November 13th – November 18th

This weeks guest judge: 
 Buckeroomama from: Mamahood, Among Other Things…
The challenge: “Cozy“
The challenge will be based around your children. Take or find a photo of your baby (or kid… or puppy… or kitty): Dressed up all cozy. Hanging out by the fire in a blanket. Snuggly. In a Snuggie? 😉 Let’s see those comfy photos!

Buckeroomama’s “Cozy” picks:

• 1) Hi, Baby!

Congrats! Please feel free to grab a “fact: I’m awesome … #1 winner” button below. Because: you ARE awesome! And, thank you SO much for participating!

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5084702563_b6c1682861.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

• 2) Just the two of us… and a cat

• 3) Hot Coffee Mama

• 4) And Then She Snapped

• 5) The Hutchette Crew

Congrats to the top 5 winners! Great job, and please feel free to grab the top 5 button below! You’re all awesome!

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5085298170_31cb9fb3a9_z.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

My favorites:

• Just the two of us… and a cat

• Photo Freak

• A Sorta Fairytale

• Ashley Sisk

• Loving My Life

If you’re one of my favorites you are more than welcome to grab a “Paper mama hearts me” button below!

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5084702705_ebcd889293.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

And, we both had a few honorable mentions!

• Finally Mommy

• Not Always Picture Perfect

• Life With the Lyngs

• My Life, My World, My Blessings

• Just Bits and Pieces

• Frugal for My Friends

Winners so far:
Cozy: … Hi, Baby. …
Eyes: … no one yet …
Black and White: … no one yet …
Blessings: … no one yet …

AND, don’t forget to take your holiday photos for the Holiday Card Challenge!

My poor child: Another first! For Ruari’s 11 month birthday gift, she got a bruise. Yup. She slipped and fell against the corner of the chair. She wasn’t too happy about that…

Can you see it right there? Yeah, right there in between her eye brows and a little on her cheek. It’s a nice line!

Yeah… there it is! Poor poor child. She cried and cried. Doesn’t even notice it today though! Oh, and she also got her first hair cut on Wednesday. We had to cut those bangs. They kept hanging in her eyes.

Ruari also produced another Vlog post. This time she is enjoying this video from A Little King and I.

Happy Friday everyone! I’m hoping this cold I now have will be gone before Thanksgiving.

*Quick note: Hallmark has asked that I make this a US only giveaway. So, US only. Sorry! I have some other awesome giveaways for you non-US bloggers too!*

I don’t know if any of you have seen the new commercials for this… but, Hallmark is doing something AMAZING and AWESOME. If you don’t have enough time to address, stamp, and send out your holiday/birth announcements/invites Hallmark will do ALL the work for you! Yeah! Here’s how it works:

Personalize a card

Add a photo and a message.

Tell us where to send it

Use their address book and reminder service to 

We’ll do the rest

They’ll stamp, address and mail your cards 

Here are my favorite card designs:

What can you win?

How do you win? Please follow these steps… AND make sure I have a way to contact you through e-mail. If I don’t… I’ll have to delete the entry… 🙁

Mandatory entry:
1) Answer this question: Do you love Satsuma Mandarins too?{1 entry}

Optional entries:
1) Follow me (see sidebar) {1 entry}
2) Like my Facebook page for The Paper Mama{1 entry}
3) Blog about this giveaway… linking back to my blog (please post blog post link in comment). {3 entries}
4) Grab one of my buttons in the sidebar there… {2 entries}
5) Tweet or Facebook about this giveaway… {2 entries}

I’m going to make this a short giveaway! That way you can order any holiday cards if you win! Last day to enter giveaway is November 24th, 2010 at 11:59PM Pacific time.

Laureli,

So much has changed in the last month. It’s almost like you’re human. Oh wait… you are! What you’ve been doing:

– Yelling.
– Crawling everywhere. Like a maniac!
– Saying: Ma Ma, Da Da, An-duh (Angus), and many other babbles that I don’t understand.
– Your favorite noise to make is a sort of raspberry/yelling mix.
– You’re the biggest copy cat! I cough… you copy. Pop my lips… you copy… put my hand in the air… so do you…
– You have my strange/odd/silly sense of humor.
– You crack up when I say, “Peek-a-boo!” in a very deep/manly/scary voice! Your fave.

– You are super ticklish on your belly! I like to blow raspberries on it.
– Kisses are another favorite. I give you a kiss… and then you lick my cheek.
– I don’t know how you do it… but, you manage to find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING on the floor… even after I vacuum!
– Your first cold was last month. It was VERY sad.
– You’re pulling yourself up on everything! Like a pro. But, you’re so cautious… I don’t know if you’ll be walking anytime soon.
– It is almost impossible to take photos of you anymore! Always moving = blurry.
– You love to stand at the window and dance (well, shake your head and bum from side to side)
– We found out the other night you’re allergic to oatmeal! Anywhere it touched your face the skin was red. 🙁

– We wave at everything. Especially dogs!
– The other day I heard you giggling… I looked over at you and your finger was in your nose! You thought that was hilarious.
– I sprinkle toys all over the floor to keep you occupied…
– You get SO excited when daddy gets home. You crawl to the front door screaming, “DA DA DA DA!”
– Bathtime is SO exciting.

– When Mandy’s dog, Jeffrey, kept licking in your mouth when you were crawling you got mad and pushed him away while yelling, “An-duh!” Which is your word for Angus! It was so funny.
– You’re very shy and grip onto me when we first get to a new place around a lot of people.
– You’ve lost most of your interest in television… unless there’s bright flashing colors!
– It’s really hard to keep any shoes, socks, or hats on you! We’re working on it!
– You’re still pretty addicted to that pacifier! If it makes you happy, then ok!
– Teeth: two on the bottom and two on the top!
– You’re shaking your head “no” to everything I ask you. I don’t know if you know that means “no”.

– Sleeping: ummmm… I guess it’s getting more consistent! You nap every morning (well, most of the time) for about 3 hours. You’re down to waking up 1-2 times a night.
– You weigh 21 pounds.
– You understand the sign for “Eat” and freak out if we don’t get the bottle to your mouth fast enough!
– You’re wearing 12 month – 18 month sized outfits.
– Now wearing size 5 diapers!
– You’re pretty awesome.

LOVE,
Mama

Anyone else freaking out that I only have one more month to finish her birthday plans???! I should probably get those invites created and ordered. What was I thinking?! Gotta finish.

{The title of this blog post doesn’t make any sense. Do you ever have those moments when you’re like, “I really want to get my post ready and scheduled for tomorrow… tonight, because I work in the morning…” But, then you’re like, “but…. then I’d have to edit my photos and they’re over there and I’m over here…” And… then you just stare at your computer spacing out…}

{Yeah. That’s me tonight. This post wont have any of my fun/awesome/amazing/cute ruari photos…. but, at least I’m writing it. Right? Well, I did take a moment to draw a little picture of how our Tuesday went…}

{My day: 11/16/2010}

{Just a reminder for EVERYONE: don’t forget to create and link up your Holiday Card creations here! The challenge goes through December 3rd. 4 winners will be chosen!}

{If you have a Wordless{ish} Wednesday, please feel free to post it below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… (Wordless Wednesday HQ, 5 Minutes For Mom, Parenting by Dummies, Jolly Mom, Go Graham Go, Supermom,  and My Wee View.). Happy Wednesday to all of you! Don’t forget to check the announcements above the posts. Giveaways and the photo challenge: Food.}

Michele P from Creative Writings 101 won the giveaway from my shop! Yay! Go ahead and email me Michele! [email protected]

After reading this post from Jess at I Rock So What… I felt Ruari and I needed to take a trip to Target. I love Target. I could (and have) spent hours wandering through there. Not really spending too much money… just wandering.

You know…. when you’re taking photos of yourself and your baby in Target… people give you some strange looks! 😀

I bought this ornament for everyone I know. Ok, not really.

And, since you’ve just read this post… could you give me a vote? It’s like a toll booth. JUST kidding! Only vote if you love my blog and my baby. 😀