The Butler Clan has MOVED!

Okay, after my big blog split and the debut of Parley and Prate, I decided I like Wordpress better than Blogger so I'm switching! From now on you can check on Butler family news at bandofbutlers.wordpress.com. Thanks!

Pink Pajamas

Ari got some new cute pink pajamas from The Children's Place's fall clearance sale! I couldn't resist taking a few pictures, they are just so cute. :)

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

Look at that face!!!!!

Then I put her new hat on her so she could get used to wearing it, and she proceeded to climb on our safe and pull books down off the bookshelf. In her hat and overalls. Beyond cute.

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

BOOOOOOOOOOKS!!!!!!!!!!

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

My Favorite Game, by Ariana

Then I bribed her with a banana to sit still.

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

Here she is in the middle of her newest sound, something between a screech and a mongoose.

From Pink Pajamas and Hat

Photo Contest!

I entered Ari in a photo contest, and the winner gets a $50 gift certificate to Tiny Prints!  If you want, you can vote here.


http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/october-baby-foodie-faces.htm

Splitting Blogs

I've realized for some time that I kind of have two blogs in one on here.  An update on the family blog, and a soap box blog.  So I've split them.  For those of you who enjoy my articles on green living or political commentary, you can go to my soapbox blog, titled Parley and Prate.  For those who just want to know how the family is doing, you can go to my update blog, titled The Butler Clan.  So update your bookmarks!

The Butler Clan
Parley and Prate

Ari said mama!! ARI SAID MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't want to post until I was certain it was really "mama" and not just blabbering - I'm pretty convinced now!!

This morning I was taking a shower and Ari was in her play pen in the bathroom with me.  After a couple of minutes she got bored and stood up and started fussing.  I tried to comfort her, then went back to my shower - at which point she wailed, threw her arms in the air towards me, starting bouncing up and down and whined, "Mamaaaaaaaaa!  Maaamaaaaaaa!!"

She did it again just now after lunch when I left to go get a washcloth to clean off her face.  "Mama!!  Maaamaaaaaa!"

I'm not sure she knows I'M "Mama" - I think she may think "mama" means "fix it!" - but I am soooo okay with that.  :D :D :D

Awesome Mommy Moments #3

I was sitting here at my computer having eaten a snack of a bagel and cream cheese when Ari came over and was playing at my feet. I gave her a spoon to chew on because she loves chewing on spoons (and banging them on things, they make terrific noises) so the chewing sounds she was making didn't concern me. Until I looked down. And she had not one, but TWO bagels in her lap because she had apparently found the package, opened it, gotten out two bagels, and was happily munching on one of them.

Oh, and I have good news! My daughter doesn't choke while cramming bagel down her throat. Also, she likes bagels.

Awesome Mommy Moments #2

So I was changing Ari's diaper today and there were these crusty white clumpy globules in it. Something that shouldn't be coming out of any of my child's orifices, ever. I freaked out for about 3.2 seconds before I realized it was dried cottage cheese from lunch that had dropped into the giant black hole that forms near her belly button when she sits down.

P.S. I filed this under "food" because I want someone to be searching my site under the "food" label and read this post. Because that would be hilarious.

Meemaw's 80th Birthday

We went up to Dallas this weekend for Justin's grandmother's (Meemaw's) 80th birthday celebration!  We had fun, ate waaaay too much cake, and even had a "mini date" while my parents watched Ari so Justin and I could go to the mall and play cards in the food court.  :)

Ari is really acting like she's remembering grandparents and people from time to time when she sees them.  She starts singing every time she sees PaPa Joe and laughs everytime she sees her Uncle Jerd and I think James is starting to scare her.  She was fascinated with my dad's oxygen machine, though (which we are calling his life support) and kept trying to eat the little cord.  We finally gave her a stethoscope and that seemed to satisfy her.

On Sunday we went to church with Justin's parents (which is about 18 hours away by car, or 55 minutes, I never can remember which) and Justin sang a sort of impromptu (decided to do it the day before) duet with his father.  It was really neat and I'm glad we got to go.  I loved the sermon the preacher gave and will be blogging about it later.  On the other hand, I am never leaving Ari in that child care ever again.  (Always trust your gut, mamas!)

I think Ari might be starting to get the concept of waving.  She'll hold her hand up but she doesn't quite move it yet so we'll see if it develops into something or if it's just a coincedence.  She does move her hands a lot.  :)

Well, that's it!  I think we're all starting to feel a bit better (except for the hacking, uncontrollable, sleep depriving cough) so it looks like it might be business as usual for us from now on! Back to play groups! :)

Standing up by herself!

Ari is getting so big!

Today she stood for a long time by herself. She had already been standing for about 30 seconds when I took this picture. She's not nearly as wobbly on her feet as she was a week ago, and she wants to practice standing all the time. She'll pull herself up on anything she can find, the wall, a table, Mommy, the dog. Once I was laying on the couch watching her play, and she stood up using her table then would let go and sway for a few seconds before grabbing the table again. Then she would bounce up and down and get this huuuge grin on her face like, "Yay, yay! Look what I did look what I did!" And then do it again. I laughed so hard. :)

So here's our little angel, practicing being a big girl!

Well, I held out long enough. Plus, I might be going insane.

I tried. I tried SO HARD. I just can't avoid the batteries!

I bought her toys that would really stimulate her brain. You know, blocks. Stacking toys. Cups. Stuff that crunched when you twisted it. A ball. For a long time, she only had one toy that ran on batteries.

I have officially given up.

I went out and bought her a play table at a garage sale yesterday. Now I'm singing my 123s to the tune of La Cucaracha, Ari is pressing on the chocolate chips of a half eaten plastic cookie to hear a crunching sound and playing with an electronic pizza that unceasingly declares how yummy junk food is. I am going to be an awesome parent.

*sigh*

Manwich

Me: "Manwich does NOT come with meat!"

Justin: "Yes it does."

Me: "No! It doesn't! You buy the meat and brown it and add the sauce. Manwich is the sauce! It does not come with meat!"

Justin: "Then why would it be called Manwich? If it didn't come with meat, it would be called Girlywich."

Standing UPPY!

So I wanted to wait to post this until I had a video but my little one is waaay too into my camera phone to be interested in showing off while I have it pointed at her. So I'll relay the news less dramatically: ARI CAN STAND BY HERSELF!

That's right folks, and I'm not talking your I'm-keeping-balance-just-long-enough-to-find-a-safe-place-to-land standing. I'm talking 20 seconds. 20 SECONDS! It started about a week ago and now she's having tons of fun with it, even pulling herself up to a stand without help! (Okay, that was once, and is disputed, but I stand by it!...haha...stand...by it...gettid?...ha...um...::ahem::)

I don't know where my baby went! What's next? Flying lessons? Scuba diving? Dates? (No way, Ari bar! Not till you're 53!)

Awesome Mommy Moments #1

I've decided to start a new section on my blog called Awesome Mommy Moments, because there are just some things that only mothers understand.  It's the little things...

Today I kept going around and something on my arm would itch.  I'd reach up and scratch and it would stop but then it would randomly start itching/scratching again.  I finally lifted up my shirt sleeve.  I had a partially digested Teddy Puff dried to the inside of it.

Thanks, Monster Mess*.

*Ari's new nickname.

Lesson for Today

Never, ever, EVER accidentally not press hard enough on your $7 crappy Wal Mart diaper pail that was probably designed by drunk monkeys because the latch, well...DOESN'T...and end up leaving the lid open after your baby starts eating solids.

NEVER.

EVER.

Back in Houston

Well, we are officially no longer Ike Refugees!  No more free donuts...dang...

I'm not posting any pictures of the damage.  Because there wasn't any.  95 mile an hour winds at my apartment and the two rotten old pine trees are still standing in the yard.  Morbidly dissapointing.  Justin said he saw a billboard that had been thrown through the roof of a building in the Woodlands.  I was asleep.  ;)

We had a fun experience last night. And by fun I mean I might have accidentely thrown something through our wall.  Our baby monitor stopped working.  Only you didn't know it stopped working.  It didn't tell you until two in the morning when it suddenly rang out like the apocolypse was starting in our outlet.  I could not get the thing to stop screaching for the life of me.  I ended up having to sleep on the couch so I would be able to hear Ari if she cried.  Too bad we can't afford another monitor.  Maybe we'll use our walkie talkies.

Back on Wednesday!

Justin just got an update from his school and we are officially going to be back in Houston on Tuesday!  He starts back on Wednesday and classes begin on Thursday.

In other news, my dad is in the hospital.  It's not serious right now, but he needs to keep up with treatment because apparently he's got some sort of breathing problem that's more serious than asthma.  I'm not sure what the situation is, but I'll update when I get back from visiting the hospital.

Finally Got Internet

Well my parents don't have internet and we were in Oklahamo for a couple of days, but we're reconnected now!

We're still in Dallas, hanging out and having a ::very:: extended vacation time.  Electricity is back on in our apartment and Justin tentatively starts back to school on Wednesday, so we'll probably head back to Houston early Tuesday and start our lives back again.  ;)  We've signed up for text message updates via Humble ISD's alert system, so we'll see if that tentative date moves at all!

Ike Update

Well, we're still in Dallas.  We evacuated to avoid hurricane Ike and our apartment complex is still out of power.  Entergy says it might be as late as October 17 to get power back on, but Justin is probably going to have to start work on Monday.  Ari and I can't go to an apartment without power (it's waaaay too hot for an infant) so we might be in Dallas for a month while we wait.  Justin's going to try to get a ride back to Kingwood with a coworker who also evaced to Dallas.  I guess we'll see.  We're having fun here, hanging out with friends and family, really getting to rest.  It's pathetic but I've watched more TV in the last week than I have probably in all of 2008.  There's just not much to do!!  ;)  Well, we'll see how things go, but we're kind of enjoying our forced vacation for the time being!

Sign Class

I've been wanting to take ASL since Jr. High, but I never got the chance. They didn't offer it at my high school, A&M's class was always full, and even the community college near me has dropped their program. Then a few days ago I found out that the community center in Huffman offers a free sign class taught by a women who has been an ASL instructor for 25 years!! :D I went tonight, the class was 2 hours long and it was SO much fun! I'm really looking forward to going back for more. We learned family members and fingerspelling and numbers in ASL, a lot of which I already knew but it was really awesome to be able to see someone else doing them because it's a different experience (obviously) than when you're learning out of a book. The class is 8 weeks long and then I can move on to a more advanced class for another 8 weeks, I'm hoping that I can be somewhat conversational by the end. This will be a lot of fun!!! :D

Our daughter is going to be a musician

She has repeatedly shown herself to be very auditory. She wants a toy that makes noise rather than lights up or looks interesting. Right now she is banging vigorously with a rattle on the bottom board of our console table, finding all the different sounds it can make. My guitar is her favorite toy (though she tries to nurse on the tuning pegs more often than she tries to strum. ;)

She loves playing with the pots and pans and a wooden spoon when I'm doing the dishes or cooking in the kitchen.

Of course, it's not at all surprising, considering that she has oodles of musical talent coming from every side of the family. My brother wants to start teaching her how to play the mandolin and she had a toy piano before she had her first pacifier. Ari doesn't really have much of a chance. She's going to grow up thinking "EADGBE" are the first 6 letters of the alphabet.