This page is about Tori's day to day life. It was started on March 27, 2000. To read the entry about Tori up until this time, you can skip to the bottom, and read "The Story of Me". This journal won't be updated daily. I don't have that much time on my hands. It will be updated often though, especialy on days when she does things that I think are really cute.

Oct. 2nd, 2000
Well, all I can say is, it took mom long enough to get her own computer. But she did it. This one is hers to keep, paid for free and clear. You know it's kind of hard to keep a journal when we don't have a computer.

So, what has happened in the past couple of months?...Mom was working so much I never saw her. Like 70 hours a week. But she had a really cool job that made her happy. But I missed her. Now she only works nights and I get to spend the whole day with her. We live with mom's friend Courtney and her son Zack. Zack is a whole year olded than me, and picks on me alot. But I get my kicks in now and then. He really hates it when I stand in front of the TV, especially when Toy Story is on. That is our favorite movie now. We watch it everyday. Somedays twice, if Mommy has alot of stuff to do that day. I over heard her say that we will be getting the Toy Story 2 movie in a couple of weeks. I can't wait!

I am amazing my mom everyday. Mostly with how well I communicate. And how well I remember my daily routines. I know how to brush my teeth. And I can kind of wash my own body when I take a bathe, tho mom comes behind me and does a better job. I know what I want when I want it. For instance I will keep asking for something, until she gives in. Unless it is first thing in the morning, I hear "no your not having cookies for breakfast", oh well, it doesn't hurt to try. I think mom is frustrated with me still not having much hair, and these cow licks....she can't do anything with my hair. Thats fine with me, I only turn around and pull out the baretts that she puts in. She says she puts them in so people will know I am a girl. I really could care less.

Well I think that is about all for now. Mom says it's nap time so I have to go.

April 25th, 2000
Wow what a strange month we have had!!! A lot of bad things happened, but I don't care to mention those. Lets just say that Mommy and I are have a rough go of things right now. We moved this month. In the process the car broke down just over the Ohio/Penn line. We got stuck there for 11 hours. I was an angel through the whole thing though. I knew Mommy was tired. She had been awake 24 hours by the time we broke down, and you could tell just by looking at her.

There is some good things coming out of all this trouble though. We got to see Uncle Mike, (who I had never met), and Mommy's friend Dawn, niether of whom she has seen in 2 and 1/2 years. I am making some new friends too, if you can call boys friends. They are around my age. Now if they could just learn to quit knocking me down, we could all be best buds!

Mommy assures me that we will be OK. She is pretty tough, but I can see her stressing a little. With the car being broke and all. But if my Mommy says we are going to be alright, then by God we will.

April 1st, 2000
We have been very busy this week. Back and forth to school. Lots of playing this week. Oh and I learned a really cool trick this week. I learned how to climb out of my playpen. Now I am really trouble! Actually I am a little to short to just climb out, so I grabbed on to the couch next to the playpen and pulled myself up, and landed on the couch! Aren't I smart? I about gave mommy and Liz a heart attack. They were cleaning house, and I was just doing my own thing. Boy was I mad when Liz put me back in the playpen. What made it worse was when Mommy said to move me from the couch.

Well what else happened this week? Oh Mommmy thought it was so cute to see me sleeping in my highchair. I was tired what can I say. I had a fishstick in each hand, and mac and cheese all over my tray. I woke up for a breif moment when I heard Mommy laughing so hard, but then I fell right back asleep on my fishsticks. Oh, and I learned how to tickle my Mommy. And why not, she tickles me all the time. I put my little cold hands right on her belly and said "Tickle". Then I did. Mommy thought that was so funny. I guess thats about all for now.

March 27th, 2000
Well here it is, our first journanl entry. There is going to be alot going on today. Mommy went to school today, so I got to go play with Denise and her daughter, my best pal, Emily. I have a Dr. appointment today at 3:15. I know I am going to hate it because I am getting more shots. My Mommy can always make it better.

I have discovered some great ways to make grown-ups laugh. When my Mommy asks me where my belly is, I lift up my shirt, stick my tummy out real far, and point to it. When I have an audience, I will stand on my head and stick my butt up in the air. I also like to spin around in circles. My Mom taught me that. She has been spinning me since I was able to crawl. She thinks it is funny to watch me wobble. She's right, it is. I always go back for more. The cool thing about all this silly stuff is, it can get me out of trouble in a pinch. Mommy, or anyone else for that matter, can be made at me when I am being so cute.

Well, we went to the doctor this afternoon. Just like I said I hated it. Oh, it was alright at first. I was running around the room with only my diaper on. The lady doctor thought I was so cute. They weighed me (22lbs), and checked me out. Then while I was running around I thought it would be funny to take off my diaper. I only got one side open before Mommy caught me. Then the nurse came in to see me. Do you believe that this lady wanted to take blood out of my foot to check my iron? Despite all my efforts she got what she was sfter. Then, as if pricking my foot was not enough, she just had to give me a shot. Mommy had to help her hold me down for that one. Let me tell you, I screamed my brains out. After it was all done, the nurse went to check my iron, and mommy started to get my cloths bback on. The nurse came back in to let mommy know what the test revealed, and I started screaming again, just for good measure. I had to let the nurse know I did not like her!!!

I decided to be crabby for the rest of the evening. I refused to eat my dinner, and was in a generaly bad mood, and whiny until bed time. That'll show them, be mean to me will they! -Tori
The Story of Me

Well this is how it is...I was born on Feb. 27, 1999. After a long hard pregnancy, my mom delivered me, and it only took about 13 hours. They had to give her a special drug to make labor happen. They also had to break her water, since I decided I liked it where I was and I was not coming out. But after a really long day of fighting, I gave in and decided to meet the world. I weighed 8lbs 12oz, and was 22" long. I was, as far as newborn babies go, Beautiful. Despite the fact that my eyes were swollen shut from the pressure, come to think of it, mommy's were swollen shut too. We had both been through hell, but we were happy. I have elected to let mommy tell my story. Because, well to put it plainly, I can't even talk, let alone type.
Thanks in advance for stopping by my site.--Tori

March 27, 2000
I have always believed that Tori was a special child, but who am I to say I am only her mother. From the day I brought her home, she was very independant. She refused to sleep on her back, like the Doctors said she should. I was amazed to see her, at 3 days old, laying face down on the couch, pick her head up and turn to the other side. For anyone who has never been around newborns, they are not supposed to be able to do that. So I let her sleep on her tummy. Not to say I was not a paranoid new mother, I put the monitor in her crib and turned it up loud enough to hear her breathing.

She slept with me until she was about 4 weeks old. I think in part because it was easier to breastfeed her in the middle of the night, if she was already there. I think that breastfeeding her had something to do with her not getting her first cold until she was 4 months old. She was never a real cuddly baby. Another sign of her independance. She only needed me when she hungry, and only then because she was breastfed. Which lead to a real bout with postpardum. Feeling like if she was on the bottle, she would have no need for me. We got over that though.

She did everything early, at least that is what I got from all the books and her Doctor. She has slept through the night since she was 4 weeks old. She pushed herself off the floor at 5 weeks old. I thought I would cry. I could while palying with her, that she was frustrated by not being able to get around on her own. So at 4 months old we put her in a walker, and she was off. She loved that thing, and to tell you the truth, so did I. It made her happy to be mobile, and that made me happy. She could be in the kitchen with me while I cooked. And I didn't have to wait until nap time to clean house. She could be with me all the time, and I still had 2 hands free.

We had our first vacation together in July. In the mountains of upstate NY. Where she showed everyone how wonderful a baby she was. She loved it up there. Lots of fresh air, and another baby to taunt. This was also about the time she started sitting up. Not long after that, came pulling up to a stand. The first thing she tried on was her walker, which of course rolled away, and scared her to death. All the sudden it was more fun to be on the outdie of the walker, than in it. But Leave it to a mom to solve that problem. Snack time was then observed in the walker. Pretzel rods were among her favorites. It was now the time in her life when mom could take a shower, without it being nap time. I could give her some juice and sit her down to watch her show, and she would not make a peep or move for 20 mins. What show is this you ask? Is there such a show that might entertain a 5 month old for that long? I say to you, YES!!! 'Bear in the Big Blue House', a life saver, a moment of peace for the mommy. The cool thing was, it is even a cute show, unlike some other childrens shows featuring an evil purple blob, or 4 gibberish speaking freaks with bent wire hangers on here heads! I actually liked to watch bear. And, get this, it comes on twice a day. Even better than that, they sell tapes at stores everywhere. We got 2 different ones. They may have been expencive but when I think of all the sanity they saved, money was no object.

Did you know that babies like to swim? Well OK, maybe not all babies, but Tori sure loved it. As long as you didn't get her face wet she would float in the pool all day. She did not mind the cold water. She didn't even mind when we put her in her own baby float, and let her float solo. I think maybe she was really supposed to be a water baby. She must have been overdue!

Next she took on the challenge of crawling, which I could have done without. But I knew it was coming, what could I do? I think at 6 months old, she did that about the same time as most babies. Who knew, that when given a choice, babies prefer diaper wipes and changing pads over toys anyday? That was a real battle. I won of course. I simply had to hide them under the end table with a table cloth on it. It took her about 2 months to figure that out.

I think the only thing that she was late doing was teething. She didn't get her first tooth until she was just shy of 7 months. One day she would not lay down to take a nap to save her life. Which was unussual for her, she rarly had a problem with nap time. She was screaming her brains out. So, I went into her room, to give her some Baby Oragel. She was mad at me, but when I finally got a finger in her mouth, I felt her first little tooth. Needless to say, I let her skip that nap.

The next challange for Tori was to learn to walk. She took her first steps at 10 1/2 months. All the books said babies won't get a good grasp on walking until they are about 18 months old. Now I don't know if this is true for other babies, but if it is then Tori is the exception. This kid had the walking thing down with in a few weeks. And by the time of her first birthday came around, she was running. You should see her now. She runs through the house at top speed, and corners on a dime. Lets not forget to mention that she gets into everything.

Aaahh, the language of love. I imagine that nothing warms a heart more than hearing your child call you mama. But I would not know. Tori's first word was "Doggie". which was closely followed by her first complete thought, "No, Doggie!", it sounded more like, "NO, Oggie" but I knew what she meant. That was about 2 months ago. Do you think this kid has called me mommy, or even anything close to that. NO! Sure, she says lots of things. Block (while she runs around with a block in the air), Kitty (when she sees one of the cats),Bear (for Pooh or Bear in the Big Blue House), Book ( when we are reading a story), I taught her to say 'Pink' when she was in the bath one night, took about 5 mins. There are alot of other things she says, the point is she never says Mama, in reference to me. Someone please tell me she will, one day.

So now you are up to date....Don't you feel better? Go back to the top of the page to read the journal entries.