From Monkey to Rodeo Star

My darling daughter has graduated from being a little monkey to being a full fledged, buckle-winning rodeo star. Ty Murray would be proud of her. Her daddy sure was. He begged that I skip the last month of neglected posts to get this video clip on right away.

She rocked her horsey like this for at least 5 minutes. I wish I had half of her energy. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm almost half way through this pregnancy and that is a valid excuse to be dragging a bit.

Keep in mind, even though she has mastered a new profession, she has not given up her one true passion of monkey madness. Her latest monkey adventure is that she learned how to jump on the couch and the bed. And by jump, I mean kick her legs out from under herself in order to fall down. I really don't want to encourage that behavior, but it is just so darn cute that I have a hard time stopping her. I haven't had the camera handy to catch that one yet--but that might encourage her even more, so maybe that is a good thing. "No more monkeys jumping on the bed" must have been the easiest nursery rhyme to create; it couldn't be more obvious.

My First Attempt at iMovie

When we went to Oregon back in June 2008, my cousin took the time to teach me the basics of iMovie. I honestly never got around to messing with it. Finally, with a little extra time on my hands with a broken foot, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Our video camcorder uses mini DVDs -which are not compatible with our Mac at the moment. (I'm sure there is some special cord that I could plug in to transfer the movies, but I'd have to watch them all while it would be downloading and I just don't have time for that right now.) So I thought that for my first attempt I'd make a show out of stills. It is definitely not Hollywood quality, but I was pretty proud of myself. The subtitles show up smaller than I was hoping for, so you may have to squint or get your glasses. Pay attention for the special twist at the end of the production.

Without further ado, here is "Hailey's New Accomplishment"....

Other big accomplishments this little monkey child had made in the past two weeks are

• climbing into the recliner chair...and from there up onto the end table
• climbing onto her Leap Frog activity table
• climbing into her high chair...when it is on the highest level
• deciding it's more fun to stand on her giddy-up horsey than to sit on it and bounce
• she finally stacked her colored pyramid rings in the right order all by herself'
• and she found $0.30 on the ground with dad. She's rich!
  

Rest In Peace William Leon Major

William Leon Major
July 18, 1922 - February 9, 2009

For a full look at this amazing life, please go to
http://web.mac.com/vicdenisewallace/William/William_Leon_Major.html
The site has been recently updated wtih new pictures and a farewell page.

I'm so glad that Hailey got to meet her great grandpa. Although it had been a year, almost to the day since we were able to visit, having these pictures of her with him are priceless.

A shadow box of Grandpa's WWII War medals

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated 60 years this past summer

Grandma Martha Major with two of her grandsons, Justin and his older brother Jamie,
and Grandpa watching from above.

I am also thankful that my mom lives so close as she took in me and Hailey (since my foot is broken and I needed help with her) so that Justin could drive to Fairbanks as soon as we got word of Grandpa's failing health. Justin was able to make it to see his grandpa before he passed away. Knowing he was able to get there in time brings such a comfort to me.

Valdez Gets a Baby Store!

One of my dearest friends opened up a baby store in Valdez! Little Ones of Alaska opened on February 3rd and has been hugely popular ever since.

Brandy's eye for fabulous merchandise is to be praised. The organic cotton and bamboo clothes are adorable. The lead free toys are a hit. And stuff for mommy too, everything Valdez was missing.

True to the name, here are Brandy's little ones; hers and her friends from all over Alaska...of course the majority are from Valdez. Such a special touch.

Thank you Brandy for taking on such a huge task to bring wonderful things to the
families of Valdez.

25 Years is a Good Run...

...but it had to come to an end eventually.

Yep, it's broken. First one ever.

I so wish that I had a cool story to explain this, but I really don't. I had just put Hailey to bed the evening after my last full day of work. Walking into the garage, I went down our three steps and when I hit the door mat at the bottom, I caught the edge of it. I rolled my foot too far and "pop" goes the bone. Amazingly it really didn't hurt at all unless I put any sort of pressure on it. As my darling daughter had just gone to bed, and there was no serious pain, I figured we could wait until morning to go to the doctor.

That was an experience all in itself. I showed up as hobble-in at 10:30am. At 12:30pm they informed me that the doctors were on rounds (i.e. lunch) and that no one would see me until 2pm. So we left to grab a bite to eat as neither of us had eaten all day. Hailey luckily was waiting all this out at my mom's house. So with one shoe one, and one froggy sock, Justin carried me piggy back into the Totem Inn for a quick burger before getting back to the doc's office. All this drama for them to say, "Yup, looks bad, you need an x-ray". No stuff sherlock. Finally by 4pm, my xrays were complete and my doctor who admitted that he really didn't know much about orthopedics (comforting, huh?) gave me the boot. Literally. And a pair of crutches. He said 4-6 weeks, come back and check it out again. I'm scared that when I go back they'll say that it didn't heal right, so I'm really contemplating going to Anchorage to get a reassurance opinion. As long as the volcano doesn't blow anyways. (For more on that, check out www.ktuu.com)

Needless to say, this whole last day of work, slowing down thing didn't quite go as planned.
Ended work, broke my foot, threw a baby shower, hosted a mini superbowl party, started weaning my daughter (going great by the way), crutching around, and tomorrow is the grand opening of my great friend's new baby boutique, of which I am supposed to be helping if I would quit hurting myself. Happy new year to me.