Baby Dedication weekend!

We had one FULL weekend!! I feel like it was event after event this weekend and it FLEW by, but sometimes as hectic as they are, they are still the best!! This weekend was "jaycee's weekend!" Jaycee got dedicated at church this morning and it was such a WONDERFUL experience!! We are sooo incredibly blessed to have filled up a pew and a half at our church full of family and friends that were there to support us as parents and Jaycee in her walk with God. My heart was so full of gratitude looking around Josh and I at the people who were there and love us and care about us the most! I almost cried! We had friends and family show up that I didn't even know remembered that this was the "dedication" weekend! So if you were there and you are reading this, Thank you so much for taking a week away from your home church to be with us. We are so thankful and we love you all!

This was what the church gave us. It is the picture that I had to turn into the church for the bulletin in a frame that states: "Let the little children come to me...for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as thee."

This was Jaycee right after we got her ready before church. She looked so darn sweet!

And I had to save this picture for last!! As much as this girl smiles and loves attention...I feel this picture is priceless!! Such proud parents and one OVERLOADED. EXHAUSTED. baby! hahaha. And of course, she broke down ON STAGE!! I told Josh, she was just making sure that everyone noticed her! hahaha.

After that we had EVERYONE over to eat at our house which I think was around 15 people, and enjoyed the afternoon of family and friends!! God is so good!!

AHHHH.....9 months!

Yes, we are nine months old, and yes I'm going deeper and deeper into "not so baby" depression. As I was putting her to sleep the other night (yes, I still do that and probably will until she is in middle school!) I just started crying while she was sleeping peacefully in my arms. It was the night before her 9 month "birthday" and I was just thinking back at nine months ago and then 8 months ago, and then 7 and 6 and so on....and it just amazes me what all can transpire in 9 months!! She wasn't even here 9 months ago and now I don't remember my life before her...literally....I feel pathetic looking back at my life before her, sad, maybe...but she is all we know now. I go out shopping with her and she's so cheerful and lovey and happy and actually lets me shop...and I look to my left and there is a woman who looks like she could beat the crap out of her tantrum filled 2 year old and I look at her and say, "you're never going to act like that are you?!?!" hahahaha, I know I'm dreaming, but in all reality I know that the days of her being pure joy for the WHOLE time she's awake is not going to last forever either, and I'm trying to soak up these days in hopes I've implanted them so much that they are all I can think of when my child is laying in the middle of the mall one day kicking her legs and screaming at the top of her lungs because I'm not going to buy her ANOTHER build a bear!! :) So now that I have updated everyone on exactly how obssessed I am with my daughter, the only logical thing to continue is to post this pretty little picture taken while we took her to the park a couple of saturdays ago:

Do you see the stance....do you see how big that looks!??! Kills me. So now on to her 9 month stats:

*She weighs 19 lbs 5 oz. (60th percentile)

*She is 28 and 1/4 inches tall (in the 75-80th percentile) SHOCKING!

*She loves loves loves saying "Bye Bye" and waving her hand...it cracks me up b/c its the most southern voice sounding bye bye I've ever heard!!

*She will say "dada" and "ball" but EVERYTHING is bye bye. And STILL no mama. :(

* We still ONLY have 2 teeth!! Whats up with that!??! Lets get these teething days done, shall we?!?

*We are now walking as long as we are holding onto something. She will go from one side of the couch to the other holding on to it and we have a push toy to help her walk and she will now go a short distance pushing that and walking behind it!! WE'RE GETTING SO CLOSE!

*She has accepted that her paci is only at bedtime now. We have even starting doing without it at nap time so hopefully bedtime is next!! We have always immediately removed it from her mouth and out of site when she's awake, so hopefully since she's not sooo dependent on it, it will help this transition.

*She's not a fan AT ALL of the 3rd stage foods...so much that we are now doing more table food with her than anything and Dr. Hurlock said that was completely ok. We do eat oatmeal for breakfast but the other two meals are usually a little baby food a little table food. But restaurants don't seem to have HEALTHY kid menu items. I was shocked. Looks like she will eat off our plate until she's old enough to see a kid eating chicken nuggets and fries. I just don't want to start bad eating habits...and you would think restaurants would offer healthy items for these growing little things! Another shocker! Sorry, had to vent....

*Peek-a-boo is our game of choice!! We do it to her, but then she will take her "blankee" and throw it over her head herself and she will hold it there for what seems like minutes on end with daddy and I going "where's Jaycee, Jaycee where are you!?!" before she pulls it down!! She plays tough! :)

I think that's it for now. I can't believe she is getting so close to being a year old! And yes, party planning is already in progress, and I am too ashamed to admit for how long!! (hey, you only turn ONE once, right?!?)

xoxoxoxoxoxo!!

Do I dare?!

Oh geez. Etsy gets me in all kinds of trouble!! Look what I have stumbled across and can't get off my mind:

It's a headband with FAKE hair to make it look like it's in little pigtails!! I am completely in love with this concept! :) And for 20 bucks, it just might be worth a try! I mean how stinkin' cute is this!?! But at the same time...I'm promoting hair extensions in an 8 month old! :) Do I dare?!?

(I'm thinking so....)

First Haircut!

It was time...

for the mullet to go!! :)

She got to sit in a purple jeep and watch Dora while she was getting it cut while mommy took a ton of pictures and actually, cried a little!! (I wouldn't let Jaycee see, so I kept the camera to my face, so I had to keep snatching shots!)

Just like someone commented on facebook:

"Looks like she is going to enjoy getting pampered!"

Her first trip on the river!!

I think we may have just found a new river rat!! This was her first day out and it was a success! Grandma Jo Jo and Steve bought a boat, and we were so excited to go out with them today and to see if Miss Jaycee would like it.

She definately enjoyed herself!!

Look at this girl and her personality!! We're gonna have our hands full when she gets older!! No fear!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)

How many falls can one girl take!

I tell ya....since this girl has learned how to move....it's nonstop!! Literally! She is nonstop from morning until bedtime. But one thing I wasn't prepared for is how they learn how to pull up, but they don't know how to get back down!

One of her favorite things to do now is to pull up on the glass doors at the front and the back door and then bang on it like she needs out!! hahaha. She acts like she's here against her will!! ;) But when he comes time to get down or when she gets tired...she just falls...backwards, forwards, sideways...which ever way gets her down and if I'm not RIGHT there, her poor head gets the brunt of it (or it seems like it!) It's killing me! I've been trying to show her how to get into a sitting position from standing, but she's not having it!! Bless her heart, surely she has to get the jift of it someday right?!!

8 MONTHS!!

I am not doing too well keeping up on my blogging. So this blog is going to contain a bunch of stuff at once!!

We ARE 8 MONTHS OLD!! My goodness gracious, the milestones that we achieved between 7 and 8 months!! The things she couldn't do a month ago, to the things we are doing now!!

Here is a picture of my little princess with her daddy. This was taken a couple of weeks ago while we were in Chicago!! She's such a blessing!

Here is a picture of her over the weekend while we were playing one morning!! I l-o-v-e a baby in just a diaper!! :)

And now to the 8 month milestones:

*She can say dada!

*She jibbers other stuff nonstop all the time!! It's finally not all a scream or a "oooo" but you can tell she's definately trying to tell me something!

*We still drink about 24 ounces of formula a day and eat about 3 jars of baby food a day. Plus a little apple juice and the gerber puffs are our favorite snack! :)

*She is a solid 10 1/2 hour sleeper at night, and sometimes 11 hrs if she's worn out!! I can't complain

*We got our two bottom teeth at the same time. They finally broke the gums on July 10th!! (thank God...we weren't sleeping too well right before that!)

*WE ARE CRAWLING!!! She did the belly/army crawl for the longest time and honestly, it did nothing but frustrate me b/c I knew she could get up on those legs!! hahaha. Us mommy's can push us harder than anyone!! But on August 3rd she finally went forward on all fours to get nothing else but a dog bone!! :) Here is a picture of her in action below!!

*She is pulling up on EVERYTHING!! I was washing bottles one day this weekend at the sink and she crawled up to me, grabbed ahold of my leg and I could tell she was trying to pull up, and after about a minute I turned and looked down and she was up on her feet!! I freaked out!! And of course she doesn't know how to get herself back down to the ground, so she just falls!! This is making me a nervous wreck! She's bumped her head more in the past 2 weeks than she has her whole life!

*She LOVES cords!! Cords to lamps, computers, fans...you name it, she wants it!! And now that she can crawl to these things...I've got to get creative!! This crawling stuff is bittersweet!!

And while I believe that's it for the 8 month milestones, I think that's enough for one month!! I don't think mommy can handle much more!! Her personality is just the greatest!! She so sweet and friendly and right now, she still has no problem holding her hands out for anyone to hold her!! She's a big flirt too with the boys!! :)

Look at that face, and those thighs!!! How could you know eat her up?!?! :)