Before and After: My own Ikea Hack of Svala Table

We wanted to have a table and chair for Lizzy to eat, play and work at that was her size, so we bought the svala children's table and chair from ikea. This table is great although it was too tall for Lizzy so we looked up the measurements for the Montessori weaning tables they use for infants and got the measurements 14″ high, and the chairs 7″ to the seat so we sawed the table down to that size.

The table comes unfinished and I found it hard to clean so I decided to finish it. I love natural wood but for Lizzy I wanted something colorful and fun so I painted it pink, purple, and green. Lizzy has butterflies on her walls so I added some butterfly wall decals to the table and to finish it I applied pour on high gloss that gives it a high gloss look and makes it much easier to wipe clean.

Before:

After:

Lizzy loves the table and chair, she eats her snacks and lunch at the table, plays at the table and I set up Montessori trays for her to work seated at the table. The high gloss makes it easier to clean and cutting the table and chair down to size make Lizzy much more independent because she can get in and out of the chair and table herself.

Little Helper

I have a little helper in the kitchen! Lizzy is learning so much through observation and imitation, she's with me all day and when I'm in the kitchen or doing certain chores I like to wear her so that she can see what I am doing. Today I was sweeping and then she started sweeping with her child size broom, she loves to help momma. Another thing she has learned is to go get her bib and burp cloth when we say "Lizzy go get your bib" it even looks like she tries to put it on. We set up a little play kitchen for her to play with while I'm in the real kitchen and she will try to feed us the play food she makes. We pretend the burners on her play kitchen are hot when we touch them and she's started to do that same. She will touch the play burners and say "ouch" and pull her finger away quickly.

Here she is helping mix the brownie batter.

Swim time and Update

Lizzy had another swim lesson this weekend and she did great. Bellow are some photos of the lesson. I have updated the blog and it's back to normal. I will resume posting as usual.

Kicking in the water

Swim baby!

Going under

That was fun, she enjoyed the whole time we were out.

Look at those teeth!

Lemon baby!

Lizzy wouldn't eat sushi, strawberries or goldfish today for lunch but she sure loved that lemon!

Saturdays

Saturdays are a time for us to go out as a family and relax at home. Today we went to a farmer's market in Kemah, it was actually pretty good and just down the street was another one just as big so we will have to check that other one sometime. We picked out some fruit to eat later. It is important to us to eat organic and if possible locally grown foods. Farmer's markets can be a great place to find organic and locally grown foods and handmade items.

Here is Lizzy going for a stroll through the market

At home, Lizzy played with play doh...she is suppose to play with it seated at her table but she thinks it's more fun to run and hide it from us...so we go and chase her for it and she cracks up laughing.

Here is Lizzy eating the watermelon we picked out earlier. This was her first time eating watermelon and she loved it!

Learning to swim

Lizzy went to the pool today and had a swim lesson. I decided I will try to teach Lizzy to swim myself after all I am her mother and have the same swim and CPR training the swim instructor I was interested in has.

Lizzy is a natural water baby she has always loved being in the water so this makes it much easier to teach her how to swim because she is already comfortable with me and the water so today we tried some basic swim positions

Lizzy was comfortable with the first position and began to kick naturally, the second position on her back she did not like. I think because we have never tried to put her in this position before but with time and practice I can see her swimming backstrokes. From what I read babies learn to swim faster than adults and older children so we'll see how it goes. Here she is in her float relaxing in the pool today.

Flashback Friday

Here is Lizzy at 2 months old

Here is Lizzy at 1 year old dancing with Brobee

Daddy's girl

Water Baby

Lizzy was a little tooo ready for her bath this morning...she decided to just climb in with her pjs on, she couldn't wait to get in.

Into the woods

We took Lizzy to her favorite park where she loves the swings but it seems she's lost interest. She had lots of fun running around...yes she can run now so she loves to run free into the woods.

1st time at the game

Lizzy had a good time

Flashback Friday

5 months old

12 months old

Fun at home

Lizzy relaxing on the bed after getting her vaccine

Lizzy found the remote to the fan and turned it on!

Lizzy making her daddy an "early" father's day card

Adding some yo gabba gabba stickers...

Having lunch on top of the father's day card in progress...

The finished card:

Tickets to the astros vs. cubs game this Saturday

12 Month Check- up

Lizzy went to the doctor today for her 12 month check up. She weighs 20 lbs and is 30 inches long. The bites she had were most likely a new breed of mosquito around here because they were so severe and scabbed over. She doesn't have chicken pox so that's good and she got he chicken pox vaccine today. Overall, she is very healthy and has a molar coming in!