Miss Poopy Pants

G-Jo bought Chloe Jo an adorable new party dress. It just so happened that we had a party tonight! It started at 4:00 p.m. so I changed Chloe Jo at 3:55 p.m. and got her ready to par-tay. Within 30 minutes of getting into her adorable new party dress she decided to have baby diarrhea which was green and got all over her brand new onesie! Poor Daddy had to take care of it because I was in the kitchen cooking and couldn't leave the stove at that point. At least I got some cute pictures before she had to change. The poor onesie is on it's second cycle in the washer after being completely soaked in Shout. We'll see what happens.

"Ooooo. I am ready to par-tay!"

"Mmmm. Smells good, Momma. You are going to give me some, right??? Can't you see I'm drooling over here!?!?"

"I am soooo adorable. I crack me up."

"Look at me sitting up all by myself. Yep. I am that awesome."

"This is my pretty pink bow. I am the cutest bow wearing kid you'll ever see!"

"Eh Momma! What's that over there over there over yonder??? This is something I do ponder."

A-B-C Baby

I've been working on this project for about 3 weeks now and finally finished it today. It turned out so cute and Chloe Jo loves it! Well, if you call love still the figures in her mouth and slobbering all over them. It is made out of plastic canvas and yarn. Each letter is a pocket and the item that goes in the pocket begins with that letter. Russ couldn't tell what some of the items were so I will have to explain to Chloe Jo what they are when she is old enough to understand. I make sure I sing the ABC's to her everyday. I always end the song by saying "next year you'll be able to sing with me." Though, maybe that is pushing it a little. Who knows!

Wreathing Havoc

I would love for my apartment to look inviting from the outside. I have never quite achieved that. We do have a door mat and a couple of chairs out there, but it just looks like every other apartment around here. Like we're saying "yes, we live here, but we don't really want to be friends." I've been wanting to get a wreath for a long time and just never have done it. Russ and I are having a get together on Saturday so I figured that tonight would be a perfect time to go get a wreath and make our door more inviting. So armed with my 40% off coupon and my Chloe Jo, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby. Much to my dismay, I looked at a price tag and saw $99.99. WHAT!?!?!? For a stupid wreath!?!?!? They've got to be kidding!!!! After I finished seething about their astronomical wreath prices (or maybe I'm just cheap? they were 50% off this week), I came to a conclusion. I thought to myself "Self, why would you pay that much for a wreath? You made your bridal bouquet and your matron of honors bouquet and your junior bridesmaids bouquet and the corsages and the boutineers. A wreath can't be that difficult!" So $11.00 lighter, I made my way home with my wreath fixins'. When I got home, I plugged in my hot glue gun and began to arrange my wreath. It didn't look right. It still didn't look right. Hmmm...maybe this isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be...I finally finished the design and I glued it together. I added three butterflies for a touch of whimsy. Now if I could only decide if the wreath is whimsical or retarded. I can't make up my mind and I now understand why Hobby Lobby can charge $99.99 for a wreath.

New Adventures Every Day

Chloe Jo just sat up all by herself. I was in my bedroom getting ready to fold laundry. I took her in there and sat her against a stuffed puppy that I have on the bed. She lunged forward and I quickly put my hand out to catch her before she folded completely in half. Before I touched her she stopped herself mid lunge and just sat there for about 10 seconds. My hands were frozen in mid-air waiting to catch her. I just watched her while she sat there and then she gently laid herself back on the puppy. I snatched up the camera to take a picture if she didn't again, but alas, it never works that way. The moment was over and I am pictureless again. Everyday she seems to reach a new milestone. I went to babycenter.com to look up when babies usually start sitting up and they said it is between 4 and 7 months, usually mastered by 8 months. Chloe Jo is just learning so fast and I feel like if I blink I'm going to miss some important milestone. I did give her oatmeal cereal instead of rice cereal for lunch. Maybe that is what it was. Also, I'm sure that it helped that she was on the bed, on the soft comforter. And maybe it was just a fluke and she won't do it again for two months. That's what she did when she rolled over for the first time at 4 weeks. She didn't do it again until she was 3 months old. But, if it's not a fluke, you know what is next...crawling. She is going to lunge forward from sitting and realize that she can hold herself up on her hands and knees. Then she's going to realize that she can move herself forward if she moves her hands and knees. Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Excuse me. I must go hyperventilate.

Maybe she wants to snuggle???

"Look Momma! I'm mobile!"

I put Chloe Jo in the middle of her play mat while I ate breakfast. I couldn't see her from where I was sitting because of the couch, but I could hear her playing and laughing. I stood up to check on her and this is where she was. I don't know if she rolled over there or just scooched herself, but I'm going to have to start watching her closer since she's getting so mobile! And no, she wasn't crying until I took the picture.

4 Month Check-Up

Chloe Jo had her 4 month check-up this morning. Everything looks great again! I did ask her pediatrician if it was okay to put diaper rash cream on her during each diaper change. Chloe Jo has very sensitive skin so I've been doing that as a preventative measure for at least a month. I was thinking about things to ask during her appointment and thought I would go ahead and make sure that it is alright to do that. I didn't know if the medication in the cream could have some kind of effect since I use it so much. But, it's fine since I use a very mild cream. I also asked about starting her on solids more. She recommended that I work up to feeding her rice and oatmeal cereal three times a day then introduce one vegetable at a time for a few days. This way if she has a reaction I will know exactly what did it. The doctor said that her development is wonderful. She is thrilled that she can roll over both ways and reach for toys and all the other things she has been doing.

Chloe Jo weighed in at a healthy 12 pounds 9 3/4 ounces. She is in the 25th percentile for weight.

Chloe Jo is now 24 inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for height.
Her head circumference was 15.55 inches and she is in the 10th percentile for that. The pediatrician said that was just fine since she has been in the 10th percentile since birth and that neither Russ nor I have a large head and it really has a lot to do with genetics. It doesn't mean she has a small brain. Her brain just takes up more space in her head.

We definitely have a small baby, but she is developing perfectly! She did much better with her shots this time, too. She cried really hard for about a minute after getting them and then she calmed down and fell asleep on the way home. Last time she cried all for 20 minutes after getting the shots! We'll see if she gets a fever again. Hopefully she won't! I'm working on a post about why I vaccinate my baby. I still need to research a little more about it, but I'll be posting that in the next couple of days.

Destruction

Dear Washer,

I'm not really sure what you have against my dish towels, but point taken.

Sincerely,

Lisa (former owner of this dish towel)

4 Months!

I can't believe Chloe Jo is already 4 months old! Wasn't it just yesterday that I was driving underneath a gorgeous full rainbow on my way to the clinic to have my IUI??? Nope. That was a year ago. And a year ago last Saturday I took a pregnancy test that came up positive. What a wonderful year it has been and now my baby is 4 months old. She is so sweet and I love being a Momma. It was my dream to be a stay-at-home Momma and I am now living my dream. Here is a list of things that she is doing at 4 months:

-rolling over - back to belly and belly to back
-eating cereal
-reaching for toys
-gripping toys and putting them in her mouth to chew on
-extending her legs to stand

Here are some pictures we took today.

Mmmm...Yummy Rattle!

Chloe Jo is now reaching and grabbing her rattle. I put it in front of her and she picked it up. Thinking it was a fluke, I picked it up after she dropped it and set it in front of her again. She picked it up and proceeded to put it up to her mouth. She is developing so fast. Everyday she learns something new. I love it!

Ode to my Mom

Since I did an ode to my Dad yesterday, I thought I would go ahead and post the things around my home that my Mom did for us. She is the ultimate crafts woman. She taught me all I know and she gave me the drive to discover new crafts. She got the bug from her own mother, my Granny Tiger, who is an excellent seamstress.

This is a blanket my mother crocheted in the 70's. Can you tell? My Granny Tiger had it and she was doing some spring cleaning and ridding out. She just doesn't have room for everything everyone has made her. Plus, if you keep everything that everyone has made, you become a packrat very quickly. Granny Tiger gives things back to the people who made them so they can do with them what they want. This doesn't hurt anyone's feelings because she has so much stuff that everyone has made for her. So Mom was going to get rid of this blanket until I rescued it. I love it because it was made by Mom and it smelled like Granny Tiger's house for a long time. That is one of the best smells in the world. It's amusing that Mom's house is taking on that same smell that Granny Tiger's house has. I love it.
My Mom made this for me for my wedding. I used it on the way out and in the limo. I treasure it.

Mom made one of these for myself, my sis and my sis-in-law one year for Christmas.

Mom went through a crochet phase where she made a ton of doilies. I love them and they protect the wood on all the furniture my Dad made!
Aren't they gorgeous? She does a wonderful job. I'm going to have to learn to do them sometime.
Here are the hooded towels she made for Chloe Jo.She made most of my sister and my doll clothes when we were younger. Here are the ones that I have for Chloe Jo to play with. My sister has some of them, also.

The yellow blanket was my favorite doll blanket. I still love the color yellow. The purple and blue blankets are ones that my Mom and I made together.
The dark blue thing is a doll carrier, like a snugli for your CPK. The other thing is an apron that converts into a bonnett when you button the bottom to the top. We loved playing with all of the things our Mother made for us!These are all things my Mom helped me make for this doll. We didn't have any clothes for these dolls (there were two, one for me and one for my sister) and I wanted to play with her. These are my first attempts at designing clothing and my Mom was so patient with me and all of my ideas.
This is a Valentine's quilt Mom made for me a few years back. I love it!

I was into collecting frogs when I was in high school and college. Mom made this for me and it's one of the few frog things I have kept over the years.

Here are a few of the many burp clothes Mom made for Chloe Jo.

Card making is her most recent hobby. Chelley got me into scrapbooking and then we converted my Mom. She's good at picking out fabrics for quilts so she is also a natural at this.

Mom makes a quilt for each grandchild and this is the one she made for Chloe Jo. I love that the blocks in the middle each have a princess in them.

My Gramsie (great-grandmother) always made these blankets for people whenever there was a "life event". Mom carried on the tradition and made this one for Chloe Jo in Gramsie's favorite patter, Around the World. I have a lot of Gramsie blankets and I have a lot of my Mom's blankets. I don't know which is which so I didn't take pictures of those.

Mom helped me make this blanket when I was younger. I then put it in my hope chest until Chloe Jo was born. It is now hers. The Minnie part is a handkerchief that my Grandma gave me.

Mom made this for my dolls, but I put it in my hope chest and now it is also Chloe Jo's.

This is one of my favorite blankets Mom made for me. It's made out of old jeans. I can even remember whose jeans most of them belonged to.

Mom also made a lot of our clothes when we were younger. These are a couple of the last dresses she made for me. She doesn't do clothing as much anymore. She always humored me when I wanted accessories, too. She made a purse to go with this black dress and a stoll to go with the purple dress. I wore this black one to a Christmas party one year and I also got to wear it to a production of the Nutcracker. I love that it have a V-back and a train.
This is the dress I wore in my sister's wedding. This is the one with the stoll. I only have worn it once, but maybe there will be something else in the future that I can wear it to.

My Mom and Dad are very talented and I am so lucky to have them as parents. They have taught me to embrace my passions. I love everything I have that they have made and I will treasure them until I pass them down to Chloe Jo or maybe her siblings. Stay tuned for the next post. I'm going to be showing a few of the things I have made over the years. Then I think I'm going to do a series showing the different rooms in my home. Thanks for reading Blogger Buddies.