Independence Day or How I Learned to Stay at Home for Three Days Straight.

My dearest Junie has been terribly sick since Sunday. Hand, foot and mouth is the worst. THE WORST. The urgent care doctor couldn't tell if it was HFM or chicken pox and the only way to know 100% was a blood test. June shrieks at the sight of a stethoscope so there's no way I was going to go through a blood test. Either way the treatment is the same - lots of Tylenol, Advil and love. I've never had the chicken pox so I guess we'll know in a few days if I get sick or not which it is. 

Since both viruses are very contagious we've been relegated to house arrest. June seems to feel okay about 80% of the time during the day so it's been rough trying to find things to do without venturing into public. We've done lots of walks, bubbles, reading and picnics on our lawn. The hardest part was surviving Fourth of July. Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays and we had big plans. We love the Lake Forest parade and the Laguna Hills fireworks plus our family friend's pool in between. Sadly, we had to cancel everything on our itinerary and come up with a new way to have fun. 

June slept for about 2 hours in the morning so Thomas and I stayed in our jammies until 1130 watching Friday Night Lights. (Best. Show. Ever.) After Junie woke up we went to Thomas' parent's for lunch. It was so incredibly nice to get out of the house after being quarantined for 3 days. Our little outing only lasted about an hour and a half before June got very fussy and subsequently fell asleep in the car. After another nearly 3 hour nap we decided to take a walk to our favorite place - the Orange Circle. Our little town is so amazing and pedestrian friendly so we got June in outfit #2, Henry on his leash and headed out. 

Here are some crappy iPhone pictures from our walk!

This was our first outfit. That little dress ended up covered in papaya so we had to do a wardrobe change later.

Old Towne Orange - est 1873

We have the cutest neighborhood!

 

Getting into the spirit.

She looks like she has the plague. The nose and right eyebrow are from a minor fall but everything else is whatever virus is taking over her poor little body. She's not her smiley self these days but every once in a while she still gives this gummy grin.

Thomas, June and our beautiful house. I truly love where we live.

How was your Fourth? I want to hear all about it! We heard fireworks but didn't get to see any. So sad but Junie's health is more important than fireworks. I guess.

SOS Beach Edition

June had never been to beach. I KNOW, I'm a bad mother. We live 20 minutes from the beach and have taken her once when she was 4 months old and she was asleep and it was at night. So that doesn't count. She's now old enough to fully appreciate the sights and sounds. And also, she's awake.

Thomas and I packed up the ware - 4 chairs, 4 towels, an umbrella, a large quilt, hats, sunscreen, snacks, water, buckets,shovels, cameras, pacifiers, and the baby. My mom and dad joined us for the momentous occasion. 

Parking was a beast, to put it lightly. We circled two parking lots for about 20 minutes while June wailed in her car seat because if she's not sleeping in the car, she's yelling in the car. My favorite thing about her throwing a fit though is that in the midst of yelling and crying, she blows raspberries. Like she's just so frustrated that it's the only thing she can muster. Adorable.

We finally found a spot and hauled our things to the sand. We were anxious for her to actually feel the water and so we set up shop and ran down the to the shore. Thomas held her and put her feet in, she was stoic. Didn't disapprove but didn't seem to enjoy it either. He sat down with her and let waves crash on her lap. Nothing. No smiles. No cries. Nada. I believe she was humbled by the awesomeness that is the ocean and just couldn't even respond. Or she was bored. Whatevs.

On me>> bathing suit top: Target // bottoms: Lands End // sunglasses: H&M. On June>> bathing suit: Target // hat: Target. On Thomas>> bathing suit: Rip Curl. // hair: the heavens.

So this day could technically could be sponsored by Target. Seriously, so many Target items all over us, all of the time.

Here are some more Junie v. Ocean pictures. 

Enjoy! 

Thomas carved June's name into the sand. This was her reaction.

That was her face most of the day. So aloof.

I just love that you can see her tooth. And she looks like Gilligan.

This was the closest we got to a smile.

Ignore my large breasts (and body) and focus on my adorably nonchalant baby and her fountain ponytail.

Beach day was a success. Do you guys have any tips for beach days or days out? What are your essentials and must haves?

We're linking up again with Mz. Mandy over at The Haps!

9 Months!

I'm not sure how this happened. I think I say that every month but how the heck do I have a 9 month old? I sit here remembering the day we found out we were pregnant, 18 months and 2 days ago. Remembering the day she was born, 9 months ago. These 9 months have been wild! 

June is healthy, happy and "strong willed." We had a doctor's appointment about a week ago because she was pulling at her ear (just a little cold virus/teething, no biggie). While the doctor examined June she kept commenting on her strong willed personality. This was obviously no surprise to me but kind of funny to hear from a medical professional. She suggested that I start reading on how to raise a strong willed child. My mom was right, this is freaking payback. That being said, does anyone have an suggestions for books on strong willed children?

Junie has one tooth, the bottom left. The right one is slooooowly breaking through but isn't through quite yet. I can tell it will come in any day and fast, just like the other one. In fact, the other one came in so fast that we were at a wedding when it happened. We left June with my parents at 3pm and by 8pm her tooth had broken through! And here I was so worried that she would never get teeth.

She's cruising big time, to the point that she pretty much refuses to crawl anymore. She hates being on the ground or even in her once beloved jumper. She's pretty fearless and when she falls she cries but not because she's hurt or scared - because she's mad that she can't pull herself back up. This will probably sound horrible but I totally let her fall and don't try to catch her. My point of view is I've made the house as child proof as I can, we have carpet and I put pillows around her so she needs to learn how to manage herself and her movements to master them. She seems pretty frustrated that she can't walk so I have a feeling that walking will come pretty soon.

We still feed Buggie pretty much everything we eat. Her new favorite is oatmeal for breakfast. I make my bowl and then scoop a little into a ramekin for her and dollop it onto her tray. She'll eat nearly 1/2 cup on a hungry day. We've discovered that she's allergic to eggs and it was totally my fault. The "rule" is that you're not supposed to start eggs until 12 months but I figured that since she had a very expansive palate that she would be fine. Not the case. Poor Junie broke out in hives. The second time she had egg (yeah, mother of the year over here forgot the homemade - that I made - mac & cheese had egg in it) it was even worse. Serious welted hives all over her face, chest, neck, and shoulders. I was so incredibly sad for her. She didn't seem bothered by them but I think that's because she's not really bothered by anything except us. 

So let's go over that handy Baby Center Milestone Chart:

                      Most Kids Can Do                Half of Kids Can Do             A Few Kids Can Do

9 months

Stands while holding onto something Jabbers or combines syllables Understands object permanence

Cruises while holding onto furniture Drinks from a sippy cup Eats with fingers Bangs objects together

Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo Says "mama" or "dada" to the correct parent

June can stand while holding onto something, totally jabbers and completely understands object permanence.

She can definitely cruise, has drank from a sippy cup (a straw, no less) since 4 months old, has eaten with her fingers since 5 months old and LOVES banging objects together.

She plays peek-a-boo like a champ. Thomas and I are still debating the "dada" to the correct parent. She can identify us when we ask, "Where's mama? Where's dada?" And can say baba, not quite mama. She does say dada to me but really mostly to Thomas. So I'm on the fence about that one. 

Looking ahead, she's kind of already amazing at the 10 month old chart too. I really don't mean to brag but I'm rather proud of my sweet Buggie! Want to see how she did the last few months? Check out 8 Months!, 7 Months!, 5 Months!, 4 Months!, 3 Months! (I didn't use the chart until 7 months and was pretty sick for the first few months and month 6.)

I want to hear about your babes! How are they doing? Do you ever check their progress using Baby Center? Let me know in the comments!

Check out that tooth! And the first one is her loving her FAVORITE thing in the entire world, her bunny. 

Seriously, WTF is this? I can't get rid of this chart! AHH! Let's just all pretend it's not there.

Our Week in Instagram

I'm not the best at keeping up with pictures on the bloggeroo. So I'm going to try to start doing a once a week Instagram round up. If you're not following me, do it! AmberKellogg on Instagram. 

Here's what we did this third week of May!

Monday

 

Someone learned to crawl!

Tuesday

This is how we read books in our house.

Wednesday

Mom, why are you taking my picture?

Thursday

June fell off the couch. My iPhone thought Jimmy Fallon was to blame.

Along with crawling, came getting stuck. Hilariously stuck.

Friday

We went to a graduation party. I was dressed. June was not.

Saturday

Our new house! I'm dying to move!

Sunday

Disneyland with Cherry Spitz!

Monorail waiting

Pool time!

My beautiful baby.

Sundays are our most fun days. What day do YOU have most fun?

How was your last week? What did you do for fun? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Mother's Day. For Real.

My first Mother's Day was simply amazing. I'm so lucky. I honestly don't know how to put it all into words, just fantastically lucky. 

Thomas woke me up around 945 with Junie and Henry. We had planned on breakfast and Disneyland but got a later start than anticipated. Which, honestly, was fine! We stopped at Corner Bakery but the line was out the door and I wasn't about to wait. I did need coffee though. Don't talk to me before my coffee! (That's a joke, Thomas hates when people say that so I always say it. We're so funny, right?) Jack In The Box was good enough for us. Then we drove by our NEW HOUSE (renting, not buying) and I gleefully waved as we stopped at Blaire's to pick up two sweet cards that my sweet, sweet friends left for me for Mother's Day. Blaire also left me a rose from our new garden, so incredibly thoughtful! 

Fast forward to Disneyland. It was crowded but not as bad as it could have been. June really loves being in her stroller and looking at everything. We rode Casey Jr. and Small World. Innovations made me really sick because of the moving room. The line for the Pineapple Whip Float or whatever was too long so we left. We were there for a good 3 hours. We decided to head out to my grandparent's house to celebrate with my family. Good choice! Yummy tri tip and baked potato was more than worth it! 

So, no more talking. Here's some pictures that represent Mother's Day to me.

I want to recreate this for Thomas. My sash says "Daddy's Girl."

Three generations of Looney/Losey/Kellogg women. We all make weird faces.

One of my favorite pictures, EVAH.

This is how my day started. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

She makes the best faces.

Kind of jealous at how she gets to ride rides.

Her head is as big as mine...

Thomas photobombed this one. I love it.

She is the happiest baby. Short nap and three hours of Disney and she was still going strong.

So ladies, how was YOUR Mother's Day? I want to hear all about it here on the blog! Any good presents? Hope it was fantastic for you all!

Milestones

You can skip this post if you want as it's just some bragging about my smart Buggie Boo. I mean, I recommend you read it because there's some cool stuff about FOOD! All of our favorite subject!

Baby Center is a pretty good resource for all things baby. I have to steer clear of the discussion boards because people love to troll and it infuriates me. So I keep my blood pressure down and try not to peruse those. 

They have this great chart of different milestones that most kids, half of kids and a few kids can do for each month. I was reading over the list and it only pumped up my baby ego. Here's the run down. 

Child's Age	Mastered Skills (most kids can do)	Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)	Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
7 months	Sits without support Drags objects toward herself	Lunges forward or starts crawling Jabbers or combines syllables Starts to experience stranger anxiety	Waves goodbye Stands while holding onto something Bangs objects together Begins to understand object permanence

June can do everything on this list. She hasn't quite started crawling but she's lunging for sure. And she can scoot herself in a circle - just not forward yet. Her stranger anxiety isn't full blown but she definitely prefers me over pretty much anyone else. (Except for maybe my dad - they have this inexplicable, amazing connection.) She LOVES standing at the table and would rather be there than sitting. 

She's also eating a great variety of foods. We only did purees for about a month and went straight to real food. And man, does she love it. She feeds herself and I can really see her dexterity benefiting from that. So far she hasn't turned down a food that we've given her, such a good eater! If you're curious about what we feed her, here's a quick run down:

• Beans - black, kidney or pinto beans. 
• Broccoli - steamed or boiled.
• Banana - usually cut in half and then into quarters.
• Carrots - steamed or boiled.
• Green Beans - boiled.
• Bell Peppers - orange, yellow or red - steamed or boiled.
• Strawberries - cut into manageable pieces.
• Cottage Cheese - just on her tray, she eats the little curds.
• Shredded Cheese - just on her tray.
• Cauliflower - steamed or boiled.
• Papaya - cut into manageable pieces.
• Mango - cut into manageable pieces.

For the slimier foods (ie banana, papaya, mango) I sometimes roll it in some baby cereal. It makes it easier for her to grasp and the taste isn't too strong. Tonight I'm trying pasta with her and I have a feeling my little chunker will love it. What foods do your kids love? I'm trying to mix things up a little bit but I figure her palate is already more diverse than a lot of babies her age so I try not to stress about it. 

Guys, I really want to hear about your babies and your experiences! Please leave a comment and let me know how YOU'RE doing! Pass the blog on to any friends with kids too.

I mustache you a question.
What a hipster baby.

An Article to Ease My Soul

I know I'm new to this parenting thing. I know it's only the beginning. I know I will have more children (whether they be of my body or of my heart). However, there are hard days. There are days when I count the seconds until Thomas comes homes. There are days that I want to cry, endlessly. I would not give my child up for the crown jewels or a dollar for every grain of sand on earth. There are some mothers who will not admit to the hard times, to the days that drag and the cries that make you question your every single choice as a parent. This article made me cry for its honesty and bravery to fully say it all aloud. All I can say is amen, Glennon Melton, amen.