9 Months

9 months old now!  Wow... that's all I can say.  She is amazing.  She has really taken off this past month.  She is crawling all over the place now, and she'll even do it the "right way" if she's motivated.  She pulls herself up onto EVERYTHING, and she is starting to walk a little with assistance.  I think she looks like a drunken zombie when she walks (that's the first thing that came to mind when I saw her spaghetti jointed , wobbly walk.  I don't even know if zombies can get drunk.)  I think the biggest step we took last month was baby-proofing our living room.  She hasn't quite figured out how to scale our one massive step yet so our living room is our safe place for her for now.  I don't think it'll be to long before we have to get out the baby gate though, because she has figured out how to get up Grandma and Grandpa Hamilton's steps.  And I think her new favorite thing might be swimming.  She has so much fun at the pool.  We have taken her a couple of times.  She splashes and tries to stick her face in to drink the water.  We got her a little "raft" thing and she just sits in there and kicks and laughs.  I enrolled her in swimming lessons for this summer. I think she'll have so much fun with all of the other babies! 

 As hard as it can be sometimes to keep track of her now, we are enjoying every minute!  I get a little sad when I think of how fast this has flown by, but the older she gets the more fun we have together and I love it!

Oh, and I have to say something about the picture above.  Aydin LOVES Abe.  Loves him!  Abe TOLERATES Aydin.  Tolerate is the best word for it.  He does not love her, might not even like her, but he lets her do anything.  She crawls all over him now, licks his fur (when mom's not looking), tries to touch his eyes and nose.  He just lays there and pleads with us with his eyes.  Sorry Abe!  Someday they really will be best friends.

Sunny Day

Easter Sunday

What a wonderful Easter Sunday!  We had so much to celebrate:  the resurrection of our Lord, my sister's engagement, and her and her fiancé's baptism.  We celebrated accordingly.  After Easter morning services we headed over to my parent's house for lunch.  Michelle had a couple of friends over, and Ryan's (her fiance) mom came over as well to meet our family.  We had such a good time.  

Grandma Hamilton put together Aydin's 1st Easter basket.  Mom and dad stole a lot of the goodies (chocolate) but she had a fun time pulling everything out.

She is moving around like crazy now!  She pulls herself up on EVERYTHING, she can sit herself up, and she crawls so fast.  She still just drags herself along like a wounded soldier though.  

This is her smoochy face.  She was doing this non-stop the whole way through JoAnn$ Fabrics the other day.  So funny!

We helped out with Easter Marketplace at our church again this year.  My sister helped at our booth too so we could do some stuff with Aydin.  

Her first Easter egg hunt was a little sketchy.  She was in the 0-3 year old section and was by far the youngest.  One kid came over and sneaked an egg out from under her, and there was a clown who she was terrified of, but she got a few stuffed toys and stickers out of the deal.

And of course Grandma Williams got an Elvis impersonating Easter bunny who dances for her.  It's ears move like crazy, it is super loud, and she LOVES it.  When it's not "singing" and "dancing"  she moves its ears herself.

P.S. I think I'm going to start a shop on ETSY and try to sell some owls.  I figure I might as well make a couple and see if they sell.  If not, Aydin will just have an owl family to play with (  : We'll see!

hoot, hoo

I cooked up that owl in a frenzy of designing and sewing last night (and a little into the a.m. too) and I love it.  When Aydin joined me in bed early this morning I put the owl above her so she would see it when she woke up.  She was so excited.  She put out her finger to touch it and then looked at me.  She wouldn't touch it until I moved it closer to her.  She loved the "feathers!"  What a good way to wake up (I just wish it was a little later.) 

Say Cheeeeese!

This is the new "picture taking" smile these days. I love it! She is so much fun! She is so busy these days too. She is crawling all over the place now. The things that make her crawl the fastest: Abel, magazines, and her rocking horse. That rocking horse is her new absolute favorite thing. She will crawl to it and smack it and yell until we put her on it and she will sit there for a half hour at a time just grinning, rocking, and mumbling.