Video time!

Yes, Kate, your photos are lovely. But we're bored with them.

Ok, fine. Have a couple of recent and recent-ish videos.

This one is recent-ish. Lily discovered my Ipod, but the best part (for me) is her outfit. She decided she needed a diaper on top of her romper. Daddy not only obliged her, but he took her to the grocery store like that. Seriously.



And this one is as recent as they come, as in less than two hours ago. I thought she'd go to bed early for sure, since she decided to skip her nap.

Then, she ran out to the her alphabet magnets, and Daddy thought it was so cute how she was trying to sing along...ok fine, I did too.

But look how cute! Fine, she's spoiled. Whatever.

Happy birthday, Kitty.

There are moments in everyone's life, I suppose, when we realize we are in some small way becoming our mother or father.

I recently had one such moment.

Lily and I were enjoying a day at home, and I was thinking about things we could do for fun. It's summer, it's miserable outside, so we're limited.

Then a little (dim) lightbulb flipped on and I thought, hey, let's throw a birthday party for Kitty! Lily really got into our Father's Day celebrating, right?

So we went off to the pet store to get Kitty a birthday present. Then we came home and decorated.

I called Khan and asked him to pick up some cupcakes on the way home.

Cake. That's when I realized it. My mom used to do this, too. Of course, with my baking skills, store-bought cupcakes would have to do. I couldn't make an Andy-cake.

But we did get a special dinner for Kitty. Lily picked out Talapia for her. Kitty looked at the hat knowing that it would be used in an attempt to humilate her at any second. For the moment, though, Lily was content to put the hat on Bear and feed him pizza and binkies.

Later, she tried again. Dad tried to appease her. Kitty won.

Time to hula hoop! Yup, random change of subject? Welcome to my world.

Oh wait, there are treats and presents. Yay!

Presents, Kitty!

Kitty was useless as usual, so Lily and I oepned the presents for her.

Lily discovered the laser pointer.

She then declared it hers.

I tried to explain that it was gift. For Kitty. Not Lily.

She did not like this idea.

Kitty didn't care, though. She played with her other new toys.

And enjoyed a catnip buzz.

But the party wasn't over yet; it was cake time!

And hats!

Hats for everyone. Daddy got to wear the pink one.

My failed attempt to steal a dog

We got to dog-sit last weekend, and she was the sweetest little baby girl dog ever.

I wanted to keep her.

I mean, look at her. She's perfect. She's small, house trained, quiet, affectionate, and so freaking cute.

She is the exact dog I've been looking for.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Bubba and Gizmo, too, but there are two big obstacles to stealing them. First, Gizmo is not a fan of Lily, and the two are kind of a package deal. Giz could probably get by without Bubba, but not the other way around. Second, Gizmo is a pretty hardcore mama's boy. He gets seriously depressed when she's not around.

So then we had our first weekend with Lilli. Lilli the dog/Ewok. Doesn't she just make you want to say "jib jib" and give her a cracker?

Even Kitty tolerates her.

She's very sweet and timid. I thought she'd jump out of this little wagon when I tried to take her picture in it, but she froze in fear. Poor thing.

She gets along with my Lily, too, except for the sharing. My Lily is pretty territorial about her stuff now, especially her chips. And for some reason, she needed to have a chip in each hand before she could take the dog for a walk. Pretty sure you can guess what happened.

So, I had to come up with a plan to keep her.

Simple enough....First, we changed her name to Lilo for obvious reasons.

Then, when Jason and Michelle came to pick her up, I would just pretend I didn't know them. If they pushed their way in, I could hide Lilo, ET-style.

Hmmm...but then there was the problem of work. I'd have to go to work eventually, and Jason would probably not just pass me in the hall and say "Hey, what's up, how's Lilo?"

So I would make a peace offering. I took some amateur pictures of Lilo that I could give them to remember her by.

Flawless plan, right? So Sunday came around, and they knocked on the door. I started in with "Hi, can I help you?"

But then Lilli came running out from behind me and attacked them with kisses and tail wags.

Sigh. I tried. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

Nana's in town, holiday weekend, and big plans. What could go wrong?

It started out predictably enough. Nana arrived. Nice evening at home.

If this were a horror movie, this would be the scene where I accidentally prick my finger and a drop of blood falls to the ground as a foreshadow.

The morning started just fine. I was packing bags to go to the beach. Nana and Lily played with her sticker book.


Then there was the meltdown. Meltdowns are common in my house, but this one was very long, unprovoked, and very intense.

When the meltown finally ended, we stepped outside and I noticed Lily's goo-eye, picked her up for a closer look, and whaddyaknow, there's a fever, too. Score one for the horror movie.

So, instead of the beach, we went to the pediatrician's office. I mean that's almost as fun, right? (No, I don't take her to the doctor for every single thing. She's also had weird outbreaks of hives lately, so I already had an appointment to bring her in and I just moved it up.)

Back at home, Lily's fever had subsided and she was doing well. We had some fun in the backyard. Not the evening we had planned, but not terrible.

The next day was better. We went to the beach and we had a fantastic time. I wish I had some pictures to show you, but I killed the camera, so I had to relax and just enjoy.

Lily chased waves, splashed in the water, and filled her bucket with sand. Mom and I floated in the gulf. Khan fell asleep on the beach. It was great. Score one for us.

Saturday morning we had a date with Elmo, Big Bird, and B-list friends.

Generally, it went quite well but with a couple of snags.

It was hotter than piss. Look, I'm melting.
Lily enjoyed high fives and nose-patting with the characters, but she was not into hugs. Sorry, Bert.
Mom got mauled by Cookie Monster. But she got away eventually. Breakfast was a win. Score another one for us.
We spent the rest of the morning at Busch Gardens. Lily played in the sprayground.
And she went on her first ride all by herself. Sniffle.

Did I mention it was hot? When we came to Oscar's Swamp Stomp, we all got in and cooled our feet.

Saturday night Khan and I had our semi-annual date night. We went to dinner and a movie and it was WONDERFUL. Thanks, mom. Another point for us, I think.

But the horror movie was going for the home run. We all woke up the next morning perfectly fine. And then there was vomit.

And more vomit. Sleep, vomit, laundry, vomit, sleep, vomit. Khan and I took turns holding Lily while she slept and being puked on when she woke up. The poor baby. The horror movie got the grand slam.

About 24 hours later, Vomit was gone, and although there were no more fun outings planned, Nana and Lily had fun playing at home.

They played with the water table.

They played with cups.
They played with Little People and blocks.

And bubbles!

Hurray for Gymboree for making bubbles fun in my house!
By the time the trip ended, while most of our plans had evaporated, we did get some quality time together. And that's what it's all about.