Indy Children's Museum

Vivian and I got invited to go with some new friends to the Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago.  While the Vivster is still a little young to enjoy most of the museum, we did visit the Dora and Diego exhibit where she was able to crawl around in a little enclosure and play with some stuffed flowers (there were some bigger kids in there so I had to refrain from taking pictures to make sure she didn't get kicked in the head or stepped on).  I wanted to take a picture with the Dora or Diego statues, too, but every time I tried there was another kid running up yelling "Doooooooooooora!" or "Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeego!" and making out with climbing all over the statues, so no go on those pics.  We ended up going to the preschool play room, which was just the right speed for Miss V.  They had a toy pit with all sorts of balls, rolling tubes, blocks, and other irresistable-to-infants toys.  Here are a few pictures from our day:

 Mom?  Astronaut Dora told me that aliens will suck my brains.  Is that true?

 The ball pit.  (And a little diaper crack thrown in for your enjoyment.)

 This ball with the eleventy billion germs on it that other kids have left while chewing is AWESOME!

 Seriously, Mom?  Stop taking pictures and find me some toys like this for at-home fun.

 Aaaaand - this is not from the museum but a gratuitous shot of V in her new sun hat taken two days later after a playdate in the park.  I love how big it makes her cheeks look!

A Fabulous Pre-Mother's Day Present

The Vivster has now been napping for almost two hours.  I just went in to poke her and make sure she was still breathing.  (She is.)  I am lucky if I get an hour nap a couple times a day out of this kid.  Hellooooooo time to kick back and catch up on the interwebz!

7 months!

If you noticed, I didn't post 6 month pictures on the blog.  That's because we decided to have this talented friend take pictures of the momentous occasion.  (It's not every day one turns half a year old!)  But never fear, I have pictures for this month!  Let's see...little miss is now trying to crawl (she does the up on all fours, rocking back and forth), trying very hard not to sit up (why sit when you can scoot and roll around all over the floor?), loving food of all sorts (broccoli, parsnips, pumpkin, blueberries, sweet potatoes, beans, hummus, pasta, bananas, mangoes), feeding herself Puffs (5 for 5 yesterday!), trying her darndest to pet the doggies whenever they are nearby, sleeping like a champ (12 hours - and if she wakes in the middle of the night, we know something is wrong), and all-around being a joy of a baby.  It has taken a lot of work to get to this stage but I am so enjoying her and being a mommy now.  Without further ado, here are the pictures of Miss Personality. 

I am 7 months old!

 Doing supermodel poses is hard work

 Whoa!  What is that thing on the blanket and why isn't it coming off?

 My other supermodel pose

 I would like your camera, please!

 Hi Dada!  I still think you are funny.

 Presenting...me at 7 months!  (Vanna, you'd better watch your back - Miss V is coming for your job!)

 As I said, wiggling on the tummy is much preferred to sitting

 I love books, so I'll pretend to read this one before I chew on it

I about died at this yesterday.  She was putting her head down to see her little face in the mirror.  Cute overload!  (Dear Photo Uploader - Why must you always jack with the formatting of pics in this blog?  I loathe you.)

Ants

We have ants.  And not hordes of ants, just one or two little "scout" ants who try to find any goodies and report back to their buddies where the stash of crumbs under the toaster fabulous ant nibbles are.  I convinced the Hubs that we needed ant traps after a full day of spraying orange Fantastik on any ant that dared make its way onto our countertop.  (It works and I didn't have Raid.  Bonus - the kitchen smelled nice and the counters got cleaned.)  Anyway, Daniel came home with Amdro ant traps.  Awesome - Amdro is what we used on fire ants in Texas and it was a miracle-worker.  Those little suckers loved the stuff.  Evidently, Indiana ants are smarter than Texas ants.  They will not go near the stupid traps.  I've even tried to nonchalantly move the traps into their walking path so they'll take a nibble.  No dice.  The scout ants run away like they somehow KNOW it's a little box of poison waiting to end their tiny ant lives.  Dangit.  Maybe I'll just have to resort back to my Fantastik...

A Week and a Half of Sunshine

So...what do you do when you've had it with the freezing cold, miserable winter?  Why, you go visit Grammy, Granddad and Aunt Jenni in sunny AZ!  Daniel only got a weekend trip but Vivian and I got to stay a whole ten days.  It was great.  First of all, there were six other willing arms to hold Baby Girl at all times.  Second of all, there were pedicures.  Third of all, there was sunshine galore.  Fourth of all, there were friends, baseball, margaritas, hotdogs, Coronas and a million other things that made it a great trip.  Here are some pictures of the highlights:  (OK, this may be more of a documentary than just highlights)

I got a fun sun hat and loved not wearing long pants or socks for a week and a half!

 I figured out that dipping my toes in the water was more fun if I held my head sideways

 I liked these Grammy and Granddad peeps, but the water was waaaaay fun, too.

 I sat up like a big girl on my own for the first time!

 We visited this crew and learned that pants are optional  ;)

 I believe this is where Carrie was repeating the mantra, "I love my life, it is peaceful, it is perfect."  :)

 Good to catch up with old friends!  (And good to learn that you have to act fast, otherwise you will not get a picture of the babies together.  Boooo.)

 I love my Aunt Jenni

 We got to meet Noah and catch up with Jamie!  (We ate at The Herb Box.  If you go, get their Market Sunflower Salad.  Trust me - it is amazing.)

 I got to celebrate my 6 month birthday!

 I learned how to do a stink eye.  (I didn't appreciate bubbles being blown in my face.)

 The obligatory picture with the mountains in the background.  Granddad got me to smile, though!

 Family pic for Grammy's birthday

 I got professional 6 month pictures done by this talented lady.  Mom thought I needed a tutu for some of the shots.

 Behind the scenes shot taken by Aunt Jenni

 What I really wanted to do was pull mommy's necklace off

 What they never show you:  this is what you have to do to get good shots of an infant

 AZ sunset

 I discovered that toes are delicious!

 I also discovered that I can multitask while chewing my toes

 Taken the day we left Grammy and Granddad's.  Thanks for all the fun!

The Week from H-E-Double...well, you know...

Almost one week ago today, I noticed some new visitors in Miss V's mouth.  Two of them in the center of her bottom gum line.  (Because, hey, why do one when we can have two?)  That's right - teeth!  Of course, I'd heard all the stories about fever, drool, not wanting to eat as much, and diarrhea accompanying teething, which is why I didn't start to get concerned until late Friday when a junky cough started developing.  And then said cough turned into a runny nose and vomiting lots of mucus.  As much as I have tried, "Spit it out!" just doesn't work with a 5-month old.  No, good old fashioned puking it up is how one so little gets rid of all the excess boogies in her system.  And, of course, you know one of those episodes had to occur in the swing while I was in the kitchen so it meant she was covered (and choking), the swing was covered, because of said choking I had to pick her up so I was covered and the rug got a lovely new spot added to the corner.  Sunday was also the beginning of the blowouts.  Y'all, I have never seen poop like this.  Poor Bibsy had to be thrown into the bath a couple of times because it was everywhere.  I have also decided that we would be using disposables until this part of the fun cleared up because dealing with a sick child was enough - I didn't need to be cleaning out a cloth diaper every time I turned around. 

We went to the doctor early Monday morning and the diagnosis was...are you ready?...this is exciting!...a really bad COLD.  :o|  Um, what?  I mean, I was thrilled that her ears were clear, that it wasn't the flu or RSV, but a cold can cause this kind of misery?!  And there is pretty much nothing we can do for her.  It just has to run its course.  We can sit with her in a steamy room to help loosen the congestion and we can put a pillow under one end of her crib mattress to help with the drainage but other than that, nada.  No decongestants.  No baby neti pots.  (ha!  I would try it!)  No cough medicine.  I did finally pick up some Vicks Baby Vapo Rub to see if it would help a little. 

I can tell Baby Bibs is on the mend, though.  She's been a milk fiend today.  If she could talk, she'd be saying, "Mommy, gimme all that milk NOW!" in her best growly voice.  She's also rolling onto her tummy, which she hadn't been doing at all earlier in this illness.  I guess lying on your tummy while sick isn't so comfortable.  I know she's still sick because she took an almost-two-hour nap this afternoon which she NEVER does.  And she still has that cough that makes me wish I could take it away and do all that coughing for her.  It breaks my heart to hear that ugly cough come out of her tiny little mouth.

Of course, I thought I'd share some pictures from today since V is feeling a little better.  :)

The best things ever.  They have helped me tremendously this week.

 Yep.  This face has pretty much been par for the course.

 She has started sucking her bottom lip - maybe because of her teeth?

 Tummy time today, complete with extra drool

5 months!

My apologies.  I took these pictures on V's 5-month birthday but have been slow in putting them up.  Possibly because my birthday (the big 3-5 aka "advanced maternal age") was two days later and then we've been dealing with a sickie (post about that next).  Without further ado, the 5 month pictures!

Chillin' at my home spa because, you know, 5 months old is hard work

Mid-sentence, I think

Mom?  Being your guinea pig model is kinda boring

Posing for the camera

I have these chill poses down pat, y'all