Month 8

Why are these numbers getting closer and closer to a year? My baby is getting big! She is into absolutely everything. She is pulling up on anything she can reach. She is using those same objects to cruise around the room. She can almost stand up on her own. She has this hilarious laugh. It's like an evil villain laugh, it cracks me up every time. She has finally shown some interest in talking. In fact, yesterday for the first time ever she said "Da-da" (important parts of this... she said "mama" first and she refused to say it the second Forrest got home last night!). My baby is growing up way too quickly.

To see how Reagan has grown, check out Reagan's tab!

Red, White and Blue!

Decorating our house for different seasons is one of my favorite activities. Forrest and I mutually decided, when we still lived in our townhouse, that we needed seasonal decorations rather than holiday specific ones, aside from Christmas. We compromised and came to the conclusion that certain items, like wreathes, can be made holiday specific! Since Flag Day was last Friday, and 4th of July is right around the corner, it was about time to make a flag themed wreathe for our front door.

I despise wreathe making. I always think it is a good idea until I get about halfway into the project. Then I start saying silent curses to myself, and finally I am satisfied with the finished project. So I tolerate the process. Especially when it turns out like this.

Please excuse the fact that my storm door is literally hanging off, it's set to be fixed this weekend (right honey?).

What do you guys think? I am totally in love with the finished project!

Summer Time

One of my favorite features of our house is our mantel. With the temperatures reaching into the 90s, I decided it was about time to decorate our mantel for summer. I had a really hard time deciding what to do this time around. When I think of summer, I think of the beach, however, I live 4 hours away from the closest beach. I decided on a mix and match of the beach and other fun summer elements.

This time around a changed my chalkboard up with a starfish and the classic summer quote "It's a sip of wine, it's summertime". In front of it I used a jar from my mother in law with black river rocks and a starfish. I grabbed some grapevine branches and switched out my blue hydrangeas for green ones. I found a jar on clearance and filled it with simple yellow lemons. Everything got finished out with a vase we were given as a wedding present topped off with the grass I used from my spring mantel.

So what do you guys think? Any other fun decorations up yet?

Crafting with Infants

Have I ever told you guys how much I love our babysitter? No... well let me tell you. I love our babysitter. She is a family member and takes wonderful care of Reagan. When I had to go back to work, I was never once upset because I thought Reagan wouldn't get the love and care she needed. She probably gets more love than she knows what to do with. Tomorrow is our babysitter's birthday and we wanted to show her how special she is to us. She loves flowers so the idea came to mind of making her a special flower pot with Reagan's help.

You will need:
An adorable baby
A terra cotta pot
Paint

First... get the baby naked.

Second: Wrangle Gently place the baby's hand print on the flower pot

Third: Paint the pot with a cute saying. We choose "Thank you for helping me grow! Love, Reagan 2013". Insert the flowers and you have a simple, baby approved birthday present!

We think it's a simple reminder of how much appreciation we have for the woman who loves and cherishes Reagan just as much as we do!

What about you guys? Any infant approved craft adventures? I learned that Reagan still doesn't like cooperating with paint (as seen here). Also, please excuse the mess that is my kitchen... for some reason, my house never stays clean anymore.

Babyproofing

Reagan is officially into everything. Everything. I seriously can not turn my back for more than 2 seconds. One of her new favorite things to get into our TV stand. Forrest and I have lived with it for the last two and a half years. It worked, although it was by no means our ideal piece of furniture. It was free, a big perk when you have no money when you get married. It was also part of a larger piece of furniture, so I wouldn't let Forrest drill a hole in the back to hide all of the chords associated with the TV, cable box, etc. Chords in the baby's mouth seemed highly unsafe so today we decided that enough was enough.

 

Forrest told me it would take no more than 45 minutes to set our new TV stand up. 4 hours later we have a finished product.

Ta da! No chords! We are so excited because Reagan has already explored this new toy and nothing went in her mouth! We managed to snag this piece on clearance so it ended up being very affordable. And it gives us peace of mind that there is one less thing in the house Reagan can get into.

What about you guys? Any more baby proofing recommendations?

Yellow Be Gone!

Right before little Miss Reagan was born, we decided that painting our kitchen yellow was a great idea. We've lived with it for almost 8 months and came to a few conclusions. While the yellow was a fun, bright color, the color we picked was just all wrong. Our main living space doesn't have much natural light, so the majority of the light was in the kitchen was artificial, making the yellow seem even darker. With the combination of a wrong color, with some harsh lighting and dark cabinets, we outgrew the yellow very quickly.

We also decided the yellow was such a contrast from our living room grey and that the two colors didn't compliment each other. We've been debating repainting the room for a while, but this weekend a local hardware store was having a buy one get one free paint sale. Cha-ching! While the pictures don't do the color justice, we ended up choosing a sage green although it looks blue in the pictures.

I also decided to rearrange some art and add some homemade touches.

It's amazing what a little color can do! What do you guys think?

Month 7

My baby is seven months old. She is growing up so quickly. Every day she learns a new skill. I don't want to be one of those moms, but I can't help but brag a little. In the last month, Reagan has learned to crawl, pull up, and climb. Yes... climb. I seriously can not turn my back for two seconds without her getting into something. The other day, she climbed onto her walker. It scared the poop out of me. She constantly wants to be on the go. Little miss is still sporting a toothless grin. She also has no interest in talking. Mostly she grunts, giggles and hums. The verdict is still out on her hair... Forrest says blond, I say red. And even though she looks bald, she actually has a lot of hair, it's just so light it rarely shows up in pictures.

Reagan was not pleased about this photo session.

Laying down is a rare option these days. This is the best we could capture this month. She was much more interested in crawling towards us than sitting still.

In reality this is how most of shooting her pictures went. Happy seven months baby girl!

To see how Reagan has grown, check out her tab!