Good Life

Well folks, my baby girl's finally learned to climb out of the basket. What a wonderful thing!


It's exhausting, all that work!
We've been very busy these last few days! We won some money from the local radio station, so we decided to do all our Christmas shopping yesterday. I know it's a little early but Joe and I agreed that we are not going to have a large amount of money any time between now and then. Also we're going to be paying for Joli's birthday party in that same month. So we decided we'd get in done and over with now. So we shopped for 25 people yesterday not including Joli. We finished all but a few people, and got all of Joli's birthday presents except one. Then today I spent the afternoon wrapping. So now all of our presents are bought and wrapped. We're a little bit ahead of the game but hey at least the holidays won't be so crazy this year! I also got a bunch of stuff for Joli's party. I think I might be a off my rocker!

Baby Basket

I decided to be a good little mommy today and do the things mommy's are supposed to do. So after I made Joe's lunch, took him to work, and came home from my run, I set to work with feeding the baby, doing the dishes, organizing the storage area, and putting away the laundry. My pint-sized little darling followed me around and offered her help and input wherever she thought was needed. As I was putting away her clothes I noticed that she was also in the closet, but not as she normally is.
She very much appears to be in her element. We were both quite entertained by this, until she tried to get out. Apparently it's not as easy as it was getting in. So after several tries and lots of banging her head on the wall, she finally yelled and I came over and pulled her out of the quicksand of stuffed animals. I also pulled out a few animals so she could play with them on the floor. She humored me briefly and squeezed them a few times, then climbed over the top of them and back into the basket. This time I let her work on it for quite some time, until she looked as though she had decided it would be easier just to live in the basket, and then I helped her get out. This time she did not crawl back in. I feel somewhat saddened to realize that it will only be a matter of years before she realizes that life is not so simple, and much of it will be spent "climbing out of the basket". But for now I sit back and admire her innocence, and wonder, could I fit in the basket?

A Mommy's Creativity

We had a little family outing the other day and we chose to go to the book store. It was a good time as Joli loves to look at books and so do Joe and I. As I was showing Joli a book about shapes and colors, I realized that she was actually paying attention. Not wanting to buy another book that would just get tossed around and only really looked at when I sit down with Joli at sleep times, I decided to come home and make some things I could put up on the walls for her. So I made Joe promise I could use the computer when we got home and I set to work. Sunday night I finished the shapes.
Last night I finished the colors.

And this afternoon I finished the alphabet.
I also did a little more decorating for Halloween. I read in a magazine to cut out shapes using black poster board and then put tissue paper behind it on a window so that it would shine through with an eerie effect. I had a few extra shapes left so I put them on the door.

Blossoming Creativity

Joli let her creative juices flow today! She finally understands that if you rub the crayons on the paper they make a mark. So this is the masterpiece she has created.
She also ate a little of the crayons but I don't think she liked how they tasted all that much.
I she also may be a little fashionista.

Brushes of Life

Well Joe and I were very exciting to discover that our once very tiny baby girl, now how her very first very tiny tooth!! Although Joli frequently brushes her teeth with me, it is now becoming an important habit. So Joli takes another step down the ever looming path that leads to the ultimate leaving of the nest. But I'm not sad, I'm excited, I can even feel three more just under the gums. Throw in some nasty diaper rash, from what I can only assume came from Joli's first taste of kiwi, and we are now tip-toeing around in an attempt not to disrupt the tiny time-bomb that resides in the crib next to us. This is also the reason in which I do not have a picture of the before mentioned tooth. Every time I even try to look at it, she either sticks her tongue out at me or throws herself down screaming, another new trick that she picked up this week and just loves to use no matter how interesting the thing is in which I am trying to distract her with. So in short, yay for toddlers!!

Relax

It has not been an incredibly eventful week. I started running again and I'm feeling very good about it!! Hopefully I'll be getting closer to my pre-pregnancy weight very soon. I cleaned the entire house yesterday. I was waiting for my new vacuum bags to arrive in the mail and as soon as they did it seemed to be the trigger and off I went. I even rearranged some rooms. Today I washed the car and then locked myself out of the house while Joli played upstairs. Not my shining moment. Fortunately I did not panic and I remembered that in an effort to conserve energy I had been opening the windows and not using the a/c. So I climb the hill to the back of our house and entertained Joli by busting out the screen and climbing through the window. Yay me! I've also started to get a little excited about the upcoming holiday season. This tends to happen way before most people have even begun to think about, so my very sweet husband humors me and lets me listen to my Christmas music for a week or so until I get my fix and then come back to the holidays at hand. This also happens to be the reason why my child is wearing a Christmas shirt. But only for pajama's, not in public.

She's a very sweet sleeper though!!

She's A Big Girl!!

I had a happy/sad moment yesterday as I took out Joli's infant seat that she no longer fits in, and installed the new "big girl" seat. As we ran our numerous errands yesterday afternoon, I kept looking back and thinking about how exciting it was that she was finally turned around, and I could talk to her, and play with her, and hand her things without straining my neck. She was just as ecstatic. She's smiled and laughed and eventually noticed the road and the other cars, and road around with an open mouthed stare.

Unfortunately, as I cleaned the old "baby" seat, I began to reminisce about the day that we bought it. I thought about standing in Target with my then very sweet husband, and how worried he was that I had just had another contraction. (As though my water was going to break and the baby was just going to pop out onto the floor). Then we brought it home and put it all together and in the car. I remember at that moment thinking that I was completely ready. We now had the one thing we needed to bring our baby home from the hospital.

Now I have this big baby who's almost walking!! I'm excited about how much she's achieved but sad to let go of that little baby who needs me for everything. I guess it's no secret that having is a bittersweet experience.

On a happier note, Joli's wearing another very cute Halloween outfit today!

Making A Stand

I've finally captured Joli standing on her own! Joe and I have experienced it several times and we're always very excited, but it usually only last about ten seconds and by the time I get the camera and turn it on she's on the floor again. But today, while I was taking pictures or yet another adorable Halloween outfit, she stood up again! So here it is!She's not even leaning against the wall!!!

We've Got Spirits!

Halloween spirit actually. Joli and I got all dressed up in Halloween outfits to go shopping today. It's finally close enough to Halloween that people didn't look at us like I might be just a little too eccentric. We just won't tell those people that I'm the one that get's so excited that Christmas is coming, that I usually start listening to Christmas music in July.

Sexy Mama!

Stop! In the name of love!

Not Halloweeny, but still very cute!

Happy Nine Months!

Today was Joli's nine month birthday!! We had been running around all week, so today we went to the zoo. She really seemed to enjoy it. We went to the reptile exihibit first and she didn't really notice too much, but there were a few snakes that were climbing the glass and she stared at them with a very unsure look. Next we went to the sea lion show. At first she was just excited to look at the people and clap when they did. Then they started dancing and so did she. Then the sea lion came up right in front of us and she started squealing and jumping up and down. I'm pretty sure she had fun. After that was over we walked over to the Children's Zoo. It was okay, I didn't think it looked much different then the other parts of the zoo except that they had a petting zoo inside with some goats, and a few extra things to climb on. Joli and I went into the petting zoo but when I would put her down next to the goats she would only stare at them. She also got to crawl through a tunnel that was next the "Mouse House" display. She thought that was great.

This turtle was also part of the children's part. Joli wasn't too sure about being on it, and I was a little worried about her falling off, but she did good.
It was a very fun day, and Joli looked at a lot of animals. But it was also exhausting, even for someone riding in a stroller. So we took a nap break.
Before we left we stopped by the gift shop. I had decided early on that I would let Joli get one thing to remember her first trip to the zoo. We went into the gift shop and I put her down on the floor. She crawled around a little bit and then went straight to the panda bears. So I let her hold onto it while we walked around to all the other stuffed animals just to make sure that was the one she wanted. While she would take some of the other one's she absolutely refused to let go of the panda. I put her back down on the floor and she drug it around the store. Then I tried to take it so I could pay for it and she had a death grip on it. The cashier was very nice and cut the tag off so she could scan it.
Once we got home it was time to relax. Joli went and got her Baby Einstein DVD out of the cabinet, and brought it to me, which I took to mean that she wanted to watch it. So she sat and watched her movie while I made her a snack.

After a long day Joli got into her Creepy Crawler pj's and went to sleep!

Moving Up

Well Joli grew out of another size today. Just as predicted, the day before she is nine months I have to put away the 6-9 month clothing! It was somewhat exciting however, because we then went to Old Navy and bought her several new pairs of pajama's. They have the best, most comfortable pj's that are perfect for our weather here. She also got to wear a new outfit today! Very cute!