Southern Summer Lunch

Yum... and I didn't even take a picture of the fresh blueberries!

Beach bums!!

Adelaide's first beach trip and she loves it

8 Months

Another month, and my how you're growing!  This month was full of fun and excitement.  See below, haha!

Let's see what are you doing these days. You are no longer content to simply sit and play with your toys. You would much rather pull up on us to stand and do a little dance. You absolutely love to stand and sometimes making you sit doesn't always suit your fancy. We can stand you up at the ottoman and you are oh so happy. You aren't quite cruising down it on your own, but will cross back and forth between it and us or the couch. All those early days of tummy time sure don't make you like it any better now. Perhaps that's why you aren't really crawling yet? At this rate, once you can keep your balance, you will be walking on your own before too much longer. You will love that. And speaking of loving, you really love walking while holding our hands. You want to walk so much like this that it wears us out!

As far as sleeping goes you are, sometimes but not always, stretching out your naps to 2 a day about 1 hour and 20 minutes or so each one. Your length of your first nap often dictates how many you take that day. Bedtime somewhat depends on when you wake up from the last nap but you are normally ready for the routine to begin around 7:30. Most nights you sleep all night until 7-7:30 the next morning without a peep. Thank you child, and Praise the Lord!

As far as activities go... Gram and Grandpa came to visit again and Grandpa taught you to bang balls together. We didn't get any action shots, but you both enjoyed it. Trust us.

It was a super month for celebrating. It was Mother's Day, Daddy's Birthday, and our 6th Anniversary.

On Mother's Day we dedicated you at church.  What a sweet time to do it.  Granny, Papa, Uncle Matt, and Haydyn came.  I wanted to include a little of the responsive reading so we will never forget our commitment.  "Do you come today to commit yourselves to be godly parents whose lives will reflect the glorious joy of knowing the Lord God through Jesus Christ, His Son?  We do.  Do you come to place this child in the strong, loving, secure arms of your eternal Father, entrusting your child both to His care and His service?  We do.  The prayer of Hannah for her son, Samuel, gives us an illustration of the extent of this dedication:  `I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of Him.  So now I give him to the Lord.  For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.` 1 Samuel 1:27-28.  Is this the commitment you are making in the dedication of your child unto the Lord?  It is."  Daddy helped you make a stepping stone for me as a Mother's Day gift.  Apparently, you both had an interesting time making it and I think it's priceless to have your semi-handprint in stone.

Daddy's 28th birthday was a fun day. We went to breakfast at Brigs and then ate cake around lunch. Cousin Josh got married later so you went to stay with Uncle Chris and Aunt Kim. I hear you had fun playing with Isaiah and Lily. Yay for Daddy being another year older!

Our anniversary was a bit of a different one than in years past. We stayed around home and had Boston Market for dinner with you as our centerpiece. Different for us, but wonderful because we have you in our lives now.

This month also brought on your first real bout with sickness. I woke up the Monday morning after our anniversary and you were still snoozing hard. I thought you were just catching up from an off schedule day at church the day before. About 2 hours after you normally wake up you started talking. I went in there to get you and you had a runny nose, alarming but you'd had one before. Then I picked you up and you were so hot. I checked your temperature and it was 102.8 (The highest it got was 103.1, ugh). I felt so sorry for you. You felt awful and, therefore, so did I. It truly is tough watching your baby so sick. I gave you some medicine and took you to the doctor that afternoon. It was a cold so there was nothing to do but ride it out. And ride it out we did. You quit eating your baby food and I became worried, but the doctor's office said that as long as you were nursing good then you should be fine. Wednesday you started nursing less and I got more worried so I planned to take you back in Thursday morning. Finally, your fever broke Thursday morning so I waited to see if you nursed better that day. You didn't so I took you in Friday morning. From Monday to Friday you went from 15 lbs. 3 oz to 14 lbs 7 oz... lost 5% of your body weight. The doctor said that if you were not nursing and/or eating better by Tuesday to bring you back in. Finally on Sunday night you ate a few spoonfuls of bananas from Daddy while I held you. I almost cried. One week without you eating any food was hard to take. Thankfully you were on the mend and have slowly started eating better, but still not where you were before your sickness. We are still working on that. Praise the Lord for healing.

Okay, now on to happier events.

This is what happens when Daddy gives you a bath, silly!

More jumper, yay!

Our girls

Sweet sleepy time

Smiley!

Funny face picture!  You voted and have the sticker to prove it.

Pulling things out of the basket is still one of your favorite activities.

Hanging outside with Daddy.

Whew, I can barely stand it.

Peek-a-boo, I see you.

First time you scooted far backwards and were in a total different place than when I left you.  Progress!

Infectious laugh

Loving to stand

Playing with Henry

and with Kailyn

and with Graham

First time trying a snack, a baby Mum Mum.  You immediately pulled it away and gave a funny face.

Miss Adelaide with Miss Sock Monkey!

You were insistent that the sticker should not be on your clothes, but in your hands.  Look at that concentration.

Then into your mouth.

Look at that satisfied grin.  We love you so much baby girl.

Turtle, turtle

Checking out the turtle at the fish hatchery.

Lunch with Daddy

7 Months

My how time flies when you're having fun!  It was a great month.  Just as your 6th month had some changes, so did your 7th month.  You began to get yourself to sleep a little easier.  Those first few days were painful for us all, but in the end, it's better for both you and us.  It took you a few days to realize that we had not fallen off the face of the Earth, but now (for the most part) you drift off to sleep in a few minutes.  Praise the Lord, what an answer to prayer!  You normally start getting sleepy between 7:15-7:45 so we begin your bedtime routine around then.  You get a bath (every other night with soap), I feed you, then hum you a few songs before lying you down.  Most nights you sleep until 6:45-7:30 the next day.  Every now and then you will wake up at some point in the middle of the night and cry just a couple of minutes before going back to sleep.

You ate only rice cereal for about 2 weeks and then we decided to give you the good stuff.  We bought 3 choices, carrots, sweet potatoes, and green peas.  We couldn't decide which one to give you first so we let Lily choose.  We put them in a line on the floor and whichever one she sniffed first was what we were going to give you.  She chose carrots so they were your first food other than cereal.  We would give you each food for a couple of meals to be sure you didn't have an allergic reaction before we would try the next.  You enjoyed the carrots as well as sweet potatoes and peaches.  The peas, however, not so much in the beginning.  The first 2 times you tried them you were gagging and making the funniest of faces.  We took a break and then you tried them again a few days later with a little water added to make them thinner.  I guess you could say you accepted them this way, but you still didn't give them the same satisfying lip smack as, say, carrots.  It has been fun for us to see you react to these new tastes.  I can't wait for you to try more and more, I'm excited for you!  I still nurse you 5 times a day (7ish, 11ish, 2ish, 5ish and 8ish).  I really enjoy that time and wouldn't trade it for anything.

You are still a peanut.  Still in some 3-6 month clothes, but you are wearing more and more 6 month ones.  You are wearing size 2 diapers and have been for a while now.

You are "saying" all kinds of things to us.  We hear lots of babababa, dadadada, and thankfully mamamama.  Hearing you get so excited about something and then just babble on is wonderful!
You aren't crawling but instead loving to stand up against anything.  Can't wait to see how you begin to explore what's around you.  (I'm sure I will then miss you staying in the spot I last put you!)   Here's more of your 7th month in pictures:

Waking up from a nap... so sweet.  This is your favorite way to sleep.  You roll to your right and get snug against the side of your crib. 

Play time with your buddy Graham.

Buckled in and ready to chow down.

Ha, I guess you could call this our actual Easter family picture.  We had some taken the day before by a professional photographer.  Maybe I will do another post on that.

Beautiful girl, dress, grass, and day. 

Enjoying playing with Haydyn.  I love that you 2 have each other as you grow up.

On Haydyn's spring break we visited Carolina Tiger Rescue in Pittsboro.  I did a college internship there the summer before my senior year so we decided to go back and visit.  We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the tigers and lions, among others.  This is Jellybean, a rare white tiger.

Meet Nitro.  He's blind, even though he is looking right at the camera.

When I was an intern we would joke that the tigers would stalk the babies that toured.  Don't worry, you were safe!

Adorably cute.

Little Miss Giggles

Blue jean baby!  This was your first time wearing jeans.

Miss Adelaide and Miss Sock Monkey for another month.

Whew, we can't get enough of you happy girl.  We love you more and more!

She's how old?!

Meet our professional straw drinker