So many milestones! {9 months!}

Anberlin is 9 months old! <3

Anberlin has officially been alive as long as it took me to make her. :) This has been a very eventful 9 months and she has grown up so much. And even though it all happens SO FAST, it's still funny to think that some animals mature by now, and Bay can't even walk yet. Haha.

Well, she may not be able to walk just yet but she is well on her way. This month she excelled at crawling and then learned how to pull herself up on things and stand. She got so good at that, that we had to drop her crib mattress down, even! She hasn't really taken any steps yet but she has stood without holding on to anything a few times. She also climbed up on step all by herself at the townhouse in Vegas. Can my baby stop growing now???

Playing at Hastings.

Obviously this was her first Thanksgiving and it was a very nice day spent with family all watching her crawl around. Then for her Thanksgiving meal she had sweet potato fries, green beans, and some turkey. Most of her meal ended up on the floor for the dogs once she realized that she could drop it for them and they would eat it, but she still tried some new foods and had fun. 

Bay & Anna

Dad making Bay make some noises by bumping under her chin with his finger.

Eating her Thanksgiving dinner!

Our days are still pretty routine. We wake up anywhere between 5-6 now, though, because for some reason she forgot how to sleep in and likes to wake up screaming really early. Then she plays inside until around 9:30, when we give her breakfast and then put her down for a nap. She will usually sleep until 12, or 1 if she is really tired. Then she is up for the rest of the day. Some days she gets a lunch/snack in the afternoon which is usually sweet potato fries or some other finger veggie. Then she spends the day crawling inside the house, outside in the backyard, or trying to get through the doggy door. Haha. I am still nursing her and she gets that 5-6 times a day. We plan to start weaning her after her first birthday.

SO EXCITED.

Not nearly as excited.

Exploring dad's beard.

Baby feet!

Bath time!

Trying to grab the camera.

Helping mom bake cookies!

 In the past week we noticed that she had a new tooth coming in on the top, but it isn't one of her center front teeth. It is one next to it on the left (if you're looking at her). But it looks like her front two are going to follow soon. But she is still a really good teether. We seriously have no idea she has a tooth coming in until we check her gums out because she doesn't really act grumpier than usual. Or many we just have a naturally grumpy baby and can't tell the difference. Haha.

She also has gotten really good at waving in the past few days. At first it started out with moving her arm, but now she can full on open and close both her hands like a normal wave. She loves to wave at everything and she also uses it to let us know when she wants something. She is so smart.

We went out on our first family hiking trip through Sara Park with our friend Kayla, Kenny, and their little boy Roxas. It was so much fun! This was the first time me and Kayle have ever went and obviously toting babies isn't an easy task, but we did it! It was a 2.5 mile hike through the desert, through some rock they call Sara's crack, and then to the lake (and then 2.5 miles back!). I would love to do it again but maybe not go all the way to the lake, haha. It was tiring. When we got home Anberlin took a 3 hour nap. She was pooped. Haha.

Hanging out on Dad's back.

So comfy.

Climbing down the crack.

Passed out!

She was pretty happy after her nap on dad's back.

Our family. <3

We had some ducks get really close to us.

As for our house, we have a walk-through on December 20th, so 16 more days! We probably won't be in the house before Christmas though. It looks like we won't get our keys until December 27th and then we have to paint and move all our things. So hopefully we will be in there before the new year, at least! We are just so excited and ready to be in our own home. These are the latest pictures we got on it though.

Outside

My new kitchen! <3 <3 <3

Master Bathroom

So, I think that covers it for our month. Hopefully next month we will be in our house and getting settled in there. We cannot wait! :)

Love,
Brad, Jenna, & Anberlin

On the move! {8 months}

Anberlin is 8 months old!

October is a really fun month. It's the beginning of fall so the weather in the desert drops down enough that we can have the doors to the house open pretty much all day. You get to have pumpkin in everything. Halloween happens. I mean, what is not to love about October?!

October has been a really fun month for Anberlin, too! She is really hitting these milestones now and her personality is showing through!

She figured out how to crawl this month! And boy does she loved being able to go around and explore the house. It took her a while to get used to crawling and we had to entice her at first with my phone. But now she is always on the go!

She is also getting better at waving to people. She doesn't do it every time we wave at her and she doesn't really do it when she is leaving, but it's so cute. She also does a kissy noise with her mouth that can sometimes looks like a fish face. And she has started giving kisses too! They are sloppy and she pretty much just licks your face but it melts my heart every single time. Baby kisses are the best!

We took Anberlin to her first Oktoberfest at her great Uncle's restaurant in Phoenix called Haus Murphy's. She had a lot of fun dancing and singing. We did the chicken dance with her cousin Shanon and watched all the people dance around and "OY! OY! OY!" Haha. We can't wait to take her again next year when she will be walking around and she will be able to enjoy it more.

For Halloween, we dressed Bay up as Audrey Hepburn. I got the idea from the internet, of course, but I made her costume and she looked adorable. She even won second place in a costume contest! We took her out in her costume to a Fall Fun Fair at the park and then to a Pumpkin Festival. Then on Halloween we took her out to main street for trick or treating. And no, she didn't get any candy. Haha. She is far too young for candy. Maybe I'll let her eat candy on her third Halloween. ;)

She also got to enjoy her first parade. We were a little hesitant to take her because it was during her (only) naptime, but she had fun and loved looking at everything and everyone that went by. :)

I was really looking forward to this season because I have seen so many adorable photos that I wanted to recreate with her. We only did one of my ideas but it turned out SO CUTE that I don't even care that we didn't do the other one.

She still only has two teeth and I am not even certain they are all the way up yet. Her hair is growing in really light in comparison to what is still left on her head. I received an email saying that her eye color is pretty much set now. I see green and Brad sees brown, so it's safe to say that they are hazel. We think that she has been losing some weight since she has gotten mobile. She is about 20 lbs now, give or take. And she is getting taller and taller every day. Our growing girl. <3

 

Our house is moving along... slowly, thanks to all the rain that Vegas has gotten recently. Our move in date got moved to mid-December. Here is the most recent picture of the house:

Time really is flying though. Before we know it we will be living in our own house, and then it will be Christmas, and then Bay will turn 1 year old, and then she will be going off to college.... Haha. Well maybe not that fast, right? I love documenting her life though, month by month. It's so great being able to look back and watch her grow. She is truly a blessing to us and we are so thankful to have her in our life. <3

Too much cute. {7 months!}

Anberlin is 7 months old! :)

 Normally, I take notes throughout the month of things that happened so I know what to blog about. You have no idea how hard it is to recall things that happened in the last month, at least for me! Also, please make note how the "7 months" sign is behind her on the wall. She found it during her photoshoot and as cute as it was, it wasn't working for us. Here is an outtake:

OMG, I'm *SEVEN* months!

Anberlin had her 6 month baby check up and she is fit as a fiddle. She now weighs 21.5 pounds and is 27 inches long. She had to get some more shots, which we both cried at again. (By both of us, I mean Bay and me, not Brad, haha.) I recall that she had a hard time napping that day which we thought was weird because normally shot days meant really good sleep days. Way to throw us for a loop Bay!

She is now eating all sorts of different foods! She tends to like veggies more than fruits, which I think is awesome! So far she has tried avocado, banana, squash, pear, broccoli, and sweet potato. We still have a few more foods we will try and then I am going to start roasting and mixing them! We have Tyler Florence's baby cook book and I love it. I can't wait to start making meals from it that work for both her and us.

Broccoli. Don't let this face fool you, she loves it!

Sweet Potato face!

This was her reaction to bananas. But she loves them now!

More sweet potatoes!

Squash! Another favorite!

We started doing baby sign language with her because we have heard good things about it. Naturally she doesn't get it right away,  but the more we use it the more it will sink in and they say that babies will use signs by 8 months, so we shall see. So far she kind of signs "milk" but we think it might just be because she likes to make that motion with her hand all the time anyway. Haha.

 She is moving around a lot more nowadays. She is stuck in reverse but can get around the whole living room backwards. She actually got behind the couch a few nights ago! She can finally roll over from front to back! A milestone I thought we would NEVER reach. And she can also get into the sitting position from her belly! WHAT! I know, right! She is growing up so fast! Her legs are really strong and she loves standing up but is still working on her balance and stuff. We are pretty sure that she will be crawling by the end of the month, which means I will actually have to watch her! Haha. And that also means that Grandma Ebert is going to have to remove all her breakable houses from the bottom selves of her entertainment center in the living room! ;)

I wonder what Grandma keeps in here...

Behind the couch!

Send help!

Scooching.

Push up position!

Last weekend I had to go out of town to shoot a wedding in Michigan, so that left Brad alone with Bay for the first time! This is what he had to say about that:
My biggest fear, for the weekend was getting Anberlin to nap and go to bed without any issue. Turns out I need not worry. One thing Anberlin does well is her morning nap and going to bed at her usual time. I also had the help from Grandma and Grandpa (my parents), and her Uncle Bryan. Anberlin was on her normal routine Saturday morning and so we joined Grandpa outside to watch him wash the Corvette.

The evening was filled with a trip to Outdoor World where we watched the big fish in the tank and looking at the taxidermy animals.

Sleeping through the night Saturday had a small bump, with having to feed her, but we survived. Sunday morning Grandma and Grandpa monitored her while she slept and I met a friend from work. Anberlin and I also joined our friend Bryan for lunch in the afternoon. It was an enjoyable weekend, and amidst all the worrying and stress, of being without Jenna, we did pretty well. I enjoyed my time with her over the weekend and have a little more confidence in taking her by myself when needed.

She has been really good at sleeping for the most part. We have her on a nice schedule where she wakes up between 6:30am and 7:00am, then she plays for a few hours, gets some solid food, then takes a nap for 2 hours. This is normally her only nap of the day even though she gets REALLY tired in the afternoon, she refuses to take a second nap. So we run errands, play, cuddle, read, whatever we can think of until dinner time where she gets some more solids, sometimes takes a bath, and then goes to bed between 7:30pm and 8:00pm. And then get this... she sleeps through the night! *gasp* I know right. We only get one bad night a week usually and that is okay in my book.

Our house is coming along pretty quickly. It actually LOOKS like a house now! :)

Not much planned for this month with us, however, all the baby websites are saying that this month will be when Bay starts hitting a lot of milestones like waving goodbye and blowing a kiss. I guess we gotta get cracking on that stuff. It seems like every week she does something new, whether it's a new facial expression or noise from her mouth. She is so smart and it's so much fun watching her grow like this. <3