Eight Months Old - Time for Baby's First Craft Night

Gotta start em young if they are going to be crafty in law school. For Father's Day, Vivian decided to make Rick a stepping stone. So it was off to Grandma RaRu's for a Craft Night. I was pretty sneaky and it worked well - I got Vivian to take a nap while I prepared the mortar and Mom and Ashby helped me get all the prep work done. Uncle Ashby was the photographer for the evening.

Here is Vivian right when we woke her up and started doing the footprints.

Time for the right foot!!

Nothing like getting a little dirty for the sake of good crafts.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Vivian, you amaze us every day with the things you say and do. It is hard to believe you are the same tiny baby we brought home with the amount of crawling and climbing you do. You have such a unique personality and are so curious about every part of your world. We are enjoying every minute of being your parents, and love you very much. Love always, MumMum and DaDaDa.

Vivian in her Garden

I am really excited to see some of my flowers in bloom, but I am even more excited to see how much Vivian enjoys them. This evening when it finally cooled down to an acceptable temperature, we headed outside to take some pictures (because quite frankly I was running out of inside entertainment). It was pretty late and I doubted if the lighting would be sufficient to give very good shots, but I figured it was worth a try. I was pretty pleased with the results and the cooperation.

This is one of the early shots from our photo shoot. For all those folks who have been to our house, this is the rail fence by our driveway that used to have nothing around it. What a difference a few years makes.

This is a tooth shot. If you look closely you can see her two front bottom teeth peeking out.

It is a jungle out there. Vivo is enjoying it and I am glad she enjoys sitting up now. It makes life much more enjoyable. She has been holding herself up very well. This week she went from crawling to sitting up and she also started pulling herself up on her feet. We are in for it now.

Finally curiousity got the best of her and she had to take off. So much for the photo shoot (actually I took a ton of pictures, but you know blogger - slow on the upload).

I was disappointed that Jack did not want to hang out with us outside this evening. I think the cat really likes Vivian but does not want to show it. The other day Vivian fell asleep beside me on the bed and Jack jumped up and went over to check on her. Seeing that she was sound asleep, he decided it was safe:)

I just love how she sleeps with her legs crossed. Reminds me of ... me. As you can see, we really need a bigger bed for all four of us. Anyway that is what we are up to - hanging in and surviving this hot weather. Hope everyone is doing well and I will blog with you soon.

The MinnowMaster

Hey Bloggers. I hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a pretty good one. Saturday was work day around the house - one day my patio will be finished (I would post a picture of the back of our house, but quite frankly, I am tired of the "before" look). On Sunday, we went to a local pay pond to fish. We knew Vivian was a little young, but thought she might enjoy the day by the water with us. Here are some pics.

We took this picture right after we got there. Vivian was way more interested in her shoes than anything we were doing. She was pretty content in the stroller for a while, but we eventually had to let her get out and play on the ground. She did check us out some.

She also helped her Daddy net a fish. Notice she still could not put her shoe down.

All and all we had a good outing. We needed it after our wild morning. We had put Vivian in her crib while we were getting ready for church. She was in her diaper waiting for her bath and we heard her in there rolling around. All of a sudden she gets really upset and starts screaming. I went over to her crib and here she had pooped in her diaper and then took the diaper off and had smeared poop everywhere. All over her, the crib, and yes, she even threw some out on the floor that Rick stepped in when he came over to help. Needless to say we went right to the shower to hose off the mess. It was gross. I know you understand why this story does not have pictures. Anyway, after that excitement we were going to be late for church and opted to play hooky and fish instead.

When we got home from fishing, Rick filleted the fish and I grilled them and we had my parents in for dinner. It was a good time and Vivian really enjoyed seeing them. Today we are taking it easy because we had a very disruptive night (Rick got called out at 11:30 and did not come home until 4:20 am - fun). Take Care.

You Win Some You Lose Some

I hate that quote. But I lost. I am pissy but it will be okay. If the people want the idiot they elected, they can have him. I will fill you all in with more details later. Take care.

7 Months Old Today - Yes Vivian, We Remembered.

Well, the clock just hit 7:00 pm and I thought I would take a break from waiting to blog. Polls close in a half an hour and we will not know any results until at least 10:30 pm. So, we have been hanging out here with Vivian. Grandma brought a cool new toy for Vivo today and she has really enjoyed it. It is a walker like the ones we used to have and the girl loves it.

We decided to take a few family pics too.

So, Vivian is the big 7 months old. I cannot believe it. She has a tooth and is very active. We love her a bunch and we cannot wait to see what this next month brings. By the way, she has been saying Dada, but today I got a Mum:)

An After Campaign Update ... AKA I have not blogged in a long time.

Hello Bloggers. I have not updated in quite a while, so I thought I would catch you up on what is going on while I am waiting on results.

So, as most of you know my campaign has consumed the majority of my free time. However two weekends ago we managed to get our garden planted. I was really looking forward to Vivian having a big day with us, but I had not planned on her first tooth. It busted through and made for a cranky baby. This is the only picture I took because she rarely stopped crying and was n0t really into smiling.

That is Rick holding Vivo with his strawberry bed behind him in the framed box. The look on Vivian's face says it all - not a good day. We did get a lot accomplished on our garden project and I look forward to finishing the rest.

Last week was kind of crazy - as many of you remember it has been two years now since a really bad day in May. I am amazed at where I am now compared to where I was then and to all of you who were right there with me - Thank you:) Life is strange but full of blessings. I got to have my first Mother's Day on Sunday which was very cool. Vivian got me a pretty necklace with her birthstone (an opal) on it and a plant - Vivian is a good shopper (thanks Daddy:). At church they gave all the mothers a corsage and I got a potted plant because I am a new Mom. Then we went out to Mom's house and made pizza and had a good visit for Mother's Day.

Yesterday I decided that I was done campaigning and lapsed into finals week mode - you know - obsessive compulsive cleaning - although I really wasnt putting anything off just trying to wait. We are kind of nervous here today and I am sure I will post a couple times. Thanks for all your support and I will update you soon.

Six Months, Sunshine, and an Appointment Update

Yesterday we had Vivian's six month checkup. She was pretty cooperative for most of the visit - as long as we kept her entertained. Dr. McDonald held her for a while and she managed to take his stethescope off of his neck and slobbered all over it (last visit she spit up on him - wonder what she will do at the next visit?). Vivo now weighs 14 pounds 9 1/2 ounces and is 25 1/4 inches long. She got two shots and an oral vaccine and was pretty fussy from it. We also got the okay to start feeding her second stage foods so we went shopping and stocked up on a bunch of new food which should make Vivian very happy because she was pretty bored with the food she has been eating.

Before we left the house - Vivian had to get in a little power nap with her pal Horton. I love how she holds on to Horton's trunk.

Since it has been so pretty lately, Vivian has finally gotten to really enjoy the outside (as opposed to being rushed through it bundled up). She LOVES being outside and it is so much fun to see her experiencing something new. Here are some pictures.

I really like this picture of Vivian and Rick (notice we are down to one sandal instead of two) - she is having a real good time.

Toes in the grass - very fun. She likes walking in the grass and checking out the dandelions (we must have a million in our yard).

Here is Viv and Moma - she has a dandelion in her hand. This picture was taken just before she slobbered all over the dandelion and tried to chew on it. She is a pretty good sport about picture taking and that makes it really fun.

As for Vivian being six months old (and by extension being a parent for six months) - I cannot believe how quick time has passed, yet it seems like Vivian has been in our lives forever. She rolls over, smiles, laughs, talks loud, reaches out for us, and makes us smile everyday. We are truly blessed and very grateful to have this amazing little girl in our lives. We love you Vivian and cannot wait to see what you do next.