I tried putting Lauren in the Bumbo; I think she was confused and bored by the whole thing. We'll try it again, but at this point I'm glad that I bought it on Craigslist for a quarter of the price of a new one.

"Seriously, Mom. You think I'll have fun just sitting here?"

"C'mon. This rattle isn't helping."

"Ok, fine. Maybe if I just gnaw on it for a minute..."

Birdhouse Accessories

I stumbled across some plain wooden birdhouses on sale at Michaels a few weeks ago. They were $1 each, and I picked out 4 different styles. They are lightweight and purely decorative-- definitely not anything I'd actually use as a real birdhouse-- and the perfect accessory for LE's bird themed room.

The plain birdhouses were just too, well, plain, but covered with cute scrapbook paper or paint, they'd be perfect to mount in a cluster on a wall or hang from the ceiling as a mobile. I haven't decided which to do yet.

All of the materials that I used to create them are below. Most of them are optional items I had on hand.

1. Birdhouse
2. Cutting surface (only if you are using a razor to cut)
3. Colorful [super cute] paper
4. Paper cutter (optional)
5. Paintbrushes
6. Razor or box cutter
7. Paint
8. Water (optional)
9. Glue (I didn't have glue at home for the first house, so I made my own with cornstarch and water.)
10. Scissors

All you do is paint the small areas and parts that you don't want to cover in paper. Then, using one of the cutting apparatuses, cut out the paper to cover the sections of the birdhouse. Apply a layer of glue to the house. I watered my glue down and spread an even coat with the paintbrush. Press the paper down firmly and make the creases crisp. Voila! You're done!

I'm on the fence about getting some clear spray paint or mod podge to seal it. They can sit on a shelf if you want. I'll either drill a hole in the back to mount it on the wall or put a hole on the top to string fishing wire through to hang it from the ceiling. I'll post pictures when they are hung.

Creating LE's Masterpiece of a Room... or not

My dear friend, Ashleigh, recently asked to see photos of LE's room. Since we just moved into our newly built home less than two months ago (we closed on the house when LE was 9 days old), John and I decided to hold off on transforming her room from four white walls into a masterpiece. We wanted to get our downstairs set up first-- the part that we use. LE doesn't even sleep in her room yet, so I don't think that she feels like she's missing out on anything. That and the fact that a.) she won't remember, and b.) she can only see about 2 feet in front of her at this time.

Now that we're mostly settled and I'm getting bored of white walls upstairs, I've started designing her room. I always knew that I wanted to incorporate a bird/tree theme even though I've noticed over the last year that that is not very original. I'm going to make it original, gosh darn it! Oh, and inexpensive.

I've been mentally cataloging and electronically cataloging with Evernote ideas for LE's room. I'll start posting the developments as they happen... first to come are little birdhouses.

Why I Am a Genius

I pretty much felt like a mom genius (that's the highest level of genius, right?) when I thought of the perfect pacifier travel container: the smallest size of the Rubbermaid storage containers. I keep one for the clean pacifier(s) and one for the pacifier that inevitably dropped from her mouth. I like Rubbermaid's brand the best because it's sturdy, snaps into each other, and has squared edges. Other brands, like Gladware, would work for this, too.

Milestones

I haven't been doing a great job documenting LE's milestones, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been noticing them. For about 3 weeks now, LE has started to respond to her surroundings. She loves her play mat that Aunt Nora gave her; she'll lay on there kicking her legs around, smiling and cooing. It's amazing how much I love to hear her coo. LE will sit on our laps, look hard at our faces, and will try so hard to make a coo or "guh" come out. We have little conversations of nonsensical words.

Overall LE has been a great, well-mannered baby that is easy to soothe. Yesterday LE had an especially cranky afternoon with no smiling times. All she wanted to do was get held, sleep, and eat. I wore her in the BabyBjorn while I cooked dinner, which was the easy part. The hard part was trying to eat in a semi-horizontal position with my less dominant hand and without dropping food on her head. Finally, after I finished eating, she woke up from sleeping on my chest. I see her cute little head spring up to look around. Her nose is two inches from my nose, her eyes peering into my eyes. I got excited thinking that she was going to smile and be happy... but then "buuuuurp!" She puts her head back down. Thanks, LE. Good thing your mom finds your gas funny... for now anyway.

First Real Check-Up

LE had her two month check up last week, and we're happy to announce, she's doing great! The doctor was very impressed at how strong LE is, and she is now 12.2 pounds. Dr. predicts that LE will start rolling over before most babies, especially since she has already pushed herself over a couple of times already. We're blessed to have such a healthy little girl!