POST WITH NO PICTURES.

K, so I realize I need to start wearing my camera like a necklace if I want to get any pictures taken. New exciting moments happen with Luella on a daily basis and I just can't keep up!

We've been busy with having family in town and doing summer activities. Of course, I didn't take any pictures of that to enjoy for the future (lesson learned).

But the big news: Luella is walking! We went to the park today and she insisted on standing versus crawling, it was awesome. She is still getting the hang of the new feeling and crawls the majority of the day at home, but she takes lots of steps by herself around the living room and she can even walk about 15 feet by herself! It's so fun to see her little body take off with hands high in the air. Just crazy!

Next week is her big day! My baby officially enters the world of toddler-hood. I have mixed emotions about this, but we are loving the little girl she is becoming!

DAD THIS, DAD THAT.

I have come to the conclusion that Luella is starting to think my name is "dada." Rarely does she ever say "mama" anymore.

Brett told me when I left the room once Lulu was looking around for me and saying, "dada?"

This made me a little sad, but then I noticed the problem extended into her other vocabulary.

When we take a picture of her and tell her to "say cheese," she does her little face, then says, "dad!" (in a high pitch voice sounding much like the chipmunks.)

Before we hand her something she wants we say, "say please" and she says, "dad" in an even higher octave than we knew existed.

This occurs with other random words. She just must love her daddy or something.

SIX THINGS.

All before 7:30 this morning I:

1. Fed Luella breakfast
2. Straightened up the living room
3. Unloaded the dishwasher
4. Loaded the dishwasher
5. Wiped down the kitchen counters
6. Killed 2 bugs

This could either mean all in all it was a successful morning, or last night's laziness wasn't worth it.

APPLE.

We were reading Pepo and Lolo and the Red Apple the other day and Lulu spoke like a grown-up child. I pointed to the apple, and she said, "apple!" It's her first real word (beside mama, dada, and up).

Anything circular is now deemed "apple."

FAVORITE FACE.

HUSH PUPPY.

Whenever Luella hears music, she automatically drops her toy and moves her hand up and down. While making "oo's" and "ah's" with the beat, she'll craw over to me and we'll do the Lamb Chop together.

Lately she will point to the guitars and do her skinamarinky dink hand gesture. So I'll play my same three chords over for her. C, E, D . . . (Brett is the musician of the family).

My hopes is Luella plays some sort of instrument, then we can make Brett's dreams come true and start a folk family band and grow beards.

MORNING, SUNSHINE.

I used to dread waking up every morning for school, especially on Mondays. But now I get take care of this silly little girl. I've forgotten what it's like to hate waking up.

50 THINGS.

I flipped through my journal the other day and stumbled upon some goals I had set back in December.

I'm surprised because I've actually done some of these things; then again, there are a few numbers I could be doing better at (ahem, #35, #47, #7, #13 . . . shall I go on?)

Either way, I really love goals. I feel like I'm growing as a person when I set them and accomplish them. Since graduating I've found it important for me to be a life-long learner and I know that goals can help me gain the knowledge I'm seeking.

I realize my handwriting could possibly be confused with a 5-year-old boy. I'll add penmanship to the list.

THANKS, SQUEEGEE.

Our shower consists of glass doors that need to be regularly cleaned (and by regular I mean they need to be cleaned every time the shower is used . . . this mere fact may or may not mean I shower less often . . .)

If I don't make a conscious effort to squeegee/spray the doors, scum builds up pretty quickly. Every day it's a battle: To spray, or not to spray. The squeegee gets a quick glance, then a cold shoulder as I turn my back without a second thought.

It's become a bad habit, and you may be wondering why I'm even talking about this. But today it got me thinking. Once again I glanced at the squeegee, but this time I decided to actually spray down the doors.

And wow, it took me a whole 30 seconds to get the job done.

The point is: I have become lazy.

My laziness is so ridiculous that I shudder to do a mindless and quick routine task. And it goes beyond the squeegee--it happens when I look at the floss, or when I see an overflowing trashcan, or when I put my baby to bed without reading her a story.

Because of the squeegee, I have self-examined myself and realized a change must be made. The little things in life are the easiest to overlook, but most often the most important.

Not to say I'm a horrible person because I don't take out the trash immediately, but my laziness has seeped into the important areas in my life--like motherhood.

So today when I grabbed that squeegee and cleaned those doors like never before, I vowed to be my best self and emphasize the little things in life.

SILLINESS.

*Caution: Pictures below are rated PG due to messy content*

A few weeks ago baby went through a spitting phase with her food. After trying every distraction in the book, I learned that when I sang to her, she would actually swallow her food.

This morning as I was feeding her and singing ("I like bananas, you like bananas, we like bananas" . . . my made up songs are super creative, but "Wheels on the Bus" has worn out its welcome here) she began to talk (gibberish) with her mouth full, which proceeded to drooling, which proceeded to spitting.

Back at square one! Maybe she just couldn't resist that funky feeling of half-chewed yogurt dripping through her solitary bottom tooth.

She is one silly girl.