End of June

A trip to the zoo

 We brought our friend Luke along too. 

 This picture of an elephant was taken by Ashley and the reason it is a special picture is that it is the last picture my little purse camera took just moment before being dropped for it's last time and ending it's un-cared-for life. It's just as well, it took horrible fuzzy pictures. 

The aquarium. Ashley went to a BDay party at the aquarium. It is so far south that the rest of us stayed around and had a great time. I wish she could've come out with us. That is the third BDay party we've been to at the aquarium and the poor kids just get locked up in the small "party room" and only come out to see a small portion of the aquarium but, they sure love eating cake and opening presents so it works. Anyway, we had a great time and it was fun to see Andrew and Hailey team up. 

You know you have over done it when you realize your child is trained to take pictures by/with everything. He asked me to take his picture with almost every.single.thing, until my battery ran dead. This is one of my favorite things he wanted to pose with: The Anatomy of a Coral exhibit.

 Andrew does not like to touch animals. He won't admit that but, it's true. I think having an animal lover for a little sister might make him feel pressured to be brave about it. I told him I'd give him a dollar if he pet the sting ray so, of course he did it. Then we were both shocked when he actually liked it and did it a few more times without a bribe. 

 He touched the star fish too, really quickly. 

Hailey loved this frog. Andrew went above and beyond being sweet big brother to her, like he used to be to Ashley before she got big and started driving him crazy. 

 Our sweet Thing 4 

 Katie is getting bigger. She is so long and tall, and such a skinny little lightweight too weighing n at 15 lbs.  She continues to be happy, smiley, curious, cuddly, and ticklish. She knows her name and always responds with a great big smile. She loves to eat her baby foods and to nurse, just like her big sisters at her age. She is also loving the start of some regular foods too and has her eyes on all the yummy summer treats that she seems to know would be delicious! She is a momma's girl and loves to be with me. She stops crying as soon as I make eye contact with her if she can see that I am coming or reaching for her, which is so sweet.

She has hit some fun milestones recently that are always fun to document.

• She began sitting the first week of June, still tipping over (8 months)
• That same week she also started "crawling" but, only on her belly and really only in circles
• By the second week of June she was army crawling forward (8.5 months)
• A few days before reaching 9 months she could push up on all fours and stay there, though still going down to her belly to get moving. Even though it's an army crawl she is really moving and gets anywhere she wants. 
• She has an excellent pincer grasp and is picking up everything. She loves food, toys, keys and paper. She went for months never putting anything in her mouth - which was heaven in some ways and then just one week before we left for our trip to the beach she grabbed a handful of dirt and shoved it in. It's a nice skill though because it's helpful to be able to give her a handful of cheerios while I work on something else. 
• She was sitting with perfect balance by June 26th (9 months)
• Her two top middle teeth both began to pop through on June 28th, so now that cute smile includes 4 tiny teeth. (9 months)
• She learned to push herself into a sitting position all on her own at almost 9.5 months. That skill, along with crawling, brings a lot of independence being able to move in any way she wants now. 

~

I took her to the doctor at 9 months and she had 2 double ear infections. I was actually a little relieved because over the past several weeks I'd noticed that she had completely stopped babbling. Our pediatrician said that it could take 4 weeks for her to be hearing normally again and that was a pretty normal response to hearing issues. She used to chat a bit but, lately she is very quiet except to cry, laugh, blow bubbles, or make a funny grunting growl when she eats more textured foods. 

Love our sweet Miss Blue Eyes!