Wren Loves Her Cats

Poor Mr. Phillip Jones.  Wren just can't seem to get enough of her furry buddy.  She loves watching him, but even more, she loves "petting" him.  He's quite tolerant of her.  Sometime I think he's a bit of a masochist.  Wren will pull out handfuls of his hair, yet he always comes back for more.  

Jones was sleeping... until Wren showed up.

"What do you want, baby?"

Looking a little irritated.
Probably because he was sleeping, and now he's awake.  

And there's a baby touching his tail.

Not sure if he's liking this so much...

...aaaaaand he's gone.

And this is probably why.  

Poor Joney.  Wren just loves him soooooooo much.  He'll be back.  He always comes back.

Mobile Babies Are NOT Easy to Dress

Here is Wren after a bath the other night.  It's proving to be more and more difficult to get her fully clothed.  I bring everything to the crib to get her ready for bed... diaper, lotion, bottom balm, pajamas.  As soon as I lay her down in her crib, she rolls over, pops up, and scoots around to get everything that I brought over.  You can also see her toy in the back right corner.  That's Soft Baby.  She's usually the distraction I use to get Wren dressed.  Soft Baby was of no help on this particular evening, however....

Naked baby on one side of the crib...

Naked baby on the other side of the crib... 

Naked baby definitely not interested in getting dressed....

Naked baby tasting her diaper...

Apparently naked baby was waaaaay more interested in the diaper than in Soft Baby tonight.

I eventually did get Wren diapered, lotioned, balmed, and dressed.  It can be a lot of work!  I feel like I have to wrestle her down, pin her to the mattress, and quickly try to get everything done while she squirms all over the place.  Not an easy task, mind you.  It's not that she doesn't like getting dressed, she's not crying or upset while I'm attempting to do all this stuff... she just has so many other things she thinks she needs to be doing.  So much to do and so little time.  No time to slow down, momma!

I thought crib bumpers were supposed to prevent this...

We ended up buying breathable crib bumpers when Wren started scooting around her crib, waking us up in the middle of the night screaming her face off cause all of her appendages were tangled in the crib slats... she was maybe 3 months old?  Or somewhere around that time... I can't remember... anyway, they have worked really well so far... until yesterday....

Apparently, my long-legged girl has figured out how to put her legs over the top of the bumpers now.  Awesome.  

I was getting her bath ready when I came back to find her like this.  Didn't seem to bother her, though.  She was just playing, having a seemingly good time.  I unhooked her and pulled the bumpers up a bit higher.  I think they kinda get slouched down when we change the sheets.  Hopefully she will keep those long baby legs of hers inside the crib from now on.

Such a Big Girl

I feel like all of a sudden Wren is doing SO MUCH.  I can hardly keep up.  Here she is sitting up unassisted....

She does pretty well... a little wobbly at times, but for the most part she will sit up by herself without falling over. 

She's practically crawling, too.  I give it another week or two, and I have a feeling she will be on the move.  Scary!  We have done no babyproofing around here yet.  Best get on that one... soon....

Sending text messages on her blackberry

Oh yeah, Wren as another tooth!  Front bottom right.  Ay yi yi.... what next?!  :)    

"Eat Yar Peas and Carrots"

So I noticed on facebook yesterday that many people had posted about International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Wren decided to don her finest pirate wear and join in on the fun...

"Eat Yar Peas and Carrots"

Check out the socks!

So serious

There are the smiles!

Thanks to Taylor and Kristin for the super cute pirate onesie!  

I'm outta here!

**Band aid on her leg because she had shots yesterday.  Poor girl.  She took em like a champ though.  You should have seen the sad, sad look she gave the nurse as she was leaving the room.  Pouty lip and everything.  I would imagine she probably thought that nurse was the meanest person she's ever met.  

Stinkerbell in Action

Wren seems to be drawn to this table in our front room for some reason.  I tend to find her legs stuck underneath it quite often.  Here she is working on unscrewing the drawer handle....

Success!  She completely unscrewed it, dropped it on the floor, then rolled away.  I guess that knob must have been pretty bothersome to her.  Hmmmm.... 

**I just realized how big Wren is getting after looking at the first picture.  Notice the arms on her pajamas?  Yeah, the sleeves only come to her elbows.  Yikes.  I guess it's time to move up to the 6-9 month clothes!

Office Work

My hard little workers!  Chris in his office, and Wren in hers.  She loves working in her own "office" while Chris gets stuff done on the computer during the day.  She cracks me up in this thing.  She loves it, and I'm so glad she does because we can get things done during the day while she "works".  Haha... too funny...

Not now, Mommy... I have work to get done!

Such hard workers!

We Have a Tooth!

I noticed it last night.  Wren was chewing on my hand while I was giving her a bath, and I felt something sharp digging into the base of my thumb.  I'm use to her gumming the heck outta my hand, so feeling something poking me was definitely strange.  After I got her out of the tub, I rubbed her gums with my finger, and sure enough, there's a little tiny baby tooth there just starting to poke through!  The front bottom left.  I can't believe it... sort of a bittersweet moment.  I'm happy she's getting teeth, but it means my baby is growing up!  So frickin fast.  Dang.  The tooth is a little hard to see yet, and every time I try to get a look, she pushes my finger out with her tongue.. so hopefully I can get a picture soon when it starts showing a bit more.  As a nursing mother, teeth kinda freak me out... we will see how this goes :)

We spent some time outside in the backyard today.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  It was seriously 92 degrees here on Tuesday.  Today I woke up to temps in the 40's!  The 40's!  It was quite chilly, actually... but this afternoon it warmed up to the 60's, so we got outside for a bit.  Wren had her first real experience with grass.  I feel bad that she's 5 months old, and it's the first time I've had her in the grass.  It has been so ridiculously hot here there summer, though... we hardly got out at all the past few months.  I'm hoping now that fall weather is here, we will get out much more often.  Anyway, she liked the grass... she tried eating it, and picking it, and all that fun stuff.  Hopefully she doesn't have skin super sensitive to grasses like her momma.... so far so good, though!

 Loved playing with the grass.

Looking like she wants to crawl!

 I love the kitty on her butt!

She had to see what flying in the grass was like... silly baby.

Where has the week gone?

It's 5 o'clock on Wednesday night already... where have the past few days gone?  And what have I actually done???  I guess I worked for a few hours on Monday... booby class at St. Francis after that (breast feeding support group, really... but booby class sounds more fun)... then I picked up Chris and we went to go get my lost wallet.  I lost it on Sunday at the farmer's market.  We started to leave as it started raining.  It was just me and Wren, so I had to get her out of the stroller and into the car, unload all of our purchases from the stroller, and pack the stroller into the trunk... all while dodging raindrops.  At some point, my wallet fell out of the diaper bag.  Luckily, a kind, honest woman found it and contacted me the next day.  So happy it was returned!  What a pain in the butt to have to replace everything in there.  Sooooo... that was Monday.  Tuesday was laundry day... library day (picked up some books I cannot WAIT to read)... workout day (hoping to run a 5k this fall)... and Wren and I visited Meghan, Ava, and Jonah, too. Today, I worked on decorations for my friend's baby shower in October all morning... unsuccessfully ran a few errands... apparently not many places take personal checks anymore.  I had cancelled my debit card as soon as I realized my wallet was missing on Sunday.  So although I have everything back, my debit card does not work, and the replacement isn't supposed to come for 10 business days!  Boo.  Every place I went today, I asked as soon as I walked in if they took checks.  Nope, nope, nope, and nope.  Let's see.... I did some baking and cooking the past few days, too... chocolate chip cookies, homemade whole wheat rolls... oooh, and dinner is in the oven now.  One of my favorite, favorite recipes from "A Homemade Life" by Molly Wizenberg.  Doron’s Turkey Meatballs with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts.  I usually turn it into a meatloaf just so I don't have to hassle with rolling out meatballs.  The meatballs are super good, though... especially with the yogurt sauce she mentions in the recipe.  So yummy!  Anyway, it's in loaf form this evening... along with some roasted potatoes and onions.  Should be tasty.  I guess as I am looking back at this entry, I have done quite a bit these past few days.  It just feels like the time has gone so fast.  I have noticed that time has been picking up rapid speed as I get older.  Yikes.  Alright, baby is up and dinner is almost ready....

Here are a couple pics of chickaloo this past week... she was being silly with her spit rag.  She loves covering her face with it and pulling it off.  Funny, funny girl.

I Love the Farmer's Market

Wren and I went to the farmer's market in Irvington today.  Chris stayed home to work and watch the Colts game, so little chickaloo and I went to check it out ourselves.  It's held the second Sunday of every month, so it's rare that our free weekends coincide with when it's going on.  We went once last year, and I feel like there are way more vendors this year than last.  The market is held in a park, so it's nice and open... I don't have to worry about bumping into people with the stroller.  I really liked it!

We ending up buying a 1/4 peck of apples, a quart of peaches, a bunch of kale, soap, ice tea, and a whole grilled pizza to take home to Chris for lunch!  We made a couple of laps around the market before it started raining on us.  After Wren and I got home, we ate the pizza and watched the end of the Colts game... and I made kale chips... and right now I'm waiting for my salted caramel chocolate shortbread bars  to cool.  Yum yum yum.  Such a lovely Sunday!

Wren holding onto our loot... I think I surprised her.

Our grilled pizza... after Chris and I got a hold of it.  

Tasty!

5 Months

These monthly amateur photo shoots are getting harder and harder each time.  Wren would prefer to be on her tummy most of the time, so taking pictures of her on her back is proving to be more difficult every month.  Plus she is so interested in everything else but me.... I seriously think I took like 75 pictures in order to get just a few good ones.  Check these out....

 Oooooh, what's over there?

 ....and what about over there?

 The cat is waaaaay more interesting.

 Tasty toes.

 Camera please, Mommy

 Mid-sneeze

Silly baby

 Seriously. I want to play with the camera.

 Something looks a little suspicious over there....

 Singing a baby song

 Bored

Oh hey, look at me!

But I'm just so cute on my tummy...

I REALLY WANNA PLAY WITH THE CAMERA. 

Fine, I will practice crawling instead.

Here I go!

At 5 months old, Wren's little personality is already showing through.  She's sweet, happy, and curious about everything... especially the pets.  She loves just watching the cats and Lita.  If they walk by her line of sight, she stops what she's doing, sits very still, and watches.  She loves playing with her toys and reading (and eating!) her books.  She likes doing crazy things already... being upside down, getting thrown in the air, talking in her "baby monster" voice.  The monster voice is so funny.  It's a deep, gravelly, scratchy voice she uses... it cracks me up.  I don't know how she does it so often.  I have tried talking back to her in a "mommy monster" voice, but it hurts my throat after a while.  I will have to figure out how to sync up our videos with the computer so I can start posting videos of things like that.  Some of my favorite time with Wren is when she is nursing.  She gets so sweet and gently plays with my hair.  She never pulls it, just softly touches it and pulls it through her fingers.  What a little sweetie!  She did, however, throw her first temper tantrum for Chris the other day.  She was playing with a rubber spatula and starting sticking the wooden handle down her throat.  Not good.  So Chris took it away.  Wren was not happy about that.  He said she wouldn't let go... he had to pry her little fingers off of it.  And then when he did finally get it from her, she was maaaaaad.  I heard the tail end of the tantrum on the phone.  Hollering and crying... she was not happy.  Haha, I guess that means she's growing up and asserting what she wants... little stinkerbell!  I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in the past 5 months!