eiGhT mOnTHs

I'm eight months old!

Here's what I've been up to:

*Weighing in at 17lbs 14oz, 27 inches long

*Eating three "meals" and nursing four times a day- I love to feed myself....especially bananas, cheerios and puffs!! I'm even starting to like my green baby foods and I could probably eat yogurt all.day.long. No teeth yet, but I've mastered some mad gumming!

*I'm a sitting pro but really have no desire to be on my tummy or my hands and knees...pretty sure I'll be pulling up before I'm crawling, or maybe I'll just move straight to walking.

*Favorite activities: emptying my toy basket, flipping the pages in my carboard books, banging and shaking anything and everything, scooting backwards in my walker, laughing at my Lucy sister,  and I'm up to 30 bounces in my jumper!

*I'm ALL over my crib....I can twist and turn my way into any position I want. What? I just want to make sure every one of those crib rails is nice and secure.

*Moved from mamama to maaam, to yaaahhhhh to ddduhhh to daaaadda...working on some b-words and major bubble blowing this week also.

*Still a pretty social and friendly girl, but starting to be a little more protective of my mom....just like to know where she is and really prefer her snuggles over anyone else!

*I was baptized a couple of weeks ago and didn't fuss at all! See this post for more baptism photos.

*I gained a new cousin (Jaycee McCarter) and a new BFF (Adalynn Schoenefeld) this month. Girls, girls everywhere!

*I love my baths (now that mom and dad ditched that baby tub!)...splashing is so fun.

*I'm overall a pretty happy girl....just get a little frustrated when I can't get what I want. I'm ready to MOVE people!  Maybe by next month, I'll be on the go...mom and dad have some babyproofing in their future!

WARNING: picture-heavy post!

     Me and aunt Annie after my baptism

Mum mums are messy messy

The eggs were fun, but not sure about this whole grass thing.

Bright sun!!

Me and grandma on Easter

Chilling in front of grandpa's barn

Just getting started

Splish splash!

{What We're Eating}

These are my go-to, use up the odds and ends, super easy, fairly healthy and ohsoyummy cookies.

Everything Cookies
1 stick butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/8 cup ground flax seed (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugars, vanilla and egg with hand mixer. Mix dry ingredients (minus the oatmeal) then add to wet ingredients. Fold in oatmeal. This is where you can add whatever sounds good or you have leftover in the pantry...this time I used:

1/2 cup dried cranberries,
1/2 cup pecan and walnut pieces,
1/2 cup chocolate chips and
1/2 cup butterscotch chips.

I've also used pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, white chocolate chips, raisins.... well, you get the idea!
Bake for 8-10  minutes on a greased cookie sheet. I make SUPER small cookies (about 1 Tbsp dough per cookie) because it makes me feel less guilty about eating them, so this recipe makes about 4 dozen bite-sized treats. Enjoy!

**Baptism**

Some photos taken the day of Claire's baptism...we are so "blessed"!

The girls (Kaleah, Claire, Emme)

Godparents

God is good!

Welcome to the WORLD

Introducing the newest additions to our "family!!"

Adalynn (Addy) Schoenefeld was born on April 9, three weeks early! Her parents (Dave and Christine) are our close friends and Claire's godparents. They recently moved to Ft. Wayne (TEMPORARILY!!) and we miss them and Emme dearly. They truly have become family to us and we are so glad we were able to help welcome their new precious babycakes.

Jaycee McCarter was born on April 11. She is our second neice, Heidi (Spencer's sister) and Niko's second daughter!! Jaycee is absolutely gorgeous (just like her big sister Kaleah) and we love her dearly! Kaleah is ten months older than Claire, and Claire is eight months older than Jaycee, so we're in for some girly drama in the future.  We can't wait to watch all of these girls grow up to be best buds : )

Twenty eleven craftiness

I'm behind on sharing my recent craftings so thought I'd just spare you numerous boring posts and include them all in one. Drum roll please.....

Pickle jar soap dispenser:



Remove label, wash off label goo, paint top, drill hole, insert new dispenser and soap...voila! See the rest of our finished half bath here.

Baby lovie and paci keeper:

3X3 fabric scraps, minky fleece, ribbon, metal snap, sewing machine, a cute baby to snuggle with it...and there you have it!

Hand towel pullover bibs:

Seasonal hand towels that were a gift but I have too many already, knit scraps from old shirt, sewing machine....maybe not the most stylish {kind of 1986ish if you ask me}, but easy to use and easy to wash so who cares?

Framed baby silhouette and hallway collage:

Profile photo of C.E. traced onto black paper, sharpie for hair tuft and eyelashes, magazine article for background, black frame, favorite blog for the idea! 

Family photos, black frames, cardboard monogram painted black, and inspiration from, yep,

you guessed it...here again....I'm now on a vintage key search.

Throw pillow covers:

I swear I don't have all of these pillows on one couch...just lined them up there so I could get them all in one shot. They are mixed and matched in different rooms with pillows I already had. We went a little outside of our comfort zone with the animal print but it was a risk worth taking, if you ask me!

Stay tuned for more DIYing....we've got something BIG in mind!