Something Creative

My friend Dana has created/is creating a series of passion pursuing dares that she posts on her blog and I have decided to try them out along with her (although I'm a little slower on the uptake when it comes to completing them). I really think this is neat because I've [depressingly] discovered that other than my cute family, the gospel, and a couple choice other things I have no idea what I really am passionate about. "Ew. Marie, how could this have happened?!" I have thought to myself a lot recently. Being Chris' wife it seems near impossible for this to be the case when that man is so wonderfully passionate about so many things (for those of you who know Chris even a tiny bit you will know exactly what I'm talking about and are probably smiling to yourself about just how incredibly passionate he is). He has been expressing his concern for my lack of intense passion for some time now I just have had no idea where to even start (keeping up with the baby is a full+ time job I feel) until now.

So thanks Dana! Getting started is always the hardest part.

"First dare:  I dare you to do something creative this week.  Anything at all.  Paint it, sew it, write it, bake it--whatever.  Just get your creative juices flowing, make a big mess, and create something.  Go!"

About a month and a half ago we took a trip over to Blickenstaff's - the coolest toy store ever! Lynlee found a toy there that she absolutely loved but it was $16 and although we really really wanted to get it for her Chris and I made a [responsible] decision not to get it at that time. However, I was determined to do something for our little girl (even though she really had no idea what was going on I still hated telling her no). So I went hunting around our house and found some material, ribbons, plastic bags (for the crinkly feeling and sound on the inside), some beans in an old prescription bottle (for the rattling noise), and a bunch of other little knick knacks to attach to it for her to touch and explore. After putting it all together she wasn't too excited about it (FAIL I thought) but after completing today's creative task I pulled it out again and she LOVES it! Success!

 The two sides of the tube toy.

She hasn't let go of it all day!

The things I'm really excited about that I finished making today are these: little bean bags of every basic color. They're perfect for Lynlee to hold onto with her tiny hands and feel the different textures of the materials, she can suck on them as she pleases, and best of all, I think it'll help her learn her colors as she begins to understand more of what we say to her and teach her. She'll like playing with them (already does!) and every time I hand her one I can say "this is the color pink, do you like the bumps on the pink bean bag?" or "the blue beanbag is made out of corduroy material."

I'm excited :) Also, I really like to make things like this. I like to search the house for things we don't ever use that just take up space, imagining what they could become, and then watching it all come together. That could be considered a passion, right? I'm counting it.

You can't tell in the picture, but almost every one of them has a different texture: the white one feels like a towel, the red one is velvet, etc.

I Love My Side of the Bed

Every morning Lynlee wakes up around 7*, I get her some breakfast, take a moment to remember how very blessed I am as I look into the crib at her adorable chubby-cheeked smile, and then lay her down beside me in bed** to snuggle up to her before we really begin our day.

*she is such a good sleeper through the night!
**on our full size mattress; I lay her in the middle of Chris and me now since she can roll whenever she darn well pleases

So, with my approx. 2 feet of space on "my side of the bed" that's where I lie. A little cramped to be sure, since Lynlee keeps growing (will she ever stop?!) and our bed is already borderline big enough for Chris and me to begin with, but we are comfortably cramped up to this point. And then Zack comes.

Zack is technically the family's cat, but he's really mine. Chris got him for me for our first Christmas together (he was soo little then and is soo fat now!) and we are very attached to each other. Every night without fail Zack jumps up on the bed within minutes of us laying down to sleep, meows like crazy if I don't pet him within 1.5 seconds ("SSHHH!!! You'll wake the baby!" is our cry in our little one roomed apartment) and proceeds to cuddle up right next to my tummy and there he stays for most of the night.

This repeats itself in the morning time, or at least he tries to repeat it, bless his little furry heart.
Remember how I said that with just Lynlee, Chris, and I laying down we are comfortably cramped? After the baby and I get settled (Chris is still sawing logs p.s.) Zack jumps up on the bed and begins meowing for some lovin'. He doesn't stop (even if by chance Chris wakes up and pets him) until I reach behind me to where he is and pet his head. But he's not content with just that. He prowls around my side of the bed, never even taking a second to consider Chris or his side, until I scoot Lynlee and myself further into the middle and make about 8 inches of room for him on the edge. This apparently is satisfying enough because he curls up to the small of my back and falls right to sleep.
So, to recap, I would estimate our bed at being about 4ish feet wide. Every morning I share my side of the bed with a growing [almost] 5 month old, a tuxedo cat that weighs probably triple that, and myself. And Chris sprawls out on his side of the bed with all the room in the world.
I love it.

Lynlee and Zack

He's always gotta be right there, silly Zack :)

Much Ado About Everything

We have all been having quite the exciting week!
On the less happy side of exciting, Chris caught the cold I had a week ago, which turned into strep, which turned into some other ickyness that they had to draw blood to test for. Hopefully they figure it out because I can't stand seeing my man feeling so ill.
Lynlee on the other hand never caught the cold or strep (thank goodness!) and has just been her happy little self while exploring the world around her like crazy! She holds her head up really well now and is always looking out at everything around her. Her giggle makes my heart melt every time and her smile alone makes all hard parts of mommy-hood more than worth it.

She loves the kitties. No matter what she's doing (screaming bloody murder or playing contently with her toys) she will stop and stare as they do their thing. She's been reaching out to touch them lately and usually they just walk away from her but yesterday Zack laid down next to her and let her put her slobbery hands all over him for a minute (I seriously wonder how much cat hair this child has ingested already when I'm not looking and it sticks to her hands). I helped her to pet him gently and she broke out in the biggest smiles and started chatting away to him like they were the best of friends. She had a great time, Zack stood and left to take a bath a short time later.

Everything goes into her mouth now. Chris and I always joke that she's turning into a "real baby" now (things to the mouth, playing with her toes, loving to be naked - typical baby stuff). We always call her a ravenous baby because she gets overly excited about stuffing things into that little mouth of hers and it's actually quite adorable to watch.

I totally jinxed myself in the matter of blowouts. Recently I read a blog entry about one of my friends' adventure at the store with her baby and a blowout. I thought to myself "Self, I would die if something like that happened. I am so grateful that Lynlee has never really had a blowout." And then it happened.
A couple of days ago Lynlee was sitting in her high chair like she always does while I'm doing dishes or cooking or something (it's got wheels on the bottom! Very convenient.). All of a sudden she started crying and was so sad about something. By the time I dried my hands off and went over to her she was fine, talking and cooing as usual, so I dismissed the little outburst. A short while later I picked her up to go downstairs and did a little swoop move and plopped her onto my arm. I looked down and noticed something dark on my foot. "Hmm, I don't remember eating something that color" I thought. Ha.
I then felt a very disturbing warmth on my arm and looked to see poop squishing out of every single opening of her little diaper. EWewEW! I ran over to the changing table and laid her down on top of a blanket and first took a moment to get it all off my arm. And then, to spare all the rest of the lovely details, I took care of the mess of the diaper and got the baby all squeaky clean. Once that was all said and done I realized I should probably check out her high chair. I kid you not, there was a pool of nasty waiting there for me. Lynlee and Chris laughed at me the whole time I cleaned and disinfected, little punks. It was beyond disgusting that is for certain. So I can now empathize some with my friend although my experience was in the comfort of my own home and not out there for the whole wide world to see (although it is out there now for the whole wide world to read?). Hopefully Lynlee doesn't make this thing a habit of hers...

We've started solid foods! At first it was just some rice cereal in a bowl then after a few days we tried out bananas. Mmm! She likes those a lot. A couple days ago we tried sweet potatoes and this morning it was peas. I love how much she seems to enjoy eating with a spoon (although she gets those eyebrows going down every time the spoon goes into her mouth). Her doctor said that these next couple of month are just for fun and not to really expect her to get going much with it yet but Lynlee is pro already! I'm so proud :)

We [both] definitely get plenty messy eating with the spoon; today was probably the least messy time so far!

Also, Lynlee took her first swim this week. (Yes I dragged my sick husband to Seven Peaks with me and yes I do feel kinda guilty about it. We took it easy though and I think he had a pretty good time.)

All tuckered out. She had so much fun in the water! She talked to us the whole time :)

Taking a shower after swimmin'.

And finally, the most exciting news of the week (drum roll please..........)

       Lynlee rolled over all on her own!

I was watching her yesterday morning and she kept getting soo close to doing it and I told Chris: "Tomorrow's the day. She's going to do it tomorrow." So I had the camera ready and we just watched her for a few minutes this morning and BAM! She did it! No more leaving her on the bed anymore while I hunt for something to wear!