Outside pictures

This past week I decided to attempt taking a few outside pictures of Lailey. She is sort of sitting up on her own, though she did wobble over a few times before I could catch her. She was fine since it was on a soft blanket. And I got a few bug bites, but it was worth it.

This face just cracks me up

This one is my favorite I think

Sitting up!

She is able to sit up now with support, or for a few seconds on her own. It's crazy how quickly babies go from completely floppy little newborns to strong kids who want to move. Baby-proofing is coming soon...I can feel it.

I mixed in a little homemade carrot puree (that's "carrots mashed up real good" in Granddaddy language) with Lailey's oatmeal cereal yesterday and after she made a half disgusted half surprised look with the first bite, she ate every bit. I'm not doing lots of veggies yet, I just wanted to see what she thought. Maybe next weekend I'll make some different foods like peas and green beans to stock up. My plan was to start veggies around 6 months, and that's in two weeks so I wanted to start freezing some food to make it easy during the week while I work. I've looked online and in a book for baby food recipes and it doesn't seem very hard to make good wholesome food very cheaply. Store bought is fine too, but I figured I'd try making my own and see if the money saved is worth the effort. We shall see.

TMNT Rudy

I was sorting through photos and videos on my computer and organizing them - one of my favorite things to do - and came across this video. It's not Lailey, but I think it's funny. This is from 2007 when we camped at Cloudland Canyon, GA. For those of you unfamiliar with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT), Rudy (Davey) is explaining his role as "Splinter," the turtles mentor. My husband is strange, yes, but he makes me laugh. Enjoy! (You may have to turn it up, because it's kind of quiet)

This is what we're saying. Watch it while reading it...

D: Sarah, it is time you know the truth. I have 4 turtles. They fell into the pile of ooze and became teenage mutant ninja turtles.

S: He doesn’t look like he’s moved his mouth much.

D: Anyways, enough about the lady behind the curtain. (continued laughter) Uh, I gave them four names: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo. They are now my four sons. They are very good at fighting crime. I took many years training them the art of …one of those martial arts. Anyways, shut up.

Hedgehog it is...

Sorry to the 5 of you (including Davey) who voted for sheep. I do believe it is a hedgehog. I was quite entertained by how many people responded to me about this debate! Those who knew what a hedgehog was and decided that is what this must be pointed out some interesting features that I have so kindly included on the photo below (thank you, Picnik.com).

Of course, "Hug Me" is funny because hedgehogs are prickly, so it's a joke, tongue-in-cheek if you will. (I actually looked up that phrase to make sure I was using it correctly. I'd always wondered about that.)
So, the debate is finally over. Sorry sheep, you didn't make it.

Give Me Ten!

Okay, I PROMISE I did not make Lailey do this. Yes, Davey loves to workout, but this was a chance baby thing, not him rubbing off on her. She started this on her own the other day and I caught it on camera today. She loves to play on her tummy and has gotten pretty strong. Not too long before we're baby-proofing everything. Hope you enjoy your daily dose of Lailey.

(P.S. I know it's not exactly a daily update, but the name worked.)
We love you, Daddy.

Bright Eyes

Well, it's almost 11:00, which is super late for me, but hey, I'm on fall break so I can do whatever I want and take a nap later! Sweet. Anyway, I had to check something online and figured while I was on the computer I'd post some recent favorite pictures of my cutie pie.

This is the precious face I get to wake up to every morning. On this particular morning, we found Lailey awake and happy in her crib after her morning nap. Unless she's really hungry, she's usually extremely happy when she first sees me in the morning, and she'll kick and squirm with delight and give me a huge smile. It's the best.

Davey and Lailey in the same shade of blue. Daddy, we miss you while you're gone.
Lailey in her big girl stroller! Gosh, I just realized while looking at this picture how grown up she looks wearing her little sneakers and sitting up like that.
This cracked me up. I placed her on her tummy in her activity center instead of her back just for a change of pace. Plus, she likes being on her tummy a lot more now that she's stronger. Attached to the bottom are these leaves that have crinkly stuff in them to make noise. But who cares about the crinkly stuff when you can just eat them! She did this on her own and I had to grab the camera.
Okay, that's it. I finished my glass of chocolate milk and now have to brush my teeth (again) and go to bed.

A New Design

I've been having WAAAAAY too much fun with the computer lately.  Davey, who I call a "googlehead" because he can find anything online, recently came across an incredible website called Picnik.com.  I've been looking for a way to have fun editing photos on my computer (which he also just recently rebuilt).  Picnik is the perfect way to edit photos.  Even the free version is great, but the premium version is only a couple bucks a month.  Totally worth it.  I know next to nothing about digital editing, and I've already had a blast.  This whole thing started because I've been organizing and playing with photos I've been taking of Lailey.  Nothing spectacular, just amateur shots of the cutest kid in the world.  This is an example of what you can do... (before and after)

It may not look a lot different at the first glance, but I took out red-eye, made her eyes more blue, framed it, used an effect to make the picture sort of "bloom," made the edges fade to more black & white, and even edited out the drool on her chin.  Okay, I'm amazed by all this, even if no one else is.  Maybe I'll get really good at it eventually.  But for now, it's a fun hobby.  

Oh yeah, and the new heading at the top of the blog?  I uploaded the flower photo (which I found online) and actually put the text in and designed it on Picnik.  I think it turned out pretty spiffy.  

Rock 'n' Rollin'

Lailey rolled over today! Davey and I both got to see it too. I put her on her tummy to play, and she pushed up straight with her arms and rolled over to her back. We got so excited we almost scared her. I put her back on her tummy and left the room for just a second to get the camera, and when I got back she was already on her back again. So she did it twice, but we only saw it once. Life as we know it may soon be over, because it won't take her long to figure out she can do more than just roll over to get around. Sigh, she's growing up too fast. Our sweet baby girl will be 5 months old tomorrow.

Sheep....or Hedgehog?

Okay, this is a picture of a shirt that Granddaddy (David) and Grammy (Lagene) bought for Lailey recently. So, why am I posting it on here? Well, we need your help to settle the current debate going on in our house...

Is this cute little guy a sheep or a hedgehog?

Please let us know by answering the poll on the right side of the blog. Thanks! Oh, and I'm not telling who thinks what because it might sway your vote. :)

Eat it up!

This really made us laugh, and I thought I should put it on here. This was definitely a fun mess to make. You can't really see in the video how much food she has all over her, but she was covered in cereal! Arms, legs, bib, face, all of it. I'm glad she's such a good little eater.

Mom, I'd rather suck my fingers than roll over the rest of the way.

Playtime

Bubbles!

This was just cute