Ladies [craft] Night Out [in]

I had the ladies from my MOPS group [or the people from my planet :)] over last night for what I guess was a ladies night out...but technically for me was actually a ladies night in since it was at my house. Either way we had a really great time! I always enjoy getting together with them...really. Always. Almost everyone was able to come and we had three babies so Frazier had friends over, too!

Everyone brought something to eat and we had sort of a snack supper and then I had two Christmas ornaments for us to make...either a "cookie" ornament or a little house.

I probably had more fun getting ready for the event than everyone else had actually making their ornaments! I did a lot of prep work ahead of time so when we actually made them last night all that was left was the fun part: assembling and decorating.

I ran to Hope's Closet (my favorite thrift store) for some old sheets to put over my table and found these three that were in near perfect condition, a couple of bucks apiece and they coordinated! Random, fortunate find. Since they were all these sweet, vintage pink colors I decided to go with the pink theme. It was a girls' night afterall. I had left over pink utensils and napkins from a baby shower so I used them and I even got out my punch bowl (which I never get to use) and made pink punch!

Did I mention this was great fun? If you're reading, ladies, thanks for coming (and indulging my inner party planner)! Totally made my week. :)

And now in other news...

Frazier found his feet! Now anytime you set him down he immediately balls up, hands on toes. Like every other new development, I find this endlessly entertaining.

He's also begun taking an interest in toys which excites me to no end. For the longest time I've put toys down on his blanket with him, on the tray of his Bumbo or high chair and while he looked at them and sometimes pushed them around, he wouldn't actually pick them up and hold onto them. But yesterday I left him strapped to his changing table watching his mobile while I hung up a few of his clothes. While in his closet I see this soft block thing I'd forgotten we had so I took it out of its box, showed it to him and left it next to him. The next time I looked over he'd picked it up and was chewing on it!

So now every toy we own is out...somewhere in the house. And I couldn't be more thrilled. :)

4 Months!

Frazier was four months old on Monday! Appropriately enough, we had his four month appointment on Monday. All went well...even the shots. We didn't have too many concerns to discuss so it was a pretty short visit. I did ask about his cold, and was told to keep doing what I was doing...elevating his head at night, saline drops, cool mist humidifier....yada yada yada.

Josh took off for an hour or so and was able to meet us there this time, which was nice. Frazier weighed 16 lbs 8 oz and was 26.5 inches long which put him in the 82nd percentile for weight, and the 94th for height...or length, rather.

And now for the pictures. I haven't gotten to post this week mostly because we've been busy and snotty and not so happy after our shots on Monday and because Frazier's been on this "I want to be held every waking minute" kick...probably because he hasn't felt well. While I'm more than happy to oblige, this means I get very little done. None of this, however, has stopped me from taking pictures. :)

I took these the other day and actually got some of him...get this...looking at the camera and smiling!!

These two pictures just made me smile.

I feel that these pictures adequately describe how Frazier feels about bathtime. This also explains why baths happen so seldom around here. For Frazier, that is. Josh and I bathe regularly. :)

November arrived yesterday...half a month late, but September pulled a fast one and took over today. Who knows what it'll be like tomorrow. However, in our one day of real November weather we pulled out some winter clothes including this blue striped beanie and this outfit from Frazier's uncle, Big Jim. Baby's first sweater vest! :) Doesn't he look grown up? It came with shoes to match, but he wasn't in to letting me put them on. Next time, maybe.

This may be my favorite picture of Frazier to date: I'm not sure why. Maybe I just really love this hat:

Hopefully it won't be as long before I get to post again!

Baby's First Chuck Taylors

I ordered these for Frazier and they came in yesterday. Color me excited. Adorable, no?

*They're still a little big...which is better than being too small. :)

Happy Saturday!

Why I'm Not A Photographer Anymore and How I Almost Killed The Dog

I can't believe it's already Friday (and this is the third Friday the 13th this year, by the way)! We had a really busy week- it went by so fast! Frazier and I are just perpetually congested and/or drippy. But we all feel okay. ..and though there was lots of snot and some coughing Frazier never ran a fever. So I count my blessings. :)
I've been wanting to do a blogpost, but haven't gotten a chance, and now that so many days have gone by I can't remember what happened to post about it!

One thing I attempted this week was another photo shoot. Imagine that, right? (Hence the many pictures including those above.) But every time I do this, it reminds me why I'm not a photographer anymore. Sure it was stressful, and sure it meant spending evenings and weekends with someone else's family, but more than that...it's just hard to get good pictures. Especially of babies. Even at home, at the time of day the lighting is perfect, with all his favorite toys, right after he's been fed...Frazier still looks every which way but AT THE CAMERA AND SMILING.

These aren't half the pictures we took! :)

I've come to embrace the non-smiling pictures. They're priceless...and cute...either way. My friend Josie (allforfunphotography) is doing family pictures of us the beginning of December. I'm looking forward to those...and I have high hopes we'll get some good ones!

We're still having mid-70s sunny afternoons which are beautiful, but just not November weather (not that there is a standard East Texas November weather...obviously). I won't complain. It could be really cold and wet.

Oh- about Gatsby...here's a true story from earlier this week (Tuesday afternoon to be exact.) I almost killed the dog. (No- not on purpose.) I left 2/3 of a dark chocolate bar on the coffee table where I thought he couldn't reach. I thought wrong. In over three years Gatsby has NEVER jumped up on the coffee table. I didn't know he could. I don't think he did either until recently, but he's done it several times in the past couple of days. New trick, I guess. Super frustrating.

Anyway, he was outside when I put it there, and then I forgot about it until I heard rustling in the living room and went to investigate. He'd eaten, by my estimate, about an ounce by the time I got there and I wouldn't have been distraught (he got some milk chocolate once before and the vet- I called right away- said not to worry), but this was dark chocolate. I did some [very fast] research online and a number of sites suggested inducing vomitting (within 2 hours of ingestion) by giving the dog hydrogen peroxide (no greater than 3% solution).

So, crying and chiding myself all the while for being so incredibly irresponsible, I gave him some hydrogen peroxide by way of a syringe. Nothing happened. So I called our vet to see if I needed to rush him in and very calmly, they told me to continue with the hydrogen peroxide until he finally threw up. Which I did. Frantically. While sobbing. And sure enough...he finally threw it up. Three days later he's fine. So the moral of that story? Don't leave dark chocolate out...even in places you think your dog can't reach. And if you do...you're going to need a syringe and some hydrogen peroxide on hand.

Here are a couple of pictures of Josh and Frazier I took this week:

And I suppose that's it for this post...and not a moment too soon. I hear the fussbudget...dear little thing.