8 months!

So my munchkin is 8 months! Before I know it she is gonna be a year! We had a couple fun things to end our summer. This is going to be a very long post, but its for Brailey to read in the future so I want her to remember lots! Okay, its for me too, but I want to remember everything as well ha ha.

We went up to our family cabin and spent the time with some amazing family. A couple siblings were missing, and though it wasn't the same, it was still fun. Brailey had a good time too. She enjoyed spending time with everyone and seeing all the new people. She loved the 4wheelers and we even took her on a very slow ride up the road. Overall, a great time. And I am so excited for my two cousins who are both going to be welcoming their babies this winter! I can't wait to meet them!

With Cousin Chantelle who is preparing for mommyhood! :D

Funny Faces. :D

Blue Eyes

Push Ups. ha ha ha.

Sleepy Baby

 She doesn't fall asleep on me often, but when she does it is amazing. I love watching her sleep and having her in my arms. :) She is beautiful.

4wheeling with Mommy and Daddy :)

Sucking on her toes

The other event to end our summer was going to the Hogle Zoo with my sisters, nieces, and nephews. We had a great time. Brailey loved seeing the animals and she enjoyed the train ride. She loved the Carousel though. It was fun spending time with my sisters, getting to talk, and just having fun with our kids. Its definitely good to spend time with my nieces and nephews too. I love watching them grow and learn new things and say the funniest stuff. I can't wait for Brailey to do that too. :) Pics will be with the following info about Brailey now that she is 8 months old. :)

• She's army crawling now. Its SO cute! Honestly, I keep wondering what finally connects in their little heads and says "Oh if I just do this then I can move forward" lol. She started out just being able to get up on her hands and knees, occasionally doing a push up instead, but she couldn't ever figure out how to move forward. Randomly, one day, she just started moving herself forward. She still tries to crawl normally, but I think she needs to build up more muscles to do that. 

• She LOVES necklaces! Oh my goodness. The first thing she grabs, if anyone is wearing one, is the necklace. I don't know what her fascination is with them, but she absolutely LOVES them. They don't even have to be all bright and sparkly. They can be plain and simple and yet she still wants them... even more than her toys.
• Speaking of toys she has a favorite (other than the necklaces) she loves her rattle-blanket giraffe. Its pink and so I started calling it Pinky. She gets so excited when I bring Pinky to her. 

• She knows how to wave "bye-bye" or "hi." She doesn't always do it on cue but she does it quite often now. Sometimes when i am feeding her, sometimes when i am changing her... but she does wave. :) Its adorable!
• She's starting to eat her veggies better. I don't know that it means she likes them, but she doesn't spit them out as often anymore. She does at least like sweet potatoes. She also doesn't really like sour stuff. I made her own mashed peaches and they were a bit sour so she kept pushing them out with her tongue. 
• She's been going down for naps SO good lately. Again, I don't know what suddenly flipped a switch in her mind, but it happened. (For those of you that don't know or don't remember from previous posts, she was a bit of a drama queen when it came to going down for naps. She would cry for about 5 minutes and then finally turn over and go to sleep. NOW, however, she doesn't cry at all. She just goes right to sleep as soon as I put her in her crib... unless she is already fussy prior to nap time. 
• She's been teething a lot lately, and while she still doesn't have any teeth I can feel the gums on her bottom front and it feels a little raised now so I think she might be getting them in. Plus she has been chewing on everything... and she has had her really fussy moments.

• She is great about going down to bed early. I get her to bed by 7 so that I can get to bed by 8 since I work in the early am. Most days she goes right to sleep, but other times she just talks to herself.
• She tries to feed herself all the time. She likes to grab the spoon and then she attempts to make it into her mouth. Usually, this ends in food all over her face and possibly her clothes. I try to help her with it, but boy is she strong! So for now I just let her hold her own bottle. 
• She also likes juice and drinks from a Sippy cup regularly. And she can also drink from a straw. Such a little stinker. I decided to give her a taste of my gingerale and she loved it... took her a bit to get used to the bubbly, but she kept wanting more. She kept reaching back for it and leaning for it and opening her mouth to it. Ha ha... guess I am gonna have to keep pop out of the house from now on so she doesn't get addicted to it. (even though its caffeine free). 
• Since the doc gave us permission to give her bits of food from our plates I have let her have different tastes of ice cream, yogurt, bread, crackers, and I am now giving her those bits of gerber graduates. She loves it all! She watches me eat constantly and I can tell by the look on her face that she wants to eat everything that I am eating. 

• She loves it when I tickle her... and she is very ticklish.
• She's got such a laid back, funny, smart personality. She just enjoys being in new places, playing with new things, seeing new people, learning new tricks. Don't get me wrong, she still has her dramatic side, but thats to be expected in most girls anyway. lol. 

She's so much fun to play with now that I don't have to be as careful with her anymore. We play airplane, and horsey, and swing (not with a real swing), and many other games which I have yet to make a name for. Don't worry, I am still careful with her. :) 

I love how big she is getting. Still miss the tiny stage, but I love this stage. I love her so very much and she is and always will be a blessing in my life. She is the light of my life. Couldn't have asked for a better gift from our Heavenly Father.

Lucky Number 7!

Awwww.... 7 months is here and already passing on us. Brailey is such a cute little squirt with a funny personality coming out more and more. Still hard to get smiles for the camera, but what do ya do? I just grow to love her more and more and more... even though she can now grab things that I don't want her to (and this is after I think that I have made it impossible to get to)... even though she can be a little bit drama queen when I leave the room. I still can't help but love everything about her. Now I know how my parents made it through the teenage years. lol. Lots and lots of love! ha ha. 

So here are so fun facts about Brailey in her 7th month. (One of my lucky and most favorite numbers). 

Look at those beautiful blues! And those chunky rolls. lol. 

• She can get up onto all fours when she wants to, but she doesn't always want to. ha ha. Her favorite forms of moving are either rolling all over the place or turning herself in a circle. 
• She is starting to understand different words. I know she knows what I mean when I say "no, no" but she is my little rebel and laughs and keeps doing what I told her not to do. And I am using a very calm, but serious voice without any smiles. Just a straight face. Apparently, I am not to be taken seriously. But now, every time I say "no, no, no" She turns to look at me cause she knows I don't approve.  She can also understand her name and she understands things like "eat" and "come here." When I say "come here" to her and move my hands in a motion to signify it she tries to roll in my direction. Its SO cute!
• She hates most vegetables, loves the fruits, so I have come up with a way to get her to eat the veggies since she would always just keep her mouth completely shut. I first tried keeping one of my fingers in between her lips so that I could get the spoon in long enough to get her to swallow, but that just didn't work very well. Now, though, I give her a bite of fruit and then she will continue to open her mouth and that's when I sneak in the vegetables. I usually get about 3 or 4 more big bites in before she starts to refuse the stuff. So then I do a bite of the fruits again and continue on. I know its kind of sneaky and tricky of me, but how else am I supposed to get her to eat her veggies? I haven't found any other good ways. 

Brailey LOVES riding up on my shoulders. I do it all the time and she is so giggly about it, but she is camera shy still. 

• She is such a smiley girl. She is constantly smiling and laughing, but capturing it on camera is hard. The one thing she smiles best for is my phone so I use that the most. (Plus its conveniently near me almost all the time). 
• She loves to try and babble all the time. She will just say different things to herself or squeal really loud and laugh. Sometimes we will make noises or say words and she will try mimic us with the same sound or mouth the words. 

The costume I made for Brailey this year. "Little Red Riding Hood" 

• She sleeps up to 13 hours at night and then takes 2 naps throughout the day, usually both are anywhere from an hour to 2 hours each. 
• I just recently found out she has a birth mark. When she got sick and I took her into the docs office to check her ears I asked the doc about it. He told me that not all birth marks show up right away and that they can take up to 9 months to show... sometimes more. Hers started showing up at 6 months, but I wasn't sure if it was a bruise or not.
• She loves to be swung around in the air. She just laughs and laughs when we do.
• She is SUPER ticklish all over. 
• She loves to grab EVERYTHING still. I don't think I have ever been around a baby that is so grabby and wants to mouth everything. I have held her up in the tub without her little chair before and she always tries to dive for the water just to get it into her mouth. I have to keep a really good hold on her so that she can't do that, but even then she always attempts to get some in her mouth. 

Brailey and her cousins Quincy and Adalyn. :) They put their arms around her so that she wouldn't fall! SO cute. 

• She is a such a love bug. She can play on her own, but she loves having someone to be with. 
• She likes hearing me talk. I read her books all the time and she likes to listen to my voice. 
• She loves watching her cousins and trying to "play" with them. Her version of play is to grab them and pull on them. lol. 
• She always gets comments on her big blue eyes and I absolutely LOVE them... just as bright as her daddy's. 

Love this picture of all three of them! Just Beautiful! :)

I just love her with all my heart and being. She is so spunky and hyper and smart. I can't wait for more! She is just amazing in every way to me. Its funny to hear other parents say "Isn't he/she the cutest baby in the world?" with their own babies.... I understand why they believe that though. Because they are with them every day... they know everything about them. I don't base Braileys beauty on just her appearance... I know she is gorgeous because of her personality and the beauty she has within. The innocent spirit she has inside that tiny little body, the funny, crazy, dramatic little girl, and the wonderful person she is already becoming. So I too believe that my baby girl is the most beautiful baby in the world. No offense to any other mothers in the world. :) lol. I understand why God see's all his children as beautiful. He not only created us, but He knows everything about us... the good and the bad. He can see the beauty even when others can not.