Catch up from November!

**big, long post warning**

It's ridiculous how fast the weeks go by lately. I'm sure I've said it to more than one of you out there (hahahaha, as if there are more than one or two of you reading this! And, ps, you're my most favorite bffs.) since becoming a stay-at-home mommy the days go by rather slowly, but the weeks just fly by! I don't understand the complexities behind why we experience time the way that we do...I'll leave that to smarter, more interested people. But it is fairly intriguing, don't you think?

(insert much loud clattering noise as I get my thought train back on the right tracks)

Right, so I am playing a little catch up on pictures and updates on Cababy.

Here are just a few of the things Cababy can now do:

1. Crawl - still might not be the conventional technique but she has no trouble getting around and it's not just by rolling anymore.
2. Sit - not only is she no longer throwing her head back in wild abandon trusting that either someone or a pillow will be there to catch her, but she can also now go from crawling on tummy to a sitting position all by herself. This has made for some interesting bedtimes. Sometimes she just chooses to sit up in her crib for a while...maybe just because she can.
3. Kiss! - when you ask her for a kiss she'll lean in, sometimes with mouth wide open, sometimes with lips together...always an exciting surprise for the other person. We've also been working on blowing kisses. She's less consistent with this, but occasionally she gets on a roll and that's all we do for 10 minutes or so...just blow kisses back and forth. Can you think of a better way to spend time?
4. Make funny noises - okay, she's always made funny noises, but these are usually mimicking (mocking?) us. She'll move her tongue between her lips while making the "ah" sound...hard one to explain, but do it and you'll know what I'm talking about...it's pretty funny.
5. Fake sneeze - this is one of her favorite anticipation games. We play a lot while doing diaper changes. Ah-ah-ah-ah-aaaaaah.........achoo + tickles = hilarity. And then she makes her own version of the "achoo" to let me know that she's ready for another round.
6. Courtesy laugh - that's right. the fake laugh has arrived and I must say it illicites many real laughs from ED and me. It's just so fake. She likes to pull it out when everyone else is laughing at something or when someone has a particularly loud or interesting laugh.
7. Eat - we are firmly on the "solid" food bandwagon. Everything from fruits and vegetables to turkey purees and kamut puffs. Still working on the chewing action...it's a challenge with only two teeth. We're not quite at pieces of food yet (very strong gag reflex), except for the kamut, but I think she might be ready in time for Christmas. We'll see.

Here are a couple of videos from this fall (sorry about my awesome camera skills):

In baby Peter news...well, there's not too much going on. He's getting bigger (me too) and so are his movements (i.e. my belly can now reenact scenes from the Alien movies). This week I'll be 38 weeks...this moves us into "the window"...which is a slightly scary place to be. Essentially, it's that window of time where Peter could come at any moment. Yeah, this was sorta news to me. So, we're scrambling around trying to complete projects, order car seat and double stroller, etc. Oh, and we (read "I") totally procrastinated signing up for childbirth classes...so they were all full through February. Thankfully, we know a wonderful lady through church who used to teach the Lamaze method and, though she's "retired," agreed to take us through an abbreviated (because of the procrastination) course. So, that's going well. We just need to keep making time to practice, practice, practice. I have to keep reminding myself that this will likely be my primary pain management...so I want to be REALLY good at it. :)

By-the-way, where is my nesting instinct?! I could really use the kick-in-the-pants motivation. It's getting a little tiring being this big (and believe me, I'm now super-sized Mandy) and keeping up with Cababy and all of the house stuff. Sometimes Eric has to step in on the weekend just to make sure there'll be work clothes for Monday. I've been finding I need to nap during at least one of Cababy's naps. And, surprise, nothing gets done while I'm napping...even though I've talked to Mel about it, he's not on board with chores.

I have pictures, time is just proving to be a rare commodity so they'll be along sometime soon. For now this will have to tide you over. :)