Messy Time with Cereal

Last night Lola decided that she didn't really want to eat her rice cereal and apples. So I decided that she could play in them before her bath. A lot of kids I know get to their first birthday and don't want to dive into the cake because they've never been allowed to get messy or they haven't ever tried it before. In the spirit of letting kids be kids and having a good time, we played in the cereal and it managed to get all over me and her!!

She was a little apprehensive at first. She just didn't quite know what to do.

So she took her spoon instead.

She really tried to dip the spoon into her cereal but using a spoon upside down just doesn't work as well as it used to. Sad :(

I put cereal on her foot and she didn't quite know what to think about that. It was very sticky!

Finally she grabbed the bowl!! Yay!

Still a little clean...only a little.

This was when things really got messy. Hands in cereal + hands to face = one messy baby.

Bath time Mama!!! I'm done.

Car Accidents = No Fun

After a great weekend in Bloomington, I decided it would be a good idea to hydroplane on 465 and t-bone the median. Not a good decision? I would agree with you. The 13-year-old Toyota 4Runner, that was Drew and my only car, is now sitting at a junkyard where it has met it's death. Pepe, named from the movie "Romancing The Stone" (yes, I love my cheesey 80's romance films), was meant to last Drew and I until we were both done with school. Sadly God had other plans for my beloved car or really me if you want to be technical about it. God needed me to snap out of something and get a reality check. So the median was what I hit to do it. Mentally, I've kind of recovered, but physically I'm still black and blue from my head to my toes. To catalog my injuries, I have a black eye, a bruised nose, a scraped up chin from my face meeting the arm bag and getting a little too personal, 2 bruises on my left arm, 1 bruise on my right arm, a bruise on my chest from the seatbelt, HUGE bruises on both of my upper thighs. My left knee is a little bruised, but my right knee looks like someone took a baseball bat to it. I have minor scrapes and abrasions on my legs. The two miracles from this accident are: I'm still her typing this out to everyone and that Lola was not with me. Thank God for miracles and for my guardian angel, my dad.

PePe's front end. A few feet shorter than she used to be.

She met the median and broke her nose kinda like I did on her airbag!

Not a great picture of my black eye, but it's all I could get.

This was how swollen my right knee was the night of the accident. It's gone down a lot since then.

Playdate: Liam and Lola

When Julia told me she was pregnant I was super excited for multiple reasons. Growing up I had always seen her as the motherly type and I was always the career-driver, don't-want-to-have-a-family-til-my-career-is-off-the-ground type. So I was excited for that reason. The other reason that I was excited was that our kids would be about the same age and would be able to play with each other. This past Tuesday, Will, Julia, and Liam made the trek up from Martinsville to come visit. We had made plans for us to go down there Monday, but since we have no car anymore due to the accident I was in it didn't work out very well. We enjoyed having family up for once since we don't really get a chance to entertain at our house often. Dinner was fantastic and then the babies got playtime on the floor in the living room while we ate. Lola is still a little too big to lay on the playmat with Liam so we just set her up so she could look at him and enjoy him. They even decided to talk to each other for a little bit.

Lola looking out for Liam. Hopefully one day they'll look out for each other.

Lola lost her teething ring, but soon found that Liam was much more interesting.

She started to reach for Liam, so...

We gave her her wish and moved her closer so they could talk a little bit.

My baby looks like 1 of the 7 dwarfs

So I know that the title of this post is a little strange sounding but it's kinda true. I was taking some pictures of Lola the other day and I took these two pictures and she looks EXACTLY like Dopey from the Seven Dwarfs. Drew got on me because I was saying our daughter looked like a cartoon character that happened to be a dwarf. He said it wasn't very nice, but I think that it's pretty funny that she looks like Dopey. Here's the proof that Lola looks like Dopey. I think it's in the expression and her cute little jaw line. Her chin looks exactly like Dopey. And those big blue eyes add the finishing touch!!

Dopey

Dopey look #1

Dopey look #2

Cradle Cap: Ewwww!!!!

Cradle cap is a skin condition that involves a yellowish, scaly rash on a babies scalp and face. It is usually caused by overactive sebaceous glands in the babies scalp. In all honesty, there's no big issue with cradle cap, but it's not fun to look at. In my case I just want to pick at Lola's scaly head every time I see it.

A picture of a baby with cradle cap. This isn't a mild case but it's definitely not the worst case that I have seen in pictures.

Because Lola's scales were so tempting a figured that it would be best to thwart my attempts to scratch at it by looking up a home remedy and trying it out. Most of the websites that I looked at said that you need to apply vasoline or baby oil, let it sit for 15 minutes and then brush their hair thoroughly before just shampooing their hair as usual. This process can be repeated a few times to help get rid of it over the course of a few weeks. This proved to be a very interesting, messy process. Lola really didn't mind and it definitely helped out a lot in the end. Her head was still a little oily even after we washed it so we'll probably end up washing her hair again tomorrow night, but as long as the scales were gone I don't really mind. Cradle cap be gone!!

The baby oil has been applied and Daddy is holding her so we can wait out the 15 minutes.

Lola munching on my arm while we wait. I guess she was getting hungry.

Still munching on Mommy's arm...must be pretty tasty!

Brushing out the flakes of skin...really wish that I had taken a picture of the comb. It was soooooo gross!!!

July 4th!!!

What can be better than a weekend with family on the lake? A weekend on the lake with the family with fireworks!!! Yay! I love the 4th of July. In the spirit of the weekend we decided that it was best to go all out for Lola. Grandma Nean bought Lola a cute little dress for the occasion and I paired it with a cute hat from work. It was a lot of fun to spend the weekend with family. Thursday we left Indy and arrived at the lake early afternoon. Lola napped and I spent some time in the sun on the pier. After Lola's nap, it was time for her first boat ride. I really thought she was gonna freak out. What I've learned with Lola is that you have to set her up for success: she has to have had a nap, a fresh diaper and a full bottle. She had a nap and a clean diaper, but it was almost dinner time so I just had a feeling she would not be a happy camper when the ski boat engine roared. Man was I wrong!! She loved every single minute of the bumpy, loud ride (we were out taking Bailey and Jayla tubing). Friday was more of the same...fun in the sun and family time. The evening time was taken over by the Kipfer Dance Night. This was a new tradition that hopefully will be repeated next year. Jayla and Ben decided to have a repeat performance of a dance that they made up to a Justin Bieber song. After that all the cousins decided to do every line dance we could think of, including: the electric slide, the cha cha slide, cotton eyed joe, and soldier boy. If I hadn't been around family I would have been completely embarrassed, but it was awesome! Saturday was the day that Drew was finally able to make it to the lake. I was soooo excited to see him! He made it just in time for the fireworks...which were AMAZING!!!! My Aunt Pam would have been in Heaven because she LOVES fireworks. Sunday was spent playing corn hole, beerbee (a game that involves a frisbee, 2 tiki torches, and 2 beer bottles...there is no drinking involved), and swimming. It was such a fun and relaxing day. Lola loved it! Then that evening we celebrated Rafe's 1st birthday and watched him dive into a few cupcakes. It was so much fun!! Overall, it was an amazing weekend spent with family and friends!!

Lola in her 4th of July outfit

What a cute family!!

Such a cutie in her stars!!

Marshall held Lola with a little help from Drew.

Lola getting some interesting tummy time. Thanks Daddy!

Lola was helping me play Shang Hai...it didn't help me very much :(

Yay mommy went out!!! She's doing well in this round!!!

Daddy and Lola looking out at the lake.

Lola Pictures!!

Pooh Bear: What would Lola do without him??

Whenever I was a kid, I didn't have a blanket or a stuffed animal that I couldn't sleep without (or in some people's cases, live without). So the idea is pretty foreign to me. I think my mom didn't want me to have a security object. Who knows. Lola has a blanket and a stuffed animal. She does in fact sleep without them (I don't want her to bury her face in them and suffocate. Call me paranoid but I love my baby). But during the day she can have as much Pooh-time and Woobie-time as she wants. And in fact that lovely tradition starts out first thing in the morning while I'm making her bottle. She needs Pooh to keep her hungry mouth entertained while I'm busy getting her breakfast ready. I would love to thank the makers of that amazing stuffed bear; if it wasn't for them, I would have a very fussy baby in the mornings. Thank you Pooh bear!!!

Lola staring at her bottle on the kitchen counter.

This is her look of "Mommy give me my bottle and get the camera out of my face!!"

But then she warms up to it. She's used to the paparazzi.

This is after I found her with Pooh's ear in her mouth. "Who me?", she says.