Months 7, 8 and 9 all combined

So I have to make a made dash to catch-up on the 2nd 6 months of Leah's life before she turns 1 :)

Here she is at 7 months old, during her 7th month she perfected her crawling skills and learned how to get into everything, she became a master of mobility and we had to baby proof and move a lot of things up. She began venturing a lot more with her foods and I had a lot of fun making her baby food. She would try almost anything and ate very well.


And here is 8 months. As you can see there isn't a huge difference in the pictures, I think her filling out had started slowing down since she was on the go constantly. During her 8th month she started pulling up first on her activity table then on anything she could figure out how to get to a standing position. We started introducing more and more table food and she transitioned really easily to being nearly off all baby food/purees by the time she was 9 months old. At the end of August, Leah's beloved Miss Laurie, that has been babysitting her since I went back to work, found out that her breast cancer from 3 years ago had come back. Understandably she wasn't going to be able to continue watching Leah and we were blessed by being able to quickly get her in a wonderful daycare in a matter of 3 days. She misses her Miss Laurie, but wants her to spend all her time trying to get better and kill that awful cancer!!!


Just short of being 9 months old Leah was dedicated at our Church and all her grandparents were in attendance.



And finally here she is at 9 months, getting her to nicely lay down by her doggy just isn't working any longer, she moves way too much. During her 9th month she perfected her ability to pull-up on anything and everything. She made new friends at her new school and loves her current teacher Miss Sandy. She totally transitioned to table food and got her first tooth. She really started clapping and loved to see how loud she could make her hands :) When we went to her 9 month appt she was 29 inches long (92%) and 17lbs 14 oz (30%) and I can't remember the inches for her head but it was like the 87%, so she is a tall, skinny kid with big old noggin :) The daycare germs have been getting their punches in, I think she has been sick with something from pretty much the week she started, luckily nothing has been too serious or lasted too long and we haven't had any ear infections.


On a really nice day in September we all headed to the zoo, here is Leah with her Daddy enjoying the Rhinos. I think this is the first time she went to the zoo and stayed awake long enough to see and enjoy the animals.

Month 6 ......a vacation and cancer turning our world upside down

Leah had a pretty eventful month 6, we went on our second vacation in a month and this time we drove out to Hilton Head, SC with my entire family. Leah did great and on the way back we drove straight through, that's 14 hours + for a 6 month old, thank goodness for a great little traveler. We stayed at a great townhouse condo right on the beach (well basically it was like a 100 yard walk) and had a big pool and baby pool right outside our patio. It was one of the best vacations I've had in that it was a perfect mix of relaxing and yet not getting bored. We ate some great food, we went to Savannah for a day trip, and spent a lot of time at the beach. But best of all we spent 9 days together as an entire family and everyone got along great and really enjoyed each others company.

Below was Leah's first dip in the ocean, she wasn't exactly a big fan in the beginning but got better each day.



Leah and her older cousin Camryn had a lot of fun together. Camryn liked playing pick-a-boo with Leah, and Leah thought anything Camryn did was really funny. The only thing Camryn wasn't a big fan of was Leah pulling her long locks every time she got a chance :)
Here is Leah our last night there, by that point she loved the water and thought the sand was great to run her fingers through and throw around.

While we were on our trip we noticed that my Dad just didn't quite seem himself and urged him and my mom to get to the Dr. as soon as we got back home. On June 10th, the Thursday after we got back Dad had an MRI which confirmed that he has a brain tumor in the left side of his brain. Its been quite a roller coaster since then, but I'll elaborate more on that in a separate post. To say the least that day turned our world upside down but we have been very blessed as a family for all the love and support that has been shown to us.

During our trip Leah started getting up on all fours and rocking and as soon as we got home she started doing her own version of a crawl. At first it was more of lunge, which usually led to a head first dive into whatever toy she was going after.

Getting her picture by a piece of paper that said what month it was and the date just is not even possible anymore, due to her new found mobility. This month again she was more interested in eating her stuffed puppy than laying next to it.

We didn't get to have her 6 month appointment until a little after actually turning 6 months, but her stats were 16 lbs 1.5 oz and 26 1/4 inches long.

5 months....first trip and meeting some VIPs

Gosh its going to be hard to remember all the way back to 5 months but we did a lot of fun things like going to Boston to visit Adam older brother, Chris, his wife, Kacey, and our nephew, Nolan. We saw a lot of things in the city via our own personal tour guides :) and Leah actually did really well on her first flight and time sleeping somewhere besides our home. It was great to getaway for a quick trip and get to see their life at MIT and Cambridge.


Leah also met her great-grandparents (Adam's maternal grandparents) for the first time as they came back from their time down south for the winter. Adam's grandpa battled prostate cancer while they were away but as you can see his looking great and doing really well.

During month 5 she also started to be able to sit up with using her arms as support, such a big girl!!

The pictures with her Dog were starting to harder at this point b/c she suddenly realized there was a stuffed animal beside her, which of course meant she needed to try and eat it!!

A whole lot of catching up

So I've been really bad and haven't blogged for almost 3 months, opps. We have a lot to share, we've had a lot of fun and some very sad things happen along the way. So I'll try to catch up as fast as I can.

Opps we need to rewind to 4 months

I'm totally a blog slacker and haven't updated since Leah turned 3 months old, opps :( The biggest development that happened from 3 months to 4 months was that Leah learned how to rollover from her back to her belly. Once she figured this out, putting her on her back was just a game for her b/c within seconds she was on her tummy. This was fun for playing and stuff but we had to make sure she didn't play on the floor too close to eating b/c otherwise we were cleaning up her and the floor! She also went for her 4 month appt (actually a few days after turning 4 months) and was 14lbs 4.5 oz and 24.5 inches long, which is basically puts her in the 60th percentile for both weight and height.

Some other things we did was go to the final four festivities downtown. The picture below is of us watching Butler practice a Lucas Oil. Adam ended up being able to go the championship game on Monday with my dad. What and amazing final game he got to see.

We then had our first Easter with Leah and she seemed to think it was a pretty great day to celebrate Christ's resurrection. She looked adorable in her little pink Easter dress and we spent the day with family, it was a nice day. For some reason Leah took like 4+ hours of naps that day and then didn't sleep hardly at all that night, it was such a fun Monday let me tell you.

And of course here she is with her dog on her 4 month birthday, and for the first time I look at this picture and I actually think she is starting to look a little like my baby pictures.

I'm a quarter of a year old!

Hi its Leah here again, Mommy and Daddy let me do this month's post because I have more time on my hands then they do. If we waited for them to do this post I might be 3 years old instead of 3 months. That's right this is my 3 month of age post and I'm gonna tell you all about what I did since I turned 2 months old. First though we have to show you the picture that Mommy takes of me every month next to my doggy.


I've decided to start posing for my pictures this month with my one hand behind my head, aren't I cute :) And mommy wanted me to tell you that I'm really filling out now, as you can probably see by the pictures. I guess this is the only time in life that it is cute to be chunky and have rolls, at least that is what I have heard. Mommy and Daddy have been weighing me lately on the Wii, I even have my own Mii, and I seem to be a little over 13 lbs. We'll get more precise measurements when we go back to the doctor next month for my 4 month appointment.

This last month I've really mastered being on my tummy and being able to support myself. Mommy and Daddy tell me I'm pretty strong and that I'm getting to be such a big girl, they say it is happening way too fast.

We finally got some nice days where the temps got up into the 50's and 60's, the first day it was pretty and sunny out Mommy and Daddy wanted to take me for a quick walk outside around our neighborhood. My first official walk outside, since I was born in the dead of winter. So they bundled me up in this snowsuit, and then laughed hysterically while they took pictures of me, I don't understand what was so funny!

I'm keeping Mommy and Daddy on their toes and learning all kinds of new tricks. One of the things I did between month 2 and 3 was learn to roll to my sides and play with my toys. It is much easier to reach what I want this way. There was an even more exciting development that happened a couple days after I was 3 months old, but that will have to wait for the next post.

My mamaw and pawpa have a grandparent's pass to the Indianapolis Zoo so on one of the Saturday's that it got up to the 60's we went there for my first trip. Here is picture of Daddy and I by the Rhino's. I slept for a lot of the trip but I liked watching the people that were there and maybe a few of the animals.

One of the biggest changes this last month was that Mommy went back to work on March 3rd. She was very happy that her work let her have a reduced schedule so that she only works 5 hours a day and is only away from me about 6 hours a day, we hope that it can continue until the end of the year when I turn 1. While Mommy is at work I go to Miss Laurie's house, she is one of Mommy's best friends, and she and her daughter Casey play with me and take care of me until Mommy picks me up. Mommy tells me we are so blessed to be able to have this schedule and have someone that loves me taking care of me during the day. Its also very fun that Mommy, Daddy and I are all home by about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and have a lot of time to play and have fun together, Daddy says we will be able have even more fun as the weather gets nicer and we can take long walk and go on bike rides. Here is picture that miss Laurie took of Casey and I, our Mommies say we will be friends just like they are :)

Well that about wraps it up for my 3 month post, I'll see if Mommy can get the 4 month post done or if I'll have to fill in for her again b/c she is too busy.

Nice try Boilers!!

I guess Leah's excitement about the Boilers making it to the sweet sixteen wasn't enough to propel them over the Blue Devils and on to the Elite Eight. It was a nice run and better than anyone would thought they could do after the horrific train wreck in the Big Ten Tourney. We'll miss you Kramer and Grant, hopefully next year will be just as fun to watch.

P.S. I realize I'm edging closer to being a month late on getting the 3 month post completed. That's next on my to-do list.