9 months old

We had Eden's 9 mo. appt. Friday and it went really well! She is now:

18.4 lbs. which is right about 40%
26 and something inches (didn't catch it) long which is 15%
16 and something inches for her head which is 4% - still a tiny little head

So looking at my rolly polly, I guess having her be shorter makes her look bigger. Just love her full cheeks and sweet baby thighs =)

Got to tell Dr. Gulde that she is finding her knees and rocking some. He asked if she is pulling up or able to stand when holding something but that was a no. So looking forward to that happening sometime this month! What a big girl! We spoke about her sleeping pattern after I came in with my detailed chart. He really didn't leave me with much but that between 9-12 months is when they start sleeping longer, that she doesn't need to eat during the night time, to send daddy in if we need to because she wants me to soothe her and just to change things up because what we're doing isn't working. On that note, we had a VERY good night last night. She slept from 7 p.m.-6:15 a.m. (sister woke her up - Grrr...) and only cried for 20 minutes during the 11 o'clock hour. I feel like a different woman!! Hopefully this is a turning corner and she will be sleeping better every night! (update: only that one lucky night - at least it was one!)

I couldn't decide which pictures to post so I posted a ton =)

"What's up mom?" - Just catching her trying to get to her knees from her sitting position. Any day now....
Much more interested in Mr. Bear this month!

I love this one!

This one too!

A big Bear hug and Kiss - we love those wet, open mouth kisses

Not liking the bows so much this week....

Ahhhh... success!

No bow and all smiles! She looks so long here

I will need to come back to the "what to remember" - I wrote this last week and lost it so it'll take me some time to get it posted again.

Here I am to finally update!

Things to remember about this month:

- You said your second word "dada" on July 28th while he was feeding you at Chick-fil-a

- At the end of the month you started finding your knees and rocking. You will roll anywhere to get what you want.

- You still love your books and have found a new love of pictures of babies, especially yourself!

- When dad or I come home, you give us the sweetest smile and rock back and forth out of utter excitement! What could be better than that?

- You started meats at the beginning of the month and you still like everything except ham. I also started you on some stage 3 foods and you're getting more used to the texture. You also started taking a sippy cup of water.

- You have finally had it with the bows but I'm persistent! You just look so darn cute in them

- Your first word recognition "cat" - anytime we say it you frantically look around the room for Rollo.

- You still don't sleep at night and I like to say thank God you're so darn cute and sweet during the day because you're not during the night. You always go down just fine but you just can't self soothe. You are so stubborn! You will cry as long as it takes....

- Your favorite things right now are:
....watching Rollo
....playing with your feet
....your morning song "Good morning to you and all that you do. Good morning Eden girl. Brand new day is here, time to give a cheer. I love you my dear. Good morning Eden girl!" composed my none other than daddy!
....playing with Claire
....music and singing
....your exersaucer

Thank you Great Aunt Barbara and Great Aunt Linda!

A HUGE thank you and shout out to my sweet aunts up in Wisconsin who sent Claire this CUTE art apron! The ladybugs were a huge hit and the slots for the markers are perfect for her! She has been so excited to draw with markers because that's a "big girl thing to do". Here she is modeling and drawing you a thank you note. She's also modeling her Barbie sticker she got from the dr. office this morning for Eden's 9 mo. appt.

All smiles and wild-child hair.... suits her just right this week =)

"Thanks Aunt Barbara and Aunt Linda!" We just skip the great around here even though you are GREAT! We're so blessed to have Claire know, talk about and love her family in Wisconsin. Every time she sees an airplane she says "Maybe Grandma Ann's on that plane?" Guess she wants to see you again soon Grandma!

On a side note, thank you Linda for being so sweet to print off the blog and showing it to Grandma. I love knowing she's keeping up with it and getting to see the girl's grow up so quickly!

We Love You!

First Day of School

OK, I'll admit... I was one of those moms that was at Walmart last night at 9:30 p.m. doing last minute looking around. It was insane! This school (MDO) thing kind of snuck up on me because I won't start working till next week. Going to Walmart for bread for lunch, I ventured to the school aisle and found a special Princess backpack and outfit for Claire. She has been SOOOO excited all weekend and told me Saturday, "Mom, I can't wait to go to school everyday!" Only 2 more years that I want to cherish with my big girl and it hit me hard when she said that. Anyway, here are the pictures from this morning. As soon as I surprised her with the backpack, she wouldn't take it off for anything - hence the first pic feeding Rollo WITH the backpack on. She looks SO big to me and gets more beautiful everyday! Her teacher's name is Ms. Robin and is new to the program. She's really young and looked so nervous but she had a veteran helping her out for her first day - that made mommy feel a lot better! There are only 5 kids in the class so it won't be too hard to handle. She will go once a week so I can go to work and my sweet, amazing friend Stef will be watching Eden again for us.

Well, Eden's stirring so gotta run. Hoping to take Claire somewhere for a special after school treat for her first day. Probably Starbuck's so I can get myself a treat too!

What we've been up to....

Well, we've been keeping busy around here! Still can't wait for the cooler weather so we can get outside more. It's amazing how you can tell the difference between 98 and 101! So in my style, what we've been up to in pictures....

Trying new things! Eden's getting the hang of a sippie cup and doing some finger gerber puff snacks!




Finger painting! Bought this a month or so ago for "rainy" day activity or in our case, cabin fever day. She loved it!


The finished product along with our "Reading God's Word" sticker chart. It helps remind us to get to it as early as we can in the morning!
Playgroup swimming at Kamryn and Amy's pool and munchin' on some lunch. We love our weekly group and our other play dates.
Claire's been interested in taking pics by herself lately so here is one she took of me! Yes, I'm as exhausted as I look!
Posing and playing with sister

Hangin with Unlce Billy
Finding halloween costumes! Yes, this early! We've learned in years past that if you don't get them early you might miss out on a really cute one. So I found this one on Craig's List and couldn't resist. I also couldn't choose what picture to post so here's a lot of Eden the cutest Pink Bunny you'll ever see! Claire will be Sleeping Beauty and already has her dress from her birthday party. Thanks Mike and Heather! She already wears it all the time and STILL wants to wear it for Halloween.

Pure joy!
Claire loving her sister so much it looks like it hurts!

Eden's finding her knees and loving Grandpa's showlaces. Grandpa helped her get to her knees so she didn't do this on her own but gosh, she looks like a big girl! This would keep her entertained forever =)

And of course, we are always up to being silly!
Eden's really scooting her knees up under her these days and even rocked on them a little (of course, not for me but for daddy!). Oh, our lives are about to change all over again when she gets to be mobile!

Eden's fast approaching 9 months and I wouldn't be surprised if she is crawling by then. Stay tuned for some funny Claire quotes.... you won't want to miss them!

The girl's giggle

I've finally found that if you do videos through YouTube it is a lot easier! So here is one I wanted to post awhile ago - probably a month or so. My friend Marie is the one who taped it for us. Gotta love little girl giggles!

More videos to come!

Patience

Funny how when you are praying for things like patience and anger management, you get many opportunities to use them! Thank God He's giving me just the right lifegroup study about anger, sermon about what stresses you out and scriptures to encourage me:

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 15:1

It's been a tough week with Claire being especially fussy and Eden still waking up so much but in my wavering day I hold onto my unwavering God! There are times in my day that I think "How can I be so angry at someone I love SO much?" and then later that day "How can I love someone SO much?" Parenting is such a rollercoaster of a ride even when you are trying to be consistant! Anyway, asking for prayers to be successful with practicing my patience and for wisdom in growing up my sweet girly girls.... couldn't imagine my life without them. There's nothing like the unprompted hug and "I love you Mommy", the wet open kiss from my sweet baby girl, the smiles I get when I see them first in the morning, the innocent giggles from a tickle session, listening to my big girl sing praise songs.... it makes it all worth it.

Priorities

So.... over the past few weeks I've been convicted about how I've been spending my time. After kids are finally in bed, I would find myself just wiped out and wanting to watch TV or be on the computer. Believe me, I still do this but I'm certainly trying to re prioritize!! In doing so, I'm spending more time reading God's word (Proverbs), becoming more focused on my job at home and REALLY enjoying a book called "A Mom After God's Own Heart". As many know, I'm not much of a reader so the fact that I'm on pg. 167 and more than half way through says a lot about how great of a book it is! It is reminding me of the blessings I have as a mom and the number one job I have is to teach my girls about Jesus. We've been spending time everyday reading God's word together, praying at every opportunity and talking about God every chance we get. It's made my last few weeks so much more productive and fulfilling! It's humbling. I'm not always very diligent or consistent. It's also prepared me in some changes that have happened in our lives the past couple weeks. God has truly blessed me with my job here at home and I pray that I'm aware and open to how He wants to use me the way He intended every mom to be used.

Along with Proverbs 31:10-31 (The Wife of Noble Character), here is the main scripture that comes back over and over again in the book. I love it! It has really made me rethink how I'm showing the girls what is most important.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Staycation

This summer we were blessed to spread out Neil's vacation so he would have Fridays off. It was so great! Last weekend he took 2 extra days to make it a 5 day weekend so we could go to the beach. That trip got postponed so we just made the best of it here in town on our staycation. We did manage to take 2 day trips to visit Neil's grandmothers which was WAY overdue! So here it goes...

Friday we decided to do something new and fun - bowling!! Claire had a blast and she didn't do too shabby. On a side note, anytime she is pretending to "do her work" or we are pretending to buy something, etc. she almost ALWAYS uses the number 49 and which lane did we get? #49!! Neil and I just had to laugh! So we all three bowled with the bumpers and even Eden enjoyed it!

Getting everything set up with Daddy
Eden was just an angel in her bumbo! Don't worry! One of us was always sitting next to her so she wouldn't fall off the seat
The ball s-l-o-w-l-y rolling down the lane! She did well and stayed very excited for 8 of the 10 frames

I tried about 4 or 5 times to get a good pic of these two but Neil kept closing his eyes and this picture says it all!! Claire was tired of keeping her smile and was checking on daddy to make sure his eyes were staying open - it's one of my favorite pictures =) I can just hear her now " Daaaaaaaaad!"

Pushing with all her might!

My girl - what joy!

Isn't this cute? Claire, you're such a sweetheart

Had to get a good shot of the bowling shoes! Before we got there I explained the shoe borrowing to her and she said "I want Princess ones" and was a wee bit disappointed with the news that they probably didn't have any but I would check!

So Saturday we just hung out at home and later that evening we stopped in to say hello to Grandma and Grandpa and then we ate pizza with Mimi and Poppa. We are so blessed to have our parents here and our girls get to have a relationship with them!

Sunday it was singing at church and then a great life group at the Zimmer's. We talked about slowing down and getting distractions out of our lives so we can focus on our Lord! It was just what I needed as you can tell from this post....

Monday we took a day trip to George West to visit Neil's grandma and Aunt Mary Ellen. They hadn't met Eden yet so it was about time! We had a great visit over a lasagna lunch that we took with us. We had a nice time visiting, chasing the kittens back outside and popping bubbles in the living room.

I couldn't decide which one to post so I posted all three of Maw Maw Lewis and Eden. So cute!

Claire and Mary Ellen

Bubble FUN!

Eden being cute in the car

Tuesday they were showing a free movie at a near by theater and after talking to my friend Lauren, she convinced me that Claire might do well with a movie! She LOVED it and wouldn't stop talking about the "Curious George" movie for a couple days. Afterwards it was a Mexican lunch at Taco Cabana. It was her first movie and lunch date =) Her date was a good looking man who I know will teach her how she should be loved, cherished and treated!

The next pics are a couple of us just playing around at home...

So that was the bulk of it but yesterday (Friday) we went to visit Maw Maw Springer in Kerrville for dinner. We intended to go in the morning but we ended up taking Claire to the dr. about a sore on her tongue that had been there since Tuesday. She hadn't eaten in three days and was sleeping TERRIBLY waking up a few times every hour because her tongue hurt. He called it an a-something ulcer (a canker sore when we googled it) and it is caused by a virus. They don't know how they get it but now she will be more prone to getting them which isn't great news but at least it wasn't something more serious. It was on the bottom on her tongue and the size of a dime so it looked very painful.

Anyway, we got to Kerrville for dinner and spent about 3 hours there visiting. We were planning on taking her out but she was so sweet to make us sides and dessert to go with some brisket she picked up. Yummy potato salad, coleslaw, homemade pickles, bread, homemade chocolate cake... we got spoiled and it was so nice to let the girls play instead of having to stay seated at a restaurant.

No pics with Claire but here is Eden and Maw Maw

wow - I'm tired again! It's been fun but I'm ready for an easy going week!