8 Months? No Wait, 9!

Someone asked me the other day if I still blog.  Ha.  YES!  I mean... I intend to! I had a ridiculously hard semester of school last term, but am now off until August so hopefully I will be able to find some time to blog more. :-)  With a combination of preparing for vacation and typing out a crazy long research proposal for school, Kaelyn's 8 month post got lost in the shuffle.  So... this is going to be a celebratory 8 and 9 month post!  Here are some of my favorite pictures of her from the past 2 months along with some of her milestones!

Getting ready routine... well... me getting ready... Kaelyn playing on the floor with my hairbrush. :-)

Hey, mom!  Aren't I the cutest!

I love the beach!!

This toy is the coolest!  Kaelyn playing in the "Under 2 Zoo" on our cruise ship.

Lovin' the ocean!!  Gotta capture those beautiful little moments.  I can't get enough of those piggies.

A little skeptical at first.... but she really did love it!

Hanging out in our room on vacation having a little snuggle time with Daddy

I love me some watermelon!!

Playing in the sand and watching the waves...

Or rather... eating the sand!

Our good friend Courtney over at www.inlovenessphotography.com took some family photos of us to help us capture this beautiful time in our lives!

I got Scott a picture frame for Father's Day that said "Daddy's Girl" on it... so I did a little photo shoot with Kaelyn one morning to try and take a picture that would fit well with the frame.  What little girl doesn't want to play dress up with pearls, ballet shoes, and a tu-tu!?

That bottom one was the winning photo for the frame in case you were wondering. :-)

Miss K is a joy to be around, and has an incredibly sunny personality.  She is skeptical of strangers but it does not take long to become her friend.  She is very social and prefers to be held almost all the time.  She LOVES to be talked or sung to, and would much prefer to be interacting with others than doing anything else.

She is also quite stubborn and persistent wanting what she wants when she wants it.  She is going to make an interesting toddler I am sure!  She is quite insistent and vocal!

Speaking of vocal... Kaelyn is CONSTANTLY babbling and talking to herself, or to anyone that will listen, and loves to sing whenever there is music playing.  She often extracts giggles from strangers as she is often babbling on rather loudly when out in public.  She now says, "mama," "dada," "NOM NOM," and it sometimes sounds like she says, "HI!"  She also likes to growl... often... and loudly.  Sometimes she growls while babbling.  It is quite odd, but also pretty hilarious!  She is also experimenting with her girly screams.  These are not as entertaining... but she truly enjoys the sound of her voice... who am I to tell her that it hurts my ears?

We are working on crawling, but she does not appear to be interested!  She is content to just sit, and does not last long on her tummy.  She can be quite the wiggle worm on my lap or in bed, getting around in her own little way... but it's not exactly what one would call crawling!  She is getting better about kicking her feet and scooting though, so I'm sure she will be mobile in her own time!

She is still primarily breastfed, but I do offer her 1-3 meals of solid foods/snacks a day in addition to water in her sippy cup or diluted low sugar juice.  She now has her two bottom front teeth all the way in which makes for some adorable little grins!  She is a great eater and eats pretty much anything and everything I give her!  Someone once told me that most babies are either good eaters or good sleepers but typically not both.  Well, she excels in the eating department!!  She is not working on mastering the "pincher" grasp and is doing pretty well with self feeding.

She sleeps roughly from 6 pm - 6 am on average but usually wakes 3-4 times in between.  We still typically put her down in her crib to go to sleep, and she usually ends up in bed with us somewhere in the middle of the night when I get lazy and don't want to keep walking back and forth. :-)  She goes right back to sleep after waking and goes down pretty easily on most nights.  She is not much of a snuggler during the day, so I embrace the snuggles at night!

We are SO loving this time.  I am trying to take as many pictures as I can and just live in each and every moment.  This is the most amazing time of my entire life and I could not be more fulfilled or blessed!!  We are so thankful for our sweet girl.  Happy 9 months, little K!!