7 Months

It's getting harder to get a picture of this little gal just smiling these days. She is so curious and expressive. It is so fun to watch her go through so many ranges of emotion and watcher her consider new things.

She's a champ at rolling, she's still working on getting her teeth in, and she's doing great with solid foods. Pears and prunes have been her favorite so far, with green beans being tolerable and rice and oatmeal cereal being simply unbearable, even when mixed with delicious things. She had learned to stick her tongue out, she can use a straw to get a drink (but not a sippy cup...) and she loves to try to feed herself. 

She loves:

bathtime, as always

watching Luna run around

chewing on everything

sitting up

peek-a-boo

walks in the stroller

being tossed in the air

teething crackers

She laughs at:

Daddy's duck noises

being tickled

Luna running around

bouncing, jumping tossing her around

She hates:

baby cereals

being sleepy

being left out of sight

She is also getting a little shy these days. When someone new talks to her she'll turn her head and put her hand in front of her face, or she'll turn her head into my shoulder and peek around a them. It is very coy and very cute!

Writing Prompt

Sometimes I need encouragement to write, as it does not always come naturally to me. So  this little beauty on Pintrest caught my attention.

Hands down, I pick a zoo. I love the feeling that you can walk around and experience a slice of another part of the world. I love the sounds and smells of different animals. I love to study the way they move, the way they communicate, both with one another and with their human caretakers. Watching and spending time with plants and animals is food to my soul. While I love to be transported by a good book, or a good piece of art, there is nothing like being around animals.

Which would you pick?

Featuring...

You guys. I've been featured... My most globe-trotting friend, Erica, has featured my stencil wall over at the Girly Side of Travel. Check it out!

Erica has lived the life that many of us dreamed of. After getting her undergrad in biology, she taught in Japan for a few years. She took frequent trips with her students to all sorts of exotic places, and recently returned from a 3 month trip around the world acting as a translator on a cruise ship. She's eaten foods I can't pronounce, and I imagine has more stamps in that passport of hers than any 20-something-year-old should! I don't get to talk to her or see her enough, but I sure do love to hear all of her amazing stories. Basically I'm honored that she loved my humble little wall.

Check out all of her amazing travel experiences here! And Erica, next time you head through the Suez Canal, take me with you. As long as it's safe.

Image by Erica, from her stay at the Red Sea. Sooo jealous. 

Getting the Word Out

I am excited to announce that some good friends of mine are starting the road to adoption. They were some of the best next-door neighbors we could have asked for, and not bad cooks either. No seriously, we did a dinner group with them and we ate together once a week, with each couple trading who made dinner. It was awesome! They have started a blog, and are looking for a way to contact a possible birth mother, so I'm doing my best to get the word out!

So if you know of anyone, there is a fantastic couple (actually, there are so very many) who are unable to have their own biological children that would make dedicated and loving parents.

Friends, keep your ears open, and pass the word along if you can.

Meet Walt and Tiffany at their blog: http://waltandtiff.blogspot.com/

And take a look at those gorgeous faces!

Use it up, Wear it out

Have you heard that phrase?

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

That is my new unofficial motto. My grandparents grew up in the Depression. Papa was born in 1908, and Nana was born in 1916. So not only did they grow up during the Depression, but my Papa had finished 8th grade and left his parents home to be on his own . By the time the Depression hit, he was a young single man. My Dad was, in his own words, the "tail-end-Charlie" of the family. Papa was nearly 50 by the time my Dad was born.

Nana and Papa fascinated me as a kid. They were amazing examples of hard work and thrift; Their basement had row after row of home-grown, home-canned fruits and vegetables (the spiders kept me from examining things too closely- i have always been terrified...). They kept a good sized backyard garden late into their 80's. Papa had a shop, and was one of the handiest men I knew. Nana was quite the accomplished poet, and was an amazing cook and seamstress. Though I never heard them say the phrase, they lived by it: Use it up, wear it our, make it do, or do without. (I did hear several "eat it or wear it" stories however...)

We live in a different time now, but I would still like those values to be a part of my life: thrift, economy, creativity, and hard work. These values aren't just steps to take, though. They make up a lifestyle. I'm trying to figure out how well I live up to this lifestyle. How much do I consume? How much do I waste? How much do I spend? What example am I teaching my daughter? How can I do better?

There is a lot of pressure today to consume more, to be busier, to get exactly what you want and to have it now. I don't want to fall into that trap.

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