Lake Time with the Fam!!

Lola and I traveled this weekend to southern Indiana to spend time at the lake with my family. My family had come in from Maine to visit and it was great getting to spend time with everyone together. We spent time on the lake wakeboarding, wake surfing and wake kiting. It was a great weekend!! Lola loved spending time with her family. She really enjoyed Chris, Nick and Austin. Austin loved making her laugh!! It was too cute!!!

Lola spending time with Austin and Chris.

My little baby bean. All ready for her first pontoon ride.

She's too cool for school!!

Lola had a great time learning how to drive the boats. I've never driven a boat in my entire life but my 7-month old daughter has. Craziness!!

Can you tell Lola loves the lake? She even took a nap on the pontoon boat!!

Me and my babycakes!!!

Lola Helps Mommy with the Laundry

When you don't have 2 sets of hands and 2 sets of eyes to get things done around the house when you have a 6-month old, you get a little creative about how you get things done, especially when she's awake. I really needed to fold our laundry and put it away, but Lola's crib is in our room so I have to do it while she's awake. So I decided that I would put her in the hamper to get the laundry from the utility room to our bedroom. She loved it!!!

She brought her remote along so she could change the channel I guess.

Smiley face!!!!

Why buy a baby a toy when you can give her a BOX!!!

Kids toys have come a long way!! Everything lights up or moves around. Everything is so much more technologically advanced than what it used to be. The one thing that I've learned is that you can pay $100 for a toy and the kid will love the box that it came in. Well, I didn't buy Lola a $100 toy or anything but after our move back into my mom's house, Lola was helping me unpack a box by playing in it and keeping herself occupied so I could organize. Gotta love a big box!!!!

Lola playing with the sides of the box.

Being the stinker that she is!

Playing hide and go seek in the box.

Hahahahaha

Trip to Martinsville = Meeting Lilly

Prior to Lola being born I owned a Gold Retriever named Lilly. I've always loved Goldens. I think they're great dogs and they're absolutely beautiful. There is something in our house and yard that is an allergen for dogs. It attacks their skin and eats away at it. It doesn't do this to humans as my mom and I are living proof that everything is okay for us after 10 years. I had planned on taking Lilly to the Humane Society since I could not find anyone to purchase her or take her from us. After talking it over with her husband, my cousin Julia decided she would open her home to Lilly so she wouldn't have the potential to be put down if no one wanted to adopt her. Lilly has quickly adapted to her new home. They have another dog, Tinsel, who loves to give Lilly a run for her money. They both greatly needed a playmate. And I am so grateful

to Julia for adopting my beautiful Golden. This past few days wasn't the first time that Lola had met Lilly and Tinsel but it was definitely the first that she was cogniscent of. It was so fun to watch. At first she wasn't a big fan, but she gradually opened up to her.

Lola pulling on Lilly's fur. Her hind quarters were the first experience Lola had of Lilly. I didn't want her to be overwhelmed by Lilly's snout.

Lilly wanted to give Lola kisses. This also kinda freaked her out.

Then she became more and more curious about Lilly.

She kept trying to pull her lips and poke her eyes. They just look shiny to her so I can't really blame her for grabbing for them.

There she goes pulling at the lips.

"Lilly play with me!!!"

Lola Sitting Up ALL BY HERSELF!!

Lola pretty much decides when she wants to do things. Right now all she wants to do is crawl and sit up. The crawling isn't come along too well for her. She just kind of scooches along but she definitely gets to where she wants to go. Sitting up on the other hand she's gotten down pretty well. She can't quit get to the sitting position by herself (she's done it 2 times on her own but I think they were just accidental. Haha) She sure does love sitting up!

Lola sitting up by herself playing with her toys!

Lola sitting up showing off her new bow. So cute!!

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.