Wordless Wednesday: Eat

{I like watching Ruari eat. She's so careful as she grabs at her food. Sometimes she'll chase the food around with her finger... forgetting to use her thumb to help her pick it up! Ha. And, after dinner we usually find over half of the food she's grabbed in her lap... But, she loves feeding herself!}

{I'm SO freaking tired you guys. I don't work too much, but I did work this week and I'm exhausted. It's retail and everyone's out shopping. This means we're busy! I love it, but I'm so tired! It's Tuesday night and I HAVE to go to bed. I hope you all have a Happy Wednesday!}

{If you have a Wordless{ish} Wednesday, please feel free to post it below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too... (Wordless Wednesday HQ, 5 Minutes For Mom, Parenting by Dummies, Jolly Mom, Go Graham Go, Supermom,  and My Wee View.). Happy Wednesday to all of you! Don't forget to check the announcements above the posts. Giveaways and the photo challenges!}

{Can we get a vote for our blog?}

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?

The Great Exchange...

top:

{claire, kingston, logan, bennett, josselyn, parker}

bottom:

{ruari, henry, corbin, ryan, stella, wyatt}

A small group of mama bloggers and I got together to do a little gift exchange with our babies. :D We drew names and Stella, from Hi Baby, had Ruari's name! (Ruari pulled Parker's name, from A Good Life). She did such a great job picking out gifts for miss Ruari!

{Stella and Ruari}

The package came with a BEAUTIFUL card that I'm positive Stella made all on her own.

Ruari LOVES books. She sat and talked to this book for a good 20 minutes. She NEVER sits still that long. AND, she got this really sweet dress that she will be wearing on Christmas for sure!

Do you remember these toys? I do! They are so cute! The little jingle it makes, the rocking animals... My cats really loved this gift. They kept sniffing it.

There was also a little doll from an Etsy shop!!! Ruari pretty much loved this thing... she had more than one meltdown involved with me taking it from her to take the packaging off... MELT DOWN. But, she loves it. It's light and easy to carry around. The cats love this one too... They keep playing with it...

And, now she has a birthday shirt! It's so cute! I think Stella must have made this one too. :D

And, this is Mama's favorite... a very very cute hair clip holder for her room. Isn't it awesome? I love the Oregon with the heart! It came with some really cute hair clips too! I know they're for Ruari... but, I think I'll be wearing them too. Check out the shop of Stella's mama: Hi Baby on Etsy.

Can Ruari get a vote for our blog?

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?

This is why...

This is why I need a super zoom lens for my camera:

I saw THE chubbiest squirrel EVER! This photo doesn't even show how chubby this squirrel really is!

It's belly actually jiggled! I believe that this squirrel may be living in our garage and eating out of our neighbors bird feeder. A good life. :D If only I had a camera that could REALLY zoom in.... I watched Mr. Squirrel wander over to the seed feeder and attempt to climb up a railing... it fell off a couple of times. Poor chubby. 

I tried to show Ruari the squirrel... she didn't notice. :D

Did you think that squirrel was cute? 

Can I get a vote?

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?

Baby jail

Ruari,
  
  I found you like this the other day. I heard you wake up from your nap... You sounded happy... So, I just let you hang out in your crib. I listened to you babble and "talk" to yourself for 20 minutes. Then you started to sound frustrated... I came into your room and found you like this:

You gave me a big smile and bobbed your legs when I came in. AND, before I helped you out of your baby jail... I HAD to get a couple photos. I love your little feet. You love them in your pajamas. Talking to them like they'll talk back.

It's hard to believe that just 4 months ago we were wondering if you'd EVER roll over. Now your crawling and terrorizing exploring the whole house! Pulling up on everything. You love to walk while holding onto our hands. This kills my back, but I still love to do this with you.

Tonight you stood up on your own! You didn't really know you did it though. You stood up and grabbed my hands to pull them to you... So I could hold you up! But, you did it all on your own. I'm sure you'll realize that soon enough. 

9 more days. 9 more days you will be 1 year old. I thought your birthday would be a sad or hard time for me, but it's not. I am tearing up a bit remembering this time last year... almost losing my life... possibly losing you... But, that didn't happen. We're both alive and well.

Christmas has always been a favorite time of mine. I've been looking forward to sharing this love of this holiday with my children. I'm happy that even with everything that happened last Christmas... I'm LOVING Christmas this year. 

Thank you for being awesome! Thank you for being so silly and crazy. Thank you for cuddling with me. Thanks for being the best baby ever.

Love, 

Mama

Could we get a vote?

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?

Vlog post and a bruise

My poor child: Another first! For Ruari's 11 month birthday gift, she got a bruise. Yup. She slipped and fell against the corner of the chair. She wasn't too happy about that...

Can you see it right there? Yeah, right there in between her eye brows and a little on her cheek. It's a nice line!

Yeah... there it is! Poor poor child. She cried and cried. Doesn't even notice it today though! Oh, and she also got her first hair cut on Wednesday. We had to cut those bangs. They kept hanging in her eyes.

Ruari also produced another Vlog post. This time she is enjoying this video from A Little King and I.




Happy Friday everyone! I'm hoping this cold I now have will be gone before Thanksgiving.

If you'd like to vote for me:

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?

Laureli is 11 Months Old

Laureli,

So much has changed in the last month. It's almost like you're human. Oh wait... you are! What you've been doing:

- Yelling.
- Crawling everywhere. Like a maniac!
- Saying: Ma Ma, Da Da, An-duh (Angus), and many other babbles that I don't understand.
- Your favorite noise to make is a sort of raspberry/yelling mix.
- You're the biggest copy cat! I cough... you copy. Pop my lips... you copy... put my hand in the air... so do you...
- You have my strange/odd/silly sense of humor.
- You crack up when I say, "Peek-a-boo!" in a very deep/manly/scary voice! Your fave.

- You are super ticklish on your belly! I like to blow raspberries on it.
- Kisses are another favorite. I give you a kiss... and then you lick my cheek.
- I don't know how you do it... but, you manage to find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING on the floor... even after I vacuum!
- Your first cold was last month. It was VERY sad.
- You're pulling yourself up on everything! Like a pro. But, you're so cautious... I don't know if you'll be walking anytime soon.
- It is almost impossible to take photos of you anymore! Always moving = blurry.
- You love to stand at the window and dance (well, shake your head and bum from side to side)
- We found out the other night you're allergic to oatmeal! Anywhere it touched your face the skin was red. :(

- We wave at everything. Especially dogs!
- The other day I heard you giggling... I looked over at you and your finger was in your nose! You thought that was hilarious.
- I sprinkle toys all over the floor to keep you occupied...
- You get SO excited when daddy gets home. You crawl to the front door screaming, "DA DA DA DA!"
- Bathtime is SO exciting.

- When Mandy's dog, Jeffrey, kept licking in your mouth when you were crawling you got mad and pushed him away while yelling, "An-duh!" Which is your word for Angus! It was so funny.
- You're very shy and grip onto me when we first get to a new place around a lot of people.
- You've lost most of your interest in television... unless there's bright flashing colors!
- It's really hard to keep any shoes, socks, or hats on you! We're working on it!
- You're still pretty addicted to that pacifier! If it makes you happy, then ok!
- Teeth: two on the bottom and two on the top!
- You're shaking your head "no" to everything I ask you. I don't know if you know that means "no".

- Sleeping: ummmm... I guess it's getting more consistent! You nap every morning (well, most of the time) for about 3 hours. You're down to waking up 1-2 times a night.
- You weigh 21 pounds.
- You understand the sign for "Eat" and freak out if we don't get the bottle to your mouth fast enough!
- You're wearing 12 month - 18 month sized outfits.
- Now wearing size 5 diapers!
- You're pretty awesome.

LOVE,
Mama

Anyone else freaking out that I only have one more month to finish her birthday plans???! I should probably get those invites created and ordered. What was I thinking?! Gotta finish.

For Ruari's 11 month birthday.. 

she'd like a vote from you! She told me 

that's what she wants. :D

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?