raising a mommy

raising a mommy

Monday, April 20, 2015

a #fmfpartysnailmail giveaway!

Today's blessing:
Free stuff!

Ladies, you're in for a treat. Not only do you get to enjoy community in your mailbox every week, but you also get the opportunity to win some fantastic giveaways! I am honored to be hosting the first of our giveaways, and it is a good one. I present to you:


Just in time for spring (unless you're lucky enough to live in one of those places that is consistently warm before mid-May), a Scentsy plug-in with three scent bars of your choice and a copy of Susan Shipe's "How to Have a 100% Organic Raised Bed Garden". How great is that?

Please note: This giveaway is only open to the lovely ladies who are participating in round six of #fmfpartysnailmail. If it makes you sad that you can't win free stuff, and if you enjoy getting real mail, I hope you'll consider joining us for round seven, should there be one!

This giveaway will run through noon eastern time on Friday, April 24th. I think. I didn't actually set it up, and it's the first time that the beautiful Jen, who did set it up, has used this provider (is "provider" the right word?), so she's not 100% sure she did it right, either. We appreciate your grace and understanding as we share our imperfections with the world!

So, without further ado, I present to you:

#FMFPartySnailMail Giveaway #1

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

an update on the kiddos {april edition}

Baby M is seven months. Wow. Here is an update on his continually growing level of awesomeness:

Mastered Skills (most babies can do)
Sit without support: He can. Not for too long, but as long has he tips forward, he can rely on his fat rolls to prop him up.
Reaches for things with a sweeping motion: And then he gets so mad when he sweeps it right onto the floor or out of reach. Poor kid.
Imitates speech sounds (babbles): Oh yes; he's very vocal, just like Big Sister.

Emerging Skills (half of babies can do)
Combines syllables into word-like sounds: We mostly just get "ah" and "ee" sounds right now.
Begins to crawl or lunges forward: He is getting so close. He can get up on all fours and move his hands forward, but he hasn't quite gotten the back end to catch up, so he just face plants. Cute, but probably a little frustrating!
Picks up objects with one hand and passes to the other hand: He's got the picking up part down.
Bangs objects together: He mostly just picks up one object and bangs it against tray or table or floor.

Advanced Skills (a few babies can do)
Stands while holding onto something: Not so much. If we hold his hands he can bear pretty much all of his own weight on his legs, but he doesn't hold himself up on a table or anything.
Waves goodbye: No, we still have to do this for him. We're starting to work on some signing, too, like "more" and "all done."

M is continuing enjoy exploring new foods. We're taking it pretty slowly, but everything has been amazingly successful so far. He loves avocado, sweet potatoes, carrots, and mango. Next up are probably peas, and bananas. He's getting a lot of orange in his diet. I gave him the "all done" sign this morning after a bowl of mango, and he actually tried to pull his high chair tray back toward him when I went to get him out. I might attempt to make my own oatmeal this weekend. It doesn't look hard, and it's way cheaper than buying actual baby cereal!

Big Sister P is ridiculously cool. Her biggest accomplishment for this month: She can recognize letters, tell us what sound they make, and name a number of words that start with that sound. And the "reading." She loves to "read" books to you. She has a frighteningly good memory, so she can recite a fair amount of a number of her books, but what she doesn't remember, she's pretty good at improvising.

She loves to draw. She reminds me a little bit of her Big Uncle E, because she gets frustrated with me when I can't draw things the way she wants. Daddy is much better than I am. (Note: Big Uncle E actually means "Older Uncle E," not to be confused with "Younger Uncle E" who is actually taller than his older brother. We're all vowel names in my family.)

We were house sitting for a week last month, and P had access to a piano. Sitting on the piano was the old green Lutheran Book of Worship. One day P opened it up and declared "This is the musical of God. It's about the light of God." I'm not making this up. Coolest kid ever? Possibly.

She's making some pretty cool strides with counting, too. She can count to twenty all by herself, then if you prompt her with 21, she can keep going up to 29. Same thing with 30 and so on.

Sometimes I just have to stop and take a step back so reflect on how amazing our little girl is. The things she comes up with, the things she remembers, the things she can do...it's just incredible. We talked one day about people who don't have houses to live in, and she asked if she could get her tools to build them a house.

"Look, now there's more room for my movie!" Apparently Little Einsteins needed its own shelf.


We were playing at the mall, and she really wanted M to ride in the airplane with her. So cute!

Happy boy after his first taste of mango. Yum!

He's like a mini Roy Rodgers...
We went on a really long walk one day with a stop at the park, and M got his first swing experience. I think he had mixed feelings.

But P really liked the merry go round...I didn't know these things were still allowed on playgrounds!

The highlight of the walk: P got to visit Daddy's favorite snowman.

She insisted on pushing the cart while grocery shopping. She actually did a pretty good job!

Reading to Pig the Pig.