Day 62: My Picasso

Last night was not a good night in the least. Samantha has decided that not only does she not need an afternoon nap anymore, but that she also doesn't need to sleep at night. So, needless to say after very few hours of sleep, Samantha and I were not going anywhere today. So, we stayed in and played and crafted.

After Samantha awoke from a rather difficult morning nap, I decided to try something new with her. I had seen this craft on Pinterest awhile ago and had been waiting for the perfect time to try it out. Simply tape letters onto a canvas using painters tape and let your baby finger paint over top! Once dried, peel off the tape and your word is revealed! Genius and so cute! I really wanted to do "Samantha", but 8 letters and a curvy S proved to be too much for this momma to handle. Especially  while Samantha crawled around my legs and insisted on helping me.

Now, I just had to think about the what paint to use. All of her footprint crafts have been acrylic paint, but since everything goes into Samantha's mouth, and didn't feel like a trip to the ER today, I decided to make her some safe edible baby paint. I looked at a few recipes and then sort of just created my own from what I had seen. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part was trying to cook in the kitchen all while Samantha climbed and twirled on my jungle gym legs!

Edible Baby Paint

1 1/2 Cups Flour

2 Cups Water

Food Coloring

Favorite Flavoring

Simple mix the flour and water together over low/medium heat until mixture is thick, but still runny (about 5 minutes). Let cool and pour into small sealable containers. Add food coloring, mix really well and let your baby go crazy! Some recipes suggested adding a bit of sugar to the mixture, but I opted to add some peppermint extract instead. (Please remember when adding something new to your baby's diet, such as spices or flavoring, to slowly introduce it and to watch your baby carefully for any type of allergic reaction)

As the paint cooled, I stripped Samantha down to her onesie and got the baby wipes and paint area ready. Since we don't have a designated craft room, I taped a garbage bag to the floor to try and keep the paint off the floor, though, it hardly contained the mess that is Samantha. I think next time, I'll throw her in the bathtub with a little bit of soapy water and let her paint the sides of the tub in her birthday suit! Or even better, wait until the weather is nice and let her go wild outside in the grass. Not that the clean up wasn't easy, but that would be even easier! Just hose her down and we're good to go!

When I put the paint in front of Samantha, she didn't quite know what to think. She looked at me...looked at the paint...looked at me...looked at the paint...and then just as I thought, the first thing she did was eat a big mouthful of finger paint! 

After I showed her what to do, she had a lot of fun making a big Picasso mess! She loved the feel of the paint between her fingers and it ended up everywhere! In her mouth, in her hair, on her legs...and of course on me! 

It was a fun afternoon, and I can't wait to find my next craft or experiment to do with her. Who knows, maybe day 100 of 99 Days of Laughter will become a fun DIY craft blog...but for now I'm just hoping day 63 has a little more sleep in it! 

Day 7: One Week Later

Well, it's officially been one week of 99 Days of Laughter! With only 7 of the 99 days finished, I know this is going to be an amazing adventure with my daughter. Already, we have experienced so much together; memories I hope to never forget.

My favorite memory this week had to have happened yesterday. We seem to be caught in this sleep time battle. It feels as if Samantha refuses to go to sleep on her own anymore. Now it has become this entire production of fuss, sleep, play, fuss. She'll finally "fall asleep" only to be wide awake and playing in her crib five minutes later.

Well, yesterday once her sleep-play turned to crying I went in to try and soothe her, only to find out that all she really wanted to do was play as she giggled away in my bouncing arms. How could I resist those smiling brown eyes and that infectious giggle. So, I sat down in the rocking chair with Samantha in my arms and we played, we laughed and we giggled.

Though, I didn't get it on video I will forever remember her laughter as I "popped" the soother out of her mouth. She just thought that was the funniest thing. She would bite down on the soother and the anticipation on her face as she waited for me to "pop" the soother out was completely priceless. Had I tried to go for the camera, our moment would have ended, and I just wanted to keep making her laugh - even if she was supposed to be napping.

It's now two o'clock in the afternoon of day 8 and although the day started off with puke, puke and more puke, we've already had a few giggle moments together! Look for Day 8 tomorrow morning!

Day One of Laughter

Well, day one has come and gone and laughter certainly filled the air! But I just have to let you know, after writing last nights blog...boy did I ever watch yesterdays video more than once. Last night is just a blur of snoring husbands, crying babies, snowplows and falling strollers! By the time the sun came up I was snuggled into my robe and breast feeding pillow on the couch in the living room. Luckily, Josh woke up with Samantha in the morning and I was able to get another hour of sleep before starting the day.

But after a coffee and a hot shower, I was ready to get the giggles going!

Today, Samantha laughed 3 times! A great start to my 99 Days of Laughter! But, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, Samantha is not the easiest baby to get to laugh. She tends to get bored quickly and move onto the next thing, so getting her giggles and laughter on video is not an easy task. 

The first giggle fit, I heard while I was "sleeping in" this morning. I'm not sure what exactly Josh was doing, but she was laughing hysterically. By the time I made it downstairs, the laughter was over and she was crawling over to her story book. 

The second fit of laughter happened while we were having lunch at my Cookie Grama's. (For those of you who don't know, my Cookie Grama is my 93 year young Great Grandmother. She is exactly who I want to be when I grow up.) While we were preparing lunch, I heard that amazing contagious laughter coming from my daughter again. Josh was "attacking" her with his size 13 feet. I ran over, phone in hand and missed the laughing again! Geez...this is going to be a lot harder than I thought!

Finally, once we all finished our dinner and were ready for bath time, I made it my mission to get my first day of laughter on video. So, I set up the camera, made sure Samantha couldn't see the camera (huge distraction for her, must get mommy's phone distraction) and made her laugh! 

I might look and feel like a fool, but once that addicting giggle erupts, it's completely worth it. 

Let's hope tomorrow's a little bit easier.

Sleep tight my love, mommy needs some sleep.