The Seven Spot

Very Well, Then.

I'm officially closing down this blog, but - BUT! 

Come & visit me here:

www.verywell-thankyou.com

 

Whew!

I did it!  Seven days of continuous blogging.  It was so UTTERLY EXHAUSTING that I've had to take a little break to recover (hee hee).  I'll be back next week (really!) but here are a few cute pics from the past couple of days just to tide you over...

I don't have much today, but I'm determined to make my 7 day pledge, so here I am with a random mishmash of things.  I didn't take any pictures today, but Danny was wearing this adorable bubble from Kelly's Kids:

I adore their clothes; especially the bubbles.  This sailboat one is from there as well:

With Dan's first Father's Day coming up, I wanted to get him something fun,  but he's incredibly hard to shop for (he doesn't read the blog so I'm safe to talk about it here).  Really, all he wants in the world is more wine for his collection, and I don't even dare go there since he's so picky.  So usually I just get him silly things, but that can be hard too.  Danny and I ordered this cookie bouquet to be sent to his office on Friday.  It will say "Doggone Purrfect Dad" which, I KNOW.  LAME.  But he will love it.

I've had my eye on these Jonathan Adler salt & pepper shakers for a while now and decided they would make a great gift:

We have a white cat and a black cat and Dan adores them (shhh, don't tell him I told you that!) and these are really fun.  I see him putting them in his office as a fun conversation piece.  They are goofy enough to be just the perfect gift.   It's either wine or cats with Dan, so cats it is.  I PROMISE WE ARE NOT CRAZY CAT PEOPLE.  Or like, that crazy.

Another big "milestone" here today!  We are officially done with the carseat-in-the-shopping-cart routine (um, HEAVY) and have moved on to cruising big-boy style:

Here we are at Babies R Us (which, that place is a total shit-hole, for the record).  I love how it looks like he's holding on for dear life.  And here at the grocery store when I figured out how to use the fancy shopping cart cover:

It's hard to tell in these pictures, but he really enjoyed this new view.  And because there's not much cuter than a baby in just a diaper:

We call this "PWT'n it."  

 

Sometimes the hardest thing about blogging is coming up with titles for posts, right?  I'm just skipping it today and may from now on unless I have something clever or the post really has a specific topic.  Which doesnt happen very often.  Anyway, we had kind of a down day today...  I've got some kind of stomach bug (hopefully just a 24-hour thing) so we stayed home and just played.  And I feel like a terrible mom for saying this, but Danny took three long naps today and I was SO HAPPY.  I napped when he did, which I hate doing since it's the only time I can get things done around the house, but I gave myself a pass today.  

Just for fun, here's a little movie from this afternoon that's classic Danny right now.  Dan and I noticed him doing this gum-smacking thing this weekend, and we just think it's hilarious (of course, we think everything our kid does is hilarious, genius, or both).  And he's doing his signature swim-crawling moves in this one, too:

 

 

 

 

Sunday

I think it's funny when people assume that weekends don't really matter to stay-at-home moms; I mean, we don't have a job to go to, right?  I have heard this said a few time and it always baffles my mind.  The fact is that it is MUCH easier to take care of a baby when your husband is home for a couple of days and you get a little backup.  I've been meaning to re-plant some big pots that flank our driveway for a while now but it's almost impossible when it's just me & Danny.  Finally we had a nice weekend day where it wasn't raining or 100 degrees out, and we didn't have any plans.  Dan cut the grass while Danny and I headed a few miles up the road to the garden center.  I also dropped off my hanging baskets to be re-planted.

We have the most beautiful garden center just a few miles up the road, with a giant greenhouse, gift shop, and cafe.  I just love the plant guy (official title) that works there.  He's an eccentric older man who just loves to talk your ear off about plants.  And he always give me trouble for bringing my baskets in late every year.  "Mrs. Marsh, you made it in before July this year!  You know I did all of your neighbors' planting back in February..."  This year I had an excuse, I tell him.  

Danny and I had a good time walking around outside in the beautiful weather and looking at all of the plants & flowers.

Then we headed a few more miles out to one of the wineries in our town (we live in Missouri wine country - and yes, we do have decent wine here!).  They have a Farmer's Market on Sundays that I was eager to check out.  I'm making all of Danny's baby food so I was hoping to get some fresh local produce.  Unfortunately, they didn't have much to choose from, but I did get some homemade apple butter, salsa, and fresh bread so the trip wasn't in vain.  

While Danny napped and Dan manned the baby monitor I finally took care of my planters.  I know nothing about gardening but the plant guy helped me pick out Lantanas and Setcreasea.  I think they look good already and they should really fill out pretty quickly.

A good Sunday, and it's about to be capped off with a glass of wine and a good book.  I have three Junior League meetings this week due to last-minute cancellations during our crazy string of tornado threats last month, so I need to relax while I can.

A New Perspective

The big news around here this week is that Danny is now sitting up on his own!  We've been working on it for a few weeks now, and he'd been making great progress but still toppled over from time to time.  Then last Sunday he got it down perfectly!

It may seem like a silly thing to get so excited over, but I can tell that he is really enjoying seeing the world from this perspective.  Before he could sit up, he spent most of his time either on the floor, or recently, in the jumper or exersaucer.  He's never been a big Bumbo fan so that option only worked for about 10-15 minutes each day.  I guess the jumper & exersaucer are sort of sitting up, but it's not the same as really sitting and being able to play with a whole new bunch of toys.

One of his favorite things to do is play soccer, much to his daddy's delight.  We roll a mini soccer ball to him and he rolls it back (sort of...  usually he tries to put it in his mouth and we grab it and roll it to him again).  I think Danny and I were both getting bored of our old playtime routines on the floor, so we are really enjoying some new games!

Next up... crawling!  He is trying so, so hard and I think he will get it soon:

 

 Ignore my high-pitched voice; it's just baby talk (or as our PAT lady would say "parentese").

 

Pool Boy

Yesterday morning we got all slathered up with sunscreen and packed up our giant boat & tote (babies, it seems, don't travel so lightly; you could fit about four Dannys in this thing)...

...and made our first trip to the pool!

There is a beautiful community pool about 20 minutes from our house (which is really close, considering we live in the country) that has tot time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It's just perfect because it's only kids under age 5, so you don't have to deal with rowdy tweens and oversexed teens. 

One thing about Danny is that he is a very thoughtful child.  He really studies new situations and like to quietly observe and take it all in before he makes up his mind about something.  He was apprehensive at first, which did sort of surprise me since he is absolutely nuts about bath time.  Our stint in the big pool didn't go so well, especially when I steered us right underneath a giant fountain that, as it turns out, ferociously erupts every 30 seconds or so.  That made for a little meltdown, understandably.  We fared much better in the splash park area.  

I think that he'll warm up to it the more we go and it will turn out being something we both love to do.  We're spending two weeks on lakes in Wisconsin in July, and I think he'll be a real water baby by then.

The 7 Project

...sort of like The 365 Project, but for lapsed bloggers who need a more realistic goal.  So, here's the deal: we are having so much fun right now and Danny is changing so much that I really want to start documenting it again.  I am not foolish enough to try and make a triumphant return here, so I've come up with a little challenge that hopefully I can meet.  

Seven straight days of blogging.

We shall see.

I obviously dig the whole "seven" theme around here, and it's fitting since it's a solid week and Danny turned seven months on - wait for it - Tuesday (the 7th).  And if I make it, then maybe I'll consider this an actual comeback.  I may even treat myself to a little blog makeover, since I've had this layout since 2006.

 

Also, I'm about to go FULL-ON MOMMY BLOGGER ON YOUR ASSES.  I got nothin' else, as this kid is (joyfully) pretty much my whole life now.  Stay tuned!

PS - Happy 4th Anniversary to my sweet husband and Happy Birthday, Lisagh!!

 

 

Best Week Ever

It is sort of halfway-sleeting outside right now, and I just have to remind myself that it IS still February in Missouri.  Like much of the country, we've had an amazing week of weather this past week, and Danny and I were able to get a little taste of what the spring days ahead will be.  We have been stuck in the house so much that it felt SO GOOD to just get out and run around town.  I didn't take many pictures (it is hard to remember the camera along with the 50-lb diaper bag and two strollers we take everywhere) but will try to do better next week.  Here's a rundown of our week, which was so much fun:

Monday - Stroller Strides in the morning followed by a trip to Target to buy goodies for a care package for Uncle Benjie in Afghanistan

Tuesday - Two long walks through our neighborhood and vacuuming the house, with windows open, in our new Baby Bjorn (we love this!)

Wednesday - Stroller Strides (outside!!) followed by coffee with the moms and a glorious 2-hour nap (don't judge; we were up all night)

Thursday - MOPS followed by lunch downtown with Daddy and a long walk through the neighborhood

Friday - Stroller Strides outside again and lunch & a walk with Aunt Karen at the Missouri Botanical Garden.  Dinner out with our friends at BC's, one of our favorites

Saturday - Danny had his first date with his future wife Lajla!  There was lots of kissing, which normally  mommy would frown upon but in this case it was fine with me.  I think they really hit it off!