9 months


my how the time does fly! 9 months is proving to be a lot of fun with this one. we've finally got her falling asleep all on her own, which is making a world of difference in our day to day. she's still just a 40 minute napper for the most part, which means this mama pretty much gets nothing done at all. hence me not being around here since her last monthly update. between keeping up with her, running my shop, and attempting to keep a clean house, there isn't much time left in the day for things like blog updates. but i've now found myself with a spare 15 minutes, so here i am!

we went down to atlanta this past weekend to spend a few days with my parents. for some reason i always get really home sick when the cooler weather rolls in. since having penny, it's been really hard with how much i wish i had some of my own family here. thankfully we have lots of evan's family here, but sometimes you just want your mom around! so off we went to georgia for the weekend. evan and i got spoiled with yummy food, and penny got spoiled with a little shopping spree with her grandma. i think they both rather enjoyed it! we're back home now though, getting our routine going again, and really enjoying that it's fall now. there are crunchy leaves on the ground, a pumpkin candle on our table, and i've got a hankering for soup all day every day. oh autumn, you made coming home so much more bearable!

8 month beach baby!

i'll say it every month, but seriously guys, 8 months is where it's at! this gal is so much fun these days. she's starting to show her personality and i do believe it's 100% cheese ball!


we got home from the beach a couple days ago and have been attempting to settle back into our routine here. penny has one of her front teeth coming in and it's currently causing some serious sleep disturbances around these parts. just poke through already you pesky tooth!

on a happier note though, penny absolutely loved the beach! she splashed in the ocean, felt the breeze in her wispy hair, and even chowed down on some sand. there is no stopping a baby with a taste for the crunchy stuff! grossed me the heck out, but what are ya gonna do...

here's a little recap of our days by the sea. i'm pretty sure waking up and going to sleep to the sound of the waves is the definition of happiness!


and a complete side note, penny is currently entered in the gerber baby photo search. if you think she's got what it takes, you can vote for her HERE. she can win $10,000 towards a college fund, and that's just peachy if you ask me. voting goes until the 24th of sept. and you can vote everyday. thanks friends!

7 months

7. Freakin'. Months! we're are now closer to her being a year old, then we are to her being just born. it's weird, but that's how i think of it when i say she's 7 months. luckily i'm not at all sad about the fact that she's becoming such a big girl because it really does just keep getting more and more fun. she's got a handful of tricks now (like this one HERE), and she's starting to understand that she can be funny, so she does these little tricks interchangeably and knows how to crack her mama and papa up just right. 
she's also a really good eater so far. at 7 months she's still predominantly nursing, but she also likes anything and everything we've offered her, including lentils, quinoa, avocado, black beans, mango, cauliflower, and your obvious baby food choices like apples, sweet potatoes, and green beans. i know that it's really toddlerhood where they get picky, but i'm so grateful for a good eater so far. 
she's full on mobile now too. the other day i spent most of my time on my hands and knees baby proofing our home. i wanted to see exactly what she would be getting in to, so i crawled around cleaning floors and baseboards, covering electrical outlets, and moving breakables to higher shelves. a baby on the go is pretty exhausting to say the least! thankfully she makes up for being a handful all day by sleeping through the night still. penny, i thank you for that!
here's to another month of sweet sweet baby hugs, slobbery kisses, and the greatest snuggles one could ask for!

a little lady play date!


penny had a fun little date with her buddy stella who lives in atlanta, but was in town for a few hours yesterday. penn doesn't have any friends here that are so near in age to her, and it really made me wish we lived closer to our atl. friends. i can just imagine days of stealing each others toys, learning to talk together, sharing snacks... uhhhh, my heart aches for more baby dates with that sweet sweet stella! until that day though, we'll just keep visiting each other as often as possible. nothing beats the beginnings of tiny friendships. friendship bracelets one day? me thinks so!

vacation days

vacation with an infant is definitely different then a vacation without one! that may sound obvious, but i didn't really realize it until i was smack dab in the middle of it. that's not to say that we didn't absolutely have an amazing time, because we did, it just opened my eyes quite a bit once again to what being a mama really is. and i only had this one little one, god bless my sister who's got three!
penny was really great the entire time for being so completely out of her element. sure her sleep routine was off, but she's a very go with the flow kind of baby and for that i am extremely thankful! we went swimming, mama went on her fair share of roller coasters, we spent lots of time out in the sticky summer air, and i even caught one glorious quiet moment with a delicious cocktail. penn did surprisingly well on the 5 hour drives there and back thanks to some new little toys to explore, and some serious big ups to these here puffs! 
all in all i learned a whole lot about vacationing with a wee one, and i'm happy to say that i would gladly do it again. i want penny to be able to look back on her childhood and know that she went places. there is a big ol' world out that and i'd like her to know that her mama and papa tried to show her a good deal of it!