willem perform a duet in the parlor.



Willem performs much anticipated solo.

Baby Behind Glass

Aunt Judy is visiting from Florida. Willem loves showing off his crazy side for her!

Autumn Upon Us

FINALLY... there is a chill in the air and the leaves have changed (that is, those that had not already fallen dead due to our extreme drought). I love autumn - the layering of clothing, the joy of hot cocoa, the promise of change, and - of course - the FOOD! Mmmmmm... I tried my hand at some eclectic Chicken and Dumpling recipe that Whole foods had in their recipe box. Mmmmmm... it was very good. Nothing at all like the traditional dish but quite tasty and surprising. I have never cooked Swiss Chard and would have never put it in Chicken and Dumplings.

Willem seems to be loving fall as well. He has been sleeping in bed with us and taking up about 2/3 of the space as soaks up the warmth. I am just not so sure his room is warm enough. I need to find some of those "footy" pj's. In the morning when Todd and I are having coffee he gets to have his hot cocoa. He asks for it, too. First thing he does when his feet hit the floor is to run to the kitchen and grip the counter saying over and over again in his baby voice, "Ha cocOA! Ha cocOA! Ha cocOA!"

He is also turning into quite a friendly little chap. In the grocery store he about falls out of the cart as he waves at other shoppers. "HIHIHIHIHIHIHI!" He startled a woman refolding sweaters in a store on Tuesday. He stood a few feet away and kept saying 'hi' until she noticed that he was talking to her. I thought she was going to cry! She said it totally made her day. That's my boy!!

Well, I will leave you with some pictures and little movies... it has been a long time so bear with me!

Pollock Tendancies

A year and a week

TK took me out for a fabu dinner at Nannas. WOW. I mean really. WOW! Our little boy is a year old and we have three "married" years under the belt :) As I told Tk it is like we have been together for lifetimes with little intermissions. Life keeps getting more exciting and more action packed... who knows where the next turn in the road will take us!

Bragging Rights

My son, who is a mere 368 days old, peed in his baby potty today.


And the trees, water, and bank accounts rejoice as they see relief in sight!

(To be replaced with some other drain.)

GO WILLEM!!! That's my boy!!!

Bubble Baby

Nap Interupted

Things are moving right along here... Todd goes back to school for Part II this week, Willem turns ONE YEAR OLD in a few days, and the house is actually getting painted! Within a few short weeks Willem has progressed from walking along the furniture to walking across the whole house in chase of Poushy, Misha, Daddy, or myself. He is cutting two more bottom teeth. Those will bring the grand total to EIGHT teeth!

We have also been having a great time with our "playgroup" (that being one other mom-baby set). The cute little girl, "A", and Willem are exciting to watch. They have played peek-a-boo together around furniture and are encouraging each other's development. Also, not a bad situation for me at all as I really enjoy the talk time with the mom! YEAH!

We had a great 4th of July out on the water with my parent's and Amber and Manuel! I think almost all of us had a chance to rescue hats or toys out of the water. We saw some Bald Eagles-freshly removed from the Endangered Species List-and some other fowl. Willem had a chance to wade in his birthday suit while my father and Manuel took a real swim in the middle of the lake! Hope summer is going well for everyone!

Dog Pillow Days of Summer

Willem and Misha continue to grow this cool bond, I believe it is built upon a mutual love of snack crackers and rolling around on the living room rug!

Early Steps

Our trip to Florida was lots of fun! Family, friends, water and sun... and a touch of some sort of bug that put mommy out of commision for a day... but other than that we had a lovely time! Here is a little clip por vous. Sorry for the sidewaysness.

(So... I tried in vain to post the version of this movie with the fun credits, title, etc. but to no avail. WIllem is still cute as a button. Hope ya'll don't get a kink in your neck trying to watch!)

Napping Strategy

Well. I have discovered how to get Willem to sleep when all else fails: Muppet SHow videos on Youtube. This is the second time he fell asleep while watching! I think the key is (1.) the Muppets are interesting enough to watch but (2.) not big enough (watching in small frame) or loud enough to keep him riled up. It also helps that the Muppet Show is one of the few things he would sit still for! Yeah! Now on to dirty dishes!

Coming Soon: Willem blows bubbles under water!

Boogie!

Willem has acquired a new skill: dancing!! Mommy got a stereo for Mother's Day (thanks babe!) so now we have access to our killer beats in the living room!

Cribbing Defined

For any of you that are familiar with the equine OCD "Cribbing"... I have just discovered the source of the term.

Super Baby Saves the Day

This just in! Another toddler in trouble has been saved by SUPER BABY! Little Bubba Barnes lost his blue ring-you know, the one that is the most important foundation ring in the classic stackable ring toy! The Blue ring went rolling away faster than a meatball. Luckily, Super Baby was scouring a nearby table top for fallen honey-o's and heard Bubba's cry. With the dexterity and speed of a two year old Super Baby made a dive for the illusive blue ring and nabbed it up just before it rolled under the evil sofa monster (notorious for munching on blocks, balls, and baby socks). Super Baby returned the blue ring to a much relieved Bubba who was then able to stack that beautiful rainbow of rings as the good Lord intended... largest to smallest.

Zee Veggie Artist

So far spring has been beautiful here in the Old North State. Our new home has a wonderful yard with flowers popping out all over the place. Willem is quite fond of our outdoor adventures-weather permitting-and he is even starting to say his first word: BIRD! Or more like "burrrrrrrrrrrr" said while pointing up at the trees. He also thinks the dragon kite that his mommom and granddad brought to him from China is also a bird.

Willem is now taking his hands off the furniture as he stands and is also eating all sorts of new solid food. I don't know what it is about them but our Honey-O's are a hit. I hated that kind of cereal when I was little but it is also growing on me now. He had his first eggplant yesterday and seemed okay with it.

So much is going on here: Todd is cracking away at school and work, my folks are heading to China to see the Asia branch of the family (and the new little sprout!), the painting of the house is happening slowly, there has been good news in the health department for several family members, friends are coming to visit from far away places, we have a brother being honored by the state for some really wonderful work he did for some people in serious need, Willem and I are heading to FLorida for some family celebrations and (did I mention this?) it is SPRING!!! I do love spring... a great time to dream and plan and then actually DO!

I am getting out of my shell and trying to make some new friends (for Willem and me). I met some neighbors this morning that just had a baby girl about the same time as my new nephew arrived. They also have a three year old son. AND... drumroll please... I filled out my membership form for the local Mother's Club. I am most looking forward to the playgroups for Willem and in helping in their service projects. Without my board work I have felt like I am really not helping others... a must!

I leave you with my little man in all his finger-painting-with-green-beans glory! (Check out that bib!)

Naptitude

Just how good is it?

Willem and Poushy have enjoyed several of these dueling naps... Poushy usually wins. Life has been grand at our new home. Still lots of changing around but it all feels so much better when you know there is no real outside pressure on any particular project. Well, except the garden... that has to get in or else we will have no fresh maters or peppers or mellons this summer! Todd spent his first week at Duke... all week. I snuck away to see him for about 20 minutes one night thanks to Miss Ambercita who watched Willem. I missed Todd so much! Glad he is back now. While Todd was away WIllem turned a new corner developmentally... crawling, standing, and weilding that will like a weapon! Last night he decided he didn't want to sleep so we battled it out until 11:30pm. Ekkk!! Tonight went much better. Willem put the fear of the Lord in us so as of today we are on a real schedule (neither Todd nor I are good at those things). Asleep at 8:30 tonight. Well, much to do. Hope everyone in Blogland is happy. Sleep well!

Delinquent but with Reason

I can't even start to try and fill in all the things I meant to Blog about over the past MONTHS... such is life! We move on!

Last night we had our first family night out at a friend's place. We went over to Patrick and Janet's house for kick ass beef stroganof (now schedule a time for Rodrigo to cook so we may all continue the Beef Strogan-Off... as it were). They have three year old Sofia and five month old Booker. Both of these chilluns are just the cutest dang things ever. Sofia saw that Willem's Eyore toy was hungry and preceeded to feed it mook (re: milk). Very sweet indeed. After meeting cousins (?) Maggie and Keira in Montana (and various and sundry other babes) Booker has been one of the few babies Willem has gotten a good look at. I think I will take Janet up on the offer and head over for some baby play time one day.

Okay, okay, okay... so... one MAIN reason I have not been posting as entended is because TODD AND I BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! WWOOOOOOHOOOOO!! Our first ever very own house no land lord no rules (maybe a few) all ours!!! We have a closing date of February 14th, adios Halmark, hola real celebration!! It is the perfect little house for us with a great big back yard and nice wood floors!! Todd and I could hardly sleep for days. We are finally going to have a place of our own, a place for Willem to learn to walk in and for us to keep dreaming and doing in. JOY!

It is in Durham close to our favorite bakery, Guglhupf. Oh yes, and we don't have to give up our local Amantes or VisArt either. We are in certain heaven.

Holiday Pastry or Whooooooosh!

Say wha? January 27th already?!?! Okay... so a couple months have slipped past me. Most importantly the month of DECEMBER which held many fun events. Get ready for a stream of consciousness ramble as I try to conjur up memories...

Willem loved the mall in all of its pre-holiday madness, he rode face forward in his baby bjorn screeching in delight at all the shoppers actually garnering smiles and coos here and there from people who were close to turning into Grinches!

We tried to take several family holiday pictures to share but none quite captured the spirit or else they did capture the spirit but the spirit was cross eyed with exhaustion. So we have some fun shots of Willem and Poppa putting the lights on the tree but none of all of us.

Christmas eve we attended a particularly beautiful service... they are usually candle lit but this one was candle lit by necessity! Chapel Hill had a couple blocks without power! Willem loved all the flickering flames and was captivated by other chillen's squaking in nearby pews.

Afterwards we picked up our nanimals (Misha and Poushy) and headed out to the "Zoo House" (AKA Mom-mom and Grand-dad's) for a Christmas sleep to be followed by Christmas morning and eating and present opening and napping and visiting! It was lots of fun to help Willem open his gifts! Next year will be even more fun as he will be able to enjoy the event a little more. We had a Christmas Goose at dinner which was wonderful and Willem tried some more veggies.

After our North Carolina Christmas we hopped on a plane and headed out to Montana for Heather and Kirt's wedding!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! It was WONDERFUL!!! Willem got to meet all sorts of family, friends, and he got a new uncle! Lucky boy. I was able to go to Heather's shower and bachalorette party! WHOOO!! We went to "Wild West" which was a total hoot... I will have to start another blog to talk about that! And I will mention only one detail: Heather left her ID at home and Dad Sandvik had to bring it to the bar for her! HA! It was very cute and there is a good picture to prove it.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful... candle light inside and a snowy evening outside... everything was just perfect! Weddings mean so much more to me after our own wedding... looking up at Heather and Kirt I could just imagine all the beautiful things in store for them and how lucky I am to have this great family growing all around me! Todd read the poem he wrote for them which had me in crying like babe. Just thinking about it gets me all 'motional and stuff. THEN of course came the ROCKING SANDVIK AFTER PARTY... eh hem... I mean the reception! The food was wonderful, the company terrific, and the dancing stupendous! It was so great to see all the Sandvik clan, including family I had never met before, to meet more of Heather and Kirt's friends, and just have a great time! Manuel came all the way from Argentina for the wedding and he was a great addition... I think he danced more than anyone else! He even got Grandma out on the dance floor! GO MANUEL!

New Years Eve=Sleep.

After the wedding and the goodbyes to bride and groom and to Amber and Manuel we had a chance to just visit and kick back with Grandma and Grandpa. Whew! Willem held his bottle himself for Grandma and rolled over in fron of all of us! You go boy! Willem and I had a great visit with our friend Melissa and got to see a train roll by.

Unfortunalty, our vacation came to a close around some unpleasant news from North Carolina. Our little fur person, Misha, got his hinny chomped by a pit bull! All is okay now after two antibiotics and one of those cones to go around his neck. My mother saved Misha's life by kicking the pit bull in the head and pulling on its ears until it let go of Misha's throat! She even broke her toe doing so. THANK YOU MOMMA!!!!! We are greatly in debt to you!

Holidays in a large nutshell.

New Life to Celebrate

My brother and sister-in-law's second child was born this Tuesday in far away Chinois! Welcome little Devin Khir! We can't wait to meet you! Dad was the one to give me the news, his excitement was palpable through the phone line. The herd of little boys has grown again. As my brother noted, between both sides of the family we will have enough youngins for our own basketball team. Congratulations to the proud parents and new big brother!

Celebration of Life

Willem got to meet his Great-great-Aunt Elsa when we took our trip down to Florida a couple of months ago. Years of Alzheimers and the complications of growing old in a facility robbed her of most of her speech and muscle control. Despite all that she mustered up some wonderful smiles when she saw Willem and had the energy to grab his meaty thigh and call him "fatty". That is my last memory of her.

Elsa passed away on January 5th at the age of 96. She spent a lifetime caring for others as a teacher, daughter, and sister. I will always remember what a wonderful sense of humor she kept and what a strong role model she was especially for all the women in her family. Below is part of her obituary from the Orlando Sentinel.

Her lifestyle was uncomplicated which reflected her heritage, coming from Swedish immigrant parents, born in the 1800’s, who had come to this country with very few possessions, survived the Great Depression and succeeded through hard work. Because of her upbringing, she had an unshakable, simplistic, optimistic faith in God, quietly expressed. This was shared by her close-knit family, which included six other children. Elsa served for many years as a Sunday School teacher at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando where she was a member.

Her adventurous Swedish father took his family from Maryland to North Carolina to Wyoming and then to Florida. They settled for a while in Pensacola and then traveled by horse-drawn covered wagon in the 1920’s to the Orlando area. The family first lived on the old Orlando Fairgrounds which her father managed (this is now the Bob Carr Auditorium / Amway Arena). The family then settled on the banks of Lake Fairview where she loved to dive and swim. The family finally moving to 1229 Hillcrest Avenue in Orlando.

Elsa loved to travel and some of her favorite memories include going to Ellis Island where her parents came to the United States and the place where her parents first met in New Jersey. Anther special trip was to Southern California, including Knot’s Berry Farm and Tiajuana, Mexico.

Elsa graduated from Orlando Senior High School in 1929 as a member of the National Honor Society. She was one of two daughters in the large family to graduate from college and she loved science, poetry and literature. She worked her way through college and graduated from Florida State College of Women (now Florida State University) in 1933. She was an outstanding student in college and belonged to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, the Life Saving Corps and played field hockey there.

Elsa had a dream of becoming a scientist, but in her generation, jobs of that nature first went to men. Instead she became an elementary school teacher in the Orlando school system serving at Delaney Elementary School for 35 years teaching 5th grade. She also taught at Hillcrest and Fern Creek Elementary Schools where she influenced hundreds of students over two generations, sometimes teaching children of her former students. There is a picture in the Beardall Senior Center, formerly Delaney Elementary School, of Elsa Lawson’s last day of teaching at that facility.

As well as being the intellectual in the family, she was known for having a beautifully landscaped yard and her green thumb where the family enjoyed long games of croquet. She was also a wonderful cook, preparing delicious meals resulting from her two brothers’ hunting and fishing exploits along Florida’s east coast.

Although Elsa was never married, her love for learning and teaching was passed on to another Lawson generation to enjoy educational careers. She was greatly loved by her family and friends and will be dearly missed.

We celebrate your life Elsa!