9 Months Old Already!!

Dear Jadee,

You are now 9 months old and I can hardly believe that much time has passed! It seems like just yesterday that you were born and just a little cuddly bug in my arms. Now you are 22 lbs. 4 oz and 29 ¾ inches tall! You are growing so fast every day and changing so much!

You love to be awake and play all day! I love coming to get you in the mornings or when you wake up from a nap because you always greet me with a big smile and sometimes a babble or a shriek of joy. It makes my heart melt to see you react like that when Daddy or I walk into the room. When I get home from work, you practically leap out of whoever’s arms you are in, or from whatever toys you were playing with just to get to me. You won’t settle down until I hold you and then we get some cuddle time while you eat. I treasure these moments. “Ma ma ma ma” and “da, da, da da” are your favorite words to say and you babble them all day with some other sounds mixed in too.

You love to eat and want to try everything that is on our plates! Your favorite food right now is probably butternut squash, cottage cheese and cheerios! You can pick up little finger foods and get them into your mouth, but it is quite a site to watch you maneuver the little bits of food in there as you still hold it halfway between your fist and fingers. You have been drinking from a sippy cup just fine for about a month now, and you just learned how to drink from a straw! Your favorite, though, is still to drink water from Mommy and Daddy’s cup, you hardly dribble any down your front! My favorite thing to watch you eat is anything I put in your baby popsicle thing because you just love to chew on frozen or ice cold fruit. We think you are teething (and have been for awhile!) and that is why you love to chew on everything in sight. When will that first tooth finally pop through?

Your smile just lights up a room and whenever we go out you smile at all the strangers and they always say how cute you are! It is fun to watch your face as you explore the world around you. You are very active and love to look at and listen to every thing as we go on walks.

You are working on crawling and have now mastered getting on your hands and knees and rocking back and forth. But as soon as you rock a few times, you fall onto your stomach and then get frustrated because you just shake your arms and legs like crazy. You can get around pretty well and reach any toy you want to by army scooting in circles and reaching your arms out and pulling hard.

You love to sing, dance and bounce to music or just sitting by yourself playing with your toys. It is great to see you almost pulling yourself up to stand and play with your jungle.

Jadee girl, you are growing so fast and each day is an adventure with you! We love you so much and can’t wait to see you develop and grow even more.

Love,
Mommy

Reading Time with Uncle Cole

While we were at my parents, my little brother Cole enjoyed reading to Jade. It was fun to see these two interact. He is now the age I was when he was born!

Our Trip to Grandma & Grandpa's House

Last week Ben had to go to St. George on a business trip and Jade and I did not want to be home alone so....we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a few days! It was so much fun and we did alot of things. It was nice to not be at work and just relax with Jade and my family for awhile. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here is some of what we were up to...

We celebrated Great Grandma's 70th birthday! Way to go for looking so young and fit Grandma!

Jade does pretty good at drinking from a cup, but when it is empty all she wants to do is chew, chew, chew...

We loved visiting with my parents.

We even saw a baby buffalo just after it was born...so CUTE!

One of Jade's many looks...she sure loves taking walks and being outside.

She played the piano for the first time...I think we might have a musician on our hands!

We took some generation photos with Great Grandpa. This was special because both Jade and I share his name, his is Dominick and our middle names are Dominique.

Of course no trip would be complete without finding a tag to chew on!

What a pleasant baby...

Don't you just love her smile?

and laugh?

She found some newspaper and magazines to play with...oh oh!! She had such a blast ripping and throwing and making lots of noise!

This is serious business!

Jade got another visit from Great Grandma Johnson, my mom's mom.

I can't believe how tall she is getting, just look at this pic!

Jadee loves taking walks with Grandma. Look at the blue Wyoming sky!! Not like our smoggy Orem air!

Spent some time playing in her toy basket.

And finally, I found some more paper to chew on!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great trip!!! We love you and hope we can visit again soon!

Playing Dress Up

I love lazy days around the house when we just hang out, the three of us all together. Things like this happen....

And this...

Feeding the ducks and other fun

Last week we went to the Nielson's Grove Park in Orem to feed the ducks. Jade didn't know what to think at first but she eventually started talking to them.

Here I am trying to put her in a cute pose for a picture with the flowers, and what is Jadee doing....Hmmmm...eating them!!!

And of course we had some fun on the big swing!

Then & Now

Ahhh, so today I was looking through some old pictures we took of Jade and I came across a few that made me smile. Here are some great then and now pics, watch how much Jade has grown.

She basically slept in her baby swing for a couple weeks of her life, we could not get her to sleep anywhere else. Look how tiny she is.

Now she swings for fun at the park with the "big" kids.

My first trip in a stroller...

Now I have a new, bigger stroller and I love to sit up and look at everything!

This is my precious little snuggly bundle just days after she was born.

And now look at her!

Jade in one of her toy baskets, she fit perfectly...

Now she tosses all the toys out!

Going home from the hospital in my new car seat. We were so worried she didn't fit and had to hold her head upright the whole way home.

Now, she has actually outgrown this "new" carseat, both her head and her legs poke up and out of it. She hated being in it and so at 8 months old, itwas time for a new one.

When I came home...

This is the scene that I came home to last week....

Daddy and Jade playing hide and seek. It was the cutest thing you have ever seen.