Trip to the Zoo

On Labor Day, Matt and I decided we wanted to do something fun together (since we have so little time together lately because of school and work), and since we also wanted to keep Amelia occupied, we headed off to the freebie zoo in town.  As anticipated, it was packed!  We arrived just as they were opening up additional parking spots, so we got to park right away.  Woohoo!

Lia has been to this zoo a few times now, but each time she is more and more engaged in the activity around her.  This time, she actually noticed the animals in addition to all the other people.  It was tons of fun watching her "ooh" and "ahh" and stare intently at the animals which were actually moving.

We also watched the "creature feature" demo where the zoo staff put on a cute little skit geared towards kids while they taught about some of the smaller animals like pigs, ducks, chickens, and rabbits.  It was cute and gave us a chance to let Lia eat a banana.

On our way out, we walked through the garden and stopped to take some pictures with the whole family, thanks to the random person who offered to be our stand-in photographer.  What a beautiful day to spend at the zoo!

Getting crafty...

Just before Labor Day weekend, I had an itch to get crafy and make a highly impractical baby dress in an effort to teach myself/practice my sewing skills. I had seen a dress idea that I liked, and I attempted to copy it. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the only tulle I would be able to find is the scratchy, stiff kind and not the nice, soft, flowing kind. Yes, I could spend money to order the right fabric online, but this was a cheap practice attempt at sewing, not something that needed to be perfect. So, I made due and ammended my original plans.

After a couple of failed attempts at cutting the tulle to the right size and shape, here was the final result:

Feel free to ignore the baby drool on the front of the dress. Oh, and did I mention how impractical this dress is?? :-) But hey, I still think it's pretty cute for my first solo clothing making attempt!

And check out the buttons! I finally learned how to sew button holes and attach buttons using my sewing machine. Woohoo!

Now I finally feel comfortable with the idea of making halloween costumes or fun costumes for dress-up when Amelia gets older. And maybe I'll even make some fun clothes while she's still little enough to not care if they aren't perfect? I'm so wishing I had a serger and a ton of spare time... :-)

Trip to the Playground (pics from late August)

Lia: Mom, can we go to the playground?

So Matt and I decided to take Lia on a walk and stop at a nearby park while we were out.

Lia:  Look how tall I am!

Big girls aren't afraid of the slide...

Lia: Eek!  My legs are sticking to the slide!!

Lia: Maybe it would be fun to climb up?  Or not...

Lia: Let's climb the stairs instead.  Oh look!  A leaf!  Just what I've always wanted, Dad...

Lia: Wait - Look!  A puddle!  What fun!

Lia: Is it time to leave already?  I was just getting started...  :-(

And then Matt and I went back to walking.  Gotta find time to get some exercise in while it's still warm!

Super-baby!

Yesterday, while I was picking up Amelia from day care, her day care provider, Pam, informed me of Amelia's newest super-baby power:  While Pam was turning her attention for a moment to one of the other kids, Amelia managed to climb up to the top of the kiddie-sized picnic table.  When Pam looked back at Lia, she was just sitting there on top of the table, probably looking pretty overjoyed at her major accomplishment.  Keep in mind that Lia is still not yet walking on her own, but she isn't letting that stop her from getting at high in the sky as she can.  Watch out, we've got a climber!

Question for other parents out there - is this something that all kids end up doing before they start walking, or do we just have an extra-risky child?

Fun photos from July so far...

Visiting family in WI

WI Dells!

Lia hates bedtime and naptime...  :-(

Helping Mommy unpack

Walking along the Mississippi

Sandboxes rock!

Lia is pulling up on everything and climbing everywhere.  It's a full time job wrangling her right now!

Lia - Ovens are hot. Not safe!

Happy Belated Earth Day, Everyone!

Life has been absolutely nuts for the Cromer family as of late.  Due to this fact, it wasn't until today that I was able to get pictures off the camera and onto the computer.  Also, this is the reason for my severely limited blogging in March and April.  Let's just say I'm looking forward to the end of the semester...

Anyway, today we got to do something really unique.  Matt, Lia, and I hauled ourselves over to our nearby cloth diaper store (www.allthingsdiapers.com) to participate in "The Great Cloth Diaper Change" event.

The purpose of the event was to set a world record for the most cloth diapers changed at one moment in time.  We had to sign in, use a ticket to enter (and only one adult per baby was allowed to help with the diaper change), and before we started, we had to hold up our babies and the fresh diapers we were planning to use.  Then we had to wait for the signal to start, then change our baby's diaper.  Finally, we took an "after" picture of the babies in their fresh diapers. The whole event was video recorded (for proof, I'm sure), and the start time was centrally coordinated.  So, today Lia helped to set a world record at the ripe young age of 7 months.

It was fun to meet and talk with other parents and babies.  Lia had a grand time checking everything out and talking to the babies she met.  The store provided snacks and door prizes.  Speaking of door prizes, we won a fun new diaper cover that we're going to have to try out.  Check out some of the pics from the morning:

Some of my favorite pics from the last month or so....