Off She Goes

Note the intense concentration.

Sophia is the most persistent little munchkin I've ever encountered. She takes after her daddy. (Yes, I am afraid.) The girl has been trying her best to crawl for awhile now. Every chance she got she would squirm out of my arms and onto the floor to practice.

Again, and again, and again.

The past few days I've known it was coming soon. And here it is. She is officially crawling. She has her moves down and coordinated.

Oh, my. Katy, please, bar the door!

She is now capable of accessing every single corner of the house where she promptly digs the dust out and tries to eat it. Yes, this is the same girl who turned her nose up at avocados. You can't tell me that dust bunnies taste better.

Sigh. I think I need a maid.


***Don't forget to check out my giveaway!***

Dandelion Giveaway!!

Giveaway Closed
The winner is Aimee!

At nearly 8 months old
Sophia's toy collection was lacking in all things pink, but Dandelion remedied that situation. They generously sent her a selection of toys from their Pink collection...

We received the Brunette Toddler Doll, the Little House Sorter, and Baby's First Doll (all pictured above)....quite a fun package! These toys are soft and squeezy and cute, but best of all, they're organic. This is good because Sophia feels the need to put everything in her mouth. In fact, the first test these toys had to pass was the taste test, which they did with flying colors...

Yum! :)

One cool thing I wanted to mention is that a portion of the proceeds from the Pink collection goes to support Breast Cancer Research. Just another reason to buy a little girl in your life a touch of pink.

Dandelion also has lots of other adorable, eco-friendly items to browse through....natural tableware, organic canvas totes, teethers, and more. So, head on over and find that perfect baby/kiddo gift you've been looking for!

Now for the really fun part! Dandelion is giving one of my readers his/her choice of a product from the Pink collection!! Here's how to toss your name in the hat....

1. Mandatory Entry: Check out the Pink collection and leave a comment with an item you'd love to have...don't worry. You can change your mind later if you win. :)

2. Bonus Entries: You can tweet (once daily) or blog (once total) about the giveaway.  Be sure to link back to this post.  Leave separate comments with urls for each of those entries.

Please, leave a way for me to contact you!!!

Contest is open to U.S. only. Apologies to my international friends!!
Contest will end May 6, 2011 at 10:00 pm central time.

Good Luck, Y'all!

We're Okay But So Many Aren't

I had a giveaway planned for this morning, but in light of last night's devastating storms that just didn't feel right. The current death toll  throughout the South is 200...there were 32 in my own home state. Please keep those who've been affected in your prayers, and if you have the means consider donating to the American Red Cross.

Roadside Find

Monday morning Stephan woke me up all excited:
"Hey! Do you wanna go look at a free piano?"
"Um. No. Why would we want a piano?"
"It's free!!"
"But, no one here plays the piano."
"But, it's free!!"
"We don't have room, and we don't need to take things just because they're free."

Good argument, right? Obviously not since that's a picture of it in our garage, and now it's parked in our living room. It's Levi's new toy.
And, that's Levi's goodnight moon book up there. "Mama, it's a songbook. I'm singing!"
Sigh. I suppose I'll have to rearrange the furniture....again.

A Really Good Easter

There was egg dying...

And egg hunting...

And then more egg hunting...

Mixed in with a little Aunt Annie babywearing...

And some wonderful cousins...

And some really beautiful weather...

Perfect for some kiddo horse back riding...

I'd say it was a pretty fantastic Easter weekend. Hope yours was equally blessed and wonderful!

Scenes From Today

This Easter weekend is a full one, and we're enjoying every minute of it. Happy Easter y'all!

Happy Earth Day/Good Friday

Don't forget to B Kind 2 your Earth!

I hope today is the beginning of a very special weekend for all of you!

Weekend Loves

Some links for y'all:

: : This bunny will be holding a few treats for my little fella on Easter morning.

: : This is so cute! It's going in the inspiration file for Sophia's Easter Basket (for next year)

: : When I was a kid I loved to make dollhouses out of cardboard boxes. I would have gone gaga over this.

: : I bought these for Sophia, and I can't wait for them to arrive.

: : And, who wouldn't want miniature pop tarts on a stick?!!!

Happy Sunday!

A Little Beeventuring

Sophia's illness pretty much consumed last week. It was all we could think about. Thankfully Stephan was off of work through much of it....such a blessing. Once our little girl was well though, we were all ready to get out of the house for a little beeventuring. If you're not up to snuff on Levi-speak, that has nothing to do with bees and everything to do with adventures. We headed out to one of our favorite spots on the Natchez Trace....Rocky Springs.

We took turns sporting Sophia in our Ergo (best baby purchase ever!). Is there anything cuter or sweeter than a babywearing daddy?!!

Levi had so much fun. He ran around barefoot...which you might think happens a lot around here what with the blog title and all, but so far this little man has not taken quite the liking to barefeet as his mama has.

And, just so that someday in the future my kids will have photographic evidence that I was indeed there, here's the one picture of me...

Levi tried to make a break for it when it was time to go.

Can you blame him? I know I can't. Just look at the place! Beautiful.

So, do you have a favorite beeventuring spot?

Be Kind 2 Earth Day

 

Earth Day is coming up next week! Friday, April 22...to be exact.

Have you given any thought to how you will celebrate? It doesn't have to be big and earth shattering...just one small act of kindness to our beautiful earth will do just fine.....pick up a stray bit of trash.....take your kids for a walk to give them an appreciation for nature....collect a few items to recycle....use real, cloth napkins for the day (hey, you might find that you like it!).

So, if you're in on doing one nice thing for the planet (big or small) then head on over to Be Kind 2 Earth Day's Facebook Fan Page and "like" it to show your support. Then click on over here to register your state.

As for us, we'll be keeping it low key. I'm thinking of doing a flip-flop drop off at Old Navy followed by a nature walk and a picnic. The parks around here are generally super clean, but we'll bring along a grocery bag to collect any trash we might happen upon. And, if Levi has any say we'll be collecting stray leaves for a collage. The boy loves to make art. What can I say? We just might be related. ;)

I'll leave you with a little Mississippi factoid....did you know that we have 1.2 million acres of public lands just waiting for us to check them out? If you ask me, that's reason enough to go exploring!

*Photographs taken on a recent "beeventure".  Will blog about it soon....promise.

A Little Throwback

I was at my parents' house today looking through old photos. This is me checking out my parents' first computer. Can you believe the size of that thing. Just in case you're wondering I'm 29 inching very close to 30, so that's quite the vintage computer there.

Of course, I was instantly reminded of this photo of Levi.

I think I was 4 months and Levi was 5 months in the above photos. Can you believe how tiny we once were. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that.

Where We've Been

Last weekend Sophia had trouble sleeping.  She's normally a great sleeper. I chalked it up to teething.  Monday she woke up from her nap with a fever. I called Stephan to pick up some motrin, just in case. Monday night those fevers got high....really scary high....over 104.
She quit nursing.
She just slept and slept and slept.
When she was awake she was pitiful.

Tuesday her fever stayed around 102. I figured it was just a bug she'd get over.
Tuesday afternoon she was asleep  in my arms, and I could feel her temperature rising over a matter of minutes.
I slipped a thermometer under her arm.
I didn't let it finish. When it hit 103, I pulled it out and put her in a sink full of lukewarm water.
It all just felt so wrong. Levi has been sick before. He's run super high temps even. But, there was just something different this time. I can't fully explain it, but Sophia was the sickest baby I'd ever seen.
Stephan was at work. I called my mom, and she met us at the after hours clinic.
When the doctor told me that Sophia had a blood infection and needed an antibiotic, I wanted to do my usual, "Gee, thanks, but no thanks, doc." But, I knew he was right.
They gave her a shot of rocephin, and instructed me to schedule a follow up with her doctor the next day.

Thankfully, the next day she was showing big signs of improvement, but even with all the improvements she still classified as the sickest baby I'd ever seen. Her doctor (who I love and who truly respects our desire to medicate as little as possible) sat down, sighed a deep sigh, and said, "She really needs a round of antibiotics. You can wait until tomorrow if that will make you feel better, but she needs them."
We hoped that maybe she was wrong, but when Sophia began to go downhill again that evening, we got the prescription filled.
She's improved with each dose.
She's even smiling again.

Smiles are good.

Weekend Loves

A few favorites...

: : This birth story. Now I want to read her book.

: : This deliciously, soft yarn is currently on my needles. I want more of it...a sweater maybe...for me? It's that soft, y'all...really.

: : If you're a tinge bored, this is fun.

: : And, this is just wonderful....bored or not.

Hope y'all had a beautiful weekend!

: :

A Little Taste

The past couple of months, Sophia has been practically begging for food. I hadn't planned to introduce solids to her until she was closer to a year, but the begging had me feeling guilty. Sooooo, about a week ago, I smashed some avocado and gave her a taste. She was less than impressed. In fact, she made the worst face ever and promptly spit it out. Her interest in food has waned since then. She's decided that nursing isn't so bad after all. ;)

Also, she's 7 months old today!

P.S. Obviously I need to start pulling out my real cameras more often. I've become an instagram junkie.