10 months

Happy 10 months! You've made it into the double digits, welcome. 

You are initiating peek-a-boo now and getting into everything. You can now reach the top of the dining room table and the TV stand and, yeah us, pull things down, to inspect them of course. 

Even though you challenge my housekeeping skills we have lots of fun together; taking walks, exploring and reading lots of books, lots and lots of books and let's not forget everyone's favorite: eating.

Note to our readers: If you need some help wrapping gifts this year I know someone who might be available. Merry Christmas!

Remember what I said about getting into everything?

Chattanooga remix

Last time we were in Chattanooga we were 18 weeks pregnant. This time was very different, more work but also more exciting! We celebrated Thanksgiving here at home but spend our Holiday Weekend soaking in the city, sometimes it's good to be a tourist. 

Our days were filled with boat rides on the Tennessee River.

These two experienced their first train ride.

And lots of moments where I swear I'm looking at Dan's photos from 1985.

We love Chattanooga, if we ever have to move here you'll hear no complaint from me. Ever been to Portland, Oregon? This city has that feel, only in the South so not quite as bold as the real Portland but still trendy, hipster, and environmentally aware.

I'm pretty sure you could eat out at a different place every night of the year and still have places left undiscovered. Did you know that you can ride electric busses that run through town for free? What's free in 2015? They also have recycling bins throughout town, does that give you warm, fuzzy feelings? 

Most of the time I feel like we stick out, maybe not like a sore thumb but we most certainly don't fit into most of what's "normal" here but I'm pretty sure we'd find a place to belong in Chattanooga, maybe you would too.

9 Months

As we all know, a lot can and has happened in nine months. Baby, today you are nine months old. We've had so much fun with you this last month. You've started laughing to engage us, and others- a skill that spreads smiles everywhere we go. (gulp) I think you are an extrovert, which makes your introvert mother a little nervous. You squeal and laugh to engage and not surprisingly people look to us and....engage with us. (sigh) So much for my wallflower existence.

Last week at the library during mommy and me sing time you spent the entire song time without me. That's right, while all the other babes stayed close to mom and did motions with her you made your rounds seeing who you could pal around with. I guess coming to sing time doesn't always imply that I'm going to be singing WITH you, maybe just AROUND you (wink, wink). Don't get the wrong impression, I love who you are, and love that you love people. You are so much like your father both in actions and in looks. This is your father below, tell me you aren't the female version of him?

Everywhere we go people ask who you take after, I think they are just being polite. There is no denying you are your father's daughter, you are family; and that I love!

This month you are learning to stand, you've almost passed 30 seconds on your own. Are you trying to walk soon? You're on the right track. You are also the proud owner of two new teeth, totalling seven now, congrats! My favorite thing you've learned (maybe this won't be a favorite for long) is when you crawl away from us in laughter. Like when the dishwasher is open- I've never seen you crawl so fast, you let out a squeal of pure delight and know you are being tracked. I really love playing with you. Promise you'll obey though when the time comes (I can hear all the seasoned parents laughing at me now).

Happy November and Happy 9 months!

Daniel and Isabel both at 9 months. 

Complete

Finally after much blood, sweat and tears (yes, there were all three) we finished our makeover on these chairs. My advice to you: don't pick a project with arms for your first upholstery project, maybe not even your second either. Though we survived, I don't think I'll put re-upholstery on the docket anytime soon. 

This chair was the first of the pair to be completed. Just as we were finishing this one up someone learned to crawl. Moving the second chair upstairs became essential for safety and sanity reasons and well, you know, out of sight, out of mind. Two months later the project had still not been completed. But with visitors on the horizon we hunkered down and made ourselves (yes made, what did I tell you about sweat and tears?) finish the second chair. 

A little self discipline goes a long way. Several days later and ta-da, I present to you chair number two, finally!

Now all we need are a couple of visitors.

This is a before shot, note the less than stellar fabric that led us down this renovation journey. I guess in my eagerness to remove said fabric I forgot to take a full chair shot but you get the "picture"; hideous. 

Celebrate

Happy 4th, October 4th that is. Today Isabel turns 8 months and Dan turns 372 months. 

Happy Birthday Dan, day after day I'm thankful for you!

No one could love our girl like you do. 

Thank you for being so patient and kind with us, here's to another year full of adventure.

In other news, precious girl is 8 months old today! 

We have moved into full baby proofing mode, challenging both my sanity and housekeeping skills. Nevertheless we love her to pieces and find her joy and discovery of the world contagious. 

This last month we've experienced babe's first autumn and first tailgate (wink) along with babbling, pulling up on....everything and the addition of three more teeth. We've been busy. 

Here is to another month full of adventure baby!

Bloomin

One of my favorite things about Alabama is something is always in bloom, even in September. 

This one is right outside our kitchen window!

Seven Months

How does that saying go? The days are long but the years go quickly, or in our case the months. There are some days where I can't wait for 7:30 (bedtime) to come but then how can it be September already? 

We've been busy, some of us busier than others. Some of us learned to crawl this month. I've put in a request for one milestone at a time but I have a feeling it was denied as we have learned to crawl, are babbling in consonants, pulling up to our knees and have cut our top two teeth. Impressive and overwhelming. What happened to takin' it easy on mom?

Told you we've been crawling, under and through, around and thankfully not yet on top of anything....yet.

Dan has a sneaky grin on his face as this is a rare moment in our house. Baby is not a fan of being held or cuddled like, well, a baby, except of course when she is suffering from teething pain. Dan is taking full advantage.

Mom and dad are still in shock over all the changes that have taken place this month. Happy seven months kiddo. Thanks for keeping things interesting. 

Quirky Spaces

Our new home is a little older than our last, a little less expensive and a little older. Guess you can't have it all. True to form our older home has "character", think more quirky and sometimes even tacky spaces rather than charming windows and wood detailing that may come to mind. I won't lie, the decorator in me really loved adding our touch to these spaces, making them a little less odd and a lot more functional. Here are some before and afters. 

Maybe this isn't very clear but what we have here folks is a built in vanity. Last I checked I, or anyone else I know, do not have time to sit down to put on makeup. Do you? So, out with the vanity and in with the.....craft space! Ahhh, now that I can get on board with (and sit down for).

Quirky space number two is under the stairs. What is one to do, besides get a constant realignment from their chiropractor, with an under the stairs space?

How about an office space? Really more of storage space for office gear 'cause again, the whole chiropractor thing. But it works, and I love that we've made something great out of something odd. 

Stay tuned for more odd duck renovations. 

Perks

We've moved! I'm sure this isn't as exciting to you as it is for us, moving for us means more than a change of address. As I'm sure you know moving involves more than packing boxes, it also involves unpacking boxes, just kidding. We all know there is more to moving than hauling your stuff across town. This month we moved for many reasons. One of which was to increase our walkability to.......anywhere besides the apartment complex. Our old place was on a highway, and while there were joys of living on the stadium route (again, kidding) we found we needed a little more room to stretch our legs, especially post baby. 

Let me also let you in on a little secret. Dan's dream is to lead a life where he doesn't own a car. He'd someday like to live in the heart of it, public transport taking him wherever he needed to go and the rest within walking distance. Can you see city living in our future? Our move this month brought us one step closer to his dream and one step closer to mine of taking babe for a walk without risking our lives crossing the 50mph highway traffic. I think Grandmas everywhere just breathed a sigh of relief. 

So if you're grandma or if you too like city living then this blog post is for you. This weekend we set out on our first "walkable" adventure to a nearby coffee shop for, you guessed it: coffee and some sausage biscuits :). 

And get this, there are even sidewalks for part of the way! You know its a good day when you find any sort of sidewalk, for any part of your adventure (they aren't a very high priority here I guess).

10 points if babe falls asleep on the walk home. Here's to many more walkable adventures.

Happy Birthday

Today is my half birthday, yep, that's right I'm 6 months old today. It seems like just yesterday mom and dad were bringing me home from the hospital. But today I've reached half of my first year. 

Yeah, I'm big stuff now!

This summer was pretty fun I guess, although it seemed like every four or five nights mom and dad were putting me to bed in a different spot. I used to sleep through the night (I'm talking 10-12 hours people!) but I decided I'd had enough of that so now I wake them up at 5am (or sooner), after all sleeping is for babies and I'm a big girl.  

You probably can't tell from this photo but I now have two teeth now. Pretty great stuff. Who knew teeth could be so good?!

I'm sure I don't have to point this out to you but I can now sit up on my own, that also happened this summer. Talk about a whole new world! There are so many new things to see, explore and experience from a sitting position, how did I manage before? 

Since mom and dad decided to drag us all over Washington (and Oregon and California) I met a lot of  new folks. I mean A LOT of new folks. I never knew we had so many relations. Best part is they all wanted a piece of me so I hardly ever had to sit on my own or entertain myself. I sure wish they'd come 'round again, it's pretty dull without them. 

Did I tell you I'm thinking about crawling soon? That's right I can get up on all fours. Moving my legs is no problem, but I can't get my arms to cooperate. I've tried and tried but just end up doing a face plant. Good thing daddy passed along a nice sturdy(aka big) head for me. I'll keep you posted on the upcoming changes. Mom and Dad have no idea what they're in for (wink, wink).

4 months

Precious girl, Happy 4 months! You have made us both a little sappy these days. We are pretty sure we'll be moving to a new house in August but before we decided to move we first had to mourn the loss of our first home together, our first home as three. Mushy business I know, it's just 'cause you're so special.  

You have become your own person for sure! Your own person with a will and a desire. Most often I witness your will being opposed to mine during nap time. Yikes, girl, you've got some lungs. I'm pretty sure Tom Petty wasn't talking about parenting, nevertheless his song kept coming to my mind, specifically; 

"I will stand my ground, and I won't back down, 'cause baby there ain't no easy way out." 

You've since come around to my way of thinking concerning naps but I'm sure our desires will clash again and I'll have to reference this song once more.

You can now roll and stand with help. You really love to stand, I think you'd do it all day if we had energy to hold you there. Good thing we are calling in backup and travelling to Washington for a little vaca. I'm sure we'll find lots of folks willing to help you stand.

 You've grown so much, you now sit up in your stroller, that was a milestone that caught me by surprise and yes, it did make me a little sad, pathetic I know!

You've always been a good eater but these last two months you grew three inches. You are now 26in tall. Good work! We love you baby, there might not be an easy way out but we are happy to walk it with you.