I realized today that the first step to saving the planet is to remember to bring your frickin' nylon shopping bags to the grocery store!

I found myself faced with a eco-conundrum.

Do I drive ALLLLL the way back home to retrieve my bags and then drive ALLLL the way back to the store? Not only would that waste time and gas, it would release more toxins into the air. Do I just grit my teeth, give in to the Bagger-Man and accept the plastic bags?

I decided to stay at the store and use the plastic bags. I know a place where I can recycle them, so I guess it's not all bad. But, it still sucks. I feel like I let the planet down. Sorry, Earth. I am a shmuck.

Note to self: To avoid shmuckification, leave nylon bags in truck at all times.

K.T. experienced her first automatic car wash today. It was a automatic cloth car wash. Weird. They had all these long blue strips of fabric that wish-washed against the car.

I told K.T. they were octopuses.

Speaking of K.T.. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, how things change!

I used to be able to put her on her back on the floor and she was pretty much guaranteed to stay there.

Not anymore.

Over the weekend, she learned how to flip from her back to her belly. Once on her belly she can push up onto her hands and knees and then up into a sitting position.

She can't crawl yet but she still can move herself around somehow. She uses a fall down/push up to sitting technique to inch herself around the room. It's amazing how far and how fast she can go.

Today, I put her down for a nap and went downstairs to clean some stuff up. I went to check on her five minutes later. I took a peek into her room. I looked at the crib and didn't see her! My heart skipped a beat and I rushed into the room. She had pushed herself into a sitting position and was in the corner of the crib playing with one of her stuffed animals. She looked up at me, binky in mouth, and smiled. She then proceeded to try and grab onto the crib railing. Was she going to try to pull herself up?

She didn't but, this display of skill jolted me into action and I moved the crib mattress down as far as it would go.

Earlier, when I tried to put the groceries away, she got herself up to sitting and started inching her way around the kitchen. Then I tried to do some laundry. I turned my back and she had made her way to the clothes pile and was putting dirty socks in her mouth.

My days are about to get a lot more hectic.

Goin' Green

Today, I was the dork supreme of the grocery store.

I brought my own nylon shopping bags and my own cloth vegetable bags.

It's guesstimated that it takes one plastic shopping bag between 500 and 1000 years to decompose in a sealed up landfill (it's a guesstimate because plastic shopping bags haven't been around that long). Non-renewable resourses are used to make and ship the bags all over the country. They are a hazard to animals that accidently eat them. Etcetera, etcetera.

Every week I get about a dozen plastic bags when I go shopping. Sometimes, they even DOUBLE bag things. Then on the weekend, if we go shopping at the mall or something, that's another two or three bags. That's A LOT of bags.

You could use paper, but they use trees to make those.

Sure, recycling the plastic bags could help. I guess another thing you could do would be to reuse the plastic bags that you already have.

But, I thought why even get in on the process at all? If I don't use the plastic shopping bags, then I am not feeding the need to create more.

So, no more plastic shopping bags.

We've got CFL bulbs throughout our house. We recycle just about everything we can. We don't eat beef anymore. We try to buy local produce. Our lawn mower is non-gas, non-electric and non-noisy. As soon as it's available in the U.S., we're probably going to sell both our vehicles and buy a hybrid minivan.

And we have nylon shopping bags.

The upside to all this. We feel good about what we're doing.

I know there are some out there that don't buy the whole global warming thing. Hey, you're entitled to your opinion. If you're not gonna change to stop global warming, change to make the Earth a cleaner, nicer place to live. Less garbage and less pollution can only be good things.

What's the downside to this?

I guess it's becoming an Eco-Nerd.

That's okay. I can take it. It wasn't like I was cool or anything before this.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I, the honorable Baybee K.T., Empress of the Northwest, Queen of Green Beans and Duchess of Diaperville, command you to pay your respects to myself upon this, my EIGHT MONTH birthday!!!!

Okay, people. Lay off. I know that I'm a couple of days late. I've had issues as of late.

I had my second cold in, like, three weeks. What is up with that? It feels like I have been sick this entire month.

I guess it's because I'm such a social butterfly now. We pay a visit to the library every week, then I pop in at a Wednesday playgroup, then it's off to placate the fans at the Thursday Baby/Parent group. I've got to keep the people happy, you know? If that means that I gotta get sick, then I gotta get sick. It's not so bad. I don't even have to wipe my own boogies. Mommy takes care of it for me. If she doesn't catch them with a tissue, then I can just wipe them on her shirt.


I guess being sick is not all great. With a stuffy nose it makes it pretty hard to breathe and suck on my binky at the same time. And, well, no binky means no sleep. Mommy felt so sorry for me that I got to sleep in her arms for a couple of nights! I've decided that I should fall asleep this way EVERY night from now on.

Hey! Do you know what boogies are good for???? Blowin' bubbles! Check it out!!!



A lot has happened in this past month. Here's a quick rundown:

I got my first tooth. It's the bottom left front tooth. The one next to it is comin' up too. I love to chomp on just about anything. Fingers, remote controls, books, nipples.....

I am pretty close to getting mobile. I'll be crawling any day now. I can get to my hands and knees from a sitting position. I can't really figure out how to move forward from there though. If I fall down onto my tummy, I can push back up to sitting again. Daddy is all proud of me. He says that all that pushing up is a good workout for something called "pecks" and "tris".

Speaking of Daddy, this is what I call the pinnacle of entertainment. Get this man an Oscar, will ya?



My vocabulary is growing. Usually, what I do is pick a consonant and vowel combo and then repeat it alllllll day long. This past Sunday is was "buh" and "bah". Today it's "goo", "guh" and "gah". Just to give Mommy and Daddy a treat, I'll throw in a little "ma" or "da" for good measure. It's good to keep them happy. They feed me ya know.

Speaking of feeding, I've decided that I now like green beans. I even started liking bananas and apples. Actually, I eat just about anything that's put onto my spoon. I've even started to tackle the ultra-complicated task of feeding myself rice puffs. Those suckers are really hard to get into your mouth. Especially since as soon as they get wet they stick to EVERYTHING.

I love me some prunes.....



I've started practicing drinking from a cup too. It's loads of fun. I get water everywhere. Wheeeeee! I love drinking from cups so much that when Mommy or Daddy get a glass of water, they have to let me have a sip.

I got a visit from GmaC this month. Since I'm more mature now, we were able to get out and see some sights. We visited the aquarium and I got to see lots of fish. Sending kisses and hugs to my Grandma! Mommy says thanks for the garbage cookies.

Before, I used to sit and cry if I didn't like something. Results would come, but not as fast as I wanted them. But, now, I've figured out that I get what I want a lot quicker if I get my whole body in on the action! For example, I do not want to be seated in the high chair. I could whine, but Mommy would just look at me and continue making dinner. But, if I whine, cry, scream, arch my back, and slam my feet on the tray, I am sure to get taken out. See illustration below....

I met a new dude the other day. Lion. He's pretty big and a little intimidating. I offered him one of my blocks to get him to not eat me. I think we're cool now.

I hung around outside a bit this past month. Mr. Sun came back and a good time was had by all.

We also did this thing called "hiking". It's pretty fun as long as a pricker bush doesn't reach out and rip the hat off my head. Don't you hate when that happens? I don't have to do much besides sit pretty and look at stuff. Talk about the ultimate in transportation. Don't you wish you could be carried around this way?

Here's the whole family enjoying a little R&R.....

For those of you who think that I don't type my own entries. See proof below. Chew on that, you doubters!!!!

Enjoy these vids. I had to split them in two to get them to download. Sheesh. What a pain. Well, as I say, twice the K.T. twice the fun!!!

Here's one of me havin' a good time with my toys. Please excuse Mommy's singing voice......



Here's me enjoying some good times in the high chair....




XXXOOO
Luv ya' all!

SERENITY NOW!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry to inform you that Baybee K.T. is a bit under the weather.

This means that her 8 month post will be a little late.

She caught her second cold on Thursday and boy, is this one a doozy.

Not only is she boogery, sneezy, coughy and cranky....she won't sleep in her crib anymore!!!

The last 4 nights have either been spent cuddling on the couch with her or bringing her into our room to sleep. She's back to her hour long screaming fits.

I hope this cold gets over with soon. The problem is that I think I've spoiled her with all the extra cuddles.

The good news though, she ate banana this morning and didn't complain.

Happy Hoppy Day

Just a quick entry to say that we hope you're enjoying chocolate bunnies, Cadbury eggs, jellybeans and of course, my favorite....

MARSHMALLOW PEEPS!!!

Whichever color you prefer, of course.

Me? I don't have a preference. I don't discriminate against PEEPS of any color.

I think we are going to go for a hike today. The sky is blue and the temp is just about 60 with just a slight breeze. Perfect hiking weather.

The problem is that K.T. is napping right now and Huzbend is engrossed in his latest obsession, God of War II.

We might not be going anywhere for a while.......

It's okay with me. That means that I can relax a bit.

K.T. and I went for our first jog on Friday. We busted out the baby jogger and went for it. I decided that I was going to go 4 miles. Well, I was feeling pretty good and decided, "Why not go for 5?!"

So, we kept going. And going. Annnnnnd goooooing. Where the hell was that next mile marker? I got exhausted and had to stop to walk a bit. I still didn't see the marker. It felt like I had been going forever. K.T. was no help. She was all comfi-cozy. She had fallen asleep at about mile 2.

Turns out I missed the mile marker and we ended up going 6 miles. What a dumby-head I am. I haven't run more than 3 miles since before K.T. was born. 6 miles was not on the agenda. My legs are SOOOOOO sore today. Ugh.

Oh, and here's an update on the fruit situation. K.T. has decided that she likes prunes. We also tried peaches yesterday and she ate those. I decided to give apples one more try and lo and behold she ate them too. No complaints.

I think her fruit boycott might be over. There is one test left though, BA-NA-NA.

Have a good one. I'm off to do a little couch sittin'.

Am I A Bad Person?

Yesterday was another playgroup meeting.

Yeah. The one with the facials.

The moms took turns with the facial thing. I went first and left K.T. sitting on the floor to play with some toys.

Everything was fine until she decided to throw her head back. I don't know why, but she likes to just launch herself backwards sometimes. Most of the time I am sitting behind her and she lands in my lap. Or, I'll have a pillow back there. But, this time, no luck. It was just blanket and floor.

SMACK! Her head hit the floor and she started crying. There were tears and everything.

She wouldn't let me put her back down, so I had to do the rest of the facial with her on my lap. You know something, it's pretty hard to apply a microbead scrub with one hand and hold a squirmy baby in the other.

At the end of the facial, the Mary Kay lady had us put on foundation. I hate makeup. I never wear makeup. After putting on the foundation, I felt like a clown. All painted up and everything. It looked pretty decent, but it's just not my style. I washed it off when I got home.

The rest of the playgroup was just OK.

There is this one lady that has a 8 or 9 month old daughter, but she also watches her 13 month old nephew. If you were to look up "toddler" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of this kid in the entry.

He doesn't walk. He stumbles. At a running pace.

If something is in his way he will either:
A) step on it and keep going
B) trip over it and keep going
C) kick it out of the way
D) fall down HARD

K.T. and her 7-9 month old pals just hang out together on a blanket on the floor. They busy themselves with taking toys from eachother, pulling eachothers hair, slobbering on things, constant babbling and an occasional cry.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

The 13 month old is like Godzilla and the babies are like Tokyo.

Yesterday, the kid was running around and tripped on the corner of the blanket. He fell HARD right on top of K.T. and she started to cry.

My first reaction was to pick the kid up and throw him across the room. Preferably through a large plate glass window or something dramatic like that.

I wanted to hurt him and hurt him bad.

I wanted to hurt a toddler. How whacked is that? I think I have issues.

I guess I know now how a Mama Bear feels when someone is messin' with her cubs. I had this huge surge of anger and adrenaline. It was really hard to be calm and collected.

Anyways, with a few hugs and kisses K.T. was all better. But, for the rest of the afternoon she wouldn't let me put her on the floor to play with the other babies. She would only sit on my lap to play.

That kid kept running around and almost fell into some of the other babies. I kept watching him and managed to put a hand out to block most of his falls. At one point, I think he ended up poking one of them in the eye.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Fruits

K.T. hates fruit.

Everything that I have read specifically states that you should introduce fruit last to your child. Fruit is sweet and babies prefer sweet stuff. Come on, who doesn't? If you introduce fruit first, they tend to snub anything else you offer them.

So, I did as I was told. I did yellow veggies first, green veggies next and now we are on to fruit/fruit juice. Last, but not least, is meat.

Carrots didn't go over well the first time. But, now she loves them. Squash and sweet potatoes were never a problem.

We all know how green beans went. She wouldn't eat them for about a week and then all of a sudden she'll eat them without protest. Peas went the same way. We had to water them down for a while because she didn't like the chalky consistency. Now, she'll eat them straight up.

So far, everything I've fed her she's ended up liking or, I guess, tolerating.

No such luck with fruit.

We tried apples first. How could apples fail? I LOVE apples. Apple pie, apple crisp, apples and peanut butter....yummy. Well, the apples did fail. Miserably. She screwed up her face and wouldn't eat another bite. I've tried them room tempurature, warmed and ice cold out of the fridge. No luck. We've been feeding them in bits and bites for about three weeks now and she still doesn't like them.

Next we tried banana. You can't get much plainer than banana, I thought. This will definitely be a favorite. Nope. Not a chance. Again, she'll take one bite and won't open for another. I have to admit that the banana baby food has an uber-banana taste. I thought it was a bit overpowering. So, last week, GmaC (who was here for a visit) tried to mush up REAL banana. Same reaction. She wasn't going for it. I tried real banana again today to no avail.

This past weekend we went with prunes. I can't recall ever eating a prune, at least by choice. I like to taste everything that I give to K.T. (yes, I even tried the green beans). Baby food prunes taste something like raisin pudding. I can't say that I was a fan. Her first taste went the way of apples and bananas. One bite and then no more.

But, the jury is still out on prunes. The other day she ate a whole tablespoon. There were lots of scrunched up faces, but she still opened her mouth for more. I'll just keep trying.

We've got two fruits left now. Peaches and pears. After that, we move into fruit juice.

Will she eat peaches?
Will she LOVE pears?
Will K.T. decide that if apples are Mommy's favorite food, then it will be hers too?
Will K.T. realize that prunes make her poop turn a nasty brown color that makes her Mommy want to puke?

Tune in next time!