10 months come and gone

A note from Mommy to Lexie:

I can hardly believe you are already 10 months old. It truly seems like only yesterday I held you in my arms for the very first time. You can count on my saying that countless times throughout the rest of your life. Though I recognized your beauty the moment you were born, you have grown more beautiful with each passing day. Your hair continues to grow in length and lighten in color, and you have sparkling sapphire eyes. Your physical attributions no longer look like those of an infant but of a little girl. I can start to see the beautiful woman you will one day become. You look so much like your daddy that seeing the beauty in you attracts me even more to your father than ever before.

You continue to be a pleasant baby in demeanor. I cannot make a trip to the grocery store without at least half a dozen people stopping to marvel at you and that addictive smile. Everybody who sees you comments on what a happy baby you are. You seldom cry, but at this point in your life, you still get your way most always. You are like me in that respect—happy as long as you are getting your way. Let’s hope this is something we can change in both of us as we grow.

Finally, you are starting to be mobile, something everybody has both anticipated and dreaded (or at least I dread keeping the house clean enough for your busy self). Crawling is something you have held little interest in. You love to push yourself with your hands and roll, but you dislike using your knees very much. We have decided you are too smart to crawl. You always find alternative ways to get what you want rather than crawling to it. Most often you will grab at and pull things towards yourself rather than bringing yourself to the desired object. Very recently you have begun what daddy refers to as “army crawling.” You are using your hands and upper body to pull yourself around the room. Each day you are getting a little braver and trying to get yourself around a little more than the previous day. All of the Christmas gifts and wrapping materials around the house have provided you some good motivation. You love to sit up and to climb. Sitting in laundry baskets is one of your favorite pastimes. You can pull yourself up on the sides of the basket, dump it over, and climb over it.

Your fine motor skills are excellent! You love to grasp toys and move them from hand to hand. You now help me get you dressed by pushing your arms through the sleeves and manipulating your toys from hand to hand to fit into the garment. You love to eat fruit and veggie puffs all by yourself, picking up the tiny pieces and bringing them to your mouth. You have also become a pro at drinking water from your handled sippy cups. Waving bye-bye is another new feat you have accomplished. Clapping is probably your favorite activity. You love to clap along with any music playing. We clap at the end of songs and after any time something exciting happens or you accomplish something. You have a very good sense of rhythm, often clapping on or near the beat along with the radio or c.d.s. Of course you also clap along to “patty cake.” Another favorite song/nursery rhyme is the Itsy Bitsy Spider to which you already know and perform the movements when we sing it with you.

Verbally, you are growing leaps and bounds every moment of every day. You talk about daddy all day long singing, “da-da-da- daddy- dad.” You can say “mama” too, but this one you unfortunately only say when you are mad or upset, usually asking for me. You also say “baby,” “hey,” and “hi” frequently. You say some variation of “patty cake” and begin furiously clapping your hands when you want us to sing patty cake with you. You have said so many words only once or twice simply repeating after an adult. The most amazing thing to me is that your vocabulary is far from random. You are quickly learning to associate words, actions, and people, such as saying “daddy” when you want your daddy or “patty cake” for the song. Though you are starting to say “real” words, you still enjoy babbling and do so often. You also enjoy singing (and dancing too), and you sing along with the hymns at church, home, and anywhere else music is played. You and your Pawpaw enjoy singing barbershop music together when you are at Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s house. You especially enjoy singing when you are tired, regularly singing yourself to sleep.

You really recognize the people in your life now, of course holding a strong preference for mommy and daddy. However, your strongest preference when they are around is for your grandmothers. You absolutely love to be with your Mawmaw and your Nina and will take them over me almost any time. You also recognize and get very excited to see your aunts, uncles, and cousins, especially Aunt Kay, Erin, Harry, Matt, Aunt Anna, and Uncle Phil. You have a new baby cousin Elijah Andrew about whom you are increasingly curious. You try to grab and rub him, trying to figure out who this new little person is. I look forward to watching you and Elijah grow up together.

Just yesterday you played in your first snow. You absolutely love the cold weather, so much so that I can never keep a hat on you. In the snow, however, you weren’t quite sure what to think. You were neither scared nor excited with it; you just sat quietly taking it all in. Tonight you, daddy, and I drove through the Our Lady of the Snows shrine in Belleville, IL. You enjoyed the lights very much. Your car seat still faces backwards, but you are getting tall enough to see out the windows nonetheless. You didn’t miss a second turning from side to side to see all around us.

Your first Christmas is quickly approaching, and I am both excited and fearful to see the many gifts you are sure to receive. We have already informed your grandparents that many of their gifts will be staying at their homes for you to play with when you visit.

As you continue to grow and learn, I hope and pray you will always know and remember how much your daddy and I love you. The word “no” is increasing in our home, and it makes me realize you will not be innocent forever. Though there are sure to be times we disagree and argue, know our love for you never ceases.

California!

Over Veterans' Day weekend, daddy, mommy, and I travelled with Aunt Naomi and Grandma Nellie to Santa Barbara, California. Grandma decided to move out west to enjoy the family and beautiful weather of California, and daddy, mommy, and I joined her to visit everyone and help her get settled. The flight there was long but smooth and went by relatively quickly. We flew to Los Angeles, and then Uncle Hal and our cousin Jeff picked us up at the airport and drove us to their home in Santa Barbara where we stayed for the weekend. Mommy and I had never been to California, so it was a wonderful opportunity to meet new family members and to visit with family we don't see often enough! The only problem with this trip was it was too short! Our planes home were slightly delayed, and we ended up spending all day Monday travelling. Thankfully daddy was able to stay home Tuesday, and we all spent the day recooperating from the previous day. Here are some pictures of our trip:

Having fun with daddy at a coffee house in Solvang where we spent Sunday afternoon.
Playing peek-a-boo in the car!

More fun with daddy
Getting to know my cousins Lauren and Jarred while playing the piano

Here I am with daddy and Grandma Nellie
Here's daddy with his Aunt Naomi and Grandma Nellie
And here's one of the whole family eating a delicious dinner Aunt Naomi prepared for us!
Mommy and I on the plane ready for take off
A beautiful view of the California coast as we took off

Fall in full swing

Fall is here, and with it, I have been experiencing many new things. The week of Halloween I went to my first wedding with mommy and daddy of a friend of theirs from high school. I loved dancing and seeing the colorful lights at the reception. The most exciting part of the night was getting to visit with my Aunt Sami!

Mommy and I danced the night away, at least until bed time.

Sunday (October 28) we went with some friends from church to Relleke farms pumpkin patch! There we fed the goats, played in the straw, slid down slides, went through mazes, took a hayride, and I even got my very own pumpkin! Whew, it was a busy and fun day!

Here I am with my friend Christiana. She is 3 months younger than I am and is already crawling. We like a little friendly competition =).

And here I am at the end of the afternoon sleeping through my first hayride.

After we left the farm, we met some of daddy's family for lunch. Here's everybody except Aunt naomi who was taking the picture.
Mommy made sure to get a picture including Aunt Naomi later! This weekend, Mommy, daddy, Aunt Naomi, grandma Nellie, and I are flying to California where Aunt Naomi lives. Grandma is moving to live with the family there. I am going to miss her, but I am sure excited about getting to go visit her there too!

Tuesday evening, mommy and mawmaw took me to Boo at the zoo. They have some trick or treating for the older kids, but we just went to go for a walk and show me off in my ladybug costume!

We took a costume break while there, and I played with my mawmaw!
By the end of the eveing, I was one tired ladybug!
Here I am Halloween morning in my crib, ready to start the day!
Mommy and daddy let me play outside in my ladybug costume with my very own pumpkin!

I helped daddy pass out the candy to the trick or treaters while mommy was in class. Daddy says I was in a bad mood for a while and scared a little girl by growling at her. I say I was just getting into the Halloween spirit!

Was I a cute ladybug or what?

New pictures

Today is my 8 month birthday! I am growing so much. I can now sit up really well by myself. The best part is most of the time when I fall, I can catch myself, so I don't have to cry for mommy to pick me up. Mawmaw and mommy took me to JCPenney's to have my pictures taken when I was still 7 months old. Here are the pictures:

Planes and Oceans

Mommy, daddy, and I took our first family vacation October 5 - 8. We flew on an airplane from St. Louis to Atlanta to Norfolk, VA. Then daddy rented a car and we drove to Kill Devil Hills, NC where we stayed in a hotel on the beach. Mommy says I did very well. Here is a picture journal of our first family vacation:
Exploring the airplane
"Okay mom, I'm ready to take off." I didn't really have my own seat on the flight. Because I am so small, I was able to sit in mommy's lap. Mommy planned to nurse me on all of the take-offs and landings, but I had other ideas. On both of the flights there I ate just before take-off and was asleep for the first half of each flight. Then I woke up and flirted with all of the passengers around us for the second half of each flight. Everybody loved me! Coming home I did just the opposite: I was wide awake for the take-offs and then slept for the rest of the flight. Mommy and daddy were so proud of me!
We finally made it to the hotel, and boy was I glad to get my clothes off and stretch!
Daddy and I ready for our first trip to the beach
Here we are at the ocean. The weather was BEAUTIFUL for October; the temperature was in the 80's and 90's all weekend!
Wow, this is the biggest bathtub I have ever seen!
I love the feeling of the sand between my toes!

Watch out mommy, the waves are coming!
Phew, am I tired! Thank goodness for daddy's shoulder!

Here I am at a North Carolina barbeque restaurant. I got used to sitting in high chairs because we went out so much. Mommy left her ohone here and didn't find out until we were already almost back to the airport to go home. It is supposedly in the mail, though mommy hasn't gotten it yet.
We drove back to Norfolk Sunday morning for church. The Virginia Zoo is only a few miles away from the church, so we came here after Liturgy.
We walked through a very pretty garden at the zoo.
Daddy captured one of my famous smiles. I really became a daddy's girl on this vacation. I LOVED spending the whole weekend with my daddy!
Though I may be daddy's girl, I love mommy too!

Here I am in the car on the way to the airport. Mommy sat beside me, but I spent most of the car ride leaning backwards trying to see daddy.
Sitting pretty in the airport
Climbing on the airport chairs
Ready to take off. I was asleep for the take off of both flights going to Norfolk, but I was wide awake for this one. I stared out the window as the plane rode down the runway and took off into the air. It was very exciting for me; I didn't get scared or anything!
Here's one of daddy and I between flights. I had a great vacation with my daddy and mommy too!