honey, you started picking you nose today. you are so advanced.

baby girl

You are 10 months now and I can't believe it! You love to give kisses. you will wake up in the morning and look at me and kiss me and then look at daddy and kiss daddy. and then me and back and forth. it's pretty cute, if it wasn't so early. last month you started walking!!! you are the cutest wobbliest thing and you put your arms in the air and run to us and fall over. it's really cute. and you are so proud of yourself. you got your first boo boo on your knee..a few little red marks. and you are testing climbing over all your toys, and you have taken a few good headers. one time you had blood on your teeth. but, most of the time you fall pretty hard, but you don't even notice and just get right back up. at the farmers market you fell and the guy who saw you said you were tough. and at the ymca I always laugh cause you don't stop going. the lady who watched you said you don't slow down. and last time I heard a lady get called in to get her child and I was happy it wasn't you, but of course you had something to do with it. you mauled one of the kids..which I think was your attempt of giving him kisses, since you just don't know. and so he started bawling, and then he was fine, until you started doing your high pitched scream and he started crying again! so, she had to call the mom. you love your cousin hunter and you still love to go and touch him or shake the toy he is in, but you are still not gentle enough since you don't understand. you laugh and are happy all the time! we took you to california for your dad's work trip and we spent a ton of time in the pool and you loved to scoot around and would get right in the middle of the action of any kids you came across. it was like a walker in the water. and you and I had a good time walking to the beach and watching the surfers. we went and saw auntie shari too and had dinner. you had fun at the park and climbed the stairs and through the tunnel. this month was the first month I left you for overnight alone with her dad. mommy had a much needed trip with Auntie Andrea to vegas. it was fun, but I missed you and was so worried how daddie and grammy would do with you. I am the one who fed you at night, so I didn't know how you would do without me, but daddy said you didn't even miss me! you did so good, and when I came home, you actually slept better through the night ( although that didn't last long). then daddy went to chicago for a week, and I was too scared to stay here with just you, so we stayed the night at auntie gina's and then granny and grandpa came up to be here with us. you still do the leetle leetle loodle loodle talk all the time. and we got you a pool for the summer.

i can't get enough of you

you are 9 mos old now. how can I stop time...I am watching you stand now and you took your first steps that you landed w/out falling today. and I am so proud of you, but I am so sad that I am losing my baby. you look so cute when you crawl, and I can't imagine you not crawling any more, so I am holding on to you crawling across the floor at top speed of course. and you do a lil move when you turn and sit really quick and look at everything around you..like you just start going and don't know where you end up or where you are going until you take a break and look around. I love watching you crawl. I am going to miss it. maybe it will be around a little longer, but I am watching you get more confident in your balance every day, so it wont be long. we just got back from dana point today. we had a fun trip and you loved the baby pool. we had a floaty and you could stand so you would scoot across like you were in your walker though the water. and you love being in the middle of everyones business. any kid or parent that would come over, you would just scoot over to them and want to be a part of it. you aren't afraid of anyone, and you just smile and try to talk to them. it's really cute. you still do your leedle leedle, loodle loodle, yoodling talk and you still say hey and hi on occasion. and now you say hey and you want me to repeat it, and we go back and forth for a while. and if I clap or wave my arms in the air, you do the same. and you also imitate what I think is us talking on the phone. you hold up the remote, or show or whatever to your ear, and start having a yodeling conversation. it's unreal. (and sad that we are on the phone too much), but I can't believe how much you are picking up on. and you love giving hugs and kisses mostly to other kids, but you surprise us all the time by all the love you give us. I love holding you and kissing you. I just can't get enough of you. I could gobble you up in all your glorious baby chunkiness. I love the rolls on your thighs and the tight wrist bracelets look you have going on. it's so soft to touch. and I know it wont be around forever. you saw a lot of dogs too and you always want to go right up to them. today a pooch licked your face when you crawled over to him. you love it. so you ate a lot of sand on this trip and continue to put anything you can in your mouth. and you liked the sand. you kept putting more in like you enjoyed it. we try and say uh oh to you and you kind of pause, but continue doing whatever it is you aren't supposed to be doing. your favorite room to scoot to is still the bathroom. you love the toilet. I dont get it, but you are all over it! and rolling the toilet paper roll out. I am hoping you will be easy to potty train! okay, you are sleeping, so I better get some sleep while I can. I love you and think you are amazing. every day you surprise me.

hi baby love

wow, you are 8 months old now and quite the beautiful lively little one! you are so happy I can't stand it. you just laugh and smile with glee all the time. even when you are sleeping you smile and laugh. it's very sweet. every morning you still wake up with a big smile. it's help my sleepy head get up when I don't want to. you are very curious and of course want everything you shouldn't have. you love taking my magazines and ripping them and any toilet paper, and you always run for the toilet to try and put your hand in it. and the remote control and phone. I even give you a fake remote and you still want the real one. and if I hide things you see what I am doing and you don't forget and you go and get it. you love to give kisses, but recently you have started using your teeth a little and you think it's funny. I am trying to teach you uh-oh and gentle but you think it's funny. then I think it's funny, but I try not to laugh since I am trying to have you get it. you love your scooter and chasing poor lucy around the kitchen. you go really fast. and you love going on walks to the park and going on the swing and the little scoot toy. You stand behind it and push it too. you are standing for long periods of time and get pretty proud of yourself, but you don't step forward you just fall on your butt. you still say dada all the time and I think you know it's him. we were looking out the window and you said hey dada when you saw him. and you know who your doggy is too. every morning you me and lucy are on the bed together for a little while and you let her give you kisses and then you shy away..it's a little game you like to play with her. it's funny to watch you two together. this weekend we went to the beach to work on the property and you saw grandpa and just wanted to be held by him..and you love your baby cousin hunter who was also there, but you always try to attack him and grab him, but you are not gentle with him, so we have to hold you away. you watch eebee baby for a few minutes. everytime the sound comes on for it, you turn your head so fast to watch it, and you are fascinated for a few minutes then it's off to something else. you love to play with your toys and can entertain yourself for a good half hour if you are in the mood..you crawl across the living room from toy to toy and standing playing the piano, then scooting on to something else. you like to eat everything, and chew on everything. last night I gave you a popcorn box while we were putting groceries away and you chewed through it so quickly and started choking on the paper! gosh..freaked me out again. I didn't think you could get through it that quickly. you had your first ear ache, but your spirits were still great. you seemed a little fussy and you had a bad cold and cough and your temp was 100.9, so I took you in, and you are on your first antibiotic. in the morning you drink it just fine, but at night it's a struggle for you and your dad to try and get you to swallow it. you turn your head so quickly and fight it. we even tried to slip it in while you were breastfeeding and you know what we are doing. you enjoy spending time with kristina, your nanny. it's just the two of you since the other family left, and hunter comes over sometimes too. but, you get so happy to see her in the morning, so it's easy to let you go so you can play with her. she is teaching you german, and she takes really good care of you. lots of fun in the stroller and park. but, I still want to be home with you and I know how fast this time goes. I cherish every minute with you, and can't wait to be home with you all the time. you are my heart. I love you so much, and I can't believe how amazing you are. oh, and you also talk like a smoker sometimes..you get this really skreachy old sound in your throat,it's got to hurt. and you also do a very high pitch hieee and heyyy.it's cute. love you. mom

g

giselle- you are 8 mos. now. you are sitting in the baby bjorn on my lap and keep hitting your head back at me. and saying hey.. hey. it's pretty funny. you have been in good spirits, but you have your first ear infection from your cold that you have had almost a week. I can't believe you have been so happy despite not feeling well. so this month I went back to work, and I think it was harder on me than it has been on you. you seem to enjoy time with the nanny kristina. she is very good to you and is teaching you german. you smile every morning I take you downstairs to see her. and you also smile the first thing you get up in the morning. a huge grin across your face. you absolutely love life. and you get excited cause you and lucy and me hang out on the bed and you

It's my last month of maternity leave and I come out of this feeling like a changed woman. I am now a mother. I never knew how deeply I could care for her. I am so in love with this little baby girl. I can look at her and cry. My focus for the last seven months has been everything but work. Where as up to this point, I have worked so hard to focus on my job, and making everything fall into place to get a good job. A good job, but a stressful one. Now, I have lived to live. I have taken every moment and just soaked it in. Every moment. It has given me the chance to remember what in this life I cherish most, and to reprioritize everything. I have awakened my soul. I have taken every moment and relished in it, knowing I go back to work in February. In a way, it has been good to know I only have so much time, because I don't take any of it for granted. I wake to her smiling happy face and watch her grow every day. I can't explain how I fill my days, but they are full. They make my heart full. I wish I didn't have to go back to work. I can't stand the thought of leaving her. I worry. I worry about everything. I am scared she will cry for too long, I am scared she will need me and I am not there. I am scared she could even die. I have anxiety about it all the time. We have a wonderful nanny who will be watching her, but I feel the need to tell her all my concerns..don't leave her by herself, don't let strangers touch her, don't get too close to the ledge at the zoo... I feel like I am going insane, but I can't let go of my fears. I want to be the one with her. I don't care about my job anymore, I care about being with her. I couldn't have picked a better time to feel this way. With the economy in the crapper, I have to work. I need to provide, and I need to help pay for everything. The thing is, everything doesn't matter to me anymore. I have all I want. I have my family, and I have my friends. It's just we are stuck with a big house and a huge mortgage. I also do want to provide the best things for my family. But, I also want to be Giselle's mom. I want to teach her everyday, and be a mom. I have also awakened my creative side. I have always loved photography, but never felt like I could understand the camera. It seemed so technical and that is not my thing. But, I finally took a women's workshop, and realized I can do it, and I feel completely inspired. My passion is becoming real. It's crazy to think I could possibly make a living doing something I love. This next month I am going to enjoy every minute of it. I will see how the transition from flip flops and sweats to suits goes. If I can even fit into them!

The Horsies! We went to the track and soaked up the sunshine as we spent the day betting on the horse with the best name, and even though the horsies took our money, it was a fun to watch! We took off to Pacific Beach for the weekend and rented a little beach cottage. Being at the beach is the best way to let your worries go. No offense to those who love Seabrook, but we think it's a weird little place. When you think of getting away, I don't think you should go somewhere that looks like the suburbs..each house looks the same, is 2 feet from each other, and so absolutely perfect that it is just off. It's like a faux beach experience. If you want to get away, don't go to a place where your Seattle neighbors are going to be staying right next to you looking in your window. Visiting the Seabrook faux cafe, and faux beach store on site. EXPLORE the real small town pacific beach and ocean shores...rent a cottage far away from the Seattle crowd, meet the locals, eat at dive restaraunts (The Falcons Nest for great burgers!), park far away from the thousand BMW's and Mercedes SUV's at Seabrook, and go to the beach. Instead of visiting Seabrook, stroll to Issaquah...perfect in the city, but not for the beach.