6 & 7 Months

Our Christmas Bug

Here I am, very after the fact, but I promised pictures and since today my computer decided to let me actually see my photos I thought I'd make good on my commitment. 

As you can see our little bug is growing like a weed. She turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve and since then has been doing something new every day it seems. 

I was able to snap a few photos over Christmas, two of my favorites are below. 

Esther wearing Unki Drew's hard hat.

She kept asking to hold Lainie, then 20 seconds would go by and she'd be done.

Milestones for 6 months include rolling fairly efficiently, saying "Ma Ma", holding her own bottle, and cutting two teeth!

I haven't been able to get both in a photo yet, but here's a fabulous picture of the first 'one'der.

Since this baby popped in, I've been brushing my fingers across her gums waiting for another to make it's appearance. Turns out she doesn't like that very much. 

Daddy has since gone back to work and Lainie and I are home together making treats and playing toys. I made her a headband since everyone who sees her thinks she's a boy. She'll be wearing this in public from now on...

She is sitting up like such a big girl these days. She has even started to scoot on her tummy! She can really get around! Next we have to work on going from lying down to sitting up on her own because she gets really upset when she wants to be up but I'm not there to help her. Turns out she also gets mad when I have the computer but won't let her play with it. 

Her six and seventh month pictures aren't crazy different, except I can see her personality more and more each day, and I think it shines through in this picture. As well as this one...

And this one...

Ok, I've gotten a little crazy with the cuteness and photographing as much as I can, but hey-- my kid is cute. So why not?

In other news, she has also mastered taking her paci and out putting it back in. She can even find it when it's near her and put it in right. Which is a major help to Mommy. 

We still swaddle at night, but only in a blanket. She is sleeping through the night and I don't want to do anything to disrupt that. 

And now for some Daddy pictures.

Lainie loves her Daddy. And I love them. 

I apologize for the cursory glance into our lives, but Lainie is screaming and I have to make it a quick one. 

 

Moving In & A Post Holiday Update

Dear Readers,

I fear my desire for blogging is waning, however I am determined to press on. Often, I would like to provide you with more than the tales of our adventures, but lately I haven't felt particularly inspired. I have been consumed by spending time with my husband when time allows and playing with my ever growing little girl. But for the sake of the title, I will at least provide an overview of the last month and a half.

Thankfully, we had family to visit for the holidays which was lovely. We spend three days at Mom's house over Thanksgiving and got to see my brother, sister in law and their little one Jackson, as well as Jenny, my sister--the Artist. More on that in a minute.

After Thanksgiving the countdown to return home really kicked in. We waited in anticipation to move back into IL, which was scheduled to happen just before Christmas.

We did end up staying in two lovely vacation rentals during the last half of our WI adventure, but we were ready to come home. I spent the last two weeks scanning Craigslist ads hourly, making countless, inquiring phone calls all in the attempt to find a place to live when we returned. We had a few leads, and with help from family we had it narrowed down to two places. One was a larger apartment in the 'city'--kind of out of the way, but nice and definitely more expensive. The other, a smaller duplex in an small nearby town. The perks to the latter are simple and should have turned our greedy heads immediately; cheaper price and 2 minutes away from Daddy's local hall, where he would presumably be spending a majority of his time. Let's see if you can guess which one we ended up with...

On December 18th, we stuffed ourselves into our Stratus Coupe, waved goodbye to Wisconsin, and drove 8 hours home to Central Illinois.

Upon our arrival, we went directly to my uncles' house where we were staying until we could move into our apartment. We couldn't be more grateful for our 2nd parents, who totally pamper us and dote on Lainie like she is their own grand daughter. That next Monday we moved into our place, and when I say we, I mean Daddy moved everything again (smiley) and this time it was raining. But we had help and I was able to get everything in a sleep-able state by that evening.

And then guess what we did! Had Christmas! We moved in the Monday of Christmas week. I think we just stopped moving continuously yesterday.

Christmas was lovely, as we got to see our Missouri family upon their arrival. The kids have grown so much and my littlest niece is turning into a big girl! We bounced around to family's houses most of the week, ending up at my mom's that Saturday for the last official get together.

Since then we've been organizing and arranging our lives again. I've been spending my midnight wakeful sessions decorating in my head. All in all, we love our place, it's exactly where we need to be, Lord knows. And we are conveniently tucked back in a corner, which enables us to feel like we're in the middle of no where with the convenience of being in town.

I hope to get internet established at our place soon, which will allow for more frequent updates and fun times will be had by all. But for now, I'm done typing your ears off. I will update again soon if only to post pictures I am currently too impatient to wait for.