He's Walking!

It started out with tentative steps and has turned into full blown, across the house walking!  I forgot how much I just love watching new walkers--they have such precarious balance, their arms stuck straight out, a few drunken sailor steps here and there.  But they are so proud of themselves!  Such a  new thing to learn, how exciting.

This video is sure to be one Otis hates me for later on.  He has a vintage Hawaiian shirt (the first ever vintage kid thing I bought when I was 19) socks and shoes.  And no pants.  He was wearing pants 90% of the day and I just happened to choose the five minutes he wasn't to take this video.  My poor children, I find pants optional apparently...

Yesterday we also tried giving Otis a spoon and some yogurt.  He loves yogurt and applesauce but hates to be fed, so I gave him a bowl and a spoon and let him at it.  He threw the spoon aside and used his hand to slurp the yogurt off of.  It was pretty messy, we had bathtime in the middle of the day.  I used to let Ingrid make messes all the time and she just loved it, I need to remember this with Otis!

Dancing and Clapping

Forgot I was going to post these videos.  Finally uploaded a ton from our camera, there's one from the NICU and Otis looks so weency in it!!  Here are two I just love--one of Ingrid dancing (or "dancing") and one of Otis giggling from the fun of Pattycake. 

My Singing Sensation

Ingrid is quite the singer. Here she is a couple weeks ago singing Happy Birthday to me, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I love how loud she is! So funny...


And yay to me, I got to 150 fans of Applesauce Crafts on Facebook overnight! I really appreciate all the support. I got an order for a custom felt book last night, so I will be busy all weekend getting that ready.

To those who are waiting on a pay it forward package from me, I am slowly but surely working on them and will ~hopefully~ be sending them out on Monday.

I'm also working on a quilt (because why only have one project going at one time, right??) that I'm pretty excited about. I had a basic idea and am kind of freehanding it, so we'll see how it turns out. One great thing is it used up a ton of my little scrappy pieces in my scrap box, the ones I'd been saving for just this occasion!

And on the potty front--yesterday had a couple misses and I ended up putting a diaper on Ingrid while we ran errands because she's not so good at going on public toilets quite yet. She will if no one else is around, but if someone is in the next stall, she is too curious!! But other than that, she's doing really well! I'm so happy it's going so easily. I suppose after all the sleep issues we've had with her, I deserve to have something go smoothly.

A Message to Grandma and Grandpa

We are going to Milwaukee in a couple weeks but are not bringing Ingrid.  Yea for us, but boo for Grandma and Grandpa.  So...with the magic of videos, here's a message to them from their little one, who they haven't seen since Thanksgiving.

Numbers and Colors

It's snowing like crazy here today. Brendan wanted me to drive him to work so he wouldn't have to but I declined like the selfish wife I am! I don't want to get in the car with Ingrid today at all. Especially after I heard from my friend who was stuck on the highway for two hours trying to get to my house for a playdate. Apparently there was a bad accident and the highway was closed...People drive like maniacs around here and then can't handle it when they have to go slow for bad weather. Thus, they don't go slow and there are lots of accidents. And I don't drive on bad weather days. Instead we were supposed to have a playdate, but one friend was sick and the other, as mentioned, never made it here. So we baked banana bread, played with blocks, the train set, and crayons. Then I got the paint out. Ingrid was in heaven--she painted lots of pictures and got herself covered in paint. Green in her hair, yellow on her forehead, blue in her ear. It was messy. But fun.


And this sweet video is from yesterday. Yes, Ingrid is wearing a skirt, and no, we did not go out in the snow in a skirt! She changes bottoms about three times a day and this is what she found in her closet. She is constantly amazing Brendan and I by picking up things like numbers. She can count to ten, and the other day I was doing eleven twelve and thirteen. When I said thirteen she said "fourteen?" How on earth did she know that came next??


And that's about it. Brendan's sent out some resumes so hopefully we'll know more about our future soon. Until then, it's the same old same old. Which isn't bad.

Squeaky Shoes

We got these shoes online, where I failed to read about the fact there are little squeakers in the heels. I just saw red leather mary janes for $10 and thought great! We'll get them in the next size up so Ingrid has shoes for next summer! Then we got them in the mail and she tried them on, and they...squeaked. Like a dog toy. In fact, the dog kept cocking his head and looking around to see where the noise was coming from. Ingrid, of course, thought this was the best invention ever, and had fun running up and down the hallway until I made her take them off. They are really big on her, so I still have time to figure out how to take out the squeakers. Seriously, who thought that was a good idea??? Every single step they take they squeak? No. No. No.

Mama's Little Helper

Our dishwasher is broken, so I had to find another one. She'll do until our new gets here :)

Ingrid says her ABCs

Videos

Well, they are all uploaded and ready for viewing. As we were going through them to see what was on there, we found all the videos from the hospital when Ingrid was born! Talk about punching me in the uterus and making me want another baby...I never understood that when other women would long for another. Now I do. Dammit. Disregard my hair and nightgown, and take a look at how cute and small Ingrid was thirteen months ago :)

Happy Fourth!

It's July 4th and we're having a nice lazy holiday. I have been really motivated to work on Ingrid's felt book, Brendan's been uploading videos to the computer, and Ingrid has been playing and napping. It's a great day! We are off to get some beer, soda and chips and go to a cookout. Hope you are having a good holiday as well :)

Ponytails and Hugs

This ponytail looks much better than the last one I tried to do...

Some Videos of Ingrid

Here's Ingrid playing Giddyup with Gramma. She had the most fun doing that!

And here she is doing her army crawl. She knows how to crawl on her hands and knees, but goes much faster this way. Whatever gets her to where she wants to go is fine with her...

She's also starting to climb up to the furniture. Yesterday we had a mishap, though, when she sat straight down on a wooden toy. Youch!

Ingrid is a big kid

Gramma has been teaching Ingrid all sorts of things. Here she is doing "so big!"

Ingrid's First Attempts at Crawling

Ingrid is trying SO hard to crawl. Right now she does an army crawl/worm kind of thing to get where she needs to go. It seems to work for her.

Ingrid and I went to dinner at our friend Katie's mom's house the other night. Carol gave us a sweater someone from her church had knit. It's stunning. I wish I could do things like that.

Clapping and Eating

Ingrid can clap now!


She also likes to sit in high chairs. I can't wait to get one. Last night we went to our friend Katie's mom and dad's house for dinner. Ingrid got to sit in the high chair and eat with the big kids. Katie tried feeding her and found out just how hard it is to aim for a small mouth when there are flailing arms and hands in the way:)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Ingrid has had a great first Christmas so far. Last night we hung out in the living room, listening to Christmas carols.

This morning she had a great time opening presents. Although all she wanted to do was eat the paper.


She LOVED the rocking horse Bob and Kathy found...

But didn't care so much for the train that Daddy tried to play with. It scared her.

Almost Crawling...

Ingrid's up on her knees, rocking back and forth. She just doesn't know where to go from there...

Ingrid's New Trick

Ingrid can spit now. Watch out when feeding her...

Presents from Everyone!!

Ingrid has been getting presents galore already, and it's not even Christmas!! Brooke sent us a package from England. Ingrid liked to chew on the paper.


Our old neighbors Jodi and Rene got us a gift card for Target and we used it to buy Ingrid a bouncy play seat thingy. It's pretty cool because it's not as huge as some of the others, and Ingrid just loves it! Now I don't have to worry about her rolling under the couch or getting into the wires :)

What Ingrid has been up to lately...

She has been sitting pretty...

And playing in the tub...

And sitting like a queen in her Bumbo...

And drooling and talking...

And doing backbends!!