I found my Mom's Play-dough recipe I had brought down with me when I got married. I was so excited I just had to make some for Chelsea. I remember Mom making it for me when I was a little girl in Strathmore before we moved. I even had some food coloring to make it extra fun. I think Chelsea had fun, at least until she tried to eat it. It's half made of salt so the poor kid mad the best pucker face I've seen yet. It was a great opportunity t to teach her "yuck".

We're also enjoying a bigger menu of yummy stuff. We did pancakes and I made Chelsea a special "C" shaped pancake for her first one. Poor girl wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It ended up half on the floor and the other half stuffed down the side of her high chair.... well... at least she had fun with it.

We also went camping!!!!!!!!!!! We had a blast with Pam, Chris' aunt. Pam even brought a camp chair that was just Chelsea's size, she loved it.

Chelsea is a fantastic camper! She was happy and fun the whole time, which is GOOD, because Chris and I love camping and I was worried Chelsea wouldn't. But she was great! She even kept to her scheduled nap times, more or less. When she got tired and ready for a nap, we just put her in the stroller and took a walk around the camp site, she would fall asleep and nap in the stroller for a good hour or so.

Since the gravel in the camp site was a little to sharp for little hands and knees to crawl on, we set up her Play Pen and put a big mosquito net over it to keep the bugs off. It worked really well! I didn't see any mosquito bites on her the whole time we were camping. Only Chris and I put bug repellent on and still got eaten alive!

I have to say that I planned bed time perfectly! I gave Chelsea to Chris and said I'd be right back, and by the time I got back she was already asleep in daddy's arms. We were able to lay her down in her play pen in the tent. She slept soundly till midnight, when she usually gets up for a bottle, then back to sleep 'till 8:00 am.

I was so worried that she would have a rough time sleeping while we were camping, and that we would end up the most hated people in the camp area for keeping everybody up with our screaming baby. But... she was awesome! and we will definitely be camping again!

Wow! Sooooo much has happened since I last wrote on the Blog. This is a Picture of the bouncer we got for Chelsea in March when she was about 6 months old. She thought it was great even though her feet didn't quiet reach the ground. But within 3 weeks she could reach the ground and was bouncing up a storm.

Chelsea started crawling on May 14Th. It was so fun to watch, she did this little hobble thing where she kept her left leg straight while her right leg did all the work. I tried to get a video uploaded on here but it didn't work. So if you want to see it it's on my camera next time your at our place.

I started experimenting with the little hair that Chelsea had around May. First I just used a Velcro bow to do a "Bam-bam" thing on top, but it didn't last.... not enough hair.

Esau and Chelsea are still the best of friends, but for a while there Esau was really annoying Chelsea! He got into the habit of laying down right in her way, or between her and where ever she wanted to crawl to. She would wine in protest, then just crawl right on over him! She wouldn't bother going around, nope, just up and over. I think Esau enjoyed the attention and that's why he kept doing it.

Poor Esau looks like he's in pain in the first picture but he's actually just finishing a yon, but it sure looks funny, and yes, Chelsea is trying to eat Esau in the second picture. He has so much patience for her, the poor guy.

I put Chelsea's play pen up in by the front window, this was when she was just learning to pull herself up on things, around late May. Their were kids playing outside so both Chelsea and Esau were entertained for about 20 min. so I got a few things done without interruption.

We got a high chair from our neighbors in July, and it's in great condition! It has also been a great life saver in the kitchen. Chelsea will usually be content for about half an hour or so in it while I'm making dinner.

Chelsea loves to "read"! It is very rare that I can sit down with her to read to her, but if I just give her a book or two she loves to turn the pages and look at it all by herself. Her favorites are the touch and feel books and the peek-a-boo flap books.

In mid. June Mom and Dad Johnson came down with Erica (my sis. in law) and her son Hayden. We had a blast! We went to the Zoo, played in the parks, and went swimming. These pictures are of Hayden and Chelsea showing off the diaper look while playing with toys in the front room. I don't remember quite how it happened, ether they were both in need of a change at the same time, or it was just stinking hot in the house, ether way it made for a cute cousin picture that we can embarrass them with later.

I guess a toy had gone under the chair last week and Chelsea went right in after it but then couldn't figure her way out. This picture was taken a Sunday morning by Chris while I was at my Relief Society presidency meeting. I have a picture of Esau under the same chair.

Chelsea is a little fish! Ever since we swam in Mom and Dad Johnson's Hotel pool while they were here, we love going in the water! So we bought a garden hose, a faucet adapter so the hose fits onto the bathroom faucet (so we can have warm-ish water), a hard plastic pool (so Esau can join in and not pop it) and a ton of swimming diapers. WE LOVE IT!!!! She will even stick her face in the water without prompting and blow bubbles! Its so cute.

I have to say that the most exciting thing that's happened this summer so far was the day I was able to put Chelsea's hair into pigtails!!! YAY!!! It may not be a big deal to a lot of people, but when your wondering if your poor fair haired child is going to be bald forever, you are dang happy the day that their is enough hair to not just fill one elastic but TWO!

So here is Chelsea playing with her new toy (found at a yard sail for $1.00!) with her two little pigtails! And that's the most recent picture on our cammera, taken yesterday before church. As soon as I have more cute pic.'s I'll put them up too!

FOOD!

For the past month or so we've been feeding Chelsea cereals. First we tried rice cereal, but she didn't seem to like it, so a few weeks ago we tried the oatmeal cereal. I could not get that spoon reloaded and back to her mouth fast enough! She loved it!

Chelsea is 5 months old now so we're thinking about spicing up her diet with more solids. I really want to try home made baby food first. It will be cheaper in the long run and I'll also know exactly what's in it. (no preservatives ect.)

I found an awesome wed cite with a bunch of advice, directions and recipes for home made baby food. www.wholesomebabyfood.com

I'm really exited to make a bunch and see what Chelsea thinks of them. Bring on the next adventure in parenting... Ahhhhh...

Home Again

This weekend we took our first road trip with Chelsea. We went down to Utah for our nephew's baby blessing. It was great to see everyone and to see the new little addition to the family. Now when I say little I should explain that our one month old nephew is the same size as our four month old daughter. It was funny to put them side by side and see that Chelsea is just a little bit longer than Him but he is a lot stockier than her and his head is bigger, I then felt quite grateful for my LITTLE girl, I don't mind them small at all. Although we were definitely jealous of all that little guys hair! He is so adorable with his hair all styled!

Chelsea was a great traveler! It was about a 4 hour drive. Chelsea slept for 2 hours then would wake up so we would stop at the nearest rest area to feed, change, and burp her, then it was back into the car seat and she would sleep the remaining two hours. It worked that way both on the way down and on the way back up. I was so nervous about how she would do. But she was great. The other fun part was packing for her. Not that it was hard or anything, I was just worried I'd forget something simple and obvious. Like bringing the formula but forgetting the bottles, or bringing the wet ones but forgetting diapers. That just seems like something I would do. But happily I remembered everything we needed and more... ya, I brought a ton of diapers.

Esau stayed home, my sister Jennifer babysat him for us. I'm sure they had a blast! We got home late Sunday night and while Chris was taking Jennifer back to here place, I was unpacking. First thing I did was take poor Chelsea out of her car seat and put her on the floor to stretch, then I go into the kitchen to unpack some stuff. She was contently cooing for a while, then I hear her give a squeal of delight and giggle a little, so I look over to see what she's so happy about, and this is what I saw...

Esau was licking her ears and then cuddling her. I grabbed the camera that I had just unpacked and was able to get a picture of both! Esau then looked up at me and almost seemed to say "You're not taking her away from me again!" I thought it was the cutest thing ever. Chelsea was very happy to see him too.