Penelope at 9 months

 
Our sweet Poppy is 9 months! She's learning so much, growing so fast, and becoming her own little person. We love her more than our hearts can handle!

She still crawls everywhere, but has also recently learned how to cruise along the couch and use the kid chairs as walkers. Can she truly be ready to walk? This can't be happening already.

 She has the sweetest, tiniest face. Her lips look like a duck's most of the time. She finally got two bottom teeth!! We thought they'd never come...poor thing had a TERRIBLE time teething.

My most favorite thing is when she plants kisses directly on our lips. This baby age is so fun :)

Signing "all done". It was the first one she learned! She also does "more" and "eat". It is the cutest thing :)

Till next month!

mermaid felt doll

Last week Charlotte told me that she wished she was a mermaid. This was no surprise...everyone in our household is very much aware of how much Charlotte is completely obsessed with mermaids! I started thinking that it would be fun to make a paper doll mermaid that she could dress up. My grandma used to play paper dolls with me for hours when I was little...I still remember how special I felt that she took the time to do that with me. 

Since I have totes full of felt just gatherin dust in the garage, I decided to go the felt route. Plus felt is great because it doesn't rip as easily as paper and it naturally adheres to other felt surfaces. I began with a simple naked mermaid shape, then added some bead eyes and bellybutton and hand-stitched mouth. To enforce the doll I ironed some stiff interfacing on the back, which I also had laying around in my craft supply pile. 

And then the outfits! Charlotte insisted on an Ariel and Melody ensemble. If you haven't seen the second Little Mermaid movie, Melody is Eric & Ariel's half mermaid half human daughter. :) 

 The treasure chest was fun to make. It opens and closes with a button enclosure, and when it's open the button looks like it's part of the treasure hoard. 

Charlotte also asked for an outfit that looked like her. Easy! 

And one that looked like me. 

Talmage loves penguins, so he suggested an "ice mermaid" with a pet penguin. Heck yes!

And since our beloved auntie Cressa has long, flowing red hair, we had to make a Cressa mermaid too :) 

The last outfit is all things girly- pink and sparkly! Charlotte calls her "Princess  Pink". 

My favorite part about this craft is that I already had everything on hand, which is helpful since I have like zero desire to go to the craft store with 3 kids. Ha.

Another good thing about this project is that it's perfect for quiet play in Sacrament meeting. We always need more of those kinds of activities :) 

Charlotte loves it, too. She goes through all the outfits then mix-matches them up. She will always be my most favorite little mermaid! 

Penelope at 8 months

Our eight month old can be summed up in just a few words...

drool, snot, and food.

The drool and snot portions are mainly attributed to teething. She's been teething for months but it seems to have intensified, which hopefully means a toofer (or several!) is on its way.

And FOOD because it's all she really cares about. Toys? No, gimme food. Naptime? Nope, more food please. Try to soothe my crying with hushes and lullabies? Food. Food is always the solution.

Any kind of food, really. Cereal...pureed stuff...formula in her bottle...whatever mommy or daddy is eating...whatever lurks under the couch...dust balls...the bottoms of shoes...even sissy's poop clump on the bathroom floor (yes, this really happened.) If it fits in her mouth, it passes as food.

In fact the only way I got her to cooperate for these pictures is by bribing her with puffs, as evidenced by the puff stuck in her leg rolls.

 
I am sure that if she could talk, she'd be saying "PUFF POWER!" as she fist pounds her puff into the air.

She even started eating her sticker halfway through our little session.

Anyways, we love her silly self. She only naps for 20 minutes at a time, but has started sleeping longer stretches in her crib. Hallelujah.

Her facial expressions kill me.

But most of all it's those enormous blue eyes that get me! 

Happy 8 months, honey bun.

our family's 4th

 There really are no words. I just love this family of mine so much!

I love celebrating the 4th. My heart swells with pride for our country and the freedoms we enjoy. It bursts with love for my family members, who all share different political views and still respect one another. And it breaks for the men & women who have given so much. We really are so blessed.

I always like to take pictures of the kiddos on or around holidays. These ones were kinda fun, except the sun was so bright! You can tell by the squinty eyes ;)

Penelope at 7 months

This is way late, but here it goes!

at 7 months:

*she wants to be held ALL the time, by me. Just me. The only break I get is when Jonathan comes home and suddenly she's content playing on the floor. (what the...?)

*snorts like a little piglet (she's been doing this for a few months but it just gets cuter the more she does it). 

*loves baby Einstein movies and will drop whatever she is doing to watch with her mouth gaping open.

*is super (and overly) brave in the water. Like when she's in the bath or kiddie pool she will try to crawl and even puts her face down into the water. I'm always right there to pull her out, of course- but its crazy! She never even cries when she goes under.

*crawls everywhere! And really fast, too. It's really funny.

*pulls up on things to stand. Such a big girl!

*says "dada" "mama" & "baba"

*eats all kinds of canned baby food goodness. her favorite snacks are cheerios & mum-mums.

*still sleeps with us...but at least she sleeps!

*teething all the time but still no toofers!

*loves sitting outside and watching nature. It is her happy place.

*when I hold or rock her, she soothes herself by pinching my nose, putting her fingers in my mouth, and pulling my hair. She's actually mastered how to use both hands to do as many of those as possible at one time. 

*unlike our other babies, she actually chews on her chewy toys. 

*makes the cutest little duck face you ever did see.

*is still quite petite. At church she was playing with another baby 2 months younger than her, and that baby towered over her. I hadn't realized until then just how small she really is. 

love you, sweet P.