big bird and crazy baby

 I took this in the backyard this week.  It's a large bird with a furry dead creature in it's claws.  I love it.

Look at her.  She looks so much like her brothers it's outrageous.  I mean- really- she looks like a little boy in pink monkey pajamas!  and she's eight months OLD!!  I love it.  She's in that stage where I can stick her in the high chair with a handful of blueberries- and she's happy for at least thirty minutes. add some cheerios or black beans and she's good for another thirty.






















With a bow she looks enough like a girl, right?  she actually has more hair than I did at this age. I was bald until age two and expected the same from her.  No such luck. She's got this fluffy head of hair.

 And this thing she's done since birth is hysterical and pretty adorable, too.  When she gets angry or frustrated- she clenches her little fists and shakes and screams in rage. In her terrible twos and teenager years- it may not be as cute.

Here's a better example.  She does it ALL of the time.

She LOVES to stand up on the furniture- but then she gets herself stuck.  She can fall back down- but wants to just WALK.  She gets to the edges of chairs/couches and goes into angry mode. and she's still eating EVERYTHING.  I pulled part of a kit kat wrapper out of her poo yesterday.  Here she's got wet and slobbery dust bunnies stuck to her chin.

and the stuck face. or maybe it's the face when she woke up to find out the results of last night's election.  either way- she's maaaad.

the only thing hard about her crazy mobility is that I'm always on the lookout for our basement stairs. It's a very steadfast rule that the door ALWAYS remains shut- but I'm constantly checking.  None of us are perfect and we go up and down the stairs to do laundry (us) and ride bikes (kiddos) down there several times a day.  Just last week Kent sent me a text that read:

"don't beat the kids. wear your seatbelts. drive safely. and don't let metta near the stairs"  

He's working in the PICU right now and it's been extremely exhausting. Physically/emotionally/mentally, etc.  Lots of terrible terrible things all of the time.  Every day he's dealing with suicide attempts, child abuse cases, horrific car accidents and every other rotten thing you could think of.  Just lots and lots of really sick kids and devastated families.  It really puts life into perspective but can be pretty exhausting for him.  

I really really am so grateful for the blessings of a happy healthy and wonderful family.  Things can happen so quickly that change EVERYthing.  I need to be happy with what I have right now.  And I am. I really am.