Uncle Bud and Audrey's Backyard

We stopped over at my Great Uncle Bud and Great Aunt Audrey's house while we were up north this weekend.  They live in my Great Grandma and Bapa Kammes' house.  I hadn't been there since I was 11 years old!  They have made a lot of changes, however, it was special to be there and brought back so many memories from my childhood.  While we were there, my Uncle put corn out for a few deer and on his way in he clinks to cans together.  All of a sudden this is what happened.  They were fighting over the corn and we counted over 30 deer in his yard!  It was incredible!

 

 It got vicious out there!

Ladies Luncheon

I invited all of the ladies in the family out to lunch while Finley and I were in town.

 Finley and her Great-Grandma Reid

 My sweet girl is sportin' a fresh black and blue eyebrow from Nonni and Umpa's coffee table.

 The entertainment at lunch

 She is such a happy girl!

 Finley with her Great-Great Aunt Audrey and Great-Grandma Bloch

Time with Faith

Finley and I went up north this weekend (Cory had to work).  My Great Aunt Lois rode with us and I was SO thankful for her.  Finley did NOT love the 10+ hours in the car in the matter of 3 days. 

 Finley was in rough shape when we finally arrived at my mom and dad's house.  She wasn't real sure where we had arrived and the people she saw there weren't familiar to her.  She hasn't seen her cousin Faith since she was 2.5 months old, but Faith calmed her down very quickly.  She was so sweet to Finley.  She kept rubbing her back and sitting next to her.  Faith didn't like it when Finley cried!

 Like I said, such a sweetie :)

 More hugs!

 Havin' fun at Nonni and Umpa's house

 They really enjoyed taking a bath together....

...and snuggling with Umpa afterwards <3

Her Irish Eyes are Smilin'

Kiss me...

 I'm Irish!

 The headband didn't last too long on her head :)

 Shocking!  She had to taste/chew it!

 

Hammin' it up.  We love our little lucky charm!

9 Months Old!

Our little girl is 9 months old!  She is into EVERYTHING! This month she has had bruises, tiny scrapes, bumps on her head, etc. from her curiosity getting the best of her!  She loves all of the books on our bookshelves.  She hasn't ripped any pages out so far, she just likes to turn the pages and chew on the covers.  She has about 3 million toys and likes to play with everything that isn't a toy.  Our house looks like an ad for Fisher Price with all of her stuff laying around.

She finally went through all of the baby food that I made her, so we have started to transition to textured and chunky food.  She enjoys most of it, but is definitely still getting used to it. 

She is just about pulling herself to a standing position on furniture and toys.  She does this funny one-legged half standing, half kneeling pose when she is cruisin' the bookshelves, couches, and chairs.

She has REALLY started to be interested in Buffett this month.  She wants to constantly be by him.  She tries to hand him her toys and he gladly takes them (even though he knows he isn't supposed to!).  She likes to look at his face since they are usually at the same eye level and then he feels he just HAS to lick her... EVERY TIME!  Drives me batty!  However, I am SO glad that Buffett loves her.  He has really surprised us with how gentle he is around her.  It is great to see!

Finley has her 9 month check-up on Wednesday with Dr. Lyon.  We are looking forward to going to that as a family.  I haven't seen Dr. Lyon since her 6 month appointment, so I have a LONG list of questions for her. :) 

Finley has started to have a bit of separation anxiety... It is sometimes hard to pull yourself away when she is so sad, but we also know that once we are gone for a few minutes, she perks back up and is back to her happy self.  It also makes it easier knowing that when I leave her at daycare, she is in very capable and loving hands!  Such a relief. :)

Finley continues to surprise us and make us laugh every single day.  We are both looking forward to the next month of growth and milestones.  We love you sunshine!!!!

 Ok, she literally leaped off the chair right after this photo!  Thank goodness Cory was there to catch her!

 The 'official' pic for the baby book.  It is the only we got of her actually sitting next to the blocks! HA!

The majority of them look like this :)  She couldn't get away fast enough and wanted to play with the neck strap on my camera the whole time!

Our Little Liberace

 Now that Finley can kneel and pull herself up, we were able to bring her little piano up from the basement. 

 She LOVES it! 

Thank you cousin Kati and John for the fun, new toy!

Cruisin' and Bruisin'

Some things I learned this weekend....

#1 - It is impossible to get anything done around the house with a crawling/climbing almost 9 month old.

#2 - The best toys are not toys at all.  Finley would rather play/chew on books, kitchen utensils, baking sheets, pots, pans, etc.

#3 - Our kid is pretty resilient.  She has fallen face and head first into the leg of our computer desk twice over the weekend.  The first time was just her head, the second time she scored a sweet bruise on her cheek.  (see photos)  She has also fallen and bonked her head on the wood floor 5-6 times, pulled a toy on top of her face and had a nice welt from that for a few minutes, and finally pulled a stool in our kitchen on top of herself.  After each incident she had some tears, but bounced back pretty quickly (usually 30 seconds or less).  I PROMISE I was watching her.  I just don't know the world from her perspective quite yet.  Every time I think I have finished baby-proofing, she proves me wrong! 

#4 - While I am enjoying each new milestone and watching Finley's personality develop, it makes me sad that she will never be that sweet, little baby again.  We now have both convertible car seats installed and the car seat that we brought her home in that very first time is put away... Today, I lowered her crib to its lowest setting... We put away the Boppy pillow, the Bumbo seat, some of her toys, and some of her clothes.  We started with textured food too (which she is NOT enjoying as of now:))

  It just all goes so fast.  While it makes me sad, I am SO eager to see what her future holds and what our future holds as a family.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives, no matter what stage or age she is! :)

 

The bruise didn't show up too well in the photo.  It is on the right side of her face, near her mouth.