8months.

*crawls all over the place (the traditional way)
*pulls up on short things, i am her favorite jungle gym
*has a tooth!
*says mamamama (used to, doesn't say it much anymore), dadadada (her favorite), babababa
*loves to blow raspberries
*loves "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"
*dances (not when we tell her to, but when she hears music)
*is a great eater, usually purees, but now some finger food too like cut up green beans, banana, avocado, carrot (cooked of course), kiwi
*loves yogurt, yogurt melts, and puffs (not sure about cheerios)
*gets 4 bottles (7am, 11,3,7), 3 solid meals (8:30, 11, 6) and 1 snack (4ish)
*goes to bed around 7 and gets up at 6:30/7
*does not like to have her diaper changed or get dressed
*immediately tries to roll or crawl away during diapers
*loves ruby
*is a bit hard to put down for a nap, she'd rather be crawling and pulling up than sleeping no matter how tired she is, i leave her alone and she eventually goes to sleep
*takes 2 naps a day around 9am and 1pm
*loves animal noises

thanksgiving.

the last few years we've all gone to the shuley's house for thanksgiving. every year it gets bigger and bigger and this year was certainly no different since we added andrew and finley into the mix! everyone brings a couple things and we always end up with tons of great food. this year i brought tomato basil soup, mashed potatoes and hot chocolate (with fun stir spoons). fin (and andrew) was a trooper. luckily she took a good nap before we went over there and hung out till bedtime. we kept her up just a tad bit later than normal and by the time we got back to mom's house she was definitely ready for bed. for thanksgiving dinner she had sweet potatoes, puffs and her first taste of real mashed potatoes. she probably could have tried some turkey and other things, i'm just still pretty cautious about table food for now. although dr. eddings told us at her 6 month appt. that closer to 9 months she should start eating what we're eating. she's almost 8 months now so i think we'll start that soon. i mean, obviously only things she can gum, but that will be a lot more than she gets now! anyways, finley's first thanksgiving was definitely a success. oh! she even crawled the REAL way for the first time that night. i guess she was waiting until she had a huge audience to show off. ever since she's been going non-stop! so proud of her.

playing at coco's

represent

erin and i were talking inside and then saw this blur run by out back. finley, your dad and grandpa are crazy. p.s. they were "watching" the kids outside.

fin and gigi!

so lucky to have jenna as a friend for the last 20ish years!

savings.

i decided to keep track of how much it was to make my own babyfood to see if it really was a savings. that's the main reason for making it. i mean, it's nice to know what's exactly going in her food, but i certainly don't think there's some conspiracy out there and they're putting weird things in babyfood. i keep store bought babyfood around in case i forget to thaw some or didn't get around to making anything. anyways here's what i've found:

fresh
4 bananas- $1.08 made 16 oz
4 yellow squash - $1.93 (used 3) made 6 oz
1 butternut squash- $2.88 13oz
4 organic gala apples- $4.20 (used 3 1/2) 15 oz
3 organic bosc pears- $4.02 13 oz
1 cauliflower- $1.50 18 oz
2 acorn squash- $6.34 30 oz (!!)
3 sweet potato- $2.93  (2 1/2) 34 oz (!!)

frozen
10 oz peaches- $2.29 made 6 oz
12 oz mango- $1.90 10 oz
19 oz peas- $1.42 24 oz
16 oz rhubarb- $2.42 10 oz
12 oz carrots- 10 0z

so all in all most of it saves money. i buy green beans and prunes made b/c i don't want to deal with skins. also apples, pears and peaches don't seem to be worth it to make. i also got a can of pumpkin which she LOVED. andi now buy unsweetened applesauce (get lots). and i also made spinach. i don't think i'll be able to make the meat when it comes time for that. just thinking about it makes me gag.

some of the freezer stash

inchworm.

finley is determined to crawl. that's all she wants to do right now. she's figured out a method that works for her so i don't know if she'll ever crawl the traditional way. our little inchworm is getting faster everyday. this video was a couple weeks ago and she started pretty far back there. this is about half way to her goal.

storytime3.

FINALLY we got in! surprisingly she slept till 8 monday morning (after waking up at 5:38 then falling back asleep around 6:30) so we went to the 9:30 storytime. we got there 15 min. early and got a ticket. there were already lots of people there. they have coloring activities out, computers and some toys so the kiddos are entertained till it's go time. it was really fun! mostly songs which was good b/c i didn't think she'd really sit there for 30 min of stories. at the end there was a parachute and bubbles which every baby loves. so we'll plan on going on mondays as long as she's awake.

7months.

she's closer to a year old than a newborn!! so bittersweet. she...


*sits herself up from a laying position
*has her own way of crawling-- it certainly gets her where she wants to go (especially to the off-limits pumpkins)
*likes to hang upside down, fly, dance, play peek-a-boo
*loves animal sounds and hanging out outside
*takes 2 naps a day (9ish and 1ish) for about 1.5 hrs each
*goes to bed around 7
*wakes up at 6/6:30 (!!) we're trying to push this back since sometimes it's as early as 5:30
*has eaten peas, sweet potato, squash (butternut, acorn, yellow), green beans, apples, pears, peaches, prunes, carrots, and avocado.
*loves to eat puffs and mum mums
*doesn't have any teeth yet, but those bottom ones look like they'll come through soon
*went to little gym and gymboree (loved both)
*studies everything, especially people's faces
* eats 3 solid meals (8:15, 11, and 6), and 4 6-8 oz bottles (7,11,3,7)
*loves ruby
*loves to beat on things
*is a rolling madwoman
*is ticklish

storytime2.

was a fail also. well, i guess it was partly successful. fin got up super early monday morning (5:30 eek!) and then took a short nap so we were up for the first storytime at 9:30. we got ready, go there on time and i followed some women in with their kiddos so i could see exactly where to go and what to do. so they ran out of tickets 2 kids in front of us. ooooof course. it was kind of successful because we got a library card and a few books. maybe third times the charm, we'll be back next week.