Dropped off the planet?

Well, not quite, but life got crazy, and it still feels that way! We spent a week traveling and then the last week was just full of activity and I was just tired and had no desire to blog. Today is a whirlwind. We had our first Kindermusik class this morning and I'm leaving Sprout with a babysitter besides my mother for the first time tonight so that DH can go to his meeting and I don't have to miss my church class. I'm super nervous, but she will be in very good hands.

Here are some short updates. I hope to elaborate on some of them soon.

1.) Sprout stood by herself again, but did it by accident (wanted to hold a toy with both hands) and didn't realize she was doing anything special. She's had no desire to do it since.

2.) We had a great vacation, even though much of the time Sprout and I spent going it alone while DH attended his seminar. We had a blast. She loved the museums and the zoo and especially the aquarium. A juvenile sea lion even tried to play with her (see above picture). Experiencing these things with her was really special.

3.) She's sporting two new bottom teeth. They've cut through, but aren't quite in yet. She decided to cut them while on vacation. Fun times. It might have been better that way, actually because there was so much going on to distract her.

4.) We've begun the weaning process. I hope I get the chance to do a separate post about this because I've got so many conflicting thoughts and emotions. I'm ready, but I'm not, but I know it's time, so we've officially dropped two feedings now and she's doing well. We'll drop another next week. Maybe. If I can do it :)

5.) Sprout has a death wish. She's fallen off a bed (totally DH's fault), fallen down the stairs (that one's on me), tried to eat a penny and plenty of other non-food choke hazards. I used to silently judge people who let stuff like that happen to babies. Ummm, yeah, now I get it. How she went from barely crawling to qualifying for the 40 yard dash, I don't know, but we have some definitely cleaning, reorganizing and additional childproofing to finish. More on this later. In the meantime, we are incredibly grateful to her guardian angel.

6.) She crawls like crazy, pulls up, cruises, and is officially "into everything." Here's something else I didn't understand before I was a mom of an almost-toddler. I just thought it was something parents said. No, it's quite literal. She is really into everything she can be.

7.) We are planning her first birthday party. I can't believe it. She's going to be a year old on October 13. How is that possible? We're doing a farm theme. I sent out invitations today and am having a lot of fun planning.

Okay, gotta go get dinner ready so that I really can go to my class tonight!