NH: The Weekend

Friday we practiced clapping

 climbing

 and crawling.

 We played with a plant

 And the flowers it lost.

 And we hung out with the cat.

Did I mention my kid is an expert speck of dirt finder?  She LOVES my kitchen floor...

A plane? Bird? Cloud? Nope... probably a ghost or something...

And went swimming.  And took naps.  And ate food.  And went shopping.  But those things aren't glamourous enough for photos.

I lied.  Shopping with a baby is always photo-worthy.

Yes, I bought the book.  For the record, it is an Indestructible.  Best invention ever.  Which, I should have thought of so I could be a millionaire.  However, I didn't, so I'm not.  Sad face.

And then Daddy came to meet us.  MiniM.E. was very excited.  Well, she didn't actually say that, but she kicked her legs a bunch.  And then we had to put her to bed because it was late.  Oh well.

Fortunately, we had Saturday to play in the pool with Daddy.

And go to the Concord Market Days.  Which was an ok outing, but seriously USA, get on the street festival bandwagon.  A street festival (a la Dresden) must have A. bratwurst stands (or at least some tasty greasy food), B. beer, beer and more beer, and C. beer.  Did I mention a street festival should have beer?  Eh, its ok.  I've learned over the past year to lower my expectations of street festivals.  We don't have cute wooden figurines, or cold fish sandwiches, or little huts in which to sell goods...

After the market days we played in the pool some more, had a BBQ, relaxed on the deck, and enjoyed being taken care of by my parents (thanks guys!).

PS: above photos were taken by my sister.  I am petitioning for her to leave her job and come live here to be my permanent photographer.  No, I lied.  Though that would be awesome.  But she should probably be a photographer, right??

I forgot to mention we put the cat in the baby swing.

We couldn't leave Sunday without swimming some more... and as MiniM.E. went down for her second nap of the day, we left.

It was so nice to relax for a week by a pool while having my mom make me food and do my laundry... and have two or three other people fuss with MiniM.E. a bit.

Now it's back to the grind... (because playing with toys, sitting out in a kiddie pool and taking walks are such taxing activities...)

Did I Mention My Baby is AWESOME??

I just can't believe how quickly babies learn.  Yesterday morning the quickest Stretchy could get around the house was by lying on her stomach, shoving her face in the floor and using her toes to push forward... inch by inch.

Then yesterday she somehow learned to crawl, pull up, stand and cruise.  All in one day.

So this morning, I started baby-proofing...

Is it the cutest that she crawls like that?  Definitely.

The Terrible Eights?

Stretchy is a whole eight months old!  Where does the time go??

She's working on crawling and wants to stand and try to walk all the time.  Which is super awesome.  I also found out she understands us.  You can say "clap your hands" and guess what?  She does!  Amazing.

She's also been incredibly fussy.  All. The. Time.  Or at least it feels like all the time.

It's probably cutting teeth.  Apparently, once they get teeth, anything and everything can be attributed to teething... until they're done getting teeth.  Awesome.

She also has the worst case of mommy-itis.  Ever.  I can't even leave a room in my house and go someplace else without evoking a screaming fit which must leave my neighbors thinking I have a secretive torture chamber.  Forget going to the gym and let her stay in the babysitting room.  The second I set her down she starts crying.  And continues crying.  Until fifteen minutes later (which is apparently the standard amount of time they must keep your screaming kid) when they have to come get me.

And now she's learned that if she wants something that I've taken away, she can scream and cry and most likely, I'll give it back.  This is inclusive of cell phones, toys, kitchen utensils, cameras, stuffed animals, dirty diapers and hair elastics.  It also applies to occasions where she is someplace she likes and I try to remove her to a new location.

She's so super cute that I can't be mad at her, but it can get kind of trying.

AND, as mean as it may be, I do kind of enjoy cute screaming baby pictures...

Playtime!

Stretchy is trying really hard to crawl.  Most of the time it just ends up in a frustrated face-plant.  She'll get there though.

In the meantime, its adorable to watch her play... even if I do have to rescue a screaming baby from her tummy once in a while.

Cute things she does:

Plays with kitchen utensils... longer than any of the cute and awesome toys we bought for her.

Cries when I take something away that she wants (mostly the camera):

Tries to crawl:

Looks intently out the window:

Bounces.  In and on everything:

And is just super cute in general:

A Busy Week

Once Stretchy and I were both feeling better, we ended up having a pretty busy week.  I think it was really good for us because we'd been stuck in the house like we were quarantined for almost two weeks and cabin fever was starting to drive me a little nuts (and I certainly cannot afford to be more crazy than I already am).

Wednesday my sister arrived to spend part of her vacation with us.  Its always nice to see her and we haven't been home in a while, so it had been too long since we'd seen her last.  Unfortunately, it took Stretchy a while to warm up to her, but soon she had a new favorite play-mate (and I got to take some breaks to finish recovering!)  My mom came too since she's always looking for excuses to come see her favorite person... and her daughter...

We did some shopping and ran some errands.

Are we getting in the car already?

We headed up to Lake George (which was kind of a bust since most things were still closed for the season) and strolled around downtown Saratoga.  And we played with the baby...

It was really nice to see my sister and have company for a while.

They left Friday after Stretchy's first swimming lesson and we had a quiet evening.

Saturday we went up to Lake George again- this time to the Recreation Center where we took a hike in the woods, had a picnic with some friends we met in Germany and their kids.  Bob and the other dad took their bikes out on the trails there while the other mom and I watched the kids on the playground.  Unfortunately, a six-month old can't really play on the playground, but she seemed to have a good time sitting on the picnic table and watching.

Family photo... no, it's not a skirt, the baby's legs were cold- it's a blanket!

Sunday we went to a baby shower and had a BBQ with one of our friends who just moved back from Belgium and will be starting work with Bob soon.

Hanging out with the big kids...

I have to say, after more than a week of doing nothing, we definitely made up for it with everything we did last week!  Today we'll take it easy and enjoy the nice weather!

Here's some cute pictures of Stretchy hanging out on the couch this morning:

Standing and reaching

After falling over

Almost in the crawling position!