3 seconds of fame at Beall's Hill Community Garden

Did you spot Julia? She spent most of the planting attached to my leg--that is until her partner in crime and neighbor, Sofia, showed up. Sofia tried to entice Julia to walk through the newly planted beds, but Julia didn't take the bait. Read the full story here.

Day 13: Nobody puts Baby in the corner

Okay, I admit it. I blog more about Grace than Julia. There, I said it. You'd think I'd feel relieved. Nope. Still guilty.

......

Alright, so I don't really feel all that guilty (stop worrying grandparents). Truth: I'm head over heels in love with Julia. I gush over that child.

Just not here.

In this space.

All that often.

......

To make amends I've uploaded five video clips featuring Julia from the last several months.


Clip 1: Dancing this summer


Ran to get the camera, and I missed the best dancing by a few minutes. These aren't even her best moves. Don't you love her?


Clip 2: All Done Already. Stop Asking Me.


I like the singing part (or whatever that is she's doing). How ridiculous am I though, like I can't figure out that she's finished? Yeesh.


Clip 3: Live Action Crab


I love her.


Clip 4: Say My Name


She actually says Ju-ah, just not in this clip. Grace is Gashe. I love it.


Clip 5: After The Nap


Yes, I was on the phone to my mom and Craig and Lynne to let them know that she wanted me to read her a book when she got up. She regularly signs "Please Book." Terminally cute, as Poppy would say.

......

This post will expire before Julia learns to read. If any of you mention this post to her, I will be forced to do this. It's cute when a 17 month old does it. Not so much a 35 year old.

Day 7: Memory

Did you really write a post about your intestines?

Yeah.

Hmmm.
.....

To save you all from TMI, I'm going to end this post with a video memory. When I watch this (which I do every six months or so), I love Grace so much I want to eat her.

For Da-da

Dropshots is back up. Here's the video:

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Present Tense

While I was busy ruminating on Julia's birth one year ago, my friend, Ani, was actually posting current news, including pictures of Julia's 1st birthday party. I finally uploaded a few pictures of that event myself (though Aunt B took the lionshare of photos, and I will have to wait to get those up until she sends them to me).

We had a great time with Grammie and Poppie, Aunt B, Aunt Quentin, the Jordans, and our neighbor Amanda. The kids painted the parking pad, threw water balloons, and beat on a pinata (though Poppie had to finish it off). Julia ate her weight in chicken from the grill and polished off a piece of birthday cake. Big sister, Grace, was a bit jealous, but the Jordan's saved our hides with an early birthday present for her (a princess sleeping bag, how divine).

Big thanks to our great friends and dear family for a wonderful birthday weekend!

Eleven months old

toilets, originally uploaded by Ellen.

Odd picture for this post.

Yes, today Julia is eleven months old (sniff). It's been a mellow Sunday, like most of our Sundays. We took a long walk around the neighborhood (thus the photo), and Craig took Grace off my hands this afternoon. I used that opportunity to upload our most recent photos onto Flickr (which you can view here).

I have yet to shoot Julia's eleven month video--dang camera batteries. I hope to have that up soon.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Video and highly stimulating post to come (or maybe not-so-stimulating-post, who knows).

.....
6:26 pm Not One, Not Two, But Three Videos

Video One: She does cry!

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Video Two: Two minutes later

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Video Three: Two days earlier on the lawn in front of the Law School

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Weekend Update

In neighborhood news: Progress is Made.

Remember this house?


Look at it now.


.....
In news of neighbors: We Still Have a Lot of Crazies Around.

As we were about to leave the house this afternoon, we overheard a conversation between two resident loonies (and I say loonies with the utmost affection).

Janice: Whatchyou doin?
Bill: You ain't no white people.
Janice: Whatchyou doin?
Bill: You ain't see no white people.
Janice: I say whatchyou doin?
Bill: No way, sir, no way.
Craig: (looks at me across the dash of the van, eyebrows raised) at least some things don't change around here.

.....
In news of Grace and Julia: Mother Videotapes Ten Month Old Doing What All Ten Months Olds Do, and Three Year Old Drinks Coffee.


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It was decaf, really.

Report Card

Communication Skills: A-
Math Skills: C
Laundry Skills: B- (if I put the clean clothes away in a timely manner, it would be an A+)
Cooking Skills: B
Parenting Skills: Needs Improvement

Yes, I did take a picture of my child having a temper tantrum!

.....
3:42 pm

Oh, for the love of organization, I have gathered all of our video clips onto one page. Be forewarned. There's a lot to watch.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Dear Dad,

Happy birthday! Here is a video of your two granddaughters wishing you a happy birthday. I'm sure you had a big cake at work and lots of attention lavished upon you. If you were here, the party would only continue except that the attention would be so great that you would be expected to respond to every command.

Enjoy your special day.

Lots of love, Craig and Ellen


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Here comes the sun

Dearest Julia,

I am so happy that you are now ten months old, really I'm thrilled. But I have a question for you: was it necessary to start the party at 5 am this morning? I know how fun it is to play patty-cake on your daddy's face and pull my hair and give me wet willies. Oh yes, it's so much fun, but do you think you could try to stay in bed a bit longer tomorrow? Yes, rolling around and laughing in mom and dad's bed is a hoot, I heartily agree. It seems that just days ago you were sleeping until 7:30 am though. What happened? I think we have to make a new rule: no parties until 7:00 am.

I love you to pieces.

Your bleary-eyed mommy

.....

Dearest Mama

Baabaa Maamaa Daa Maa Baa (Your request has been duly noted and subsequently ignored.) Bada Bada Naa Maamaba Naabaama (I just love being alive and I love being ten months old and I love the morning and I love you and Daddy and I love the morning and I love being awake and I don't want to miss one moment.)

Ba Mama (Your beautiful ten month old, Julia)

P.S. Madabamada (Can you send an evite out to Murdoch, Parker, Jessi, Amaya and Mason? Party in my crib, 5 am, no one year olds and older allowed, woo-hoo!)

.....

10 month old video to come. Mommy needs a cup of coffee first.

.....

1:26 pm Video Upload


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Julia was also featured in a video about Beall's Hill filmed today by a local news crew (who knocked on the door while I was still in the shower; thankfully, they gave me some time to get pulled together). I'm not sure if I will be able to embed that video into the blog, but I will certainly include the link once it is available.

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day

Dammit, I'm out of bon bons. How am I supposed to wallow in self pity without chocolate? Do we have any ice cream? No. Potato Chips? No. Holy crap, people, me being depressed sounds an awful lot like me pregnant. I have to get off this couch now!

Hello, friends, I'm back (after a brief, but necessary break). I planned to wait until morning to post but then I read this, and I got some much needed supportive emails from my long distance girlfriends (thank you, ladies).

So here I am, off the couch.

Over the last couple of days I contemplated leaving permanently. The blogosphere that is (I can be so overly dramatic). Two and a half years ago I started the State of Grace so that my parents, in laws and other family members could keep track of my progeny. I posted once a week or so. I go back and read those posts now and see a puffed up newbie parent.

But my family seemed to like it, or at least that's what they told me. I would get requests for videos and pictures, and I happily obliged. Meanwhile I was reading lots of other blogs (cause I'm way too old for facebook). Some of the writing reduced me to tears, in a good way. I found myself returning to certain sites to peer into the lives of others, read about their heartbreaks and their triumphs. I found inspiration in their words and a sense of I'm not alone in my feelings.

I was never a very good commenter though. It's one thing to read about someone else's life; it's a whole other enchilada to engage in conversation about it. Call me a lurker.

Over the course of eighteen months or so the State of Grace evolved from a blog about pictures and cute anecdotes to one with larger stories and broader themes. This evolution was fully realized with the inauguration of Two Little Ladybugs: the blog I now call home, where I tell stories that strike my funny bone or my heart.

And people responded, by email mostly. It seems that my readers are much like me: readers, not commenters. Your responses felt good in a sort of high schoolish way: "he or she likes me, they really, really like me."

At times I've let my inner life bleed into the blog. My battle with depression or my insecurities about my current status: non-working mother of two. I tried to write about these issues with humor. We all need to laugh more. I also didn't want to worry anyone.

That's why I took a break. I felt really low, and I didn't want to share my feelings or turn this into a whining blog. Like I said above, I thought about leaving for good. But I like blogging. I like having a record of my girls lives that their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins can see. Writing is also a luxury for me. I steal time away from laundry and housework to tell stories about our lives, and I want to keep doing that.

So please forgive my excursions into the blue. I am a very flawed and emotional human being prone to seeing life a little glass half empty. Now midway through my thirties, I see no reason to change my essential character. Perhaps there is someone reading this entry right now, another melancholy soul searching for understanding, and for that alone (and my glorious girls Grace and Julia) I will keep posting.

See you all later. Lists to come. In the meantime, enjoy these girls.


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nine months old

Dear little bug,

Today you are nine months old. This last month has seen a great deal of change for you. You are crawling with speed and agility. You are working hard to stand up and reach for objects beyond your grasp. You are quite interested in everything about your older sister. This causes problems on occasion, and both you and your darling sister let me know about it with loud voices. You are falling in love with your daddy (and becoming less of a mommy's girl). You give him the biggest smiles and the loudest laughs. You are still quite timid around other people, especially those with loud, staccato voices. People like Mrs. Jordan and Uncle Matt soothe you with their calm demeanors. You would love to hold Ollie and pull his hair. He would love for you to sit still. You enjoy eating a variety of foods, and you become fussy when mommy and daddy don't get it to your mouth in a timely fashion. You are still a voracious nurser, and while this exhausts mommy, she is very happy to know you are eating well.

The hardest part about your ninth month has been teething. You have seven teeth and are waiting for the eighth to come through. We hope you will take a break once that tooth erupts. Your discomfort causes mommy and daddy to feel discomfort as well.

We are quite sure that your tenth month will have as much, if not more, change for you. As you become more independent and opinionated, you and your sister will have many more disagreements. Daddy and I can only hope that you and she will learn to interact in healthy, playful ways as well. We anticipate that you will master standing up and edging around the furniture. We also anticipate that you will discover the stairs. We know that you will continue to develop your speech and enlarge your vocabulary. We are certain that each of these developments will give us pause. We will feel pride for your achievements (and perhaps some worry about things like the stairs) and some sadness that you are no longer quite so helpless. Regardless of how much you mature, you will always be our little bug.

With love for you as deep as the ocean and wide as the sky,

Mommy & Daddy


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This video was actually taken yesterday, and yes, Grace is wearing a swimming suit (her favorite attire). The temperature in the house was 65 degrees.

This may require some translation

Like any conversation with Grace, she gets off topic quickly. There's an interlude about a giant in her room, and there's also a lot of discussion about her ant bites (listen closely and you will hear her identify herself as the "Big Sister Ant Bite Girl"). Regardless, the sentiment behind the video still comes through. Grace is thrilled with the news that her cousin Anne will also be a big sister.

Big hugs to Mike, Laura, and of course, Anne.


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for mom & Q

I received a few messages that people had problems viewing the videoclips I sent out over email. To remedy that problem, I have posted the clips below.


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8 months, 1 day and 1 hour

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she's mobile

In the last two weeks Julia had been transitioning from an army crawl to a real, tummy off the ground, crawl. She no longer pushes herself backwards when attempting to move and thus isn't nearly so frustrated.

The following two videos were taken a few days ago. They don't show her fully crawling, but you get the picture. Watch out Grace, your world is changing.


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seven months old

Unbelievable. Seven months ago today Julia was born. I am so in love with this little bug. It's such a cliche, but I never knew I could love someone so much, have my heart feel so full, and yet have room for more. When I met Craig, I felt like I had arrived (in terms of being in love, that is), then I had Grace and Julia, and whammo, I'm turned to mush.

Before I get too sappy I will add Julia's seven month video. It's a little long, but you also get to see Aunt Betsy, Clinton, and Uncle Matt.


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Christmas Photo Overload

One house with three cameras equals a lot of pictures. I have uploaded many of them to my flickr account and then filtered those down even further to a slideshow with 60 images. As you can tell from the slides we had a grand time. Grace was completely overloaded (as any three year old would be in that situation). Julia had such a terrible night's sleep on Christmas eve that she napped through all of the present opening, but I don't think she minded.

Today, Lynne and Dan left to return to Indianapolis. We had a short, but lovely, visit with them, and we are looking forward to their return this spring. Thankfully Aunt Betsy and Uncle Matt with be with us for a bit longer (at least long enough for Craig and me to recover from some of our holiday sleep deprivation).

As usual there is much more to share, but I am far too tired to do it. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I will be in touch soon. In the meantime, enjoy these two videos: a longer version of Grace singing Christmas carols, and one with Michigan cheerleaders.


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We wish you a Merry Christmas!

To my Mom and Dad, Michael, Laura & Anne, Paul, Wendy & Taylor Rae, and Grandma Phillips and Grandpa Williams, we miss you. We wish we could all be together on this holiday. We will raise a glass and toast you tonight with our warmest thoughts and best wishes.

To the rest of our family and all others whom periodically check in on the Byron clan through this blog, we wish you the merriest of Christmases. Peace and goodwill to all.

Love, Ellen and Craig


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Mission Control, we have video feed

A little over a month ago I decided to re-join Dropshots for video uploading. I had been using Google Video (it's free after all), but I was never all that happy with the quality of the end product. Dropshots, on the other hand, has a larger screen with greater resolution. You can imagine then my dismay when none of my videos would upload properly (that is with the exception of Julia's six month video which I added at Uncle Paul's).

I am thankful to report that the problem is now resolved (thanks Ani for the advice). Below you will find some of the fruits of that labor: Julia talking and Grace in the snow. I have much more video of Grace sledding in Michigan, but those clips are still on our video camera (which requires a little more work to transfer to the computer). Enjoy.


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