We're still here!!

We're still here!
I DAILY acknowledge that it's been over a month since I've posted.
It is bugging me.
I actually have blog posts written but no photos attached for the little girls 12 month photo shoot and birthday party!
It is bugging me, but we have been a little busy... with weddings, travel, visitors, party throwing, chasing a super-fast crawling baby, and most of all house hunting!
All I have wanted to do in the evenings is sit and be lazy!
Hopefully I will catch up with downloading photos and adding them to posts.
In the meantime, here is a picture of my swimming cutie pie to tide you over :)

This little girl LOVES the water!  Splish-splash!

Happy 4th of July!

One year ago today I "celebrated" the Fourth of July in active labor-

though our little firecracker didn't arrive till the 5th!  

I remember the late night fireworks not bugging me that night because I wasn't sleeping anyways!

This year I went with my parents to my aunt and uncles house to celebrate the 4th.

Irelyn really loved their great dane.  

She even warmed up to family enough to let them hold her!  Go Irelyn!  

Then we left early as we were already an hour past her bedtime... and she cried the whole way home.  

Poor baby was exhausted!  

Maybe next year we will be able to stay up for fireworks!

Hope everyone is having a great 4th of July!

My little firecracker!

Mama and baby :) 

Puppy!  BIG Puppy!

Sun-baby

Getting sips of cold water from Grandma's cup.

Puppy kisses!

Hanging out with Jan

Visiting with Great-Grandma, Helen, and Grandma

Irelyn {11 Months}

Irelyn, 11 Months Old, June 5, 2013

Sweet baby girl,

You are 11 months old!

Within one week you learned how to scoot in a circle (May 21st) and army crawl (May 27th).  You are getting to be such a big girl!  We all get a kick out of watching you scoot in circles.  It is ALWAYS clock-wise, even if it takes longer to get to what you want.  So funny!

We are still working on getting your knees up when you army crawl, but I am SO happy you can move yourself (and so are you)!

Army crawl, go baby go!

Kitty-in-a-cabinet

You still haven't figured how to sit yourself up yet but you are great at pulling up on things.

You continue to be quite the squirmy worm when Mommy is holding you. As a result my wrist got a slight sprain... I had to get a wrist brace so I could hold you without hurting!  You have always liked facing out and seeing what's going on all around you, it's just hard on Mommy's wrists!

We celebrated our first mother's day!  We went to church and then hung out at home.  I got Daddy to  do a little photo shoot with us :).

We had fun going to Mommy's cousin Mariah's pinning ceremony and graduation party.  You were a little trooper but I had to spend most of the ceremony out in the Fine Arts Center hallway with you and Easton, at least I could hear what was being said!

All the family nurses :)

We lasted about 20 minutes in the theater! 

Mommy and Daddy have been taking you on walks occasionally which has been fun, you really prefer the backpack to the stroller.  I think you like being up high where you can see everything!  Daddy really wants to start running with you so maybe we will have to find a jogging stroller soon.

Dan continues to tolerate you quite well, even when you pull on his feet, ears, and gums.  The other dogs continue to steer clear of you :).

Daddy has the best toys

Playing "bumps-kup" with Daddy

You do not seem to be getting much bigger lately but some of your baby pudge is gone and you are starting to look more like a toddler.  Where did my little peanut go?!

Hey there cutie!

In one more month you will be ONE and I can hardly believe it.  You are such a light in our lives and we just love watching you grow into such a bright, happy, smart, gorgeous little person!

Happy 11 months ladybug!

Love,

Mommy

Irelyn {10 Months}

10 Months Old, May 5, 2013

Sweet baby girl,
You are 10 months old!

The biggest milestone you have reached this month has been SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!  

Yeah!

Mommy did some major sleep training, and thanks to a wonderful book you are now sleeping from 6:30pm to around 5-6am.  It is awesome.  Mommy will write a whole other blog post on how that whole process went down :).

In other news...  

•  Sleep training also resulted in you weaning yourself off the pacifier.  You simply lost interest.  I tried to give it to you a couple times when you were fussy during the day but you just chucked it aside!  Mommy is very glad she did not have to wean you from it!
• Wearing 12 month onesies/shirts, 6-12 month pants (you've finally grown out of your 3-6 month pants!)
• You are JUST starting to fit into your size 1 shoes.  Your feet have barely grown since birth!
• Size 3 sposies
• No teeth yet... still have bad teething days occasionally.
• You grew enough hair for a barrette, and it's all on the center top part of your head- still working on growing out the back and sides!

• The physical therapist has officially declared your head "evened out"... so no more cranial massage!  We are still working on gross motor for crawling.
• Waved bye-bye for the first time (to Grandpa).
• Signed for "More" at dinner.
• Can rotate your body while rolling to get where you want to go (anything to avoid actually crawling right?!)
• Reach for things far away- sometimes you reach so far it looks like your going to do a forward roll and face-plant... silly baby.
• Lift your arms up to be held.

• You are a social baby, unless a stranger tries to hold you!  People love watching you in church.  You like to stand up on the pew and make smiley faces and play "Sideways" with the people sitting behind us.   Such a ham.
• You get VERY excited when you see other babies or kids, your arms flap up and down and you kick your legs really fast!
• Mommy has you drinking milk ONLY with sippy cups now- no more bottles!
• You can hold your own sippy without the special handles.
• You still eat every 3 hours, usually 3-4 ounces during the day and about 6 ounces right before bed.
• Still take two naps, usually one at 8am and one at 12pm, each lasting a little over an hour.
• You are eating a lot more solids- you love baby food, especially carrots, squash, and mixed veggies.

• You are quite dramatic when Mommy leaves the room and will wail until I come back... oh dear.
• I've said it before, but you just LOVE to read.  Your box of books entertains you longer than your toy box.  Who needs toys when you have books?!  You turn the pages when being read to and will chuck the book aside if you don't like it... you have strong opinions about literature :).

 It has been an exciting month for us (hello sleep!).  

What a joy it is to watch you change so dramatically each month!

Love you to pieces Ladybug!

Love,

Mommy