Time

I haven't gotten to spend much time with Ingrid this week due to lots and lots of work!!! With so many extra activities going on at school all throughout the spring, I'm afraid there will be lots of days like this. Tonight we got to spend the whole evening together and we had fun. My camera battery is dead, so I took some pics with my phone. Here's how our evening went:

Talking and playing with Violet and Daddy


Concentrating really hard at the play cube

Singing

"What's down here?"


After a yummy dinner, Ingrid got her jammies on to "settle down" before bed.
Calmly trying to climb the footstool

Something caught her eye...

Remember these owls we got a while back at The Good Stuff?

We finally hung them on the wall and Ingrid is in love. More owls!
Here she is waving at them. Hello.

And crawling over for a closer look.

After a bottle, Ing went to sleep very quickly. But in the middle of typing this post I heard something on the monitor. I turned it up and I could hear her laughing. She was awake and laughing (probably at Wink, her mobile). I heard her scoot around a bit and talk for a few minutes, but she went back to sleep on her own! I'm so thankful I got to spend all evening with my girl.

Eight Month Birthday

We're so lucky to have daddy to take these pictures of you at every milestone.  It was very warm Thursday afternoon so we took advantage of the daylight and came outside.  You're wearing a vintage peter pan collar button-up shirt that was a gift from Ashley and a denim jumper we got for a steal from Shannon.   Happy 8 months!


Dear Ingrid,
You are eight months old today. In four short months you will be one whole year old.  You top the scales at 18 pounds even.  I'm not sure how tall you are now, because I can't get an accurate measurement.  You're just too wiggly!  You have changed so much in this last month. You crawl everywhere. You're a lot harder to keep up with these days! You also want to pull up on everything. You're favorite things to pull up on are: the footstool, couch, toy box, coffee table(which is a big no-no), and play cube. You can walk around two sides of your play cube holding on. And you can walk down the length of the couch while holding on. But you will only work that hard if there's something you really want at the other end! You can wave bye-bye but you don't do it consistently yet. You love to clap, play patty-cake, and peek-a-boo. You will hold a blanket up over your face while I say "Wheeeeere's Ingrid?" Then you drop it down and laugh histerically. You are such a happy, happy girl. You smile and laugh almost 100% of the time. You only get sad when I won't let you be totally independent. I can't help but follow you around, guarding your every move. I know I won't be able to keep your from getting bumps and bruises along the way, but right now I can still prevent most of them. I love holding you and cuddling you close, but you want to go, go, go. I cherish our time in the evenings when you are sleepy and I get to read you stories and rock you to sleep. You pat my chest and clutch my shirt. You sing a little song when you're about to give it up for the night. It's the most precious sound I've ever heard. I love being your mom more than I could have ever imagined. You are my perfect little baby bear. I can't dream of my life without you!

Love,
Mama

Friends!

On Saturday we had some friends come to visit. It was so fun for all of us to get together. Last time all 6 of us were together, Ingrid was 5 days old and Holly was 30 weeks pregnant!



It was amazing to see how much has changed since the summer. Ingrid was totally intrigued with Eden. She crawled after her at the speed of light. She wanted to play with every toy Eden had. And I guess Eden liked her too, because at dinner, she wanted Ingrid's highchair to be right beside hers. They shared puffs and were fast friends. Ingrid thought Leeland was the cutest little guy ever. He has great style and did three wardrobe changes. Which really impressed her of course. Next, we're trying to plan a Branson weekend get-a-way. I hope our schedules synch up. Thanks for coming to visit us Neil, Katie, Eden, Jonathan, Holly, and Leeland! We loved having you!

Ingrid helped prepare for our company by getting out some toys for her friends.


We took some pics down in the mancave. Leeland used our deer head as a photo prop.

We wanted to get a picture of all three kids, but Ingrid wasn't wanting to cooperate! She just wanted to stare at Eden and touch her face. Leeland was such a good boy.

I finally got out the paci to see if she would sit still without leaping off the couch! Eden looks like a little babysitter. haha.

The dads thought it would be funny to recreate the kid photo...

High chair buddies

The whole gang

Etsy. Gets me. Happy.

I have a tendency to "favorite" one million items on Etsy, but wait to purchase.  And then they're sold.  hahaha. Typical me.  (I just did this with a dress for myself on ModCloth.  And it was on a killer sale.  Sigh. )  But I just might treat myself to a couple of these vintage goodies for Ingrid Cate.  Which one is your fave?


These are from teachergirl:

The back of this one is so sweet.

"My Toy Pockets"     Really??? SO cute.

These are from hartandsew:

Possible Easter dress contenders??

Too many to decide! I told Ingrid I might buy her a couple of cute new dresses and this is the face I got:

She might be a dress lover like her mama!

Sleep

I would classify Ingrid as a good sleeper. Even a great sleeper. Especially when I know the sleep situations many have had or are still having (sorry Heathy...) She's not one of those "marathon" sleepers though. I know of some babies who sleep 12 or more hours straight! Ing can go 10 at the most, which is great I think. She might wake up once in the night, one or two nights out of the week. Not too bad. Around 4 months old, we started getting into a really good sleep routine. Before then Ingrid had often fallen asleep nursing, with me holding her, or rocking and then I would put her in her crib. I think it was around 4.5 months when we started laying her in her crib awake, with music. We would wait until she was sleepy, around 8 o'clock and lay her down. Most of the time we would have to go in and pat her and tell her we loved her and so on. Soon we only had to go in once. After about 3 weeks of this routine, I could lay her down and she would be asleep in less than 5 minutes. It was a dream. (I admit, at first I was super sad I wasn't rocking her anymore. I might have even cried...But I soon realized, that laying her down meant she got to sleep so much quicker, which was better for her and me). But this all changed Friday night. I layed Ingrid down and turned on her music, told her I loved her, turned out the light and left the room. When I turned the monitor on, I could hear her rustling around. This is nothing out of the ordinary, because she moves around her whole crib when she sleeps. She covers every inch. But then the rustling turned into grunting. The grunting got louder and louder. So I turned on the hall light, and peeked in to see this:

Yes, I had my camera in my pocket from earlier picture taking, so I snapped a photo or two...
I was so surprised to see Ingrid standing there staring at me. I knew she could pull herself up and stand in her crib, but she had only done that during the day, wide awake. This was "night-night". Sleepy time. And she was in her sleep sack. I definitely didn't think she could maneuver around and stand up in that big thing. But I was wrong. And she thought it was hilarious. She started clapping and laughing as soon as she saw me. I layed her back down in the crib and told her it was night-night and to close her eyes. She quickly flipped to her belly and stood back up. I was afraid to leave her in there to keep standing up because the mattress was so high. (I had Derek lower it as soon as he got home from CHRISTeens). I ended up rocking Ingrid to sleep Friday and Saturday night so I wouldn't have to worry about her toppling out of the crib! Every night since, I have tried laying her down (like our old routine) and she's stood up within a minute laughing and clapping. She gets so wound up looking around her room and trying to walk along the crib rail. (I decided to give up the sleep sack. I don't want her falling and knocking her brains out because she's in that thing). I've resorted to rocking her to sleep each night before putting her in bed. I've actually liked rocking her and cuddling with her, but I can't help but feel like this is a step backward. The main goal is for kids to be able to go to sleep on their own isn't it? I guess she would get tired of standing there eventually. But I'm not so sure! She thinks it's pretty fun.
And I just realized that this is one of those "wordy" posts that I always gripe at Heather about. Ooops.

Support

I'm so thankful that I have a supportive husband. It's no secret that I'm still not 100% happy with how my "post-baby" body looks. Derek has had to hear countless hours of me talking about it, yet doing nothing to change it! I tried "watching what I ate." It lasted one week and all I could think about was what I wasn't eating. I'm never going to not eat the cupcake, cookie, brownie, truffle, muffin, etc. Especially when I love baking so much. So, I've recently started taking a Zumba class here in town and it's really fun. It doesn't feel like a gym workout (which I actually love, if I had my sissy here with me, but I don't). It just feels like dancing. With lots and lots of sweating. And I'm so thankful that Derek encourages me to go. He never makes me feel guilty for missing out on quality time with Ingrid (I guess moms always struggle with guilt for leaving to do things for themselves...) Instead, he makes me feel like it's a treat for him to have daddy/daughter time. When the class first started, Derek really pushed me to try it out. I was terrified because A)I didn't know anyone there. B) I didn't know anyone there. C) I didn't know anyone there. In case you didn't know, I don't do well going to events by myself. He practically forced me to go to that first class and I'm so grateful. I really enjoy it. I look forward to going. And I know I wouldn't feel that way if it wasn't for my husby helping me out. So, thanks D. I love you.

Today while I was at Zumba, Derek and Ingrid went on a stroller ride together. It was such a nice afternoon. Just another reason why I can't wait for spring: family walks!!! We took one yesterday even though it was on the cold and windy side. I just opted to put Ingrid in the sling instead of the stroller. She snuggles up in that sling and she feels no wind! I can't believe she's big enough for the hip carry.

I love how she's looking up at D in this one.


But this one is my favorite. Sharing secrets and snuggled up. And the perfect shot of our home in the background.

Goodbye February

Today is the last day of February and I'm ready for spring! Since there's no more hope for snow days (darn) and we're losing part of our spring break to make them up (double darn) I am ready for spring days to come around. We had a little taste of spring on Sunday with 73 degree weather. Ingrid got to wear a jumper without tights to church! She was so excited.


She was also way too busy to get many pics made.


Ingrid is so active these days. It was nice being home with her all weekend to see how much she is doing. She is crawling everywhere. She wants to get into everything. And once she gets to her goal, she immediately pulls up on it. With lots of "dangerous" furniture (i.e. coffee table, side tables, entertainment center) to bump chins and heads on, I was very busy chasing Ingrid Cate around. And now her knees are starting to show how hard she's been playing.


I guess Ingrid is ready to say goodbye to February too, because tonight SHE WAVED!! We've been working and working on it. I was so happy. Heather was here for supper and she was about to take Ingrid to her room to get her jammies on. They were waving bye-bye to D. Like we do when we go anywhere. And.she.waved. Just like that. I was so proud. Then she kept doing it over and over. So many memories. So glad I have this blog to help me document them.

Happy Weekend!

I haven't been in the blogging mood the last couple of days because my nieces have been so sick. :( I was sad for those little tots and for their mom. Elise still has to be watched closely for the next few days and Amelia got antibiotics for her double ear infection. Hopefully they will be on the mend soon.

I will be husband-less and computer-less this weekend. Derek is going to Russellville to shoot video and photos for CHRISTeens and he's taking our computer with him. So I'll just leave you with a few photos of Ingrid looking cute and mischievous climbing on the couch!

Happy Weekend

Other Plans

I've been itching to put Ingrid in one of the pretty vintage dresses I snagged for her on Etsy a few weeks ago. Derek left for a bball game tonight and I thought it would be the perfect time to play a little dress up with Ingrid Cate. She had other plans. The green rocker in her room is usually the perfect spot for a little photo op. She had other plans. I thought, maybe she will sit in her crib for a quick snap in this precious dress. She had other plans. She is no longer stationary. She is mobile. A mover. A shaker. And although I didn't get the perfect picture, I love chasing her with my camera.





Lately, if you are on the floor playing toys with Ingrid, and she realizes you are there, she will abandon all play things. For the great challenge of climbing you! She will pull and tug and climb and crawl until she is successfully sitting in your lap or you are holding her to keep her from climbing up to your shoulders! This is a very fun game. For her.