Valentine's Day...Bah HumBug!

Valentine's Day is not exactly my favorite day of the year. It is meant for significant others to share in the joys of their relationship...hmmmm. Just another day for me! I probably wouldn't have even realized it was V-day except Grandma gave Mari a ctue little bib to wear (and the fact that I made the mistake to go to Wal-Mart in the middle of the afternoon...AUGH!).

So, I dressed Miss Mari up in all her pink glory and we made some visits (wheezing all the way) to show off our outfit.

Someone at work asked what I got Mari for V-day. Umm, uhh, oops! Well, she did get new carpet in her room yesterday (you can see it in the clapping video) and I recently purchased the top hutch part of her changing table, so I picked that up and put in together (Mom came over and helped me get it into place). We have retired the changing table...I could not keep Mari on it, diaper changes were becoming a battle. Since I mostly just change her in her crib or on the floor wherever she happens to be, the changing table was not being used at all...time to graduate to big girl furniture with more storage!

The changing pad had turned into a cat bed.

So Mari has totally come alive this week (amazing considering the first couple days of the week, she was so sick)...wondering if maybe the ear infections hadn't been there for awhile (she doesn't complain about them) and she wasn't feeling tip-top. She is jabbering up a storm...she was already a chatterbox but now, WOW! Mama was not a passing notion, it is her new favorite word (mine too!).

I taught her to clap yesterday (see video below)...5 minutes practicing and then I look over and she is just grinning and clapping.

She is crawling on all fours and can get around so fast. No more letting her out of my sight for a minute. I'm afraid she has tasted every dog toy in the house...but that's okay because Ollie has tasted all her toys!

She seemed to be getting bored with her jumparoo so I moved it up a notch...she can barely touch her toes but it is like a whole new toy. She gets that thing going and I can already see an improvement in her leg strength.

Then last night, Mom and I were working in the nursery so we put Mari in the crib to play (she did NOT want to be alone in her jumparoo with G-ma in the house), we looked over and she was using the bumper pad to pull herself up! She never succeeded because the pad was too flexible and the mattress too squishy but this is the first she has shown any interest in pulling up. And now she is trying to pull up on every piece of furniture possible--not successful yet but soon! This is the sight that greeted me this morning...Mari is always on her back chattering when I go to get her out of bed. Today, she was sitting up playing with her aquarium crib toy. (Yes, Juli that is the Valentine's sleeper...a little long but her fat belly won't wait for her legs to grow into it!)

Oh, and she now understands "NO" and doesn't like it. Before she would laugh at me or maybe frown, but now if I say "NO" she screams bloody murder! I can see some temper tantrums coming soon...oh the joy!

Back to work in just 2 days...oh the agony!! More nursery pix when I'm done...totally rearranging and moving things around!