Friends, Camping and More Nellie

This is the bride, Shell. Or as everybody else calls her "Michelle." But whatever, that sounds too weird to me. I went down to Las Cruces with Nellie for her shower. As you can see I cut my hair. Not like the picture I took in, but then again it never turns out that way. Here is a close up:

WOAH, that pic came out huge! Anyway it was so great to see Shell, we've been bff's since I moved up the street from her in 3rd grade.
This is her sister Kelly, so I am in a Hendo sandwich. I LOVE these girls!
And here is Bren and I. We've been friends forevs too and now we have baby girls only two months apart.
Here's Nellie and Macey discussing how they really want to get into the tub already and why aren't our mom's putting us in.
Yeah play time!
Nellie and I had to leave from Las Cruces to fly to Mississippi to go to my cousin's funeral. After, we stopped at my Dad's sisters house to visit some relatives.
Nellie had fun with her Great Uncle Richard showing her their Christmas village.
And then three days later Cody and I went camping with a bunch of friends. It was my very first night to leave Nellie. My parents came up to Alb. to watch her and she did great with them. I had to pump in my tent in the morning and the boys were like "What's that noise, is Carrie playing xbox on a generator or something?!" I definitely would be unable to go two nights away from her until she is weened.

Cozy in our tent. We had an air mattress so it was quite comfortable camping. We went rafting in the rio grande in the morning but I didn't have my camera and there is no way I am paying for the photos the company took. So just believe me, we did it!
Before driving home we stopped at this gorge outside of Taos.
sup
Nellie has been very accommodating to all the things I make her eat. Here she is eating egg yolk but it's very dry so she was gagging, but all the while a very good sport. She loves spinach, nothing has to be added to it and she still eats it right up.
Click on the pic to enlarge to see just how messy she gets when she eats. The problem is she gets tired and then rubs her eyes, thus smearing the food all over her face. But luckily we take baths every night so she goes straight from her high chair to the tub.

Here is a video of Nellie getting a kick out herself in the mirror

And here she is eating, it's super cute.

this week i need to get a video of her repeating "bop." she's says it all the time and it's the only word she always repeats and it's stinkin' adorable.

The rest of July

Okay some of the photos are a little old. It took awhile to get around to posting and I had all these pics loaded last week but then had to go out of town and never finished. So here is when Nellie is learning to pull up on everything...as you saw from last posts video. She's cruising around now holding on with one hand! See below for her 9 month check up stats.
Cody sprained his ankle playing basketball...alone. He called from a nearby park and thought for sure he broke it. We went to the ER because urgent care was already closed. He was on crutches for awhile and it's still a little swollen.
More cute bath time baby pics. Nellie had her first bubble bath and got such a kick out of the bubbles. I sure hope those things are okay to eat.

Baby booty.
We spoke at Vacation Bible School so we are wearing north african shirts.
Nellie has started eating all sorts of finger foods. She's really good at it. She eats bananas, cut up grapes, tofu, and organic puffs.
This is the first time Nellie stood up in her crib and cried for me to come get her. I saw her in the video monitor and I couldn't believe it. At first it was hard for her to take her naps because she kept standing up but she's doing okay now.
Look Ma i am big girl!

Bren and Macey came for a short visit. Macey is Nellie's crazy baby friend. Don't ask me how they got in this position!
It's fun because they are old enough now to play and talk to each other.
Contemplating life.
Silly girl!
"You see Nellie, when you get older you'll understand." Macey is showing her the ropes.
Hey sweetness!
Day at the zoo. This is at the butterfly exhibit.
Nellie's friends Oliver and Lucy.
Yeah for fish!

Enjoying the aquarium.
Nellie enjoying her morning cup of tea.

Summer outfits.
9 Month Check Up Stats:

16 pounds 4 ounces- %10

27.5 inches-%50

17.5 inches head-%50

Nellie had to get blood drawn, see the little bandage on her arm. It was so sad, they had a hard time finding the vein and she screamed her head off. The blood was draining so slow. Her iron levels were slightly low, but no need for supplements. I just need to up the proteins.
Nellie likes to jump off the couch into daddy's arms.
No, I did not put her timeout. She just crawled back there and was playing.
We started our bounce n boogie musical class. We sing songs, play instruments, and play with other babies once a week.
Nellie loves to smile at every body. This past week we had to fly to Mississippi for a funeral and at the airport and on the plane and at the restaurants, Nellie would grunt and yell until they looked at her and then she would smile all big. She talks all the time to herself.

Cody took the first part of the CPA. There are four parts he will take between now and Thanksgiving. And lastly, we did the cash for clunkers program and turned in her Ford Ranger for $4500 off a new Honda Fit.

4th In Florida

Alright folks, we are back from our 8 days in Florida. the first half of the trip was spent in a condo by the beach in Destin. The sand was white and clean and the water was blue and beautiful. this is the view from our balcony. There were two swimming pools and a private beach.
Nellie much preferred the pool. Something about the sand and the waves really freaked her out.
Our first time wading in. She especially like the pool because it was so shallow she could sit and play right at the entrance.

See the difference? You'll see later later down the post we tried to take her back to the beach and she still didn't like it. I waded in with her past the waves and she didn't mind that too much.
Beach baby!
So on 4th of July we went to my Grandparent's house and had a family reunion. Nellie changed outfits 5 times that day. Everybody got her new clothes and wanted to see her in them. This shirt I bought her at Target and it says Little Firecracker. I pulled Nellie around in this red wagon. It was a good place for her to play in, until she realized she could pull up on the sides!
How patriotic. Nellie is busy contemplating our nation's independence.
My rents relaxing with Nellie on the porch swing. Why don't people in NM have porch swings?
Grandma passed out American flag hats for all of us to wear.
Nellie was gettin kisses from great great aunt's that I didn't even know! Someone left behind some lipstick so I had to get a pic.
Family pics.

It was difficult to get Nellie to sit in this rocker but she just looked so sweet in it!
Family pic in front of the well.
We went to a pretty cool fireworks show down by the water. Nellie was pretty freaked out at first but she got used to it and really liked it.
then on Sunday we rented a pontoon boat and took it for a half day excursion. Nellie didn't mind her big life jacket at all. We brought the pack and play and she napped in there for a long time and we were able to keep her in the shade. I was super paranoid of Nellie getting sun.

Nellie napping in great grandma's lap before the boat even took off!

I love the sun! (except when i am not in a swimsuit and there's no way to cool off)
This place is called Crab Island. And all the boats come here and the people get out and swim and play because it's shallow water. They even have a boat selling snacks and big blow up water slide (costs $7 for 30 minutes and is only for kids...boo!)
On the pier. Nellie's face is great in this one!
Here we are trying the beach again after dinner at Margaritaville. I think she hated the texture of sand on her feet because she kept turning around for me to pick her up. Or the waves scared her. I think Nellie was a little too young to appreciate this trip to the beach.

Doing a little dance. Surprisingly, Nellie keeps her sunglasses on most of the time.
My grandparents.
Cutie face in this one too.
Grandma had a huge ornament in her lawn that Nellie got a kick out of.
Ahhhh, too big to fit in my mouth!!


So Nellie is crawling every where now even from room to room. Luckily, she'll play in one area pretty good. But last weekend she started pulling up. This video shows her already pulled up on her karaoke machine on the first day she learned how. As you can see she hasn't mastered getting back down from the standing position. Now she is pulling up on everything, including people.

This video shows her pulling up but it's not very graceful and it looks as though she is going to quit several times. But hang in there, she perseveres and does it. Usually it doesn't take her this long. But look how excited she is when she finally gets up!

And here's a conversation she has after she is standing. You can see she really doesn't know where to go from here.

Nellie is talking a laughing more and more and it's super fun. Her new words are bop and dooh (said in a really low voice). She says da da pretty good and usually a long string of ma-ma-ma-ma. And she had her first bubble bath and loved it. She was trying to pull up on the side of the tub but realized it was quite slippery without my help.
Nellie is getting better at picking up finger food but is overall pretty lazy with that and sippy cups. Thankfully, she doesn't have stranger anxiety yet (knock on wood) and smiles at people in the store and will let others hold her. I sure hope it stays this way!

i can't believe she is almost 9 months old! this is just craziness!