9 Months Old! - Fun Milestone Photo (A Semi-DIY)

The little roo turned 9 months old Wednesday, so it's been a pretty exciting week here! Roo is becoming a little person, and though most of her words are still just babbles, she is really trying to hold a conversation with all of us.

Another fun skill roo mastered, as of her 9th month, is clapping her hands; she will do so any time she hears someone say, "Yay!" She becomes extremely proud of herself and then watches her hands in amazement as they come together and create noise.

But the most exciting part of all is that she is saying her first word: "Hiiiii!"

So seeing as it was her 9 month birthday, with some real exciting milestones, I decided to make this picture. I got the idea from Pinterest a while back but I was having a hard time finding the right app or website to do the job; until I finally discovered PicMonkey.com.

PicMonkey is a great site for editing photos, especially if you like adding text! You can also make collages and banners for your website, or just purely for personal use. I have a lot of photo ideas in the making, stay tuned ~ I'm sure you'll see some more neat photo ideas soon.

Happy Picture Editing!
bear's mom

It's Time for School!

So much has been going on lately. A lot is about to change. In less than three weeks bear will begin preschool.

Originally we planned for her to attend the two day program but since we registered late we had to sign her up for the three-day-a-week classroom.

My heart sank when I heard the director tell me this. The tears started to pool at the base of my eyelids...

If you heard me sniffle would you reconsider? 

I just don't think that I'm ready for her to be away that much during the week. Granted it's only about three extra hours, but for some reason one extra day feels like a full week of school. It feels like I'm not going to see bear at all. It feels terrifying!

Bear needs this though. She's ready and she will benefit from the structure and the variety of social opportunities. I think she will also benefit from not having me around, so she can go out on her own without me to fall back on. And she needs someone else to instruct her, teach her.

It will also be nice to have some one-on-one time with roo. I haven't had as much time to read and play with her as I would like. Sometimes the day ends and I feel like we hardly spoke... babbled... She's growing up so fast and each little moment is passing me by, leaving me with little opportunity to enjoy it.

Oh, but that first day is going to be quite painful. I'm terrified. Will she be sad when I leave? Will she be afraid? Will she struggle to make friends? Will she be left out when everyone goes out to play?

Granted these thoughts pop into my head but I know deep down bear will do just fine. She is sweet, loving, caring, outgoing, and loves to make friends. She'll talk to anyone who will listen, so I know some of these fears are unreasonable.

It's just hard to let your baby cub go out on her own, into the wilderness, where other creatures just might eat her up.

But I have faith. I know you will do just fine, my little bear. And when you don't, that's ok, I'll be here to pick you up, brush you off and wipe your tears.

To my sweet bear and all the other kiddos getting ready for the school year:

May you have a wonderful year!

Bear and the Ballerina