8 months old :(

I can't believe my baby girl is 8 months old. I feel like this summer is gonna fly by (because summers always do) and then it's gonna be her first birthday. I'm about ready to cry thinking about it right now.

She has been a squirrel lately. Cracking us up and wearing us out. Last night, it was like she wanted to be held, but was squirming to get down the whole time. Then we'd put her down and she would want back up. She's just a hoot.

Lila's friend Elle came to visit her the other day. Elle's mom came to visit me. :) They were cracking us up. If they end up being anything like their moms, we're gonna be in trouble. I can't wait for them to get older and they can actually play together. Right now, there's just a bunch of eye gauging and hand holding. :) They were so sweet though.

Lila is starting to finally discover that she can move around and get stuff. She's not interested at all in crawling and I think she's going to skip it completely. She can scoot herself to get to stuff, but if it's too far away then she just forgets about it. That's my lazy girl!! I honestly don't know where she gets that because in all seriousness, neither Neil nor I am lazy on a regular basis. She is finding out that she can actually pull herself up on things other than my hands or Neil's hands. She getting so big so fast. She is very interested in walking more than anything. She pulls up on our fingers and immediately starts to take off. I'm not so sure I'm ready for this. :(

We went swimming last weekend at my Grandma's house, and by swimming, I mean we put our toes in the water on the top step. It was FREEZING. The weather started warming up early this week, but we had bad storms and cool weather today and probably tomorrow. I feel like we're never gonna get to swim. She was most in awe with Connor jumping around in the water and going off the diving board. She was screaming at him the whole time. It was so cute.

I've got a super long weekend this weekend and hopefully it will warm up and we'll have some great weather. One of my great friends Medley Wilson is getting married to her high school sweetheart, Clay Ford on Saturday. Aren't they so cute! It should be a blast! Hopefully I'll have pictures from the wedding for my next blog. I wish y'all the best marriage!

It's gonna be Lila's first wedding and I'm hoping the reception will be fun for her! She loves music and dancing so we can only hope. Next weekend we have another wedding out of town and Neil is in it! Should be an interesting weekend. I'll blog later about it.

I'm going to try to get some updated pictures and videos put up on here too. I just have to find the time! :)

Summer...maybe

The weather here has been so crazy lately. It will be 70 degrees in February, then 30 in March. Last Friday it was 85 degrees during the day and a storm came through and it's been in the 50s and 60s since then. It's crazy. I feel like we just woke up and forgot we moved to Alaska. At this rate, we'll never get in the pool this year because it won't warm up enough to get the water comfortable.

Lila loves being outside too and I feel bad because we can't go out and play like we were a few weeks ago. I don't want her to catch another cold or be miserable with sinus stuff. Ugh...I just hate it.

Tonight, Lila literally fell asleep mid-bite. I was cracking up. We did some exercises today to try to get her out of her "comfort zone" as far as sitting goes. She is a champion sitter, but won't transition into crawling position or sit up from lying down. It really just pisses her off to have to do it. I know this isn't a big deal yet, since she's only going to be 8 months old on Friday, but I just wanted to make sure that if there is something I can do to be helping her, I am.

Sometimes I feel like being a working mom is putting her behind. Neil and I work with her when we're home with her, but we don't get to do it all day with her. I know I'm making myself feel guilty for no reason, but sometimes you just can't help but think that way. We are a totally realistic family and like millions of other families, we both have to work. Wouldn't it be nice if we BOTH got to stay home with our daughter every day and take in every second of her growth and development?! HAHAHA We'd probably drive ourselves crazy! Maybe we should start playing the lottery! :)

I can't believe that almost 8 months have gone by since we were in the hospital awaiting her arrival. It's just so crazy how fast time really flies when you're having fun!

Sweet Little Stinker Face

Oh this girl! She is so funny. She's already developing such an attitude, I told Neil this morning that he was gonna end up witnessing a lot of mother/daughter fights in the years to come. She kicks and rolls every time you try to change her diaper. When you put her in her car seat, she arches her back and tries to fight the straps being fastened. To get her to eat is just as much of a chore these days too. If it's not something that she absolutely wants, she shakes her head "no", or purses her lips together or knocks the spoon out of the way. Whatever it takes. She's a mess.

On the other end of that, she is talking more and more. I sometimes wonder what her little brain is trying to get her mouth to say to us. Then other times, I think, maybe I don't want to know! :) He voice gets sweeter and sweeter everyday. It's so soft and angelic, like nothing I've ever heard before. When we're at some kind of sporting event, she hears others yelling and then she'll go off on a rant where she does the same thing. It's hilarious.

Her fine motor skills are getting very good too. She learned in no time at all to pick up a Puff and put it in her mouth. She has gotten really good at it and I think the girl thinks she can live on puffs and although it's nice to give her something to keep her occupied while I'm making dinner or doing laundry or something, I have to assure her that they do not meet her daily requirements of vitamins and minerals! :)

She loves the dogs. She could watch them all day. Just playing or walking back and forth or even just laying there; she loves them.

Posts #25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

1. Son of a Sailor - Jimmy Buffett

2. Wannabe - Spice Girls

3. Take the Money and Run - Steve Miller Band

4. Coconut Telegraph - Jimmy Buffett

5. Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani

6. Ignition (remix) - R Kelly

7. Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue - Toby Keith

8. Kerosene - Miranda Lambert

9. The Hurricane - Bob Dylan

10. Lollipop - Lil Wayne

Quite the diverse set of tracks, don't ya think???

Day 26-Picture of your family

Day 27-Pets - Jasper (Australian Shepherd), Ringo (Black Lab)

Day 28-Something that stresses you out - People who lie and manipulate, being away from my family, the dogs when they are misbehaving (Jasper jumping on the door to come inside or Ringo chewing through an AC unit cord), people who think they are too good to help out others in need, hypocrites. I try NOT to stress out very much, but sometimes there's no getting around it.

Day 29-3 Wishes - I wish that gas prices would go down. I wish people were nicer to each other. I wish that there were more hours in the day. The list could go on and on.

Day 30-a picture

This "30 Day" challenge only took me like 4 months to finish! I think I'll be done with these for a while. I'll probably do another post today though on Miss Lila Jane! Check back tomorrow if it's not done today. :)

Posts # 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, & 24

#19 - Something you miss: I miss sleep. There are nights when my mom has Lila stay all night and we always think " this will be amazing" and then something will happen...thunderstorm, other crazy weather, anniversary, etc. I have been traveling this week and still have yet to have a good night's sleep.

#20 - Nicknames: LJ, Linds...I think that's about it. I don't have very many.

#21 - Picture of yourself: So here is a pic of Neil and me because I'm so not sure that I have and actual individual picture of myself! I had really blonde hair here. It's a lot darker now. I hope to try to keep it closer to my natural, but it's so hard when summee comes around.

#22 - Favorite city: I don't know that I can answer this. All I know is that it's a city that is on the coast and is a lot warmer than Harrisburg.

#23 - Favorite vacation: I really don't know about this one either. Retro speaking, I guess I would say my senior trip to Cancun with some really great friends! I can't think of any other girls I would've rather spent this time with!!!!

#24 - Something you've learned: I've learned that if you want something done right, you should do it yourself. Bottom line!

Lila Jane

I have been doing a bunch of posts on the 30 day challenge and other stuff like that and realized that I haven't really updated y'all on my sweet little baby.

Lila Jane is 6 days away from being 7 months old. I honestly can't believe it. She is growing up so fast and it's just amazing. She is an awesome sitter. This girl has the best posture and I have no idea where she gets it. I'm a sloucher, always have been. No matter how much I try to sit up straight, 5 minutes will go by and I realize I'm slouching again. Neil probably isn't as bad as I am, but he's no rock star like Miss Lila.

For the last month or so, she has been taking "big girl" baths. She loves them. I'm so thankful that this girl loves bath time. Sometimes she's enjoying so much, I hate to take her out. She's got her little bath toys and she just splashes and talks to them the whole time. Getting her out of the bath and ready for bed is a different story. It really ticks her off to get out so we better have the bottle ready as soon as she gets her jammies on. :)

I've been trying to get her to eat meat. I baked some chicken the other day and tried it out. She gagged and gagged and gagged. It was awful. The past couple nights, I've mixed them with sweet potatoes or carrots, even apples...nada. I'm thinking it's a texture thing so I'm going to wait a couple more weeks and see if she will welcome the meat then. She does, however, like to eat itty bitty pieces of chicken off our forks. She must think she's really something since it's coming off of our plates. I'll pick a little piece out of the middle of the grilled chicken that Neil makes and she loves it. I'm very careful to make sure that there's no seasoning or salt on these pieces. She really doesn't eat enough of it to matter though. I'm thinking that next time we grill, we'll make a plain Jane piece for her and see how that works out. :)

Lila loves being outside. I'm very pleased with this. I told Neil that we're gonna be fighting her to come inside at night to get ready for bed...and that's perfectly fine with me. I'd rather fight her to come inside from playing than fight her to get off the couch from a video game or TV marathon. We go on walks now just about every day since it's gotten warm. She enjoys it, just about as much as I do.

As of right now, the paci is already beginning to be used less and less. I'm not a huge fan of pacis after a certain age, but I never thought we'd get rid of it before she was 1. She usually takes it when she's trying to go to sleep, but for the most part, she's a pretty mild mannered baby. She's happy a lot and truly doesn't need it. I'm getting happy about this, but again sad that my baby is already growing up. I'm sure she'll throw us for a loop in a few weeks!

No teeth yet, no crawling yet, and no pulling herself up yet. These are the next few things we're waiting for. Stay tuned, because I'm sure she'll have chompers and be mobile in no time.

Posts - #16, 17, & 18

Day 16-Dream house

In the country with lots of land, yet with some neighbors close enough for Lila and future children to play with. I like big open floor plans when it comes to houses. Lots of windows for natural light to come through and a kitchen out of this world. I am really beginning to like to cook different things and I can only imagine how cool it would be to prepare/cook a meal in an awesome kitchen. I don't think it needs to be huge. I don't want a lot of extra rooms that are never used. i.e. Enough bedrooms and bathrooms to go around plus perhaps a guest room. I want a bathroom that is relaxing and soothing. Somewhat like an oasis where I can go after a long day and just chill!

I tried to find a couple pictures, but it's all in my mind and I can't find exactly what I want. I kinda like this kitchen, but would definitely be making some changes!

Day 17-Something you're looking forward to

It's kinda bittersweet because I'm not looking forward to my little baby getting bigger, but I so look forward to those times where we can go shopping together or get a pedicure together. I can't wait to spend time with her...as much time as possible.

Day 18-Something you regret

Looking back, I really don't regret much in my life. God has a plan for me and who am I to tell him any different? Maybe the things I think I should've done are purposefully leading me in some other direction that only He knows. I will say that I do kinda regret getting my degree in marketing. I should've just faced the fact that I wanted to be a teacher and gotten it over with. :) That being said, I love my job. I couldn't ask for anything more.