Our Baby is 9 Months Old

Our sweet baby girl is 9 months old.  Hard to believe.  She is such a joyful, happy baby.   I smile, laugh, and stare in awe at her each and every day.  Enjoy some highlights of the past month ...

Crawling ... I've been saying this for a while, but she really is close.  For now, hopping on her tiny tushy and waving her arms seems to be her favorite mode of transportation.  She has also mastered going from her tummy or back to sitting.

Loves to clap her hands and wave.

Got her first cold and handled it very well {the worst part was that darn mommy bugging her nose all the time!}.

Has mastered the sippy cup and can feed herself her "puffs".

Started learning sign language.

This girl loves technology.  Cell phones, computers, cameras, remotes ...

Loves to read and go to story time at the library.  She's a picky one, though and has 4 favorite books.  If we try to read anything other than the chosen 4, she's quick to let us know that it is not acceptable.

Three more teeth this month!  She still loves to bite {knees and shoulders are her favorite places to nibble}.

We love our sweet baby girl!

The Nursery Is Finally Finished!

The surprise I received on Blaire's birthday was easily the greatest moment of my life.  Nine months of dreaming about a little Dean or little Allyson was so much fun and something we'll definitely do with baby #2 {no, not any time soon!}.  The only draw back of not learning the sex was not being able to complete the nursery before she came.  And so, 8 months later ...
Blaire finally has a completed nursery!
For those who are interested, here's the run-down on how the nursery came together.

Our nursery design began with the crib.  I wanted something with clean, straight lines {I am a minimalist through and through}.  I instantly fell in love with the Oeuf Sparrow Crib in grey.  We thought it would be easy to incorporate pinks or greens into the design once our tiny one arrived.  

We also knew we wanted a day bed for the room.  A place for mommy to crash when she needed to be close, a place to cuddle and read books, and a place for Nanny to sleep when she visited.  The day bed is the Window Day Bed from West Elm and it has been the best purchase we made for the room {cuddling on it as a family every night at bedtime}.  My talented friend Lindsay made all the pillow covers for me.  We love the bright pop of color against the grey of the crib and accent wall.

We wanted a dresser that matched the modern/contemporary theme of the furniture in the room, but didn't want to shell out hundreds.  We found the dresser at our local Goodwill {$20!} and Daddy spent a week sanding and painting it - finishing just in time for Blaire's arrival.  

A Few Finishing Touches.  

We added a wall decal to the soft grey paint color as well as a homemade mobile & "You Are My Sunshine" print from a talented artisan on Etsy.  I wish I was that talented!  Maybe I'll learn a skill before baby #2!  The windows are simple roller shades that I covered with fabric {thanks to my good friend Amy for her help}.  Now that Blaire has outgrown her bassinet, we'll use it for baby dolls and other treasures! 

I love Blaire's nursery!   It's a great space to play and hang out without being too cutesy "baby".  I see us enjoying this room and adding more personal touches for years to come!

Eight Months Old

Our baby is 8 months old.  I can't believe it.  I am amazed every day by how much she has grown.  It is amazing to see her discover the world around her.  Here are some highlights this month...


Still not quite mobile {unless you count sitting and waving arms frantically in the air}.
Six teeth now - watch out, she bites!  
Loves her kitty.  I think Bella feels the same way, even when Blaire has a fist-full of fur.
Hates bath time.
Ski trip to Park City!
Gets the cutest wrinkle on her nose whenever she smiles big.  
Favorite things: Playing with mommy's cell phone and makeup, "popcorn popping" song, reading, teething biscuits, and playing peek-a-boo.

Blaire's First Valentines Day

Relaxing on a Saturday Morning

Baby's First Ski Trip!

Tiny Food for a Tiny Person

I enjoy cooking.  I love searching for recipes and sharing a wonderful meal with the people I love.  I am now finding new joy in preparing delicious food for my tiny eater.  I have become a bit obsessive in making sure Blaire is only eating the freshest, organic fruits and veggies. And so, after a couple weeks of buying the jarred stuff, I decided I would much rather prepare her food myself.  Enter the Baeba Babycook {and my new hobby}.  This is one impressive piece of kitchen equipment.  It steams, purees, and re-heats all in the same container.  So much fun to use - I can't stop!  My freezer is now full of baby food.  Dean and I might have to scrounge up something to eat tonight but Blaire is set until she's ten.

Sweet Potatoes steaming away

Next step ... puree

Fancy freezer tray. Love it!

Happy Baby.

Blessed

We saw The Fighter yesterday.  GREAT movie.  It's an amazing story of overcoming incredible odds to accomplish great things.  I'm fascinated by people like Micky Ward who push through such seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve their goals.  I'm sure that most anyone who has achieved great things has had to work hard and has probably made sacrifices along the way, but it's my opinion that some are faced with much greater adversity than others.

Today I watched the documentary referenced in the movie about Dicky Eklund, the protagonist's brother.  It's about crack use in Lowell MA, a small industrial town with high unemployment and bad socioeconomics.  Those profiled in the doc are crack-heads of the worst kind.  Missing teeth, hazy eyes, weird skin color...junkies.  They coherently and articulately explain how crack is destroying their life and ruining their future, and how they wish they had never started using it.  In the next breath they go on to explain how they love it more than "anything in the world."  It's hard to believe anyone could ever extract themselves from that sort of situation and get back to any sense of normalcy.  

I know there are a lot of bad decisions made to get some to the point of those profiled in the movie.  However, there are also those who are born into bad situations.  Abusive homes, addicted parents, regions with no access to education or geopolitical stability.  And yet out of each of the aforementioned environments incredible people emerge, Nelson Mandela for example.  

It occurred to me as I began to think of instances where individuals overcame incredible odds to achieve uncommon success, that in every case there is a person or people who help to pull these unlikely victors from their seemingly helpless station and buoy them up.  It made me wonder, as someone who lives a life of comparative ease, am I one of those lifting my brother...? 

I Love That Babies

Are completely pure. To them everything is wonderful and fresh and new.  A baby will look at a button on a couch as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, and use every bit of concentration and motor skill they poses to explore all aspects of that button.  Nothing is that wondrous to adults.  Adults see way cooler stuff everyday and give it nothing more than a jaded glance.

I think we could learn something from babies...

Blaire even thinks piggy-backs are cool.  Babies...

Fun With Jane and Larry

We spent the weekend in Brawley with my parents.  We had a lot of fun hanging with the folks, and it was great for Blaire to spend some time with her grandparents.  I even have to give Grandma and Grandpa an assist for Blaire's first word.  Blaire said "Dad" for the first time on Saturday with a little help from the grandparents.  Good times.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Pioneer Museum, Imperial CA.  Blaire learned about beef.

Blaire needed to make a call...apparently to someone in 1901

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun weekend!