Happy Novemberween!

Love, Granny, Little Red, Woodsman and Big Bad Wolf. Sorry, I'm a little late.

Six months and counting

With winter coming up, I realized we need to take a family picture if we hope to send out Christmas cards.
We took some pictures of Korrali today, and I learned a lot.

Lesson #1: Pretty sun means squinting = grumpy baby face.

Lesson #2: It's cold and damp in the fall. Again = grumpy baby face.

Lesson #3: Babies who are already grumpy from getting the flu shot and not sleeping well the previous night probably will mostly have a grumpy face, even if you are singing their favorite song or clapping or calling their name.

Lesson #4: The amount a child is willing to smile is inversely proportional to the amount of time they have been subjected to being placed on the damp ground, next to cold gourds, with the sun shining in their face.

This was the last one we took. She does a fun grumpy face.

We did get a few nicer ones.. I don't know that they will be winning and baby photo awards but they'll do for documenting this stage.

The first one we took. Note the difference in expression between this and the last one.

 She is sitting up on her own here, despite my attempts to prop her up on a gourd. It's actually the first time she has held herself up without any support whatever. And, even though her cheeks are so round, she is actually only 36th percentile on her weight - 15 lbs 2 oz. This means she fits into 3 mo dresses and 6 mo and 9 mo outfits too.. (9 mo because she's 26 in tall). She rolls everywhere and is practicing getting up on her knees. She's not in any hurry though (thank goodness) and seems to just be testing out her knees to see if she can do it. She is mobile enough without the knees to get anywhere she wants to go and play with lots of things she likes to play with. I had underestimated the intelligence of babies... but for an extra challenge I started put all her toys into one basket on the floor every night, and then in the morning after I vacuum (yes, with our dog, I have to vacuum every morning or else pull dog hair out of Korrali's mouth all day long).. she rolls right over and grabs the toys she wants and spreads them around the floor..

JD taught her to turn the pages on her exersaucer piano too so right now I'm listening to a variety of musical and animal noises as she turns the page and changes the type of sounds it makes.
And we went trick-or-treating with her wonderful Eldredge cousins and as we went around receiving goods and saying trick-or-treat and thank you, she started holding her bag out and smiling right at the person doling out the goods as we went along.

It was pretty chilly on this rock too.. this is the only picture where she is even vaguely smiling.

I can't believe 6 months has already flown by! Every day I am grateful that JD's job allows me to stay home and be just a mom full time. (For now anyway.)

Bazaar R Us

So there's a cute little girl in our ward who was born with heterotaxy and polysplenia.. and her poor family has been dealing with all the issues that have arisen from that for almost 9 years now. This includes almost monthly Dr visits, not counting the unplanned ones due to sporadic heart rate or low oxygen levels due to problems with her inferior vena cava! Their family holds yearly fundraisers for her medical bills. This year our family gets to help (one more reason I'm grateful to be a stay-at-home mom!). They are having a 5k run, and a Bazaar full of really really fun crafts and clothes and treats.. etc. There really WILL be something for everyone. It's on October 26. If you are around here, please go. And maybe just buy 1 thing. My 1 thing is a hand-made animal winter hat for the babes.

I've been creating and crafting now for a couple weeks.. mostly these:

Lots of this type of thing, actually. And lots of bigger, poofier ones.

But then I made these for Korrali's Halloween Costume (the pattern is here). These were fleece-lined, so they came out a little bulgier.. and not quite as finished looking as in the original.

I thought the ruffles were too cute to pass up... 

So when there was a ton of satin left over from hair-flower making, I tried the slippers in blue..

I actually like these better I think!

Anyway, it's been a little bizarre in our own home... we won't even show pictures of the crafting area.. it's too scary. But, hopefully the event will be a big huge success and lots of people will run, and everything will sell (although, if they don't sell at the Bazaar, they WILL be available online later). 

Korrali is hitting a sweet-spot of long afternoons of self-entertainment. I know it could be any day that she starts to crawl and I have to chase her, so I'm trying to crank out the crafts that involve hot glue, needles, and not having a baby in my lap or face now. What's that you say? You need a baby in your face?

Ok.

Cousins!

A week or so ago our fun cousins from Arizona, Geneva and Miles, left Chicago and returned to their home. We miss them! While they were here we had lots of fun....

Babies played and piled

I think they enjoyed discovering what another baby felt like

We went to the Arboretum, it was very pretty and fun too. I especially like that the two boys have the same expression on their faces

I am a homemaker, not a housekeeper

When we decided it was time for children, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to quit working outside the home. I looked forward to a life of fulfillment doing the three Cs- cooking, cleaning, and crafting. In other words, I knew how to keep house and how to entertain myself.
Then, my perfect "bun in the oven" came sliding out with a thick crust of reality.
I felt inadequate because I couldn't cook, clean, and take care of a baby. Slowly I have realized a truth all great moms already know; housekeeping is not homemaking and no amount of cleaning or cooking creates a home on its own.
In fact, a family home is exactly that. It's tailor-made by a family, for that family. We are new to this, and have a lot (really, a staggeringly large amount) to learn. But I am proud to own the job title on my bank account: Home Maker.
What makes our home? Well right now our best days go like this: start with some good sleep, add three meals or more. Mix in a healthy scoop of Hard work, then a double portion of Don't sweat the small stuff , stir. Fold in some exercise and let it rest. Add adventure to taste. Serve immediately to family members with compassion; don't forget a tall, tall glass full of forgiveness for the aftertaste of inadvertent emotions.
Time for a simile. Being a home maker is like singing in a chorus of cats. No matter how well you know and love all the kitties, it will still take a shocking amount of perseverance to orchestrate a pleasant melody and the amount of accomplishment you feel is directly related to the amount of luck you have.
Who knows what the secret to our recipe will turn out to be; I do know that I wouldn't trade my family of melodious felines for anything. We learn together, make wonderful awful hilarious memories together, and work together to create something resembling music. I aspire to be as accomplished a caterwauler as the many mothers I know. For now, I'm learning to let the housekeeping go a little and focus on the happy home-making and that's enough for this cat.

Banana

Today, I was eating a very ripe banana, Korrali was in our Ergobaby, and she reached down and grabbed the banana by its peel, pulled it to her mouth, and chomped.

Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

I quickly ran down the "checklist" (per our pediatricians office) of when baby is ready for solids:

Sitting well supported, sometimes sitting on her own. Yeup.
Losing her tongue-thrust reflex - yes. She is chomping more and more.
Interest in my food. Yes. Proof? Banana.
Over 4 mo? she is just over 5...

So, we gave her the rest of my banana.


Her proudest moment was when she leaned over and used her arms to scrunch the entire
banana into her face. She looked up after a few chomps and grinned.. "hahah!"

Squishing and grabbing said banana.

It's an egg! It's a Pancake! No wait.. it's A Sterilized Pacifier!

Yes, I was distracted. For a few minutes longer than I thought I would be.