Monday, August 31, 2009

Crawling, For Real!

It is such a beautiful morning in East TN! If you live around here and haven't been outside yet, I would highly recomend you go outside and feel the wonderful cool air! I love it, fall is on the way!

Libby is learning so fast!! In just a matter of days she goes from just learning something to practically mastering it! I wouldn't say she's mastered this yet, but she improves every day. She can crawl off her belly so far now! Here are a couple of video clips of just this morning.

She just learned this last night. A new sound, the letter "M" for momma!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

More videos

Here are the videos (I hope) that I couldn't post the other day.



This one is of Libby on our kitchen floor. She discovered that she could turn herself around with her feet and loves to do it! I was feeding her in Ashley's kitchen and she would come around for a bite with her mouth wide open, then turn around while eating it. I love it!






Here is the other video of Libby playing with Rose.



Thursday, August 27, 2009

8 Months old!

Boy, time flies! A week gone in the blink of an eye. I vowed to keep up with this blog at least once a week and I seem to be just getting by with the bare minimum. And we have so much to catch up on! Libby is 8 months old today! To the best of my knowledge (our digital scale and measuring on the wall) she is 18 pounds and 27 inches tall (50th percentile in both). Libby learns so fast, and even in the span of one week she learns so many new things! Where do I even start? Well, she has 2 teeth now. I just about gave up trying to get a picture of them after trying multiple times! Finally the persistence paid off and I got one! She now has her two bottom teeth, although they are not very big yet (thank goodness!). I'm not ready yet to give up her cute little toothless smile!
Sorry about the messy face, I had to do it during breakfast so she would open her mouth. :)





She moves around pretty good now and is just starting to get into stuff. I was working in the kitchen the other day and when I turned around, she had started pulling all the drinks off our drink cart. Disclaimer: We don't usually have this much soda in the house, there was just as sale at Kroger so we stocked up.


It was beautiful last Sunday so I took the oppotunity to get some shots of Libby.





The sun makes her hair look so golden!


Matt took her for a ride in her wagon back to the garage. Rose went along with them.



Libby loves Rose! She especially likes to watch her.



When the wagon isn't moving, she gets adventurous and tries to stand up. She accomplished it below.

Another golden-hair picture in the sunlight.


Playing with sticks in the woods. She did try to eat it, too.


Cute face. :)



The guys kind of did a "guys night" playing poker the other day, so Sarah, Ashley, Debra Andrews and I all hung out (oh, and Lucy and Libby too). Look at these beautiful eyelashes on Lucy!

Lucy and Libby hanging out on the blanket (not for long, Lucy takes off!)


Libby got her first small injury. Scraped toes. :( She doesn't even notice it. :) She got it the way most kids got scraped up toes (at least in our family). Going for a ride in her "crazy coupe". See pictures below. My Mom found this at a garage sale and I think it was a great find!



Injured toes (glistening with some Neosporin).
She loves going fast!






Watch out! Here she comes! Thanks Granny Hedger for getting this for her! She looks forward to it whenever she goes over there! And thanks, Uncle Sam for pushing her around!




As to why I haven't been keeping up on posting, I've been couponing (a new word? :). Kroger has been having a big sale, so I've been planning and clipping and organizing and searching to find the best deals. (Cereal for $0.15-0.25, Hamburger Helper for 0.15, baby food for pennies, lots of stuff for practically free, how could I pass it up?) Now our pantry is stocked (tons of ceral, Hamburger Helper, brownies, muffin mixes, snack bars, etc!) and we're ready for Football Time in Tennessee and Care group!


Speaking of care group, Matt and I just finished a class in our church called Equip. We will be starting a care group some time next month or in October. Scott and Ashley went through the class with us and will also be starting a group. We are very excited about this opportunity and pray that God uses us to accomplish His purposes.



I love my life and being a stay at home Mom! I wouldn't trade it for anything and I appreciate the ability to do it. My days are currently filled (besides couponing, grocery shopping and meal planning/preparation) with caring for Libby, trying to play with her more and read more books to her, the never-ending saga of keeping Libby's current size clothes in her drawers (putting away last month's size clothes, pulling out next month's size clothes), washing Libby's clothes (and ours when I get a chance :), keeping the house clean (it's amazing how fast it gets dirty and a mess, with baby toys in every room), keeping Libby clean (she could probably use a bath every day!), taking pictures, getting some work hours in, and blogging (in my spare time -and that's why it's only been hapening once a week :). Matt works hard at work all day so I can stay home and try to keep up with all this stuff. Then he gets home and tries to get a little Libby time in before dinner, resting for a bit, then off to bed so he can wake up and do it all again the next day. We love the weekends! I love being able to hang out with Matt all day!!! So does Libby. Our evenings look like this: We try to run with our friends Holly and Adam on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every other Friday night is care group. And we try to squeeze a date night in when we can. (I love date night!) So that's kind of our life right now.


Now for some videos!
Other things that Libby has learned. She can now clap (not sure if I posted that yet). And she loves to clap and dance to music! She can also wave and loves to wave to people as they're walking out the door. She also likes to yell "good-bye"(at least I think that's what she's saying). Here are a couple of videos of her clapping (she was kind of grumpy -teething and nap time- so she wasn't cooperating very well).










She is so close to crawling now! She can get up on her hands and knees and was having trouble moving her hands, but now she can do it! Today she made it 6-8 paces before flopping down on her stomach. Her method is now up on hand and knees, move knees, move hands, flop on to stomach and start over. But after today, I think the more I put her on her stomach, the faster she'll learn and I wouldn't doubt it if she was crawling off her belly by next week. I think she likes having the choice of where she want to go. I put Cheerios on the ground for her to follow and she decided to come to me. Then later I put toys on the ground and she dcecided to go play with Rose. Rose has been so patient and tollerant with her! And, bonus, she doesnt' lick her to death! Here's a couple of videos of her crawling (one with pants and one without). The pants make it hard on the laminate floors, but protect her knees on the carpet. And then another video of her playing with Rose.





I'll have to post the other videos tommorrow. So long for now!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Climbing in bed, more flowers pics and animal visitors

I set Libby down in her crib yesterday so I could sort her laundry and she decided to try to pull herself up on the side of the crib. A great feat that I didn't know she could do yet. She did actually do it! Started on her butt...

Pulled herself to her knees...


Got a good grip...

And pulled herself up! She's so proud of herself. :) She learns new things every day! She can actually clap now and loves to clap and dance to music! I tried to get a quick video of her clapping, but she wasn't in a good mood so it didn't turn out so well. I'll see if I have more success today.


I've been having fun experimenting with my camera! (When I find the time.) And I've worn out our happy little flowers. I need some new material to practice on. :) I was hoping to go to the park today to get some good pics, but it's pooring down rain and looks like it might do that all day. Oh well, rainy days are good, too.
I love this pic!

Some different perspectives on them (from the back).
We had some more visitors in our yard. Here is one of the many rabbits that frequently make their way around our yard.

Our wild turkeys are also back (only 2 of them that I've seen), but I haven't gotten a good picture of them yet. Here is a pretty yellow butterfly that visited our flowers.



That's it for now!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Swinging, Bathtime, Eating, Work and Rose!

SWINGING!
We went to the park with a friend from Matt's work (also a high school buddy). They have two adorable little girls. Here is a picture of Libby swinging on the swings. Matt and Eddy were playing tennis while we took the girls on the swings. Libby loves to swing! I can't believe I've only taken her on them a few times in her life so far.

Weeeee!

Here is their littlest girl, Taylor.
I couldn't believe it, but she fell asleep while swinging! Maria said this is normal and happens a lot.
Then, after swinging for a little while, Libby joined her in her snooze-fest! I couldn't believe it! She was out! I love her little fists.

BATHTIME!
Here are some pics of Libby in the tub. She's been sitting on her own for a while now, so she graduated from the baby bath. Libby enjoys playing with her toys!

I just pulled out for the first time, her bath seat that I got on consignment last year. Libby loved it and it gave her a little more freedom to play.

EATING!
Here are some pics of Libby eating her Fruity Cheerios. After the goldfish incident I've been giving her a lot more to try to chew up. She does well with Cheerios and they have the added benefit of keeping her occupied!

She still has some trouble getting the little things into her mouth. Her method is this: Grab them in her fist and squeeze her fist so they stick to her hand, then open her hand and try to eat it off.
A little assistance from hand #2. :)
"Yes, I got it!"

The quality of the pics don't show up so good on the blog. I love this picture on the camera and computer!
WORKING!
Eating goldfish on the floor at work.

Training up for the future. "Magnum Venus Plastech, This is Libby, How can I help you?"
I love her little ponytail!
"Mommy, you better get that phone!"
Having fun in the toy basket at work.
I may have posted this one before, but I thought it was so cute!

Here is a quick video of Libby "playing" with Rose. Sorry about the spit-up in the beginning. She's getting better, but still spits up now and again. She likes pulling Rose's tail and trying to eat it. She's also fascinated by Rose's ears. Rose doesn't seem to mind and tolerates it very well! Libby LOVES dogs! Maybe it's because she's had so much interaction with so many already. She likes to watch them. Not so big a fan of the kisses (Maggie and Dublin!) but she sometimes tries to kiss them back. :)



Monday, August 10, 2009

My new camera and Goldfish!

So I got my new camera on Saturday and went to town taking pictures! I am so excited to start capturing some great images! Here are a few I took that night. (I just had to take pictures of some of our decorations as it was too dark outside to get anything else.) It was so fun experimenting and I can't wait to learn more!
I liked how the light shown on the wall from this lamp.


Earlier that day I got outside and starting snapping away! I love flowers and pictures of them (as you can see from an earlier post with my old camera). This one is sooo much better!


And, of course, I had to snap a few of Libby. She was enthralled by the grass and leaves she found so she didn't look at the camera as much as she normally does. Still, I caught a few good ones.

"What is on my fingers, Mom? Can I eat it?"

I love her hands!

I think this one is hillarious! It looks like she's carrying on a conversation with me. I love those blue eyes and her little heart-shaped face!

I love her eye lashes in this one. This camera is great at picking up details! And again, her blue eyes!

Rose couldn't escape my camera either. She was shaking her head in this one and her face turned out so funny! Libby was a little concerned. :)

Libby likes playing with Rose. Actually, she just grabs and pulls and tastes her while Rose tries to avoid getting hurt.

On Sunday Matt's family stopped by, so I pulled out my camera again. Imagine that. She was giving Pappaw some kisses, then decided to go for the glasses.


She heard the camera and, as always, decided to ham it up. :) I wonder how babies know when you pull out the camera to look and smile.
Uncle Andy and Libby. Don't you like her nappy hair?
Sorry about the red-eye in this one. I haven't gotten a chance to do any touch-ups yet.


So I'm working this week while Ashley is on vacation. On the way in this morning, I put my food bag a little too close to Libby. When I got to work and opened the door to get her out, I was greeted by goldfish all over! First she chewed on the bag, then she dumped them all over her, then she decided to eat some! I haven't even given her Cheerios yet (except for some already softened in water). I guess she decided it was time to start eating real food. She apparently didn't have any trouble with them and chewed them up pretty well. This just confirms my thesis that I'm going to have a trouble maker in my hands once she can actually make her way around our house. We'll have to lock everything up!
Sorry for the poor picture quality, the lens was a bit fogged up.



That's all for now. Hope I didn't bore you with all my pictures! Hopefully in the near future the quality and settings will improve! Thanks again, Bub, for such a wonderful birthday gift!