six months old.

On August 20th, 2011 Olive turned 6 months old.  As you can see I'm rather late at getting around to this post.

On September 10th, 1985 I turned 6 months old. So maybe it's okay to be posting this so late.. because today, 26 years ago, was my 6 month old day.

It's a stretch, I know.

Warning: There are 30 photographs below. Thirty. I deleted 47.

Olive is wearing a little Tea Collection outfit that I absolutely adore. Tyler and I are wearing nothing worth mentioning.

A rare family portrait:

Tyler doesn't seem to enjoy photographs too much. He rarely smiles. And Honey is facing the wrong way. I tried.













































Olive and her Popsicle:







Olive and her Mom Mom (photographed by Tyler - thank you!):

My hair is dirty. Sorry.









Since we're only 10 days away from Olive's 7 month day and, hopefully soon to follow, post, I'm not going to say too much because I can't really remember what was happening a few weeks ago.

A few days before August 20th Olive set out across the living room via the army style crawl. She's still rocking that.. a little more quickly now.
Olive has consumed numerous types of food. American, Asian, Indian, Italian... and she's had a great time. :)
We're using lots of signs with her. The sign for "milk" gets her pretty excited.
She is soft. Oh so soft.

:)

So which photo is your favorite? I'm not sure I can choose.. I'm bad at picking favorites, especially when there are so many to choose from.

Swanson Health Products Review.

I have to apologize for taking so long to get to this post - things have been hectic around here and a switch to a new computer and being without internet for two weeks really slowed me down! I'm sure you understand and will forgive me. :)

I was approached by a Swanson employee about doing another product review and I jumped at the idea. It was wonderful timing as my husband and I were nearly out of our vitamins so we decided to try something new. I also got one stick of chap stick since I had a little left to spend after the vitamins. :)



In the past we both used whatever cheap vitamins I could find at whatever store I happened to be shopping at at the time. Our last batch of vitamins were purchased quite a while ago and since then we've started shopping at local co-ops almost exclusively. I buy most of our hygiene products from Swanson because the prices are significantly better than the co-op (or "regular" stores for that matter). I had briefly glanced at the vitamin selections when shopping and was taken aback by the prices. If I were to stock up on our vitamins I would surely use our entire grocery budget on two bottles of vitamins, a gallon of milk, and a potato.

For myself I chose Nature's Way Completia Prenatal Vitamins. No, we're not having another baby. I'm taking them because I'm nursing so it keeps me stocked with extra important vitamins for both myself and for Olive.

The actual vitamins are a little large and a serving size is two tablets. I typically dislike taking any sort of pill (usually because of the size) but I do my best with prenatals as I know they're important. While these are large (which always bothers me) they seem comparable in size to other prenatal vitamins that I have tried so I wouldn't say that's a bad thing, but I suppose it's not a good thing either.

However the vitamins have a rather unfortunate smell. It only bothers me slightly right now but I can imagine that the smell may bother a pregnant woman immensely so I would have to suggest not purchasing these vitamins if you're sensitive to smells during your pregnancy.  If the vitamin smell doesn't bother you then go right ahead and order yourself a bottle!  :)  They're a wonderful addition to my morning routine and make me feel great!  There is no yucky vitamin feeling on an empty tummy either.

Some of my favorite features of these vitamins are that they do not contain preservatives, artificial flavors, colors, yeast, milk, lactose, wheat, or corn. The bottle contains 120 tablets making it a 60 day supply and costs $9.78 (retail is $16.99). Click on the image below to see the nutrition information in more detail.

For my husband I ordered Country Life Core Daily 1 Multivitamins for men.

These vitamins were attractive to me for multiple reasons but primarily the prostate health components sold me. They contain saw palmetto, pygeum, lycopene, and pumpkin seed for prostate health which is important to me because prostate cancer has crept up in both of our families. Another selling point is that it contains probiotics and enzymes for healthy digestion which I was hoping would help my husband's occasional tummy upsets. In addition it's base is comprised of whole, raw, fermented fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes, and sprouts! And it does not contain artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. And while it is not important to us the vitamins do not contain wheat or gluten.

The bottle contains 60 tablets and a serving size is only 1 making the bottle a 60 day supply. It costs $9.20 and retails for $19.99.

He hasn't given me too much information about the vitamins, it's a little harder to have things to say about a vitamin than a bottle of lotion, but from what I can tell he likes them! Taking only one pill a day is very convenient, they don't have a noticeable smell or taste, and the benefits are plentiful.

Click on the image below to see the nutrition information in more detail.

For myself I threw in a Naturally Fresh MoistStic with Tea Tree Oil. This little chap stick has only six ingredients and they're so simple and easy to pronounce! :) Coconut oil, beeswax, lanolin, peppermint oil, vitamin E, and tea tree oil! I am particularly picky about products that go on my skin and lips and in my mouth because inevitably it is ingested by us and by our baby whom currently likes to explore our mouths with her fingers and whom we kiss quite frequently. I feel safe putting this product on my lips and it works great! The peppermint oil is so refreshing - I absolutely love it and for only $1.98 I highly suggest you try it, too!  :)

Once again I only have positive things to say about the new products that I have tried from Swanson Health Products. I encourage you to try them out if you haven't already! Shipping is FAST and it costs $4.99 (but it's usually pretty easy to find a coupon code for $1.99). In fact, if you use code DONTWAIT at www.swansonvitamins.com you can take 10% off of your entire order AND get $1.99 shipping! The code is good until midnight CDT 9/13/11. Enjoy! :) And thanks again Swanson for the great deals and the chance to try out even more of what you have to offer! :)

MIA

Our internet is down so I'm currently super behind in blogging, tweeting, email, etc. Sorry. :(

I'm at our friend's house using their computer for a few minutes to catch up on some work related emails and I wanted to share with you a few photos of the wedding that I photographed on August 13th in Canton, Minnesota.

Enjoy! :)



















When I get a decent amount of time at someone's house or when our internet is back up (not until 8/31!!!) you can expect a review of Swanson Vitamins products, reviews of amber teething necklaces (and two giveaways!!), and Olive's 6 month photos & update. Until then.. hope you're all doing well and don't forget about me!

jumping bean.

If Olive were a bean she'd be of the jumping variety.

I must have bounced too often while pregnant.

Maybe I spent too much time sitting on a yoga ball.

Or maybe it had something to do with the miserable Minnesota potholes I drove over a million times a day.

I bet it was the special needs kiddo hiphop class I participated in with Amanda and rhw.

Who knows.

All I know is: If Olive were a bean she'd be of the jumping variety.

Basically the little thing needs to bounce to fall asleep. So I've spent many hours of my life bouncing on our yoga ball. This was especially useful and/or terrible during Olive's colicy phase. I was quite excited to introduce Olive to a Johnny Jump Up I found on Freecycle last autumn. Unfortunately I was reminded of the Johnny Jump Up a month or two after Olive's little legs were able to support her weight.. so we could have been finding great amusement so much sooner. But oh well.

Olive loves the Johnny Jump Up. I'm amazed at how long she will stay in it. Sometimes I feel bad about how long she'll stay in it.. but she really likes it! Sometimes I give her a cucumber slice, sometimes I give her some toys. Other times she watches me vacuum, wash the dishes, or cook dinner. It took her only a day or two to figure out and remember how to make herself bounce. Now she's a pro. She just may become a professional pogo-stick-er.

It's really funny to see her jump.

But the highlight of this Johnny Jump Up experience would be the time she fell asleep while jumping. Oh my goodness. You should have been there.

I had a few things hanging from the side that made a little "tap tap" sound as they hit the floor while she jumped. I was not facing her at the time but was very close and could hear the "tap tap".

I heard it. "tap tap tap tap"

And then nothing.

And then "tap tap tap."

And then nothing.

My little bug had her arms up on the tray folded over with her head tipped to the side and she was sleeping. SLEEPING.

This was the first time I had ever experienced Olive falling asleep unassisted. By unassisted I mean no bouncing in arms, no bouncing on ball, no adult assistance.

I nearly screamed!

Then then I heard "tap tap tap."

And then nothing.

:)

five months old.

A little over a week ago Olive turned five months old. I took photos of her that day but I'm late to the post as I've been busy with Frost on Flower. Which isn't a bad thing.

The day was pretty typical with the exception of the photo session.

























At five months old Olive's highlights include:

Eating food
Sitting up (but tipping over immediately due to reaching for things)
Rolling over and then over again and then over again
Turning around in circles on her tummy
Responding to her name consistently
Eating books
Playing with toys in new ways
Jumping up and down in her Johnny Jump Up
Sleeping in our bed at night as she has outgrown her bassinet
Laughing less awkwardly than before
Kissing her momma
And probably millions of things that I'm forgetting about.

:)