Seriously...7 months old?!

As this is the last day of February, my little sister's ticker will say that she is seven months old tomorrow. Being born on the 31st makes it particularly difficult to count how many months old she is. She's growing up so fast though that soon it won't matter! Mommy quit helping me post about how many months old I am so long ago! Anyway, let's move on to fun facts about Cara at seven months old.

-As previously described in the last post, her new passion is standing...at all times. :) She is working very hard to move herself around whether it's kind of turning in circles on her stomach or doing the smash your face into the carpet and scooch thing...she needs Grandpa Quaife to come teach her how to crawl! She is desperate to be mobile.
-She still remains a smiley baby and loves to greet anyone she sees in the morning with a face cracking grin.
-She did figure out though that Mommy is the best and will cry dramatically if she needs Mom.
-No hair...sigh.
-She's started babbling. Her only real word still is Momma but sometimes I think she means Dadda too. Of course I really remain the only person who regularly understands her. Mom struggles even when I talk.
-And she LOVES food. She loves flavor. In the more adventurous arena, she has been exposed to teriyaki, salsa, sour patch kids, ranch, salt and vinegar.. and she devours them all. She has a strong preference for bananas. It can be the Gerber Baby Food kind but she will flip if she sees a banana in your hand. You better want to share. She eats her veggies too. In the pictures below she's being fed peas and likes them! She's just like Mommy though and pulls a "this is gross, I'm going to puke face" no matter what if it's the first time she's eaten it. However as long as it's not cold she'll eat anything.

Where did our baby go?!

Okay, where did my little tiny newborn sister go? Mommy always said that after six months they stop being tiny babies, but come on! Now Cara spends all her time trying to maneuver her way over to MY things. (Yes I've learned that things are MINE and NOT YOURS.) She spends hours wriggling and squirming and twisting and getting frustrated. Her greatest joy lately comes from standing. She LOVES to hold on to the edge of tables, chairs, Mommy's legs, the side of the play yard, the church pew, if it can be hung on she does it.


And here is proof of Mommy's good parenting skills. Yes that's my six (almost seven) month old sister precariously strapped into the semi of grocery carts. And yes that is me chugging a Diet Coke. (For the record, by the time we got home I was sound asleep. Apparently, I get so much caffeine daily that it does NOTHING to me. Mommy's head is hung in shame.)


(Yes the sun is actually shining off of my poor bald headed sister. I swear there is fuzz on her head. I swear!)

Little Bit o' Spring!

Mommy loves summer, but a close second is spring. She also loves St. George and this is because you can start pulling out the warm weather clothes in February! We've been spending the last couple of days in capris and shorts and no jackets and flip flops. (Okay Mommy always wears flip flops!) We went to the park more than once. Love it! It's also been very nice that I'm finally coordinated enough and confident enough in myself that Mommy can spend more time just watching me play than helping me not injure myself seriously on playground equipment. I do all the slides by myself. Including the really tall ones which still make Mommy nervous. We're not quite to the Mommy comes with her friends and sits and gabs while I play slightly unsupervised.

Isn't she the cutest lady bug?!

And in a very silly matter, I must warn you that there is a PG-13 picture below....I came in from hot tubbing with the crew and found Mommy using her breast pump. She'd been at work and needed to replenish the extra milk supply in the freezer. I love her pump and think it's so much fun to help her use it. However this time I decided I needed a turn. Sorry that I am sans clothing. But you aren't supposed to use it over your clothes as I reminded Daddy when it was his turn and he tried to set them on top of his shirt. Here is the picture Mommy captured amid fits of giggles

Olympic Fever

Guest post by Daddy:

Is there a doctor in the house? Cause I got Olympic Fever!!

That was cheesy.

I do love the Olympics though, especially the winter Olympics. I have ever since I was a little kid. Aerials, speed skating, moguls, skeleton, the biathlon...I'd sit and watch them all day, sadly. I've been reminding my wife and her family all about how really nerdy I am when I can not only readily identify all of the leading athletes in these events, but call them by their nicknames, if any, and relate bits of their life stories.

"No way, that's Ole Einar Beorndalen! He's gotta be the favorite in this event. Remember that picture of him winning the 10k sprint in Torino with that huge snotsicle hanging off his chin?"
"Uh, no."

Or,

"I guess Johnny Moseley makes a pretty good commentator. Anyone going to do the Dinner Roll this year?"
"The what?"

Or,

"Man, it's cool that the Germans can still win the men's luge without the Flying White Sausage on the team this year."
"The what?"
"You know, Georg Hackl, the flying white sausage? But don't call him that to his face 'cause he really doesn't like it. The Germans had these white uniforms you see...and...and..."
"Whatev, dude."

It's great. It's even better when I'm sitting next to my brother in law, who can't believe that I can only count on one hand the number of players in the NBA, NFL and all college sports combined whose names I recognize. Lebron who? And HOW much does he make per game?

I Believe in Dinosaurs

It's true. Mommy has a testimony of dinosaurs. She took me to this great museum here and had a faith building experience! It's the Dinosaur Discovery Museum and it's where some of the best dinosaurs tracks have been found. Basically they built a building around the dig site to preserve everything that they've found. I just thought it was a bunch of dirt but Mommy kept saying things like..."oh my gosh" "you have to be kidding me" "Dinosaurs really existed!" Apparently she just never got it before. There wasn't really much for me to do but there was a fun coloring station and I liked the big fossils. However, we definitely recommend it. You just come away with such a sense of awe.



On a different note, Cara had her doctor's appointment today. Mommy pulled a dirty trick and I ended up getting a shot too but I lucked out and got to just get some mist in my nose. Lots better than the four needles Cara had to deal with. Anyway, Cara is
15 lbs 11 ozs which puts her in the 39% again
25 and a 1/2 inches tall which is the 34% (she was only in the 12% last time!)
and her head is 17.3 inches around and that's the 84%. (We do big heads in this family.)
Just as a reminder, I was over 17 lbs at my six month appointment. Cara is pint sized and not nearly as rolly polly!

Also we got to have some yummy cake and ice cream for Aunt Angie's birthday yesterday...sorry our blog birthday wishes are a day late. Thanks for the cake Uncle Christian! Happy Birthday, Aunt Angie!

Ah potty training....

Mommy hasn't bragged about me in awhile. I'm mostly potty trained. I still wear the fun princess pull ups because I'm still mastering the art of anticipation. I tend to let a little bit leak out and then shriek "potty" and go running. However I am very consistent and telling Mommy that I need to go. And I mostly go on the BIG potties, even the ones in public! I only use the little potty for number twos. (Much to the dismay of the rest of the household, I tend to say "Potty, Shrek" when I need to do number two meaning I want to sit and watch a movie in the bedroom while doing my business. This leads to a pungent aroma that can make teenagers and grandpas kind of cranky!)

I do like wearing panties but I tend to demand them at the most inopportune times. Such as a Sunday afternoon hike in the red hills...this leads to moments like this:

Daddy tried to hold me and Mommy kept telling me to go peepee but I thought they were both looney and ended up having a small accident in my pretty Tinker Bells. (This brings up a memory for Mommy of a different Sunday walk to a park involving another type of potty accident and a now missing pair of Tinker Bells.)
Anyway, I'm a big girl and I wanted to brag. I finally like going to the nursery at the gym. I talk in mostly full sentences and still love to use my signs when talking.

And here's an embarrassing photo from the same walk...this is what happens when diapers no longer help hold up your pants!