Driving lessons

She must have been watching her daddy drive;)

Past couple of months

We've had a rough couple of months here lately. We've been to the doctor about 6 times in 2 months for ear infections. Not fun. We are going to be getting tubes soon so hopefully things will get better.
Ames is starting to tackle more on her own...a little too much at times. Our sweet girl will walk to the end of the driveway and when we stop her to turn around before going into the road, she collapses onto the ground screaming. Seems too early for that stuff... Guess I'm just not ready for it;)
I'm posting this from my phone so I'm not sure how the pictures will come up, but I'll just list captions...

Ames sitting on her 'big joe' chair, Meeting the ducklings, One year check up, her doll I made her for birthday ( that jack named Budgie), giving the dogs some water, one of her ear infections, 'helping' me plant herbs, sitting with her two best friends, spotted a baby fox I thought was a kitten on our walk, baby opossum in our yard a few days later, (we don't even live in the country), and lastly, Ames playing in the puddles.

She's a year old!

Our little baby is one! crazy.

we celebrated with family the weekend before her actual birthday. It snowed! but then melted:( 

We did a puffs and paper theme and I knew there would only be two other kids there, so I tried to come up with some adult-ish games. The weather prevented me from getting to do a few, but we did a "guess how many puff are in the jar" and a paper airplane competition (person's plane that went furthest won). Uncle Kevin won both events.

I was so slack when it came to taking pictures. Jack woke up the Friday before with severe vertigo so he was barely able to be at the party, so things were a little more hectic than planned;) 

My friend Bonnie made the cakes. They were so good! We did a puff for her cake and notebook paper for everyone else. Puffs & Paper!

Checking out the snow...She could live outside.

one of our few pictures together;) 

He was trying so hard to feel better...best looking sick person I know;) 

 

Cousin Annaleigh loves Ames' hair. Ames is not sure about it. 

 

I love cake!!! 

My favorite two

Love.

11 months

Ames at 11 months. Her personality is definitely coming out more and more each day. I have a feeling she is going to be quite the little pistol, which I know God is going to use to show me things in myself that need to be worked on;)

She's loving to walk around outside and tries to get out of the house when the dog gate isn't up. She's starting to notice the dogs more and wanting to play with them which is sweet to watch.

She's having tantrums already which is crazy and makes me crazy! She's still not a big eater when it comes to solids, so I'm still using some formula to make sure she's getting what she needs.

We are celebrating her first birthday this weekend with family. The theme is "Puffs & Paper"-her two favorite things;)

I just downloaded the blogger app on my phone in hopes that I'll post more often.;)

 

10 months at 11 months

a little behind with this... nothing new.

Ames at 10 months.

We have a walker!

She decided to let go of the furniture on Christmas Eve. She's still holding on to things for support most of the time, but walks without support when she's feeling brave and when she wants to make it to something quickly.

She has four molars coming in. This has not been fun. I'm pretty sure she has a low pain tolerance like her mom.

We took our first trip without her last weekend, so weaning began the first of January. She was not ready and wanted comfort for her hurting teeth, but we managed to get down to one feeding a day before we left. It was pretty difficult for me emotionally. She began night waking around this time probably due to a combination of teething, weaning, and being able to stand in her crib. By the way, she looked so much older when we got back...makes you realize how fast this goes by.

It's been tougher lately to get her down for her morning nap. I have to rock her to sleep in my arms, which I don't mind too much because she wouldn't let me do this when she was smaller.

She's said some new things on purpose lately... says "teese" when I get her some string cheese, "woof" when the dogs bark, and "ba" for ball.

Hopefully I can get her 11 month picture up before her 1 year one.

i should give this up

I'm sure no one reads this anymore with my sporadic posts.

But to those who do...

Ames' 9 month picture

I did something I said I would never do again...photograph a wedding. It was the most ideal wedding for a photographer: outdoors, small, and laid back...which is why I did it. I actually enjoyed it, but do not plan on doing one again because of the time it takes to edit. Plus, my baby is about to let go of the furniture when walking, so I need to be distraction free for her sake.;) 

one of my favorites from the day

non-camera photo dump

I love when people do their camera phone photo dump posts. Unfortunately my camera on my phone is absolutely horrible, so here's a just camera dump. 

On Halloween Jack took off work and we went to Skytop. We got there and thought it was closed because the doughnut station was boarded up. It could have been a really bad day, but we were just the first ones there on a day they probably weren't expecting many people...at least not at 9:30 in the morning, so they were slow to open. It was freezing, so we walked around for just a little bit, bought some apples and doughnuts, and headed back home.

I busted out the orange overalls for Ames' halloween pictures. I was supposed to be her farmer. It was very nostalgic putting those things on..I thought of my friend Kirkley;)

This may be hard to believe, but we made pumpkin pancakes the other morning and when I flipped one it looked like this! pretty crazy.

She hasn't made it to a Clemson game yet and probably won't for a while, but we dress up to support our Tigers..Thanks Bonnie for the outfit!

 

We did the mudrun for the first time this year. It was a lot of fun and we definitely plan on doing it again!

I made my very first pie...apple rhubarb. 

she's fantastic.

both cousins happy at same time...my child makes this a rare thing.

Jack made us cookies for when we got home from a weekend away without him. He missed us Ames so much.

My friend Megan's son Cooper. He is 3 months younger than Ames but already bigger.She is so little.

exploring

 

Benson is loving this girl now that she's eating some finger foods. He gets to clean up after her.

Last year we started a Halloween tradition. Jack and I each write down a few items on paper, ball them up, and then we each draw one and have to carve what we drew. We carve one pumpkin at the same time, opposite sides. Yes, it is slightly dangerous. I had to draw a wolf spider. It's a joke because apparently I pronounce "wolf" like "woof" and Jack discovered this when I pointed out a wolf spider in the pool one day.

He had to draw what he wanted for Christmas...It's a shotgun.

cannot be comfortable

After bathtime

cheesing.

8 months- for the grandparents

I'm a little behind these days and not sure how I'll ever catch up. We've been staying busy learning how to walk holding on to something, not eating our baby food, and wrapping ourselves around daddy's finger by babbling "dada" all the time. 

I saw this chick costume on Pinterest. There were no instructions on how they made it, so I improvised by hot gluing a boa to a homemade pillow case dress, stuffing rubber gloves for feet, and using some red felt glued to an old baby hat. Total cost around $8. She stayed in it for all of two minutes...she's between cries in this picture;) 

Happy late Halloween!

7 months

At 7 months she is loving to stand... 

and hating to be on her stomach.

treasure

I've just started reading the second book on a long list of parenting books. Dare to Discipline by James Dobson. He's discussing the importance of not saturating the child with materialism...

" Pleasure occurs when an intense need is satisfied. If there is no need, there is no pleasure. A simple glass of water is worth more than gold to a man dying of thirst. The analogy to children should be obvious. If you never allow a child to want something, he never enjoys the pleasure of receiving it. How unfortunate that such a child never had the chance to long for something, dreaming about it at night and plotting for it by day. He might have even gotten desperate enough to work for it. The same possession that brought a yawn could have been a trophy and a treasure."

 I'm so thankful that as a child of the Lord he has made us "wait" for certain things. Those times helped grow and strengthen our relationship with him. It's made us so much more thankful for his timing and his blessings. It's helped us chip away at our attitude of entitlement and realize what is truly important. Having to wait is a blessing in disguise.

our treasure.

contentment

"If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot." -- John Bunyan

her dad

 

She is going to have so much fun with him...