Into Everything...

It has been a while since we've just had a day at home to play and even longer since I've just sat back and watched Lainey's little mind wonder what she can get into next. Today we are enjoying one of those days. Here are just a few photos that capture this fun stage of exploration that she is in.

She spent about 5 minutes trying to get her sink to come on to play in the water. :)

Cooking Mommy lunch!

She loves her pots

What else can I get in to?

Time to dump all of my shoes that I've outgrown out!

Pretty sandals...

This stuff is so much fun!

Teething on everything!

Reading books before naptime

Lainey loves her ladybug rocker Mrs. Jess got her!

Silly girl trying to figure her ball popper out.

We don't sit in our exersaucer any more, but it's still fun to climb on and walk around. Such a  big girl!

FAMILY CAMP 2012

We are so incredibly blessed to go to the church we go to and have an amazing group of Christian friends to raise Lainey around. This weekend we went to family camp and had so much fun! We studied David Platt's book "Radical" and it was AMAZING! It was super challenging, but a lesson and challenge we needed. I am hoping people will step up to the challenge proposed and really live radically for Christ in the context that David Platt gave. (If you haven't read Radical it is a wonderful book!) 

Lainey loved camp! She loved the trees, the kids, the sounds of crickets, and so much more. She also loved staying up until midnight and getting to sleep with mama and daddy because she would not sleep in her pack in play. :) It was a blast and I am so thankful for the blessing Family Camp is to us.

8 Months Old

Our baby is growing up too fast!! At eight months old Lainey is such a mama's girl. She holds on to my legs and says "up" all day long. She loves walking with her walker, pulling up, is all over the place and into everything. (The dishwasher and dryer are both favorite things at the moment) Lainey is into making silly faces lately and does not want anything to do with her mommy leaving the room. This month Lainey finally got her first tooth. Poor kiddo has been working on that forever it seems like. She is sleeping about 8 hours straight but still not all night long. She goes to bed around eight o'clock every night and wakes up around 4:00 hungry. Lainey is loving the summer and loves to swim. She is getting so tan. I love that she has her daddy's beautiful skin. Lainey loves feeding herself peas, carrots, cheerios, bananas, broccoli and puffs. She is eating three meals and several snacks throughout the day and is still nursing 4-5 times a day as well. Lainey loves laughing at other kids and singing songs. She is now a much better car rider and is loving her new big girl car seat. Right now Lainey takes two to three naps a day. They are no more than 25 minutes a piece so I am learning to work on what I need to really quickly. She is so much fun and although we are in such a clingy stage right now, still tons of fun. Well, as I said she doesn't sleep long. She's up after an 8 minute cat nap. :) Off to go get the munchkin!

Fun in the Sun

We've had so much fun this week. Our church's VBS was this week so mamma helped until about noon each day. Lainey got to spend time playing with her friends Mercer, Mallory, Julia and Amelia in the nursery and then after VBS we would go swimming at the pool. We love having our Y membership this summer. Lainey loves watching her big friends swim and we love that Brian gets to come along too!  She is loving swim time. 

Summer Time

Wow! Things have been so busy lately. Brian is officially out of school for the summer and we are so busy. Last week Brian went to Baylor to coach basketball camp and my parents came to spend the week with Lainey and I. I ended up with the flu so it was so helpful to have them here. Once I was well we enjoyed swimming at the Y, playing in Lainey's baby pool, and just hanging out. It was so nice to spend time with them, and nice for me to have a few minutes to catch up on some things I needed to do without Lainey crawling all over me. :) I've started making and selling hats and cannot seem to keep up on orders. It is so much fun though.

This week we have VBS at church and I'm getting putting the final touches on kid's activities for Family Camp. I am so excited that Lainey will get to go to Family Camp this year, but it was so much easier to organize kid's activities in years past. :) This year we have 80 kids coming to camp. We are so blessed to be a part of the church we are at. It is growing so much and we can really see God at work.

Other than that we are just enjoying time together. Brian is coaching at speed camp every morning, but we hope to get to spend some time swimming and hanging out once camp is over around 10 each day. We are loving the stage that Lainey is at. She is pulling up on everything, laughing all of the time, trying to walk and just loving life. We are so blessed. It is hard to believe she is almost 8 months old! Where does time go?

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Seven Months Old

I've really been a slacker on our blog lately, but we have been so busy that I haven't had time. Now that Lainey is crawling she is in to EVERYTHING so I truly cannot sit down at the computer unless she is asleep or nursing. I have to watch her every move. Little miss is so happy now that she is on the go and can get what she wants. She loves her music table, her walkers, tags, music, her baby pool and outdoor play set and she loves to pull up on anything she can find. I've become a jungle gym that she climbs all over most days, but she is having so much fun.

Lainey is now eating three meals of baby food, nursing 5 times and eating cheerios or puffs twice a day . She eats a ton. She loves everything we give her and does not turn food away. I'm amazed that she isn't heavier than she is, but I guess being into everything helps. She is in a size three diaper and wears 6-9 month clothes.She still sleeps through the night when she feels like it, but most nights goes down at 7:30 and then is up at 4:00am for a feeding. She wakes up around 7:00 am each morning and still takes three naps a day. If she wakes up from her afternoon nap too early she will sometimes go back to sleep a little later. She is finally getting the hang of naps and car rides. We are so thankful for that!

Although very fun, Lainey is quite stubborn. The other night she did not want to go back to bed at 4:00am and I let her cry it out. She kept standing up in her crib so I would go in to lay her down. Finally I gave up and figured she would sit down when she got tired. I was wrong, she fell asleep 30 minutes later standing up. :) What a mess! I went to unhook her hands from the crib and of course it woke her up again. She is something else.  We also have a new play yard (cage) to put her in while I cook dinner and she does not like that. She has tried to climb over the wall multiple times. Thank goodness it is sturdy. Needless to say I am still carrying her in the sling while I do any sort of housework in order to keep her out of things.

This age is so much fun and I really cannot believe in just five months she will be one. Time is flying!! I am so blessed to be home with our love and look forward to seeing what Lainey does this next month.

Lainey got to meet Dr. Griffith at the HFI baby shower. It was wonderful to get to see him!

Silly girl LOVES the mirror!!

Lainey loves the quilt Mrs. Walker made her.

Our first Mother's Day together! 

Crawling

I knew it wouldn't be too long before sweet Lainey was crawling, but she woke up from her afternoon nap the other day and just decided it was the day. She is not the fastest little crawler, but she was only scooting, going in circles and moving backwards. Now she's got the position down and is at a slow speed ahead. It's so cute. My mom insisted on getting her a play yard because she says she is going to be into everything. That should be here in a few weeks, but for now, I'm just putting everything up. I am so excited about this new adventure because she has always wanted to go, but now she should be a little more tired and able to sleep better at night. (That is my hope any way.)

Today we went to the children's museum with my best friend from high school and her little boy. He is about 8 months older than Lainey, but they seem to have a blast together. She loved all of the cool things in the tot spot and played her heart out. She was asleep before we even left the parking garage. We are having so much fun watching her explore and learn about the world she lives in. It truly is such an amazing time. 

The mirrors were so much fun for her to look in!

Luke and Lainey having a blast!

These beautiful flowers spun and Lainey loved looking at them!

She was so excited to see the flowers. (Not sure why this won't rotate)

Big stuff standing up!

So much fun with her friend Luke!