Thanksgiving et al.

Long time no bloggin'!  Here's a quick recap of the past two weeks, not in chronological order:

Thanksgiving
We ate turkey with family!  Shocking, I know.  Only, we did it with two different parents in the same day.  First, with grandma Chris and grandpa Ron at noon.  We had to get a quick pic before BugBat's outfit was inevitably changed :

I made an appetizer-shish-kabob-turkey-tail-type-cute-thing that I discovered on Pinterest.  Yay, pinterest! It was clearly delicious. I spent an entire 30 seconds cutting out the turkey head and taping it to a gourd.  You can probably tell how artistically talented I am.

Grandpa Ron and Cousin Carlie were baby-whisperers during dinner, and put BugBat to sleep, but don't worry, she wasn't drugged, despite the LiveStrong bib ;)

Then we went to Papaw Bill's house for 4:00 dinner, who also kept BugBat happy during dinner and let us eat uninterrupted for once (note the changed outfit):

Cousin Ella enjoyed BugBat as well, and the room nearly exploded with cuteness:

About Mom

Before Thanksgiving, I was finally closing in on my pre-pregnancy weight, nearly breaking into the 120's again.....

...but after Thanksgiving, not so close. I can't complain though, considering the weight loss must be completely credited to breastfeeding - it's practically liposuction at 500-600 calories a day!  Plus, I'm pumping all the extra I can not only for BugBat's daycare, but to donate to preemie babies since there is a big shortage going around.  I have to have at least 300 oz. to make it worth donating though, so it will take a bit longer - so far I think we have about 80 extra oz. stored, but we're quickly running out of freezer space haha.  I'll have to smuggle some over to a family freezer sometime.  Moving on....

BugBat's current Likes

• Sucking her thumb - sometimes too much, she will suck it when she's hungry instead of asking to nurse, so I have to guesstimate when she's due to eat, and offer her a snack, in which she eagerly partakes. 
• Sitting - she can sit up almost unsupported now, and she loves it.  She'll look around and study the new view, and insists (by crying if on our shoulder) on being carried in a sitting position now; observe:

• BugBat also loves touching things, after discovering how to use her hand.  I still suspect she is left-handed like her Great-Grandpa Sitterley was (Kermit).....observe - video taken while waiting for her two-month shots at the pedi's office:

• Bouncing while walking is still a favorite activity, as she always wants to be in motion like her parents. This can be exhausting at 2 am though.
• The mobile above her crib is fascinating and will keep her intrigued while mom or dad gets ready in the morning, or for bed at night.
• She has begun to be more vocal, practicing her conversation with us, and getting annoyed if we don't respond appropriately:

• Kicking is a common past time, especially during diaper changes, or when we are trying to put some pants on her.  She particularly enjoys kicking whichever leg we just put into her pants while trying to get the other leg in the other side, thereby taking the first leg out of her pants.  Maybe she just likes being ornery. 
• The cheep-cheepy dance.  It cannot be explained, but it works:

• Baths (and touching the rubber ducky):

• Finally, she has taken to playing with her food.  Note that she is not eating solids yet....yes, that means that part of her new appreciation of touching things includes her mommy, while nursing. Sometimes it takes all my will power not to giggle and disturb her.  

BugBat's current Dislikes

• Diaper changes during the nighttime.  I admit, getting wiped with a cold wet cloth can't be fun, but it's got to be better than continuing to sleep in a dirty dipey. 
• Being tired.  This happens quiet often considering she takes 4-5 naps a day, yet she'll fight going to sleep by screaming louder and louder until she finally conks out for a sound slumber. For everyone's sake, there will not be a video of this. 

Cloth Diapering

So far, a success!  Apparently we've only had one major leak (at the family care, oops! Sorry, Miss Steph!), but otherwise, everything is going smoothly, and everything is washing completely out with no stains or smells, despite using an older washer.  My only complaint is that the BumGenius 4.0 are substantially bulkier than sposies, but that's to be expected, especially for an all-in-one that grows with the baby.  Luckily, we have several 6 month outfits that fit over it just fine.  Her first fluffy butt:

Trying to take "Portraits" at home

I recently received a promotion at work - yay?!  Yes, it's a good thing, but the problem is that now I no longer have a reliable salary - my draw is based on feast or famine at the firm.  Now I receive a percentage of whatever is left over after all overhead is paid, which is neither reliable in amount nor timing.  It could be  1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or even more, before I see another paycheck after December 31st of this year.  Scary, since we are still paying student loans, car payments, mortgage, etc.....but I guess no risk, no reward, right?  So we are hoarding whatever money we can now, until we can save up a better cushion, so to speak.  

This relates to pictures in that we had previously planned to take 3-month portraits of our little sweet pea using a local photographer that we like, but we are pushing it back to the 6-month pictures now, to play it a bit safer financially. Since we still wanted to document our babe's progress, we tried setting up our own home studio and posing her ourselves.  Chaos may or may not have ensued. 

We thought she would fit inside this stocking, but underestimated how big she has already grown. 

Now she just looks like a chubby, flailing mermaid.

So we tried laying it on her instead.....

She didn't like that idea.  See "kicking" supra. 

Looking cute and smiling here, but also showing her *ahem* bloomers.

What's with all the flashing lights, guys?

DO NOT LIKE!

Ok, different outfit, different attitude?

Nope.

Help, I'm falling over!    She actually did roll down the slope here, resulting in delayed reaction sobbing for about 6 minutes haha.....oops!

Recovered and smiling for the only time in 20 more minutes of pictures.

Wait, I have flowers on my outfit.....how interesting......

Screw it, we'll go to Sears for $5

Ta-da!  Coming to a holiday card to you soon.

 Then we get home from our Sears session, and she and Atticus-cat are all:

Yes, the cat is actually licking the back of her head here.

But no caterpillar toy can ever be as yummy as a thumb!

 Goodnight!