First Halloween

Happy Halloween!
I hope everyone had fun. We sure did! Evie and I dressed up as Halloween witches (Evie's costume was a candy corn witch) and her Daddy was Clark Kent/Superman. We headed over to our church carnival with a chili cook-off, face painting, games, and of course Trunk-or-Treat. At first Evie wasn't so sure about all the strange-looking costumed people running around, but after a while she really got into it. She let us get her face painted, and she LOVED the glow stick she won. When we started trick-or-treating she didn't get why I wanted her to hold the pumpkin, but after she watched a couple people drop in candy, you couldn't get her to let go! I'm so glad she enjoyed her first Halloween. I sure had a lot of fun doing everything with her!

Look how tall I am!

Since when can you reach the piano?!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

I didn't take as many pictures as I thought at Grandma's birthday party. Sorry about that!

Here is the silly cake I made her, inspired by the peanut butter and jelly ice cream she liked at Baskin Robbins:

And here is a cute picture of Grandma with Evie:

Love you, Mom! Happy Birthday!

Standing up

First, hi! Look how big she is getting! (And so beautiful!)



Anyway, just a quick note today- nothing fancy. I just realized that we’ve been “playing” at standing up for a little while now, and I haven’t even told some of you about her new trick! So, excuse the messy room and the un-edited video. I just wanted to share and didn’t have time today to make it pretty!

So.. an update on standing. She regularly lets go of her support here and there while playing (if you watch close you will see her do that with her music table) and she’s getting really good at our “game”. She usually laughs when I let go and she realizes she’s standing alone. Believe it or not, this was actually a short time for her- I’ve counted more than a minute of free-standing!

Just some comments…

Like I said, this was an impromptu video, so please excuse the mess. I’m working on packing for our move, and the play area has been pretty low on my cleaning priority list. Also excuse the unedited video, especially the part where I’m looking for a spot to set the camera. I sure got lucky with that camera angle!

An explanation for the “no dada” bit. You don’t hear it, but before the video she would say “dada” and I would tell her “Dada isn’t home. He is at work.” Actually, she’s being saying “dada” all day every day for a couple weeks now. She even seems to know who dada is! Mama is feeling a little jealous. She might have said Mama first, but I haven’t heard that word for a month now! In fact, the more I try to get her to say “mama” the more she just says “dada”. Trent is starting to feel for me and even tried to help me a couple nights ago. But, and I’m not kidding, when he said “ma ma ma ma ma ma”, she would respond with “da da da da da da”! She would copy the number and rhythm (smart girl) but switch mama to dada every time! I think she’s toying with me on purpose…

ttfn,
life&lemons

Laundry Day

Today we did laundry together. Mama messed up and waited until ALL of Genevieve’s clothes were dirty, so there was nothing for her to wear! She ended up in her ladybug socks, her diaper, and a tutu with pigtails and a big bow on her head while her laundry was in the wash.

 

Too cute! (Next time I’ll remember to do laundry when there is still a clean outfit for while it’s running!) She had lots of fun helping mommy sort the laundry; we sat in the middle of the floor together, and as I was sorting it into piles she picked things up and sorted them out of piles. But she was so cute I didn’t mind.

She is getting so smart! We recently turned the family room into basically one big playpen. The room is baby-proof and full of toys, and the big “L” couch and side table mostly closes it in. We used a heavy plastic tote of clothes to finish blocking the opening. When she decides she is done playing on her own, she will stand at the plastic tote and yell. Well, yesterday I came over and found that she had dragged one of her big toys over to the tote and was standing on it and trying to climb onto the tote and escape! …I’m in trouble!

We’ve been hearing lots of new babbling sounds lately. Every day she is playing with a new syllable. Today has been a lot of “b” sounds. Yesterday I heard “V” and “L” several times- I choose to believe she was trying to say “I love you”. J We’ve heard “dada” off and on this week, which makes her daddy happy. “Mama” usually doesn’t show up until she is tired or hungry (so maybe she does know what it means!)

She has also gotten pretty good at waving when you wave to her, and she has started experimenting with letting go when she is standing up. With her front four teeth pretty far in she has become an expert at picking up a soup cracker between her pinching fingers and then carefully taking a bite. Her new sippy cup (the “360 Miracle” that you drink out of like a normal cup but doesn’t spill) really was a big hit. She figured it out right away and got so excited! She drinks out of it so well she can pick it up and drink all by herself.

She is still a super happy little soul. She loves to laugh and squeal and giggle and play. She loves tickle time (when she is in the mood) and is even a little more into hugs and snuggles than before (she was always too busy trying to move and be upright to have patience for being cradled.) She always gets happy when we pray out loud with her, and usually lets out a little squeal or giggle. She loves people and will share big smiles with everyone, even new people. She loves going to church and watching all the little kids in our primary class. She especially loves singing time and sometimes tries to join in.

 

That little girl lights up my world and I couldn’t love her more. Sometimes she is just WAY TOO cute and I wish there was a way I could save it and package it up and share it. I love you, sweetie!

ttfn,
Life&Lemons       

Crazy thing called life

We've been having some adventures lately. I'm excited (knock on wood!) for things to settle back into a little more normal of a routine and for me to get back to things like laundry and blogging!

I've got some cute pictures coming, and a couple that will blow you away when you see how BIG that little girl is! But a quick update: she now officially has TWO teeth. The other front bottom tooth broke through a couple days ago. She is a pro at crawling and is getting really good at manipulating things in her hands. And... she is easily pulling herself to standing and can take one hand off to play with something. When you hold her hands she can walk (shakily) toward you. This girl is determined to be up and running around as fast as she can!

Here is a super cute pic to tide you over until I get everything uploaded:

Don't you just love how she posed for the camera! It makes a nice change from all my blurry moving pictures! (This is actually from 3 weeks ago. She fills up that car seat even more now, and her hair is even longer!)

ttfn,
Life&Lemons

Take your Daughter to work…

So, I am VERY blessed in my job. I’m working part time (well, a little less than part time, really) as a paralegal and I get to do it from home. How much more perfect could that be for a new mom? Of course, there are those times when I’m reaching a deadline, I need to get a case finished and submitted for filing, and my little angel can’t stop pushing keys “just like mommy”. (I love her!) Today I got a little desperate and down to the wire, so I resorted to extreme measures…

When she won’t play on her own anymore, I often put her on my lap with a toy and tighten my sling carrier around the two of us so I don’t have to work as hard to keep her from falling (or flying) off my lap. Well, I was getting a little desperate to get this case turned in, and I happened to look over at the other desk chair, and…



Hey, no judgment… it worked! Well, for a while anyway. I of course was still checking on her every 30 seconds to make sure she didn’t get out or get her arms underneath and strangle herself (ah!) and after a while she figured out how to get her feet under her and stand up and then plop down, so we had to try something else. BUT it worked just long enough for me to finish, and she thought it was pretty funny.