Cheerio(s)

The novelty of Amita's tongue has worn off and now she is only sticking it out about half of the time. That allowed me to capture some pictures of her without it last weekend. She is doing great and continuing to grow (mostly up, not out!) and I found myself buying her 12 month old pants for winter... gasp! Hard to believe we're getting close to that milestone already.

And speaking of milestones... we're starting to try finger foods with her as well! She is perfecting her pincer grasp which means she is ready to start feeding herself. I don't think there is a corresponding milestone for parents - I know I'm not quite ready for this... but here it comes, ready or not!

Here is Amita inspecting Cheerios for the first time. She wasn't sure at this point what to do with them, other than to squeeze them in her fists!

But she eventually figured it out and started to get them in her mouth. She is a Bubb after all, and she likes to eat!!

Amita and her two furry playmates!

Hanging out with daddy and watching the Lions game. Is that someone getting on our 3-0 bandwagon in the background?!?!?!

Tongue Tied

Amita discovered her tongue on Thursday and figured out that she can stick it out when she wants to. It was a constant source of amusement for her and us all weekend long!

That fun aside, our hope that she was done teething for a while has been dashed - it continues in full force. We are now trying the healing powers of an amber teething necklace. It seems to have helped some, but today Amita was still pretty uncomfortable. Hopefully, her latest chompers bust through quick so she (and we!) can have a break from all the excitement.

Here's Amita having fun with her #1 guy...

Fish lips never looked so good!

Her tongue was literally out of her mouth most of the weekend. It was actually hard to get a picture without it!

In other news... the next phase of our yard is started! We had 100 cubic yards of topsoil delivered last week and everything has been graded out from the driveway and sidewalk. That means that about half of our front yard needed to be replanted with grass. That also means it needs regular watering, so we're hoping for more rain than we've been getting!

Here's a view of the sidewalk and tree now that they aren't sticking up out of the yard like islands!

One of the cool features that our yard will eventually have is a wash for water to flow underneath our sidewalk. I have been working in my "free time" to pick rocks from our yard to use in the landscape. The good news is that we had enough to fill under the bridge...

... the bad news is that after 2 wheelbarrows full of rocks, this is how much we have left! We're guessing that it will take at least 9 more loads to complete the project. We need Amita to hurry up and learn how to walk so she can help!!

Two-th

Amita has been teething and it always seems to get worse on the weekends. This past weekend was no exception, so Aaron and I spent it trying to soothe and distract a rather grouchy baby. And then, like so many weekends before, we waited for teeth that never came. Until today. Apparently, Amita has decided that growing one tooth at a time is inefficient... so she sprouted TWO teeth today! She got her two front teeth (and it's not even Christmas!) which brings her grand total up to six. She has three teeth on the bottom and three on the top. I guess we can start giving her corn on the cob now!

Amita also enjoyed the official start of football season last weekend. She was excited to get out her Lions blanket. The cats were pretty thrilled too (that's the lump behind Amita!).

She also got out a pair of booties for that other team...

First Hike

We enjoyed a long weekend as a family staying close to home. Today, we all reveled in the cooler temperatures and went for our first hike as a family since Amita was born (hard to believe that was 8 months ago already!). The weather was perfect and we all strapped on our hiking boots and did a little over a mile on trails at a county park. Amita did wonderfully and seemed to enjoy her free ride with Daddy (I think he'll be sore from carrying an extra 15+ pounds!) and the fresh air helped her take a nap afterwards. It was one of her few naps this weekend - the teething is back with a vengeance!

On the ride back from our hike, we stumbled upon a small bar (seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but actually less than 10 minutes from our house - not sure what that says about where we live!). The place was called Ox and Cat's. It had 2 signs we were interested in. One read "Pizza" and the other read "Open". We headed inside and ordered a pizza to go. 15 minutes later, we were driving our new favorite pizza home! We'll definitely be back there again soon!!

Here's a view of us on the trail. Amita was watching me to see if I'd make it before the 10 second timer went off!

Aaron and Amita admiring the hill they just finished climbing. It's also a sledding hill in the winter! Can't wait to test that out!!

This is Amita and Azzy enjoying some early morning time. She is always all smiles in the morning (after her feeding, of course!).

Another morning this weekend. Mama and Daddy are not nearly so chipper after being up several times in the night due to teething, but Amita is fresh as a daisy.

The only day this weekend where she could wear summer clothes. But she is adorable, no matter the season!

Amita wearing a retro shawl that used to belong to me. It was just the right extra layer on Sunday when we went to Plymouth. Grandpa and Grandma Bubb babysat while we we had some couple time at the fair. Grilled cheese sandwiches, teeny weeny donuts, and fried cheese curds are must-haves!

Hobbits love taterses. Amita helped Daddy cook breakfast this morning.

Amita was playing with Baxter today. He was just far enough away where he could keep snoozing, but Amita definitely squeezed his fur a few times. She also tried to "pet" him with the blue ring. Amazingly, he never moved! He let her do whatever she wanted - such good friends!!!

August Rewind

August was a whirlwind of activity... so much more than usual! In addition to busy weeks at work, we had a lot of busy weekends, which meant that we had no time for blogging (among many other activities!). So this post will be a recap of all our events for the past month.

We last left our heroine starting to try squash... and it wasn't a big hit. But Grandma Morehouse's homemade applesauce was a real winner! She also really liked it when Grandma M. fed it to her! Since we failed to plan a sitter ahead of time and needed one in a pinch so we could attend our annual BabyMaker's Brewer Outing at Miller Park, we called on Grandma. Luckily, Grandma was able to cancel her plans and come down to stay with Amita that weekend. They both had lots of fun!!

Below is Amita enjoying some applesauce with Granny.

Amita having fun with one of her ark animals.

Amita has been enjoying her Thursdays and Fridays home from daycare. Below was a fun ride in a laundry basket. Note Baxter lurking close by - he doesn't ever want to miss any action!

Amita "reading" the morning paper in her jammies.

Amita has been sitting up and is getting very good at balancing and holding herself up. She still tips over every once in a while, but for the most part, she is able to stay upright. She also sprouted her third tooth on the bottom (can't see it in most pictures, but she definitely shows off those pearly whites when she smiles at you!). The teething has been a lot of extra waking in the night and it didn't stop with tooth #3. She continued to be fussy, so I assumed she was working on tooth #4 on the bottom.

Amita really enjoys playing and reaching for toys on her blankets...

... but her favorite "toys" to reach for are more mobile! Pretty soon, she's going to figure out that she can chase our furry boys. That should be exciting for everyone!

Below is Amita eating more solids like a big girl. So far, she only really likes plums and applesauce. I tried peaches too, thinking that maybe she has a preference for sweeter things... but she hated them! She would purse her lips closed and wouldn't allow any peaches in!! I don't really blame her on that one (not a fan of peaches myself). So we'll keep trying things to expand her menu. She is up to one solid feeding a day and this week, we are planning to expand it to two. That means mama needs to get to work pureeing more plums!!

Amita inherited a fantastic new kitchen from the O'Hearn's, whose daughter has outgrown it. She also got a super cute turtle sandbox to play in. Both have been and will continue to be big hits!!!

Amita got to see Grandpa and Grandma Bubb at the end of the month. They came down on a Friday so that Aaron could run some errands and take care of some chores that had been neglected with all our other activities! They were also wonderful enough to stay after Amita went to bed so Aaron and I could go out to dinner! It was our first night out together in quite a long time. We had a blast!!

Last weekend, I stumbled upon a garage sale while Amita was at home napping with Daddy. The family had twin boys, with 2 of everything and they were basically having a fire sale of all their baby gear so they could make room for their toddler sized 2 of everythings! We scored big with this toy - you put the balls in and they shoot out of the dinosaur's tummy, tail, and mouth. Very fun!!

Another acquisition from the garage sale (check out the video in the other post as well!). Amita and Azzy making beautiful music together!!! In addition to the below, we also got a drag racing track, a winter coat, a snowsuit, and some chewy blocks. It was a very successful outing. Good thing I brought my hauling vehicle (the MINI) with it's unlimited upwards hauling capacity!!

Amita also got her fourth tooth over the weekend... but it wasn't on the bottom like we were expecting! Instead, it is one of her vampire teeth on the top!! We weren't the first ones to notice it... our friends (the Brown's!) spotted it first. I was checking the bottom gums several times a day in search of it and it never occurred to me to check the top! I guess now I know I need to watch all over, although it seems that perhaps we are done with teething for a little while. The past few days, Amita has slept all the way through the night (the first time in about a month!). Amazing how much more restful consecutive hours of sleep are for everyone!!! We'd like to have a little break from teething before the next round starts, if only to catch up on some sleep.

Let's hope September is a little less busy (although my calendar does not indicate it will be) so we can keep providing Amita updates more regularly.

Video Killed the Radio Star

It has been a very busy month for us (as evidenced by the lack of blog posts!). Apparently, the dog days of summer and lazy summer days do not apply to us!! In order to fill everyone in on our activities over the past several weeks, my intent is to publish a few posts. This will have actual video (assuming I did it correctly...) of Amita's latest activities. Then I will also do a "traditional" post with a ton of pictures. We made sure to keep snapping those, even though we haven't had time to upload them here!

This is Amita crawling. That's right! She's starting to be mobile!!! Very exciting and terrifying all at once. Just as a note, Amita started in the center of the blankets (on the right hand side of the video... it just took awhile before it occurred to me to capture this on film!).

And this is Amita's First Concert. She has raw talent!