9 1/2 Months Old

In the past couple weeks, Laney has come a long way with her gross motor skills! She is crawling much more on her hands and knees, she pulls herself up into a kneeling position, she tries to stand, and she'll stand for awhile if she has something to hold onto or someone holding onto her. The only problem is that she hasn't figured out how to get down yet. We're working on it…

 Reading the baby gate instructions to me

Admiring the craftsmanship

Enjoying story time with grandpa

FaceTime date with her papa :)

Peek-a-boo!

Figuring out how to reach up for things 

First time she pulled herself up on her knees!

Snack time is always a happy time!

In her closet, trying on clothes

Her first time swinging!

 Crawling around in her (my) favorite overalls

9 Months Old

Delaney is already 9 months old! I can't believe I have a crawling, squealing, giggling, high-pitched screaming little comedian, AND I'm past the halfway point in my pregnancy with baby boy Winchester! At Laney's 9 month physical, she weighed in at 17 lbs 15 oz, 28 in long, and her head is in the 83rd percentile at 17.75 in.

It's been a busy few weeks again. Delaney and I have been to Iowa a few times to spend time with her papa while he's hard at work. I hit a milestone with her last week - it was my first trip away from her, and it was her first long weekend with her Noni and Grandpa Winchester. I left for a wedding in Panama at 4am on a Thursday morning and got back at 3:30am on a Monday morning. Although the trip was absolutely incredible, I had quite a few mommy moments where Laney was all I could think about. Fortunately, Kristi and Gary frequently sent me pictures, text messages, and email updates every day! Laney had so much fun with her Noni and Grandpa. She played, went on strolls, met lots of friends, and loved crawling around their house, exploring and playing with new toys. I think it was probably good for her to spend some time away from me, since we're practically attached at the hip. Plus, I knew I was leaving her with childcare pros! Coming home to see her was the best feeling in the world. (I also missed Brad, of course, but fortunately we were able to Face Time almost every day. I would have loved it so much if he could have come with me - I'm sure he would have loved it, too - but he couldn't take time away from work.)

Laney has recently figured out she's able to scream at a very high pitch. It's an ear piercing scream, and she puts everything she has into it - she clenches her fists, locks her legs, and uses every muscle in her belly to make the loudest squeal possible. At home, it's pretty funny. At stores and at restaurants, it gets absolutely everyone's attention. At least the huge grin on her face reassures everyone she's screaming for fun.  

She is also practicing crawling on her hands and knees, instead of dragging her body across the floor. She moves herself forward and loses her balance, but she's determined! She has decided she's ready for it, so she's been working on it nonstop. Her personality is continuing to grow as well. She has started throwing mini tantrums where she screams, cries, pounds her fists and kicks her feet. It's pretty funny, except when I'm changing her diaper and she wants to roll onto her tummy. Sometimes I don't have her new diaper on, and she twists her upper body as hard as she can to flip herself over. I have to wrestle with her and practically pin her down (gently, obviously) while I'm scrambling to get the diaper on, and that's when she'll throw a tantrum. I figured out that giving her a new toy (right now a pink stuffed doll), and only allowing her to play with it when she's getting her diaper changed, helps distract her enough to prevent any tantrums. And she has figured out that she can throw the doll onto the floor over and over again, and mama will pick it up and give it back to her every. single. time. When it comes to keeping her distracted, whatever works... :)

9 months old!

It's freezing outside. Mama tends to overdo it with the winter apparel.

Bath time with Noni

At the hotel swimming pool, treading water like a pro...

Just kidding. Papa is holding her up.

Ready to watch her papa's warm ups (her favorite thing to do)

Wiped out from all of the excitement in Iowa:

Food = happy baby!

It's finally 45 degrees and sunny! Out for a stroll:

37 Weeks Old

I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep describing her age in weeks. "37 weeks old" sounds very strange. She's 8 1/2 months old.

The past few weeks have been quite eventful. The biggest and best moment was finding out Delaney will have a little brother! We're absolutely thrilled and can't wait to meet the little guy! He's been moving quite a bit. I can feel his little kicks and nudges, and every now and then he surprises me with a big roll in my tummy. It hasn't been very long at all since I was pregnant with Laney, but I've already forgotten how incredible it feels when the baby starts moving around. I'm loving every second of it!

Brad has recently joined a new team, the Wild, so we had the opportunity to check out Des Moines, IA last week. The hotel we'll be living in has a great pool, so we're excited to take Laney swimming. She'll be able to show us all of the cool moves she learned in her swim lessons, such as: slapping the water with her hands, kicking her legs underwater, and trying to dip her face into the water with an open mouth. Very complex moves. :) We're also excited to see what Des Moines has to offer outside of the hotel, so we'll explore when we go back later this week.

Brad celebrated his 33rd birthday while he was on a road trip. Brett Keintz had a wonderful idea to invite Brad over for dinner on his birthday, and he invited Delaney and me to come over as a surprise for Brad. We showed up about an hour before Brad arrived, and the look on his face when he walked in the door was priceless! He missed Delaney so much on the road trip, and he was so thrilled that we could be there with him on his birthday. It was a great day for all of us!

All of the sudden, Laney has 7 teeth and two more on the way! She was pretty fussy for a couple days, and I noticed two new teeth coming in on the top. I was paying so much attention to those, I didn't even notice one poking through on the bottom. It's so cute seeing all those little teeth that are too big for her mouth. It's already becoming difficult to remember her toothless, gummy smile.

Last but not least, we have a sitting baby! Laney has finally decided that sitting up is cool, so she's totally into it these days. She hasn't had much practice with it though, so if she gets distracted, she tends to tip over sideways. We're making sure to closely supervise all of her sitting sessions, ready to catch her, until she gets a little bit stronger.

Cash and Laney love helping with the laundry

Laney's first taste of pancakes. She couldn't get enough!

I love those baby blues!

 We noticed the neighbor accidentally left her dog outside in freezing temps, so Laney and I brought her home to warm up while the neighbor was at work. Cash loved the company, but they were running around so much that it kind of freaked Laney out and made her cry. 

Looking for the perfect toy.

Laney will chew on anything these days!

Papa gave her a new hairstyle in the pool

Happy girl after a long nap :)

Happy birthday, Papa!

Everytime I set her down on the floor in her nursery, she always winds up here:

Sitting like a big girl!

Family fun at Sunday brunch

She loves to sleep with her little booty in the air:

Fun Flashback

My, how things have changed!

8 Months Old

Our little 8 month old is a smiley, fearless little explorer. She loves crawling towards cords, electrical outlets, staircases, fragile objects that tip easily, and just about anything considered dangerous for babies. She also loves peering over the edge of furniture if she's on top of it (we no longer lay her on the bed…). I'm thinking we should probably childproof the house. I already plugged most of the electrical outlets, but that's about it. We'll be ordering baby gates and rearranging some things very soon.

8 months old… such a big girl!

She was crawling away from me, stopped, and looked over her shoulder with this pose:

Trying on her adorable new hat that one of her mama's old coworkers/friends made for her:

Good news! She LOVES the mall! She smiled and kicked her legs the whole time we were there:

Rough housing with papa (she can't get enough of it):

Sound asleep.

Grabbing a fistful of her very patient puppy's fur. She yanked pretty hard…poor, sweet Cash.