Fun Times Around the House

Papillon and I get out for fun adventures fairly frequently, but a good number of our good times take place here at home.

Lately we have been working on sitting up. Papillon loves to sit up, though she is far from stable at this point.

And we still love mirror time.
Note the surprise on Papillons face, likely in response to the fact that Marge is licking her toes.

And here she is wondering why I am laughing and not doing anything about Marge's nasty tongue on her toes.

While tummy time is largely a great deal of fun, there are times when Papillon will have none of it.
And she protests.
Like this:

First she goes head down.
Then the feet to straight up in the back. (I must get a picture of this at some point, its kind of adorable)
Then she wiggles her nose back and forth on the carpet in attempts to get rug burn.
And then she starts crying.
That's when I know the fun is over.

Chili Cook Off

It is the end of October, and that means it is time for Mon Amour's family's annual Oktoberfest.

This year's event was a chili cookoff.
There were 4 yummy chilis, and mine won for Spiciest, which is to be expected seeing as how it had 2/3 a cup of chili powder in it. Yikes.

As always, there were lots of yummy beers to taste.

There were "only" 28 different kinds this year, and the host was concerned that there wouldn't be enough. We sampled 24 of the 28 beers, so I think there was enough.

This year's party also included some pumpkin carving.
Mon Amour carved a beer glass into his pumpkin.

And his cousins went for a more traditional face.

Papillon made the rounds to everyone's arms.
(Notice in this one how she is actually holding on to, and chewing on a toy! The hand-eye coordination bit is coming together slowly)

Cuteness!

With every one tasting so many beers, Papillon wondered where her bottle was.

Ahh! That is better.

The day after the party, we hung out with Mon Amours parents for a bit; long enough for Papillon to show off her skills.

Head lifting skills:

And almost-sitting-up-with-the-help-of-the-boppy skills.

Mom and Daughter Outing

Last week our local zoo was offering free admittance for one day only, in honor of a city wide "Free Fall" event. Not liking to pass up on anything free, I was determined to find some folks to go with me and Papillon.

When a facebook invitation yielded no results, I was rather distressed that we would be going it alone. But at the last minute, I found a friend to invite, and she in turn, invited 2 other friends.
So, off we went, one fine fall day, 4 moms and 4 daughters exploring the zoo.

There were crazy birds......giraffes...

...rhinos and more.

Papillon is ever the skeptic about such outings.

Especially when she has to ride in the stoller...and all she can see is me. Really, she says, what is the point and where is my sling?

She was eventually won over.

I am very much looking forward to next year when Papillon will be able to walk around the zoo and actually appreciate the animals! It will be such fun.

The Creepy Tree

The other weekend, Mon Amour, Papillon and I visited a nearby Historic Mansion.

There were lots of things to see, and it was their fall festival so we watched some cider making and ice cream churning, but possibly the most fascinating part of our visit was the discovery of...

The Creepy Tree.
(Not the official name)

It is hugely old and knotty. But a lot of trees are.
The creepy-ness increases as you get closer.

You can actually step inside the tree and stick your hand through it.
Its still green and growing (in spots)

And on the back side, there is a spot where some how the tree grew such that it looks like a spine or something. Creepy.

Obviously the bright sunlight of this beautiful fall day detract from the creepy-ness. But trust me. This was a creepy tree.

Papillon was thoroughly creeped out.

Or bored. Its hard to say.

So many clothes

Recently, I decided that it was time to go through Papillons clothes and start pulling out things that didn't fit any longer. Until very recently she was still fitting in all of her 0-3 month clothes. In the past week or so, I have begun to notice that the 0-3s are a bit too short for our long, skinny baby.

In the process of going through her clothes, I was reminded how wonderfully blessed we were in the clothes department.

Let's take the pajamas as an example.
First, the footy pajamas. About a dozen of them...all either 0-3 or 3-6 month size.

And then these sleep sack contraptions (that I haven't really embraced yet, they are super cute, but not the most practical in my mind) - Another 10 of this variety.

Papillon could wear a different set of pajamas to bed every night for 3 weeks straight if she wanted to.

As I was pulling out some 3-6 month clothes to add to our wardrobe rotation, this is what Papillon's room looked like:

So many clothes...Papillon kind of blends into the piles of clothes in the picture above.

Photo Shoot

On a particularly gorgeous fall day recently, Mon Amour and I decided to take Papillon to a local park and get some photos of her in which she is NOT sitting in her bouncy seat or boppy. It was time to change up the background.

We had a lot of fun and took a ton of photos. Here is just a small sampling.
(and they are sort of in reverse-chronological order, which is why Papillon is grumpy in the first ones and happier later on. It really happened the other way).


Kisses (and tears) in the Moby Wrap.

Snuggling with Mommy, in the Moby Wrap, while wearing an awesome hat.

We should have tried for the family photo before Papillon got crabby....cause this is as good as we got.

Staring at the scenery.

More adorable staring.

Playing in the leaves.

Not sure what to make of the "torpedo pose". (We were having too much fun at this point)

Oddly enough, also not sure what to make of daddy's kisses.

She succumbed to the kisses eventually.

Sweetness with daddy.

Sweetness with mommy.

Plain ol' Adorable.

The Marathon

Recently, Papillon and I ventured into the great depths of this city that we live in to watch its 10th Annual Marathon. Or, technically, we were there for the 1/2 Marathon.

We got up super early (5:30am. Yikes) in order to get downtown before they started shutting down roads. We met up with some friends - he was running the 1/2 marathon, and she was joining Papillon and I in watching. And after some yummy breakfast, we headed out into the crowds.

Here we are surveying the crowds trying to pick out a familiar face.

I had no idea this marathon was going to be so huge. I was told afterwards that there were about 22,000 runners, plus all the people just watching. Definitively the biggest event I have ever been to.


It was like Where's Waldo trying to find our friend. But he is in this photo:

Look at the masses of people! And this is just a section of 1/5th of the 1/2 Marathoners!!

Papillon was a trooper the whole day. She slept alot, and also enjoyed watching people go past.

At the end of the race it took us 45 minutes to connect with our runner friend. It felt like a long time, but honestly, it was miraculous we found him that fast. I have never seen so many people in one place in all my life!

Fortunately, Papillon seized those 45 minutes to take a good, solid, adorable nap:

I am very glad we were able to be there for the Marathon, and hopefully we can go again next year!

Baby in the Mirror

We recently propped a mirror up on the floor so that Papillon could see herself, and she pretty much loves it.

She plays by the mirror almost every morning, with endless amusement.

Marge stays nearby because obviously Papillon must be protected from the vicious looking dog in the mirror.

Hats

I love that it is hat season. Papillon looks adorable in all of her hats.

This one we actually got at the hospital (the nurses make these crocheted ones for babies (like Papillon) whose heads are too big for the hospital issued ones). We just folded down the little trim part to make it slightly bigger, and it fits great!

This hat, however, may be our favorite.

What is not to love about having a little sunshine on your head!

Thanks to Papillon's Nannie and Grandpa for the fantastic hat!

Wardrobe - First Additions

New additions to the wardrobe are already coming in! Time to blog about them before I get too far behind.

First Trip: Kohls.
Armed with one of those $10 off any purchase coupons, and aiming for the clearance racks (LOVE Kohls clearance), I got 3 shirts (brown, white and fuscia) for $4.51.
Retail Value: $62.26

Second Trip: A Different Kohls.
Again, I had one of those $10 off any purchase coupons. This time my primary goal was to get some baby clothes for a gift for a friend. But when those didn't quite come to $10, and their leggings were on sale, I had to get myself a pair.
Total for the leggings (and the baby clothes, not pictured): $6.38
Retail Value (including baby clothes): $76.37

Having run fresh out of $10 off coupons for Kohls, my next trip led me to Goodwill.

Goodwill trip #1:
1 Trench Coat.
1 black and white jacket (with a crazy collar. Its bold, but Mon Amour tells me I can pull it off)
2 tops.
Total Cost: $21.20
I was excited that the Trench Coat rang up as a "jacket" for $5.75, rather than a "coat" for $15. Though I would gladly have paid $15 for it.

Goodwill Trip #2 (A different Goodwill)
An awesome red dress!
A green half-sweater thing.
A denim skirt.
Total Cost: $16.96

In summary, so far I have purchased 11 new pieces, at spent a total of $49.05.
That averages out to about $4.45 per item.

I already feel worlds better about my clothing options - I have very nearly doubled the number of tops that I own - and I still have $441.95 to spend. However, I have yet to buy some of the necessities on my list (nursing camis, shoes, etc) which I suspect will quickly take my per piece average way up.

For now though, a very exciting start!