Hoppy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July from our family to yours!

     Well the late night construction paid off. We were able to pull a completed "Airplane" down the hill this morning for the parade and 4th of July festivities. We were joined by lots of family and the rain held off so we could enjoy the morning.
     At 10am we kicked off the morning with the National Anthem followed by the Trike, Bike and Group parades (our kids were in the group parade because they both were in the airplane/wagon). I know you're all curious to see the completed project so here it is (and some pictures from the parade).

Our decorated wagon

Hubby pulling the kids in the parade

Getting their prize

Hubby, Big Brother and Froggie with the trophy

Froggie and her ribbon

Big Brother with the trophy

     We won 3rd place! Big Brother was kind of grumpy to start off the morning but as it went on he seemed to have a good morning. In addition to the kids parade there are swim contests, a watermelon race, tug of war, a sack race and a water balloon toss.
     Most of the activities are self explanatory, you may be curious about the watermelon race. It happens in the lake and is done twice, once for the girls and again for the boys up to age 13. The kids who want to participate are divided into two teams and placed behind a rope. Someone walks out into the water with a watermelon covered in Vaseline and drops it into the water when the ropes are raised. Both teams then fight over the watermelon and try to get it to the opposite side.

Watermelon race

     While the water activities were going on Big Brother splashed around in the water and Froggie fell asleep in the Ergobaby.

Froggie and I

Sleepy Froggie

     The rain ended around 8am and held off for the morning. We headed home and grilled up some lunch before Big Brother laid down for a nap. When he woke up we headed over into town to watch them release the ducks for the duck race. The local Kiwanis Club floats TONS of rubber duckies down a creek, each duck has a number and you can purchase a duck for $5 and the chance to win one of a bunch of prizes. The money they raise goes to a bunch of youth programs including two local marching bands. However, they postponed the duck release until Saturday at 5pm. No reason was really given but it looked as though there was too much flooding/fast moving water from the creek to release them.

     Now we're headed up to visit with friends and wait for the fireworks to begin!

And the Building Begins

     Well our town does a series of events in the morning of July 4th which was a small part of a larger celebration including fireworks, food vendors, etc. Over time the size of the celebration has shrunk and all that really remains in our town is the morning events. 

     One of these events is a parade for the children where they decorate their bikes, trikes and wagons and parade around near the beach to be judged. When I was growing up this was an all out event and many years my sister and I struggled to navigate our bikes (one year I even hit the judge!)

     I, once again, waited until the last minute to begin preparing the wagon. Though I don't know how much work I could have actually done before today anyway since the structure will probably last for 24 hours or less since it's attached with duct tape. 

     Anyway, I'm not one to give away my end product before it's big reveal - Big Brother was in bed WAY before it was finished. And honestly it's not even finished yet, I'm just taking a break to feed Froggie. So far we've made it through a downpour and are working on the porch with limited lighting. 

My materials (some at least).

How the boys stayed entertained before bedtime. 

Sleepy Froggie

Another Milestone

     I mentioned a few of the things Froggie is currently doing yesterday. Well today I have another thing to add - Froggie had her first food experience!
     Yes I know the current advice is nothing but breast milk or formula before 6 months but we take a "baby led" kind of approach. Both with Big Brother and Froggie we watched for cues they may be ready for food; imitating chewing, reaching for food/cups, getting upset when others are eating, etc. It helps that both kids also had teeth at about the same time (4-5 months).
     After Froggie "yelled" at one of my co-workers for eating crackers I figured that was a good enough  cue to attempt something additional. She did a great job with it and smiled and giggled about her dinner  the entire time. She didn't "tongue out" the cereal and she ate the little bit that I made for her with no problem at all.
     I know there are varying opinions of when to feed infants, what to feed infants, and whether or not to feed infants cereal period. We had success with giving Big Brother cereal and we've decided to follow the same feeding pattern with Froggie. Check out this happy little girl!

     There was one set back to this experience - Froggie does not fit in a high chair while wearing a harness. Since Froggie is still pretty tiny and fits well in our infant seat we decided to use that as a make shift feeding seat. We would have used the modified Bumbo seat but I left it at work this afternoon when I came home.
     Off to start decorating a wagon for the 4th of July. This is a very intricate process, especially if you're part of my family. There will definitely be a post about it in the next day or 2.

Froggie's Throne (Bumbo Seat Modification)

     I finally found a Bumbo seat! I've been searching Craigslist for a few weeks because I couldn't rationalize cutting the seat we have. The other night I posted that I was looking for one and didn't care if it had the recall straps. (I mean who cares about straps? By cutting the seat its not like the company has any liability if Froggie falls out anyway.)
     After work I made a pit stop to pick up the Bumbo and another to pick up some cool Duct tape. Modifying a Bumbo was recommended on the International Hip Dysplasia Institute website but there were not any directions or links for a "how to" so I did a little searching. I found one advice page for spica casts that showed how they had modified a seat for a child with a Spica Cast but that wasn't quite what Froggie needed either. I thought I would outline my process in case anyone out there wanted to know what had been done and what the IHDI site means by "modified Bumbo". 

Step 1. Buy a Bumbo Seat. I found this one on Craigslist for $12. It was a little less painful to cut up a $40 chair when I didn't spend that much on it.

Step 2. Mark where your child's legs are held by their harness. Froggie was not as terrified as she appears in this picture, I promise. I couldn't figure out how to get it to take without my flash and she was not a fan!

Step 3. Cut new leg holes in the chair. The spica example cut clear from front to their new end point. Because Froggie is in a harness and can still move her legs I opted to just move the leg holes back and leave some of the chair for support. I just used a plain old steak knife to cut it.

Step 4. Test your work! Before you move on to finishing your chair make sure what you cut is the right width for your child. My advice is to cut less at first and cut more if necessary to avoid ending up with a $40 chair that no one can use.

Step 5. "Finish" your work. The foam is kind of flaky and I would assume if you were sitting with your skin against it that it would become itchy so covering the "raw" foam is a good idea. I picked out Duct Tape with a girly print that was close in color to the seat. 

Step 6. Use your Bumbo! Our newly revamped seat is Froggie approved. She was really interested in the tray as well and I think having it will be a nice addition to having a seat for Froggie.