Summer recap: Michigan in July

July was our annual summer Michigan trip. We did the usual hanging out with friends and family. . We spent time with my family, Mark's, some of my extended family and snuck in some time at The Pond with my friends. It was great to see the Miller's before they moved to Mexico for two years. The girls loves all their aunts, uncles, and cousins!

annual anniversary pic

The Pond with friends

bubbles with Aunt Sarah

party dresses

4th of July

Violet 10 months!

I sorta of skimped on the pictures this time, but she's getting hard to take a photo of these days! Today she kept grabbing for the sign and taking it down. This month she has started to "let go" and stand for a few seconds. Today she also walked behind the walker toy on wheels! She claps every time we say "yay".  She is starting to figure out "kisses", the awesome wide open mouth ones babies are so good at. Still just two teeth and is now recovered from bilateral ear infections (again) this month. I can't believe she is just two months away from being one!

Summer recap: Ohio in June

This week I am going to try to catch up on blogging about all our trips we went on this summer. I thought our goals were lofty when we planned trips to Ohio, Michigan, Myrtle Beach, and Tennessee all in three short months. I was worried how the kids would be in the car, how they would nap, what would happen if they DIDn't nap, and how they would sleep at night. Turns out they did great. While 'vacation' is exhausting with a 2 and almost a half year old and a 9 ish month old, it is SO worth it. We made some great memories with friends and family. We learned some things too like: doing long drives overnight is the way to go; DVD in the car is the best thing ever invented; Harlow will sleep anywhere if you make a bed on the floor and call it her "little bed"; Violet takes a few minutes the first time sleeping in a new place but gets over it quickly; if Harlow doesn't nap one day it will be OK, we can all survive until 7:30pm especially if Frozen is involved.

The first thing we did in June is meet Mark's brother, sister in law and their three kids in Ohio (about halfway for each of us) for an extended cousin play date. We got a hotel with a pool in Columbus. It was about a 6 hour drive and just two nights but it was so worth it so see Harlow having fun with her cousins. The adults also had fun playing euchre after bed time. Except for one minor poop issue at the McDonald's play place, the trip went off without a hitch!

Nine month stats

Violet had her nine month check up today. She is 19 lbs, 2oz (62%) and 28 inches (54%). Again, I am surprised to have an 'average' size baby!

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Violet NINE months!

Today our sweet baby is nine months. She is growing up so fast, I am sure I am biased, but I think she is advanced. She was clapping with us at the dinner table tonight! Just in the past month, she has gone from scooting, to crawling, to standing and cruising the furniture. She LOVES to eat food and wants whatever we are eating. She has mastered feeding herself. We give her things I would have been terrified to give Harlow such as sweet potato fries, a whole apple, a pickle. Still just two little teeth, although I think she will have some more soon. Her favorite game is crawling after things (it's sorta like fetch with a dog, daddy and Harlow taught her that) and the peek a boo blanket over the head game. She is independent (especially with her bottles) but still likes to be held on the hip when she's fussy. Can't wait to see what the next three months until she is one will bring.

Blue Bed

Harlow has been out of her crib since January, but has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor since. We FINALLY got her a bed after a craigstlist run a couple months ago, some spray paint, and convincing her daddy she will sleep just as well in a bed. It's an understatement to say that she loves it. Every day I get home from work she says "show mommy blue bed". Yes Harlow...I've seen it, I'm thinking, but of course I ooh and ahh over it once again. She is still a great napper and sleeper. We would prefer she stay in her bed past 6:30 am, but I think it's a trade off for 7:30 ish bedtime and a two hour nap each day. Girl likes to go "night night"! She even set up a pillow and blanket outside on the deck the other day.

 

On the Move

In just a couple of weeks, Violet went from army crawling, to full on crawling with her knees up, to now pulling up in everything! I'm predicting she will walk in her 10th or 11th month!

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