Last Friday Lily and I went to my Dad’s for a little while. While we were there Jolene and Olivia showed up. I watched Lily and Livi play while Jolene did some yard work for our Dad.
Watching them play together and have fun makes moving back to California one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Last weekend my Aunt KK and her daughter-in-law Tiffany worked till 3 in the morning putting together an amazing birthday party for Tiffany and Matthew’s son Evan’s first birthday. It was a circus party and they pulled out all the stops. The backyard was all set up with a bounce house and a game area, the dining room and kitchen were busting at the seems with goodies. The party was filled with family and fun. Everything was perfect.
When we first got to KK’s house my cousin Melissa’s 11 year old daughter took Lily out to the backyard to see everything. Let me stop here and point out how amazing it is that Lily went with Hannah without complaining, this never happens. After probably 5 minutes I stepped out to check on Lil, she was in the bounce house looking very lost and a little sad. When she saw me she immediately wanted out and ME. We played on the swings till everyone was out of the bounce house and then we went back in. When it was just the two of us she LOVED it. She’s been on a bouncing kick lately so this was magical to her.
To keep with the circus theme my Aunt got a clown to come and entertain the kiddies. I have to admit I totally assumed that Lily would hate the clown and want nothing to do with her, but she didn’t, she was just her normal shy self. The makeup and crazy clothes didn’t bother her at all, this amazed me when you consider how much Santa scared her at first.
Buttons the clown was a hoot. She made balloon animals, bracelets and hats. She did some face and arm painting and did a little magic show. The kids loved her and I loved how she interacted with the kids.
Lily got a flower bracelet. Apparently the bracelets are harder to pop.
Tori (the birthday boy’s big sister) got a ladybug bracelet.
Tori got her face painted too.
Lily didn’t seem interested in the painting at first, so I got a little heart painted on my arm first.
After she saw me doing it, she let Buttons paint on her.
Olivia got a lot of painting done. She loved it.
She got some little hearts on the other arm too, but I didn’t get pictures of it.
Logan (the birthday boy’s big brother) decided to be a lion. Every circus needs a lion, right.
Evan, the birthday boy himself got a monkey on his cheek to match his shirt.
He quickly rubbed it.
Group photos are hard. I think this was the best out of 10 tries. 🙂
At the end of the party, when it was just a few of us left, we all got in the bounce house and relaxed. Or bounced. Or played. Whatever, it was fun.
Max (Olivia’s big brother) and Olivia playing.
Jolene and Max relaxing.
Matthew (my cousin and the birthday boy’s daddy) and Logan playing.
My aunt Kk and Uncle Dixon relaxing.
Lily slept really well that night, she played herself silly. And now as a result of how much fun she had in the bounce house we have to avoid the park on weekends because she doesn’t understand or believe that strangers don’t want to share their bounce houses with her.
Last weekend we went to my cousin Jeni’s house to make ketchup and have a bbq. None of the people that came–another relative-Amanda and one of Jeni’s friends-Andi, myself or Jeni had ever made ketchup before. Sure we are all pretty experienced with eating it but didn’t have the faintest idea of what went into it. When I asked if I needed to bring anything and was told fennel I was so confused about how it fit in. The fennel ended up in the ketchup and overall the concoction was pretty tasty. Anyway this really has nothing to do with my random mobile pictures, other then to explain why we were at Jeni’s house. I guess the other important piece of info that is needed is that Jeni has chickens for eggs in her backyard.
Jeni went to buy some feed for her chickens the other day and walked out with a dozen new babies.
Lily was very interested in the chicks and really wanted to pet them.
We got to help Jeni feed the big chickens and collect the eggs.
We found out that Jeni also has DUCKS!
Waldo was a little surprised that I’d let Lily collect the eggs since it’s a little dirty and I’m so weird about dirty things, but it wasn’t that bad and Lily had a blast.
I spent some time with my sister Jolene and her daughter Olivia last weekend. I left Lily home with Waldo. Livi was pretty bummed that Lily didn’t come to play with her. I had Livi record a little message to Lily.
A few weeks ago we welcomed a good friend into the wonderful world of parenthood. I am so happy for them and wish them all the best in the world.
A few months back the excited Dad to be asked me if I had any baby info for them. I told him how I think breastfeeding is one of the best parenting decisions I ever made, I shared how easy making baby food was, how I love sharing my bed with my baby and how I love babywearing and cloth diapering. I meant to make a list of my favorite, most useful gear but neglected to do that until today.
You can go to almost any Mommyblog around and get their list of their favorite baby gear so this isn’t anything new, but these are my favorites.
Cloth diapers: bumGenius
Some of my Bum Genius diapers
Lily in a Bum Genius Flip diaper
Babywearing: Ergo
Us using the Ergo
Us using the ringsling
Swaddling: Miracle Blanket
The Aden and Anais blanket can be used for lots of things. Including swing cover.
I swear she loved being swaddled. She just wanted to be picked up and not photographed right this second. Again in her Aden and Anais blanket.
Breastfeeding: A good bra, a Boppy
There's a Boppy under that blanket.
Pouty Lil on her Boppy
Car Seat: Because Lil was so darn small even the head cushion that came with her car seat was useless so I looked around and found the Kiddopotamus Snuzzler from Amazon. I was so happy when we got it. It is nice and soft and kept Lil from rolling around in her seat. We also got her a Car seat swaddler
Sleeping in her seat with the Snuzzler
Swaddled and snuzzled
Bath time: Lil wasn’t a fan of getting a bath when she was little (do you see a pattern here? She wasn’t a fan of anything that wasn’t my arms). Because she wasn’t happy, she was very wiggly and I never felt comfortable giving her a bath in one of the hard plastic baby bath tubs. Amazon to the rescue again. I got her a Safer Bather Infant Bath Pad
Cool baby bath mat thingy
Baby Monitor:When I was filling out my baby registry I added a normal old school audio only baby monitor. People told us we’d want a video monitor, but I doubted it. I knew Lil was going to sleep in our room so I figured she’d be out of our sight for such short amounts of time that the expense of the video monitor was just too high and also it seemed silly. Did I really need to watch my kid sleep through a tiny monitor, I thought not. Boy was I wrong. I won a Summer Infant Handheld Color Video Monitor from Metropolitian Mama (I love Steph) and she told me that I’d love the monitor and Steph did not lie. I love the monitor and it is the greatest thing ever (or close to that). Because Lil is not the greatest sleeper, it is great to have the video monitor because I can tell if she’s really awake or just tossing and turning. With the audio monitor I’m sure I went in and woke her up at least a few times because I thought she was awake but was just turning or something.
I’m sure there were other things that I loved and kept me sane with a infant but these are the most important things. Tune in soon for part 2 for the baby things I hated and could have lived without.
Again, congratulations to Jesse, Jamison and Teagen. Much love!!
I paid for all of the items listed here except the monitor. Some of the links are for my Amazon Association and I guess if you buy something from the links I might get a penny or two.
