"Snow Melting!"

Every day since our last snowstorm MiniM.E. looks out the window excitedly and exclaims, "snow melting!"  She might be even more excited about spring than I am...

It has been warm enough to see the snow melting.  But NOT warm enough to play outside ALL day.  So we've been keeping busy...

Practicing our coloring:

wearing the crayon box as a hat

scribble, scribble, scribble!

just a few more... 

checking out the fish outside the Library play room (and taking all the children's books off the shelf):

and having coffee dates with friends:

When it has been nice out, MiniM.E. is putting her rain boots to good use pulling the wagon

stamping the snow

and jumping in puddles!

Happy Half Birthday!

Yesterday, my baby turned 1/2 a year old.  I can't believe it.  Neither can she:

Everyone was right when they said time flies... Good news is, 6 months is my favorite age so far!  I'm pretty sure that every age has been my favorite.  First she was super tiny and cute and slept a lot, then she started smiling, then making awesome noises, then grabbing and reaching, and now sitting and eating.  I'm not sure it can get better.

We had a busy weekend, now that she can do so many things...

We played some hide-and-seek:

Not a super great hiding spot, but she's getting better...

We went to a birthday party where Stretchy played in the grass and made some friends:

We hung out downtown and Stretchy drank her first coffee:

And of course, it was her 1/2 year birthday.  Which meant I took lots of pictures:

And might have even bought her a cake:

Which she thoroughly enjoyed!

Frosting is kind of like finger paint... proof she's going to be an artist.

The cake after Stretchy was done

A New Nickname & Apples

First order of business for today's post is... a new nickname for MiniM.E.  Most of the other "mommy bloggers" I follow don't use their kids' names.  Which totally makes sense (mostly when you are an awesome blogger and have tons of followers- many who you've never met... less when you only have a tiny smattering of people who you'd trust your kid with...).  That's why I picked MiniM.E. (which, if you know her name, as probably all of you do, makes sense).  BUT hopefully I will eventually amass a ginormous following due to my fantastic sense of humor and inevitable pitfalls as a new mother (or not...).

When choosing MiniM.E.'s nickname, I was envious of others with adorable names for their kids like "The Incredible Hulk" (at newmomontheblog.blogspot.com) or "The Pork Lo Mainiac" (at starkravingmadmommy.com).  My first mommy blog was rantsfrommommyland.com (absolutely hilarious) and they have good nicknames too, but I am too lazy to re-read posts from ages ago to find them.  And somewhere in my mommy-internet-land there's a "Burrito Boy" for the way the blogger's son looked when swaddled.

But since I started my blog before MiniM.E. was even born, and frankly, newborns have close to zero personality (unless those funny smiles and sounds while pooping count?), I didn't have any direction when choosing a nickname.

UNTIL NOW!  MiniM.E. is the most fantastic stretcher I've ever seen.  Most people (babies included?) stretch after sleeping.  Check.  MiniM.E. stretches after every nap.  But also when getting out of or into the car seat, baby swing, pack-n-play and/or crib, after eating, after burping, before diaper changes, during diaper changes, and after diaper changes, and often every fifteen or so minutes.  Hence, the new nickname "Stretch Armstrong" (or "Stretchy" for short).

I promise I will soon capture a photo of said stretching.

Apparently, I probably shouldn't be posting photos of Stretchy on my blog (but you guys are all my friends and family, so for now, its okay- until she stops looking like "nondescript baby") and I should probably also nickname my husband...  I'll put it on my mile-long to-do list...

For now, a photo showing Stretchy taking after her mom and beginning a caffeine addiction at an early age.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

see, she even looks jacked up on caffeine!