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!

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. :)

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!

7 Months and random pics

Libby is down for yet another long nap as she tries to catch up from vacation sleep. So I have another chance today to post after already having some time to read and getting a few little household chores done.

As much as I miss the infant and newborn stages, this time is so much fun! Libby is learning new things so quickly that I feel like I'm missing some of them! She sat up on her own for the first time yesterday. Granted it was on our bed, which is a bit more cushy than the floor, but she sat up from lying on her back to full sitting! She can push up to crawling position no problem now and pulls herself to standing using your hands. She's working on standing on her own, but only lasts a few seconds. While in crawling position, she can move one leg at a time, but hasn't gotten the hands down yet. Once she does, I'll have no rest as her inquisitive mind will take her all over the house and my job, I think, will become much more difficult and house cleaning will take on a whole new meaning.

I thought for a while that she would walk before she crawls, but a bit more tummy time has helped her catch up on crawling skills. She can walk while holding on to your hands, but she doesn't like to on some textures of flooring. She can hold herself up in standing position holding on to hands, or a table or anything at her level.

She's eating great! She eats a lot of whole grain rice cereal and a wide variety of baby foods. Peas are the one thing that she definitely doesn't like. She's finished all of her other foods in a day or so, but I had to throw out the peas because she would eat so little of them. I've started giving her Cheerios after soaking them for a bit. She's getting good with her finger coordination and is so fun to watch try to grab the little things!

Here are a couple more pics from our vacation.

The condo had a couple of beach chairs that we were able to borrow.

Here is Libby standing while holding on to the coffee table. (And trying to get Matt's books :)

She makes the goofiest faces sometimes!

We had a visitor in our back yard today. We have some wild turkeys that I haven't been able to catch on film, yet, but this guy was lot slower and not as camera shy. We have a variety of animals that visit our backyard from blue birds and humming birds to wild turkeys and the occasional deer or coyote. This turtle is a first. He just ambled out of the woods and I spotted his movement from our kitchen. I can't wait to get my new camera and start getting more pics of the wildlife and flowers that abound in our backyard!

I am great at killing most plants and flowers that I get! Somehow, these flowers have flourished in our planters out back. Couldn't have anything to do with Andy, our plant expert and a landscape architect, house sitting for us the week we were on vacation! :) Thanks, Andy!

Here are some pink petunias.

Here is a picture of some purple petunias in our hanging pots.
Here is a video of Libby learning to crawl. I haven't yet figured out how to get video clips from our DVD camcorder to this site, it may have something to do with the DVD-R verses DVD-RW that we're using. Maybe I'll figure it out someday, but until then, these little clips from our camera will have to work.

Here is a video of Libby practicing standing on her own. Very difficult to catch on video by myself as I also have to catch her with one hand. Sorry that you might get a neck-ache viewing this. I get so used to turning the camera for pics, I forget that you can't rotate video. :(

Now she is up, so time to feed her a late lunch, then read her a book and take her for a wagon ride around the block. I love my job!