Lera

This little girl continues to fly through the milestones.


She waves and says bye-bye (she also says mama and dada).


She opens drawers.



She's in a big-girl car seat (as of last month).


AND, she's walking with this baby stroller!
Big girl.

Gwinnett Braves

We got there nice and early and had awesome seats right behind home plate.


checking out the program




Chess wanted to walk around and try out a few of the other seats.





Thanks to my dad for the tickets!

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home.

Both girls absolutely love when Daddy comes home from work. Lera crawls right to him and wants to be picked up, no matter what she was doing. And Chess always says, "Hey, Daddy! Did you have fun at work?" It is so sweet and brings me so much joy.

Wordless Wednesday

Jumping ABCs

Here is Chess, jumping on the couch (yes, I let her jump on the couch), and singing her ABCs. She has known the ABC song for quite awhile, but it has taken me forever to get her to sing it for the camera. She is not one to perform, pose, or smile on cue, usually. Letting her sing while jumping on the couch worked very well. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier.



My favorite part, of course, is "ellen-no P" (L-M-N-O-P). Also, don't you love her hair in a ponytail? It's finally long enough to mostly stay up. She loves wearing one, too, and will ask me to put her hair in a ponytail. Probably because that's my hairstyle of choice...everyday...even to church. Hey, leave me alone, it's really hot and humid here! Chess looks extra-cute in a ponytail, though.

Crafting Blog

I have posted quite a few sewing projects over at Craftalicious. I don't know whether I should still post them here or not, but I haven't been. I don't want to be redundant by posing twice, but I'm afraid people aren't going over to the craft blog. Or maybe people just don't want to see my sewing and craft projects. What do you think? Opinions? Post in both places, just one, neither, don't care?

Wordless Wednesday

Lera is 9 Months Old!

I forgot to post Lera's 8 month picture last month, so here it is:


And this was taken on Sunday, at 9 months old:


In one short month, between the time these two pictures were taken, little Lera has accomplished a lot.


She started crawling,


climbing,


pulling up,


cruising along things,


turning on the water,


and sitting down easily from standing.


She got two teeth,


eats table food,


and pretty much thinks she's a big kid.

I did a little photo shoot to document her being 9 months old.

I can't believe ONE is right around the corner.

Lera has such a good sense of humor and I love her laugh. Chess makes her laugh a lot and she's pretty ticklish.

She's been "talking" a lot lately. Jared and I think we hear her repeating words we say all the time, and I heard her babbling "ma ma ma ma" the other day. Maybe we will have her first word soon?

She is starting to get picky about who she will smile at. When strangers talk to her in the grocery store, she gives them a pretty serious scowl lately.

This child will NOT lay still for a diaper change or clothing change of any sort. She is super-fast and squirmy. No distraction will keep her still very long, and she's so strong. She does this alligator roll (you know, when alligators are in water, and bite down on their pray, then they roll and roll, and there's no escape), anyway, she does this and crawls away before we can get a clean diaper on her bum.

Our sweet little girl is always on the move. You should see her in the bath tub. I can't keep her sitting on her bum for anything. She crawls circles around Chess! I have to dump water right on her head because she won't lean back for me to rinse her hair - she does the alligator roll (see above).

I'm so glad Lera is in my life. She snuggles up to me when she's tired and plays with my fingers when I'm feeding her. She gives us the biggest smiles and keeps us on our toes. Her breath is heavenly, and I kiss her as much as I can. I love my baby girl.

Wordless Wednesday

Fly-In Air Show

We recently went to a little airport for a fly-in air show, which means the planes are all there for you to look at, but there are no flying tricks to watch in the sky. Does that make sense? I've only ever been to one air show before, but Jared loves them, so I think I will see a lot more in the future. He used to go all the time as a kid. We had a fun time at this one.


The Black Hawk helicopter you could sit in.




It made Chess a little nervous.


Lera, on the other hand, was chewing on her hands because she was teething, not because she was nervous.


Then, when I took Chess out, she wanted back in.


What good is a runway if you can't run on it?


In front of the firetruck.


Chess did not want to sit in the firetruck.


Jared liked this little, orange airplane.


Lera, eating her breakfast.


Any event is better with a jump-house.


My favorite.