Baby fun time!

Hi everyone! This is Aspen, I thought I'd share with you some of the things I like to do for fun!

1. Grab other babies (adults call this "playing"). In the last week and a half I've been able to grab three different groups of babies/kids! They are so fun! I just want to grab  (claw?) them so badly!  They are almost as much fun as the kitties!

2. Climb and stand. Sometimes I switch it up and stand and climb. Standing is probably my most favorite activity right now. I haven't decided if I will try crawling or go straight to walking...I just know I really like standing! Oddly, mom and dad keep muttering "we are so screwed" every time they see me try. I wonder why?

3. Take baths! At the new house I have been mostly bathing in the sink. It's a perfect fit!

 Hey look! There's a duck!

This is how we treat ducks around here!

New tricks!

Aspen has learned many new tricks in the past months and past few weeks and, well, yesterday.  (It turns out she is doing new things all the time!) One of my favorite things she does is play peek-a boo. It is completely adorable, but even better, it is a game that she controls and I mostly just play along!

She has also gotten really good at sitting. She can lean over and pick things up, twist her torso around, and fall forward onto her hands and knees (yikes!). I suspect our baby girl is going to become mobile much earlier than we are ready for it!

Returning to the blogdom!

Okay, the holidays are over, the grant writing is over (for now), the move from the apartment to the house is over. Therefore, the blog may resume!

The only minor problem is that I have NO idea where my camera is from the move...so we may have to stick with photos from the computer for now.

Aspen in the new house. She must like it, she actually smiled for the camera!

The only way the past few crazy weeks have been possible at all is because my mom flew out and has been helping with Aspen.  We have her until next Saturday (it will have been almost a month) and then she heads back. She has been awesome! Thanks momma!

p.s. Aspen is doing all kinds of new and fantastic things that I promise I will document and post about.  Also, she doesn't have a sunburn or a windburn in the above picture, she just happens to be a very rosy cheeked lass...especially after nursing for some reason.

We'll be back!

But at the moment we are loving holidays and family time! 

Babies are hilarious!

Our daughter is tired of lying down.  She is even tired of sitting. No, our daughter wants to stand.  She wants to stand ALL OF THE TIME. Her newest trick for assuaging this desire? Standing in her bouncy seat.

Being insightful parents, we eventually deduced that, although funny and cute, hidden dangers lurked for our chair-standing baby.  Perhaps there was even an actual purpose to the little baby seatbelt on the chair (previously we had debated its utility.) So we dutifully strapped her in and got this, equally cute and hilarious behavior, instead:

Unfortunately, the baby seatbelt is a little to long in the crotch strap because shortly after this she figured out she could stand even while strapped in (sigh). There really is no defeating the determined baby!

Aspen is 5 months old! Man how time flies!

She has several new tricks up her sleeve.

For example, she sucks on her lips ALL THE TIME.

She also plays with her toes ALL THE TIME. 

(Really, who needs toys when one has toes?!?)

She would really like to stand up, but since I haven't mastered the art of simultaneously baby spotting and picture shooting, her attempts to hold herself up will have to go undocumented for the moment. Instead I give you yet another tummy time photo. :)

She has also started eating some solids every now and again. (Originally I had wanted to wait until she was 6 months, but for a variety of reasons we switched gears a little.) Towards the end of the summer we made some homemade baby applesauce from the trees in our yard and froze it in ice-cube sized pieces for when she was ready.  Well, the two times she's had it she seems to like it, but apparently it is (as you will see) a bit tart!

Also, on a similar theme, she has definitely developed the common baby attitude of "I see it, and can place it near my mouth; therefore, it must go in my mouth!"

We love our little muncher!

p.s. the movies were huge and I got impatient for them to upload so I converted them to avi's...that is why they look kind of crappy, but I think the cuteness still comes across!

My little pterodactyl.

Did you know that I gave birth to a pterodactyl?

I know that she doesn't look like a pterodactyl. I know that she doesn't eat the same things a pterodactyl eats (while I don't know exactly what pterodactyls eat, I do know that they aren't mammals so it isn't milk). I don't think she smells like a pterodactyl, although admittedly I can't absolutely confirm that.

However, I am absolutely positive that she sounds just like a pterodactyl! Especially when she is happy. Her newest trick is to experiment vocally by gleefully making loud piercing shrieky noises.

Alas, it turns out I am not incredibly fond of what peterodactyls sound like so hopefully she will move on to experimenting with other noises soon....

Note: Aspen smiles, I promise! In fact she also grins and laughs quite often. NOT, however, for the camera (sigh). In the above pics I was trying to get a smiley photo of her wearing the sweater my aunt knitted so I could send an adorable grinning picture of her in the sweater to my aunt.  Alas, Aspen continues to play coy with the camera!

In addition to playful shrieks Aspen has also rolled over and can spend a solid hour grabbing her toes in fascination.  However, these latter two skills can only be performed while naked (I think the diapers impede her hip flexors a little, something she will grow out of) so we have a lot of baby naked time at the house. Especially since she is so happy when naked!

In other big events recently we had Halloween, a visit from nana (jamie's mom), and Aspens first snow!

I'm a piggy!

Lil' piggy hanging out with puppy and lobster friends!

Aspen was very underwhelmed by the snow.