Simple Abundance

8 Months Old!

At 8 Months she:

• Took her first vacation.  Heath had to go to Las Vegas for work and Becca and I tagged along with him.  Becca was a DREAM on the trip, putting up with whatever we were doing, which included a lot of walking, shopping, and frozen yogurt!  She did great on the plane except for when I left my cup of orange juice within her reach...
• Is army crawling wherever she wants to go.  (Life will never be the same...)
• Still wakes up to eat once in the night. 
• Loves the wind blowing on her face.  She smiles so big and opens her mouth for "more."
• Doesn't really care about any solid foods and isn't interested in what we're eating yet.  If I give her little tastes of anything I'm eating she just spits it out.  She does eat baby food once a day, but she's definitely my slowest baby to start caring about "big people" food!  
• LOVES her toys.  She is good to play on the floor with a pile of toys and doesn't need to be entertained by someone every second.  (But she lets me know when she's had enough "alone time!")
• Has two cute bottom teeth! 

I've said it before and I'll say it again...(and again and again!)

I LOVE THIS BABY!

Easy Spring Decor...

I hardly have any Spring/Easter decorations...don't ask me why because I have no clue!  But last week I decided I needed something fun for Easter in my entryway so I bought this kit from House of 3.  I printed it on plain old cardstock, cut it out with scissors, added some ribbon scraps for texture, and SERIOUSLY stapled everything together!  From start to finish the whole thing took maybe 30 minutes...and of course I had a few "kid interruptions" in there too!  It was perfect for Easter, but it's not an Easter theme, so I can leave it up for the next couple of weeks.  And it will look cute hanging at the foot of Boston's bed after that.  $2.00 well spent, I say!  Now I'm hoping they will sell one for every holiday from now until NEXT Easter!  I'm thinking Summer, 4th of July, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Baby Showers, etc...  I am obsessed!

 

And a close up of a couple of the pennants:

Currently, I'm...

Getting ready to take the kids to see How to Train Your Dragon.  In 3D.  The kids will love it and I am excited to see it, but 3D always gives me a headache!

Waiting for the "antibacterial" cycle on my dishwasher to be done so I have clean jars to try this.

Trying to decide what kind of cupcakes to make so I that I have an excuse to print and use these.

Dreaming of my new nephew that will most likely be born this week!

Drinking a yummy diet coke with lime.

Wishing I could buy all of this.

Thinking that whatever cupcakes I decide to make will need to have this frosting!

Obsessing over this, this and this!

One Down, One To Go...

Lovin' the cute skirt pattern I got at Material Girls...I would share the info with you so you could get your own, but seriously there's not one ounce of information on the pattern to share.  No address, blog address, email address, nothing!  Crazy!

Anyway, the skirt is so simple to sew and fun to make.  Can't wait to get started on Boston's!  I found cream matching cardigans at Target for my girls to wear on top and I am making shabby flower hair "bows" to match.  Cute stuff, I tell ya!  Can't wait for Easter Sunday!

Becca is 7 Months!

I love this picture of my baby.  It may not be perfect, but the story it tells is oh-so-true!

 

Becca loves to lay on the floor and roll and explore and play with toys.  She LOVES to be man-handled by Zach and Boston.  Boston gets RIGHT up in her face and Becca just thinks it's so funny.  She'll grab handfuls of Boston's hair and hang on for dear life!

She's still NOT sitting up.  She's starting to think about crawling (up on all fours, rocking and lunging) but she doesn't "get" sitting up.  Heath said this morning he thinks it's cause no one will put her down long enough to let her try.  (See man-handling, above!)

She still spits up a ton.  I am getting so very tired of it, but Heath always reminds me there are many worse things she could be doing.  I know this, but I still get annoyed.  Especially now that the puke is colored by the foods she's eating.

Speaking of foods, Becca is doing great on solids.  She has loved everything we've tried so far including, rice cereal, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peaches, bananas, and prunes.  We haven't tried any of the stronger-tasting "green things" yet.  I think we'll try the peas next!

We are all looking forward to spring when we can start showing Becca the outside world around us.  It seems like it's been a LOOOOONG winter of keeping her inside, attempting to shelter her from the worst of the flu and cold viruses.  We can't wait to take her for walks in the stroller and to strap her into the bike trailer for a ride to the park!

1/2 A Year Older, and Wiser Too!

Look who's 6 (and a half...!) months old!

 

At 6 months Becca:

• is loving solids...rice cereal, bananas, and carrots so far!  (And limes...given to her by Daddy on our trip to Utah this weekend.  She liked it at first but them wasn't too sure the second time he offered!)
• is starting to get up on her hands and knees and then lunges forward like she thinks she's gonna crawl!  She gets where she wants to go by doing this and by rolling.
• loves the jumperoo thingy that Daddy bought her! 
• is VERY interested in her toys right now.  EVERYTHING goes directly into her mouth, of course!
• loves bath time and kicks like crazy in the tub.
• is starting to talk and babble a lot.  She says "Ma-Ma-Ma" all day long and even though I know she doesn't mean ME I still love to hear it! 
• is sleeping soooo great!  LOVE IT! 
• still spits up a ton.  I am so tired of this.  We go through 2-3 outfits a day, plus bibs and burp cloths.  Boston was a spitter-upper too, but she was over it by 6 months.  I keep thinking it's gonna get better soon!  I sure hope so!
• is still such a sweet little cuddler.  I am so happy my last baby has been my cuddliest!

We love you Becca! 

You're in For a Real Treat!

A few of my dear friends and I are all contributing to a new recipe blog called What We Eat.  You are definitely going to want to add this one to your blog readers!  These girls are some seriously GOOD cooks and there are TONS of fabulous recipes for you to try! 

Now go forth and make dinner!  ;)

So Many Projects, So Little Time!

(aka My Creative To-Do List)

My creative to-do list is approximately 1 mile long.  12pt type.  Not even joking.  There are so many things I want to do and just never enough time to do them all, but here are a few that are at the top of the list:

1.  This Cotton Way Pattern.  I started this right after Christmas and I have been so excited about it.  Then, this weekend, I saw the finished product in real life at Material Girls and I WAS DYING!  The picture on the pattern cover makes it look cute, but it is even more fabulous in real life!  I can not wait to finish this for my kitchen table.  I LOVE it!  I love the soft, washed, ratty look of raw edges and the colors in Bonnie and Camille's fabric are perfect.  

 

 

2.  Finish this blanket for Becca.  Not the most amazing blanket in the world, but still, I paid for that hot pink minkee; I need to get my money's worth!  ;)  Saddest part about this project is that all I need to do to finish it is the top stitching.  PATHETIC! 

3.  Easter Skirts for my girls.  The pattern picture doesn't do it justice...they had one of the skirts made up in the store and it was so dang cute!  (I can't find any information online about the pattern-maker...no website or blog!)  And of course those Material Girls had lots of Nicey Jane to choose from.  So stinking cute!  I can't wait!

I also got some Amy Butler green dot fabric to make an Easter Tie for Zach and see those cute little birdies in that last picture?  I couldn't resist!    

     

So that's just a small taste of my creative to-do list!  Like I said, so many projects, so little time!  What's on your creative to-do list?  Do tell! 

Becca is 5 Months!

 I am really loving this age!  What a doll!  At 5 month she:

• is happy to play by herself with her toys and doesn't need to be constantly entertained.  This must come with being the third child!!  
• is rolling front to back and back to front.
• is starting to try sitting up by herself with help and can do it alone for a second before losing her balance!  That head pulls her forward every time...or maybe it's the big bows!
• Has decided sleeping on her tummy is the only way to go.  (a little stressful for me...BackToSleep, you know...)
• won't take a bottle.  You might say she's my "breast friend."  Ha!  Good thing she's easy-going as I pretty much have to take her everywhere with me! 
• is just starting to figure out that the rest of us are eating something besides milk.  She grabs at everything I put in my mouth.  Yesterday I was teasing her with my soda can; she reached for it with both hands and pulled it right up to her mouth!  Like mother, like daughter!

We love you dear baby!  You are a joy!

P.S.  I'll get to changing that banner soon!  ;)

Photo(s) of the Day

 

Translation: 

From Zach

To Shelly

How 'bout after school we play games. 

LOVE IT!  We find little notes like this all over the house.  Tonight Heath found one in his room that said I like to move it move it.  Too dang cute!

AND:

I am not a morning person AT ALL, but the anticipation of this curly cuteness almost makes waking up in the morning bearable!  I will for sure share the "results" with you tomorrow!