Sniff Sniff Snurk Snurk

Carver and I came down with a nasty cold on Friday and have been laying low ever since. And now Chris is feeling icky. So I'm taking a short break from blogging (as if you'd miss me haha. I've been HORRIBLE lately. Sorry!). Hopefully we'll all be better by the time we head to Ellensburg this weekend for the Fair and Rodeo!

Guest Post: Baby Sign Language

I was contacted by Misty at Baby Sign Language about doing a guest post and I jumped on it! Carver is a master at 'please' and 'done', and we've just started teaching him 'diaper' for when he has a dirty diaper. Here's some easy steps to start teaching your baby sign language. Thanks Misty!

4 Steps for Baby Sign Language Beginners

#1 – To start teaching your Baby Sign Language, first choose two or three words that you would like her to know. Most parents and caregivers start with a few of the following: milk, more, eat, hurt, diaper, or help. There are benefits to each of these signs, but it might be overwhelming to try them all at first. You know your baby best, so you can decide which signs will work best for you.

#2 – Now you’ve picked out the signs! Now you need to learn them! Don’t panic! This is way easier than it looks! The signs are available for you, for free online at sites like Baby Sign Language For Babies. There are animations, and there are also printable flashcards that you can print out and hang strategically around your house. I am partial to the fridge and near the crib, but there’s nothing that says you can’t wallpaper your house with Baby Sign Language Flash Cards. (Well, your interior designer might take issue, but other than that …) You can reference these signs and websites as often as you need to. You don’t need to be a pro signer! Your baby will think you are brilliant no matter how many times you have to cheat! And believe me, it won’t be long before you can do these signs in your sleep!

#3 – Now you know the signs, you need to make the signs as often as possible. Every single time you say the word “milk,” you need to make the sign for “milk.” Then make sure you produce the milk! In no time, your baby will learn to associate the sign with the actual milk, which is a giant step toward your baby using language. It is important to be consistent and redundant. Every single time you say one of the words you’ve chosen, you need to make the sign, even if you are in line at the grocery store, even if your mother-in-law’s watching, even if you are exhausted and thinking it is just not worth it! Repetition is the secret to learning! (Of course, if you forget to make the sign a few times, it is not the end of the world.)

#4 – This step is perhaps the most important. Have fun and don’t get frustrated! It might be months before you see any evidence that your baby is learning anything, but he is, I promise! Some babies take to signing right away, and some just find it silly and use it as an opportunity to giggle at you. But all babies benefit! So, if you’ve been plugging away at your first three signs for three months to what seems like no avail, do not give up! When your baby does decide to sign back to you, it will be worth it all, and the benefits will be plenty. And every single moment spent bonding and communicating with your baby is one that you and she will cherish forever (even if she never really remembers it)!

Words of Late

Carver has definitely been talking more and more lately. Here's some of the words/phrases that we've heard him say over the last week.

*Yes Mama
*I Do
*Did it
*Done
*Sophie (I swear he said it!)

That's all I remember right now. He's growing up so fast!

1 Step, 2 Step...

He's WALKING!!!!! Sunday night, Kim, Greg and baby Tyler were over for dinner and we were just hanging out. Chris was playing with Carver and then he stood him up and told him to walk to me... and he DID! Kim wanted to get into the fun so Carver was going between the three of us for a good 15min before Kim and Greg had to head home. I bet Carver would've kept going if they didn't have to leave.

Ever since then, he's walked a couple steps here and there but nothing like he did that night. We're still not encouraging it, and I'm pretty sure Carver knows that crawling is so much faster than walking, so he doesn't have much ambition to walk anymore than he has to. :)

Mama and Dada are so proud of you Monkey!!!

The rest of the 13mo pictures

We went to Ellensburg last weekend (13th-15th). The Japanese students with the program my mom hosts were in town so we took one of the teachers to Leavenworth on Saturday. We stopped in Cashmere first to go to Aplets and Cotlets and then we had lunch at a little BBQ place nearby. Then we went to Leavenworth and walked through the shops. I, of course, forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures. It was really hot (95+ degrees every day) so we stopped by the Wenatchee river after we were done walking through Leavenworth. Carver decided to SIT in the water so his clothes were soaked and I didn't bring a backup set. Carver didn't seem to mind. haha On the way home we stopped at a couple fruit stands but didn't buy anything.

Here's some pictures from the weekend. Mom's puppies are 3 weeks old in these pictures (4wks now).



I guess Carver's done playing :)

Actually touching the flies. So gross.

Carver is 14 months old!!!!

I just realized that it's the 19th! Scary how time flies. I didn't do a 13mo post so I definitely wanted to do one today. Here's some changes in the life of Carver!

• He is on the VERGE of walking. He'll stand up by himself but won't take a step. He'll "walk" from Chris to me but it's only one step and then he falls face first into my lap. haha
• New words: Done is a big one. He's still saying the old ones (mama, dada, dog, bird, etc)
• He can SIGN please! He just started this last friday on his own and he's so proud of himself!
• He understands what we're saying more and more each day. It's amazing how fast he learns.
• He's remembering what he's NOT supposed to play with and looks to me before he touches it haha
• He's going in his potty about 1-2 times per week. Chris sets him on there while he's running the bath and he'll go. It's so incredibly cute! We're not officially in the potty training phase but it's fun to just set him on there and get him used to the idea.
• He loves to color! We've drawn pictures for Chris, Nana, Uncle Cody, 'Auntie' Sarah, and me. Plus some random pictures. He's usually pretty good about keeping it to the paper too. :)

That's about it for now. I know I'm forgetting a couple things but this is good for now. Now, I'm going to go craft something before Carver wakes up from his nap. Have a great day!

I'm Alive!

We are alive and kicking. I just haven't had much to blog about lately. I have some pictures on my camera but Chris has been taking my camera to work to take pictures of job sites ever since his went kaput. So as soon as I can steal mine back, I'll have pictures for ya'll.

We were in Ellensburg last weekend and took a day trip up to Leavenworth. It was HOT but a lot of fun. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it, especially at Christmas time when the whole city is lit up. We also stopped by Cashmere to go to Aplets and Cotlets. I love their sour ones!!!

That's about it for now. Hopefully (fingers crossed!) I'll be able to upload pictures tonight. :)

Well he did it!

Chris finally talked me into creating a crafting blog to showcase all of my crafts. I'm just getting started, but check it out and tell me what you think! It's called A Caffeinated Crafter.

There's a first time for everything!

We're going to be having our FIRST guest post here in about two weeks. Misty over at Baby Sign Language is going to be talking about 4 steps for beginners. While you (anxiously) await her post, hop on over to her website and a look around. Carver and I had a lot of fun with all the videos! :)

A few 13mo pictures

Here's a few pictures to get you up to date on Carver. He was sleeping and...

...this is what I found on the other side of the bumper! He actually does this quite often but it was the first time I was able to take a picture of it. So cute!

He looks so incredibly tall in this picture!!

Look what I can do! I sooo want to get outside.

Cheese mama!

Chris's mom's dad and his wife came up for a few days to meet their great-grandsons. We had dinner with them a few nights and their last night in town, they came out to our house. Chris got to show them around the property, house and garden.

Playing with a new toy

Chris finally got to pick up our new dumptruck last Saturday. It needed the dump attached to chassis and some minor fixes to the engine. The boys jumped right in and got to playing. :)





Both of the boys' toys.

Cousins!!!

We hung out with Kim and Tyler last week... and I had my camera... and Tyler was awake... so we had a photo shoot!!!

We didn't realize how alike they looked until we took this photo. There are some definite similarities.

Fist-ies!

Peek-a-boo Auntie!

Toes

Chris juggling son and nephew