Hangin' with her cousins

Here are some pictures from last weekend when Cailin spend the afternoon at Nana's house. Cooper and Cody showed her (and Grandma and Nana apparently) how their toys worked. Such good older cousins showing her the ropes.

9 month checkup

Cailin had her 9 month checkup today. She is 17 1/2 pounds now! That's a 2 1/2 pound gain since her last appointment. They tested her for anemia, but she is negative. The doctor said that her social skills are excellent, which anyone whose ever been around Cailin for more than 5 seconds knows that. She said her motor skills are also excellent and to make sure the house is baby proofed because now that she's crawling, a whole new world is in reach.





Next week Cailin will go to daycare for the first time all day while Mama starts her first day of work for new teachers but it will only be for one day. Starting on the 18th, she'll be going full time. We visited the daycare yesterday so she could get to know the teachers and the other babies while having the security of Mama being there. She had fun but never strayed too far away from me. I suspect is won't be long before she starts telling all the other babies how it is and being "the boss". I'm heartbroken to have to leave her and go back to work but I know that Cailin will make lots of friends and will love all the new toys and people. It will just be me whose a mess :)

So Many Grandmas, so little time!

Cailin had a rare visit from her Great Grandma this week, also known as Mema. She joined Grandpa on the trip down to pick up Grandma so that she could see Cailin. Although Mema is not a big fan of having her picture taken, she enjoyed getting to see Cailin since it has been several months since she has seen her. Cailin also spent time at Nana's this past weekend and played with her cousins in the pool. Her other Great Grandma and great Aunt Linda also stopped by for a while.

Cailin is getting better and better at crawling now. Although she still sticks to the army crawl, it definitely gets her around. She has crawled from one end of the living room to the other. She can even go from sitting to on her belly and from her belly to sitting, but she's still perfecting that one. She's really trying to pull herself up also. I can see how desperately she wants to start walking.

She had some good giggles playing with her Daddy on her play mat. She loves being tickled!

She lounges with Daddy when he feeds her but she was able to give Mama and camera a good wave

We had a lot of fun playing with Grandma the last couple of weeks. She got some new toys, books, and clothes of course!

She got her first baby doll! She'll give her smooches and hugs, it's so cute! Then again she gives all her favorite stuffed animals smooches and hugs, and usually a little spit up too.

She investigated Grandpa's whiskers and gave him some good smiles before he, Grandma and Mema had to head back to Burleson. She was past her nap time though so she was mostly quiet.

But in the end it was hard to say goodbye to Grandma! We loved having her here and hopefully we'll see everyone again really soon!

July 29

Cailin thinks it's hilarious to watch people eat. I guess she thinks the way we move our mouths is funny. She's laughing at her Grandma, who is now only pretending to eat just to get some laughs.

In the next video, you might think that she is crying but no...it's her new thing. She likes to scream and squeal all day long for no apparent reason. I think she's taking after Magnolia and getting ready for her American Idol audition.

July 20

Cailin is getting really good and sitting all by herself. She is still a little wobbly and will usually fall over if she turns her head too fast but she can sit and play with her toys without much support. She is really responding to her name well also. For the most part, if you call her name she'll turn toward you, unless something really good is on TV and she can't be bothered : )

I will sometimes pour all of her toys out of her toybox and just let her go to town. It will entertain her for a while but she prefers if I come and play with her. If she knows that I am sitting behind her, every few seconds without turning her head, she will reach down to feel if my legs are still there and then continue playing. If I've moved, then she will spin around to see where I've gone.

I like to surround her with stuffed animals sometimes. She loves choosing which one she wants to play with, or just stick in her mouth and they provide a soft barrier for her uncertain sitting abilities.

She really loves her stuffed lion and gets a huge grin on her face whenever I put it in front of her. She'll give him hugs and smooches, and of course a little taste of whatever she had eaten before. Having the boppy behind really helps her not to hurt her head on our hard floors when she falls backward.

Although Cailin is a very observant baby and definitely isn't the most vocal baby most of the time, at home she lets go a little more. Here she is just talking to herself while she plays in her jumpy.

She is getting really close to crawling. I expect it should happen any day now. You can tell she is thinking long and hard about what she is supposed to do but can't quite make her arms and legs move together. For now though, she has mastered the army crawl on her belly and can move forward for the most part if there is a toy she's really motivated to go after.

Port Aransas Trip

Cailin had a blast on her first trip to the beach. The seaweed and jelly fish were bad this year so we didn't spend a lot of time in the ocean but she got to go and stick her feet in the water and in the sand. She seemed to love it and was all smiles, of coarse. Most of our time was spent at the awesome pool at the hotel.

She is getting closer and closer to crawling. Mostly she turns in circles on her belly and moves backward. As soon as she can figure out how to move forward, she'll be off!

Then we went to the beach and got in the water for the first time! We all had so much fun we didn't want to leave.

Port Aransas Trip