Sharing & Brushing

Blake LOVES to share her toys...of course, she usually wants them back at some point. So, here's a script of what it is like to play with Blake on the floor:

Blake (holding a toy in each hand offering one up): Yeah...
Lauren (taking the toy): Thank you!
Blake (offering up the second toy): Yeah...
Lauren (taking the toy): Thank you!
Blake (holding hand out for first toy): Yeah...
Lauren (giving her the toy): Say thank you
Blake (taking the toy): Yeah...
Blake (holding hand out for second toy): Yeah...
Lauren (giving her the toy): Say thank you
Blake (taking the toy): Yeah...

OK, you get the point. Now, if you want a real feel for a fifteen minute session playing with Blake. Start a stopwatch, and re-read that script for fifteen minutes...honestly, she doesn't seem to get tired of this little game :) She also found one of the dog bones yesterday and kept trying to give it to Copa. Copa was such a good girl and would not take it from Blake. Copa kept looking at Lauren like she was confused why this little tike would torture her so...offering her something that she could no way take if Lauren was in the room :) Blake has also discovered brushing her teeth. Lauren has spent all week waiting for Blake to wake up the morning so she can watch Mom brush her teeth. We bought Blake her very first big girl's tooth brush last week. Today Blake finally (while watching Lauren) reached up with her typical "yeah" when she wants something. Lauren gave Blake her new tooth brush, and she just went to town. It was too funny!

Tah-Dah...hopefully

Ok, so it has come to our attention (thanks to Deb) that you cannot click on the pictures on the blog and see the enlarged version. So, Lauren got a chance to look into this today, and she THINKS she has figured it out. As a test, here are a few of the living room pics that have already been posted. BUT, this time you - when we say "you"...we mean Deb :) - should be able to see the enlarged version when you click on the photo. We'll see! This is my favorite pic of the living room.And here are the rest...
In all honesty, THANKS MOM! It is actually easier to cut & paste the html code than it is to drag & drop the pictures anyway. Hope this works!

Cheap Entertainment

Blake has been crawling around the house all day. Since we finally got the living room all put back together there is plenty of room for our little squirt. She was getting a kick out of chasing Lauren's feet this afternoon, so we couldn't resist shooting a little video. ENJOY!

A New Living Room

We have been working on re-doing our living room...at minimal expense. So, here are the before and after pictures of what turned out to be a GREAT project! Lauren absolutely LOVES the living room now. It was so dark before, but now...well, you'll see. Here are three before pics...

...and, here's the first after pic! You'll see new furniture and new decor...not to mention a new coat of paint. NO, this isn't an Applebee's plug...it just happened to be what was on at the time :o)The built in cabinets do have doors. Lauren just hasn't gotten the chance to paint them and get them back up.

Lauren painted the desk, fixed up an old bulletin board, and printed new pics for our frames. Lauren also decided to paint the room two different colors...not sure why, but it turned out really nice.The front door still needs to be painted as well, but that'll come whenever the temperature drops a little bit. It's been pretty steamy here over the last week. We do typically keep a lot of pillows on the couch, but this is a little extreme. We finally took the tent down in the back yard, so all the pillows ended up on the couch today. In case you were wondering, we had the tent up because the fumes were a little too much for our little missy. So, Bob was nice enough to set the tent up and sleep outside with Blake until Lauren could finish painting the living room.Blake's area is pretty much the same. Lauren has been using the pack 'n play and Blake's huge tub 'o toys as a baby gate to keep her in the corner.A wider view of the room...we still need to paint some of the interior doors as well.Another wider view...Lauren was also able to get new glass globes/scones/whatever they are called for the ceiling fan. It was a cheap fix that really makes a difference.

We also still need to paint the trim on the beam that goes across the middle of the room, but here's a wider view of the opposite wall. Lauren really wanted to make a tacky comment about Bob's beer and the bib on the end table, but we're not sure if anyone could make it out or not.

Lauren is SO glad to finally have this project close to completion...even though we do still have some touch up work to do. Well, we have lots more to say, but it's been a long weekend. So, it's time for a beer and some relaxation.

Random Pics

Here are some random pics from the last week or so. Blake has one front tooth that has finally popped through, and it looks the the other tooth is not too far behind. So, our little vampire girl may look more normal in a couple more weeks :o) Here's the cool kid hanging out with Daddy's shades on.

And another "cool" pictureBlake is just so kind to help her mom by removing every DVD from the DVD tower and removing books from the book shelf so mom can dust...which as you can tell is definitely needed.Daddy thinks it is so much fun to put Blake's pants on her headJust hangin' with Dad

In other news, Lauren has been doing a lot of work on the living room, so hopefully we'll be able to post some before and after pics by the end of the week. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

On the Move

Well, Blake is officially on the move. She started crawling this morning. Daddy was even home to see it first hand, so that was nice. Here's a little video we took of her. You'll see her crawl; she celebrates when she sits up; and she's getting into things already :o)

More Chatter

Blake is just such a little chatter box. She "talks" all the time! We don't quite speak her language, but she is starting to speak ours a little better. She can say hi, da-da, ma-ma, dog, Copa, ba-ba, num-num, yeah, no (although she doesn't always obey it), up, apple, duck (a toy), night-night, and probably a few others that we're missing...but you get the idea - her vocabulary is growing. She knows the meaning of hugs & kisses. She puts her head in your chest for a hug or opens her mouth for a kiss. And, there are a few of her toys that she knows when you say the name, but she can't say them yet. We were able to catch some of her chatter on video, so here's a few things you'll hear/see in the video:
1. She says, "dog"
2. One of her famous da-da rants
3. She mimics anyone (even the dogs) when they are laying down by tilting her head
4. She says, "ruff" when she sees the dogs sometimes
5. She loves to wave and say, "hi"
6. She clicks her tongue...ENJOY!

DOG!

Well, our sweet baby seems to be back to normal as of yesterday. She didn't throw any major fits; she was giving out tons of hugs and kisses; and she slept in until almost 6:30 this morning! Speaking of...when Blake did wake up this morning Lauren heard the normal "da-da" and other words coming from Blake's room. Then just before she went into Blake's room, Lauren heard, "dooog, dooog". The camera was sitting on the desk right next to Blake's door, and this is what she caught.

It's been pretty warm in the house at night, and Blake has wood floors in her room. So, Maddie was probably sleeping on the floor in there. We have also caught Blake sharing her Cheerios with Maddie, so they'll proably end up being pretty good pals. Otherwise, here are a few pictures of Blake from yesterday.

In other news, Lauren decided to finally touch up the dresser in Blake's room. It was a really old dresser that the previous owner had left in the basement. Here's the before picture:

And, here's the after picture:Blake's room is pretty small, so the picture was taken at a weird angle. The dresser looks more white in this picture, but it is actually a light green. Well, that's it for now!

Belly to Bottom

Blake has really been attempting to crawl much more lately. She can crawl backwards, but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of going forward yet. When Blake is hanging out in her little play area, she will back herself all the way up against the two couches and then she sits up on her bottom. She thinks this is the coolest thing ever now. In fact, when we went to go get her up from her first nap this morning, she was sitting up in her crib! Here's a video Lauren shot this morning of our little girl's new found talent. You'll also hear some of her words, see some of her dancing and sharing, and witness her new favorite praise - a high five (Grandma started that one last weekend). She is just such a little cutie...ENJOY!

The Joy of Grandparents

It's sad to say, but we took Grandma & Grandpa to the airport today. We really had a great visit! Blake already misses them dearly. Today has got to be the first time we've seen Blake throw a full scale fit. She has been fussing most of the day with watchful eyes...trying to get her mean parents to pay attention to her every second she can. And, when she was put in her jumper to change the scenery, she just started throwing herself around...complete with her little head hanging over the side of the jumper. She's not even acting like she is teething; she just misses having someone to cater to her every wimper...ah, the joys! I'm sure she'll be back to normal in a day or so. We've been warned about the wrath of grandparents, BUT we wouldn't trade the visit for the world. We really did have a nice time, and obviously, so did Blake. While she was here, Grandma took Blake for her first swim at the hotel that they were staying at. Here's Blake playing on the bed waiting for Grandma to get ready.

Here's an early reaction to this new activity.And, here's after learning to splash.The pool railing was quite a hit.

Blake hanging out pool-side after drying off a little bit.

And, finally, a dry kiddo who just finished her first swim.It really was nice to have some help with Blake and get the chance to visit. We can't wait to get to visit with Grandma & Grandpa again! Hope everyone is having as great a start to their week!!!

Teething Tike

Happy (late) Fourth of July to everyone! Poor little Blake is just getting a mouthful of teeth all at once. She now has four bottom teeth, two top teeth, and her two front teeth still look like they are going to pop through at any moment...AND she is getting molars (or whatever the second to the back tooth is). All things considered, she has done really well with the whole teething process until this week. We finally had to break out the Tylenol for our fussy little girl. But, a dose of Tylenol and a 30 minute wait seem to be all it takes to get our sweet little girl back on track. Hopefully, she'll get through this phase quickly...we're keeping our fingers crossed. Grandma & Grandpa flew up to visit us for the weekend, and we've had a wonderful time so far. Of course, we have a ton of pictures. Here's Grandma & Grandpa with Blake.
When we were in Oklahoma last Grandma got Blake a Life Is Good t-shirt. Here's a picture of them with similar t's on.What a goofy/squirmy little girl!Blake was having a ball playing with Grandma & Grandpa. Here she is jumping on Grandpa's lap.Who needs a sippy cup when Grandpa will let you use his straw......and Grandma lets you play in her tea?Here's another picture of Grandpa and our smiley girl......and another one with Grandma.We had a wonderful 4th! We went shopping in Billings and stopped for lunch at Famous Dave's. Blake had a great time hanging out in her stroller. She was such a trooper...she didn't get fussy at all while we were out. Grandma and Grandpa seem to think that this has something to do with them being here :o) We originally had plans to head over to a friend's house for the evening, but our little girl was tuckered out by the time we got back to the house...and the Tylenol was beginning to wear off. So, we ditched our friends...SORRY HEATHER! It was nice to just get to sit outside and chat with Grandma & Grandpa, though. We had some afternoon rain that left us this:Well, that's pretty much it so far. But, I had to take some pictures of our other babies, too. Here's Maddie giving Lauren hugs.Copa peeking through the fenceAnd...our lazy Maddie!HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!