My girl

I think my favorite time with Lucy is bathtime. She loves getting in the tub and starts jabbering and "talking" the minute I start the water. Once she's in the tub, I think I get just as wet as she does. She makes sure to splash me. I have her in a baby tub, although she's almost too big for it even though it says "up to 24 months". I haven't put her in just the big tub yet. I like having her somewhat contained. She's so wiggly and squirmy as it is.

After bath I wrap her in her "bunny" towel and let her look at herself in the mirror. She loves that and immediately gives a big grin and a little chuckle. We took some pictures of her the other night because she's so funny. I wanted to capture these small moments on film.

One of the new games she's learned to play is peek-a-boo. Tonight she was laying on her changing table with the towel under her as I dried her off and rubbed lotion on her. She kept pulling the towel over her face and when I'd say "Where's Lucy", she would peek out from under it. She was so funny and I got her laughing pretty good. It's moments like this that I wish would last forever.

food and blogs

As I have gotten older I have come to really enjoy cooking and especially baking. Unfortunately after having Lucy, I can't seem to find the time to do it as much as I'd like but it's getting a little easier to get in the kitchen now that she's older.

According to Pastor Matt, I am the best baker he knows. He even told me I'm better than his mom. Now, I have only briefly met his mom and I do not know what kind of baker she is, but I still took that as quite the compliment. Pastor Matt is always nosin' around our house looking for any homebaked treats I might have. He was very disappointed a few weeks ago when I sent left-over peach cobbler to work with Dan, and Dan had eaten it all before P.Matt had a chance to sample any.

So where am I going with this? Well, I recently happened upon several blogs all about food and cooking. I am not new to the world of blogging. I have had this blog for over a year, but for whatever reason I didn't know there were "food blogs" out there.

I have bookmarked several cooking blogs and I love how these people take pictures and show you step by step how the recipe is supposed to come together. I thought I would share with you one of the blogs I came across. Apparently this woman is trying to use her crockpot everyday for a year. I don't know that I would want to do this but it looks like she has some tasty recipes.
I thought some of you out there might enjoy this blog as well.

go to: crockpot365.blogspot.com

HAPPY COOKING...AND BAKING

Lingo

In previous posts I've mentioned that I frequent internet message boards. The boards I visit are parenting boards and I get to chat with other moms of 6-12 month olds. As a stay at home mom, it's really nice to get some adult conversation, even if it is with people I don't know and can't actually see. Mostly I lurk and read the threads. I will ask questions and give answers if I think I may be helpful. Anyway, my point with this post is that there is a whole other language out there in cyberspace. When I first started checking out the message boards I had a difficult time decoding what I was reading. I am sure some of this lingo also goes along with texting, but as I am not really into that at the moment, I can't say for sure. I am still learning the lingo, but here are a few "words" for you.

dh= dear husband... or if you're mad at him, use another D word in there.
dd= darling daughter
ds= darling son
poas= pee on a stick (pregnacy boards)
fffc= flame free friday confessions
lmao= laughing my a-- off
tia= thanks in advance
pip=pic in post
lip= link in post
mil=mother in law
fil= father in law
wdyt= what do you think
kwim= know what i mean
mud= made up drama
bfn= big fat negative
bfp= big fat postive

This is just a sampling of the internet lingo I have picked up. It's funny because I find myself wanting to say DH in real life. Sad, but true.

Feel free to add any more that you know.

Moving: part 2

Today was moving day number 2. On our last moving day about 2 weeks ago we cleared out the house except for Dan's work area, the big furnace room in our basement, and the garage. Since moving in, Dan's been working non-stop to try and get our new basement ready for his business. This included framing off a room for his office and drywalling. Framing the perimeter of the basement so he could hang peg board, insulating the ceilings, and putting down a foam flooring material, and running new electrical and installing work lights, etc... Needless to say he's had a full plate with working full time and then doing what he could in the evenings and weekends.

Last night the clock was ticking. There was still alot of work to be done before anything could be moved in. Dan stayed up all night working to get it ready. I went to bed around 11pm and Dan headed to work. At 6 am this morning when I got up with Lucy, we went downstairs to find Dan finishing up the floor. He took a quick shower and then headed over to the old house to start tearing things down. Luckly we had a few friends and some very devoted family comeback to help for a second time. This move didn't go as quick. I think around 4:30 the guys had finished unloading everything and were on their way home. My poor husband had been up 36 hours when he finally was able to crawl in bed at 7pm. He is getting some much deserved rest. I told him I wasn't waking him up for church in the morning. :)

8 months

Ok, so it's really 8 months and a few days. I can't seem to get her picture taken on time. It seems like every month her "birthday" is on a day that's full of activity and I don't have the time to get her picture taken.

I have had the realization over the last couple weeks that I am going to be in trouble when she starts cruising. In the last 2 weeks she has gotten the hang of rolling in both directions. Now, I can't keep her in one place. She rolls all over the downstairs floor. And she is so busy. Everything she sees she wants to touch or put in her mouth. Once she gets the hang of crawling, I am in for it! :)

Last week she started waving hi and bye. It's so cute to see her do it. I love to stand in front of the mirror and let her wave at herself. Too funny!

Lucy has 2 more teeth. You'd probably guess that she got her front teeth, right? Well, she got one of them, but she also got the side tooth next to it at the same time. Her other front tooth looks like it'll be coming in before too long. She has the funniest smile right now. Because she got a side tooth and her teeth aren't lined up, she has a crooked little smile.

Here are a few more pictures. She couldn't leave the paper alone. I had such a hard time getting her to sit still...ah, I see lots of chasing in my future.

It's a good thing that we moved 3 weeks before our closing date because it's going to take every bit of the next 2 weeks to get everything out of that house. We had a great group of friends and family come over last Saturday and help load up the 16 foot rental truck. We weren't really sure how big of a truck to get. We didn't feel like we had a ton of stuff because Dan and I had already moved over the contents of the dining room, living room and most of the kitchen as well as about 50% of my closet. All we really had was furniture. So a 16 ft truck seemed big enough. Not exactly. Dan said he had that truck packed as full as he could get it and there are still 2 rooms in the basement that need to be packed and all of Dan's business - which is a alot because of all his equipment and inventory. Oh, and we didn't even touch the garage. I don't know where that stuff will go when it gets moved over. It's mind boggling how much stuff we have accumulated over the last 3 years and I have never been more motivated to get rid of stuff. As I unpack I am making a big pile for the next yard sale. I really tried to declutter before we moved, but having Lucy made it hard for me to find the time to really go through things.

I don't have much time to blog at the moment, but I thought I'd let everyone know that we moved this past Saturday and we finally have internet at the new house. We have been busy trying to get settled in and unpacked. There's just so much stuff!!!! I never want to move again!

I'll be back soon with a full story of all the past weeks event!

Bathing Beauty

Yesterday I finally got the chance to take Lucy swimming for the first time. My Aunt Bev lives in Taylorville and her pool was finally warm enough for Lucy. I was pretty sure that Lucy would like the water because she LOVES bathtime. But, you never know how babies are going to react.
I put her in a little tankini that I picked up at a yard sale a while back. This was the 4th bathing suit I had gotten for her. I had 2 hand-me-down suits from my neighbor and a bikini I bought at at a resale shop. They were all size 12 months. The tankini I had was an 18 month, so I took that one for her to wear. It was so cute on her, but the top was a bit snug. I should have bought a 24 month instead. Here are a few pictures of our fun afternoon in the pool.

another milestone

This past week, Lucy has really gotten the hang of sitting by herself. She is finally able to sit and play with her toys for quite awhile before teetering over to the side or falling backwards. Now, if we could just get her to roll over from her tummy to her back, we'd be doing great. She actually knows how to roll, we've seen her do it a few times. For some reason though, she doesn't like to do it. Maybe she forgets she knows how, or maybe she's just lazy and knows that one of us will flip her over.

Here's a cute clip of her. I just love all her chunky rolls!

moving

I am in the throws of packing. It's such a tedious job and I really don't enjoy it. I will also admit, that I am not a very good packer. I get a bit lazy with things. Since we're are only moving across town, I just can't see packing everything in boxes when I'd just have to unpack it at the house. So I find myself loading up the car with odds and ends and taking them over. We are trying to take as much over before Saturday as we can. It will make Saturday go faster if we don't have a lot of little things to load and unload. We are blessed to be in the situation where we have both houses for the next few weeks. It makes moving so much easier. If I had to have everything in boxes and ready to go for Saturday I think I would be stessed beyond imagination. But, I know that as long as all the big stuff gets moved on Saturday, then I can come back the following week to get the little things.

Here's a totally random announcement that has nothing to do with my post. If anyone reading this needs, or knows someone who needs a washer/dryer we have a set that we are wanting to get rid of. We will give them to anyone who wants to come and haul them away. They are Whirlpool brand and about 15 years old. They still work, but they are noisey. So ask around and let me know!!

We are moving next Saturday. So far I have only packed up the dining room. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the packing that needs to happen in the next week. I can't seem to get much done with a 7 month old...

If you're bored next Saturday with nothing to do, give me a call. I have some boxes you can carry.

confession

I ate Doritos for supper last night.

7 months old...

I'm a little late at posting Lucy's 7 month picture and update. She was 7 months on July 4th and with eveything else going on, I just didn't around to posting it. So here is her picture. The onesie still fits!

It was hard to get a good picture of her because she was very interested in the paper.

I took her to the doctor this week because she had a cold that turned into a cough. She sounded horrible Thursday morning when she woke so I took her in to be checked over. The nurse weighed her and she's now up to 24 1/2 pounds!!! I can't believe it. She's gained 2 more pounds this month. I had to go buy her some more summer outfits because many of her 12 month size clothes are getting too tight. So everything I bought her was size 18 months.

I had wanted to buy her a Jonny Jump-up to hang in the doorway. I know she'd love it. However, the weight limit is around 25 pounds. So that's out. She's getting a bit bored with the exersaucer. She still likes it and is in it quite a bit. I was hoping to get something else that she could sit in to occupy her, but now I'm not sure what to do. She's almost too big for her swing but she doesn't sit in it very much anymore anyway. She gets bored in it and she's starting to lean all the way forward and I'm afraid it'll tip.

She is still not sitting unassisted. I am anxious for her to be able to sit on her own. That will give us more options for play when she can sit by herself.

Lucy is loving the solid foods. We started after her 6 month appt. I have been making most of her babyfood. It's really very easy and does not take that much time to do. I steam or bake whatever food I need and then puree it in the food processor. I then freeze it in ice cube trays and store it in ziplock bags. Then I just take out 2-3 cubes and microwave. She really seems to like everything she's tried so far. I did try giving her greenbeans from the jar when we were out one evening. She made faces and didn't seem to like the jarred variety.

Here is a video clip of her trying peas for the first time. I was wanting to capture the funny way she eats her food. She has to get her thumb in her mouth after every bite. If it weren't so cute, I'd be more annoyed.

Pictures

I finally got Lucy's 6 month pictures and our family pictures. We had them taken a month ago and because of my inability to make up my mind, we are just now getting them. They all turned out so good that I couldn't decide, so I just got them all. We were able to buy the "rights" to the photos and so now we can print whatever we need to.

Here are a few of the pictures. I have the rest on my dropshots page, so if you want to see a bunch more pics of Lucy, let me know and I'll give you the link. I'm not posting it hear since I have no idea who all is reading this.

Finally

We sold our house today! Got a pretty good price. We close Aug 15.

The "Yellow Beast" rides again

As some of you remember, this fancy 1973 Chevy Impala was our family car when I was growing up. There are so many "fond" memories of adventures in this car. This car took us on many family vacations to Corn Growers Coventions and up north to visit our family friends. Before Kyle was born, Kim, Kraig and I would share the big backseat. In the days before seatbelt laws, Kraig would take his pillow and lay on the floor and sleep while Kim and I split the bench seat.

As my siblings and I grew up, we got the honor of driving this car. This was it, if you didn't want to drive this beast, you rode the bus. (Except for Kyle, he refused to drive it and got a truck. Funny how the youngest child gets out of it)

By the time we were old enough to drive, this car was not considered "cool". In fact the kids at Mt. Auburn had lots of nicknames for it. It has been known as "The Yellow Beast", "The Banana Boat", "The Yellow Bomb", and "Old Yeller".

Each one of us could probably tell you a great story about this car and I'm sure if this car could talk, it would have some good secrets to tell.

So why am I reminiscing about this old car? Well, believe it or not, it's coming back in all it's glory. Dad has been hanging on to this car with the hopes of having it restored one day. That day has finally come.

We've been joking amongst ourselves that Kim, Kraig and I should drive it in the Annual

Mt. Auburn Parade. What do you think?

4th of July celebrations

Yesterday was a busy day. Here on Cobb Ave, the neighborhood was a buzz with it's annual 4th of July street celebration. This year was the 50th anniversary of the first 4th of July block party. Mrs. Baird who just moved off the street into a nursing home last year, started the fun 50 years ago. It's amazing that as families have come and gone this tradition is still going strong.

Because this year was such a special year, the neighbors who organized it really went all out. They wanted to make this year really stand out and they succeeded. There were red,white and blue ribbons on all the lamp posts and well as banners hanging out over the street, all the trees that lined the street had patriotic bows. At the end of Cobb Ave, there was a large tent set up with about a dozen round tables that were decorated for the occasion. There was a bounce house for the kids as well as the mobile zoo.

The celebration kicked off with the traditional canon firing. And then Mrs. Baird sat in the back of a convertable and rode as Grand Marshall of the parade. It was so cute to see her and then all the kids riding biks, or being pulled/pushed in wagons or strollers. Some of the kids had their dogs all fancied up and marched them down the street and back. It almost made me tear up a little to see Dan pushing Lucy in her decorated stroller for her first, and last, Cobb Ave. parade. Once the parade was over the kids put on a skit that was really funny. I'm not sure who wrote it, but it was a hoot!

It was really a great event and there were lots of former residents that came back to participate in the celebration.

If you are a subscriber to the Herald-Review paper here in town then you probably saw Lucy's picture on the front page today. For a party this big, they made sure the media was here to do a story.

Here are a few pictures from our fun day.

Dan made the banner. Doesn't it look great?

The parade!

Lucy's first time in parade!

Dan decorated her stroller.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."
- Erma Bombeck


That's all for now, stay tuned, more to come later...

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PaPa, Can I drive your tractor next?