8 Months

This year keeps going faster and faster. I can't believe it's been a month since I last did an update! Peyton is so much fun to have around and keeps us laughing on a regular basis with her funny faces and new things she is learning. It's been a busy month for her developmentally and she's so close to so many new skills too. We love her more every day!

This month she:

-- learned how to wave!! It's my new favorite thing about her. She gets her whole arm into it and it's adorable. She waves "hi," and "bye," and "goodnight"
-- is eating table foods more and more and sometimes seems like she prefers them to her baby foods
-- figured out how to fake cough and fake laugh and cracks herself up doing it
-- wants SO bad to be mobile, but is too stubborn to do it herself
-- knows what we're signing to her and responds when we show her
-- signed to us that she wanted to be nursed just once in the car, but refuses to do it again haha
-- learned how to use her sippy cup
-- started to pull herself up on mom and dad's hands, and sometimes on her walker toy
-- has loved going swimming, and goes under water and comes up a little startled, but not crying!
-- started singing to herself
-- is a very good actress/stubborn about what she eats. If she's not interested in the food we've picked out she can almost convince us that she's not hungry, and usually succeeds in getting us get a different kind of food for her
-- started putting syllables together
-- loves chanting da-da-da and aja-ja-ja
-- learned how to be content in her crib after sleeping. She'll talk and play with her stuffed monkey in there for 30+ minutes on a good day
-- mastered an army crawl/roll/spin to get to where she wants to be
-- has started bouncing/dancing when she hears music or us singing or just when she's really happy and excited
-- tried her first lemon (probably dad's favorite part of the whole month)
-- met her great-grandma and grandpa Haws for the first time! She loved them
-- watched Aunt Julia graduate high school (and was a HUGE trooper through the ceremony)
-- started taking steps if mom or dad is holding her hands and helping her forward
-- holds herself up on furniture/people's legs and laps for about 10 seconds before getting distracted and losing her balance or forgetting that she's the one holding herself up
-- has started pulling out books to read from the shelf and definitely has some favorites
-- is still fascinated by the diaper bag (sometimes we wonder why we bothered spending money on baby toys)
-- LOVES to play with the car keys (thank goodness we have a keyless start car) - it's mom's go-to meltdown fixer
-- laughs with/at us when we pinch her bum before bathtime
-- has gotten much more social and interactive with people around her
-- is guaranteed to laugh when we hold her and help her chase anyone around
-- gets comments ALL the time on her pretty blue eyes
-- goes by sweet girl, stinky, stinker bug, stinkalous, peyton lula, lula, little lady
-- recognizes and responds to her name

7 Months!

I'm a little late writing this one... we've been a little busy around here, in the best way :)

Peyton turned 7 months old! Her personality is getting bigger every day, and this month especially she's really turned into such a happy baby. We can't get enough of her and love to play with her!

This month she:
-- has mastered sitting up (although we still put a pillow behind her because she hasn't figured out how to lay down gently)
-- is exploring lots of finger foods
-- is being really stubborn about not trying crawling, instead she rolls from her back to her stomach and back again over and over until she gets close enough to grab the toy she wants
-- does much better in the car, she loves to babble to herself in the mirror behind her carseat
-- has gotten a little bit of stranger danger, she doesn't love to be handed off to people she doesn't know
-- sometimes shows a strong preference for mom and will lean out of people's arms if I'm standing too close
-- still loves to watch older babies
-- loves to read books, especially ones where she gets to lift the flaps
-- has started to turn into a real chatterbox, but mostly when she's playing by herself
-- still loves to see herself in the mirror
-- has started grabbing onto mom at random times, and usually ends up grabbing a (tiny) fistful that results in a very hard pinch (unfortunately she usually gets the backs of my arms or my neck - ouch)
-- loves, loves, loves playing in the water. She seems to be much less scared of it, and kicks and splashes all the way through bath time
-- her favorite part of her bedtime routine is saying goodnight to dad - she gets a HUGE smile on her face and does a kind of wave to him as he shuts the door and turns off the light. It's adorable.
-- has started shaking her head (also usually just with dad)
--still loves playing with her toes
-- has mastered the pincer grasp and grabs onto anything and everything she can
-- does a great job shopping with mom (riding in the grocery cart on a regular basis), and smiles at lots of people - she always gets comments and people making faces at her
-- pretty consistently is napping 3 times a day (I think this is the biggest contributor to her happy moods) - we couldn't be happier to have figured out this sleeping schedule (at least for now)
-- is getting better and better at playing by herself, as long as mom or dad is still in sight
-- is finally losing the bald spot on the back of her head!
-- loves to jump up and down in her bouncer
-- has discovered a love of blowing spit bubbles

(There were too many good ones to narrow it down, so hopefully you don't mind some extra pictures this month!)

6 Months!

It's hard to believe that we've had Peyton as part of our family for a half of a year already!!! It has really flown by. We're loving (almost) every minute of it and love her more every day.

This month our sweet girl:
-- is rolling both ways - it's pretty funny to watch her end up on the other side of the room
-- has explored making new sounds with her mouth (still no words yet)
-- loves peek-a-boo, especially when we pop out behind furniture or stacks of pillows
-- hates how cold the pool is at first but loves to kick and play in the water
-- still hates being left alone in a room
-- is sitting up on her own for more and more time (usually around 30 seconds these days unless she gets distracted by a toy)
-- has discovered how funny she is - LOVES to watch videos of herself on our phones
-- is getting more and more social, she could spend hours watching older babies (especially her friend Preston who lives two apartments over)
-- is eating like a champ and made it to the next level of baby food
-- has started picking up puffs to eat - they make it to her mouth about half of the time
-- made her first road trip! (to Dallas to see her baby-friend Mary get blessed)
-- naps in her crib well, though the frequency and length of her naps changes every day
-- is sleeping much better at night (mom couldn't be happier about this)
-- LOVES when dad comes home from school and saves her biggest smiles for him
-- just barely got a little ticklish, mostly her feet, neck, and armpits
-- loves going to the child watch room at the YMCA while mom works out
-- has started to figure out her bouncer seat and gets really excited when she finds a rhythm
-- still has crazy hair that goes into the cutest pigtails
-- sits up in the grocery cart while mom does shopping, but only if the buckle is holding her up
-- enjoys people watching
-- has the cutest laugh that we can't get enough of


**I have a feeling these photoshoots are just going to get more difficult from here on out...

5 Month Update!

Our Peyton girl just turned 5 months old! She is growing, growing, growing, and learning so many new things. We are loving seeing so much more of her personality!

This month she:
-- got not one, but TWO teeth! - she likes to feel them with her thumb
-- has started not hating tummy time
-- now rolls from her back to her stomach all by herself
-- has rolled stomach to back, but usually only when she's really mad
-- squeals when she gets really excited
-- started eating solids, and eats like champ (we still can't quite figure out which ones she likes because she makes a grossed out face every time something new goes in her mouth)
-- learned how to lock her knees and can now stand with help
-- has gotten so good at holding her own head up while trying to sit up
-- has started hating being left alone in a room, she loves to be able to see mom or dad all the time
-- went for lots of stroller rides and trips to new parks
-- figured out she loves the swing
-- sleeps more consistently, and we're starting to try naps in her crib
-- is liking her carseat more
-- decided that her giraffe toy (attached to her carseat) is her best friend/favorite toy (she will babble to it when she thinks we can't see her)
-- is loving her touchy feely books for bedtime stories
-- found mom's hair and likes to pull on it
-- loves to stare at and reach for lotion bottles in the bathroom
-- has started exploring our faces with her hands (she loves to find and pull on our lower lips)

This is the face she makes when she's squealing/babbling

You can almost see her tiny teeth in this one!

Standing with some help from daddy :)

Still has some crazy hair going on...

Tummy time is hard work

A Week of Firsts

Normally I would wait until the month update to share all of these exciting things, but too many of them happened at once for me to not share :)

Last Monday Peyton's first tooth showed up! After a couple of fussy days and fussy nights it finally cut through her gums. Dentist dad is pretty happy about it.

Tuesday she finally figured out that she could use her arms to help hold herself up during tummy time. She still wasn't too happy about being left on her stomach. It resulted in these faces:






Wednesday she went from using her arms to hold herself up to rolling over! It was a total accident and hasn't happened again since, but she flailed enough to get her legs turned over. Mom was too excited to remember to take a picture haha.

We've gradually been trying new foods with her, but this week she got to try 2 new ones! Squash was a big hit, the verdict is still out on peas.

Saturday we went for our first real outing with her in the stroller. We decided to go see our local farmer's market. Everyone who saw her commented on how cute she looked and that she looked small enough to be a doll haha. She seemed really mellow the whole time, so we're taking that as a good sign :)

We love watching her grow and learn new things. Can't wait to see what's next (although I'm hoping teething slows down a little bit)...