Happy 9 Months!

My little baby is 9 months old! It's amazing to think we have had her outside the womb now for the same amount of time she was inside.

Her new favorite thing to do: tear up newspaper. Hey, it's cheap entertainment!

As of today, she is also officially pulling herself up. She had been pushing herself into a standing position before (like when I'm sitting on the floor and she pushes herself up holding onto my leg). Today she pulled herself into a standing position at her saucer, then she stood there for a couple mintues playing with the toys on top. Later I held my hand out to her, and she pulled herself up and started to try to walk forward! She took about 5 or 6 steps (holding onto my hands) before plopping back onto the floor. Good grief, she hasn't even been crawling all that long! Matt said he was walking at 9 months. Since Madison is already trying & she just turned 9 months, I think we can be pretty sure she's going to follow in Daddy's footsteps... literally.

In the Grass

I realized yesterday that in Madison's nearly 9 months, I have never taken her out to play in the grass. Yesterday being in the 70's, I decided it was time!



She decided not to crawl around. After putting her hand down a couple times and feeling prickly grass instead of soft carpet, I think she decided not to risk it. It was also very bright, and she didn't want to cooperate & leave her sunglasses on - so she's squinting in most of the pics.



'My first blade of grass'




This was my 'look I'm a cool photographer too, Niecey' shot. ;-)

Spring Green & Sun Showers

Sew Cute

My future seamstress -

Sniffly Baby

Madison had a little cold recently. She had a runny nose yesterday and seemed miserable & cranky all day. Poor lil' thing.

One Man's Junk

I just returned from a painful walk around the block. Not because I'm physically out of shape (Ok, well maybe that too), but because my timing was too late. In walking through a nearby well-to-do neighborhood, I realized it must be garbage day as all of their garbage dumpsters and bags were by the curb. As I walked, I began to pass piles of things that I wouldn't call junk. In fact, I realized I had just hit the jackpot in finding treasure! I passed a couple wooden deck chairs in great shape - probably just needed a couple big cushions. I passed a child's car booster seat and high chair/booster seat. I passed a bunch of little white picket fencing, like what you'd place around a flower bed. I began to walk faster, getting excited about the goodies I could bring home later once Matt was home from work & I had access to the car. At the moment, I wasn't able to take any action as I was on foot with the baby in the stroller.

But then, as I got to the end of the housing complex and turned the corner back to the main street, a dump truck passed me, turning into the complex road. UGGGHHH!! Now all of those lovely items are headed to a landfill somewhere. Now that's truly painful.

Congratulations Danielle & Garrett!

Stretching Tall

Any day now, Madison's going to be pulling herself up to a standing position. She's pretty close & very determined!

Tim Hawkins

For those of you who have seen (& nearly wet your pants watching) the music video "Cletus Take the Reel" on YouTube, be sure to check out Tim Hawkins' website. We just discovered more of his hysterical comedic video clips over the weekend -- other than the "Cletus" music video, I'd never heard of him before. We were excited to hear he is coming to Geneseo this Fall & plan to go see him live when he comes.

Killer Bunnies on the Lake

Last Sunday was so nice we had a Killer Bunnies game outside overlooking the lake -- I'm not sure who the dude in the redneck cap is... I think Larry the Cable Guy. ;-)





Madison enjoyed using her new swing for the first time --

Temptation

"And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil..." (Genesis 2:16-17)

Why is it we always want what we can't have...

A whole floor full of fun toys, and she has to go after Mama's slippers or the TV remote...

Playing is Fun!

I added a few more 8 month photos to Picasa -

Hair Clips

She might not have much hair, but I found some hair clips for her today at Target that are small & fashionable!

The Little Monkey

A little monkey for our little monkey --

Insomnia

For the past month or more I've been having a difficult time falling asleep at night. No matter what time I go to bed, it takes me an hour to an hour & a half to fall asleep. It's SO frustrating, especially when Madison decides to wake me up at 3 AM and shorten my night's continuous sleep. I'm not sure what the deal is but I hope I can get back to normal cozy slumberland soon.

Mischief

And so it begins... With Madison's newfound mobility comes mischievous discoveries. This morning I set her down by her toys and minutes later peeked back into the room only to find her about 7 feet from her original position! That's probably the farthest she's gone all in one shot. Later she crawled over to the coffee table and starting pulling things off... and putting them in her mouth. I snapped a couple pictures of her absconding with daddy's laser pointer... before flicking away her hand & saying 'no'. ;-)

Sunshine!

The weather forecast for next week has EVERY day in the 50's! Hooray!!

The Office

We have our new desk and little office area set up now. It's sooo good to have the computer off the dining room table!

Wind

We can't win - the Nebraska wind seems to have followed us here. We were looking forward to things being LESS windy. Today we've had wind gusts over 60 mph!! Whoa!

In the Saucer

She's been enjoying her saucer more lately. The first picture she's making her famous high-pitched squealing noise (most used at church whenever anyone prays & it's silent in the room). Behind her is our disassembled computer desk which will be helpful in getting our computer off our dining room table finally.