Monsoon

Some excitement from the recent weather has merely improved our golf course view

 

 

Now to see if the golf course is in charge of fixing it or if I am...

Def: Blink

blink  (blngk)

v. blinked, blink·ing, blinks

v.intr.

1. To close and open one or both of the eyes rapidly.

2. To look through half-closed eyes, as in a bright glare; squint.

3. To shine with intermittent gleams; flash on and off.

4.

a. To be startled or dismayed.

b. To waver or back down, as in a contest of wills: "This was the first genuine, direct confrontation between this administration and the Soviets. It was the U.S.A. that blinked" (Zbigniew Brzezinski).

5. To look with feigned ignorance

6. The amount of time it takes your baby to go from this

to this.

No really, she did it the same week. I thought there would be a month or two of crawling before the standing kicked in. Nope. She did it the same week, I've just been chasing her for a month before managing to snap a picture. She pulls herself up onto anything these days.

*sigh*

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this is my life. I feel like I'm babysitting instead of being the mom. Now that she is pushing 8 months, I guess I can't use the "I just had a baby" excuse anymore either. Please excuse me while I turn into a motherhood cliche and cry about how my baby is growing up so fast. *sob sob sob* Have a*sniff* happy *sniff* weekend.

Big Fan

  
And right after she said her first words: "Luuuuuuuuke, I am your faaaaaaaaaatttttther."

P.S. I did take precautions to make sure her little fingers didn't get chopped off.

Crawling

I received a request from my dear family for a video of J crawling. I typically don't watch videos on blogs because they take 2 years to download. But if the notion hits you as you are trying to avoid doing some sort of work or productive endeavor, feel free to laugh at my really lame commentary and the way my voice is 2 notches lower whenever it's recorded. And I say stupid things. It's almost Pavlovian when I see a red blinking light.

Maybe next time I'll sing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and convince you all I'm a tenor or bass. Until then, enjoy.

My first attempt I decided was too stupid, but shows more actual crawling and Big Sis liked better:

My second, which is slightly less stupid. Slightly:

Arizona Science Center

Big sis scored free tickets to the science center through the library's culture pass. Way fun. So fun that me and the hubby are going the first Friday in September from 5:30-7:30 for the free adults only after hours. Cheap date night if this looks like fun and any of you want to join us!

This was the coolest thing. Me and sis were on different sides of the mirrors and you can see what you would look like with someone else's nose and whatnot.

This is a stomach and it makes fart noises as you go down it

She's actually going "Whoooo!," not freaking out

This week she'll try and take over the world

Definition: Door Stop

door·stop 

n.

1. A wedge inserted beneath a door to hold it open at a desired position.

2. A weight or spring that prevents a door from slamming.

3. A rubber-tipped projection attached to a wall to protect it from the impact of an opening door.

 

4. Best. Baby toy. Ever

M family outfits

My awesome cousin just had a beautiful miracle placed with her family through adoption. Check out the sweetness!

 

 Let me tell you, this is one loved little girl. The amazing birthmom showed her the greatest love possible by placing her in the M family home. I had the chance to learn a bit more about the adoption process from my cousin. Tidbit of the day, moms don't "give up" or "put up" their children for adoption. They place them in into loving homes so update your lexicon and use place to help change the language and make adoption the positive process that it truly is.

So in addition to all the love from the wonderful birthmom and her family, this baby girl has all the love of the Maidenames behind her too. My excitement expressed itself in a 3 hour manic fit in my sewing room. Goodwill had several girl bed sheets on half off day so I was able to get yards of fabric for $2.50 a piece. I may have bought more sheets than I'll use, but come on, the patterns were ridiculously cute. And it's not like they have a shelf life, right? This is what I tell my husband. And what he tells me when I give him a look after he buys more electronic equipment.

At the end of the late night sewing extravaganza I ended up with all this.

A skirt for big sister

 I used the hemmed sides of the sheet to save time. Then I accidentally sewed it together when adding the tulle. Should have been a 20 minute project if I didn't mess up. It still surprises me how quick little girl skirts are to make.

As I was throwing away a scrap, I thought it would look gorgeous as a little head scarf. (We learned how to make these at a youth group activity. Big hit if you need a craft for teenage girls.)

After combing the internet for a free newborn pattern, I impatiently gave up and may have yelled, "Fine! I'll just make my own!" I grabbed a newborn dress from J's closet and found the approximate width. I had every intention of attaching little sleeves, but then realized there would be no way to get around the newborn "orange on a toothpick" head proportions. I made some tie straps to avoid buttons or zippers, which are waaaaaay too time consuming for saturday evening sewing sprees. Before you pretend to be impressed, it is a 22"ish by 10"ish rectangle attached to two paper bag "bunny" head shapes. I trimmed the hem off the sheet and made those into the side ties. Sew the sides of the bunny heads together with the ties as meat in the sandwich, hem the ears, and gather the skirt along the bunny's neck. Voila!

Of course the wee one needed an accessory too. Apparently some babies have hair in the first year of their life?

(I was running too late to get all the pictures in focus)

Then I figured I should probably make a diaper cover since parenthood has shown me they aren't just for looks. They were invented to minimize poop explosions on your clothes. This stupid thing took a full hour on it's own. But then I thought of it covering a cute little bum bum and forgot about the frustration.

 As I was envisioning cute little girls in matching outfits, I felt bad for the new big brother. My friend Marilyn posted a great tutorial on how to make bowties that I'd been meaning to try. Husband said he thought it would fit an adult, that it was ridiculously huge. I said, "You mean ridiculously cute." I still think it is perfect and any smaller would look like a girl's bow. Plus, it took all of 15 minutes. And you can make it with only hot glue if you want.

 

Congrats M family!