Kacie is 6 months old!

Where does the time go? I cannot believe my little princess is already 6 months old! She has just been growing and learning so much the past month. Here are some highlights:

• She still jabbers up a storm.....ALL the time. She is making "mama" and "dada" sounds, but I know she doesn't know what she's saying yet. She is also making a "smacking" sound with her lips.
• She has never taken a passy, but now she LOVES to chew on them. 
• She is scooting, rolling, and semi-crawling all over the place.
• She has started eating oatmeal in the morning, and rice cereal and vegetables at night. She loves sucking on grapes, apples, bananas, and ice cubes in her mesh feeder.
• She is taking 2 naps a day about 1 1/2 hrs each, and sometimes a 30-45 min catnap in the evenings depending on when she wakes up from her afternoon nap.
• Sometimes she "flaps" her arms and it's really funny.
• We have been working on sitting up. She can last a few seconds before she topples over to the side. Many times she won't sit up because she's too busy leaning forward and grabbing her feet!
• She looks up when you call her name. 
• She will grab anything and everything within her reach.
• We finally finished all our size 2 diapers, so now she's exclusively in 3s.
• She still has really chunky little thighs, so some of her onsies are too tight on her legs.
• Her smile just lights up her whole face.
• When she gets excited, she kicks her feet and breathes really fast, almost like "panting."
• She is so entertaining. Jason & I can just sit and watch her talk, play, roll, squeal, and giggle and it makes us laugh so hard.
• She has started actually jumping in the jumparoo. Up until now, she just played with the toys and smiled when we made it bounce, but she hadn't quite figured out how to bounce herself. 

And as always, here are her 6 month pictures....We had a really hard time getting her to smile this time. She either got a super serious look and just stared at the camera, or she wouldn't look at us at all. We were making all kinds of noises and faces, but she just wasn't interested. She also kept grabbing the sign, so I had to move it above her head. As you'll see, that didn't stop her from trying to reach it! (I'm posting alot for memory's sake.)

This is one of the only times she would smile

 Are we done yet?

 Seriously mom, I can still reach it!

 See?

 This one would have been great if she was smiling!

 We finally gave up and propped her up like this

This outfit came with a hat. We had to get at least one picture with it on.

After the "photo shoot," we headed over to my parents' house for dinner. Here is our attempt at a family photo. Once again, Kacie would not smile for the camera!

Here she is getting ready for a walk in her big girl stroller for the first time

We had her 6 month check up and shots yesterday. Kacie is now 16 pounds, 14 oz (EXACTLY double of her birth weight), and 26 1/2 inches. The doctor said she is 50-75% in both. He didn't give an exact number, just the range. Here is my sweet girl with her bandaids (2 shots on each leg),

One last picture of her passed out for a LONG nap when we got home.

We love our little girl so much and cannot believe she is already half a year old! We cannot wait to see her grow and develop more in the coming months!

The Sweetest Sound on Earth

Here are some funny daddy/daughter moments before bedtime. Jason gets her ready for bed each night, and she was such a cute giggle box tonight!

Catching Up!

It's been harder to find time to do the blog the past few weeks as school is getting busier. We are definitely falling into a routine these days. Kacie usually wakes up between 6-6:30. Jason feeds her and either gets her ready to go or puts her back down, depending on when he has to be at work. Every once in awhile, she sleeps until 7 or 8. On those days, I don't get to see her before school. I pick her up most afternoons between 4:30-5:00. When we get home, it's usually time to eat, so she nurses and has cereal, then we play a little bit, try to go for a walk, have a bath, and then it's bedtime at 8:00 already. Our evenings are packed, but I try to squeeze in all the time I can with my little girl.
Here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

A cute denim dress for church

Dinner with Michael & Cheryl

 Sweet picture with Daddy before dinner

She loves to play with and suck on her toes.

Some pictures at Mrs. Amy's house

This is how she "moves" these days (isn't that a yoga pose?)

Sweet girl

Playing with her friend Lux who is about 5 weeks older

Family walk on our first cool evening. Even Earl got to come!

 This is her reaction to her first bite of bananas!

Kacie will be 6 months old tomorrow!

Cute Videos

Here are a few videos from the past week of my little cutie pie jabbering & squealing away!

Baby Dedication

At our church, we don't do baby baptisms. We believe every child has to make their own choice to follow the Lord when they are old enough to understand. We do, however, have a baby dedication ceremony. This is when we as parents give our child to the Lord, and promise before the church to raise her in a Christian home. It's a really neat thing, and I've sat and watched many many friends dedicate their babies over my years at Lake Pointe. I was so excited to finally be able to participate myself! Here are some pictures of this special event:

Mommy & Kacie all dressed up

 Our little family

 Grandma & Grandpa

 Hanging out at dinner after church

When we went to our orientation meeting a week before, we got to pick out a life verse for Kacie out of a binder full of special verses. I (we) chose Proverbs 3:5-6, because that is one of my favorite verses. When we were on stage at church, Pastor Steve read this verse to Kacie.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct your paths."

Note: My mom took a few pictures while we were on stage, so I'll add them as soon as I get them off her camera.

More Cereal Pictures

Kacie still LOVES her rice cereal. She smiles really big when I put her in the high chair and put the bib on her. Then when she sees the bowl, she starts breathing fast and kicking her legs. It is so funny! Here is another pic of my cutie pie eating.

One day, Kacie started spitting with the spoon in her mouth, causing her to blow bubbles. I tried to say, "Kacie, no no" and keep my composure, but I just burst out laughing and called Jason. We had to get it on video, and I love how she laughs at herself. We decided this is the one time we'll let ourselves laugh, then we have to teach this girl some manners!

This is a video showing her excitement about eating

We got these mesh feeders at some of my baby showers, so I was looking online to see what to put in them. Basically, any fruit or vegetable can go in there. I also found out it's good to put frozen fruits in there, because it feels good on their gums. Here she is chowing down on some frozen grapes.  

She was slurping the juice like a pro, so I also had to catch that on video.

(I just re-watched the video, and I guess that day she was "eating" an apple)

Busy weekend!

Well, after trying solids yesterday, we had another big day today. Kacie went with me to a baby shower this morning, and then we went to Irving for my dad's birthday with the family. The baby shower was for my friend Kelly from high school. I didn't know if Kacie would be laughing & smiling, or go into "serious mode" when she was around so many new people, but she was a hit! She got passed around and just talked and smiled to everyone who held her. I didn't get any pics of Kacie with my friends, but here are the "Deb Girls" with Kelly.

Kate, Kenzie, Lisa, Kelly, Candie, me, Amy-friends for 15 years or more

After the shower, this is how Kacie spent the drive to Irving

Many people in our extended family still hadn't met Kacie, so this was a big deal to go to my grandma's house for Dad's birthday party. Most of the aunts, uncles, and cousins were there, and Kacie did great! 

Kacie with her Great Grandma Bobbie

Kacie with Aunt Cindy

Kacie and Cousin Marin (2 yrs) had a great time "chatting" with each other

Kacie & Mommy

Kacie with Grandma & Grandpa

It was a busy weekend, but tomorrow is Labor Day, which means no work or school! Yea!