Our wee monster is mobile!

Spring break brought many things to our family....including more family! We hung out with aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and cousins, cousins, and more cousins on both sides of our family. It was glorious, really fun, and I completely forgot to bring a camera. During this time Aspen decided to expand her abilities in 2 important areas (Does anyone else's child do this? pick up new skills all together in clumps rather than in a regular linear progression?):

1. Mobility. She is standing, she is crawling, she is sitting up, she is pulling up on everything. Essentially, she is all over the place.

Look and see where I went!

I can stand here, I can stand there, I can stand anywhere!

2. Emotional complexity. She is reaching for us, she is developing preferences, she is letting us know how she feels (i.e. crying), and she is starting to manipulate situations.  This, of course,  ranges from cute to exasperating. (Although, she is still generally a pretty easy going baby.)

She is mad because I won't let her bang the computer keyboard

Of course, one thing that hasn't changed is nap time with daddy!

Snow angels

It has finally snowed here in Flagstaff.  This winter has been incredibly dry and we have really needed the precipitation. It wasn't a lot, about 6 inches (it is possible that my time living here has skewed my perception of "a lot"), but it was definitely a respectable snowfall.

In Flagstaff, it is your responsibility to clear the sidewalk in front of your house.  Therefore, I went outside, shovel in hand, to do my duty.  Only it was my turn to watch Aspen which seemed slightly problematic.  After all, what does one do with a baby when snow shoveling?

How about shoving the baby in a snowsuit and propping her up against a tree? That's okay, right? At least marginally?  Actually this arrangement worked pretty well for us.  Especially since Aspen thought that watching me shovel was hilarious.

 (For the record I would like to add, that while my darling baby definitely is chunky, she isn't quite as chunky as the giant puffy snowsuit makes her out to be)

Fortunately, Aspen seems to enjoy the outdoors. I wouldn't say she loved the snow persay, but she did like being outside. Her fun was somewhat hindered because she could barely move in the snowsuit (Ralphie anyone?) and her fingers were all mittened up which means she couldn't grab anything either. None-the-less, she was entertained enough to share some big grins with me.

She also tolerated (i.e. didn't cry, just stared at me with a confused look on her face) me laying her down in the snow and swinging her arms and legs to make her first snow angel. So cute!

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!