Growing Pains

Kate is a super speedy crawler now, and has been practicing her pulling-up/walking/climbing skills for a few weeks. All that practice should make her tired and sleepy, right? Nope. Apparently babies who are learning to walk focus all of their energy on practicing this new skill and will even wake themselves up to practice (you can watch a video explaining this here).

So that explains the crappy sleep we've been having lately.

I even went in last night this morning (4am) to comfort her and as I picked her up she was trying to climb up my body. Her little legs moving like crazy!

I'm looking forward to her first steps, but scared at the same time. She's going to be everywhere and get into everything!

using the ottoman to walk and get Cookie Monster

Baby Stybs

I'm starting this blog to serve as some sort of scrapbook for Kate. I realized that it wasn't blogging that I didn't like, it was the lack of focus I had. I really did miss writing down things that happened, or what Kate has done. So here I am, blogging again, with no expectations to post every day- or even every week, but to just write when there is something to write about.
I will not check my stats- and won't be shamelessly self promoting (spamming as adam calls it)the blog to gain followers.

I'm writing for me.

And for Kate.

(I've imported the posts about Kate from the old blog, to keep everything in one place)

Playroom Art

I shared Kate's playroom, but what you didn't see was the vast blank walls surrounding it.

That small art print just wasn't cutting it so it was time for some COLOR- I wanted to make some bright and cheery art for Kate. I took the two large canvases that were hanging in the guestroom

And used leftover gloss paint from the basement bathroom to cover the dark blue pattern (I didn't have gesso, and it can be a bit expensive, so I just used what I had). It was nice and thick, and covered the pattern in one coat.

So with my fresh canvases I was ready to try my hand at some abstract art.

I pinned this

From: http://blog.mrhandsomeface.com/diy-wall-art-bubbles  

And knew it would be perfect for the playroom. Plus I already had everything I needed.

So with just some tissue paper, cut into circle of different sizes, I arranged them on the canvases and used modpodge to glue them down.

Under 1 hour, free and easy, DIY playroom art. Can't beat it.

Not sure what to put above the art. Maybe I'll just leave it as open space to hang Kate's drawings and things  in the future.

Movin' & Shakin'

Yup. Kate's crawling now. Not very fast, not very far, but she's on the move. I guess baby gates will now become a permanent fixture in our house.

To see Kate's 7 month pictures, check out her flickr page.

Kate's Playroom

Kate is getting so close to crawling. I encourage her all the time but she just cant go forward. She needed some bigger play space to practice, and to help contain her toys, so we made a really inexpensive 'playroom' for her in the little corner of the basement. This was where my desk moved after we made the nursery and my office was reclaimed as a guest room. But since I don't really need an office, and I usually use the laptop while I sit on the couch, this was the perfect space for Kate.

We got this rug from Ikea and a $5 door mirror from Target. The toys were hand-me-downs or gifts, and we already had the coffee table which will become her coloring/play table when she's able to stand.

It's been great having this space for Kate to play, and not having to worry about cleaning everything up every day. Plus, it'll be able to grow with her and she plays with cars, trains, and blocks. I already have ideas for storing her barbies and other dolls when the time comes.

Sheep? Llama? Pikachu?

That was literally the text of the message I sent Adam.

Why?

Kate has a new, adorable sweatshirt from her aunt Andria.

 I think it is a sheep.

Or maybe a llama.

But it reminded me of pikachu...

Any other guesses?

6 Months

Holy cow, where did the time go?

Kate is happily sitting and scooting now. She even lifts her tummy off the floor when she's playing.
She's going to be crawling before we know it, and, while I'm excited for that milestone, I am not ready for her to grow up so fast.

My big girl is now: 17 lbs 6.5 oz and  26.5" long. I'm going to have to switch her car seat out for the bigger convertible seat soon.

She's still nursing morning and night, and she gets food and some formula during the day at my Mom's. She loves every kind of food we have given her, including those nasty peas... and she's even practicing her chewing with some sweet potato puffs.

Some of her favorite things to do are: bouncing (in the bouncer or on you), playing with (and trying to eat) everything, and mickey Mouse Clubhouse (she shows no interest in Wonder Pets or Dora, but she squeals and 'talks' when MMC is on).

Check out all her monthly pics here.