Christmas Beginnings 2012

Well we aren't even a full day into December yet and we have already crossed off a few things on our list to do this year for Christmas. Number one on our list was going to Temple Square to see the lights. Number two on our list was to have Brailey meet Santa AND the Grinch! Number three was to get all our decorations up and even a little tree for Brailey. Done, Done and Done. Here are the pics. 

This is the huge tree at City Creek! I have never seen one so big. ha ha. :)

Brailey chillin with some Polar Bears.

Temple Square fountain. I love this scene! It was even more beautiful when it was lit up, but I didn't get a pic then because too many people were crowded around it.

Us in front of some pretty bright lights. Brailey hasn't decided what to think of them. lol. She preferred to watch the water fountains and was very entertained by those instead. 

Brailey with Santa at Home Depot. Believe it or not this wasn't her first encounter meeting him. She is NOT a fan. The first time she met him (at City Creek) she was so scared of him and just cried which surprised me because she is usually happy to go to anyone. I think its the beard. ha. This time however when she met him again she went to him and started to fuss a little, but she did better. 

She didn't know how to respond to The Grinch!  She just stared at him... and stared... and stared.  But she never did cry. ha ha.

Me and The Grinch! (My friend Scotty) 

Our Christmas tree. I love Blue and Silver together. :)

"The stockings all hung from the chimney with care" well its defnitely not a chimney, but its a fireplace.  It will do for now. I still have to get one for Brailey though. 

My cute little santa and nutcracker. 

Hard to tell, but the lights are on. I just didn't want to wait to take the picture at night.

And this is Braileys very own Christmas tree. Its only about 2 feet tall, but I know she will love it growing up because I loved having one for my room as well.  I just decided to do a colorful tree. Pinks, Greens, and Blues. :)

Her other mini-me Christmas tree. This was my very first one that my parents gave me and I wanted her to have it. :)

Her Christmas decorated room! The lights on the wall blink and she loves to watch them. She also likes her Christmas Angel and Christmas bear. I had to put everything up on her dresser because she likes them a bit too much and wants to pull them, climb them, or eat them. 

So there is our most recent events in the Pitchford home. But this past month was packed with so many other things that we enjoyed. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures for them. Hopefully I will be better at taking pics this next month. Lots of fun things coming up! I will definitely keep you posted because Brailey turns 11 months old on Christmas Eve Day. :)

Month 10!

I have a daughter who is only 2 months away from being a year old. Is it odd that it just doesn't seem like it has been that long and yet it also seems like I have always had her in my life? Such a strange feeling to me. Well here is the updates this month. 

• She crawls! She started officially crawling about a day or two after my last post. ha ha.
• She is getting so close to being able to stand without anything or anyone supporting her. Yay for learning to balance. lol.
• She has been starting to give kisses back. It is the BEST thing! I love it! One day when Jordan went to give her a kiss she pursed her lips a little and gave him a kiss back. SO adorable! As of now, you have to catch her at the right time to get one of her kisses or she will just shove your face away. 

• She already loves wrapping paper which will be great for Christmas time when she gets to open her presents. :)
• I noticed she tries to sing when I am or when anyone else is for that matter. At first I thought she just didn't like my voice so I thought she was trying to yell at me to stop. ha ha... but then I noticed she was doing it when I was watching musicals like 'hairspray' and 'phantom of the opera' or even just when anyone would sing on the t.v. And I noticed she did it during church when everyone was singing the hymns. And then I noticed she would do it during our car rides too with the music on. I hope she gets her daddy's voice (obviously more feminine). 

• She gives me the cutest smiles. Sometimes we will just look at each other and we will both start laughing. Its like we just shared a joke. I love it. 
• She talks to me and to no one in particular all the time. 
• She is so independent and determined. If she wants something she will find a way to get it. And if she wants to do something she will just keep trying until she can do it. 

She is so much fun to watch grow. I hope to be a good teacher in her life and help her to figure out joy and pain, right and wrong. I want her to know that I will always be there for her. I hope I can show that to her as the years come and go. 

Breaker Breaker... One, Niner, Niner.

Ha ha.. Don't know if you understood the title. It was supposed to be a little pun. lol. Trucker talk. I say Breaker Breaker because I want to put a break on this speedy growth and obviously One Niner Niner means I have one 9 month old on my hands. Okay, so it wasn't really that funny, but I had to give it a shot. 9 happens to be another lucky number of mine so this should be a great upcoming month!

Harry Potter Fan! ha ha

Well. My sweet baby girl isn't such a baby anymore. These 9 months have gone by in a hurry and I feel like I am missing out on something in her life even though I'm not. I have been so lucky to work early mornings (4-8) and be able to be with her from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed. I'm grateful not to miss out on her life... These moments are so very precious to me. :)

Here is some info about her in this last month. 

At a Halloween/B-day Party. All dressed up!

• She just had her 9 month check up. She weighs 17lbs 1oz, she's 26.5 inches tall, and her head is 17 inches around. (don't know the stats this time. Doc didn't tell me) But he said she looks perfect as always and is following her growth chart very well so she is still smaller than average. 

• She now has two teeth (bottom ones). Cutting them wasn't too bad except that she refused to eat any solids really. In the mornings she would take a few bites and then I think it just hurt her so she would only drink her milk no matter how hard I tried to get her to eat. She is also starting to get her two top teeth (I think). They have dropped down, but now its the waiting game again. 

• Speaking of eating... she loves normal food! I give her bits and pieces of animal crackers or cheese nips or bread or ice cream or yogurt. But still that is not enough. She stares at me constantly when I am eating. She starts to grunt and reaches out to tell me that she wants some. Sometimes she gets angry at me for not sharing. And even when she is already scarfing down a piece in her mouth she is already begging me for more. Its cute, but its hard to teach her that I can't give her everything. 

SO hard to say "NO" to this face! She's too cute!

• She can stand up on her own. Lets just say I had to find out the hard way. (For other moms out there, put your crib down long beforehand. Even if your baby shows no indication of being able to stand on his/her own.Better safe then sorry.)
• She still doesn't crawl, but she scoots really fast. She has crawled like 4 moves, but I assume she still thinks she can get around faster by scooting. lol.
• When she gets excited or really happy she bounces up and down and all around.

Playing with Grandpa Wayment :)

• I have been teaching her things on the face like mouth, eyes, nose, cheeks, ears. I point to them on me and then I point to them on her. One day when I would say nose (without any pointing) she would raise her hand and point her finger at my nose. She did it with the mouth and eyes, but she still doesn't understand ears or cheeks. I play this game with her everyday and I can't believe how smart she is! Doc said she was advanced in this way because most kids don't learn that until after they are 1. Only problem is she gets distracted really easy so she doesn't always want to play that game. 

Swimmin with Daddy. Can't tell in this pic, but she had lots of fun. 

• She likes swimming and bath time a lot now. (She used to hate having her head get wet at all). Now she splashes over and over and over anytime I have her in water. 
• She's been going through a bit of a separation anxiety phase lately. Not too fun. Even if I am in the room with her she will sometimes get angry at me for setting her down instead of holding her. 

My little water baby. :D

Reaching up to Grandpa's face

• She tries to walk if I hold her hands! 
• She baby talks all the time. She is back to saying mama now, but dada is still her favorite one to say. She usually only says mama when she is crying. (She knows who comes to the rescue lol. )
• She claps her hands AND her feet. 
• She is getting better at waving "hi" and "goodbye" on cue versus just whenever. 
• She can feed herself little "treats" and tries to feed herself with a spoon. Its almost impossible to keep the spoon away from her and once she has it she has a death grip on it. 

Belly time with Grandma Wayment with lots of tickling too. ha ha.

Oh what an amazing little girl I have. I love her more than anything! She is my little sunshine. :) I love having her in my life and I just wouldn't be the same without her. Can't wait for the road ahead. She's gonna be a handful. 

Ward Halloween Party at my parents. All Dressed up again. :) <3 her="her">

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.