Yesterday,  J.E.B. and I loaded up Atlas and V and headed out to a place in the desert called Valley of Names. It is a spot where people have used small rocks to write their names or initials. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the dirt road, then another 30 minutes to go the 7 miles to the beginning of the names since the road was so bumpy.

We were there for about two-ish hours just walking around and looking at all the names in the dirt. It was pretty neat. There were an assortment of dates, most in the 2000s, but we did find a few which were from the '90s. The oldest we saw was from '91 but we didn't fully explore the place. After two-ish hours of wandering we were hot, tired and thirsty. The peanut did great though. She was in the carrier with J.E.B. and kept laughing and squealing as we wandered around. The dog? He had a "big 'ole time" as J.E.B. likes to say, running around and sniffing this and snuffling that. We definitely have plans to head back out there sometime with a rake and some rocks and let the world know that Team Bolen was here in 2010!!

You can see how big some of these are compared to J.E.B.'s size!

This one reminded me of A & W root beer...or should I say Angelovich & Watrus (did I spell that right?!) root beer!

This was one of the oldest we saw.

Willie! You came to Yuma and didn't even tell us?!

I love it when I'm right.

It makes me feel all nice and warm and fuzzy and ....powerful! 

Yup, I predicted that V would be rolling over by the end of this weekend to J.E.B. earlier in the week and I was right. She is officially a mobile baby albeit only from side to side. I had been leaving her on a blanket on the floor in the living room in the evenings while I got dinner ready (perfect setup really -- I could still see her but could also leave her alone so I could get myself dinner) and she was really working her twisting moves. She'd get as far as she could without gravity taking over and this lasted for about a week or two. Then she started to roll up onto her side and move in a circle while on her side.

Finally yesterday she reliably, repeatedly and regularly rolled over. I had thought she would roll from her back to stomach first, but in the end she started with stomach to back. Everyone has said that I'll have to start watching her when she's on the changing pad so she doesn't roll off and yup, we're there. In just two days I can't tell you how many times she's tried to roll right off the edge! We're also at the point now where it takes a few minutes to put on a new diaper due to her kicking, rolling and pushing herself up by her feet. My little baby sure is growing up! :)

I uploaded a few videos from the past week or so, so check 'em out. Here are some more random pics.

So V had her 4-month-old doctor appointment on Wednesday and she's doing great. She took her vaccines like a champ (meaning she screamed bloody murder and gave me the worst accusatory look I could imagine) and continues to grow.

She is 12lbs 10oz (right at the 50th percentile if I'm reading the growth charts correctly) and is 25 inches long (in the 95th percentile). No wonder all those 6- and 9-month-old clothes fit her lengthwise, if not yet around the belly!

She is also talking (babbling) up a storm. Her favorite spot to chat is on the changing table. J.E.B. thinks its because she has the undivided attention of whoever is there with her. She's started stretching her vocal cords as far as volume goes to, although she tends to surprise herself when she really gets loud!

She's also good at grabbing her feet now. A few weeks ago she would grab aimlessly in the direction of her feet, but now she's able to get 'em both. I saw her try to put her toes in her mouth today also. Let's hope she doesn't pick up that habit. Sure her feet are clean but still. Sucking on your toes?


Here are just a few random shots from the past month or so.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I've been pretty busy with the day-to-day stuff and haven't taken many pictures since we got back from G-burg. However, J.E.B took this one of us this morning before he had to go in to work.
V loves being carried around in the Bjorn or the wrap as long as she's facing out and can see where we're going. The Bjorn hurts my shoulders and back so I've started using the wrap. I love how she looks when she's all bundled up in it. Just a little head poking out of all this navy material! Too funny!

Its been a couple of weeks since the last post and while not a whole lot has happened here, I have been busy.

J.E.B.'s WTI class is in its last two weeks which means its two of the busiest weeks and he hasn't been home much at all. I was told last year to think of the WTI classes as small 8-week deployments with the only difference being the guys get to sleep in their own beds at night. That is actually a great way to look at these classes. He works 6 days a week and is usually flying in the evening which means he gets home around midnight-one a.m.

So, yeah, we haven't seen each other much lately and even though he is technically home, he's not around to help with V, so my free time hasn't been my own. I was telling him last night, in fact, that I can't understand how every night there is always something I didn't get to do, whether it is take a shower, get a mid-day snack or even have some "me time" to play video games (By the way, we got Plants vs. Zombies -- you have to kill the zombies with plants! Hilarious game! I love it!).

And, coupled with my lack of time to do what I want, the desktop is still doing some funky things, so uploading the pictures from my trip to G-burg didn't get done until just now. But enough excuses. My family wants some updates so here ya are! :)

The first ones are just some random pics from my trip. I uploaded about 6 or 7 videos to dropshot, so check out the link to the right.

I had been trying to get a picture of her pout for ages! Lucky Seamus! :)