My baby girl is growing up!

We had a fabulous weekend together. Saturday we spent the day in our "new" pop up cleaning and learning how things are put together. Lea loved crawling around on the beds. I think she'll really enjoy camping! We're excited to go out one weekend after we get back from vacation.

Lea's really been practicing waving. If you say "Hello" or "Bye Bye" while waving to her, she'll eventually start to flap her arm. It's so cute! The other "trick" she's learning is giving kisses. Just say, "Can I have a kiss?" and pucker up... she'll open her mouth, lean in towards your face (while also slightly sticking out her tongue) and give you a nice, wet kiss. I love it!!! Finally, she's really getting into 'cruising' around on the furniture. She can pull to standing on anything, including my legs, the coffee table, the dishwasher door, kitchen chairs, her high chair, the back door... you name it and she can pull up on it. Here's a pic of Lea and Bailey waiting by the back door for Daddy to come home.

 Now that Lea is a pro at crawling (and fast!) she races over to the door when I (or Daddy) get home from work. It's such a fabulous thing to come home to!

Sunday we spent the day at the Museum of Life + Science. We had a blast checking out the farm animals, the butterfly house, he dinosaur walk and there was even a small area indoors where babys and toddlers could crawl around and play. Once Lea gets older, we'll be going there more often for sure.

Now we're getting ready for our vacation. It's a little overwhelming packing for a baby. I know there are many things that we can (and will) buy once we're there... diapers, wipes, baby food, Cheerios, etc. But, I'm more concerned about what to pack in our carry on to keep Lea happy during the flights! Sippy cup, snacks, blankie, pacifier, a book?, toys?, teether?... If you have any must-have suggestions, please let me know. :)

8 months old!

Lea is 8 months old today and she crawls like a pro. Not only that, but she is so close to actually walking! She pulls herself up on anything (including mommy's leg) with ease and she's already trying to 'cruise' on the furniture.

Here's a video from this afternoon of her perfected crawling skills...



We're having a busy, busy week at our house as we get ready for our first family vacation with Lea. She'll have her first plane ride soon! I'm a little nervous but mostly anxious. I think it's really going to be a lot of fun. We'll just have to make ourselves go with the flow and stay relaxed. Kevin and I are such planners but I think we can do this. So far we haven't made any plans... other than talking about spending a day walking around Santa Fe, visiting the Albuquerque Zoo, going on a few day hikes, etc. It's really going to be great seeing Lea's Uncle Dave & Aunt Sarah and I can't wait for them to see Lea!

Mom n Me Monday

We had a fun weekend... car auctions, Relay for Life, pop up campers and teething biscuits. It all started Friday evening. We went to a local Relay for Life event with our new Micralite Superlite stroller.  After walking for about 45 minutes we enjoyed roasted corn-on-the-cob and hot dogs. Lea and I headed home for the night but Kevin stayed until about one in the morning. Saturday morning we all slept in until 9am... even Lea! It was fabulous because she hasn't been sleeping well at all for the past several weeks. I'm talking screaming and crying for a couple hours every night at bed time. I think we're getting into separation anxiety because if you stand by the crib, without touching her or even saying anything, she's fine. But as soon as you are out of site, she looses it! Anyhow, I digress... back to our fun weekend. Saturday we all slept in then we met Grandma  Grandpap at a local car auction. That was pretty cool. Lots of 50's and 60's cars but my favorites are always the Corvettes. I'll take any year, however the 70's Stingray is my favorite. I will have a Corvette one day. Saturday afternoon we did a little grocery shopping. Lea really enjoys riding in the shopping cart. She's also getting to the point where she's reaching out and grabbing anything within her reach as we roll by. I got her some organic whole wheat teething biscuits to try and couldn't wait until we got home. So, I gave her one to chew on as we walked around the store... remember, I'm a first time mom. Needless to say, I had no clue how messy that would be! She had sticky, mushy teething biscuit all over herself and everything she touched. When we got out to the car, I stripped her down to her diaper before putting her in the car seat. So if you see one of those forwarded emails with pictures of crazy people that you see at Wal-Mart... we very well may be one of them! I'm just sayin', don't judge a book by it's cover. :)

Onto Sunday... we decided to check out a couple pop up campers for sale. We've been talking about getting one for at least a year. It's finally the season when people are selling campers so there have been a lot on-line. We found two that were in our price range and looked worthy of a visit, so off we went. By Sunday night, we were proud owners of a 1995 Viking Pop Up Camper! I'm so excited to get started cleaning it and packing it up for our first trip. I want Lea to have fun memories of camping as a little girl just as I do. Sitting in lawn chairs by a camp fire, splashing around in the lake, the smell of bug repellent and the taste of yummy s'mores. What more could you want on a beautiful summer weekend!? (Did I mention that our 'new' camper has a/c!?)

Here's a few pictures from our fun weekend... including Lea and myself for this Mommy n Me Monday. :)

Ella's Kitchen Review

Lea is well on her way into eating finger foods. Peas, carrots, banana, Cheerios, watermelon. This weekend we're going to try pasta and maybe even chicken. She still likes some things pureed, though. Sweet potatos with cinnamon, green beans with mint, prunes, applesauce. I have been making all of her food (with our Babycook) since she started eating solids. I enjoy making her food. I feel like it's something small and easy that I can do to help her grow into a healthy person. That being said, there are times when I either a) run out of frozen portions, b) don't have time to make something, c) are eating out/traveling or d) all of the above. That's where Ella's Kitchen steps in. Ella's Kitchen makes pureed organic fruits and vegetables in handy pouches for baby. We were sent some samples to try out.

• Strawberries and Apples
• Apples and Bananas
• Broccoli, Peas and Pears
• Carrots, Apples and Parsnips
• Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Apples and Bluberries
• The Yellow One
• The Red One

Paul Lindley, Ella's dad, started Ella's Kitchen because he believed that food should be healty and fun for children. There is absolutley nothing artificial in these baby foods. No preservatives, either. They use organic lemon juice instead. How cool is that? On their web site, they state, "We've found a really safe and effective way to lock in all freshness of the fruit and vegetables, without compromising the goodness. Our pureed fruits and vegetables are blended together then gently and quickly pasteurized (like milk) at 200ºF for just 10 seconds, then popped into individual pouches while still hot and held at 185ºF for another 2 and a half minutes - so that the fruits stay safe and tasty in a natural way without the use of artificial preservatives."

I bet you're wondering if it's any good, right? First, let me tell you that I try everything before I feed it to my daughter. I just don't like the idea of giving her something that I haven't or wouldn't try myself. So, of course I tried these, too. Three words: yum, Yum, YUM! The Strawberries and Apples is amazing. Can they make larger pouches so I can take it to work as an afternoon snack?! Lea loved it, too. Her favorites were the Carrot blend and the Sweet Potato blend. She just kept wanting more and more. They are pureed into such a silky smooth consistency. It's almost like a soupy smoothie.

I am going to be getting more of these to have on hand for those times when I don't have any homemade food but also for our upcoming trip out of state. These will be perfect to travel with.

Here's a video of Lea enjoying one of her favorites, Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Apples and Bluberries, at Grandma's house. Notice how she grabs for more!



Visit the Ella's Kitchen web site for more information and to find a retailer. You can also follow them on twitter.

Mom n Me Monday

Happy Mommy Monday!  We had a fabulous weekend.  But first, I must share that on Thursday I was surprised at the office with a gorgeous bouqet of red tulips from my daughter (and husband).  What a way to start my Mother's Day weekend!  Friday we went out to eat at our favorite seafood place, Skippers.  Lea and I had to take advantage of this photo op...

We went to our friend, Keat's 2nd birthday party on Saturday.  Lea had a blast playing and watching the older kids run around.  She also had her second taste of watermelon... and Keat must have thought it looked delicious as he took the opportunity to sneak in a little kiss...



Sunday we had fun at cousin Ross' 7th birthday party.  Lea really likes playing with her cousins, Ross, Kristin and Lilly.  It's so nice to have family close by.

As far as being a mommy goes, I always knew I wanted to be a mother but there was one point in my life when I wasn't sure if I ever would.  Thankfully, my prayers were answered and we have the most perfect daughter in the world. I am honestly blessed and couldn't be any happier!  For Mom n Me Monday, here's a picture of sleepy Lea as I took her up to bed Sunday night on my first Mother's Day.

Cuddles from Lea are hard to come by these days as she is always on the move.  She wants to stand and walk so bad.  Crawling just doesn't cut it for her. I want to throw in one more pic of Lea and I playing in the car over the weekend.  I just love the carefree, happy vibe it gives...

I would say my first mother's day was a success! :)