Life at Home...

Now that Siena is mobile, I think the curiosity gets kicked up about 100 notches. I can't blame her - after laying around and not being able to move from where she was placed, I'd be all over the place too, looking at and doing what I wanted to do! :) It's really fun to watch her entertain herself and find new things to play with. Or even just moving from her different toys to try out something new. She's very daring - not afraid to pull herself up or move quickly. The independence is soaring! (I have a feeling we're just scratching the surface on the whole independence thing.) These pictures are a few things that keep us busy throughout the day...

Matt got to come home for lunch the other day. Siena was thrilled to be able to "hang out" with her daddy during the day!




I attempted to put a ponytail in Siena's hair. There are parts that are definitely long enough (and others that aren't)! I think we'll wait on that for a couple reasons: a). she's not a fan at all of getting that done to her hair, and b). it looks sort of ridiculous at this point.



In our hallway, Siena found a couple of very interesting new things.



The bathroom is the new hang out spot. I don't know if it's the slate tile floor, the reminder of the bath (which she loves), or the simple fact that it's different from the living room and she can show off her crawling moves to get there. Either way, there are lots of fun things to investigate! (The slight germ-o-phob inside me was screaming the entire time!)




Ever since Siena started crawling, she also started sitting on her knees. I think it's really cute. That, and it reminds me that I'm getting older, because if I did that as long as she did, both my legs would be sleeping and I wouldn't be able to get up without assistance. :)



It finally got nice outside again, and I decided to try out our other stroller on a walk around the neighborhood. I think it's fair to assume that not only does Siena find it quite comfortable, but she is also going to take after her momma and be able to sleep anywhere, anyway. Siena, it's a blessing - trust me! :)



At times, Siena is becoming a night owl. I think she just doesn't want to miss any of the action! The other night, it was probably an hour after her normal bedtime, and here she was, playing with the bee, content and happy as ever!

Darling.

A picture is worth a thousand words...
I love you, Siena Grace.

Creepy Crawler!

The gate is up, the electrical plugs are hidden, the "keepsakes" are off the floor...all because Siena is officially crawling!!! It's hard to believe she is old enough to do such a thing, but she's on the move!
Saturday, Siena and I went to Jefferson City to watch a bit of Matt's track meet. Okay, in all honesty, we went down there to pick Matt up from the track meet so we could spend some daylight time with him. He left at 7:00am that morning and wasn't going to be getting back till 10:00pm. I considered it worth it to drive down there, see a few of the boys run, and then drive back with Matt. That gave us the evening to spend time together...well worth it.
Anyways, Siena and I are were in the car quite a bit on Saturday. When we all got back home Saturday evening, we sprawled out on the floor and played with toys and stuffed animals. I stepped out of the room for a minute to get something, and when I came back into the family room, Siena got up on all fours, and CRAWLED over to me. I looked at Matt and said, "That's crawling! Siena just crawled!" Sure enough, away she went. No army crawl, no scooting, a full-out baby crawl. And it must have been a "decision" in her head because she didn't do any working up to it throughout the day. She went from the car seat to a crawl, just like that. Man! (Pesonally, I think she just wanted to wait for her momma and daddy to be home and in the same room at the same time so she could show off to BOTH of us...how sweet of her.) :)
So now, as parents quickly find out, she's getting around into anything she likes. We had to put a gate up to block our stairs. (I had a healthy warning from my friend Amanda, whose Brady crawled right to the stairs to "have a look" and about got more than he bargained for!) We have moved stuff out of her reach, and basically, always keep one eye on her. :) She really likes the freedom, though. I think she likes being able to crawl to get the toy she wants, or crawl to the person she wants to see, or crawl to find something new that we accidentally left on the floor. :) And it's fun for us to watch her too! She's a determined little thing!
I will attempt to show you crawling through pictures. It's not as good as the real thing, but I think you'll get the point. (Don't mind the almost naked baby...we all like our freedom sometimes, right?!) :)

For Siena, a cell phone is the perfect motivation to move!










And now, off to bigger and better things...

8 Months!!

Our little sweetheart is 8 months old already!! Where has the time gone? Siena is getting so big and she's got quite the personality to go along with it! Everyone always says that whatever stage you are in with your kids, that's the one you love. It's so true! Each time she grows into a new stage of life, it gets that much more fun.
Siena is doing all kinds of fun things these days. She is quite the chatterbox, for sure! She is not quiet about it either. She loves to say, "Da, da, da..." (that was inevitable - she loves her daddy!) and "Go, go, go..." and "Ba, ba, ba...". She has lots of other sounds too. She has her "chew-backa" sounds (a weird sort or gurgling in the back of her throat) and her "ah-ah-ah-ah" sound. She tries to whistle and sometimes, she just makes really loud noises, simply to hear herself, I think.
Siena is also waving. She gets her whole body into it when she waves! Her legs get to moving and her arms and shoulders bounce up and down. But she really is intentional about her waves. We were sitting outside on the front steps and she waved at cars as they passed by! She also loves to wave to people. Who doesn't love an innocent wave from a baby?!
She is also very mobile. She sits up with no problems at all. She now can "gracefully" transition from sitting up to laying on her tummy. Just recently, she has also learned to scoot around. She gets up on all 4 and does some major rocking! She's "getting her engines ready!" But, to move around, she does the "injured army crawl" - lots of upper body strength to carry her weight around! She's not officially crawling, but that doesn't seem far off in the distance. And she can definitely get where she wants to go - even if it's not quite as fast as she would like. :)
She's eating all sorts of foods too. She's a huge fan of pears. On the other hand, asparagus seriously cleans her system out (to put it politely) and I don't think I will be feeding those to her again in the very near future. She's a great eater and for the most part, eats whatever I put on the spoon. She's nibbling on some puff cereal bits, which she likes to play with just as much as eat. I will have to say, I look forward to the day when she can eat with us and eat the things we do. It will be way more fun for her too! But for now, I'll continue to cook up, steam, roast, and puree her food! :)
We have truly been blessed with a really content, happy baby. She is smiling all the time (and making us smile) and really goes with the flow pretty well. She loves to be outside. She has found a new love - sitting in the shopping cart without her car seat...total freedom! She loves to bounce and jump and hop around. She loves to stand up. She loves music - especially on Sunday mornings during worship. She loves to "clean up the carpet" by finding every little speck of dirt or lint and meticulously picking it up with her 2 fingers. She loves to try and scratch my freckles and moles off my skin. She loves to swing. She loves to play peek-a-boo. She loves to "read" her books that have different textures and colors. She loves her mommy and daddy - a bit of a stage that makes it difficult for us to leave her in the nursery or with a friend. :)
As a mom, I am so proud of her. I love spending time with Siena. I love watching her grow and learn and discover new things. She totally slows my pace of life down and forces me to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. God is constantly teaching me about patience, confidence, understanding, beauty, and what's really important in life. She is a blessing and I am so thankful she is a part of our family.



Swinging and playing outside! (So excited that it's spring now and weather is so nice!!)







A new toy that Siena is learning to love! :)

Picking "Flowers"

Just the other day, Matt thought it would be a good idea to pick out the dandelions from the front yard. You never know if a potential buyer drives by!! I was making dinner, so he took Siena to pick them with him. In the pouch she went! I must admit that I stopped cooking for a few minutes to watch my husband and daughter out in the yard. I must also admit that I chuckled out loud at the sight I saw. How cute is that...daddy and his baby girl spending time together, picking weeds. Precious. :) I know Matt got a workout bending down every time he saw a dandelion with Siena attached to him. It's good for him!
Another thought that popped into my head while I was watching them...someday, Siena is going to pick those "pretty flowers" and we're going to put them in a little vase and think they are the most beautiful flowers ever. And really mean it.
For now, however, they're going into the trash so we don't have to look at all the weeds in our yard...

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to all!
What a beautiful day to celebrate a very beautiful realization of what Christ has done for us.
This Easter was extra special for us, simply because of Siena. She does make the holidays better and the celebrations more joyful!
Every girl has to have a beautiful Easter dress, right? I found Siena's a few weeks ago at a really great restaurant/shop. I totally fell in love with the dress, actually wishing they made one in my size. I paid way too much for the dress, as girls usually do when we find something we just "can't live without"...but, there's only one first Easter...and I rationalized it by saying she would wear it to a wedding this summer and as many other times as I can get her in it before she outgrows it. :) Grandma Sharon also got Siena a darling little lamb coat that was too cute for words. Siena was set for her Easter entrance! Before putting Siena in the dress, I definitely had a pep talk with her. I begged her not to spit up all over the dress right after eating asparagus or have a major blow out and destroy the dress completely. Yes, I begged a 7-month-old not to do what she does best, but I had to at least try. And she granted my wish! She wore it most of the day and looked absolutely adorable in it. Thank you, Siena! I owe you one for that... :)
After church, we put on a little Easter Egg Hunt in the church's lawn. All the kids ran around and picked up eggs and pencils and treats. It was fun to see all the girls in their pretty dresses running around and scooping up eggs. After the egg hunt, we went to Aunt Linda and Uncle JD's house for Easter dinner with the family. We also had a little Egg Hunt for all the little kids in the backyard. Matt and I packed a couple eggs with cereal puffs for Siena. You can't tease a child by putting candy in an egg and then not let them have it! If Siena's going to find eggs, she might as well be able to eat what's inside! She sure liked that treat! When did we grow up enough to have our own kids searching for eggs? Just yesterday WE were the ones searching for the eggs! To keep us a little young at heart, the "big kids" searched around the yard for some candy too. When big kids search, it's an all out war. Every man for himself (and his candy)!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and spending time with family. It was a really pretty day outside, so we spent a lot of it outside. A great, spring day! We will look back on Siena's first Easter with fond memories...

Siena packed in tightly in the lamb coat, ready to go to church!


Our little lovely...






It was a pretty sunny day out, so Grandma Sharon to the rescue with some sweet shades! Hollywood, here we come!!