Babysitting Versus Parenthood

I don't see myself sleeping any time soon.  Dave and my plans went from fast food with a coupon to going to dinner at Applebee's without any coupons.  My, how quickly things change!  I am still feeling the sting of all the salt from all the food.  It like coats my mouth.  However, it was wayyyyy delicious, and we both ate for less than $30.  So, I guess it wasn't that bad.....

We started getting ready for our trip to Florida.  Dave has been wanting an iPod car thingy that makes it possible for you to listen to your iPod through your car radio.  I used to have one with my old iPod before it burned out.  It was very handy, and I used it all the time.  So, now we have one for him.  I also ordered a reusable swim diaper for Gwen.  I went to Target because I heard that they had them, but there was none there :(  On the other hand, I did find a darn cute one on Amazon that had really good reviews.

I don't know that there will be a cuter baby hiney on the beach!  Plus, I got a neutral color for all of those future babies that we'll be having.  Plus, for $13, I saved myself from having to buy all of those disposable Lil Swimmers.  I was reading reviews of the Lil Swimmers online, and some public pools have banned those things because they really don't work.  A lot of the reviewers complained that they just broke down in the water.  Plus, when you're swimming in the Gulf, does it really matter if she pees a little?  These swim diapers are only meant to keep in the poops anyway....  I'm also all excited because I got to order my fav cookbook at the moment, Deceptively Delicious.

I always pick this up when I go to bookstores.  All the recipes sneak fruits and veggies into everyday meals.  She actually has a recipe for brownies with spinach, and mac and cheese with squash.  I'm excited to get started as soon as I get it!!!  Though this has nothing to do with Florida, I had to order something to get free shipping.  You have to spend a little to save a little (right?).  I think I need to start cutting myself off here at some point....

To switch topics, lately I've been thinking about the differences between babysitting and parenthood.  When I was babysitting, I used to totally feel in charge.  I was so used to keeping a consistent schedule with the kids in my care.  I had no problem keeping my kiddos in line.  Discipline seemed a lot easier because I knew I was in charge of helping to mold a young mind.  Why are all of these good habits I learned from babysitting suddenly leaving me at a time in my life when I could really use them?  I completely give in to Gwen all the time.  She actually screams at me sometimes, and I just totally take it.  Granted, she is eight months old, so I haven't created a monster quite yet.  However, at this pace, I will most definitely have a little stinker on my hands in the very near future.  My mom told me today that she's my attachment.  I literally don't go anywhere without her.  Why wouldn't I (completely sarcastically)?  She cries as soon as I walk out of the room.  Right at that moment, I think to myself that it's not a problem for me just to pick her up.  So, I pick her up, and she folds laundry with me or helps me do something in the kitchen.  I even write emails with her on my lap.  Is there such thing as peeing in private?  I'm sure that once my someday future baby number two comes along, I will quickly learn to put my foot down.  However, at this point, I don't really want to.  I say that, however, there are definitely times when I need a break.  She goes through times where all the clinging gets to me, and I need to just not be climbed all over.  Other than that, I like having her cooing in my ear and trying to stick her fingers in my mouth to see just how I'm able to talk.  I like her smiling little face, and I especially like to watch that face as it drifts off to sleep.  However, I still tiptoe out of the room once she goes to sleep, and I get her when she cries in the middle of the night.  At what point does this stop?  Can you really "discipline" an eight month old?  I know that disciplining your child is a way to show your love because you are helping her to become an adult.  So, how do I make sure that I'm not creating a little monster just so I can have some peace and quiet?  This all used to be so easy :)

Making Baby Food

I almost began to type out a big long email to a friend with baby food making updates, so I thought that I would probably be better to post it here where it can be archived later.  This is such a good way for me to remember things!  Anyway, I finally got a steamer to start making baby food.  It's been working out so great.  Gwen just eats everything placed in front of her.  She definitely can be a stinker sometimes about not eating.  I've decided to not ever make a big deal about her eating or not eating.  Little kids will eat when they are hungry, and I don't want her to have a weird relationship with food (have to finish the plate, etc).  Other than the times when she just doesn't feel like eating anything, she generally eats everything placed in front of her.  She's always ready to move on to new foods.  I'm surprised, but she has never choked on anything.  In fact, when we first started on solids, she did not like the watered down oatmeal.  It wasn't until I started giving her texture that she really took to it.  I think she might have healthy eating habits for many reasons, mainly because I started her on solids when I really felt like she was ready.  All of her baby books said to wait until 4 months, but she was just really doing well holding up her head.  Plus, she was always going for my food.  So, at 3 and a half months, we started on solids.  We moved up to those baby puffs at 4 months, and so on.  Today, she had oatmeal with cinnamon for breakfast, American cheese, applesauce, and a piece of wheat bread for lunch, a piece of Veggie cheese for snack, and a veggie burger patty, mushroom ravioli (off my plate), and strawberries for dinner.  She also had a little ice cream for snack, but sugar is so rare for her.  I am really trying to stick to a no sugar, no salt, and no fillers diet.  I'm not really against those things once she gets older, but I just don't think her little tiny body really needs those things.  When you only eat like 4 tablespoons at one sitting, it better be all good foods.  So, anyway, that brings me to baby food recipes that rock.  All of these recipes are from homemade-baby-food-recipes.com.

Perfect Peaches

2 Peaches

cereal

Preheat oven to 350 deg F, 180 deg C. 

Remove the stone and skin from the peaches, then puree the flesh. 

Simply beat with enough prepared cereal to achieve a consistency perfect for your baby. 

Then transfer to an oven-proof dish and bake until set (around 15 mins). 

Cool and serve. 

Museli

1/2 apple, peeled and chopped 

1/2 pear, peeled and chopped 

3oz (1/3 cup) dried apricots 

5fl oz (5/8 cup) soy milk 

1oz (2 tbsp) oats

Place the apricots, pear and apple in a saucepan with a little water and simmer until softened. Set aside. 

Combine the milk and oats in a saucepan and simmer until thickened (about 4 mins).Cool. 

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. 

*** Delicious -- did this one with Silken tofu mixed with water for the soy milk ***

Chicken and Apple Dinner

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (chopped) 

1 apple, cored and diced 

1 small sweet potato 

4oz (1/2 cup) courgette/zucchini, chopped 

2 cups homemade chicken stock

tiny pinch of cinnamon

Peel and dice the sweet potato. 

Bring the stock to a boil in a saucepan. 

Add the chopped chicken, lower the heat and simmer for 10 mins. 

Add the sweet potato and apple cubes and simmer for another 10 mins. 

Add the chopped courgette/zucchini and cook for a final 5 mins, until the sweet potato is fork tender. 

Puree or chop well, then sprinkle with cinnamon and serve. 

These are just a sampling of recipes that we have tried.  I try to get organic produce when I can just because fruits and veggies absorb a lot of chemical through their thin skins.  Plus, when you're buying so little of these fruits and veggies, it's not that expensive.  In fact, I can usually make a huge batch of these foods to eat now and freeze for later for only a couple of bucks.  That's wayyyyy better than buying Gerber any day, and you know exactly where all of this food came from.   I can't wait until Farmer's markets start this summer.  We'll be having fresh food every day!

I've heard the comment many times that making your own baby food is just not sustainable.  However, I also heard that about cloth diapering, and I would never go back to disposables!  Sposies are just like plastic wrapped around your butt.  Cotton all the way!!!  I used to think that maybe this was just first baby luck, but a lot of people I know do this to save money (including a friend with five children -- so there!).  I was just at the grocery store today, and the prices for one of those Gerber Graduate meals was $2 ON SALE.

I actually almost shat myself right in the middle of the grocery store.  I remember serving these things up every day for kids in day care.  They are not even that good, and the kids didn't like eating them.  That's like $10 a week for lunch for one kid.  Who knows what they were eating for dinner... maybe the same thing.  Who buys this stuff?  Gross --- seriously, seriously gross stuff.  I never saw one of these meals that looked the least bit appetizing.  However, since Gerber slapped their name it, they are being sold everywhere :(  Anyway, I hope that I never have to place this in front of any of my children someday.  The least I could do is just get out a bag of frozen veggies to heat up for them.  My goodness!

Besides financial perks, making Gwen's baby food has made her "regular."  I'm not going into detail, but it's made cloth diapering just that much easier.  I just have to take that diaper to the potty and dump her business in the toilet.  No scraping, no hands in the toilet, and she's never had any potty-ing issues since feeding her healthy foods.  When we first started solids up until I starting making her food, she's had occasional problems.  Not any more!  It's been a win-win all around.  Hooray for good health!

BTW, here is a picture of our little sun baby.  She was having fun outside with her mom and dad just standing there taking pictures of her.  Man, she's cute:

Also, here is a pic of Gwen in our new stroller.  I love that stroller so much that we went on a walk today around Denison.  It's the best!

Crazy Craigslisters

So, I got two things from Craigslist today.  The first was a Maclaren stroller.  It's soooo cute, it's pink, and it's so light-weight.  These are seriously the best strollers around, so I'm super pumped to finally own one!  The second was a food steamer that I've been looking for.  I wanted to start making Gwen's food, but I really didn't feel like investing in a brand new steamer.  This one is perfect.  However, obtaining the steamer was way more difficult than I had expected....

So, I was a bit late picking up the steamer.  My day ended up going later than I thought, but I was sure to keep in contact with the guy as to not mess up his schedule.  So, I finally get there around 5:15.  I called right before getting to his house.  He then tells me that the steamer is actually in his storage unit which is just two minutes from his house, and would I mind taking him there in my car.  Ummm.... heck no!  I very politely just told him that I wasn't comfortable taking a stranger in my car with just me and the baby.  Then he started to hum and haw about how it was just two minutes away.... he might be able to get his neighbor to do it.... he could walk but it would take 20 minutes.... yada yada yada.  So, I just told him that if it was that inconvenient for him, I would be happy to just find another one somewhere else.  I wasn't going to risk my safety to cart around a potential "craigslist killer."  He just keeps stringing me along, calling me every ten minutes or so with an update on which one of his friends' moms could pick him up.  Oh my gosh -- I was so irritated.  I should have just gone home.  It was getting ridiculous and creepy.  Finally, this portly man pulls up in his friend's mom's car, and he asks me if I want to go back to his storage unit with him.  Ummm.... let me think.... NO!  So, all in all, it took this guy like 45 minutes to finally get this steamer to me when he could have just walked over in 20 minutes.  GRRRR!!!  By then, I just gave him the $10 and got out of there.  I pulled out the steamer when I got home.  Ewww, gross, covered in dust and dirt.  He didn't even bother to clean the thing out -- disgusting!  On top of that, he told me that it had been used once, and he made it sound new.  Yeah, this thing was manufactured in 1993.... I guess that's relatively new if you think about how recent humans first appeared on this planet.  GRRRR!  So, I got a steamer that's just the style I wanted but just seriously older than I was expecting to have waited 45 minutes to buy the thing.  Holy cow!  What kind of person just asks a stranger for a ride?  What kind of mentality would you have to have?  That just seems to be the mindset of the people in the Northside (not everyone, but a lot of the people that we came across while living there).  They just expect that all people who are fortunate enough to have cars should just drive everyone else around like a taxi, even if they don't know this person.

Thinking of that reminded me of an insane story from when we lived in the townhouse.  Like a year ago, I was sitting on the couch folding laundry in the living room.  Somebody knocked on the front door, and when I answered, it was a young girl sobbing.  She wanted to know if my "boyfriend" was there because her mother just kicked her out of the house for riding in a car with my "boyfriend" and could he take her to another place.  Keep in mind, I had never before seen this girl in my ENTIRE LIFE!  I had no clue what she was talking about, so I told her that I would go talk to my husband.  I yelled down to Dave, "Did you give some girl a ride recently?"  To my absolute shock, he said YES!  Then, he comes upstairs to talk to her.  She immediately asked him for another ride because her mom kicked her out.  Dave asked for the girl's mom's phone number, and he forced this girl to talk to her mom.  Then, Dave talked to her mom.  Her mom sounded so angry with her daughter, and she told Dave to make sure that she came straight home.  After she left (without a ride), I talked to Dave about how he met this strange teenager.  He said that a week prior, she came to the door while I was out at a friend's house on a Friday night.  She said that her car broke down, and she needed a ride to her aunt's house.  So, Dave actually put his shoes on (mind you, he had been watching tv and relaxing), and he drove this girl to her aunt's house somewhere.  He didn't ask where her broken down car was, how old she was, where did she live, what was her name, are you going to murder me?  You know, the important questions you ask someone before you just give a stranger a ride somewhere.  On the flip side, what was she thinking just asking some random person to come to the door and give her a ride?  So, when she saw that it worked once, why not try it again?  Whoa, it was just as crazy as it sounds.  I think Dave learned to never do that again :)

Anyway, life lesson here -- If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk....

Eco-Friendly Light Bulbs

Way too bright.  Holy cow -- I think I saw every dirt particle in my living room.  I'm a fairly clean person, but I was shocked at all the new pieces of dust that I could see with my new light bulbs.  I'm glad to be helping the earth, or whatever, but man, I felt like a mosquito being drawn into one of those bug catchers.  It was just so bright.  Maybe I got the wrong ones for that room, but wow -- bright!!!

I've been on an eco-friendly kick.  We talked about being stewards of Heavenly Father's earth when we were in Sunday School last week.  In response, I've been trying to increase our earth-friendly practices.  I've been trying to cut down on how much meat we consume (which was not helped by our all-meat grill out this afternoon...).  We already did the cloth diapers, so we moved toward cloth wipes (which actually made life easier!!!).  I'm yet to bike more than I drive, but that's hard to do with a baby.  Maybe when she gets older, we'll take more walks to friends' houses instead of driving a couple blocks over.  At this point, I don't want to be stranded somewhere without a car.  Dave doesn't really have the ability to just "leave work early" to come pick me up.  He's pretty much expected to be at every class :)

Going along with the thread of earth-friendly, being thrifty is a good way to recycle (and save some cash).  One of my favorite blogs, feministmormonhousewives.org, had a recent post about going non-commercial and trying to not buy anything new (except for the necessities) for the next couple of months.  I think I'm going to try it at least for two weeks, and then see how it goes.  I'm really interested in seeing how dependent I am on "things."  I tried to do a spending "fast" for one week.  I wasn't so good at that.... I think I spend money when I get bored, so I need to fast during a week that I will have lots of things to keep my brain occupied.  It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that I can go shopping all the time on the internet.  In fact, my little amazon "issue" currently has been waiting for my Walking Off the Pounds set, a Princess Baby book for Gwen (had to order it to get $25 for free shipping), Jon and Kate Plus 8 season 4, and a J&K book that came free with the DVDs.  So, yeah, I'm a shopper.  At least I look for good deals :)  In all honesty, shopping like this doesn't happen too often.  I told myself it was my way-to-make-it-through-a-whole-year-of-plays-with-a-rookie-drama-teacher gift.  It's been a very stressful school year, and though it has been so rewarding, a little gift for myself was certainly in order.

One more thing....  thanks to my favorite blog, I recently discovered a new internet video explaining global warming.  Though I'm not actually sure how much of this whole global warming thing I find plausible, I certainly want to take care of the earth that has been so generously given to us.  Sometimes I wonder if global warming is the Sputnik of our generation, or if it really is just a sign of the times.  Who knows.... I'm just going to take care of what I got!  Anyway, here is the video.

The flames weren't much appreciated, but the issue is just a little more clear for me.  I'm going to start taking care of the earth right now as I turn my computer off -- all the way off -- like unplugging it.  Watch me go :)

BTW, here is a pic of Gwen just because I like her:

She was not happy because she wanted to go to bed, and I wanted her to go down the slide on her little play house.  She won.

A Day of Awesome Sales!!!

Oh girl, look at that face!  I was taking pictures because her ADORABLE pink diaper cover matched her shirt.  However, she just wanted to crawl around and make stinking cute faces!  I was okay with that.  I'm so glad that I'm able to be home with her every day.  Other moms who don't get to stay home with their kids are often telling me how lucky I am to be able to be with her.  I am well aware!!!!  It just breaks my heart to think that some families have to send their kids to daycare for one reason or another.  I used to work at a daycare, and I know how much it hurts to drop your kiddos off for the first time.  There was more than one parent who would walk out the door just to burst into tears.  If it hurts that much, I can't imagine what they must be getting out of working.  I always hoped that it would be super worth it for the parents would had to work despite the fact that they would cry when they dropped off their babies.

Lately I've been trying to save our monies in order to put more away in savings.  In addition to clipping tons of coupons, I've been watching the weekly ads.  Yesterday was a great, great day for sales.  I just went for a couple of things at two different stores, but it was a landslide of good deals :)  First I went to Wal-Greens.  They had four packs of Soleil razors for $5.  Then, they had a $1 coupon in the store, and I had a $2 manufacture's coupons.  So, I got two four packs for $4.  Then, I got some Johnson's lotion that I personally like for $2 after sale and coupon.  When I got to the register, I got some chapstick first because I got register rewards for the amount of the purchase price (so it was free).  Then, I bought all of the other things and a roll of tape (that we so badly needed).  Anyway, I got all of that for $8.  Then, I hopped over to CVS for even more sales.  I had a coupon for $1.50 extra care rewards from last week.  I bought some Crest toothpaste, and with an additional $.50 coupon, the toothpaste was $.88.  I got a $2 coupon from this transaction.  So, I bought two big packages of Huggies wipes that were $1.65 a piece because they were discontinued.  So, for like $2, I got all of that stuff.

After all of those good deals, I had stuff to drop off at Goodwill -- my favorite place!  I got a lot of great things including a Speedo bikini in perfect shape for my niece.  Just like all of their other children's clothing, it was $1.  In addition to that, I got a Gerber sippy cup for Gwen for $.80.  After all of my purchases, I spend $8 at Goodwill.  So, just to recap:

For $20, I got:

ChapStick

Tape

8 Soleil razors

Johnson's lotion

2 packs of 144 Huggies wipes

Crest toothpaste

Gerber Sippy Cup

Speedo bikini

7 other pieces of children's clothing

Yeah, it was a good day.  As icing on the cake, Gwen was sleeping at home with Dave.  Heavenly!

Special Delivery!!

Yeah, I know what you're thinking -- so THIS is what a 560 pound year's supply of food basics looks like!  We finally got our year's supply today straight from the FedEx SEMI!!!  It created quite a ruckus on our little street.  A cop actually stopped by to check out the scene.  He was quite helpful as he stopped traffic so this 53 foot semi could back out of my street.  Thank God everything went smoothly because I would imagine that a semi stuck on a residential street would not be a good thing at all.  I had no clue that FedEx would have to make a special delivery just for me.  The driver said that he rarely has to make deliveries this large to a residence.  We're extra special.... I guess....  After all was delivered and unpacked, it's so reassuring to know that no matter what, we can take care of ourselves.  Mormons are so peculiar :)  As I was saying to Dave earlier, it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.  It's best to be prepared especially when God tells you to.  I'm all excited about my new stash of food that I went ahead and took pictures to show the world just how peculiar I am :)

This is in the office closet:

1) Soaps, shampoos, lotion for baby -- I'm pretty sure I could bathe multiple babies with this stash

2) No stinky pits for us!  Also, we have enough cough/cold medicine to qualify us to be a meth lab in the waiting.  However, if needs be, we can cure that pesky cough in no time!
3)  That's right -- I could shave my legs for a long time without ever having to reuse a blade.  Not that I do, but just know that I only buy razors when they are $.25 or less, so that's why there are so many.  I get while the getting's good.  I just got 10 Intuition razors for $6 (a bit more than I usually spend, but man are they worth it).  Yeah -- I rock.
4) Who wants to go through an epidemic with stinky hair?  Not me -- imagine 14 more bottles of shampoo and conditioner as I am off to buy them tonight at Kroger.  14 bottles for $4.  Why wouldn't I buy that?
5)  Those are all of Gwen's clothes up until age 3.  If you ever see me buying anything new clothing-wise for that kid, slap my hand.  Oh, and those two bags to the right -- all shoes of all sizes.  Thank goodness for sisters, hand me downs, and consignment shops.  We have the best clothed baby on the block!
I'm sure that I could find even more stashing throughout my house, but these are just the major ones.  Even though it seems odd, I feel so much better knowing that I have all of this on hand.  If I were to be locked in my house for a long time without being able to go out, we would be okay.  I like that feeling.  I like knowing that I'm doing all that I can to keep my little family safe.  I can't wait to buy more stuff to add to our one-year supply.  Check out emergencyessentials.com for the best stuff!  I can't wait to make some bread with freshly ground flour --- yummmm!!!

There is so much talent at Newark High School

Sooo.... some of Dave's students are in the high school orchestra otherwise known as Sinfonia.  They traveled to NYC over spring break to be in a national orchestra competition.  They tied for first runner up, and everyone has been so excited for them!  The New York Times did a feature on Newark High School.  Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/us/15land.html?_r=2&ref=us

Be sure to watch the video on the second page.  I was in tears just thinking about what the future holds for these kids if the residents of Newark don't pass this levy in May.  It's hard to explain to people who are living hand to mouth that they need to invest in the schools.  Luckily, we bought our house while houses were going cheap around here.  However, some people around here aren't so lucky.  They are tied down by their houses as the economy around here plummets with the deteriorating school district.  However, an investment in the school district is a total investment in the community.  I just pray that this levy passes in May.  If you live in Newark, be sure to put up a sign in support of the levy.  Even if you don't have kids that go to the school, it makes complete sense to support the levy.  Do you want more high school dropouts just roaming around your neighborhood?  The drop out rate is the third worst in the state -- about a third do not graduate!  Plus, a vote for the levy is a vote in support of Dave's job, and I would hate to have to see him leave a job that he just loves so much.  Support the schools!!!!

Our Little "Fancy Nancy"

Gwen has been cruising around everything these days!  Her favorite thing to do is take everything off of her changing table and bookshelves.  She just loves to unfold all of the blankets and sheets.  I like to hide her binkies in different places on the changing table because it's such a delight for her every time she finds them.  She doesn't use them anymore at night, but she likes to play with them.  She picks up each one, puts it in her mouth, puts it on the floor, and goes for the next one.  She does that with all four of them every time.  What a silly girl!  My goodness, I would have never imagined how much fun this age could be!  I'm being told that cruising around furniture means that she will be walking soon.  As scary as that sounds, I'm excited for her independence in the very near future.  She just has such a strong spirit, and I know that she is going to love being able to go and do whatever she pleases.  I wonder if she is going to be like me in that way -- very stubborn.  Hopefully, I can channel that energy in her to do something good in this world.  In the words of my all time favorite Cheri Dew, I can't yet decide if she "is going to end up running the world or end up in jail.  The jury is still out."

I snapped some pictures this morning of our little stubby-legged baby while she was playing at the changing table.  It dawned on me this evening that she most definitely made a Fancy Nancy face.

I know, I know, she just closed her eyes in this picture.  Click on the picture to make it way bigger.  Those pursed little lips and just knowing that she was picking through things that she shouldn't have been make me think she looks like a tiny Fancy Nancy.  It's like she just has that same personality.  Oh well, even if it's not clear to other people, at least I got to sneak in another picture of her adorable chubby legs in that ridiculously cute skirt.  She's been thinning out, so she was able to wear that skirt comfortably.  She's been sleeping a whole lot more, so who knows how much taller she'll be at her doctor's appointment next month.  How was she ever 7 pounds and 20 inches long?  I just marvel at the fact that she was actually in my belly longer than she's been a separate person.  Oh man, babies -- what will they do next?

Might as well do something while I'm doing nothing....

It seems to me that I've been writing novel-length emails to friends and family lately.  So, I figured I might as well put it all on a blog and at least archive all of our experiences.  Plus, I was going through the baby's first year calendar, and I couldn't believe how much of her life I've already forgotten.  Things go by so quickly, and the next thing you know, she's crawling all over the place.  It's hard to believe that at one point, our little Ginbo (Dave's nickname for her) was just a content little newborn that didn't get into everything.  She's becoming quite the little handful!  Just today we went out to dinner at Adornetto's to support Dave's students.  I must have been inspired to order her a plate of her own plain noodles.  She went to town, picking up huge handfuls of noodles in both hands.  She probably got maybe one or two noodles in her tummy because the rest was being thrown all over the table and on the floor.  She has a little obsession with emptying and filling things up.  For example, she would push all of her noodles out of the bowl and onto the table.  Then, she would work hard to get it all back into the bowl.  Those noodles were covered in little bits of who-knows-what from the table, so it's probably a good thing that she didn't eat too many of them!  While she was busy playing with noodles, I got to eat my meal without having little hands all in my spaghetti!  That hasn't happened in a little while!  I'm just bummed that my only picture is on a cell phone, and I'm not digitally savvy enough to get it on my computer :(((

All in all, I'm glad that we have a loud, active, happy baby.  I'm guessing it probably means that we are going to have a loud, active, happy toddler (oh joy!), but there are some perks.  It makes the days go by so much quicker when she's always on the go.  I can exercise or fold the laundry while she is exploring her little playhouse in the playroom.  Or, I can just lay down on the floor next to her while she pulls through my hair and tries to put her fingers in my ear.  She's always exploring.  It's hard to step back and let her make messes all through the house while "exploring."  Just the other day, she dumped her container of yogurt on the table.  I held back the impulse to clean it immediately, and she totally had fun smearing it everywhere.  She's a good lesson for me in just having fun while letting some things around the house get disheveled.  Oh well, they are only babies once :)

Gwendolyn never seems to want to explore the things that you would think she would be interested in either.  She has a whole house full of toys, but always wants my cell phone, the remote, or whatever book that I happen to be reading.  Since it was Easter this weekend, we got her a bubble blower with the hopes that she would be captivated by the constant bubbles.  However, as you can see, she just wanted the camera....

Oh well -- make this be a lesson for me.  Don't bother spending any money on expensive toys, even if it's going to be "perfect" for her.  Even the $8 bubble blower has been relegated to the back of her closet!!!