7 Month Old Baby Goes Ham on a Strawberry

When I saw this strawberry on steroids in the carton we bought, I had to see how big it would look in Gwen's hands. When I saw how big it looked in Gwen's hands, I had to take these photos.

p.s. The title of this post is a joke referencing this Hello Giggles post. Ever since we saw the title, Ryan and I have been saying that Gwen "goes ham" whenever she eats.  

This weather tho

We experienced super nice weather this weekend here in Arizona and everyone can't shut up about it. I don't blame them! We're all just thankful that we're not melting, or stuck indoors with our blinds shut and our air conditioners on full blast. I want to say that I'm used to terribly hot summers having lived in Southern California, Southern New Mexico, and now here, but it seems like we all forget just how hot it can get during the summer, and once it hits you hear others or yourself saying, "It's sooooo HOT" about twice a day. 

So let us rave about the cool winds, overcast skies, and rain showers! But also pray for us regarding our impending doom. 

Photos- Ashley Nielson, edits by me. 

7 Months with Gwen

Six months to seven months has been the funnest transition with Gwen so far. She learned to sit up (which seems like a tiny miracle) and is much more interested in toys and is more interested in things she shouldn't have. She learned to army crawl about a week ago, so it has been fun seeing how far she can get from one end of the living room to the other end. Man, we gotta baby proof this place now. We are still co-sleeping, but next month we'll be moving into a place with two bedrooms! So we'll see how transitioning to a crib will be.... I'll probably have a harder time with it than Gwen! Honestly, she might just use the crib for naps. We'll see. Who knows, maybe I'll be relieved to have her out? Although I'm very(!) excited to finally have the chance to decorate a nursery!

We are still nursing and she eats a little baby food here and there. She so badly wants to stand, and tries to pull up on furniture or our legs, but she can't quite get there yet. Oh, and she's babbling a lot which is super neat for Ryan and I but probably boring for the rest of the world. We are definitely her biggest fans. I'm sure that's why God made parenting a partnership- so we can "fangirl" over our babies with our spouses/partners and not feel like a complete dork.


This is unrelated, but related at the same time-
I was pretty devastated after reading this blog post  about protecting your family/babies on social media. I knew that there are a lot of creeps and evil people on the internet, but I kind of just forget about it. You know? I focus on the good and fun of sharing photos of my adorable baby on Facebook, Instagram, and especially this blog. What shook me the most while reading that post was learning about the horribleness that is baby role playing, and that there is a community of these sickos on Instagram that can steal your photos and post them on their own accounts. A minute after reading the blog post I changed the privacy settings on my Instagram account and Facebook. This naturally got me thinking about my blog. I felt torn- I had immediately felt guilty about all of the photos I had uploaded of Gwen on all of my social media. I know that I shouldn't, since my intentions of sharing my life as a parent are good, but I couldn't help thinking whether or not her photos had already made it onto one of the baby rp accounts. It just feels so violating knowing that these predators are on the same platform that many of us parents use to share cute, funny pictures with one another.
After sleeping on it and reading through the tips to keep my baby safe, I feel a little better about keeping my blog. I thought a lot about making my blog private as well, but I felt that it would defeat the purpose of my blog, which is to share most aspects of my life, connect with other women and moms, and to make new friends. You can't really do these things if you're closed off to the world.
I also thought about how unfair it is that I was so afraid to share my life with all of you. I love blogging and I'm glad and proud that I've stuck with it for four years.
So! I am going to be more careful about what I share here and I'm not gonna let the bad guys control my thoughts too much. Learning what I did was a great reminder to keep some parts of my life and photos, private. Also, I've made a new Instagram account! Please follow me :) @hey_whataday 

Butterfly Wonderland

Okay, so I haven't blogged in a while! Last month my bestie was in town with her little family and we decided to visit Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale. Ryan wasn't able to come along because of work, but I'm sure we'll be visiting again once Gwen is old enough to appreciate it.
Don't let these serene, secluded photos fool you. It was kind of crowded with people that day (we went during spring break) and boy was it humid in there! I'm glad we made the little trip, though. I've never seen so many butterflies in my life. I wanted a butterfly to land on me, but I guess you need to stand very still for that to happen.

p.s. Remember that episode of Spongebob where they're afraid of the butterfly from Sandy's tree dome? Thought about that for the entire visit, mostly.