Our Own Little Circus...

...minus the tigers jumping through hoops of fire, but definitely, the monkey is present and accounted for!

 Holland puts on a cute little circus for us daily, from the break of dawn until 9:00 p.m. when she sacks out for the night. Her acts include: acrobats (ie. rolling from one side to the other), clowning around (ie. making funny faces that make us laugh), training animals (ie. sucking on stuffed animals), trapeze acts (ie. swinging in her swing and maneuvering in her Bumbo), musical acts (ie. tooting, burping....and giggling), juggling (oh wait...that act is performed by me and Tyler!) and other stunt-oriented acts (ie. bending in half as to place entire foot into mouth - very impressive!)

She loves her little play mat, going for walks, rolling around on the floor, eating her hands...and feet! Laughing at silly sounds that we make. (Sometimes I think they are courtesy laughs. We may need to work on our material just a bit.) Let's see...she loves splashing in the tub. Seriously, the bathroom is completely drenched by the end of her tubby time. But, there is no way mopping up after her isn't worth watching her love "swim time" in the tub! She reaches for and grabs anything remotely close to her. After watching her reach for several things and immediately put them into her mouth, I had a brilliant thought: put a bottle in arms distance. You know, she's not too keen on the bottle, so I wondered what would happen. Yep - she grabbed it and shoved it right into her mouth. Brilliant! We only wish there would have been some milk in there. Darn. 

Oh ya, and when she reached for Tyler's camera earlier this week, we quickly realized that our house is in the beginning phases of mass-destruction at the hands of an almost-five-month old.

In fact, even nursing her is part of the daily circus routine. She wants to look at anything - everything! She wants to make sure I'm still there. Uh...yep...still here, my Baby Bliss, I'm the one that's feeding you - remember? If she hears a sound, she has to look around to see what it is. If I smile, she smiles. If I look at her, she smiles. If I look away...she smiles until I look at her...and then she smiles bigger! (The mouth in a smile has a pretty hard time latching on - FYI. Another little talent of hers is slipping her fingers in her mouth while she's nursing. She's so stealth about it.) If I have an itch, she looks at where I'm itching. She likes to grab my hair and play with it, brush her hand across me and reach for my chin or lips. (I really love when she places her hand on my cheek and looks at me....sigh...)

A circus, I tell ya! But a circus we are loving - every single second.

I mean, so what if our once-upon-a-time 30 minute nursing sessions can now last closer to 45 minutes? Or only 10 minutes when she just won't focus at all - we try again 10 minutes later. Honestly though, some sessions leave me completely exhausted! But so worth it when she falls asleep and is all warm and snuggled in my arms. But maybe these circus acts are why I'm so close to being back to my pre-baby weight!! I'm burning calories baby!!!

I digress...

So there you have it. A glimpse into our daily lives. We. Love. It...Ahem...HER!!

And today, let me just add, Holland took a Three Hour Nap. A THREE HOUR NAP!!! (I'm totally singing Gilligan's Island in my head. Maybe I should YouTube an episode. Do you think they have those???)

Anyway, Holland and her dad are on a road trip to Park City, while I sit here blogging...in my pajamas...at 3 in the afternoon. Goal: Shower before they get home! Ya, I have pretty simple goals these days...