kiss. kiss.

So yesterday Miss O and I went to a baby shower for a sweet friend/ family we know.  They are expecting baby #4... something I can't even wrap my brain around.  Miss O is very affectionate and has really been into kissing lately.  The Mr & I just can't even describe how much joy we experience when she initiates the kisses.   Apparently we shouldn't feel SO lucky.  She loves kissing in general.  This picture was captured by the mother of the young fella.  I also witnessed Miss O kissing him over and over and over again (approximately 8 times) on the mouth! The Mr was not too pleased with this!! But I had to share. She has lots of love to give, this child of mine! :)

Last Few Weeks

The last few weeks have been so hectic with the holidays.  We had an amazing holiday season. I knew once Halloween hit life would take off.  Now here we are in 2013. Miss O is 11 months today. So much has changed with her it still blows my mind! Here is just a quick photo recap of some of the events we experienced and some updated pictures of us all.

Christmas at Grandmas! 

Christmas celebrated at our house December 26th.

present opening pro

Merry Christmas pictures

daddy's favorite. 

December 2012 visit 

cold day at the park but so much fun! 

so much fun to swing

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013! 

Click here to view these pictures larger

thankful

This week is a short work week and short daycare week for us.  This is our Thanksgiving with a baby... her first Thanksgiving ever! The Mr & I just LOVE all these firsts.  This year we will spend Thanksgiving in NoVa (Northern Virginia) with Miss O's paternal grandfather + family.   I am anticipating a lot of changes with our little girl over the next few days.  Whenever she goes to visit family she likes to do something new.  We will have so many family members around and she will put on a show, I'm sure.  Yesterday was our 9 month check up at the pediatrician.  We had to find a new pediatrician because our original doctor {who I loved} retired from medicine to be a full-time mommy to her 3 kiddos.  Can't be mad at her for that.  Our new pediatrician is fabulous {so far} and she sings, whistles & hums.  Miss O is attracted to music... she will stop whatever she is doing to listen to the music.  So this is a fabulous distraction technique for the doctor to use while she is trying to check her out.  And of course, I love singing myself so it is fun for me! :)  At our visit Miss O received her HepB shot and a toe prick for iron.  Her iron is 12.5, which is fabulous.

Weight: 19lbs 12oz
Height: 27 3/4 inches

We seem to be suffering for a slight fall cold right now... our home along with every other household in Kershaw County, SC it seems. So hopefully it won't turn into anything serious with Miss O- like sinus infection, ear infection, respiratory infection... catch  my drift?! :)

This Thanksgiving has already been so humbling for me, personally.  I have everything I could ever need and for that I am SO thankful.  I have an amazing, fabulous, wonderful & supportive husband; a fabulous baby girl, who is healthy, active, smart, funny & a beautiful mess;  we have a great life, wonderful family and friends, jobs, a house, cars, food to eat....    Things we take for granted every day.  I am so thankful.

I am unloading my phone pictures.  These are all from the blackberry {aka- Miss O's favorite toy}.

Be Happy! 

Go Gamecocks! 

Helping with the laundry {Really she was pulling the wet clothes out}

playing with her blocks. 

blurry but it captured her top tooth...  she has the 3 to the left of that tooth
coming in too!! 

daddy swinging his baby at the doctors office

yogurt is so good. she is still learning the spoon thing. 

bunny slippers. love. 

adventures continue

It is so difficult for me to update like I should.  On top of working, we have to take care of our big girl, take care of ourselves, our house, our cat.... there just is not enough energy for everything!  But I try to snap pictures as much as I can.  I have a wonderful new camera that makes picture taking a lot more fun. Our little punkin is just so smart.  Sometimes I forget she is only 9 months old and I expect her to walk, talk, sing... I know it will come with time.  We have been so blessed by this sweet girl.  At times she can be frustrating but I never take that for granted.  She dislikes her car seat so much that she gets straight like a board and doesn't want to sit down- that is very frustrating.  But I try not to get worked up about it.  Sometimes I miss the days of a baby that doesn't move around but I am grateful to have a baby that is mobile.  One thing for sure- I am SOOOO excited about her first Christmas! We are taking Christmas pictures this weekend! Can't wait!!

morning mohawk

she used to fit in this boppy... now she is a big girl. 

baby jeggings are my love. 

polka dot princess eating her bow

so lucky to see this face in person EVERY day! 

soft apples- no bueno.
it's like she is saying "what IS this?"  

worried she has to eat more of it. 

Halloween {Snow White & a few Dwarfs}

Miss O was a fabulous Snow White.  Holidays are so amazing now that Miss O is the center of them! We had a wonderful time at our church trunk-or-treat.  We did a joint costume with my sister and brother-in-law.  We had 4 dwarfs and one fabulous princess.  I'm already thinking of ideas for next year!

walk. walk.

We bought Miss O this walker from Target last week.  Originally when she used it she would stand up and push forward so it would roll up really fast and she would come crashing down.  So we have started holding the front of it a little... just kind of guiding it so it doesn't go so fast.   She is doing well with her walking.  A lot of people are always shocked to see her standing or find out that she is very close to walking.  They tell me constantly how with baby #2 I won't rush these things and I will encourage them to stay down (like a baby longer).  I don't know if that will be the case.  But I do know I only encouraged Miss O to do something she clearly wanted.  If you have ever met this girl you know she is a wiggle worm to the max; she does not take long to figure things out if SHE wants to do it.  When she is doing what the big kids are doing she is in heaven.  I will say that with the news of her moving to the baby room  {the move will happen officially next week} that I was very sad with how much she has changed and growing up... not that she did those things but that she isn't a baby, baby anymore.  I'm sure other parents can understand how bittersweet this sadness is.  But I do have a sweet friend who reminded me that this is just the beginning of her moving up & on stages and it will continue for the rest of her life... it is something I will have to get used to.  We are thankful that she IS able to do all the things she is doing... we definitely don't take that for granted. Here is a video of her using her walker. {please note- there is music being played... if you are wondering what the noise is.  we were listening to the Disney pandora station}

xo

a big move

Our sweet baby girl is growing so fast... ridiculously fast.  When I went to pick her up from daycare Friday, the ladies asked if I had spoken with the director of the daycare yet.  I told them I had not and they notified me that she was thinking of moving Miss O to the 1 year old room {she is 8 months old}.  I cried inside a little.  It is so hard to believe she won't be in the "Baby Room" much longer.   It is hard to believe she has grown up SO much in just 8 months in this world. I was pretty sad about that... where did my baby go??  Monday morning is here and sure enough... I went to drop off Miss O and the director asked me if I was ready for her to move.  I may not be ready but she clearly is.  They aren't moving her right away, all day.  We discussed a transition period... moving her in the afternoons to see how she does.  I don't doubt she will be fine.  She is strong and very strong willed.  She is determined to be a "big kid" and you can see it in her eyes.  Last week we took her out of the nursery at church and went to the gym where all the big kids were playing.  She was in HEAVEN! She was laughing and smiling from ear to ear watching all the kids run around, play basketball, kick balls around, etc.  She is such an incredible baby... and I know I'm biased because she is mine.  But I really get blown away with her.  She very much takes after her dad.  You can see her processing things in her head.  If you take some time to explain to her what to do... she will have it down in no time. Gosh... I just love this girl of mine.  We have a very health obsession with our fabulous baby/big girl. We hope you are enjoying the fall weather, pumpkin everything, leaves changing... we certainly are!! I can't wait to celebrate all the holidays with Miss O- her first Halloween {just WAIT for her costume}, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years & Three Kings Day!!!  It will be her birthday before we know it because the holidays always come and go so quickly.  We will enjoy EVERY moment as it comes.  The following pictures are strictly from my phone... it takes me a while to get them off the phone but here they are.  Love, Love. xo

PS- Miss O did watch the Gamecocks destroy the Georgia Bulldogs {35-7} this weekend.  She will have the cheers down in no time! ;) C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A! GOOOOOO COCKS!

A rare moment I did not take for granted. Sweet baby girl

Ready for the Fall Weather!! Dress, tights & boots!! 

Grandma's couch is so much fun... an endless play yard! 

Dinner & First trip to IKEA {dinner was a bottle.. nothing fancy}

my obsessions <3 <3

she saw herself in the mirror... but I think she thought it was another baby.
 She smiled then was confused. 

so many things she can pull out onto the floor... she was in heaven. 

Master the Stairs: Check.
We don't have stairs at our house... but they aren't an obstacle for this girl.

she loves books... turning the pages {she really loves paper}
she pulled several books off the shelf. 

On the way home from NC and she grabbed her bottle and started feeding herself.
She literally would not drink if I helped her.  

September updates

Things have been so busy around here... and not that we had a ton of obligations but life keeps trucking forward and I am trying to keep up.  Things at my job have been going great- busy for sure! I taught in five second grade classes Thursday.  I have always, ALWAYS had respect for people in schools- especially teachers.  But I only had to plan one curriculum and teachers have to plan several different lessons, every single day.  I was exhausted but I loved every minute.   Miss O has been sick off and on. She had a stomach bug and then she had an respiratory infection and ear infection.  Once Miss O was on antibiotics for 24 hours, the Mr. got sick with a stomach bug.  During that time we had a close family friend (from our Columbia family) suffer from a stroke.  We have just been in a week of prayer.  Prayer for healing, prayer for God's peace.  Things happen in life that always make you remember how short life is and how things are not guaranteed ever.  I snuggled with Miss O and held her tighter more than I normally do... to remember these moments.

I am impressed by my little girl.  Based on the first 7 months of her life, I see how she loves to learn and grow and do things on her own.  I can't wait to see how God uses her strengths in the future. She is an amazing child.

Moving & Grooving: Right now she is sitting on her own, standing ALL the time, crawling all over the place.

Baby Talk:  she has said ma-ma, ba-ba, ga-ga and she did say Da-Da but Jason wasn't home to hear it... :(  He was really upset about that. She really won't say da-da.  She smiles big instead.

Yummy in Her Tummy: She is eating all kinds of food.. peas, squash, avocado, rice cereal, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, bananas and still drinking formula.  Her daddy makes about 95% of her food.  We buy some pre-made foods incase things are too busy and he can't make her food.

Funny moment(s):  At daycare Miss O is a mess- she is just a mess.  So I experienced this one day.  I went in the baby room to get her and she had a book.  She looked at me, smiled and then went back to reading her book.  So one of the 1 year old boys came running up to me so I could pick him up. When Miss O saw that, she threw the book to the side and started crawling toward me.  It was hilarious.  She was perfectly content reading her book until someone else wanted her mommy to pick them up.   Another funny daycare moment was told to me by the lady who watches her in the afternoon.  Ms. D said that she was holding Miss O and then put her down to hold another baby.  Well Miss O wasn't a fan of that... she crawled over to the rocking chair, pulled her way up and grabbed the other baby by his foot and started pulling him.  She was trying to pull him out of Ms. D's lap so she could be held again.  She really is something else.

Miss O is always putting toys, tags, paper, etc. in her mouth- as you will see in the following pictures. At her last dr's appt she was 18 lbs. and she is getting longer. xo

The earth with all its people may shake, but I am the one who holds it steady. -Psalm 75:3