Nine Months

Nine months and this little girl has got her own agenda!

Which made for very difficult chair pictures this month.

Not happy about sitting in the rocking chair because it wasn't her idea.

But finally okay for a few seconds with this book.

I wish I could freeze time, Haven is just getting too big too fast. She's only 9 months and already doesn't seem like a baby anymore. Just this week, she has learned to go from crawling to sitting. What a huge milestone - it has made for a much happier and more independent little girl! Her crawling has really picked up some speed too. She has also been a lot better at playing by herself. She does okay in the playroom, but give her a cabinet/drawer/basket she can empty out and she can entertain herself forever.

Haven's nine month well check was on the 16th and her stats were:

• Head - 44.5cm (70%)
• Height - 27.75in (60%)
• Weight - 18lbs 8.5oz (50%)

She didn't have to get any shots this time, just a toe prick which barely bothered her. However, she screamed horribly when Dr. Curtis looked in her ears and throat. I was wearing a deep pink shirt and her face matched me. I told Dr. Curtis, "I think she might be strong-willed" and with a big grin Dr. Curtis said, "I think you might be right!" Yikes! As I've been told many times before, she is my child.

Mustangs

Benton is an overachiever, both at work and outside, but in a good way. He is a huge producer at the office and he is always doing other work-related extras (networking, leadership orgs, etc.). However, even with all that he has a pretty flexible work schedule and his office is less than 6 miles from home, so I am spoiled. If at all possible, Benton comes home early enough to help with Haven's dinner, bath, and bedtime routine. I got very used to that and could almost feel sorry for myself if I had to do it alone. Almost. I literally had given Haven less than 15 baths alone until July...

I am incredibly proud of Benton! In July, he started working on his MBA at SMU with an intense four week statistics class. That meant class from 6:30-9:30 on Monday and Wednesday, even longer study groups on Sunday and Tuesday, and many times more studying on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. Talk about single mama and exhausted Daddy! But we all survived and got along...

Benton's schedule will be different this fall with class on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. I'm hoping it will be less intense, but I should probably assume that it won't. I like structure and am big on expectations, so I fear that with a less condensed schedule, study groups will be more sporadic and I like to plan a week at a time. I'll be praying for me to be flexible and supportive of my hard working man...

It's going to be a crazy time, but I know these two years are going to fly by!

If You Give a Girl a Spoon

One Weekend...

Haven learned where Dutch and all of his treasures hide...

Shared corn tortillas with her best pal...

Discovered she can reach further if she stands on her tip-toes...

Snoozed every time we got in the car (we've all earned that after enduring months of screaming!)...

And got her first war wound to the corner of her eye from the desk.

Cowgirls and Sushi

How adorable is this outfit??

Haven hated the hat at first and threw it off every time I put it on her head, but I finally wore her down and got a picture! The only other problem is that her chunky legs were too chunky for these boots to go on all the way. I guess you can't tell in the picture, but I'm pretty sure she's standing on the balls of her feet because the boots wouldn't go on any further. Some might think that's mean, but I say it's practical...I'm just teaching her early that shoes aren't always comfortable and sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort for style :)

Quick photo on Daddy's saddle. She was really over me, dress up, and picture taking by this time.

Haven's first sushi experience - yum!

Soaking up the heat after our walk back from Blue Fish

Playing with Dutch in the front yard after dinner.

Pool Party

My parents were out of town the weekend of July 23-25, so, like teenagers, we "partied" at their house. Amy took the weekend off, Aunt B and Josh had all three of their nieces for the weekend, the Fletcher's were in Dallas, and Simon came over. It was pretty chaotic with so many little ones, but lots of fun! Haven loves the Brantley girls and it was fun to see she and Brinley interact together. Hannah still adored Haven and volunteered to be her older sister. Haven definitely needs one of those - she stayed up way past her "bedtime" but she was so happy with all those girls around.

Aunt B with Brinley and Haven

Little Miss Zoe, almost 7 weeks old

Brinley and Hannah

Haven and Brinley

Dutch and Haven swimming together

Simon and Haven

Haven and Brinley

Bathtime!

Haven and Briley

Dancing

Haven taught Brinley her favorite trick - holding onto bars.

Eight Months

Lots of fun and a happy girl...most of the time ;)

July 20, 2010

Another One Bites the Dust

One of Benton's best friends, Colby, got married on 7.17.10, so we left Haven with Giddy and Gam for the weekend while we headed to Seattle. I had knots in my stomach for weeks every time I thought about leaving Haven, but I'm glad we did it and, like I kept telling myself, once we got there we had a great time.

Kristi and Colby had a packed agenda for the weekend: karaoke on Thursday, rehearsal and dinner on Friday, wedding on Saturday and we headed out about noon on Sunday. I'm glad this was our second trip to Seattle because there wasn't much time for sightseeing.

Sooo hard to leave this sweet chunker!!

As a result of this trip, I have a whole new respect for working moms that breastfeed. I don't think I would do it. Having to pump 4-5 times a day was a total nuisance and I only did it for 3.5 days! Talk about a labor of love.

The rehearsal dinner was at the Golden Gardens Bathhouse. It was so pretty - right off the water with the mountains in the background - and they had a great band, lots of fun!

On the beach with Cloud, our traveling buddy. This Texas girl was freezing her tail off all weekend. It didn't get above 75 while we were there, and 75 in Seattle is much different than 75 in Dallas!

After the rehearsal dinner, Colby jumped on the bus with everyone to escort us to the bar, then he went home like a good groom should the night before his wedding :)

I think everybody was pretty wiped by Saturday and we were ready to go home and see Haven, but we all rallied and, like Friday night, the wedding was very pretty and lots of fun. They had another great band on Saturday that kept everyone dancing all night.

This was the best picture of Colby and Kristi that I took - pretty pathetic, but I felt I should include at least one picture of the bride and groom.

It was such a fun group and we loved being a part of Colby and Kristi's wedding celebration. If only we could have gone on their two week honeymoon in Greece...

Sous-Chef

The kitchen has become the second playroom lately. Haven has been very content to play with random items in the kitchen while I cook, do dishes, etc. It's a nice change from all of the singing toys!

I don't even remember how she got this messy, but she was cracking me up! This head tilting was a favorite new trick for awhile, but she's since forgotten about it.

Trying to take things out of the drawer - such a big helper :)