7 months and Christmas fun!

So this is just a little late, but here are the pictures of Blakely at 7 months.  I forgot to make the little sign I usually put in the picture with her.  Oh well, it would have probably been slobbered and chewed on anyway!  Miss B is sporting one of her festive Christmas ensembles.  I can't get over how big she's gotten!  She has two little teeth on the bottom and the first upper tooth is trying to break through...oh so fun!  I may or may not have drugged her the other night so that both of us could get some sleep.  Don't judge.


"Oh man, I am so freakin' cute!"




"Oooo, what's this?!  I MUST have it in my mouth!"




"Um, mom, I can't reach it when you put it way up there."
*Cutest little profile EVER*




"Oh yeah, we were takin' pictures.  Ok, cheeeeeese!!"

 We have some pretty awesome holiday plans!  For starters, Jeff is done with this semester (YAHOO!!!)  and today is is last day of work for 9 whole days!!!  He'll be all mine!  We have a Christmas party to go to on Saturday, a white elephant exchange to be exact.  This is the kick-off to our Christmas-season-of-fun!  My best friend is hosting at her beautiful home and it promises to be filled with good food and bad gifts!  We still have to get our gift.  I'm not sure we can top last year.....a three foot tall statue of a shepherd.  Pain in the @ss to wrap!  Hilarious to give away! 
The very next day, Jeff, Blakely, the dogs and I are off to the mountains!  We are staying in a cabin in Blue Ridge for a few days.  We're packing up all of our crap and hittin' the road!  We can't wait!!  We haven't gone any where this year so we are desperate for a little get-away!  {Side note--I am never letting this much time go by ever again without traveling.  It's necessary to my soul to see the world.  Not to mention I have to show miss B what's out there}  I will say that planning even a small trip with a baby is not exactly a breeze.  I just don't want to forget anything....good thing we have a big vehicle!
Once we get home we have a bunch of family coming to town {all from my side} that I can't wait to see!  Blakely will get to meet my grandmother for the first time.  I plan on getting some great pictures of the four generations together! 
I realized that through all of this, what I am most excited about is just spending time with the ones I love.  My family and my friends.  Sure, gifts are nice, but I have known for a long time that quality time is my love language, and this year that's exactly what I'm getting!

Merry Christmas!!

Weekend recap

I'll start off by saying I have the most amazing husband in the world!  I really do.  I love him.  We had a little "date" night on Friday when he got home from work.  We went out for some yummy bbq, Blakely was as cute as ever and quietly chewed on some saltines.  She loves to use her little chompers!  Then we made our way over to homegoods and strolled around.  Normally Jeff wouldn't be all that excited to go to homegoods, but we were looking for the perfect white elephant gift.  We happened to find the best one there last year....a three foot statue of a Shepard that weighed about a million pounds!  Well, no such luck this year.  We didn't find our white elephant gift, but I did find this cute little bowl and a new mug.  So, success! 

Saturday, Jeff had to start studying for his finals this week so I was off to shop with miss B.  We headed over to Target, and let me tell you, that place was a zoo!!  However, despite the ridiculous amount of people there, everyone seemed to be very happy and nice....maybe a little holiday cheer??  Anyway, I had about 7 people tell me how adorable Blakely is {like I don't already know!} and I had some lady offer to take my cart back for me once I had gotten to the car.  Never happens!  It put me in a great mood to see and feel strangers being so nice to one another.  I wish people were in this great of a mood all year.

Sunday was great!  Blakely is now 7 months!!!
I can't believe it!  She's such a big girl!  Jeff and I lounged around made a delicious breakfast while we watched the snow flurry outside.  How perfect!  I got around to getting showered and dressed and Blakely and I headed to church to meet my mom for the churches annual Christmas concert.  It was freezing and snowy, but oh so wonderful!  It was so funny to see Blakely's face light up as she listened to the music and jumped up and down on my moms lap.  Her first Christmas is already magical and it's only going to get better!! 

So, for a little up-date on my 7 month old!  She is sitting, standing (while holding onto something), rolling around, laughing, babbling, screaming, teething, eating, clapping, smiling, basically being the best baby she knows how to be, and I love this child more than I can put into words!  People are starting to say that she's looking more like me.  LOVE. IT.  I think she's acting more like me too.  My mom has always told me that when she nursed me as a baby I would reach up and twirl her hair in my hand.  Blakely has started doing this, and I can't tell you how sweet it is.  I haven't taken her "official" 7 month pictures yet, but I took these over the weekend.    

Not much to say...

so I'll just show you some pictures instead.  Enjoy them, I do! 

Can you handle all of this cuteness?? 

Also, she can stand now.  Just look at that adorable little bubble butt!

Blakely sticks out her tongue when she's concentrating.  I might die.

I love this little girl, like a lot.

Have a nice day!

December...really?!

Well, I know I'm not the only one thinking it.  Is it really December already??  This year has flown by!!  But what a spectacular year it's been.  The best yet.  For some reason even years are always really good for me.  For example... graduated high school 2002, graduated college 2006, got married 2008, had a baby 2010.  You see the trend.  Not that odd years aren't cool too, but I really like the even ones.  Sorry, I know, random.  This month is going to be great and I'm excited to see what 2011 brings.  Life with a baby is just more exciting.  Little miss is learning so much every day, she's amazing.  I love her and she loves me. 

Speaking of miss B, she has been a hoot lately!  This little bean sprout has a BIG personality.  She grabs our faces and attacks!  She snarls and snorts and buries her little face in mine.  We got her one of those saucer jumper things with the toys all over it and she loves it!  She loves to stand, so toys like this one are perfect.  

See, look how much fun she has 



She's screaming.  Might just be my favorite!



We have been dealing with teething lately.  Not so much fun.  She just doesn't sleep well when a new tooth is coming in.  She cries, I sooth her back to sleep.....repeat every 3-4 hours.  I feel so sorry for her.  Thankfully, the second little chomper on the bottom finally broke through and now we are sleeping through the night again.  Ahhhh, sleep.  Glorious sleep.  We both feel better when we've been able to get a full nights rest.  So to all you new mommies out there....enjoy the time when their all nice and gummy.  Teething is no fun, for anyone.  Although, little smiles with two little teeth are ADORABLE!!!