Saturday, July 18, 2015

9 months

Bendelle has officially been out and about in this big world of ours longer than she was nestled inside my tummy--such a crazy feeling. When you're pregnant, those 40 weeks feel like eternity is passing you by as you become huge and prepare for the day your little one arrives. But life with a 40 week old has flown by, and I can't quite believe that she is really 9 months old.



It has been such an amazing phenomenon watching her grow and develop over the months. I really can't believe she is already repeating words and saying things like "doll," "dog," "ta-da!" and "baba." She has been saying "mama" and "dada" for a while now, but I think now she has finally put meaning to the words. I just love hearing her little voice make up words and spit out sentences that make absolutely no sense to me (yet!), and love teaching her new things!


These days she would rather be standing than sitting anytime, ALL the time. Of course this means more falls, more bumps and more crying :( But I love watching her challenge herself. She is the most determined little soul.



She mostly holds onto furniture pieces and pulls herself up and takes steps while holding on. She hasn't quite figured out the grace of sitting down once she's standing, but she'll get there ;)


I am still obsessed when I hear her sing (her voice gets higher as she attempts a tune). It just melts my heart. And as far as smiling? Her cheesy smiles are back in action, coming at ya in full force.


We love to tickle her and hear her deep belly chuckle. And she is still rolling her tongue like Spanish is her first language.
She is the best eater, which I am very thankful for, and since she is a girl on the move, baby gates are up! She loves to get into everything (especially things she is positively sure she shouldn't get into), and loves when you massage her back. She just started reaching out to me to hold her and enjoys when I cuddle her, which is kind of new and oh so sweet.



We supervised her and let her climb up the stairs the other day and she did the whole flight without looking back! I let her do it again this morning. She is so fearless and strong. I was so impressed with our little mountain climber. And she literally will climb onto anything she can!


She is more often than not interested in things we don't want her to have (cords, glass bathroom scale, bills, the dogs' water dishes), but I love her curiosity. As she gets older, especially in this last month, I really feel like our bond has strengthen so much. I just love having this little girl in my life!



#proudmama

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

East Coast Vacation

It's always hard coming back from vacation, so I thought I'd reminisce by blogging about it :)

This vacation checked off a lot of firsts for us-first time traveling on a plane with a baby (4 total plane rides with the layovers!), first time most of Aaron's family got to meet Bendelle, and first time I went a whole trip without sleeping on an airplane! 


Our trip was everything we wanted it to be--fun, relaxing and memorable. It had been two years since we had last visited Aaron's hometown and we knew that this trip would be different. Bendelle loved all the attention and it made me wish she could spend more time around her relatives. Being out and about was a little hard on her nap time regime but we made it work one way or another. It was really nice still being able to keep Bendelle in a separate room (Aaron's old room) while we slept in the guest room. And really nice to have a babysitter one night so we could have drinks with Aaron's cousin and his fiancee ;)


Overall we had a blast, and no amount of time would have been enough. Some of my favorite memories were:
-Walking down the boardwalk with Aaron and his grandma while Bendelle took a nap in her stroller and spotting a whale in the ocean. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my life (my favorite animals are whales and dogs), and simply surreal seeing a whale unexpectedly jumping out of the water and splashing his tail on the surface of the water.
-Visiting a local farm and picking fresh berries and feeding the farm animals, all while imagining how awesome it would be to have a mini farm of our own one day.
-Staying up really late with Aaron and his mom, sipping chard, playing Sorry and indulging in homemade hot fudge sundaes topped with the fresh berries we picked.






I also loved swimming in the Atlantic, taking Belles in the pool and letting her splash and kick her little feet in the water, going on beautiful country drives, getting Rita's for the first time (!!), drinking Dunkin' Donuts coffee, eating a wonderful farm-to-table meal at Natirar, evening walks with family, getting Bendelle dedicated at church, having a night out, sitting around a bonfire on the 4th watching fireworks, and every moment spent with family :)






I so look forward to going back in October :) 

Let the countdown begin ;)