Hello Blog!

I've been terribly neglectful lately and I apologize.  I'm in the midst of a traveling adventure and have been so busy I haven't had much time to post.  I got to meet up with a couple wonderful friends in San Francisco the other day, cute pictures to come. 

For now though, I just wanted to post a quick entry telling you about a great cloth diaper giveaway, its over at http://couponmommyof2.blogspot.com/ for a Katydid cloth diaper, check it out!

Cake Smash!

Since we're going to be in Oregon for Miss Mercy's 1st birthday we decided to do a cake smash early so that way daddy could be here for it.  We got her a little Winnie the Pooh cake from Walmart to destroy all on her own.  It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to, I wanted to do it during the day when there would be lots of natural light, but after a week of not having time to do it while it was light out we went ahead and did it tonight.  The lighting is off and the quality isn't as good I was hoping because of that, but oh well I still think the turned out pretty cute.  She got upset when we were sitting her down and didn't give her the cake right away, and she was interested in it for a little bit, but after playing with it a little bit she got upset, apparently my girl doesn't like being messy.

Thank you BLW

Dear Baby-Led Weaning,

You make my life very interesting.  I believe you are partially responsible for fostering an incredible bit of independence in Miss Mercy.  For example- she takes it upon herself to take food from my plate and try to take my fork and feed herself.  Her latest adventure was opening the cereal cabinet, grabbing a box of cheerios, opening that, and proceeding to sit on my kitchen floor happy as a clam eating said cheerios.  When she was done eating the cheerios, she then climbed INTO the cabinet to commune with the rest of the cereal.  Our other adventure of the day was having yogurt for the first time.  The probability of massive mess was high with this one, so daddy helped.  I know it wasn't technically baby-led, but I imagine if we had let her she would have just grabbed the container and chugged it.  Her new favorite food is yogurt.  Please find enclosed pictures of our food adventures, and some park ones just for fun.

Sincerely, appreciatively, lovingly, amusedly,

Mercy's Mom

 PS-
I love this kid ridiculous amounts.

Cloth Diaper giveaway!

I purchased my first "real" cloth diaper the other day, a GoodMama fitted with snaps.  I will be doing a review of it in the near future, in the meantime there is a great giveaway at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer, go check it out!

Here's a quick pic, to show you just how cute they are!  This is Miss Mercy, modeling her new super cute LazyDaisy diaper.

Do you talk to your baby?

I mean really talk. Not baby talk, not babble, but actual real TALK.  I have done this since Mercedes was born.  I have conversations with her, I ask her questions and for her opinions.  We will walk through the grocery store and she will be in the wrap or in the cart and I will ask her whats next on the list, what brand we should get, is this green pepper big enough, do we need carrots, does she want bananas, etc etc etc.  We will talk non stop through the store.

I was doing this today while I was looking for socks to turn into Sans Pants.  We were in a teenybopper store (they have good sock selection) and there were a couple different pairs I wanted and I was asking Mercedes which pair should we get.  "Do we want the plain ones or do we want the fun ones? It would be nice to have a pair that goes with everything, but they are kinda boring. What do you think?"  The socks were close to the registers and a woman was standing in line and she says to me, in a rather snotty tone, "Does she usually have a strong opinion on these things?" I was a little taken aback because with all the talking to Mercedes I do out in public nobody has ever said something but I responded telling her "Yes, actually she does.  We always ask her opinions on these kind of things, even picking out produce.  Its important to include baby in conversations and decision making."  She just laughed a little and walked away. 

I realize that at times I probably look a little silly, my baby strapped to me and talking away to her while to other people at least, it appears that she doesn't understand.  I however firmly believe that she does understand and enjoys sharing her opinion and knowing I am interested in it. 

There are SO many benefits to talking with your baby.  It makes them feel important, part of the grown up conversations and helps solidify their importance and validity in your life.  Aside from the emotional benefits, it will also help them learn to talk by emphasizing real words instead of baby talk, and helps them learn the patterns of conversation (first I talk, then you talk).  So go have a conversation with your little one.  Even if you feel a little silly, it will probably make both your days brighter. Totally worth it.

I'm a slacker, I know.

I apologize for the lack of posts lately, I have been lost in a tangle of fabric and thread.


Diaper cozies....


and wraps,

and felt alphabet "blocks", Oh My!

Please forgive me for my neglect, but I have a sewing addiction and am working on getting it under control.  I have several blog posts that are dying to be posted though, so don't be surprised if your Dashboard is flooded by  me.

Curse you Winter!

I'm very distraught.  This cold weather is seriously hindering my photo chances.  We've been having fun going to the park to play and take pictures, but now with it being so cold I can't really take her out, or if we do she has to be super bundled up.  Harumph.  I took her out yesterday, and I imagine that will probably be one of the last park photoshoots we have, and I didn't even get as many cute ones as I would have liked.  There were other kids there playing and she just wanted to turn and watch them.  Here are some I did get though.






 Heres hopin that the weather will warm up in a little (we ARE in Florida after all!)