Lucky 7

Maddie is 7 months old today. Do you remember last month when I wrote that I blinked and 6 months passed by? Well, I didn't even blink this time...I barely closed my eyes and bam, another month slipped past me. Is this what the rest of my life is going to be? Warp speed through child rearing? If so, I need to start documenting more in the blog. STAT.

Let's see, where shall I begin. Miss Madeline continues to be the most adorable baby girl on the planet. I'm not biased y'all. It's true. (And to all you Californians out there, yes, I wrote "y'all") I have a feeling that our time in Texas is limited so I am going to embrace my southern drawl as long as I can for the next few months.

So, as I was saying. Maddie and her cuteness. Not a whole lot new to report this month other than that she is FINALLY rolling over from her tummy to her back and she is trying like mad to crawl. Unfortunately, it's not working out for her. She swims her arms and legs over and over again (which is extremely exhausting to watch) but hasn't figured out how to get up on all fours and move. She likes to push up her arms and move backwards though. She has recently started to babble and really loves it when you talk back. She's saying "dee dee dees" now and continues to love her screeches. She *really* hates it when you take something away from her. Be sure to have something as a substitute in your hand ready to give her, or else you'll hear her wail.

She's is finally sleeping all night long. Man is that a beautiful thing. She goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 pm and sleeps until 6/6:30 am. She eats solids at breakfast, lunch and dinner and she is a fan of, um, EVERYTHING. This is certainly a good thing. I really don't want to have to learn how to feed a picky eater!

Time is flying by too fast, so I'm going to try and enjoy every second.

Here's Maddie on her belly













Jacob insisted on going for a ride in the wagon the other day so I put Maddie on a blanket where their feet should go. Worked perfectly!

Meet my new friends, Gia and Ellie

I have not even attempted to turn on my sewing machine since my first sewing class over a month ago. It was just too scary. There is SO much I don't know.

For instance, did you know:

• Sewing machines should be serviced at least once a year? Yep. Just like a car. Weird.

• The fabric you intend to sew with has infinite effects on your project. Each new fabric seems to come with a different set of rules. This fabric requires this needle. This fabric requires this thread. This fabric requires this sewing technique (stitching, presser foots, speed, oh my.) It's extremely overwhelming. Which is why I'm sticking to cotton.

• There are way too many different types of stitches. Even straight stitches have 5 different kinds. Wouldn't a straight stitch just be a straight stitch? One would think so. And I have a basic, basic machine. Imagine what Martha Stewart's machine looks like.

Yes, sewing has intimidated me beyond belief but I finally busted out my machine last night because I knew if I didn't take her for a ride soon, she would gather dust in the closet for many years to come.

I introduce you to Gia the Giraffe and Ellie the Elephant. Do you like them? I do. I think they are precious. And here's my dirty little secret. I am addicted to this blog called "Make it and Love it". She is brilliant at scripting tutorials for projects like these, especially for beginners. I think I might love her.

Meet my new friends, Gia and Ellie. I think I might make a hundred of them.

Falling. UGH.

We just got back from a new park today and I seriously never want to go there again. It was the worst designed playground I've ever seen. The slide had no sides to it. I repeat, NO SIDES. So, at the top of it, even a well-footed preschooler could turn slightly in the wrong direction and BAM, fall right off the side of the darn thing. It also had this giant climbing structure in the middle that looked like a dome. I've seen these things before, but the rungs of the "ladders" (I don't know what you call these things) were so far apart that only much older children would have no problem reaching them. Of course, Jacob insisted on climbing up them and when you have a 7 month old in one hand and a preschooler climbing up the dome of death in the other, it is nearly impossible to escape an accident.

And we didn't.

He had successfully climbed up the dome of death twice with a little assistance from me. So, he was on his third attempt and my friend Cyndi was telling me a story about why she had to run to the emergency room yesterday and get stitches in her head (so, not a story you can turn your head away from) and Jacob is literally 6 inches away from me climbing up this thing. I see him slip out of the corner of my eye and before I could even react, he fell to the ground straight onto his back. I knew immediately it had knocked the wind out of him so I just picked him up and held him until he could breathe which took what seemed like 10 minutes! Of course then he started screaming bloody murder. Have you ever had the wind knocked out of you? It is awful. Down right AWFUL. Ugh, I felt so horrible. BAD MOMMY. He was fine once he caught his breath but still, BAD MOMMY. I hate that playground. Never going there again.

Who knew you could decorate these?

I'm crafting like crazy, people. Watch out.

My latest project was decorating a wipes case. Who knew these could be so cute? Functional and stylish!

Check this milestone off the list

Quite suddenly, in the last week or so, Maddie has developed a severe case of separation anxiety. I don't remember this happening with Jacob until he was a bit older, but it's clearly evident that she hates (hates, HATES) it when I leave the room. She will be completely content playing with a toy and the second I am out of sight, she burst into tears. REAL tears.

I was wondering when the experts say this usually develops, and sure enough, babycenter.com says "At around 7 months your baby will realize that he's independent of you. While this is an exciting cognitive milestone, this new understanding of separateness can make him anxious. He knows that you can leave him, but he doesn't know that you'll always come back, so he's likely to burst into tears when you leave, even for a minute."

Well, if that doesn't hit the nail right smack dab on the head, I don't know what does. At least she's meeting her milestones!

This past weekend, the 4 of us went to Topeka, Kansas to celebrate Caitlin's (our niece's) first communion. Traveling with 2 kids (by air) is never easy, but this trip went remarkably smooth and I am incredibly thankful for that. Seeing Jacob with all of his cousins was priceless and I just wish he had them to play with every single day. Ah, how nice it would be to live around the corner from our families! We had a great time and can't wait to hopefully do it again when Maddie is baptized here in Dallas.

Maddie and Aunt Amy



She loves the exersaucers!



Cutie Carys



Jacob on a scooter for the first time. He got the hang of it fast!



Carys on the riding mower



Jacob and Daddy (Jacob wouldn't get on this by himself. In fact, it took a little convincing to get him to sit on it with Mark. Our boy is so cautious!)



Papa and Carys at the Tulip Festival



I don't know what this game was but Jacob had to wear this vest that made him a human target. Hmmmm...



And Mark was the first to shoot at him...



Aunt Amy and Jacob



Jacob and his cousins, Caroline, Colin and Caitlin at the Tulip Festival



Mark, Eric and Sean



Mark and Carys on the train



Caroline and Jacob -- this was definitely Jacob's favorite part of the trip!



Mark and Maddie. It was surprisingly chilly this past weekend.



Amy and Carys



The cousins taunting Papa to chase after them. And he did.



I don't know why this picture cracks me up. But it does.

Foreshadowing

To my own dismay, when Mark is out of town, I completely overbook Jacob, Maddie and myself with activities because I go crazy when we are at home doing nothing. This causes 2 problems: 1) I try to do too much, therefore end up being overstressed anyway and 2) I'm absolutely exhausted by the end of the day and desperately need a glass of wine (okay, so maybe this isn't a problem in my book.)

Today, we had swimming class at 9 am, Little Gym at 11:30 and haircut at 4:30. I kept promising Jacob that if he was a good boy during his haircut, he could have a lollipop after OR we'd go get ice cream. I was pretty confident his choice would be ice cream, which it was. I made sure to warn him, "no lollipop after your haircut okay? Because we're going to get ice cream instead." He nodded in agreement (or so I thought.) Unfortunately, we had a bit of a wait before his haircut so in the interest of time, I told him we'd go next door and get ice cream before his haircut. Excited, we ran next door and he had ice cream. Unfortunately, as soon as we stepped back into the hair place he said "mommy, I want a lollipop". Once again, I explained to him that we already had ice cream and he chose that instead of a lollipop. This resulted in a tantrum in the middle of Sports Clips. I calmed him down by playing "I Spy" with him until they called him back. I finally got him in the chair and the girl was super fast and before I knew it, she whipped out a lollipop to give him for being a good boy during the cut. (SIGH)

Do you know what my child proceeded to do after that? For the next 10 minutes (TEN), he continues to say, over and over again, "See Mommy. I TOLD you I'd get a lollipop. I TOLD YOU SO. I told you mommy. You said "NO" but I told you I'd get a lollipop."

It was like fingernails scratching a chalkboard. I have a feeling that this won't be the last time he ever tells me "I told you so."

For the record, the score is:
Jacob: 877,395
Mommy: 5

But who's counting?

My Latest Creation

One thing I noticed after having a baby girl was that I was immediately overwhelmed by the ungodly amount of accessories that are supposed to adorn them. Headbands, bows, tights, etc. The bows themselves are enough to delay me at least 10 minutes each morning as I can't decide which one should go with what outfit, how it should be placed on her head and how to keep the darn thing on (this is still a mystery to me.)

What I do know is that the plethora of bows that we have already accumulated were making our bathroom look like a bow explosion and some organization had to take place ASAP. I started looking up "bow holders" and "bow organizers" and I was shocked by how many options there are for those. Overwhelmed I was once again. But, what I did notice in all of my googling was how many times I said to myself "I could make that." And the rest is history. My next craft project was born.

Do you want to know the best thing about this bow holder? It didn't cost a dime. I already had everything at home for this creation. Score!

A Texas Tradition

Would I be a total nerd if I said that one of the reasons I was excited about moving back to Texas was so that I could take pictures of my kids in the Texas bluebonnets?

Don't answer that.

It's funny because I don't ever remember doing this as a kid, but I do remember all of my friends going out with their families and spending hours taking photos in fields of the state flower. And they were always beautiful. I learned recently that the Texas bluebonnet only blooms for a few weeks in the Spring every year. So you have to time it just right or you'll miss them. For weeks I've been waiting for them to start blooming all the while researching great picture taking locations. Thank goodness Mark is a good sport. I knew I wouldn't be able to get 2 kids out there on my own and even though this tradition is foreign to him, he was all for it.

There is no way on earth you can look at these pictures and doubt this tradition is a good one.

I still have a lot to learn

I had no idea that digital photography was all about the effects. I used to think you just took the photo and it came out flawless (if you were a good photographer.) Well, flawless these are not. But check out the effects (and the gorgeous models!)