Little Fishy

My parent's gave Scout a round of swimming lessons as a Christmas present. I think I really like the idea of giving experiences as gifts, it forces you to get out and do something different than you normally would. Scout's lessons are twice a week for 30 minutes each time. She is halfway through the session now, but really seems to be liking them. I've been able to go with her and Andrew a couple of times, but usually Andrew takes her by himself. One time, while I was there, Andrew was able to get these photos. You might wonder, "What does a 7 month old do in swimming lessons?"
Well, let me tell you:

• They reach for toys 
• They kick their legs and splash their arms 
• They "jump" into the pool with help 
• They stare at all of the people looking at them
• They "swim" back and forth from one person to the next 
• They look like an inch-worm when they try and crawl in the water 
• They float on their back 
• They wear a life jacket (no pictures of this, but it's hilarious. Scout loves its, just relaxes and floats around on her back by herself)
• They sing songs with motions

She seems to love it all, we will definitely do these again sometime soon!

Trouble with a Capital T

After our trip to Costco this weekend we came home and dumped all of our goods in the living room.  You know the lovely piles of boxes and oversized food on the kitchen table and floor that you then have to find homes for.  Well, Scout decided that Costco toilet paper was just perfect for learning new tricks. We are in trouble. This girl is busy!  Needless to say, the package of toilet paper is still sitting on the floor in our living room so that Scout can keep practicing her new trick whenever she pleases.

P.S.  I love the little butt in the air at the end as she gives the plastic a little lick!

Today

We had a delightful weekend, pleasantly under scheduled.  A few friends came by for causal visiting, nice and low-key.  Andrew bottled a batch of beer, even though he can't drink it as he is currently eating gluten-free.  We juiced the last of the apples from our apple trees and started another gallon of apple wine.  We had sunshine on Saturday, not in the forecast, and enjoyed a brief hour of working outside in the yard.  We took a family mall walk in which we stared at people (something all 3 of us love to do) and ate Ivar's for a special treat.  Yes, there is an Ivar's in our mall.  We did some cleaning and organizing in our garage and Andrew got brave enough to go on a hunt for the wasp/hornet/something scary nest from last fall.  In case you didn't know this detail about our life, there was a wasp/hornet/something scary nest in the wall/ceiling spot where Scout's bedroom, the garage, and outside all meet up.  We could see the spot where the wasps/hornets/somethings scary went in and out and made a big gross mess on the outside wall.  Andrew went up in the attic crawl space and couldn't see a nest.  But the wasps/hornets/somethings scary would end up in the garage frequently.   No fun.  We googled around for ideas and liked the suggestion about waiting to see if it died out over the winter.  Well the wasps/hornets/somethings scary went away and seemed to have died, so Andrew went up in the attic and pulled up boards until he found the nest so he could destroy it.  And patch the hole so they won't come back.

While he was being brave and tackling the big scary nest, Scout and I sorted through some of the stuff in the garage that needs to find a new home not with us.  She was very helpful and we now have some fun barters happening this week.

We also went to Costco, after which Scout learned a new and exciting trick that I will tell you all about tomorrow.  Because this post is getting entirely too long and she deserves a post to herself.  Finally, and the downside of the weekend.  I got sick.  Like leaky faucet hit by a truck sort of sick.  Andrew seems to be getting it too, send your best wishes that it will pass quickly and that Scout will get missed.

A Few Things I loved Reading This Week:
This post about parenting, just because it made me think about what my priorities are. 
This post and this post about composting and soil.  Because it's time to get excited about gardening.
This page, because I want one pretty bad.
This recipe, which we tried and is tasty and easy.  Trying to learn more about probiotics and healthy bacteria for the guts.

Photo Shoot with Grandma

Grandma Bybee took these adorable photos of Scout (after making her the headband to match her tights) when we were visiting over Thanksgiving, so they aren't current at all.  I posted my favorite on this post already, so you've basically seen them.  But when I was looking through all of my recently acquired photos I kept coming back to these ones - just loving them.  She looks happy and cheerful and sweet.  I love the various expressions of happiness that are caught in these photos.  She looks so different already, I am glad that we have photos to capture all the unique phases.  I would never be able to remember the subtleties. 

Fresh

Lynne got a little bit of editing done on this photo and I love it.  There was a distracting photo frame, hung crookedly on the background wall behind Scout and Andrew.  Took the focus away from the sweet babe.  I love, love, love this photo.  It's one of my favorites from that first week at home.  She is so fresh and new  I love how tiny she looks, with the newborn diaper swamping her. Snuggled up in her daddy's hands you can see how she might actually, maybe, possibly have fit inside of me, curled up exactly the same way.  That fresh stage is over so quickly, and we were so engrossed in coping and functioning and healing and adjusting that I feel like I didn't soak it up quite enough.  I thought I was savoring it, I just didn't have any perspective to know how quickly it would be over.  Thank goodness photos exist to throw me back to that phase, even just a for minute.

Happy 7 Months Baby!

Check out my sweet, impish little girl! She turned 7 months on Friday - mom is a little bit late with the monthly post. Dad, however, came through with a nice photo shoot, taken on her 7th month birthday. Getting a mobile 7 month old to make cute faces, in the right light, with no shadows, and to get her to sit still enough that the pictures are in focus? That's a feat. The pictures on this post aren't necessarily the best pictures in terms of focus, lighting, and framing...they are the ones that best captured Scout's many expresssions.
Scout at 7 months:

• She is scooting all over, doing a little bit of classic crawling, and is starting to be able to climb some easy obstacles, like pillows.  She likes to turn and look over her shoulder and flash you a big smile.  She's a flirt.
• Scout sits up really well now, we just aren't quite confident that she won't lose her balance and plop on her head so we spot her.
• She likes for you to help her stand - either spotting her while she hangs on furniture or holding her hands.
• She loves books and is always pulling hers off the shelf to play with (meaning eat).
• She is not liking her jumper as much anymore, only for very short periods of time, once or sometimes twice a day.  It's going to be retired soon.
• She still has just the two bottom front teeth, I keep waiting for more to pop through.  They are getting quite large though, very visible in some of the pictures below.
• She finds the smallest pieces of nothing on the floor to eat.  Frequent pick-ups and vacuums are now a necessity.  Nothing is safe around her anymore, our house is definitely in baby proof mode.
• She loves to eat.  She likes purees and will tolerate us feeding her, but she really is happiest when she gets to feed herself.  She eats carrots, acorn squash, pumpkin, rice cereal, cream of wheat, green beans, peas, blueberries, avocado, banana, applesauce, chicken, and those little rice puff things.  Don't you dare try and eat in front of her without giving her something too!
• She has been making this awful cackling coughing sound that she uses like a laugh.  She has also figured out how to whisper and how to yell, which she thinks is pretty hysterical.  In general, she has really been expanding her sound repertoire and seems to enjoy all the different noises that come out of her mouth. 
• She loves the smiley girl in the mirror.
• She watches people with a little smirky smile, until they look at her and smile and then she really grins. Did I mention that she is a flirt?
• She is taking swimming lessons with Andrew and he says she likes all of the splashing and kicking.  I'm going to try and go once so I can see too!
• She is still a good sleeper, with decent naps and getting up two-ish times in her 13 hour night.  She's not perfect, but she's consistently nice and average that way!
• Loves her Lucy and is always trying to get her attention.  Scout laughs hysterically when Lucy nuzzles her and gives her lots of licks.  When Lucy is snoozing, Scout will frequently scoot over and crawl on her.
• Loves her stuffed animals, especially a little purple monkey and her Cat in the Hat.
• A week ago or so we found an old binky.  She never liked her binky, but we've been giving it to her while we change her diaper and she thinks is pretty funny.  She will suck frantically like Maggie Simpson and then pull it out and turn it over and over in her hands to examine it.  Then repeat until the diaper change is over.
• She has been using her little potty chair still and occasionally pees in there.  The best is when she giggles while she goes, like she knows whats coming and thinks its pretty funny.
• She is ridiculously funny and happy and loves to get us laughing with her, so much fun!  Enjoy the many pictures of all of her facial expressions!

Lovey

Scout has a lovey, a soft little blanky with a lamb head. When we put her in her crib for a nap or for bed we hand it to her and she clutches it to her chest before rolling to her belly. When we peak in on her while she's sleeping, she is often grabbing her little lamby to her chest.

While on a trip to Yellowstone (I think), Wade and Lynne found this stuffed wolf. They bought it for Scout since we were always howling at her and trying to teach her how to howl back.  She thinks animal noises are incredibly funny.  Scout likes the stuffed wolf, but Lucy LOVES it.

From the very first day she saw it, Lucy wanted it. If you hold it up for her to see, she gets very excited.  For the most part, she leaves it alone while she is in our presence, but occasionally she sneaks a good snuffle.  Once she stole it, took it to her crate, and I found her rolling around "talking" with it.  Lucy is typically very, very good at leaving Scout's toys alone; this is one of the few exceptions.  Andrew found her like this the other day, curled up for a nap with what she wishes was her lovey.  Everyone needs something to snuggle with!