Nice, normal Family...

My miracle

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle

Kat is standing up like a big girl, she has been able to hold her weight on her legs for months now, but always with someone holding on to her balancing her and keeping her upright. Here she is holding herself up for short periods of time holding on to the crib rail all by herself! This is the absolute first time she's done it, so I had to run downstairs and grab the camera. She was holding the rail and bouncing too before this. The top picture looks like she's standing alone holding nothing, but actually she was falling backwards there after standing too long, and I happened to flash the camera, but I had to include it because it looked neat anyway.

The Adventures of Happy Baby

I just unloaded my camera into the computer (which is becoming an almost daily thing LOL) and noticed I had lots of happy Kat pictures. It used to be that her smile would disappear the minute she saw the camera, but today she was being a ham and working the super model baby vibe, so I thought I'd share!

She thinks pulling up the skirt of whatever she's wearing is hilarious, we'll have to work on that before we send her to kindergarten LOL

Toys

Kat is rapidly outgrowing her baby toys we originally got for her... as soon as she figures them out she's mildly bored with them... she'll still play with them, but not for long! So it's obvious that not only will we need a new car seat soon, we'll also need to get her some more 'big girl' type toys to keep her thinking and entertained. She's a total toy kid!

At (almost) 6 months old her favorite toys are: Anything that plays music or talks, especially as a reward for an activity; Books that have big colorful pictures that she can point to and turn the pages; Stuffed animals that she can manipulate easily; my desk calculator, guess that could translate to anything with buttons that looks like something an adult would use; her Jumperoo and anything else physical; Anything that makes her figure it out and think, she's never been a fan of anything mindless and enjoyable like swings, etc...

So I know lots of my mommy friends read this blog... here is my kind of 'list' for the toys we plan to pick up for Kat soon. I'll be sale hunting/yard sale-ing etc. to try to find what we need. What am I missing that she might really love at this age, and what was your kid less than interested in (ie: possible waste of money)? We like keeping her entertained and intellectually stimulated as much as possible, so learning toys are a plus! Looking for some input here :o) You can e mail me or comment if you want :) Thanks!

~Big Blocks (maybe Duplos or big wooden blocks with a wagon or something to keep them in)
~Stacking Rings (I found a set once upon a time that each ring was a different toy in it's own right, but can't seem to find it again and forget the brand, if anyone knows what I'm talking about let me know)
~More Big Picture Board Books (she likes turning the pages)
~Play Table (ie: something like the Leap Frog table that has detachable legs that she can use when crawling and standing, has music toys and big book in the middle)
~Inflatable Paddling Pool (for summer)
~Baby Safe Stuffed Animals (she's a stuffed animal junkie)
~A push toy of some kind, preferably one that converts from a crawling push toy to a walking push toy... no clue what brand is any good or fun. :o)

Also if anyone spots a sale on a Britax Convertable Carseat, let me know! :)

Saying DaDa

Kat started saying Dada yesterday, and we thought it was a fluke and gibberish, but now she's looking at Tim and yelling it all morning long. When she saw the camera she got really quiet, but at the end when Tim is walking away she reaches for him and yells Dada... guess we've got our first word!

Changed the blog look again :)

I've been experimenting with GIMP (a free photo editing program) and made the topper you see above. I just learned to do 'cut outs' which is where I take a piece of a picture, cut it out, and put it elsewhere (as you can see the picture of Kat is cut out so I could set her in the little world of the picture I made) The picture also has a transparent backing and will show whatever is behind it, which is fun to use on certain projects :)

For Kerry

A family friend, Kerry, gave us this little dress for Kat her first week home and asked that when she was big enough to wear it she wanted to see pictures, so here they are :) Thanks for the outfit Kerry!

We had fun playing in the yard today until Kat decided to grab a great big handful of grass and shove it in her mouth before I could catch her... she decided it was definitely NOT tasty and then cried until I took her inside, cleaned out her mouth, and nursed her. Everything is an adventure with this little girl! It's 2 in the afternoon and she's worn me out already! :)

She's gotten over her camera shyness for the most part and gets excited when she sees the camera, but she also wants to use it just like everything else Mommy does!

Distracted by Freya running around chasing bugs :)

Little Imp :)

Sitting very sweetly


My camera case was discovered, and more interesting and chewy than anything else nearby!

Today we did an awful thing...

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house when Grandpa was out golfing, and he didn't get to see Kat! Grandma had no competition to hold the baby... it was awful.

I was also advised that I hadn't posted pictures in far too long (since Sunday)

So to make up for the awful awful thing we did here are a few pictures of Kat. :) We promise we'll come play later this week!

Cuddles right before bedtime

All ready to go for a walk to the park with Mom this morning!

Digital Scrapping...

I really love digital scrapbooking...

~It's basically free, though you can buy certain kits if you choose

~I don't have to worry about keeping track of glue sticks or small eatable pieces with the baby

~It takes up no room in my already crowded house

~I can do it one handed while Kat naps or nurses

~I can do cool things with the software (like signatures in forums, and blog backgrounds and headers)

~It's fairly quick, easy, and helps me feel like I'm actually doing something with the bazillion pictures I take of Kat.

My current and ongoing project is The Lewis Family Story... I am scrapping our life together from the very beginning through Kat's 1st birthday. At the end of this year we'll be sending it all to Shutterfly to be printed and bound into a leather book. We'll be doing one book per year (thats my goal anyway) so eventually we'll have shelves of books filled with our family story. A nice heirloom :)

Right now the software I'm using is Scrapbooks Plus, it came free with my printer. It works, but doesn't do well with Vista (very laggy and slow, lots of freeze-ups) So I'm saving a little to get better software sometime soon.

Here is a list of some of my favorite scrapping sites (mostly freebies)

http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/forums/index.php

http://ikeagoddess.blogspot.com/

http://inspiredmommiedesigns.blogspot.com/

http://www.digiscrapdepot.com/freebies/

http://wordartfun.blogspot.com/

http://www.shabbyprincess.com/downloads.asp

http://elegantwordart2.blogspot.com/

This is a forum signature I recently created for my iVillage account. I used GIMP (free photo editing software) to make this one...

Picture Madness

No time to type so here are some pictures... But I'm the baby!

Momma's Duckling

Love these two!!

Daddy is her hero :)

No longer a mystery...

I just checked Kat's new tooth for irritation, and you can see the tooth next to it just under the skin. You can't feel it yet, but you can see it...

So I guess that explains a good bit of the crankiness! Tooth number 2 here we come... and if the way it's looking now is any indication, there's going to be a gap :)

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Looks like me posting Kat's typical schedule tempted the Gods...

She just really hasn't been herself all week. I'm not sure if it's the teething, her growing, or some random circumstance I can't pinpoint. She doesn't appear to be sick...

Regardless- this week:
-she has only slept through the night twice
-our normally happy baby has switched moods rapidly from laughing to full on temper tantrum (a new thing she's doing) in seconds... bipolar baby anyone?
-has cut her naptime in half during the day, and refuses to sleep without being held- she's so stubborn on this one that on Wednesday she took 15 5-10 minute naps, wore herself out refused to sleep and was miserable all night. She's sooo stubborn!
-refusing formula at night completely now, strictly mama milk all day now.
-refusing some meals (solids) and devouring others, with no regard to what food or time it actually is
-crying way more than normal
-pulling her hair and scratching at herself more (according to the doc, a sign of stress in babies)

Granted, this isn't all day every day, but at large intervals during the day interspersed with good times. Even the intervals are way out of character for Kat, she's a really happy kid normally.

If I had to guess what is going on:

teething is painful

+

lots of drool from teething is causing upset tummy

+

not feeling good so I want lots of mommy time/comfort nursing

+

recent growth spurt changing her internal clock and moving her schedule around

+

structure hungry baby has no schedule due to internal craziness

=

really tired, worn out, and confused Mommy

So- we're starting from scratch and I'm listening to the Muffin and re-figuring out her schedule, plus trying to break her from the temper tantrum phase, and comforting her when needed. If you get some silence on my end this is why. I'm just trying to keep up right now :)

First Foods Scrapbook Page

I used K Lund's Hearts Wish Freebie Kit, Baby's 1st Food Word Art by Bethany, and the font is Expletive Deleted...

5 Months old today! (long blog)

As I keep telling Kat- So Big!!

I can’t believe how much she’s grown, and that it’s already been 5 Months since we had her in our lives. It feels like it’s only been a few days, and then again I can’t remember what life was like before she was in it! So my little Sweetie is 5 months old today… and I write about her all the time… so I’m at a loss as to what to update! I figured I’d make a few lists, and then post what our days are like at 5 months old, I’m sure I’ll want to remember that someday.

Kat’s Favorite Things
~Getting Tickled
~Giving Kisses (she puts both hands on your cheeks and brings you in for a big opened mouth smootch)
~Toys- especially musical toys. Her current favorites are her Tag Ball, and her purple Dragon.
~Reading Books- most especially board books when she can turn the pages while you read. Her favorites are still Dr Seuss, but she also loves the big board picture books. She points to a picture and I tell her what it is, then she turns the page and picks another picture.

Mommy and Kat reading Goodnight Moon... with Kat turning all the pages of course!

~Bananas and Rice Cereal for breakfast
~Green Beans
~Playing with anything that looks like what I’m using. (using her sippy cup like a big girl, playing with my cell phone when I’m talking, using a big person spoon to play with)
~Dancing: especially to anything you’ll sing to her. She loves when you sing to her and hold her hands and let her stand up and dance.
~Waking up Daddy: She loves waking Tim up for the day, we go upstairs and lay down in the big bed and she pats his face until he wakes up. We stay there for awhile just playing and talking to Kat and cuddling. It’s one of her favorite times of day.
~Bath Toys! She loves when we put little floating toys in her tub so she can kick at them and try to grab them. It makes her really enjoy Bath Time. Then after that we do baby massage with lotion which she also just loves.
~Grandpa and Grandma: She’s always so happy when she goes to visit them, I think she knows she’s adored and of course completely spoiled- which is as it should be! They are her favorite people next to Mommy and Daddy!
~Dogs: Right now she’s completely obsessed with all dogs. She will watch the cats, but she’s all about the dogs. Big ones, small ones. Unfortunately even though Freya is protective of Kat, she still won’t let Kat pet or hug her which Kat desperately wants to do, and won’t give up. She lunges at Freya every time she comes near her, which doesn’t really help her case- poor girl!
~People: She loves watching people, especially kids. At the mall she likes to sit on the edge of the play area and watch the other kids play. I think she’s definitely going to be an outgoing kiddo!

Kat’s Many Nicknames
Muffin
Cupcake
Kitty
Kitten
KitKat
WeeKat
Monkey girl
Lovebug
Sweet Pea

Bunny Rabbit
Jumping Bean

Goopers (from Grandpa)

Kat’s Typical Day at 5 Months old
Wake up (between 8am-8:30am)
Cuddle and Nurse with Mommy
Quiet play (on the floor with her toys) while Mom eats breakfast (9-9:30 or so)
Play with Mommy, Read a book and nurse
Morning Nap (10:30-11:30)
Lunch (usually a fruit with Rice Cereal)
Active Play (standing, sitting, bouncing, dancing with Mom) 12:30-3pm
Bath Time (between 3-4)
Read a book
Cuddle and Nurse
Afternoon Nap (3-4:30 or so)
Wake up Daddy and Cuddle in the big bed (5pm)
Playtime with Daddy while Mommy cooks dinner
Dinner (usually a veggie) (6ish)
Nurse
Quiet Play (on the floor with toys or in her Jumperoo) while Mom and Dad eat
Nurse and Nap
Evening Nap (7ish-8:30ish)
Active Play with Mommy or daddy, or both!
Bedtime Routine starts at 10pm
Go upstairs with Daddy and get diaper change, lotion, and Jammies
Curl up with Mommy and her only bottle of the day with her special vitamins
Sleep by 11pm

I made a snow angel...

It only took me 9 months! :) We're making the best of a bad situation here (ie- snow making me angry coming in April and ruining my plans to go play outside) Kat was in my arms and kept squealing at the window and lunging, I figured she was checking out the falling snow. We broke out the (HUGE) snowsuit and decided she could go play outside a bit. Once we got out there she kept opening her mouth really big to catch snowflakes and squealing when they hit her face. She loved it. I guess snow isn't all that bad. :) I had to help her sit up because this suit is SO big on her she couldn't sit up against it. Thanks to Tim for taking the pictures.

What happened when someone wasn't helping her sit up against the snow suit marshmallow.

And finally Kat started using her 'Big Girl Cup' today, and already has the hang of it like a pro. We are giving her little bits of breastmilk in the cup, and she really loved getting to use her cup during breakfast. Just had to share!

... and from the WTF files...

Snowing, again... in April... I'm trying so hard to stop cussing since Kat is starting to actually listen to what we say... but this makes me want to cuss a bit!! GAH!!!!!!!!!!....and since I was so cranky (and because I forgot they were on my camera until I took the snow picture) here's some Kat pictures...

Grandpa hiding behind the baby... coward LOL

and because everything is cuter if there's a bear on the butt... she was climbing up the couch here and I couldn't resist the shot!

My New Blog Look....

Just had to write a quick note on my new blog look...

First off, I made the whole thing (background included) with my digital scrapbooking software (yay) using a free kit by Miss Kim at: http://misskim.typepad.com/justmisskim/... the kit is called My Blue Period, and if you are up to date on your kids cartoons it's a reference to Lilo and Stitch.

Kat loves Lilo and Stitch (we've watched it about 5 times in the last week, she always laughs when he sings Elvis songs) AND when I was pregnant I watched it a few times and I love the quote: "You've created a monster!!! ...Eh, just a little one." Tim and I quoted that about a billion times in the weeks after Kat was born so there's a second tie in.

Also- when Tim and I first met, he gave me some beautiful star pictures, and our interest in stars and space junk has always been a bonding thing. (Mush factor 10 coming up, consider yourself warned) And- when we were doing the long distance thing, we'd sit on our respective porches outside talking on the phone to each other, and we always said we weren't THAT far apart, we were under the same stars.

Awwww.... so Kat is our little Shining Star.

Mushy mushy I know... but I loved making this layout. It's very bright, hope it's not giving anyone a headache! It worked for us.

Rolling both ways

Kat is officially rolling both ways now...

I had her on the couch playing and she rolled onto her belly accidentally, then just flipped back over...

So it's official... little stinker thought nothing of it, it wasn't even hard for her.

She's getting SO BIG!!!!!!!

The sun came out!!! and Thank you Grandpa!!!

The sun came out in Michigan today... it's miraculous!! So Kat and I took a family vote and decided that the housework could go hang because we wanted to play outside! We went for a walk to the park and watched the dogs play, then we got the blanket out and rolled around in the yard for awhile. Kat and I always win the family vote, because we outnumber Daddy :) All part of our evil female plan to rule the world! Using her bib to play peek a boo with Mommy

Here I am!!!

Enjoying the sunshine. Poor little winter baby hasn't seen it yet!

Also last week Kat's Grandma and Grandpa went to Florida for the week, so Grandpa decided to leave the good (ie. all the bells and whistles) jumper that they normally keep for Kat at their house with us so she could play with it for the week they were gone. Well... Kat got a little spoiled by it, and when we tried to put her back in her old exersaucer she jumped twice, looked confused, pushed the music button, and busted out crying and reaching over her exersaucer at the Jumperoo. So Grandpa was super nice and decided to let us keep the good Jumperoo here at the house so Kat would play with it. We decided he needed a BIG thank you!! So here is Kat saying thank you... well actually squealing and jumping, but I'm sure she really means:

Thank you! You're the Best Grandpa in the Whole Wide World!

My Interview with Domestic Witch

Here is a link to my interview with Dawn at Domestic Witch. Yes that's a breastfeeding picture, I was nervous about using it, but she wanted a picture that really represented my relationship and bond with Kat, and since we talk about breastfeeding in the article I decided to be brave. So if you don't want to see a picture of me breastfeeding, don't click the link LOL (it's not too graphic, I promise)


http://domesticwitch.blogspot.com/2009/04/time-with-tara.html