eight months



This is SUCH a fun age! And I am stoked that I get to spend the next 2 months at home with her during this stage of development. The summer forecast looks sunny with a lot of pool, park and play dates! 

Ri is now heavy enough that her + the Peg Perego are barely gettin' out of the Denali these days. I am 5' on a good day so lifting her carseat up and out of the bucket is proving to become nearly impossible. It probably calls for me to start working out again but seriously, I am just going to have to start taking her out of the carseat instead. She is sitting up in the big girl part of her stroller now anyways and with the Southern heat, she is probably cooking in that carseat.

Ri loves her solids now. She has put herself into somewhat of a routine:

6:45          Wake up for the day

7:00           6oz bottle

8:30           Breakfast- 1/4 jar of baby food (usually a fruit/oatmeal/yogurt combo)

9:30           Nap (usually 45 mins or may even skip it to merge into second one and skip 3rd-  ideal)

11:00         6 oz bottle

12:00         Lunch- jar of a veggie and finishes jar from breakfast

1:00-3:00   Nap

3:00           6 oz bottle

5:30           Nap

7:00           Dinner- jar of veggie/meat + fruit

8:00           5 oz bottle

9:00           Down for the night (hope to push this a little earlier this summer)

Ri loves the new swing on the back porch. She will sprawl out and just lie there quietly looking around and enjoying the breeze. She also just loves being outside to watch the birds and dogs and take it all in. 

She is a squirmy little worm. She likes being held when she is tired and will fling her head into your shoulder/chest. But other than that, she wants down buddy, because she is on.the.move. Baby-proofing will be happening asap. It's like she deliberately goes for the dangerous stuff- straight to the fireplace to play in the rocks... straight to the cabinet that has the steak knives. I mean, how do they know this stuff is even in there?! 

Ri still enjoys her acrobatic fun with daddy and gets a kick out of it. She still has no fear- dogs barking in her face, swinging upside down and splashing her face with a ton of water- those are all very funny to her. 

Noteable moments: 

May 13- heard a quiet "Da-Da". She has never been much of a babbler and then May 13 and 14 she was moving that mouth like she had a whole bunch to tell us. 

May 13- very fussy and needy for her paci that weekend- thought it was teething but still no sign of 'em

May 20- said Da-Da loud and clear while looking at a picture of Daddy. Now, Da-Da is her go-to when she is sleepy, wants out of her crib, wants someone to pick her up, wants her bottle and so on. 

She knows how to work it. A whiney, pitiful 'Daaa-daaaa" gets him every time. 

May 23- cried out in the night 2 separate times. It alarmed me and I went to check her. Gave her the paci and she went back to sleep. Still thinking it might be her teeth? 

May 26- Ri woke up with a tooth bud! Finally!!

May 27- woke up and decided to wave bye-bye at everyone and everything 

Out of all of her stuffed animals, she chose Doggy. Doggy was my loyal companion since my 1st birthday. 

Discovering her friends, finally!

Ri + Will

Ri + Harper

My loves

So thankful that Ri gets to play with her great-grand.

The carseat is her favorite toy. Serious.

Goofball!

First time sitting up in the bath! Look, Mom, no hands!

Yea. This happened 2 days into crawling.

Proud of herself for climbing into her chair

Playing in the morning- Copper watching from "his" chair

All my girlfriends from high school + 1 and the babies! How times have changed!!

Sitting in a high chair like a big girl- and loved

A LOT has happened this month. Can't wait to see what the summer holds- more teeth? walking? both of those make my summer sound long and exhausting. But I am blessed either way. 

identity capital for the 20-somethings

Has someone ever said something to you that to them may have been nonchalant, but wound up being deeply impacting on your life? I have. My psychology professor at Auburn made a profound comment one day that has run through my mind ever since. "You girls better figure out now who you are and who you are to become, based on something other than your looks; because by the time you are 35, all the 19-year-olds will be prettier than you." It was in that defining moment that it kind of hit me. He is exactly.right. What am I doing here? Why am I so wrapped up in how I am dressed or look for class, when there are tons of people who would give anything to be in my shoes- at this college, getting a degree of their choice. Their choice to then use, contentedly, every day for the rest of their lives. It was really only after that day that I feel I truly got serious with college and making a career out of what I learned there, not just treating it like some big, swanky, co-ed summer camp. He helped put into perspective that I ain't got all day to figure my life out; that within a few years if I don't have a plan in place, it might just be too late to put it altogether.

Chassity over at Look Linger Love posted this awesome video yesterday about this generation's 20-somethings and how we have been taught that we have "extra" time to kind of flounce around through life for a decade since 30 is the new 20. Meg discusses how wrong this saying truly is. She talks about where we perceive a lot of our 20-something decisions to be "identity exploration," a lot of them are really more "identity procrastination." Instead, we should start investing in "identity capital" as it begets identity capital for your future.

Makes sense, and it wouldn't hurt the guys to hear it, either.

Check it out here.