september 8 months

This post has been in draft waiting to be finished and posted for far to long and is very late. Sorry. Hallie's new skills etc.-
*faster crawling speeds (meaning she can get in to trouble faster than I realize sometimes)
*pulling herself up on ANYTHING even where there isn't anything to grip like flat walls
*she is a steadier stander after she pulls herself up (she doesn't get bruises all the time now)
*cruising along furniture, she is even starting one handed cruising
*free stand for a couple of seconds at a time
*she loves to play peek-a-boo with anything she can (even the flap of her onesie when she is being changed
*loves talking recently she been making alot of the babababa noises
*she is a tricky little thing - (example) we will tell her not to go somewhere, she'll look at us and if we are coming to stop her she just crawls faster to try and get there (example) we tell her "no fingers" and she puts her finger tips to the corner of her mouth with a smirk on her face waiting to see if we'll take them out
*she actually likes eating solid food now and can handle some stuff that isn't mashed up like peas, banana chunks, bread pieces, etc.
*she will let us spoon her mashed up food but anything else she has to feed herself (if I try to help her by putting a pea or something in her mouth she will spit it out and grab one herself and eat it)
* she has TWO TEETH
*right now she is taking 2 naps a day but can actually skip a nap entirely if we are out and there are alot of people to interact with and she won't seem at all up set until all the new people are gone (she is a very social)

This month she discovered that the calendar was made out of paper and started attacking it making it hard to get pictures. Hallie is so much fun and is regularly wearing Berret and me out!

playing, playing, and some more playing

This little girl is so fun. We just love her little laugh and all the new ways she has been interacting with us. We do anything we can to get her to smile and laugh again and again. Just look at that smile, I think anyone would do the same.

Here is some peek-a-boo and then playing with her bottle.

labor day weekend

We had a great 3 day weekend! Saturday morning Berret went mountain biking with his brother Warren. Then Warren, Allison, and Danielle came over to go swimming. Grandma stopped by too to see the girls in the water.Berret swimming with Hallie.

Hallie slept really bad Saturday night so Sunday we went to church and took naps. These pictures are of Hallie after church. She has grown so much, check pics of Hallie in this same jumper HERE.Look at her perfect little face, I just love it!

Monday we did a bunch of projects around the home. Painted a couple of things, changed some things around, bought and assembled a shelf for Hallie's room, and then had to clean up after all those projects. It was a very productive day and we ended it relaxing in the evening.

This video is actually from today. My brother Phillip sent us a package containing King Ghidorah. The 3 headed beast was in honor of mine and Berret's 3 year wedding anniversary (that's Phillip's humor for you). Berret was sizing him up with Godzilla to see if he would be a good challenger for Hallie. I think there will be another match soon.

Hallie is 8 months old now and we have her pictures taken, so be expecting that post soon.

water babies

This week we've been able to have a few visits from Allison and Danielle. We went to the pool twice this week with the girls. These pictures are from our second trip to the pool. We had lots of fun enjoying the weather and having the pool to ourselves most of the time. Dani swimming over to see Hallie in the starfish. Hallie relaxingYesterday Berret got home from work before we were done swimming and Hallie was so excited to see him. It was really cute to see her wiggle around and smile so much in her starfish when she saw Berret.Then Berret splashed her.I love how Dani looks like she is going to take off flying in this picture.Some videos, one of the girls and then one of Dani's picture face.

Hallie has had lots of fun with her cousin Dani this week.

3 years

Yesterday marked 3 years of being married to this amazing man!He has put up with me for 3 years.I couldn't be more happy about it.

As you can tell by the pictures we went out to eat just the two of us which hasn't happened since Hallie was born. Our friends Liz and Grady watched Hallie for us (Thank You). We tried out a place we have never been to before, Stockmans. It was so yummy! We both had huge steaks that were cooked perfectly. It was a nice place with good service, our waiter was attentive to what we needed but didn't try to make obnoxious small talk. It was a nice evening to spend together and just talk and have the break from Hallie for a bit.

It was a great anniversary, love you Berret!

hallie vs. godzilla

-The competitors.-"This is child's play."-Aerial view of the action.--Hallie takes him head on and finishes him off.--Godzilla is down and Hallie is ready for her next competitor. Any takers?-

*Thanks Phillip for the godzilla toy. Hallie found him to be a nice snack, not much of a match though.

visiting collette

This last weekend we got to go see Collette and make a stop at Ikea. We first drove to Ikea to pick up a piece of furniture that barely fit in our car. It was a large cabinent to better organize things and to put our tv on top of. After Ikea we got to go see Collette! We actually arrived at Collette's house when she was out so we enjoyed the beautiful weather in her front yard. Within a couple of minutes Collette got home and started walking towards us and Hallie with a huge smile crawled across the grass right to Collette, it was really cute. Collette has been such a good friend and we all enjoy seeing her. It was fun to see all the improvements that have been made to her house too. Before we started the drive back home we went to and Indian restraunt and the food was delicious.At the restraunt.The food was so good, it doesn't look so appetizing though all packaged up.Oh, and I almost forgot...Hallie has a tooth cutting through! We discovered it on Saturday during the visit. Then it felt like a tiny piece of sand on her gums. Now you can feel the width of the tooth and you can see a small white line on her bottom gums in the front. Now we KNOW why she has been sleeping so badly at night.

*Berret put together the cabinent we bought and it is working great (Hallie can't get into it!). We also rearranged and we really like the living room set up much more now.

berret's hair

Trying out a new hair styleSide.Back. What do you think? Well maybe not...How about this then?Maybe just the usual.

I'm so glad Berret is such a good sport. He was in serious need of a hair cut and Liz was nice enough to find some time in her busy schedule to fit him in. Our good friend Liz is awesome with hair, it was worth waiting for her to get back in town so Berret's hair would be done right. Thanks Liz!

to the park

What a nice evening to go to the park.Find ourselves a patch of grass.Explore.Be adored by mama.Give dada a turn too, I guess.Like my exploring hat? I think it really adds something to my ensemble.Wait. What is that, a french frie? Yes, yes it is a french frie that squirrel is eating.

I guess the squirrel is more likely to work it off than the lazy bums before us who didn't even throw away their Mctrash. Good thing dada cleaned that up for them.

august 7 months

Hallie has become quite a handful. She is all over and into everything. Her crawling keeps getting faster. She sits herself up with ease and will sit up steady as long as she wants. She now pulls herself up where ever she can and is starting to move along things while she is up. Falls happen alot though and she has little bruises on her face from her new adventures. She now REALLY enjoys her jumper and actually jumps in it which is nice for me because it is a short period of time when she is happy staying in one spot. When she is really excited or happy she will bounce herself while she is crawling, when we pick her up, where ever she is (Berret and I think this is really cute). We're introducing her to new foods and she actually liking it now and isn't quite as messy when being fed. She does lots of talking and likes experimenting with her voice making new sounds. Hallie is a happy active baby that loves to explore.I can't really put bows on her head anymore because she won't stay still. With all of her movement now, they tend to fall off anyways.Taking these month pictures is more challenging, she tends to find more interesting things and can actually crawl to them now.

before bed

This weekend we got Hallie some new pajamas. We only had a couple of pajamas that fit her right now and she is growing out of them fast because they become too short with the attatched feet. She also gets really frustrated in the footed sleepers when she tries to crawl because her leg will move up the leg of the sleeper, footed section and the rest of the leg will trail behind her as she crawls. These pajamas are really stretchy and fit tighter which make them better for crawling. They'll grow with her more because they are 2 pieces, stretchy, and don't have attatched feet. Plus I like how they show off her cute little arms and legs and her big tummy.

I haven't posted a video of her crawling yet so here it is.

All the activity makes her REALLY ready for bed.

family pic

We took Hallie's 7 month pics along with some other pictures and a few quick family pics. I have no idea how it happened but half of the pics were gone and we have to retake her month pics so those will be coming soon. For now a family picture...the best we are able to do on our own with the timer.