11 Months

I can't believe I have an eleven-month-old (I forgot to change the number on the picture)! Sally is so much fun to have around. Each month has its own set of challenges, but it just gets more and more fun.

• Sally has six teeth, and it all happened at once! We had a few weeks of torture for all of us. But I am so in love with her toothy grin, and I love being able to give her crackers to eat now! I can tell she feels like such a grown up being able to bite into things like Johnny and I do.
• Sally loves to stand on her own but is scared to death of taking that first step. We can tell she's thinking about it, but it still hasn't happened yet.
• She's in the opening cabinet stage. And the tearing things out of cabinets and drawers stage. She is so incredibly busy right now. 
• Sally likes having her teeth brushed at night, which shocked me since she tends to hate almost everything I try to do to her.
• Sally still loves nursing. I nurse her in the morning when she wakes up, right before both of her naps, and then at night before she goes to bed. 
• Sally goes to sleep at 7:00 and wakes up at 6:00. Johnny and I alternate days getting up with her to lessen the blow of such an early wake time. We did some sleep training with her a few weeks ago because she was still nursing 1-2 times during the night. But now she sleeps through the night like a champ!
• Sally loves putting rings on a cone and putting balls on a ramp and watching them go down. She also loves pushing buttons and playing with water in the sink. 
• Sally giggles so hard when we're changing her diaper and tell her it's stinky. 
• In the past month, Sally has figured out clapping and shaking her head "no," and she can't get enough of either.
• Sal loves waving at strangers. But it still takes her a little time to warm up to people. 
• Sally has started to become comfortable with some of our family members, which is so fun to see! It will be so neat to see her relationships with them grow. 
• Sally loves for me to say, "I'm gonna get you!" when she's crawling away. She gives a high-pitched squeal and crawls away as fast as she can.
• Sally still loves Persie and petting her.
• When I'm nursing or rocking Sally, she loves playing with my hair. She brushes her fingers through it so softly, and it's the cutest thing.

 And now for some pictures of Sally at 11 months:

Sally likes blowing spit bubbles even though she doesn't know what she's doing.

Fall Family Photos

Johnny's sister Sarah snapped a few pictures of us in November for our Christmas card. They were our first family photos since Sally was born! If it weren't for her, we'd still be an undocumented family of three. I basically just handed her our camera and asked her to shoot a few pictures, and she did a great job! 

This one sums up Sally perfectly:

My favorite:

Johnny took a few pictures of Sally and me, which I will treasure forever!

Freeman Family Pictures

In early November, Johnny and I got together with his sister Sarah and her family for family pictures. We were both in need of pictures for our upcoming Christmas cards, and a beautiful Saturday afternoon seemed like the perfect opportunity. Getting Johnny to agree to pictures was quite a feat in itself, as most Saturdays in the fall are dedicated to BYU football. But he ended up being a great sport and took care of Sal while I took pictures.

Our nieces are just so cute, and I felt to lucky to get to take their photos! Sarah, Josh, and the girls are the most beautiful, perfect little family, and it was a fun afternoon spent with them!

 

10 Months

On November 6, Sally turned 10 months! As you can see from the above picture, it was downright impossible to get her to sit still for a picture. It was a busy time, and she was teething like no other. She went from one tooth coming in to four teeth coming in. I wish I could remember more specifics, but this is what happens when I don't write it down as it's happening! I'll have more to update for her 11-month post. And now, a mash-up of Sally at 10 months.

Halloween

I'm going to consider it a success that I'm blogging about Halloween before Christmas has passed!

Halloween was a low-key event in our house. I always imagine things much more extravagant in my mind, and then when it comes down to the nitty gritty, I remember that we have a baby. And babies don't do extravagant. At least ours doesn't. Johnny and I have come to terms with the fact that Sally is not the most easy-going soul.

I used to swear I wouldn't be that parent who built my life around my baby's sleeping schedule, but I totally am, for now at least. And so on Halloween night, despite our plans to go trick-or-treating with my sister Melyssa and her family, we decided to just call it a night after we had dinner with them. Sally's bedtime is 7:00, and she'd missed her afternoon nap that day, so we opted for a sleeping baby rather than a screaming baby.

But Halloween afternoon was quite a treat! Johnny's work had all the employees' kids come trick-or-treating around the office at 4:00. So I dressed Sally up in her elephant ensemble and headed on over.

Sally was the perfect elephant, even though she never even knew what she looked like :). It was so fun to have a baby to dress up this year. Even though we haven't done much for Halloween in the past, I could see us really getting into it once our kids are a little older!