7 months!

Dear E,

Another month has come and gone and it's been a such a fun month of growth and personality. You amaze us every day with who you are and what you are doing.

Your motor skills have taken off. You started getting up into sitting from the floor and from hands and knees within days of each other. I actually caught your first time on camera and you were so proud of yourself. So cute! You started crawling on your hands and knees on March 24. Before that you would get on your hands and knees and move your arms forward and then bring your legs forward together or you would throw yourself forward on to your tummy. You were actually pretty fast with that technique but then you figured out how to crawl on your hands and knees and now you are into everything!! Once you set your eye on something, you are after it - you keep me on my toes that is for sure. Within a day, you were pulling up on into tall kneeling and into standing. You lean really hard onto your arms and then push up which usually means your feet are way far out =). You want to be in standing ALL THE TIME now. You love playing at the edge of your exasaucer with all the toys. You are still pretty unstable in that position and you have hit your head several times trying to get up into standing especially when you are in your crib. I guess we have hit the stages of bumps and bruises but it breaks your momma's heart.

You love playing with your toys and love putting them in your mouth. You like to bang objects and you still like musical toys and things that crinkle. You now take things out of boxes or openings. Balls, books, etc. - it's really fun for you. Now I just need to teach you how to clean up..hehe. You are definitely into things that are not toys too - the remote, my phone, blankets. You found an empty kleenex box on the floor and played with it for an entire day! Who knew that could be so fun?
You have eaten more foods this month and have gotten better about accepting the spoon in your mouth. You have tried butternut squash (loved!), pears, apples, avocados, peas (hated!), bananas (loved!), and plums. You are drooling a lot more so I know you are teething and you bite down on lots of things. We've given you teething tablets several times and that is helped some. I'm sure  having your gums hurt is no fun. Talking is still the same - lots of vowels and lots of "mmmm" all the time.

You like to play peek a boo and will take a blanket off my head and your head. You smile when I say "boo" but don't think I'm too hilarious. I can get you to have belly laughs if I tickle you which might be my favorite thing in the whole world. You are starting to enjoy nursery rhymes and love your books. You still love "My God is so big" but now you love "Rise and shine and give God the glory" and I think I sing it probably 10 times a day =). You still love your daddy. Nobody can make you smile like your daddy. It's so precious how you look at him.

You are napping 3 times a day although that last nap you fight and so some days it doesn't happen. You go to bed at 7:30 and wake up between 6-6:30 and for the last week have not woken up in the night to feed!!! You still on occasion wake up around the 5 o'clock hour but I'm hoping we will get better about waking up later. You still nurse every 3 hours. Your mom completely went off of dairy and soy this month because of a whole body rash you had for an entire month so the doctor suggested to try this. Eating with no dairy is hard because it's in everything but there is nothing that I wouldn't do for you. Your rash is gone now so you may quite possibly have a dairy/soy allergy.

You had lots of firsts this month:

First time in the stroller without being in the carseat,

first time going to the nursery at church (you did great!),

first St. Patty's Day, first time to sleep in the crib at night, and first time to stand in your exasaucer.

You are still around 16 pounds and are 26 inches long. You still wear some 3-6 months clothes and wear 6 months most often. Nine month clothing is still a little baggy on you. You still wear size 3 disposables.

Oh E you are so much fun. You are our sunshine. We love you. Can't wait to see what this next month brings. 

Love, 

Mommy and Daddy

P.S. We couldn't get a lot of 7 month pictures of you because you would not stay still! Ha!

Sorry....

....for the lack of blogging. It's not that I don't want to blog but as of late I have really been convicted with spending time on the computer during E's wake time. She is growing so fast and I want to treasure every moment I have with her. Why don't you just do it while she is sleeping you ask? Well I would but there is thing called laundry, dishes, vacuuming, showering etc that needs to happen then. So just be patient with me as I figure out this rhythm of blogging with my little one. I do love this blog because I love looking back at what has happened in my life and I enjoy all the sweet comments. Until then here are some recent pictures of life:

My friend Jessica and me at her baby shower!

Trying our her new exersaucer...she seems to like it!

Getting doted on by her uncle, aunt and cousins

Nana's shirt had flowers on it and she didn't understand why they didn't come off

We are so close to crawling........agh!

6 months!!

*This is over a week late...mom fail*

Dear E,

HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY!! (last Wednesday) I can't believe that we are half way to your 1 year birthday. Excuse me while I go crawl into a hole of denial. You can not be this big yet. This month has been such a joy to watch you learn and explore your environment. It has been so fun to watch you grow.

You are sitting on your own now!! You can play with your toys with both hands while sitting and reach out for toys and come back into sitting. One day you were barely able to hold yourself up for more than 10 seconds and then the next day (January 30 to be exact) you were sitting up for several minutes and you haven't looked back. You also are trying to get up into sitting from the floor. You make it about halfway and then just kind of chill there instead of continuing to get up. You are rolling ALL OVER the place. I know that if I set you down in one spot on the living room floor and go throw something in the trash that you will be across the room by the time I come back! Changing your diaper is a task because you will not stay still. You are an exploring machine. It's so awesome to watch the little mind of yours work and try to figure out things. You reach for feet and play with them but haven't stuck them in your mouth yet. One day I tried to "help" you put them in your mouth and you gave me the most disgusted look and I just laughed.

You are so close to getting up on your hands and knees. You push up really high on those arms and hike those legs underneath you but then just collapse back on the floor. This occurs about 50 times a day =).

You also are loving all of your toys. You go from one toy to the next during playtime but you definitely have favorites. Your favorite kind of toys are the ones that make a crinkling sound. The pack of wipes is one of your favorite things to reach for while I'm changing your diaper. You also love your little sock monkey your daddy got for you for Valentine's Day. You are really into touching different types of textures with your hands  (food is a different story =)) and your hands are back in your mouth constantly. I think you are starting to teeth although I don't see anything trying to pop out of your gums just yet.

You are still talking a lot but it has kind of slowed down as I think you have been concentrating on sitting and trying to move more. I've heard a couple of "da's" and "ma's" but mostly when you are really mad. You still love to blow raspberries. You have become really good at taking a blanket off your head when I put it on you and are starting to do it from my head too. I will say "peek a boo" afterwards and you will just smile. So so cute! You still love your daddy and light up when he comes into the room. You also think Lucye is pretty hilarious and laugh any time you look at her. You are laughing so much more and I never get tired of hearing it. You still love "My God is so big" and now are enjoying "Head and shoulders" too.

You are still doing 3 naps a day and are going to bed around 7:30 although you fight sleep for almost an hour before you are out. You are still waking up for one night time feed and only waking 1-2 times a night now. You nurse every 3 hours but like to snack during the afternoon so those feeds are a little closer together.

You had several firsts this month. You celebrated your first Valentine's Day. It was such a fun day that you got to spend with us and we loved having you with us. You celebrated my birthday with me and I had such a fun day spending it with my number one girl. You also sat in the shopping cart for the first time. You loved it. You enjoy so much being able to just look around and see so much more than when you were in your car seat. You also tried your first foods on February 21. You have tried sweet potatoes and carrots. Your reaction to it was so - so. You also started rolling over onto your tummy while sleeping in your bed this month which really freaked your mommy out but after talking to your pediatrician he said it was fine to let you sleep that way so I don't bother trying to fix you any more =).

You are weighing in at 16 pounds 14 ounces and are at 25 inches. I think you are closer to 26 because that's what I get at home but that's what they measured you at at the doctor's office so we will stick with that. You wear 3-6 and 6 month clothes and wear a size 3 diaper when you wear disposables.

We love you sweet E. We can't believe that we are on the downward slope to you being one!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Valentine's Day....2 weeks late

* Yes I know it's two weeks late but I wanted to document the day so here you go*

I've never been a huge Valentine's Day celebrator. Partly because I was an awkward teenage girl and never had any boyfriends and partly because my birthday is five days later and if you know me at all, I LOVE to celebrate my birthday.  I do like to acknowledge the day though and Jason and I always give each other cards and find some way to celebrate.

With that said, I couldn't wait for Valentine's Day this year! I was so excited to start traditions and be together as a family and celebrate this day of love!

Thursday morning I went over to my friend's house, Mandy, and we took pictures of our two girls in their love shirts. These girls are 3 days apart so I think they will be spending tons of time together as the years go by.

Here eat my hand

Jason has Thursday afternoons off and so we spent the afternoon together as a family. Jason gave E a single rose and cute monkey sock stuffed animal for Valentine's Day. That monkey is one of her favorite toys now =)

We went to Starbucks as a family and enjoyed each other's company. It was good way to spend Valentine's Day without going to a restaurant with a ridiculous long wait.

She kept eyeing her daddy's drink. Not for a long time sweetie pie =).

We then came home and had a photo shoot of our little munchkin. I proceeded to take 238 pictures but here are the highlights!

Opening up her gifts from mommy and daddy 

Three books - got to build up her library!

It was a perfect first Valentine's Day as a family and I look forward to so many more!!!

A fun weekend

I had such a fun weekend. Last Tuesday was my 30th birthday (gasp!) and so on Saturday, I had 15 of my closest friends come and eat at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate with me. My mom came into town to watch E (thanks Mom!) and we had an enjoyable lunch catching up and having lots of laughs.

Jason surprised me with getting cakes at Nothing Bundt Cakes. These cakes are seriously awesome and I love love love them. They were our dessert for the lunch. And yes I know we were at Cheesecake Factory but this mama is on a no dairy diet right now and can't have the cheesecake - sad I know. 

My good friend, Dianna, we go way back to our freshman lunch table

Me and Brandis, so sweet and funny

Cheesecake Factory sang me the birthday song while I tried to brave it until it was over =)

My good friend, Megan. She's a sweetie and she understands all my Friends references

My college friend, Crystal. - love this girl!

I didn't get a picture with everyone (fail!) but I'm so glad that they could all make it!

When I got home I took pictures with the little miss so she could be part of the celebration. She was really interested in the balloons. The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with my mom and relaxing. Sadly I didn't get any pictures with her but I will fix that when she and my dad come and visit in a few weeks.


Oh and I have to brag on the hubs - he got me a Pandora bracelet for my birthday. I LOVE IT! I think I mentioned several months ago that I thought it would be fun to have a charm bracelet and be able to wear something that reminds me of certain events all the time and he remembered! Right now it has a love charm, a little girl, and a purple charm on it. It was such a great 30th birthday gift. He is the best!

All in all, turning 30 wasn't too terribly bad, and I'm looking forward to this new decade and making so many fantastic memories!

Weekend Update

On Friday, E sat in the shopping cart for the first time at Target. (Where else?) I kind of cried inside as I realized she has reached  another milestone of getting bigger.

She sat in the shopping cart at BuyBuy Baby too.

Saturday:

We had Starbucks Saturday (my way of getting Starbucks at least once a week) and had a lazy morning.


Then I worked on a little project for E's Valentine's Day outfit. I'm so excited to show it to you later this week.

I also went to Barnes and Noble to get E's Valentine's Day gift and picked up this gem as well. I officially have everything I need to start solids with our little girl.


E was dressed so cute on Saturday so I tried to do a little photo shoot. She was way more interested in the blanket I had used for a backdrop than smiling for the camera.

Do you see her cowboy boots? So cute!!


Sunday was spent grocery shopping and cleaning the house. Along with catching these two watching Praise Baby together.

Hope your weekend was great!!