trip to Asheville, a sandbox, and 7 months, 3 weeks.

Some book I read said that babies this age would like to play in a box with sand, or cornmeal. Knowing my child and how everything goes in her mouth, and how I happened to have excess cornmeal on hand, I went that route. She loves it-and wants to empty the container as quickly as possible.

We have a playyard for her, which she will not sit in. She likes to play in her crib in her room, but is not interested in the playyard for long at all. This is one attempt-where she was at least momentarily entertained with me rubbing her face and stomach through the mesh.
Cami spent the night one night this week, and Elena loved her. Elena's getting to the age where she is really excited to see Cami. Cami, on the other hand, used to love to be around Elena as a new baby, but finds her a little annoying now. I guess it says how much she is a part of the family, she gets pretty annoyed with her "godsister" when they want to play with the same stuff. Anyway, here's Elena being thrilled to walk towards Cami. Also, this was the first time that Elena would get really sad every single time Cami walked out of the room, so, of course, Cami did so about 100 times. Being an older sibling, I do remember antagonizing my sister for the fun of it, so I can relate here... (I'm smashing imaginary bugs...)

That night we took Cami to the playground by Parkridge, which is really nice. She made a little friend.

Elena went on the swings for the first time, and LOVED them.

Saturday, we took a delayed birthday trip to Asheville. Elena rode in her stroller some, and we pushed the stroller and carried her more.
We had lunch at the Laughingseed Cafe, which is a dream for vegetarians. We always go there in Asheville. I suppose we should try somewhere else, but why-when we know this place is so great?!
We went to a store called "The World's Coolest Toy Store", which it wasn't, but it did have a large assortment of puppets which were pretty fun.


And large stuffed animals, which she loved.

We also went to the Old Europe Cafe, which is very true to the name, having been to Europe not too distantly. The pastries and coffee are pretty unreal-we split an opera cake and a chocolate-hazelnut napoleon. In addition-the staff is pretty European also, and if you've ever had wait service in a European country, you know what I mean. Elena was so, so tired. And, slept all the way home, which was amazing.
And, finally, my newly covered couch! I have hated this $200 Ikea couch for years-we bought it in Philly and were too cheap to buy the slipcover, so it was a cotton couch that lived through Philly, a dog, a cat, a baby, storage, moving, an apartment, this house, and art projects. We bought a slipcover that is made specifically for it, and it was terrible, but we lived with it for a year since the couch was so gross! No more! We went shopping for a new one, which would run around $700. Not in the budget right now. So, with a little inspiration from my sister-in-law who recently recovered her couch, and a 50% off sale on upholstery at Joann's-about $60, two evenings, and 150 staplegun staples and we have a "new"couch. Not too bad.

That's it for now. This week brings my sister, a trip to Nashville, and Cami's 4th birthday party, so busy for sure.