Lovin Life :)

We have been so blessed with more gorgeous weather! We have enjoyed going for walks with Shaddy and Ells, in hopes the walk would help our new baby cousin/niece or nephew arrive sooner ;), playing outside and at the park with Nini and Grand daddy, hangin out with Griffin and Kypton for a grill out and going to the zoo for the first time with Jess and Carmen, even though our trip was interrupted by a thunderstorm. I guess we need rain every once in a while. ;)  I have to admit I was a little nervous about how Blakely might react to the animals at the zoo, but for the short time we were there, she seemed to love them! Especially the super cute red pandas! :)

On one of the nicer days last week, Ross and I tried putting super cute flip flops Blakely got from her cousins, Aubrey and Neely, on her but of course, she hated them! However, we were able to get a few cute pics of her in them while smiling. :)   

One of B's new favorite games is flinging herself on our bed into a pile of pillows! (Sorry for the blurry pics, but I thought they were too cute not to post. :))

Hope everyone's doing well and enjoying this week! LOVES!!

Givin' the wink ;)

Mom, give me your sunglasses!!

Stylin' :)

My turn to take pics :)

I think I'm done...too tired from laughing and flinging myself back!

Ready to go to the zoo!!

Baby Shower and beautiful weather :)

This past weekend, the Rethmeier/Livingston women threw Kelsey and Baby Shaye a shower, and it was a blast!  So thankful and blessed it went well and we were able to spend time with friends and family.

The only picture with Daddy while wearing the headband. :) 

I guess she is more like her mother than we thought....no headbands!!

B got ahold of the camera :)

Uncle Nick and Aunt Kel's niece, Ava...so cute!

Got the camera again :)

One of my good friends from church told me that her and her husband use to give their son, when we was younger, their junk mail to play with. So of course, I though this would be a great way to entertain Blakes. :)  

Ew...I will take one of these and one of those... ;)

oh and one of these!

Yesterday, B and I were able to hang out with, Aunt Kare, Shaddy and Ells. We went for a walk because the weather was just right. Today, I think the temperature got to over 75 degrees and we got to go for another awesome walk with Aunt Holls and Kypton. I could really get use to this kind of weather in Iowa! :)

Mom, I love the weather, but the sun is too bright. :)

10 months :)

Miss B turned 10 months on Sunday (still blows my mind :) ) and it's crazy how much she has changed! :) She has always been a stationary "mover and groover"...now she's just a mover and a groover! I received a call before class last week from Karie (her and Kel were watching Blakes while I prepared for a presentation at school) saying Blakely was "crawling" at her house. Crawling is in quotes because Blakely seems to have invented her own way of moving and it only includes moving her arms and one leg while pulling the other leg along wherever she wants to go. :)

Her new favorite place to hang out at our house is the bathroom. The other day she was watching me dry my hair and when I handed her, her brush she started brushing her hair. Then when I handed her one of my hair clips she tried to put it in her hair...super cute. :) Today, after we played outside (yes, outside! :) ), I thought it would be fun for B to play with jewelry. :)

After playing with jewelry, we decided to do just a little cleaning before nap time and when I sat her down to dust our bedroom, this is what happend.... ;)

I think this was her way of apologizing for making a mess...offering to help dust. ;)

OH, you don't need my help, okay then I'm just going to chew on this then. :)

Some firsts :)

Last weekend we spent time in Winterset hanging out with the whole fam, and yes, Aunt Kelsey, Uncle Nick and baby Shaye were there! :) Blakely got the chance to sled for the first time with her cousins and she had a blast! (In all honesty though, I think I had more fun watching her and taking her down on the sled. ;)) I forgot my camera of course, but Aunt Kare took plenty of pics and once I get them, I will post them! (Nevermind, I actually just stole some from her blog ;) )

Blakely also got to eat Strawberries and grapes with the skins, but didn't like either of them. :( So back to peeling the skins off of grapes! Another first was for Ross and I...We had to "discipline" Blakes for the first time by saying the word, "No". She has figured out that if she drops food on the floor, Tankie will come and eat it. Everytime he jumps on her chair for more, she laughs hysterically, so of course, what does she do...give him more food! When we first said, NO, to this she laughed and then when she saw our serious faces she detected something wasn't right and began to cry. I'm not gonna lie, its super hard to keep a straight face when she bats those beautiful blue eyes, but Ross and I know we must be consistent!

I received my weekly Parent.com email that suggests new things to do with children and this week the email said that Blakely could mimic coloring so what did we do? We got the good ole Crayolas out and started to color and to my surprise, she did mimic me coloring! I'm not sure if we detect at this age if she will be a lefty or righty, but I have to say, she picked up the paper and crayons with her left hand an awful lot. Her daddy will be one proud daddy if she is a lefty... ;)

Another first, more of a cute, silly first, happened when Blakely woke up from a nap with her hood on her head. :) She wasn't happy that I was taking her pic, calling her a boxer and not getting her out of the crib, but she was still cute nonetheless.

Finally, Blakes has started standing on her own and getting onto all fours. So we are really excited to see her crawl and walk anytime now! Can't believe this day has come! :)

Movin' and a groovin' :)

Blakely has always been a busy bee and desired to be held/moved. So we were not surprised when we had  to lower Blakely's crib the other night. I heard Ross say, "Well, hey there little lady, how did you learn to sit up in your crib?"

Of course, she doesn't sit up anywhere else, no matter how much we encourage her. She has also been sleeping through the night and one would think this would allow her parents to get some much needed sleep? Nope! Instead of needing to eat every three to four hours, she sits up and talks to herself or plays with her binkie every one to two hours. What boggles my mind, is she doesn't seem to be one bit tired when we finally get up in the morning!

Well this afternoon I could tell she needed a nap and this is what I walked in and saw after I had laid her down....

Do I really need a nap? There's so much I could be doing instead! :)

When I went back into her room and laid her back down, before I left the room, I heard this little giggle and when I turned around this is what I saw (she's one quick little chickadee!)...

You're gonna have to try alot harder than that, Mom, to get me to sleep. ;)

Not quite sure what we're going to do about helping her stay horizontal...I'm open to any suggestions! Don't get me wrong, I am thankful to see her learning how to move and I think it's absolutely the most wonderful and adorable sound to hear her chatter, but I know a good night's rest would do not only her but her parents a ton of good! :)