Sam's Cake Smash Photos!

             So in preparation of her upcoming FIRST BIRTHDAY we did "cake smash" pictures.  I know most of you are asking why we did them so far before her birthday but you'll have your answer in the mail soon!  The whole occasion was... an experience, to say the least.  I'm thrilled with how the pictures came out (props to Reyna Upchurch of Upside Images) but it was not at all what I was imagining in my head. 

            I was thinking "what kid doesn't wanna smash and smush up a giant cupcake, right?!"  Apparently the answer... MINE!  She was slightly intrigued by the cake the day we went to pick it up but when we actually got it out and let her go at it...  NOTHING.  She had no interest in it whatsoever.  This may have been more a side effect off all the hoopla surrounding capturing this precious moment or it may have been her mood, there's no telling with 'Little Miss Drama Queen'.  So catastrophic failure, she cried and fought, we took turns calming her down, let her at the cake again and repeat.  Finally I hollowed out the back of the cupcake and filled it with puffs (like fast dissolving Cheerio's for those of you without little ones) and we got it to look like she was interested.  That only lasted for a minute but luckily, with photography, that's all you need.  So when you're looking at these pictures and you're thinking "Aww, look!  She's eating the cupcake!"  She's not, she's eating puffs, it's merely an illusion!

I feel the need though, to narrate the upcoming images...

This is one of the ones where she looks like she's eating the cupcake...  nope...  PUFFS!

And again...  PUFFS!

Here I had attempted putting a little frosting on the puff before I gave it to her to see if that would spark her interest...

And that's the look of disgust the frosting got!

We decided to settle on just getting her to play around with the cupcake in the background!  Eh, you take what you can get, right?!

Stuff on the baby's head!

The classic 'Mohawk Shot' that every parent needs to have!

Well this entry started as I was looking through the pictures on my phone and realized that I have a lot (too many some may say) pictures of my precious child with stuff on her head. Upon further examination, I have a bunch of pictures of silly things her horrible parents have done to her, not only things on her head.

Plastic lai from the Jimmy Buffett concert!

Diaper on the head!

Bendy flower toy tiara!

Gettin crafty! ;)

So any of you who have kids or dogs or cars or a house (well you get the point) but mainly kids...  know how much stuff them come along with.  Not all of it essential, I know women raised babies ages ago with a sharp rock and a strap of canvas, but the probably didn't have to worry about traffic in the fields, work or school so we'll acknowledge that the times, they are a-changin'!  So for a mommy like me, without the unlimited funds to buy all this fun (and helpful) stuff, there's really only one solution...  you guessed it:  Gettin Crafty!

Now let me back up about 20 years or so to a modest home in Newark, Delaware where my mother was teaching me some life basics: ironing and sewing.  My ironing lesson began with a disclaimer: "Now honey, you've got to be really careful because the iron gets really hot, odds are, someday you will burn yourself with it."  Ok, got it, I can take a little heat, not really a big deal.  Well she was right, I did (and do) burn myself, still, no biggie.  But then we move onto sewing, an evil looking machine, and I get a similar disclaimer.  "Now honey, you need to make sure to keep your fingers away from the needle, but at some point, you probably will run over your hand."  And...  I'm done!  Nope, not gonna happen.  I picture in my head some final destination stuff of sewing my hand to my jeans!  No thank you!  So needless to say, until this week, I have spent the last 20 years avoiding sewing machines like it's my job! 

So now that you know the backstory you can understand where I'm coming from.  Well I decided recently that I would love to have a little bean bag chair that Sam can sit in in the den and watch tv.  Since our tv is mounted above the fireplace the very bottom of it is about eye level for me so she needs something she can kinda recline back in to not have to crank her neck up to see it.  So with my mother coming to visit soon, I asked her if I got the fabric if she'd help me make it.

Soon after my mom got here, she went out on secret maneuvers...  cryptic I know!  But these maneuvers turned out to be her purchasing a new sewing machine.  While technically it is HER sewing machine, it will be living at my house for the foreseeable future.  <3   After this, SEW 101 began, wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, and now I'm hooked.  I've got "I-can-make-that-itis" and while the beanbag chair was wildly successful, I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a project.  It's not easy (my mom did the brunt of this work) and it's really not all that cost effective, it is however, wicked cool!  So now I'm making blankets, mini blankets, burp cloths, yada, yada, yada.

She loves her bean bag chair her Grandmommy made her!!!!

So next, once I find a fabric I like and can afford, I'm going to attempt a duvet cover for my hard to fit oversized king comforter!  Anyone have any ideas of stuff for me to try?  Or wanna show off stuff you've tried??

I made a blanket to match her bean bag chair!!  <3

Burp cloths everywhere!!!

A fleecy blanket I made for a friend!

Pink & Green burp cloths

Have I told you lately that I love you??

Please allow me to introduce one of the daily loves of my life:  my Keurig coffee maker.  Backstory, after Sam was born my parents, obviously, began spending a lot of long periods of time visiting.  Since my mom and I drink regular coffee and my dad drinks decaf, my kitchen became a maze of coffee makers and fixin's.  One trip we discussed possible solutions, that conversation spurred an executive decision.  We, both the resident coffee drinker as well as the transient ones, decided that we would purchase one of those single serve coffee makers.  Field trip!  So off to Bed, Bath & Beyond we went.  Armed with my 20% off coupon, it was like looking at puppies in the pet shop window, which one was going to be ours?  We debated size, features and price before deciding on the Keurig B60.  Just simple enough to operate easily, just enough features to do everything we wanted.  We got it home, set it up (duh) and we were off!  Coffee in a snap!  Tea (for whoever it is that drinks that stuff) in a snap!  And also, one use I never even thought of before I had it, instant hot water!  Anyone who's ever tried to reheat baby food can tell you, the microwave sucks.  The outside of it gets blazing hot while the center stays cold and that, my dear friends, is not something you want to stick your finger in after stirring to test the temperature.  But you put a glass under the Keurig, with no cartridge in it of course, hit one button and walah!  Hot water, just drop the baby food jar in for a few minutes and you're good to go!  In conclusioin...  I LOVE MY COFFEE MAKER!  HE IS MY BEST FRIEND!

Full on crawling, oh the joy!

Let me just preface:  I knew that when I kept saying "I can't wait for her to crawl!" that I was going to regret it.  I knew I would, before the words left my mouth I knew it but still, call it "new parent stupid" but I still really couldn't wait!  And when she started to scoot around with spurts of crawling I was genuinely excited... no more.  While I knew I'd regret it, I thought it might take a little longer than it has. 

Crawling out of her pj's won't stop her

So our normal routine when I'm trying to dry my hair and get ready is I put Sam in the recliner in the office (where my hairdryer is) with all her toys.  I put her facing the back of the recliner with the foot part up and pillows stacked behind her.  This keeps her contained in a nice padded little box with moderate entertainment.  That combined with my blasting music, dancing around like a mental patient seems to keep her occupied long enough for me to finish...  no more.  :(  She's now bound and determined to crawl out of that chair, smack on her head.  So, in my never ending wisdom, I decided to side step that land mine and put her on the floor...  nope, that don't work neither!  Now she's everywhere, she's bound and determined to pull up on the rolling chair at the desk.  That of course, is just the perfect recipe for falling face first onto a chair leg, busting a lip, nose or other adorable feature and sending her into a crying tizzy that'll surely last for hours.  Needless to say, what used to take me 20-30 minutes from sopping wet to walking out the door ended up taking just shy of 2 hours today... joy! 

What used to be my nice, clean den!  :(

She's also trashing my house (I know Mom, try not to sprain your smile muscles).  She's all over the place and seems to have some sort of "don't touch that" radar.  I swear I could line up 5 completely new items, none of which she'd ever seen or played with, and if one of them was sure to result in complete dismemberment... she'd bee-line straight for the death toy! 

Found Mommy's magazine stash!

The best part of her crawling, besides the obvious amazement of her learning new things and exploring her world, is that the cats HATE it!  They had just seemed to figure out this whole baby thing with the stink and the crying and the screaming but now, now she's mobile!  Watch out fuzzy tails, Sam's coming for you!  They have lost all their safe places cause she finds them, right when they get comfortable and deep in sleep, here she comes!  Drooling and giggling, just dying to slobber all over them!  They lay there until the very last moment, keeping a close eye on her but not moving, as if they're thinking "Maybe if I don't move or do anything she'll lose interest, get distracted and head in a different direction!"  Watching her torment them, after the years of torment I've endured is priceless.




So conclusion:  Sam's crawling.  It's progress and it's a good thing but my foot is obviously firmly inserted in my mouth as I completely regret saying I couldn't wait for this milestone.  She's destroying my house and I know, it'll only get worse!

Why are baby teeth so sharp?!

I guess I've noticed before that, for example, puppy and kitten teeth seem significantly sharper than said animal's adult teeth and I suppose there's plenty of evolutionary reasons behind this.  But as Sam's two (that's right, count 'em TWO) toofers come in I'm questioning why human babies haven't evolved past the insanely sharp infant teeth! They are not, like wild animals, having to defend themselves from predators.  They are not hunting and gathering.  They are not gnawing on turkey legs.  They are (as they have been for a while now) eating milk/formula and smushed up "used-to-be-recognizable-as-actual-food" baby food.  They are essentially herbivores, so why do they not have herbivore teeth?!  Is it just to bite Mommy when she's not paying attention?  Is it to defend against Daddy sticking his fingers in there and getting all up in their business looking for more teeth?  Is it to bite other kids on in day care so Mommy has to go in and be scolded?  On second thought, that's probably the reason.  They've out smarted us and we're just to dumb to know it.  I get it now!

And we have a crawler!

Go go speed racer!!

I wouldn't necessarily call it "efficient" but...  we definitely have a crawler!!!!!    Scooting on her belly still seems to be her fall back mode and if the excitement gets too overwhelming she defaults back to it but when all conditions are perfect she will crawl to you!  Bittersweet moment, baby girl is growing up!!  Watch out world!  Sam is no longer the world's cutest "baby blob" now she's the world's cutest baby in motion!!  :)

My baby is growing up!!! :(

So at about 5:00pm today Sam was obviously in need of a quick cat nap.  I tried laying her down but she wasn't having it.  Now we've known she was capable of pulling herself up (because she's done it sitting on the floor with us before) but she's never done it in her crib... until today!  So needless to say, I laid her down, she got back up.  I had a feeling she wouldn't go down so I hid in her room behind her glider and watched.  I watched her wriggle around and play for a while, then I watched her sit up...  she then pulled up onto her knees at the end of her crib!  So of course I know the next step is one of two options: (a) she'll pull herself up to standing and either topple out of her crib over the side or crumble down at the knees like she does and bust her lip or nose or something on the side of the crib.  Or (b) she'll lean over out of the crib from her knees and face plant to the floor below.  Either option not a good one so we were forced to drop her mattress down a few notches!  So sad!  I feel like my little bitty baby girl is growing up!  :(

Surveillance photo of my sneaky sneaky little girl!

Your Baby Can Read! [Day 1]

Just got a copy of "You're Baby Can Read!" from a friend of mine.  Just popped the DVD in this afternoon, haven't looked at the directions or printed the flashcards or in any way shape or form prepared for it but it seemed to keep her way more entertained than any other cartoon or tv show!  If nothing else, it's wonderful for that reason!  I'm sure it was just a flook but...  they did the word toes and she grabbed her toes! So we'll probably do this once a day or so and see how it goes...  keep you posted!!

Ideas for the teething youngin!

So while I understand that every child is different and every tooth is different, I'm trying to compile some of my ideas and solutions for a teething baby.  Maybe if we can get a good enough list going everyone can find at least one or two things that will work for their child!

.I'll add this one first since it just came in the mail (a gift from my awesome cousin, Heather) today!  It's called the RaZ-Berry Teether and so far, she's loving it.  It's really soft and squishy so she likes to chew on all parts of it.  She's actually had two in her mouth at once a couple times so far, I look over to see her trying to figure out how to fit her normal pacifier in there with them!  Don't think it's gonna work out that way!  :)  I haven't found them in stores yet but I did find them on Amazon.com, the picture here will link you to them!

.

I also found that cutting a refrigerated apple into skinless spears is something soft and cool that she can chew on.  You can also do frozen peaches but they're much messier.  The only precaution doing this is they can break off pieces of the apple so you have to watch carefully to make sure they don't swallow any chunks!  There's also a mesh pacifier that you can buy to put things like frozen fruit into, they don't cut down on the mess at all but they do keep baby from swallowing pieces.  I got one a couple years ago for my neice so I'm not sure where it came from but I wouldn't think it would be hard to find!

 

 Sam also loves the teething cookies/biscuits.  I know they make an awful mess but they teach her eating skills and keep her happy for about 15 minutes at a time so it's worth the clean up!  I get the Earth's Best Organic Wheat Teething Biscuits from Target but I think there's other kinds.  There's also something I found called Baby Mum-Mum Rice Cakes that are just as time consuming for her but make less of a mess than the teething cookies...  these would be my choice if you were going to give them to the baby in the car or at someone else's house!

 

So far, these are my best solutions other than the standard refrigerated teether and Ora-gel...  Any input or other ideas are certainly welcome!  Hope this helps somebody!

Attempting to figure this out!

Ah, the things I do while Sam naps...  house is clean, laundry's done, dishes are washing...  so I'll start blogging!  Absolutely no idea how to do it but, if my cousins can figure it out, it can't be that hard!  Stay tuned, we'll see if I really am smarter than the blog I'm using!