Nine Months and Crawling!

I can't believe our baby girl is over nine months old now. When she lay across my lap at night taking her bottle, I'm amazed at how much she fills the space. While her head is cradled in my arm, her feet now reach to the other arm rest of the chair. At her nine-month check-up last week, she weighed 20 lbs, 11 oz. and she measured 28 inches! In three short months, she'll be a year. Time flies. But she has been the greatest joy. We love her so, so much.

Unfortunately, Abby Kate has been sick for the last few days. She's had a sore throat and has lost her voice. Weird for a baby, huh?! What would normally be an ear-thrashing, high-pitched scream is now open-mouthed silence, but with big rolling tears. Very pitiful. I hate that she's hurting. It's sad to see, but at the same time, I can't help but appreciate the temporary silence!

Being sick doesn't seem to phase her development though. She started crawling this weekend! We've been waiting for her to take off for weeks after she started getting into the crawl position. And Saturday it finally clicked for her. All it took was a little enticement in the form of a Club Cracker (Of all things! I mean, is she my daughter? Come on, kid, hold out for an M&M, a cookie, a marshmallow... anything!). So I placed the cracker on the rug a few feet from her and there she went! On a mission for salty, buttery goodness.

On Sunday, we captured it on video. Take a look... AK's Crawling, Day 2:



We are very proud of her! And apparently, she had a thirst for more that day because right after we taped her crawling, she started walking behind her push toy! Genius. We're calling NASA this week.

Please pray, as I'm sure you heard her nasty cough in the clip, that she feels better soon.

More Visitors!

Mom made her first trip to Meridian last week to visit with us for a few days. We had a great time shopping, touring the "big city" (ha!), eating out and just spending time together. Abby Kate loved having her Grami here. We even ventured out to a blues festival one night. We thought it'd be a big event downtown, given all the signs we'd seen promoting it. Turns out there were only 100 or so people there, mingling on a street corner, eating and drinking beer. The music was good though - Abby Kate seemed to enjoy it as she got to stay up past her 7 p.m. bedtime.


To our surprise, Dad called and said Brian would be flying him down so Mom wouldn't have to drive back by herself. (Dad didn't come earlier because of work.) I was elated to be able to see not only my mom, but my Dad, Brian, Carrie and William for a day! Carrie and William decided to ride along - just a quick two-hour flight. We had lunch at McAlisters and enjoyed watching Will and AK play and offer their snacks to one another. Too funny.

I like this photo. It's like Abby Kate is saying "It's OK William, don't be scared. I'm right here." But in reality, she's probably thinking, "Hmmm, I'm seriously thinking about grabbing that pacifier right out of your mouth."

And now she's like, "fend for yourself cousin, I gotta hold on with both hands!"

Fourth of July

Mike's mom and dad, his brother CJ with wife, Amber, and 4-month-old son, Luke, all came to our house for a quick visit on the Fourth. It was the first time we met Luke. He is such a cutie, as you can see from the pictures. Abby Kate enjoyed being the oldest for once. She played with his feet and wanted to be right next to him the whole time.

We grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs in classic American style while sipping on Diet Dr. Pepper. It was a great visit, although way too short. Thanks to all of you for coming to see us!






Due to the extreme heat and humidity here, we recently purchased a pool for Abby Kate (and us). She loves it! Junah secretly does, too. He acts like he doesn't want to get in, but then gets closer and closer to the edge like he wants to join the fun. Here's AK enjoying her swim time while sporting her stars and stripes (well, stars anyway).

Yay for swimming! (She's an expert hand clapper now.)

See what I mean about Junah? He teeters all the way around the edge.

Time for a long nap!

We Have Teeth!

Well, the start of them anyway. Abby Kate now has two little bottom teeth (the central incisors) poking through her gums. They seemed to have just appeared overnight! They don't bother her one bit, but I could tell they were coming soon because she had been rubbing her tongue over that spot a lot. I'm not going to even try to take a picture of the little buds because I know it'd be a struggle, so I'll post a picture when they've grown in well enough to see.