Wildlife

The location of our house offers us daily wildlife visits, for which we never tire of watching.  The common sightings include birds (of all sizes & varieties), squirrels, chipmunks, & deer.  Unfortunately, we also battle with neighbor cats using our yard as their hunting ground or litter box.  I'd really like to pop them in the behind with a BB pellet - not hurt them but scare them off - but apparently that's a felony.  Fiiiine, we won't resort to animal cruelty.  (Seriously though, I don't let my dog wander around the neighborhood to s**t in other people's yards or terrorize other critters, why the hell do you get away with it because you have an "outside" cat?)  I think we'll resort to a squirt gun & letting Guinness out to chase them anytime we see them.

On a more rare occasion, we're delighted with visits from more skittish creatures.  Yesterday evening, a small fox came cruising through our yard, looking for dinner.

 Mid-pounce!  Didn't appear to be a successful hunt, he (she?) didn't walk away with anything wriggling in his/her jaw.

Time flies when you're raising a kid

Somehow time flies by when you're raising a very busy baby.  Lilly is almost 7 months (wth?) - the picture above is from Easter, when she was 6 months.  She loves to interact, at the same time quietly observing.  Her brain is an incredible little sponge; it's amazing to see her watching us & then try to mimic.  She still loves daycare & is growing into a social little lady.  At 6 months, she was only in the 12th percentile for height, grew to the 50th percentile for weight, & a whopping 95th percentile for head circumference.  Kid has a huge noggin (all that brain matter).  Put her at one side of the room & in the blink of an eye, she's rolled across to the other side.  She desperately wants to crawl & I have no doubts that will be coming along soon.  Any day now, she will cut a tooth.  We've started pureed foods & so far, she loves most things.  Except peaches.  She continues to sleep fairly well (crossing fingers, toes, & eyes) & vocalizes as much as possible.

We love her.

This face

Oh my gosh.  This face.  We're biased for obvious reasons but it's hard not to claim she's the cutest.

Goings on

 Christmas morning, this little fella found our compost bin, as the lid had blown off the night before.  If he could have fit more of his body, I think he would have crawled right in.  I can't imagine composting food is good on the guts but then again, it is winter & nutrients are scarce for these critters.
*The "fence" in front of him is a garden next to the compost bin & there wasn't a good shot of him without going outside & scaring him away.  The previous home owners used bird fencing like it's going out of style...one of the things we'll be changing next summer.

Our little sponge is soaking up the world around her as she continues moving into new development milestones.  Playing with her hands, looking at pictures, blowing bubbles...

And she's eating like a monster.  This little girl must be growing like a weed, packing on the pounds after lengthening out a bit.  You can see her lovely little baby belly in the picture above.  It, along with the rolls on her legs, are the cutest damn thing.

Happy Holidays

Don't let this picture fool you, right before we snapped it, Lilly was crying & Brewer peed on the carpet.  Somehow, we got our s**t together & snapped the picture before more hell broke loose.

Happy Holidays!