Summer is fun.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the summer.  Mostly it has been the best ever because I get to be home with baby! It is so fun to be with her every day all day and see all the things she is learning to do, notice her personality traits and figure out more things about her!

First, Maddie is still the best baby ever in my opinion because she is so easy going and easy to take care of.  She barely ever cries.  She only cries if she is hungry or  really tired.  She has a very consistent sleep schedule and pattern that only changes when we mess her up.  There have been a couple of times when we were out later than usual and she has missed naps and/or its past her bedtime but she still doesn't even cry.  We can tell she is tired during those times because she kind of zones out and stops interacting with us, but she still doesn't cry.  We took her swimming two weeks in a row because us and some friends had a BBQ and then went swimming after.  Both times it was past nap or bed time but she stayed happy the whole time.  She loves the water too.  She gets so happy in the bath tub.  She is so smiley and likes to splash.  Then, both times in the pool it wasn't very warm but she never made a peep, just relaxed and let us hold her and swish her around.

Here is a happy girl in the bath!

Here is Maddie's first dip in the pool.

We also found this great "exersaucer" at the thrift store and it was the best $8 we've spent.  Maddie is happy and entertained while she is in it and it gives me a chance to make dinner or do laundry.  I've also noticed a big difference in her play since we bought it.  She used to slump over and suck on the seat or just wiggle around, but now she is good at reaching and hitting the toys.

Here she is with her toy:

I also forgot to post about my lettuce.  Well here is a lovely picture of the lettuce at its finest.

However, soon after this picture I picked some to put in a salad, then within the next day or two most of the lettuce was gone! At first I thought I didn't water it enough or it got too hot, but I noticed that some of the lettuce was still perfectly fine and then some just had the stalks left and it looked like the leaves were chewed off.  I still thought it was weird because I don't see how a bunny or something would come down the stairs and find my tiny plot of lettuce, but then realized who the culprit was! GRASSHOPPERS!  I've caught little ones and big ones on my lettuce many times and at this point it's not even worth showing a sad picture because there is basically no lettuce left.  Also, Taylor is part of a group called, "Office of New Urban Mechanics" and they planned this fun "Playstreet" day in Provo that had lots of booths and activities and one of them was planting seeds, so I came home with three different kinds of squash and I planted it in my little garden.  They all started growing up and looking good and then one day of of the plants was nothing but a stalk all chewed down! UGH.

Oh well, that is why I tried the gardening thing on a very small scale.  Maybe next year if we're still here I will find some solution to my grasshopper problem.  Until then here are a couple other cute pictures of my cutie.  (And proof that she is just like her mom :)