A Video of Rosa Jane Crawling and Laughing

Funny Rosa Jane 7.1 months on Vimeo

Rosa Jane doesn't just laugh at everything and anything. In fact, she doesn't always laugh when you tickle her. Sure, she's amused and she'll play along, but rarely does she respond with that delicious belly laugh that I just can't get enough of.

Oddly, she's always found some humor in Hank Bob Speckled Pants. She likes when he is doing something wrong and we're yelling, "Git Back Here, Hanky!" She laughs at his shadow on the sidewalk and she laughs when he pulls us from the other end of his leash.

This morning, I wasn't trying to be entertaining. I was doing a CESAR MILAN trick of "shh-ing" Hank, instead of saying his name to get him to stop whatever bad behavior he was up to. From across the room, Rosa Jane belly laughed. She likes the loud "shh-ing" sound. I got out the camera and recorded this little video.

Try to ignore the fact that she is holding that icky dog bone so close to her mouth and enjoy the video clip:

RosaJane 7.1 mos Laughs and Crawls on Vimeo

What a long week!

It's been a heck of a long week!

Rosa Jane and I spent most of Tuesday at the new house with the inspector. The major concern is the tree that is basically on the back porch. You can see it in the pictures. A 120 yr old beautiful oak scrapes the roof shingles everytime the wind blows and bangs against the gutter. We have to have an arborist out to see if we can save it. So it looks like we're all systems GO!

Our house in Boston was sold on Friday. Yay! And now we're babystepping until June 1st when we get the keys and and can start renovations, like new carpet/flooring and bright, cheery paint.

Since the master is downstairs, I can't decide if RJ should be in the room upstairs or down with us. Any advice?

RJ at 7 months yesterday

We did it: we made an offer...

We looked at the house for a good two hours today. Talked it over and over.
And made an offer.

Stay tuned to see if it becomes ours.
Click on the picture to see more...

House Hunting

So yesterday we started our grand search for a new place to call home. We started off with the house that I sorta fell in love with back in Boston when I was 7 months pregnant and searching for a place in Texas via the internet. There's a lot to like about this place: interesting windows, high ceilings, a double decker porch (including the private balcony from the master suite), a great laundryroom with a hamper shoot from the second floor and sink that could serve as a darkroom, and a view of Lake Travis.


What's not to like is it's intricate location down in the depths of a neighborhood rampant with deer (aka car-runner-into-ers).

House #2 was still being built and was covered with carpenter dust. We picked a horrible day to be out and about -- there were tornado warnings and hail storms. We got stuck at this house and had to wait out the weather. Every room had its own bathroom (4/4.5) Overall too formal and silly -- the master bath with corner windows faces CAREFREE LANE (who thought of that?) I'd have to barf everytime I wrote my return address.

House #3 - Curb Appeal - was one story and nice, very small lot and lots of shag-like carpet (ew), though it has never been lived in.

House #4 the key wouldn't work, so we moved on.

House #5 was perfect. A Texas Ranch in white stone with an awesome open floor plan. Amazing front porch and back porch deck. Hill country views off to the side. It has two rooms off the front porch with their own entrances (either would be nice for my studio entrance, and later, when RJ is an all grown up teenager & wants to move her room downstairs, it wouldn't be so hard for her to sneak out of the house. OK- so that's a big fat CON). Wouldn't you know by the time we got here my battery in my camera was dead? Good thing we're going back to show Don tomorrow. Stay tuned for pictures... if you're interested.

Rj's halter top

This was the end of March 90+ day that we tried to go swimming, but the water was too darn cold. Still, RJ was hard to resist in her way-too revealing halter top. I ain't mentionin' who picked out the outfit. Daddy.

Rosa Jane and the Miniature Donkey

Out in the hills of Marble Falls at a little Episcopalian church, we all celebrated Palm Sunday with the waving of palm branches and little miniature donkeys for a photo opportunity. The service was wonderful and provided Honey with an opportunity to catch her dear friend in action as the reverend. Rosa Jane received a special blessing at the altar and the day was made complete by visiting the extry-large bluebonnet sculpture at the Bluebonnet Fest in Burnet. Click on the picture to see more from this great day...

Our Hero and Preppy Rosa Jane

Don faced eye surgery like a true hero. Here he is lookin' a little beat up post-scleral buckle procedure, but you couldn't tell for his smile and his neverfailing adoration for his little girl.

Rosa Jane's New Lion and Highchair

While the grandparents visited, Rosa Jane got what she always, always wanted: a stuffed Lion that made her laugh hysterically in the store and a new highchair! Thanks, Honey and Granddad!! Click on the picture to see more of 'em.

200 Days Old Last Week

Click on the pic to see more...

Plain and Simple Update

I don't know where the days have gone! Between my parents visiting, don's eye surgery and recovery, celebrating Rosa Jane's 200th day, Easter delight, and taxes; the days have been crazy packed. Rosa Jane is on the move now and even though she mainly does the military scoot, that girl is going places!

Today I went to the dentist. I couldn't help but ask, "Hey! Are you done yet?!" Man, I don't like the dentist. But the office is real nice with a wonderful waterfall and big windows looking out on some cardinals and jaybirds. I imagined I was elsewhere enjoying my time away from the babe.

In an hour, Rosa Jane and I are going to start our official house hunt with the realtor. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, the LAST thing I want to do is find our dreamhouse any time before it is reasonable to get out of our lease agreement.

On Tuesday we went to our first ever playgroup. Sorry no pictures, but I met lots of nice moms and their kids. I look forward to going back; it's a good outlet from being just Rosa Jane's Mom and Don's wife.

Changin' fast...

"See you later, Alligator"

donr underwent the knife today. Last week during his trip to Las Vegas, Don noticed an extreme amount of "floaties" and a crescent-shaped dark spot in his in his left eye's vision. After an appointment with the eye doc on Friday, they set up the outpatient surgery today. We were at the hospital for the better part of the day, but I'm happy to report he is doing great! He's wearing a thick eyepatch so he can't wear his glasses which means he's pretty much blind at the moment but he's still making all kinds of "seeing" jokes.

We have a big ol thanks to Honey for babysitting precious Rosa Jane all day today while we were at the hospital. Thank you!

Spring Cleaning

I'm tired of clutter and that includes polkadots on a blog page. Pardon our mess while we straighten things out over the next few days. In the meantime, scroll to the bottom for the usual links.

Rosa Jane on the verge of crawling

A Lazy Day at the Ranch

All our favorite people have gone away -- Robyn to work (need I tell you how sad I am to have lost my playmate?) and Don to Vegas, Baby, Vegas. There's nothing left for us to do but mope and try to get some cleaning done before the gran'rents come for a five day visit. Click on the picture to see more from our break from-cleaning-time-to-take-some-pictures set.