Shirley at Six Months

Six months sounds even longer when it's worded "half a year".  I know everyone says it, but they say it because it's true.  It flew by!  I definitely took more pictures this month so sorry if this post is a little picture heavy.  Though apparently there are some people who read this blog because I had a couple people ask me where the six month post is, so I guess you all won't mind pictures.  :)

She's covering up her face here, but it's pretty much the only official six month picture I got with her looking at me.  

The first big thing this month is that Shirley learned how to sit up on her own for long periods of time.  She is steady now, which is nice for her.  She enjoys sitting and playing with her toys.

How am I going to discipline this child??  I will though.  I will.  Shirley also discovered cords this month and computers, phones and iPads, all of which she is not allowed to play with so the discipline has started a little bit.

My mom bought Shirley the perfect 4th of July dress.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the parade or our evening at the Tagliere's house.  (Their neighbor sets off some pretty decent fireworks.)  But I did get the dress.  

Okay enough with the 4th of July pics.

These next few are the only pictures I took of Shirley on her actual 6 month birthday.  This dress is from her Auntie Kristin and we love it!  The drooling has continued, although there is less of it, but still no teeth!

But probably the biggest new feat of Shirley's is the army crawl!  She can now get where she wants to go which means I can no longer leave her out of my sight for more than two minutes!  Oh dear.  Sometimes she get on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth and then falls forward then she repeats it.  

She has also recently started "waving".  She moves her fingers up and down over her thumb.  She'll do this right in people's faces.  Especially mine.  I'm still not sure exactly what she's trying to do when she does it, but it's super cute.  

Shirley is still our happy baby overall.  She loves to talk and growl and laugh and we love how friendly and easygoing she is.  I still can't believe that God would give such an unworthy sinner as myself such a wonderful gift!  As always, we love you Shirley Lindi!

New Smoothie

So maybe I should rename this blog to Shirley and Smoothies, because that's pretty much all I ever post about.  I just discovered a new smoothie the other day and even though I probably say this a lot, this is my FAVORITE one!

Choco-nana P. B. Smoothie 

(Like my clever name for it? )  

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup almond milk

1 tsp carob powder

1 tsp honey

1/8 cup peanut butter

1 or 2 ice cubes

Directions:

Throw it all in a blender and blend until smooth.  

Drink up and enjoy!

Bringing a Baby to Disneyland

This past Monday Kwacha, Shirley and I were able to go to Disneyland with my mom and Emily.  We were thankful to receive some free tickets which made it possible for us to go.  We had so much fun going as a family.  

When I was younger and single pretty much every time I went to Disneyland I got hit in the leg with a stroller.  It almost became a sort of joke. It was kind of ridiculous.  I boldly declared that I would never bring a baby of mine to Disneyland!  What would be the point?  They wouldn't remember anything anyway.  Oh naiveté!  

It turns out, not only did Shirley seem to really enjoy it, but there's a huge benefit in bringing a baby to "the happiest place on earth."  Has anyone out there ever heard of rider swap?  I looked online the day before we went to see if you could bring strollers in line.  Well you can't.  BUT if you see a "cast member" at the beginning of the line and show them that you have a baby in your party, they give you a nice little card that allows the person who stays with the baby to go in the fast pass line with up to two other people after the first group finishes the ride.  If you couple this with a fast pass than basically three of you get to go in the fast pass line twice in a row!  Who knew??  We probably rode more rides than we normally would have.  It was great. 

I also had no idea that babies are allowed on so many rides!  Any ride that doesn't have a height requirement.  

And it is so fun to see Disneyland through your baby's eyes.  Shirley absolutely loved Small World.  She was looking around everywhere and bouncing like crazy on my lap.  She was also very interested in the parade, all the colors and music.  

Seriously, I recommend bringing a baby with you every time you go!  Just be careful with that stroller...

One More Recipe

Here's another drink recipe for you.  It's the perfect 4th of July drink so I'm sorry it's a little late, but you can use it next year.  Or you know...whenever you want.  Thankfully I found out about it on July 3rd, so my mom, Emily and I had it that night.

Have you ever heard of a French soda?  Like anything French (mostly) it's just a tad classier than an American soda.  Especially when you add a fun pink chevron straw at the end.  (The original recipe can be found on Everyday Reading.  I tweaked it ever so slightly.)

4th of July French Soda

Ingredients:

a handful of blueberries
ice
perrier
half and half
black cherry fruit concentrate

Directions:

Toss a few ice cubes in a glass, throw in the berries on top of the ice, fill the glass 2/3 with perrier, stir in two tablespoons of half and half and about a tablespoon of the black cherry fruit concentrate.  (More if you like your soda sweeter.)  Stir with a cute straw and enjoy!