Look At Me!!!!!

I'm standing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Please pay no attention to how wild the girls' hair looks in these pictures...when these moments happen you aren't always 'camera ready' ha!!!!)

Skylar has been pulling herself up to stand for about a month now, but she would only do it by holding on to myself or Matt. On Thursday night she eyed her car seat and tried to climb in it by pulling herself up and standing at it!!!!


Last night Skylar and Sami were playing with this Peek-a-Block toy, and I could just tell she was wanting to stand up...so I grabbed the camera....

And sure enough....

Standing baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 Months Old

I can not believe that Skylar is already 8 months old!!!! Since February only has 28 days I guess technically I could hold off on saying she's 8 months old, but...we won't deprive her! ;)



Skylar is a very scheduled baby, and doesn't like to really stray from her routine. Days that we are home this is no problem, but busy days that take us away from her routine do not make her a very happy camper.



A typical day for Skylar:



8 AM- Wake up ~ Eat 6-8 oz. bottle



10 AM- Eat cereal mixed with fruit



11 Am- Take a short nap (about an hour)



1 PM- Eat a 6- 8 oz. bottle



2 PM- Take a longer nap (1 1/2-2 hours)



4:30 PM- Eat 2 jars of stage 2 baby food (typically a "dinner" and a vegetable)



7:30 PM- 6-8 oz. bottle and then its off to bed



She no longer likes to be rocked to sleep. She will tolerate you snuggling with her and rocking for a few minutes, but then she gives you "the look"...this look says "Mommy I'm tired...please just put me in my bed!" She will not cry as long as you lay her on her belly facing south and give her a blanket. I was a little sad at first that she has outgrown rocking, but I know in the long run it is so much better for her to soothe herself to sleep.

She still sucks her thumb, but only when really tired. We haven't noticed her doing it for comfort lately, but then again she is so happy and content she rarely needs comforted.

She crawls with her belly off of the floor now, although she still gets around faster army crawling! She pulls herself up to standing if she is holding on to you (either your hands or will grab your legs or shirt) and thinks this is pretty neat. You can just tell in her face that she is so proud of herself and enjoys this new found view!

She thinks it is really funny when someone sneezes, coughs, or blows their nose!

She has mastered the pincer grasp, so she now feeds herself puffs and cheerios. We've also started giving her a few soft table foods. So far she has enjoyed pancakes and bread.

She is babbling more and more! For awhile everyone was Dadadada, but now she is calling Sami "SiSSSSSSSSSS". At first when she was making this sound I just thought it was coincidence-or that we were just saying "oh that's what it sounds like". But she only says it to Sami, and it is becoming more clear!!! And of course Sami LOVES it!!!! =)

I am really ready for her to be out of the infant carrier, but March can be pretty unpredictable and in yucky weather it is so much easier to carry her in the seat even though it is really heavy. So for now we are just leaving the seat in the car when we go places, but I think by next month she will be ready to move up to the bigger car seat.

I almost forgot to add that her hair is starting to curl!!! This is about the length that we noticed Sami's curl, however, she was 2!!!! I don't think it will be as curly as Sami's, but time will tell I guess!


(I need to post a good 8 month picture on here, but I can't find the camera they are on...so I guess check back later for pictures! Ha!)

Now That's A Lot of Love!!!

Earlier today as I gave Sami her breakfast she said "Thanks Mommy...I love you!"

To which I replied "Aww thanks honey I love you too!"

She tells us she loves us often, but what came next was extra special...

Sami-"Yeah Mom, but I love you A LOT!!!!"

Me-"Oh yeah???"

Sami-"Yep I love you all the way past the moon to Jupiter...it keeps on going to the rings of Saturn...around and around those rings straight on to Pluto...back to the moon and back to you!!!!!"

Me-"Wow Sami...now that's A LOT of love!"

Just a Thursday...

I bought this puppet theatre from a garage sale to use in my classroom when I taught. Sami loves it!!! She puts on shows once or twice a week, and we enjoy watching them as much as she loves doing it!

The stories almost always involve a princess or a wedding, but if you know Sami that isn't much of a surprise!!!! :)

Skylar loves Sami so much that it just melts my heart! She wants to be where she is, and is always watching her every move! She really enjoys these little productions as well...I was trying to get a snapshot of the two of us, but she was a little preoccupied by the show!

However, she is a ham...so once she saw the flash go off she let me snap a quick picture!

It's these every day little moments that make me so grateful I have the privilege to stay home with these amazing little ladies!!!

A Day at Bellaboo's

This past Sunday Matt was unexpectedly off of work for the day!!! He has been working A LOT of overtime, so we were pretty excited to have him home!!! He thought we should have a nice "family day" so he went to church to teach Sunday school, and when he got home we loaded up and headed "up north" to Bellaboo's.

A few of my friends have taken their families already, so I knew it was going to be a great day! Technically Skylar is a "toddler" to them and she would have normally cost $6 for admission!! I planned on her staying in her stroller so I was slightly tempted to say she is only 6 months old, but...lying is bad and not my strong point...so we stuck with honesty!!! It turns out it is the "best policy" because they didn't charge us for her. While I tend to be on the more frugal side of the fence these days I feel like you can't put a price on memories, and this day will always have good memories for us. (Besides...there is a huge difference between being frugal and being cheap...these girls will only be little once, right?)

Bellaboo's is every preschoolers (and early childhood educator) dream playground!!! Everything is designed JUST for them! The staff is really energetic and there is ALWAYS someone going around with a bottles of disinfectant wiping things down!

Sami loved the pretend village! There is a house/dress-up area. The refrigerator is super modern (so modern in fact Sami thought it was a microwave!), there is a little sink, washer and dryer, etc.! Matt even noticed that the "fixtures" were all appropriately sized as well!

There is also a supermarket complete with cash register for check out, and a pizza parlor for baking up some fun! (I would say the pizza parlor was Sami's favorite although she claims "everything" was! Ha!)

There is a building room with blocks and hard hats. We didn't go in this room, but it looked pretty neat. There is a train room with a huge train table that has 2 cut outs so you can be in the middle of the table to play. There is also a suspended train track over this room with a train continuously traveling around and around. Skylar really enjoyed watching this!!!!

There is an art room with paper, paints, markers, etc. for the kids to participate in open ended creative art projects. Sami chose to use watercolor paints and made some lady bugs using her thumb prints. She surprised me that she wasn't more "into" this room, but later when they announced there would be a story time where the children could hear a story and she declared that "she could hear a story anytime" it dawned on me that she wanted to make the most of this experience and try out the new and exciting activities!!! There was also a cooking demonstration that she chose not to participate in.

As I previously mentioned everything is designed around the children, and their creativity which I LOVED!!! Here is Sami painting her own face! The paint came off easily with just water, so she cleaned her "slate" and started over a few times!

(Here is the finished product...we ate at Cracker Barrel when we were all done, and I couldn't figure out why people were staring at our table!!! Ha!)

Skylar wasn't left out of the fun! There is a "soft play" room for babies and toddlers with lots of toys and fun things to crawl around on. Again everything is so clean! There is a bucket to place toys for cleaning after your child plays with them...so neat!!! By far Skylar's favorite part was this balance bar. She could have stood at it "talking" to the baby in the mirror all day!

The girls both enjoyed the water play area as well! There were lots of toys to play with and obstacles to create for the water!

This isn't somewhere I think I would like to go all the time because I think it might get old after awhile, but it was a super fun day and I would like to go back for sure!

You know the day was a success when it ends like this: