Crib Teething Guard

Since Natalie has been pulling up to standing, she has started chewing on the edge of her crib.  I had already read about babies doing that, so I was prepared.  :)  In order to protect the crib from teeth marks, I made a crib teething guard!  I just looked at pictures of other teething guards online and made up a pattern.  I still have some fleece left over from my T-Shirt Quilt, so I used that as the bottom to give it a little padding.  The hardest part of this project was just measuring the crib to make sure everything would line up right.  The sewing itself was simple.  :)

Here's a look at her crib now.  I still think it's weird that her mattress is all the way down!

I do miss the crib skirt.  :(  It just doesn't look as good without it.  But on a happier note, here's the baby!  ;)

Meteors

Earlier this week there was a meteor shower.  August is apparently the month for it.  While I typically go to bed not long after Natalie, I was hoping to venture into our backyard to check it out on one of the nights that was supposed to have a lot of meteors.  Well, last Monday night, Natalie decided that she didn't want to go to bed at her normal time...  So, we bundled up and all went into the backyard for the show!  Our backyard is tiny, but has a pretty nice view of the sky.  We aren't too close to any big bright lights, so you can see the stars fairly well on a clear night.

The nights out here get nice and chilly.  It just so happens that I had been clearing out Natalie's drawers and closets to make room for newer, bigger clothes.  In the process, I came across the flower hat that I had crocheted for her way back in February.  (It's the top hat in this post.)  When I originally made it, the yarn I used made it too large for her head.  I tried it on her when I found it and it fit perfectly!  It was just a little too short, so I added a couple of rows to the bottom.  I was so happy that she actually had an opportunity to wear it!

{The Flower Hat - with 2 extra rows}

{Ready to go watch meteors!}

{So Sweet}

Travis has been learning about taking pictures of the night sky.  Have y'all seen his awesome picture of the moon?  Maybe I'll post about it some time.  Anyway, he made it his goal to capture a meteor, and he got one!  Totally awesome!  Check it out.

I do love a good night under the stars.  :)

8 Months

Natalie turned 8 months old yesterday!  We're already two thirds of the way through her first year.  Amazing, isn't it?  This past month has been full!  We flew to Texas to visit family, Natalie has perfected crawling, and has just now started to pull up to standing.

Thanks to her increased mobility, it was very difficult to get a good picture of her this month!  She did not want to lay still on her back and smile at the camera.  haha!  It will be a challenge to get these pictures for the next 4 months.  

I feel like several big changes happened all at once yesterday.  Since Natalie is pulling herself up to a standing position, we had to move her crib mattress to the bottom slot.  Since the mattress is so low now, the crib skirt will no longer show and has been folded up and put into the closet.  I suppose that's not really several changes, so much as one really big change in the look of her room.  She's growing up too fast.  She's starting to chew on the edge of her crib, too, so I'm in the process of making a crib teething guard to protect the wood.  More on that in a later post.

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday.

Sticking her tongue out.  :)  She does this all the time.

* Please forgive any focusing issues in the above pictures.  :-/ *