Farrah - 8 months!

(As of July 19th)

Eight months is awful close to a year! Craziness.

Farrah is more and more fun every month, every day.

She remains amazingly flexible.

She is going to be mobile any day now... she's getting around by a mixture of splits, scooting, rolling and army crawling (I guess that's what you'd call it... more of a "determined stretch".


She loves all baby food. We haven't done much finger food, besides puffs and a few crackers. We are working on sippy cups since she never took a bottle.


She's saying "ma-ma", "da-da", "ba-ba", and "na-na". Of course, I like to think she's a genius and saying Mama, Dadda, Bella and Nana. :) Oh, and she's a squealer! I think I've said this before, but it's so fun to hear the two girls squealing together in the back of the car.

I can leave the two of them alone for short periods of time to play together. And, by short, I mean short. Usually ending in a bear hug on the floor and a Farrah rescue from Bella kisses. Luckily, Bella is my safety patrol, and let's me know when ANYTHING isn't right or in it's place. ha! Bella is such a little mommy to her! Sweet sisters.

We love Farrah Kate!

4th of July weekend - Part 3

...Then we spent the night in Jefferson and GG & Poppy's house. The next morning, Chris and GG got up with the girls and let me sleep until I woke up at ELEVEN!!!!!!! It was awesome. What a great way to end a vacation! Especially after getting up at 6:30 at the beach, which is just wrong :)



The girls enjoyed time in the sandbox and Bella finally got the nerve to push the gas pedal on her Barbie Jeep. It was a Christmas present. Every time we visit, she asks to see the Jeep... she opens the doors, and just sits in there in the basement. Now, there's no stopping her! :)

4th of July weekend - Part 2

... we came back to my parents house and spent the night after the fireworks show. We spent the day in the pool with a cute cabana boy named Chris. :) It was great because all my siblings were there. It's hard to get everyone together, so it was great that we were able to hang and no one had pressure to leave to go to work, etc. Just chillin' in the pool, eating BBQ ribs, and enjoying the sun!



But this is BY FAR the best part. Chelsie got this shirt last year on our family vaca. She wore it the whole time we were in Santa Rosa this year. It's awesome to watch people do double takes - then try to sneak pictures!! She hams it up, too, so it makes it even better!!



Keegan

His girlfriend, Eden


Ryan and Farrah

And I somehow missed any pictures with Melissa. Although I do have some great videos I need to upload!! The aunts and uncles all had fun throwing Bella, and each other, around in the pool.

It was fun!

4th of July weekend - Part 1

We headed back from the beach on the 3rd of July. On the way home, we decided to keep living out of our suitcases for the weekend and have a family filled Fourth!

We drove by the house, dropped off the refrigerated items, and drove into Lawrenceville for their "Prelude to the Fourth". I had no idea they had been doing this for a few years. We picked up The Chick (which is what we call Chick-fil-a 'round here), watched the Aurora Theater put on The Wizard of Oz, had some Rita's ice cream, and just played. Bella made about 50 new friends. She doesn't meet a stranger. Then we watched the 5 minute long firework show (no kidding, it was so short!!!!!)

We just pulled out the beach blanket (check out "The Neat Sheet" at Babies R Us if you are going to the beach! It retracts sand!) and chilled out after traveling for the day.

Farrah likes ketchup. Or ketchup packets.

Shades

She was IN LOVE.

Seriously, she made a lot of new friends.

My awesome husband who packed a car, drove home from the beach, then took his family to a fireworks show.

Farrah was wearing this light pink zebra striped outfit:
And kept getting referred to as a "he". I know it shouldn't matter, but I insisted on a full outfit change when I changed her diaper. I care, so shoot me! :)

It was a great start to a fun weekend!!

Napping on the Beach

Look what I found, same towel and all.

Farrah:


Bella:

From iPhone pics Part 3

Bella talk

Some funny Bella sayings of late:

"Mom, come here real quick. I have a question for you."

"Actually...."

Yes's and no's don't do it these days. If you ask if she likes something, she'll reply, "Yeah, I do." or "No, I don't." It's not funny in writing, but it's cute in person with her faces.

"MOM!!!!! STOP!!!!!!!!! It's a red light!!!!!!!"
This one is very scary when you are driving and it comes out of no where.
Why did I teach her about the light colors, again??

"Mommy, will you lay down with me for a second?"

In the morning, "FARRAH'S AWAKE!!!". Even if she isn't. At which point, she now is.

"I'm really sorry. I don't mean to. I not do it again."

"It's fine. It's fine." Complete with the shoulder shrug and scrunched nose.

I gotta know!!

I copied Rachael and got this "Live Traffic Feed" at the bottom of my blog. Let me know if you are reading this and I don't know, or if I don't know you! I'd love to know who's reading!!!!

I gotta know who the person is reading from Perugia, Umbria!! :) And there are others... Canton, Canada, Boca Raton, Maryland, etc!

And, I try to link most blogs from my blog... so if you have one and I don't know it.. let me know and I'll link ya!

In other news, I went to a consignment sale today. Look what I found!

From new iphone pics

Typical Night :)

Farrah is 8 months old!

Time is flying.



But I'm loving every minute.

Flexi-baby

Is it too early for gymnastics? :)

Farrah has some serious flexibility.

If you REALLY look at this picture, and think about getting in this position yourself... you realize it's pretty amazing!! This is one of her napping positions.



And... therefore... this is how she has learned to sit herself up. She just learned last week, and she's so fast now! It's pretty amazing to watch. Not sure I capture it here, but just think about your hips rotating like this!





Sitting up brings some fun nap times with it... She gets up so fast, and I usually have to go lay her down because she's playing with the mobile, her bumper, or just trying to look over the side. If I leave her alone long enough, she'll just lean forward again and go to sleep like that. Cracks me up!!

More Beach Shots

When we had sunny weather, we took every chance to play hard outside!

I love this bathing suit.


I'm usually all about cheap ones, hand me downs, etc.
This year, I was also all about this cute one.

And the girls green matching suits.

From new iphone pics

I have to say, I love to dress them the same. Because that means Farrah gets something new to wear besides all of Bella's hand-me-downs. And who doesn't love matching outfits? :)

Farrah liked the water.

She seems a little more brave in water to me overall (like in the bath, etc.) than Bella did at this age

From new iphone pics

This was the place to be on the beach!
How many kids does it take to fill up a baby pool?
3!

From new iphone pics

The way we get Bella to coorportate in most pictures is to say, "Show me your sad face! Now show me your silly face! Now your happy face!!" And hope we catch some good ones :) I was busted here trying to get her to copy me!


My poor husband was in like NO pictures on this trip. We didn't bring the camera down a lot - sand! But I captured a couple on my phone.

From new iphone pics

Let's see... what else...

Loves her mommy



And again, we had a lot of rain, and we did a lot of cuddling and playing inside!

From new iphone pics

We did eat out a couple of times. I'm all about eating in, being lazy, and getting the most out of the beach as I can get. I can eat out anywhere! But I know it's fun to go get overpriced seafood, too. haha! jkjk.
Honestly, I just don't want to waste time coming in early, getting ready, etc. I'd rather just play outside!
Fudpuckers was always the one place I could count on going to when I was growing up and vacationing as a family in Ft. Walton. We headed over to the Destin Fudpuckers one night. There is SO much to look at, so it is a great, loud place for kids!



Poor girl, looks like that's a bandage on her head. Gosh mom!

Sorry for long post! But I hope you enjoyed it! I needed to get these out there before time went by any more...
Until next year, beach!






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Ballet Videos

These are from her second day of class.
She's got some of the basic positions down now; we're now working on LISTENING. haha
I just got an email that the teacher wants to try some tap next week... this should be interesting as she practices at home! :)

Hanging at Aunt Kristy's

Oh, to be a kid again.

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day weekend, also my father-in-law's (AKA Steve-o, Poppy) and Grandmother's birthday weekend, we spent with lots of family!

Saturday morning Poppy and Chris finished building the big sandbox for the girls. Bella loves it! I know Farrah will enjoy it one day, too.

Poppy:

Then -- My brother Ryan just closed on a house last month in a fun neighborhood! They have concerts on Saturday nights in the summer, so we went for "country night" this particular weekend. He and Melissa are going to enjoy this community so much!

Bella loved running in the open grass. We enjoyed the entertainment and doing something different - even in the sweltering heat. It was a great night!! We pushed Farrah's bedtime out a bit, and paid for that on the ride home. But it was worth it :)


My Dad (G-Daddy) and Bella:

My Granddad and Mom

Ryan and Farrah
It was so hot, we were down to a diaper by the end of the night!


I am so thankful for all the dad's in our life. A dad plays such a huge role in a girl's life and how she views the Lord. So I am thankful that I married a man who will do his best at raising our Bella and Farrah with grace, a whole lot of love, while showing them how to serve others and love their mom like no other :)