7 Months!!

7 Months!! I feel like I just had this little girl....now she's over halfway to her first birthday (tear). Jani amazes us every day. We keep learning from her. She is most definitely sitting up on her own. She can play by herself for quite awhile. She loves talking....especially saying mamamamamama. I know she's probably not saying mama yet but it's fun to hear her say those sounds. If you can't tell from the pictures, Jani got her first goose egg. She took a spill on the cement at my parents' house and came out with a little battle scar. She's one tough cookie though. It hurt Mommy way more than it hurt her. She is eating lots of different solids. Some favorites include mango, cherry, peas, and sweet potatoes. She has even broken into the world of puffs. Oh, how she loves these! Happy Birthday little girl! We love you!!

Old Friends

Graduation weekend is always hectic in our household. With Doug teaching and coaching, we end up with quite a few graduations to attend. Every once in a while, we end up with a cousin or friend graduating as well. This year, the little sister of one of Doug's oldest friends was graduating. We hadn't seen Jeramy in over a year and he hadn't met Jani yet. We made the trek down to see him after we had finished up with the other graduations. We had a great time chatting with him and Jani loved him up. She was such a trooper. We really have been blessed with an amazing daughter. She didn't make a peep (other than talking) the entire time we were there. Never cried, never fussed. It's so fun to have our old friends meet Jani.

Piggy Paint!

I live for pedicures in the summer. I love going...sitting in the massage chair...listening to the workers speak languages I don't understand...and walking out with bright pink toenails (possibly with a pretty little flower on them). I found it only fitting that Jani be able to enjoy this same joy...minus the massage chair and foreign languages, though I might be able to wow her with my french :) Painting the toenails of a 7 month old is a challenge, to say the least. But we got it done. In honor of her toes, we had a photo session on the deck in her cute outfit. Unfortunately, her toes ended up in only one. I will have to get pics tomorrow....but the pictures were just plain yummy. I could just eat this little girl's cheeks :)

Running for Lillian

I've always been a reader. I am a reading teacher and have had this hobby as my outlet. When Doug and I decided to start trying to get pregnant, I instantly started reading...and researching...and googling. One day, I happened upon The Bump, a website for pregnant women and women trying to get pregnant to come together for support. I joined the site and soon met a group of women that were a great support system for me. About 75 of us have joined together on our own board. The mamas on this board are my go-to girls. I ask any and all pregnancy, baby, post-partum, relationship, and personal questions that I have. We celebrate together and mourn together. We laugh, cry, and even get into some very controversial discussions. One mama gave birth to her first daughter, Lillian, and after many tests found out that Lillian had PWS, Prader-Willi Syndrome. Sarah and Phil have worked hard to get Lillian the very best care they can but, at this time, no cure exists. You can read more about Lillian on Sarah's blog....Falling For Baby. One of the ladies on our board, Vanessa, has decided to run a 10K in honor of Lillian to raise funds for PWS research. We are all supporting her in any way we can. If you are interested in making a donation to PWS research...here is the link...PWS Donation.

One Man's Junk...

Have I expressed my love for all things garage sale on here? These last couple weekends, Doug, Jani and I have been seen walking around neighborhoods scoping out the sales. Now, in all honesty, I should be having garage sales...not going to them. I could find quite a bit of my own junk to get rid of. But I just love the hunt! I have found quite a few good deals lately too. Last weekend, we got a Packers cheerleading outfit for Jani for $1! ONE DOLLAR! That's just crazy :) Another find, for just one measly quarter, were these shoes for Jani. She will probably only wear them for a month, but they'll be darn cute for that whole month! Tonight, she wore them on our walk and was totally amused by them. Doug stood her up on them and boy, did she start modeling. I had to snap some pics :)

Honest Scrap....

Stacia over at Mission: Happily Ever After (the similarity in our names is purely coincidental) awarded me with the Honest Scrap Award. She has been a big part of my e-mommy support group and we were both blessed with beautiful baby girls. Go check her out :) Part of accepting the award is telling 10 things about yourself. I've been thinking about this ever since she awarded me and I think I finally have 10 :)

1. Sometimes when I'm driving, I turn the air conditioning up really high just so I can use my heated seat. I love the feeling of a heated seat...hot cross buns :)

2. I am messy...and I can now openly admit it. I really don't care to do any cleaning that doesn't prevent my family from not getting sick. That's the only cleaning that's important! I wish I was organized...I truly do. But if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...

3.I embrace sarcasm. I love it...and my hubby claims I'm good at it. I think I suppress it in certain situations. Some people just bring it out in me :)

4. I love football. I never thought I would say those words. Doug has turned me into a leatherhead. The Panthers are my true love but I am slowly developing a love for the Packers. If only they had cuter colors...

5. At one point in my life, I owned an insane amount of underwear...like upwards of 200 pairs. Buying underwear was like a drug for me. I'm getting better, but am most definitely not cured yet!

6. I find plucking hairs to be soothing. I love plucking my eyebrows and have even conned Doug into allowing me to pluck his.

7. I have an unhealthy addiction to all things chocolate. This addiction is contributing to my inability to drop the baby weight. Oy...

8. I own every season of Dawson's Creek and can practically recite every episode. I can say this about Sex and the City as well.

9. I was in concert band in high school...and jazz band...and marching band...and pep band...and choir. Does that make me a geek? Did you know that Independence has a great jazz band? ;)

10. I loathe shaving my legs. It's the one thing about summer that I could do without. I love the way shaved legs feel but I seriously HATE doing it!

Okay....now Blogs I recommend. ( I know these people blog regularly so we'll see if they accept their awards! )

1. Kali @ Team DeBoer
2. Bailey @ A Journey to Forever

3. Ashley @ Our Life Better Together

This Little Piggy...

I have wanted Jani to have a pigtail since the day she was born. I have always loved pigtails on babies. Today, I decided to try and put one in. Success!!! She looked absolutely adorable. I am going to have so much fun with her hair...hopefully she'll let me. Now I can't wait until I can put two in! Oh, the things a mother looks forward to....

Seriously Mom...

...the camera again????

Mother's Day...

My baby made me a card at daycare...I cried like a baby. Isn't that the cutest little chubby baby hand you've ever seen?!

Gerber's Got Nothin' On Me!

Continuing with our Go Green theme (can you tell we are slightly obsessed?!), Doug and I have been tackling making our own baby food. It's actually been fun. I am by no means a cook....I rarely cook a meal that takes more than a couple ingredients. It's just not a passion of mine...but I seriously wish it was. Maybe it will be someday...but back to baby food. Have you ever gone to a baby shower and been forced to taste nasty baby food? The stuff makes me want to throw up...I literally gag upon putting it in my mouth. I just couldn't imagine making J eat it. Enter homemade baby food. This is stuff I would actually eat...it tastes good! So what did I spend my Saturday night doing? Why, making yummy baby food of course :) Me and my Magic Bullet make a great team!

Go Green, Young Man

This is my public service announcement for cloth diapering. Cloth diapering, you ask? I can just see you all cringing just thinking about it! I was a skeptic at first too. I mean, disposable diapers are SO easy. Why mess with a good thing right? 27.4 billion diapers are used in the US each year....that adds an additional 3.4 million tons of used diapers to the landfills every year. That is staggering to me....what are we doing to the world that our children are going to live in? Doug and I really try to go green in as many aspects of our lives as we can...and I know we could do better! So the cloth diapering debate wasn't a difficult one. We bought our stash from a good friend and have built onto it from there. They really are easy. Washing them is not hard and I haven't been grossed out (not any more than I am with sposies!) We do, however, use disposable at daycare...haven't converted that yet. We also use disposable when we are on the road....we could use our cloth, and probably will, we just haven't gotten there yet. Jani loves them...and let me tell you...they are adorable!! I just love her little fluffy butt :)