Wishing, and Hoping, Thinking and Dreaming...

Im behind on blogging, like WAY behind.

Normally I do "Leighton Likes Tuesday" and since I've missed it...twice...i decided i will make it up by doing a little wish list for the girl. Grandparents, take note, these are all things she wants....she told me so herself :)

1. This backpack is a MUST MUST MUST! Were dying for the aqua one, with pink writing :) She will need this in the summer for trips to the zoo, the pool, church nursery...seriously...dying.

2. I need to snag some of these for the girl for on-the-go snacks!

3. Ok..2 things that make this bag all kinds of awesome. #1 its Michael Kors...nuff' said. #2 its JELLY! like jelly sandals!!! That means it can get wet, sticky, and all kinds of nasty and i can just rinse it off! I'm sorry but if thats not worth it i don't know WHAT is! You hear that Dad? this bag is AWESOMEEEEE! haha...it comes in clear, red and orange. I'm loving the orange.

4. Well to continue my orange streak here i love this jogging stroller! its at Babies-R-Us for around $140, I also found another black on at Target thats only $99, this one will be up to the man of the house, but I'm SO looking forward to some jogs around ACU with little miss!

5. Shut up...just shut up right now. LOOK at this little swim suit?! SO lady like! Im not a big bikini fan for little girls..i know at one point she will wear one, and if i find one thats not all hoochified maybe ill buy it, for now THIS one at Dillards needs to find its way into our closet. :)

6. Lelli Kelly shoes are the sweetest, cutest, craaaaziest shoes ever and i love them so! Leighton will love practicing walking in these cuties!

7. Polo, Dillards, Romper, vintage floral tie sash. Did i miss something?!

8. Dillards is dominating my list right now! But this looks so sweet and comfortable! i love the mix of stripe and floral! Her rolly arms would be so sweet in this!!


Well...thats a sneak at what Leighton has been dreaming about lately. If anyone wants to send some 8 month presents this way we won't complain ;)

8!!!!!

my little girl is 8 months old! we've had ALOT of changes in the past month!! ...ALOT!

Leighton has decided to show me with full force that she's getting older! She's doing so many new things, eating new things, playing with new things. I really really think these next 4 months are just going to FLY by..were having so much fun with our little mover, life just couldn't be any sweeter!!

Weight/Height: I really have no clue! I know she's still gaining pretty large amounts of weight. Im worn out by the end of the day! ha! But she doesn't go back to the Dr until next month, so we will see them! We have officially moved to size 4 diapers for the day, and size 5 diapers for at night! We have given most of our 6-9 month clothes to our little cousin Hollyn. Size 9 is what fits best..and I've even been grabbing some size 12 month...which is by FAR THE CUTEST yet! Thats the "toddler" section at Target! :)

Motor Skills/Development: Last month I wrote "she is SO close to crawling I'm sure by the time I write this next month she will be all over the place"....well...i was right!
This child is everywhereeeeeeeee. She is like lightning! The other day i went to the store and left her with taylor. When i got home she was in her exersaucer. I asked Taylor why she was in it and he said "she's all over the place i can't handle it" haha! little did he know babies grow up and start moving! just wait till she's walking babe!!
Speaking of...she is really good at walking! She will hold our hands and walk through the house. Its so adorable. I really think she will be full out walking by 11 months. We will see ;)

She can feed herself now. Its pretty funny to watch. Sometimes she grabs everything off the plate in two fists and tries to shove them both in her mouth at the same time. And sometimes she uses her little pincher fingers like a little lady.

Were still working on the straw cup. Her problem is she doesn't want to sit still love enough to drink all her milk..so I'm just going to do one bottle a day with the cup and hold her in my lap...once she's got that down we will do 2 bottles a day in the cup, so on and so on.


Food/Diet: This and sleep have been our biggest changes this month! Following Babywise around 8 months is when babies move to a 4 hour schedule and drop their last nap. Some do it sooner, some later. We've just begun this phase. Right now she's taking a bottle every 3 1/2 hours to 4 hours, and eating 3 meals a day with one snack.

Snack is usually puffs, yogurt melts, or chunks of banana. Im making some pasta bites and beans for her to snack on too!

This month we added yellow squash ( which she is in love with! ) zucchini, plums, and we tried apples again, no reaction this time!

She's still not a big fan of fruit. Like this morning we had banana cinnamon oatmeal, and zucchini haha! BUT i did buy some of those organic squeeze packets of food at Target, i got all fruits, and this afternoon she ate a whole packet of peaches! SO those might be our best bet at getting her to eat some fruit!!

This month were going to do carrots, brown rice, pasta, beans, blueberries, and mango :)

Sleep/Independence: What a mamas girl i have here! I can't blame her for her dependence on me, we are together all day every day! She has a little anxiety when someone else holds her. Were working on it. She's also been fussy due to teething like crazy and ear infections! Poor kid.

So now what were doing the 4 hour schedule this is what I'm AIMING for every day to look like..some days were off give or take 30 minutes or so..but its getting there! And theres so much more free time during the day!

7:00 wake, eat bottle and solids
9:00 nap
11:00 wake, eat bottle and solids
1:00 nap
3:00 wake, eat bottle and snack
5:00ish eat solids and water
7:00 bottle and bed

Now that we have all this free time in between naps and at the end of the day I'm looking forward to lots of walks, "swimming" in the kiddie pool, visiting aunt erin at work, playing with our cousins, more trips to Target :) sorry babe! ha!

Speaking of walks I really want to get a jogging stroller so we can go for runs! In the perfect world we would get the BOB jogger...but we don't exactly have $500 laying around! SO i think ill be happy with this one ...

You know how i put the blow up bath tub as one of Leightons favorite things a couple weeks ago? Well we've outgrown it already, she climbs out of it haha! So we picked up this bath mat at Target yesterday and were officially taking big girl baths now!

Oh my baby is growing so fast! The month after next will be double digits! and THEN we will be in full time party planning mode :)

Im taking Leightons pictures this weekend, I have to have an "assistant" now..she won't stay in one place long enough to get a shot in! HA!

OH WEDNESDAY

I havent blogged since last Wednesday...weird.

Ive literally sat down at the computer every morning, pulled up blogger, and could think of nothing to write. Actually..scratch that i can think of PLENTY of things to write..but nothing that would qualify as a post. But who cares right? So its wednesday...and I'm just going to talk about everything! :)

Took Leightons Easter pics with her cousins over the weekend. Something happened with the camera, i guess i pushed a button or moved the dial while trying to rangle one 7 month old, a 3 year old and a 4 month old. So who can blame me that the pictures are ridiculously over exposed! I could only save like 5 of them. Sad day...oh well we will try again..mabye this afternoon.

For about 4 days in a row Leighton would cry when I put her in the bathtub. I was so stumped...shes always loved the bath, especially her new bath tub. I really got to thinking about it and the first time she started to cry was when Taylor was bathing her, then my mom was over the next night and the same thing happened..I thought maybe it was just because she wanted me? No, still cried. Then I walked in on Taylor washing her hair with the wrong baby wash, the one that isn't tear free! Poor thing, she was so scared that her little eyes were going to burn every time she took a bath! It took about 3 days, but now she's fine.

Were leaving for Austin friday morning. Ive been trying to prepare. Making insane amounts of baby food, getting all the laundry done, making Leightons easter basket and headband. Finally found some shoes that match. Were only going for a day and a half and I feel like I'm preparing for a week haha! We've decided to keep Leighton at the bed and breakfast with us. Im just not ready to leave her yet. Taylor was totally ok with it, actually he was the one who asked if she needed to stay with us. So thankful for him being understanding, he really is great :)

Im loving the weather. Some days its a little TOO hot, it makes me sad to think there will be days this summer that we won't even be able to go outside because it will be SOO hot. Oh Texas, how we love you. So we are taking advantage of the weather for sure!
We go on a walk every day...its Leightons favorite thing. She refuses to be strapped in with the shoulder straps, she likes to pull herself forward and hold onto the cup holders. We walk around the elementary school and then along judge ely rd, by the inter mural fields then home. She loves looking at the kids playing, and the cars along the road. She just sits in complete silence...by little studier baby :)

I was at United the other night by myself and couldn't help but notice ( because the entire store was watching ) a woman in her 30s in a handicap cart, along with an elderly woman with a cane, and about 5 girls..ranging from 5 years old to probably 13, and one in the parking lot riding around on a bike ?! The woman in the cart was in front of me in line, and her kids were EVERYWHERE. One girl was picking up all the produce and putting it in the weight trays, one girl was just running up and down the isles. One girl ( the 5 year old ) was getting on all the other handicap carts and driving them into the store an d leaving them in the middle of the isle. The mom was screaming at the grandma ( who can hardly walk ) to get the kids in the car because she was to tired. The only thing in her cart was 3 cases of beer. At first, like 90% of the people in the store, I was annoyed. I wanted her to get out of my way, get her kids together and leave. Then I almost started crying. Its amazing how God convicts us at moments like that. I wanted to grab all those girls and hug them. Tell them they were beautiful, and special, and loved. It was compleltey heartbreaking. These are the kids we see who 15 years from now drop out of school, get pregnant, wind up in jail. And its not their fault. EVERY thing i do is for my child, my hear has been changed in ways i can't even explain and this mother gene in me has been lit. All i wanted to do was mother them. And i can't. And their mother won't. I got in my car and just cried ( surprise surprise! haha ) I pray Leighton is never out of the reach of my love, I pray she always knows my love for her. I pray she never questions it.

I got Taylor a surprise gift for Easter...he is going to FREAK! ill be sure to take pics and post about it next week! I hope you all have an amazing weekend! HE IS RISEN! :)