Caption This!

Sooooo, this keeps happening....

Did she jump? Do we need to get out the white chalk? No, no no. Someone is a little juice drunk perhaps?

I don't know what it is but these photos just really make me giggle. She only stays that way for less than 5 minutes, but it's long enough for me to snap a picture that I can laugh at over and over. 

Social Butterfly

Makaela went to three birthday parties over the span of two weeks. For some reason this was so crazy to me. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me that all her little buddies, so close in age, would obviously all have birthdays close together. Common sense, I sometimes lack. 

I'm glad Mak's birthday is one of the later ones, because now I've gotten to see how other people tackle the all important FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY and I've learned what seems to work well. 

Eeeeeee, baby girl's birthday is SO soon. I just can't believe it. Okay, I'm going off on a tangent. Reel me back in before I launch into the detailed plans for her party.

She has four little friends that she spends time with every week. We've met them at playgroups or story time and now regularly hang out. Makaela seems to love hanging with her pals, and especially enjoys playing with toys they have at their homes, that we do not have! 

The other moms and me all agree that the kids are a lot less clingy to mommy when they are in a different space and with other people. Win, win. 

Oh and they really do seem to learn from each other. It may sound funny, but after hanging with her friends Makaela always seemed more determined to try new things (like walking!).

It's been fun to watch all the kids grow and hit different milestones. They are all unique and it is wonderful. Some have more teeth than others, some walk, some scoot...you get the point.

The first time I took Makaela to a playgroup I was super nervous. I was worried other parents would be judgmental and would sit there comparing the kids "Well MY daughter..." Eww. Who likes that?! But fortunately I've been lucky to meet some cool parents! We mostly talk about random non-baby related stuff, but when we do get on the topic of baby we tend to talk about how we miss napping and sleeping through the night :-p

My advice to anyone looking to take their little one to a play group is to not get discouraged. You may not love the first one, or the first five, that you go to, but you will eventually find one that is a good fit for you. I take Makaela to a few different ones, and they definitely each have their own "vibe." 

And yes, that is cake on her face. Incredibly delicious chocolate banana cake, to be exact.

Can't leave a birthday party without a messy face now can we? Of course not. That'd just be silly.

She Walks!

Guess who can walk now?!?!

^^^ This girl!

 And apparently she likes to do it with her hands full! 

And to think I thought it was hard to snap a photo of her before!! 

What we would officially call her "first steps" occurred on February 4th, just a few days after her 10 month birthday.  She could hardly contain her excitement.

Every day since then she has grown more confident (and more focused, haha). It really is like everyone says, all of a sudden they go and there is no stopping 'em!

This was just a few days later, and she had already become an independent woman...

Walking has really opened so many new doors for her....

(Pun totally intended because I'm cheesy like that)

And now, not even two weeks later the girl is all over the place. From one end of the house to the other, cutting corners like a pro. At this pace she'll be signed up for her first 5k next month ;-)

I swear I do other things besides chase her around with my video camera all day. 

We are looking forward to running around the park this Spring and the pool this summer. Okay, no running at the pool, that's just down right dangerous, but you catch my drift ;-)

So proud of our munchkin girl!

Pictures are worth 1000 Words

Sometimes when I check out my favorite blogs, I don't feel like reading, and I just want to look at the pictures. Can you relate?

Behold a bunch of random photos I've taken over the past couple weeks, that are too cute to be forgotten.

They don't need a big, long post explaining them. Just look...and smile :)

Ready for a friend's birthday party...

 Exploring her room...

Loving on her baby...

Enjoying the park...

 Sipping on coffee (staying true to her WA roots)...

Stoked about Pancake Sunday...

 Spending time with her pups...

 Guess who had cheese for lunch...

Sensory Sunday Funday: Toilet Paper Roll Turned Ball Chute

Lately, Makaela has been all about putting things in containers and taking them out. She has a couple toys where she has to put a ball into hole, and basically it's the most exciting thing in the world to her.

She gets VERY proud of herself when she does it, and so do we :)

Earlier this week, I decided to make a lil somethin' somethin' with that concept in mind. 

All I did was take one of the toilet paper rolls I've been hanging onto and covered it in the left over felt I had from her sensory station. I just used the hot glue gun to make sure it was on there good (enough). 

Then I bought a bag of pom-poms in assorted colors and sizes. I picked out a few that were small enough to fit through the toilet paper roll and just grabbed a plastic container to store them in. 

The idea is that Makaela can drop them through the "chute" and into the container, or wherever. 

I can't get over the look of concentration on her face. Too. Adorable. 

She loves dropping the pom-pom down the chute and watching it fall out the other end. 

Sometimes it gets stuck mid-chute and she has to flip it around and check out the other end, or give it a little shake.

It's a great quiet time activity or a good game to play when she is getting restless with whatever else she is doing. This really seems to capture her attention and calm her down. 

Sometimes if we're feeling ambitious we even "practice" our colors. In other words, I say the color of the pom-pom and she looks at me like I'm interrupting her concentration :)

I don't store this game with the rest of her toys because I'm worried she'll stuff a pom-pom or two in those chipmunk cheeks of hers, or that the dogs will eat one and ain't nobody got time to be sitting in the ER or at the vet for a silly pom-pom related incident.