Lions, Tigers & Bears!

Ok, so no lions, but there were other really cool animals. On Friday we took Syrah to the zoo. She had a lot of fun. Well, as much fun as a 7 month old can have. She did enjoy looking at the animals but she really enjoyed watching all the kids and other people. It was by far one of the most fun days in a long time. Syrah was great throughout the day. She did not once complain. She eventually wore herself out right as we were leaving and by sucking on her big toe, she fell asleep.

It was actually pretty funny because as she was sucking on her toe, she got the attention of so many other women there. After about 7 minuets of sucking, she passed out in Tony's arms.

360 Degree View

I have had a lot of people ask me how I decorated Syrah's room. If you remember, I was doing her room in ladybugs. While I was getting her room ready, I thought about Syrah's personality and how as she will get older, she won't need a ladybug mobile or bumper or even baby crib stuff because she will be a toddler/little girl. So with that in mind, I incorporated some of the colors and flowers from the ladybug crib bedding and decorated her room with paintings that will complement her growing personality. I had so much fun painting and decorating her room, that I have already started getting ideas together for the rec/play room. Getting a play room together is on our list of things to do and it all depends on how quickly Syrah develops.

We are not using the changing table for ... well ... changing her. We have always changed Syrah's diaper and clothes on the floor. The table works well for shelves though. We don't have a lot of storage in her room so this worked perfectly.

The "Sweet Drams" is a gift to Syrah that Sue Grover made. She is a long time friend of the family from chruch.

For her crib, we did a ladybug theme. It is extremely cute and she really likes talking to her bumper when she wakes up.

Even though having the baby's name in the nursery is common, it is something that I have always wanted. So I painted the letters to match some other things I painted and hung them on the wall with green ribbon bows that I made.

On one of her walls, I hand painted these words. The words are part of a nursery song from church that I really enjoy. I then painted the white and red flowers to tie in the crib bedding. The cork board was an idea that I had because I needed something to fill the space up with. I have been using this board to put family photos and other memories for Syrah to look at. Syrah has a lot of stuffed animals. The majority of them used to be mine (a couple were Tony's). Not all of her stuffed animals could fit on the changing table, so those in the picture needed a home.

She loved the purple bear that her Great Grandpa & Grandma Wood gave her. She also really likes the stacked animal rings to the left of the big yellow bird. With her crawling now, I am sure she will rearrange everything.

On the adjacent wall to her crib is her dresser. We ABSOLUTELY LOVE her crib and dresser. Syrah's Nana, Abuelo and Abuela got the furniture for her. Anyway, on top of her crib is a stuffed angel bear that is praying that Nana gave her when she was born. Under that is "Baby's 1st Bible" that one of my co-workers (Rebecca) gave Syrah the day I went on leave.

To the left of the bear is a very special picture. It is a picture of Jesus with a flock of sheep. This picture hung in my room and it is one that I remember having to this day. When I was little, I told myself that I would have this picture (along with a lamp which is missing in action for unknown reasons) in my baby's room. The two oval picture frames were the last thing that I added. The left frame has a picture of Tony and myself when we first started dating. The right frame has a poem that I wrote for Syrah:

God sent you from above

To fill our hearts with love

A life of joy and laughter with hugs and kisses soon after

The last wall (adjacent to the "I am a child of God" wall) is my favorite decor in her room. This tree was the first thing I painted in her room; it also was what set the mood for the rest of Syrah's room.

I love this tree because it represent my emotions that I had when I was pregnant with Sryah. I wanted something that was my own creation that encompasses the beauty and represents the meaning of the tree of life and the family tree.

Syrah decided that she wanted to help redecorate her room.

Model for the Day

For Syrah's 6 month birthday, I treated her like a model for the day. She spent the morning at the exclusive Spa de la Wood. There she was hand fed bananas and grapes. Afterwards, she splashed around in the pool while having bubbles rubbed all over her. A day at the spa wouldn’t be complete without a massage and skin treatment; one of Syrah’s favorite treatments. While being massaged, her skin was lavishly coated in a rich vanilla and coco butter moisturizer. Her model experience really kicked into gear as she headed off to wardrobe. She was dressed in a hand-picked designer outfit that was created by one of the industries top leaders ... Carter’s. After wardrobe, she was escorted by her entourage (her mother and 2 cats) to hair and make-up. There, the spa’s Senior Fashion Director brushed and dried her hair. No model can be seen without her accessories, so a ribbon bow was placed to pull her hair back. To fully complete the look, she wore a brilliant mother-of-pearl bracelet with a pink crystal butterfly (retail value: priceless). Since her face is flawless, she skipped make-up and was chauffeured to the pinnacle event of her modeling day. As the camera flashed, Syrah put on a show! She hit every pose and smile perfectly. She even mastered the technique of ‘dramatic eyes.’ She was (and still is) extremely beautiful … even a little boy took notice as he watched from the set entrance.

Syrah's day as a model was wonderful. It was so eventful for her, that she drifted off to sleep as she was chauffeured back to home. The day ended for her as she got all of daddy's attention and a good night kiss from us both.

I LOVE VEGGIES!

Syrah has been on baby food for a couple of months now, but she has just started to show a slight interest in self-feeding. Tony gave her steamed and mashed veggies and she enjoyed playing with it more than eating it. She got food all over her! It was pretty cute. With her baby food, Sryah loves her veggies more than her fruit. She is getting better at eating fruit, but nothing beat peas and sweat potatoes.

Crawling!

Syrah was and still is very interested in standing up and walking, but she recently learned how to crawl. It is pretty cute to watch her get onto her knees, try and stand up (without success) and then deciding that crawling to a destination will suffice ... for now. We don't expect her to stay crawling for too long.

* Pause web-music before playing video. Go to very bottom of the blog, find music player and click on pause. Now enjoy!

With Syrah's new found mobile skills, she is starting to find everything on the floor and making it her toy.

Syrah, what do you have in your mouth?

A squishy cat toy ball!

Swinging Good Times

Tony and I took Syrah to Spanaway Lake a couple of weekends ago for a morning walk. There was a HUGE children’s playground and a swing that was perfect for Sryah. She is still a bit small for the swing, but nothing a blanket can't fix.

Just Look at that Face

AND THAT HAIR!!!!!

A New Friend

Back in May, Abuela and Abuelo brought home the newest edition to their family ... a super cute male boxer names Magnum. Syrah wasn't too sure what to do, but since then, the two of them have grown to be good friends. Magnum is very gentle with Syrah and loves licking her face after meals. The only problem I see with Magnum and Syrah being friends is that she is learning to master the "puppy dog pout" from him!

Green for Green

Owning a house is a big responsibility. Besides make a mortgage payment every month that sucks your income dry, you have to maintain the yard, AND, if you are in an HOA, the color green is all too known: green grass needs green $$ to get green hoses to water the green grass. But in dealing with all the green, there are fun times that happen. For example, Syrah, who is sporting a green sundress, really enjoys running errands with us. As long as you take her out of her car seat and sit freely so that she can kick her legs around, she is good to go!

Even though it is a hassle to keep a green lawn, it is also fun to enjoy in the shade. These pictures were taken when we had 90 degree weather. We had to wait till around 6 PM to get some shade outside, but when that happened, we had fun. It took Syrah a while to enjoy sitting on the grass, but she still prefers the blanket next to me.

She Is So My Daughter

I was looking through our photos getting the June update posts together and I came across this photo. The back story to this photo is that Syrah got very upset sitting in the back of the car a couple of months ago; so upset that I had to pull over and give her a break. As I sat her down in the back seat of my car, she just looked at me with an expression. The only thought that crossed my mind was that she didn't look like a 4 1/2 month old baby. She looked like a little girl with her mother's attitude!