New Goal

I have decided that my new goal in life is to be a professional blogger. Except that I have no idea how to go about doing that. Any suggestions? I suppose I need followers and maybe someone to comment every once and awhile. Hmmmm...anyone want to jump on that? How do you even get paid for blogging? I know some people have ads on their blogs and get paid for a certain number of clicks on the ad but I don't know about all that buisness. I was introduced to The Bloggess last night and her blog is fantastic. Hilarious. Maybe you need to be funny to be a professional blogger. It probably doesn't hurt that she's a writer too. It would probably also be helpful for me to actually post something on a semi-regular basis. I'll work on my part, you work on yours.

In other news, someone has been taking some steps recently (I'll give you a hint, one of her nicknames is 'two feet of dynomite' - more on that some other time). Last weekend we were at a friends house watching the FSU game and Hot Stuff pulled up on me, let go and walked two steps to Nick. (Did I tell you this already? I feel like I have.) Anyway, she hadn't really taken any steps since then...until last night! We were playing in her room and she decided to let go of her bookshelf, stand for a little bit and then walk to me! Two steps again! I'm going to add this to the list of reasons why she's a little OCD like me. One step for each foot. You have to be even. I understand, little baby, I understand. Oh, in semi-related Alexa news, I started thinking this past week about how I can't call her things like 'little baby' or 'the baby' or 'pretty baby' (you get the idea) anymore because her birthday is coming up and after October 1st she technically won't be a baby anymore. That's sad. And I know, I can call her 'baby' all I want even after she's past infancy but I like to be correct in my terminology. I feel like it's appropriate. Here's a picture of the little toddler (it just doesn't sound the same as little baby. Oh my God, am I going to call her 'little school aged girl' when she's 7 or 8?! Maybe I should just stick to 'Hot Stuff') with Nick. Please excuse the nasty FSU-wear. See what a good wife/mom I am, putting my kid in FSU stuff because Nick likes them?! Her dress is actually super cute and I've been trying to find a Gator one like it. If you know where I can find one, please let me know! OK, so small update: the stupid computer I'm on at work won't let me upload a picture onto my blog. Really, people. What good is it going to work if I can't adequately write on my blog?

One Crafty Mama

Why yes, that would be me. Hehe. I've been looking for a chandelier type of thing to hang in Alexa's room above the chair for awhile. I just felt like that wall against the window was a little bare. So I saw this on pottery barn.

I really like the concept and it doesn't include a light (which is good because we don't have wiring there), but I'm just not a butterfly person. You know how some people are butterfly people and some people aren't. I'm just not. I appreciate butterfly people. I have many friends who are butterfly people. I enjoy the periodic butterfly. But I feel like sometimes we forget that they are just pretty bugs. So being that Alexa has a love for birds (that by the way, I find equally disturbing) I tried to search out a similar design with birds instead of butterflies. No such luck. Then came the moment of enlightenment. (A little background here: I always say that I can make things and then I never actually make them. I have told Nick that I can build furniture, sew things, all kinds of stuff. So one of our running jokes is that I say we can't buy ____ item because I can just make it and Nick gives me a look and then brings up the bar I was supposed to build him a few years ago.) So naturally, when I couldn't find a bird chandelier, I said that I would just make one. Obviously. Nick did the usual thing that he does when I talk about making things and I made him stop my Michaels so I could get my supplies. And look at what I made!!!!!I know, you're jealous. Let's just take a moment for you to pull yourself together. OK now? Good. It was super easy. The circle part is a ring that you use to stretch the fabric when cross stitching with skinny dowels hot glued across it. Then I got some high quality fishing line (I know, right, who would have thought there was high quality fishing line?!) and used tiny dots of hot glue to attach them to the dowels and circle thing. Cut out birds and flowers on my Cricut and glued them on. Then we hung it from the ceiling with more fishing line. Easy peasy! I know it's not as full as the Pottery Barn one, but I kind of did that on purpose. And now thanks to my amazing ability to make things you too can create your own bird/flower/butterfly/whatever you want chandelier. Or for, let's say $30, I'll make one for you. :) Here's a picture of it in Alexa's room.

And I realized that I have never posted pics of her completed room so here are the other walls. Please excuse the random bottles on the changing table. They are one step closer to the kitchen. One step closer.

Randomness

Alexa has been sick this week.  :(  No fun.  It started out on Friday with a fever and now the runny nose is here.  We had our second slumber party on the floor on Saturday night which was kind of rough but kind of nice at the same time.  My little cuddle buddy doesn't want to cuddle any more now that she's a big girl who crawls around.  The good thing about her being sick is that now she wants to cuddle again.  She would not go into the crib Saturday night and ended up finally falling asleep straddling me with her head on my chest.  So instead of fighting with her to go into the crib again I just layed down on her floor and we slept there. 

Daycare is going OK I suppose, she seems to like it there.  Getting her to take a nap is hit or miss and she still refuses to take a bottle from any of them.  I guess that's OK because we are trying to wean off the bottle.  She drinks from her sippy cup with only juice or water, refuses formula in it) and eats fine so I'm not worried about it.  The teachers there think she's hilarious because she takes off her pants and her diaper in the pack-n-play when she's supposed to be napping.  Naked baby.  I told her it's not socially acceptable to be naked in public even though she does have a super cute hiney.

You all know about my obcession with feeding Alexa correctly and my ever constant quest to find out what exactly she is supposed to be eating.  So last night I was googling snack ideas and came across this website that had a ton of different things on it, some good and some not so much.  As I was skimming though the posts I came across one where the lady was talking about tofu cubes and soy chips and all kinds of crazy stuff.  Now, I am all for tofu as long as I am not the one who's eating it!  If you like it, great.  More for you and less for me.  Also, my general rule of feeding Alexa is that if it looks like I'm going to have to get something at a different store, it's not worth it.  Also, if it costs more to feed her then it does to feed me, it's not worth it.  I feel like those are pretty good rules.  So anyway, this lady is talking about all these fun nutritious snacks (which probably taste like butt) and at the end she says that she thinks it's important to have the baby eat what the parents eat instead of catering to them with typical "toddler foods" such as cheerios or chicken fingers.  What?  Excuse me?  Cheerios and chicken fingers are a staple item in our house hold!  Alexa eats cheerios for breakfast every day.  Every day.  And I do not think there has been one time in the past 6 1/2 years of our marriage when we did not have a bag of chicken fingers in our freezer.  Nick and I eat chicken fingers and tater tots at least once a week.  You know, that day when he's working late and I worked the night before and that night and no one wants to cook.  Needless to say, I moved on to another website.