Suitin' Up...

A few days ago Elise and I both had the chance to give our new bathing suits a whirl.  I recently purchased a new post-pregnancy suit and E had gotten one in the mail from my mom.

My friend Boba asked if we'd like to join her and some friends for an indoor pool session, so of course, we said YES!

While I was wrangling all the goods you need to take an infant to the pool (no easy task), Jas took a few pics of this bathing beauty...

Not sure which is cuter...that polka dotted bathing suit on her, or those tiny baby muscles.

And lest you think she is all smiles...this should prove you wrong. She's got the serious model look down too.

Then we and our pasty white selves headed to the pool ;)

E generally loves the bath and water, so I wasn't too afraid that she would hate it.  The first ten minutes she had a death grip on my arm and was looking around, taking everything in, and whimpered occasionally, but then she warmed up to it and seemed to like being in the water.

Boba, Filip, Elise and I.

Love those baby cheeks.  And see, pasty, I told ya.

And then we (Boba...these three photos I stole from her!) snapped a shot of the whole gang.

It was big fun and I'm already ready to go back.  Hoping our girl will continue to love the water because her dad has big plans of playtime in the pool come summer :)

Seven Months Old!

Time is a cruel, cruel thing.  Yes, I realize she's not yet a year and she's not yet starting college or anything "major" like that...but seriously!? Where does the time go?

Ok, I'll stop now.

She's seven months old today, this one.  And she's just a bundle of joy.

Weight:
At last appointment she was 16.6 pounds...I imagine she's closing in (or is already) around 17 pounds now.

Major Milestones:
*This has been a big month for her!  She started eating solids and so far has tried:  bananas, plums, peaches, avocado, green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, rice cereal, oatmeal, and extra soft baby crackers.  She's not really in to the greens that much (surprise!) and loves the fruits (another surprise!)-haha.
*She's also started kind of crawling...but only backwards.  I guess maybe it should be called scooting backwards and not crawling.  It's too funny.
*She can kind of wave, but it has to be when she's focused and not tired, of course.
*Girl TALKS like crazy.  She's all about vocalizing whatever goes on in that little brain.  No real sounds or word resemblances yet, just mainly babbling, but babble she does!

Other:
*She loves rolling all around in her crib and putting her legs up on the side.
*She's got a great pincer grasp and always goes for the little things, which I find adorable.
*She doesn't mind being passed from person to person and is generally happy.
*She can hold her sippy cup the right way and can even drink small amounts of water from it correctly.
*She's super curious.  Anything and everything around her she wants to get her hands on...particularly glasses, books, hair, and all things that aren't toys, ha.
*She's not the world's best nurser (she gets distracted easily).  She's nursing about 4 times a day now, with an occasional 5 times a day thrown in here and there.  She's on a rough schedule, but depending on the day, things can change.  I'm good with it.

Two of my favorites from our "shoot":

Serious love for those tiny toes.

And then she reached her breaking point...

Alright, ma, seriously...I need a nap.

That's it.  I'm so over this camera thing.  (such a drama queen ;)

Elise Noelle, you're da bomb.  We LOVE you to the moon and back.

Gotta Love the Weekend

Don't you just love weekends?  They're just a nice break from the regular grind.

We enjoyed a good weekend this past one (actually we'll start with this Thursday and work through Saturday evening)...

Thursday we had a language test.  This is what E did while we were straining our brains :)  (and she got her first real bruise that morning when sweet baby fell over and hit her head on a toy before we could get to her).

However, afterwards, we discovered a new coffee shop downtown where we treated ourselves to post-brain-strain shakes...yum.

This one just made the cut because that's a cute lil crab tub toy...and she's cute.  And they're cute in the tub together :)

Saturday post-breakfast (for her) this lil face was all smiles and ready to go...

Then we headed off to Vienna to see Ben in his school performance of "Beauty and the Beast."  Sadly, I was too busy either holding the little one and/or watching the show that I didn't snap any pics, but trust me, Ben did GREAT and the play was good!

On our way home we stopped by a large mall nearby where we found one of these... (Swoon.  Starbucks chai tea latte = a forever favorite)

In that last picture everyone was trying hard to get Elise to look. Ha!

And this is how she spent her time in the mall...all snuggled up to dad.

And speaking of her dad, he's a great hubby.  He surprised me with these rays of sunshine this weekend, too!

But to top it all off we found out that we are going to be aunt and uncle (and cousin) to a sweet little baby BOY!!!!  Marianne and Nate skyped us in for a family dinner where everyone got to have a jelly-filled cupcake at the end of the meal.  The cupcakes were filled with blueberry jam.  Yahoo!

And that was our weekend...a good one at that.

In other news, Instagram and camera phones should be called "real camera killers."  I'm hating that I haven't picked up my Nikon in a few days, er, close to a week.  That's going to have to change.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thrifty Goodness

Ok, I have to make a confession.

I've lied here on this blog before.  You see, previously, I've mentioned that thrifting here in Bratislava is not good.  Well, what I didn't know then is what I do know now.  I, along with my husband's help, have figured out the thrift shops here....finally.

Actually, the thrift stores are quite smart.  They set aside a certain week each month where they start to purge their current collection for a newer incoming collection.  During this week all items (just clothing...they don't have housing items or anything else) get marked down.  One day everything in the store is 3 euros, then the next day 2,50 euros, the next 2, and so on.  It's smart on their part because they get rid of a lot of their merchandise that way and weed out what is not wanted.

All that to say, if you go on the days when it's a little more "expensive," you can find some good stuff for what I would still consider a good price (it's pretty picked over by the time it gets down to 0,50 euro cent).

For instance, lately I've been on the 2,50 and 2 euro days and found some great things!

This day I got 6 pieces (a dress, two shirts, and three baby outfits) for 11,75 euro (~ $15 US).  Not my best bargain ever, but certainly worth it for what I got!

And no worries, I'm not planning to keep it all for myself...I have some thrifty friends who may appreciate a good bargain or two ;)

Peas, Louise!

Apparently when I was a baby and was given green peas for the first time, it didn't go over too well.  I spit them out and was NOT a fan.  There was a book having something to do with peas and a little girl named Louise (I think) and I was henceforth given the nickname "Peas Louise" by my family.

Needless to say, I was anxious to see how Elise would do with peas.

Let's see if a series of photos will help you determine whether or not she liked them.  See what you think...

"You're kidding, right?  I HAVE to try this green stuff!?"

"It's green and squishy...and..."

"YUCKY!! I'm not swallowing this, I'll just spit it back out..."

(pause for us to clean off the camera lens)

"NO WAY!  You're crazy if you think I'm doing that again!!"

And even though her first go at peas reflected her mama's opinion, little does she know, she's getting them again later this week!  We'll make a pea-liker out of our girl yet....well, at least we'll try ;)

My Take on Cloth Diapering

{Disclaimer:  These are my two cents based on our experience with just one child...maybe a kid or two down the road my opinion will change, but for now...here it is :) }

Jas and I had very big intentions of only clothing diapering before Elise was born.  We were all about it.  Well, Elise was born and reality set in.  The sleepless nights, the many loads of laundry already, etc...it all just piled up (literally) to us foregoing the cloth diapering that we had set our hopes on.

Then came Mr. Major Rash (poor baby).  Still not quite sure of the culprit (squash? new diapers?...ironic) but we were faced with trying to rid our girl of the rash.  Cloth diapers were softer on the tush, so we gave them a whirl.

That being said, here's my opinion on the whole cloth diapering shabang...

(based on our experience with BumGenius cloth diapers)

Pros:
* obviously, they're economical and far better for the environment...love that aspect.
*  soft on the tushy (good material)
*  a lot less expensive!
*  can grow with the baby (due to the clever snaps)
*  cute colors

Cons:
*  non-absorbent  (I realize maybe the whole point is just to change the diaper more often and keep them dry/clean, but hey, they're still not very absorbent)
*  require more loads of laundry and cleaning
*  not as easily portable as disposables (and you have to roll up the cotton pad when you're out to save and bring home to wash...which means STINKIN' up the diaper bag!  We do have a cool lil bag for them....but still.)

Our consensus:
*  I think starting now we'll be doing a mixture of both.  When we're at home and don't have big plans of being out and about, the cloth diapers seem ideal.  However, when we're out, disposables may be the way to go due to their convenience.  Makes some sense, right?

That's our experience so far...we'll see how this combo method goes!  Dealing with what ends up in a diaper is not for the light-hearted, so these things are important, ya know? ;)

And because this post wouldn't be complete without some pics of a little cloth diaper-toting tot, here ya go...

Grammin' It Up

I totally just made "using Instagram" into a verb...grammin'...did you catch that?

But, it's true, with Instagram releasing the Android version of their app, Jason and I have joined the Instagram world.  If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you may have caught on to the fact that I really enjoy all things photography.  And since Instagram = photography + sharing little pieces of our lives here in Slovakia...we decided to take the plunge.

Now you can find us at:

Jason - jandcpalmer
Charity - palmerponderings

Of course a few of our Instagram photos have made it to facebook...

Now get to grammin'...we'll see you there ;)

Happy Easter!

"There in the ground, His body lay...
Light of the world by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave he ROSE again!

And as he stands in victory,
sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine...
Bought with the precious blood of Christ!"

(lyrics:  In Christ Alone)

So thankful that HE stands in victory!
-----------------------------------------------------
And a few photos from our first Easter with Elise...

Little Miss Smile in my old Easter dress and holding my old bunny.

She wasn't going for the whole smiling thing at this point...

Love them!

(all photos edited with tranquil filter)

HAPPY EASTER!  Mate Veselu Velku Noc!

Celebrating Easter with Tissues

Say whaaaat!?  I know you're wondering how tissues have anything to do with Easter.

Well, last night our skupinka (small group) put together some tissue paper flowers and small bags of candy to give out to neighbors in our apartment building.

The bags came together quite nicely (yum chocolate!) and included a Bible verse as well as an invitation to come join us anytime.  The flowers also turned out splendidly!  Our friend Maruska had the creative idea for the flowers and everyone else chipped in and brought various items for the bags.  Team work = good stuff (even if it did take us until well into the evening to complete it all ;)

I, of course, had fun photographing the flowers this morning.

Below...the final product to be given out.

And one last (funny) shot of part of our group working hard...

Haha.  That picture makes me laugh.

And that, my friends, is what tissues have to do with Easter.  Hopefully these mini gifts will be well-received!

Steadfast Love

This Psalm has been read, circled, reread, and re-circled many times in my Bible.

It's simple, but it's always a good reminder.  HE is steadfast, unchanging, faithful in his love towards us.  No matter how undeserving we are (and believe me, I am), He won't stop loving us and being faithful to us.  So thankful for that.

Bathing Beauty

Elise is really getting in to taking baths.  She has started playing with the shower head and water stream and she never cries.  We've given her a toy or two and she seems to enjoy those, too.

I hadn't taken any tub photos in a good while and bathtime is a mandatory photo op for moms, right?!

Let me introduce you to our lil bathing beauty...

Got that arm out and all...relaxin' like it's her job.  (I guess it kind of is her job...be cute, eat, sleep, take baths, you get the picture, right?)

That is just one cute octopus-toting tot right there. :)

The Hat

We decided to dress Elise in a warm hat for church today because it was going to be cold outside (like snowing cold).

Here she is in her cute hat before we headed out the door!

APRIL FOOLS! :)  hehe.  That hat is a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down and we're not really sure of its origin...but we think it's funny!  She really didn't wear it to church though.

But what's not April Fools is that it really did snow today.  Seriously cold.  Can I get a beach, please!?