Neat!

I got a comment from busy mom (of SEVEN!) Qtpies7 saying I might be interested in this contest! She's giving away a 1 lb pail of cloth diaper detergent, made by a WAHM named Becki. The contest is here, and the detergent is here! I'm not sure which scent I would like better...Tangerine or Tea Tree??

Updated to add another contest entry - this one for FREE SHOES! How could I not enter?! Go here or here to win a pair of shoes from Ryka! Their running shoes are really cute, too!

Miscellaneous

I took this video a couple days ago and it makes me laugh.. She's playing with her penguin who has a mirror on his belly, and she's watching the light reflecting all over the room:



And her new favorite food is.....

Refried beans! She took one taste and just started shoveling them in.. it was pretty funny! But she's also been eating applesauce, pasta, chicken, and (ahem) cupcake frosting.... I know, I'm a bad mom - but I was rude enough to eat a cupcake in front of her! And she really loved that frosting, but I've learned my lesson and she's never going to have sugar before bed again! And just look at that Buddha belly - we could probably all lay off the cupcakes around here!

And today I was bored and trying to think of something to do with some fabric I bought on sale months ago, so I made this!
It's called a pouch sling - I found the directions here. It was very easy to sew - the hardest part was keeping a little monkey out from under the sewing machine! Please disregard the yellow plastic toy ring on it - I'm making a fabric tie to go there. So far I like it, I wore her in it to the grocery store today and it went okay - I may need to hem it just a little bit shorter so she rides higher up because I'm pretty sure it will hurt my back after a while. But it's definitely cooler than the wrap!

The secret..

So Cathy has discovered the secret to keeping me motivated on this blog:

New clothes! Her son Jacob took Aurora out for a lunch date at Olive Garden the other day, and she surprised us with this cute new dress! It's a bit big on her, and when she tries to crawl she gets all tangled up and angry with it, but I think it's cute and she got complimented on it at the grocery store today!

Oh, she has a couple new foods to add to her repertoire - stinky feta cheese, toasted whole wheat bagel, and her new favorite - peaches! She squished a peach slice in her fist, took a few bites, and then spent about 15 minutes slurping every bit of peach juice off her fingers, wrist, and arm - so I made sure to slice up a couple of the very ripe ones and put them in the freezer for her teething enjoyment later on.

PS to Mom - trying to keep her from standing up is like trying to keep the sun from shining or the dog from shedding....its just not possible!

PPS to Grandma Eileen - I would say she weighs about 21 lbs now, and she does walk along the furniture but she crawls to get wherever she wants to go. I'll try and get some more videos with sound up soon!

7 Months Old

Well, the little monkey is officially seven months old now! Here are some of the things she likes to do:

• Crawl (lightning fast!)
• Pull up and cruise along the furniture
• Eat anything BUT pureed food, including avocados, bananas, grilled red bell peppers, chicken, toast, cucumbers, broccoli, ice cream and breadsticks from Olive Garden (she's her mama's girl!)
• Chase the dogs all over the house, while yelling at the top of her lungs ("AHHH! AHHH!!! BYAHHH!!" while the poor dog just tries to find shelter anywhere she can't reach)
• Play with her stacking rings and her counting tower, while babbling and singing to herself
• Make 'pbbbtttttt' and 'ttthhhhhh' sounds while crawling around like a little motorboat
• Scrunch up her nose and make piggy snorts
• Look at the world sideways and upside down
  
• Laugh at all the funny faces and noises mommy makes to amuse her during the day
• Play Space Ranger with daddy
• Read books and play peekaboo with mommy
• Take baths and swim in the pool
  

Never fear, there are things she definitely does NOT like to do:

• Nap longer than 30 minutes at any given time during the day
  
• Sleep longer than 2.5 hours at any given time during the night
• Sit still in her booster seat (or highchair in restaurants) longer than 15 minutes

Notice a theme? Even as I type this she is playing by herself in her crib, having just woken up from a whopping 13 minute nap! Luckily, she seems pretty content playing with Snoopy and her blanket, but still I would really appreciate a good 90 minute nap once in a while. Oh well, I guess I just have to resign myself to the notion that she is just too darn BUSY to sleep.. and I can sleep when she goes to school :) Here are some pictures I took on her 7 month birthday yesterday:




Edited to add: Okay, the very day I posted this she went down for a nap at 12:50 and didn't wake up until 2:48!! My child. She is a mystery to me...

Yes Ma'am!

In response to Cathy's last comment, I decided to do something about the lack of new material around here. So, after a diaper change that necessitated not only a full removal of her clothing, but also a hazmat suit and a gas mask for me, I set to work getting new footage of our little rugrat. The following pictures tell the tale of why said footage has been so lacking lately -


Every time I tried to get her to sit still so I could take a picture, she would chase me down and try to put the camera in her mouth. Finally I had to stand over her and get a Godzilla-eye view of her:She's quite the little character - her 7 month birthday is coming up Friday, so I'll have more to post then!

Videos!

Crawling and talking - she's a busy girl! Of course, it ended abruptly when she bonked her head on my chair...


Saying good morning to the dogs - Pepper's just jealous that she can't be in the house too!


You can see all the videos I've uploaded at Google Video

Two new pictures

I'm uploading some great videos right now, but in the meantime
here's a couple photos from the past few days!

Carrots? Poison!
Standing in the laundry basket - right before it tumps over and drops her on her head!