SHE DID IT!

We didn't have the camera handy but today was the day our baby took her first steps. She's been walking with our help and getting more and more stable. Nevada was just saying how impressed she was that Gemma was walking while only holding on to one guide hand. Today she was standing up against her blocks and all of a sudden turned towards mommy and just went for it. Then I called her over and she left mommy and took about three steps in my direction. It was thrilling. I was so proud and she was so happy. Although her new found mobility makes me a bit busier and more worried I do feel this opens up a whole new world of play. I'm excited to go to the park and watch her walk around and explore. I'll try to capture some video of her new skill sometime in the next couple of days.

New Trick

I could probably write a post every two or three days with that title but today's new skill was particularly momentous. For a while now we've been able to set our living room up as a large playpen using furniture and these cubes made of foam tiles. It's worked great. She has her toys and a few little places to explore but she can't get in much trouble or danger. It's the place I put her when I need to do things around the house and can't watch her every move. She's been pushing the boundaries lately by trying to squeeze out small cracks in the wall of this makeshift playpen...she's succeeded a couple of times with brute force. But today she finally figured out how to climb. Nevada and I were in the dining half of the room chatting and having lunch when all of a sudden Nevada saw that Gemma was on top of one of the cubes. We took some pics and helped her off. This will add a whole new dimension to supervision in our house.

a birthday party!

Gemma was invited to her first birthday party last week. A friend from school's son turned one, and so we went over for a little get together. The total count for people was 3 babies, 3 toddlers, 3 school aged children, and then 8 parents. The mom had games planned for the younger kids, and prizes, and it was a nice afternoon. Note to self; 2 hours is PLENTY of time for a first birthday party!

Unrelated note; yes, you can put prunes into icecube trays. Even though they stay sort of mushy, they will hold their shape in freezer bags.

Baby Food

So I made my own baby food this week. And it was easy, and cheap, and fun too. (I love making stuff, and since I don't have so much time for crafts and stuff making baby food sort of fulfilled that need). My firned came over with her babe one night and it was great; one set of hands for baby watching and one for working. I had a pretty extensive menu planned, so it took me three nights but I think with more friends it could go faster. Here's what I made:
1) beef/potatoe/carrot: Brown some ground beef. Chop it up. Bake some potatoes. Scoop the middles out and chop.(Can you use the peel? Maybe.) Boil some carrots. Chop. Blend in the blender. Sppon into ice cube trays.
2) Chicken/brocolli/rice: Baked some chicken breasts, steamed the brocolli, cooked some brown rice. Chopped and blended. Scoop into trays. It looked like glue, and tasted very gritty. I think it was the rice that made it gross, so not sure if I'll do it again. Although Gemma eats it fine.
3) Apple/plum/nectarine: This one was yummy! Carve an x with a knife onto the side of nectarines and plums. Steam until tender. They are quite thick, so it takes a while to get the middle tender. Keep the water you cook them in. Then peel them, it sort of scrapes off with a knife. Messy job! Then I peeled and chopped some apples, and cooked them in the plum water. They turned a yummy purple color. Then I chopped it all up, blended it and ta da! Aplesauce stuff.
4) Heather brought prunes, and they are yum! (I love prunes!) Just put them in a bowl and cover with boiling hot water. Let sit until they puff up, then chop and blend. Keep the water for other griut stuff or making cereal or just as juice. NOTE: prunes don't freeze solid, so don't put them in ice cube trays. I just put them in a tupperware, and when I need some I just spoon some out.

What did I learn that I didn't already know? 1) Blending stuff takes lots of water. Otehrwise its too thick and the blender makes an awful sound. I always tried to use as little water as possible when cooking, but then I had none left for blending, so go ahead and use water. 2) You need to chop stuff up before you put it in the blender. They are not as strong as you think. Hmmm...that's it. It was REALLY easy to do, made tonnes of food, and was easily half the cost of baby food ehre (Its over a dollar a jar!!!)

Any good recipes I should try?

How do they do that?

There was a comment on how we did the underwater pictures; well, Andy has a plastic case for his digital camera. So he just puts inside and can use it like regular under the water. As far as getting Gemma under the water, we just blew lightly in her face and dunked. (Sheri taught us that; blowing on their face causes them to breath in and hold their breath for a second)

Meet the Teacher Night

Here is me and Gemma at meet the teacher night, and a pic of her and members of her after school club. (Check out the jelly sandals; Thanks Allie!)

Fun with Hats

This was soo funny! Chris would put the hat on her, and she would try to pull it off. But every time she'd grab the hat and yank, her head would go along with it, so she was just pulling her head around in different directions. She loved it too, she thought it was funny, maybe because we were killing ourselves! Chris put the video on his facebook, so go there to check it out.

Under the Sea

Here is a smapling of picturs from our weekend retreat at Green Bay. We had a staff getaway at this incredible resort, with an indoor pool, two outdoor pools, on the beach, a spa, billards, arcade games...It was awesome! We had a buffet supper and breakfast the next day. The pool was the highlight though. It was so big and beautiful, with so many options. There was a current river you could float through, fountains, a little kiddie warm pool. Gemma had a blast and even got her face wet for the first time.

Tickle Time with Fangs Magee

The purpose of this tickle session was to get a good shot of the fangs. I have to hurry up and publish this post because she will not be fangs much longer, the middle front one popped out this week.

High Chair Yoga

...or maybe it's ballet. Or aerobics :)

First Word?

She is a chatty cathy, always with lots to say and lots of passion in her voice. I think I may have caught the first word. She was crawling around the music room and got under the shiny black piano. When she looked up and saw her reflection she said, "baby". She hasn't said it since, but it was so clear. Hard to tell if its for real or not. Other things she is close to saying is wa-wa (meaning water) and dada, and mum mum mum mum. She is also getting to be a good waver, waving hello to people and goodbye. Its funny because when she wants people to go, like when she's been held by others too much and she's back in my arm, she'll wave at them like, "My mommy's here now; buh bye!"

Into everything part II

So what do you do when you live in an apartment and have to eliminate the bottom 4 feet of storage space? The object I have the hardest time relocating is the toilet brush. I mean, who likes to keep their toilet brush up on a shelf at eye level?