Growing Fast

9 months is closing in on us fast. Megan is now crawling everywhere and anywhere she can. She's starting to learn the meaning of "no" as she tries to crawl to the wood stove or the dog's water bucket. I'm pretty sure she knows what we mean because she stops and smiles and then tries again, stops and smiles. She's pretty darn cute but that doesn't mean we're going to let her do it of course! We're going to have to get serious out baby proofing the house, especially those two things.

Last Friday we went to Seaside with Aunt Kelly and Aunt Stacy. We decided to go to Seaside so that she could ride the carousel. She really liked that. She sat on her own horse and went up and down, up and down. It was a really nice sunny day so we put her in her bathing suit and walked down to the water. Of course she tried to eat fist-fulls of sand. And we found out the hard way that there are sand fleas down there. They were biting our ankles and they got Megan's little thighs. She actually had blood where they were biting her! I was so mad! As soon as we realized what was happening we got her out of there. I think she was more interested in trying to get the sand in her mouth than realizing anything about the water splashing up on her though. Maybe just a little young for the beach yet.

You can't see it from this angle but Megan was actually paying the man herself.

We went into a little toy store down there too. Megan really liked this stuffed giraffe.

We also went to the water park that they have in Wilsonville by the visitor's center. It's just a concrete stream basically that they chlorinate and everything. It wasn't really in my plan for the day so I wasn't prepared and she ended up just playing around in her onesie. She really liked that too. She wanted to crawl all around but I was afraid she would scrape up her knees too bad. We didn't spend too long there because I am really afraid of her fair little skin getting burned.

My cousin Trisha got married on 07/07/07. Here are a couple of pictures afterward.

Well, that's it for now. I'll give another update on her 9 month birthday!

Dear Mom

I've been wanting to write this letter for some time now and of course have never gotten around to it until now.



First of all, I just want to tell you that I'm sorry. When I think back to all of my years growing up, there are so many instances that I know I caused you heartache, worry, STRESS, disappointment, or all at the same time. I know that we both know that kids aren't perfect but until I became a mother, all of those times still seemed to me as the fault of someone else or you being too hard/strict on me. Now, knowing the intense love that I have for Megan, I am able to see that everything you did raising me was with all of the love and best intention that you had. You loved me so much, you were just trying to protect me or just ensure that I turned out to be the best I could be. And mom, even though there were some pretty rocky times, I think I turned out pretty okay and that has everything to do with you.



I guess now that I've become a mother, everything has come into perspective. Now I know how hard it really is, how tired you really get and how absolutely worthwhile it is. I remember times growing up where you just wanted to get away and spend some time alone. It didn't happen very often but of course back then, all I could think about was myself and thought that you just didn't want to be with us. of course, now I know that wasn't it at all. Now I understand what a hard job you had and in order to be an even better mom, you needed some time to take care of you.



The biggest thing that I've realized is that you love me and all of your kids more than any of us could even know and all of your decisions in raising us stemmed from that - even when I thought you were being mean or unfair. I'm so sorry I didn't see it that way back then. I would take so many things back if I could. I know I said things and did things that had to have broken your heart but you never gave up on me. So while I was feeling selfish about how bad I had it, I had no idea how lucky I was to have a mom that loved me so much that she held me accountable and taught me to be the person and mom that I am today.



I can honestly say that I learned how to be a good mom from you. I had a wonderful example. I'm not sure when it happened but there was a moment after Megan was born that I was thinking about how much I really love her. My next thought was, "Oh my gosh. This is how much my mom loves me." Right then I knew that I had to tell you 1) how sorry I am for not realizing it sooner and 2) thank you for loving me so much and doing all of those things that had to have been hard for you to do. But you did them because you loved me. I know I wasn't very fun to live with a lot of the time. I know it's not always going to be easy with Megan or our other kids. All I can ask for is that someday - hopefully before she's 29 - she will be able to answer any questions she has about the decisions I made with, "Because she loved me."



So now that I got all of that out, I also want you to know how proud I am to call you Megan's Grandma. I see and feel all of the love that you have for her and she is one lucky little girl.



I love you so much mom and I absolutely know that I haven't told you that enough. When we were in La Pine after Christmas, I just had the urge to hug you and tell you that I loved you. When I came back into the room I think I saw that you had tears. I realized then that you must not hear it nearly enough. So I will try to be better about it and not wait another 29 years. I hope you have a wonderful day. I love you.



Kristie

Megan is 8 Months Old TODAY!

We can't believe time is going so quickly. Megan is getting so big and before we know it, we'll be planning her first birthday party. This last month she has really started to move around. She crawls a little bit but mostly she scoots, rolls or pushes herself across the floor. We really need to think about baby proofing our house because she has already started to get into things that she shouldn't. She is no longer safe by herself! Just in the last few days she has gotten her first tooth. It has just broken through barely enough to feel it. She however has been feeling it for awhile and has been a grumpy pants. I feel so bad because there is little I can do to comfort her. Motrin and Tylenol have become good friends.

In the last month we've also been working on her being able to go to sleep by herself without being rocked or nursed to sleep. Some nights she goes down pretty easy and others she really tests our willpower to not go in there and soothe her. We've always known she has a good set of lungs but I think she thinks we forgot. She has got one loud scream!

She is really just the love of our lives and even through the grumpy times one smile from her brightens our day. Here are pictures from the last month.

Trip with Dad to the park



Karen's family made it down from Alaska for the summer and we all gathered at Grandma and Darlene's for dinner.


Cousins, Rylan and Megan. Rylan was really bummed over Christmas because they actually got to come down for it but he caught a bug right before they arrived and couldn't hold Megan. He made sure that wasn't going to happen on this trip!


Lesly's birthday party at the Forest Grove pool.


Lesly took Megan to Show & Tell in her kindergarten class. She was so proud of her 'little baby cousin Megan'!


Hamming it up at mom's group.



We went on a garden tour today and got to visit 8 gardens in the Tigard-Tualatin area. It was a lot of fun and gave us a lot of ideas for our own yard. Aunt Terri's house was one that everyone got to tour. I think hers was the very best!

Megan got to meet her very first horse "Sweetie" at one of the homes.

Megan is definitely a water baby. We've lowered the temperature in the hot tub so that she can be in it. She loves floating around and kicking her legs. I just can't get enough of her cute little bathing suit either!

A few weeks ago we went to the zoo with Aunt Kathy, Lesly and River. It was Megan's first trip. This picture isn't perfect but you can see a HUGE polar bear right in front of the window. Megan probably just thought it was a big dog. She also liked to see the fish swimming in the sea lion tank.

First Trip to the Park

There is a little park behind our house that we've never been to so today Megan and I walked over there. It's pretty cute and nice and clean. Megan got her first big girl swing ride.

Mom's Group

Every Thursday we go to mom's group in Newberg. Billie got me into it, I had no idea there was such a thing until she told me about it. It's been really nice to meet new people and hear about all of their "battle stories". Megan has met a lot of friends including Keaton who was born 09/21/06 - almost exactly a month before her. He's moving all over the place, I think he's way ahead of the game but I'm waiting for Megan to start doing all of the things he is doing eventually. To be honest, I'm in no hurry for her to be mobile! Aunt Karen calls is 'stuck on the butt'. That's definitely what she is and that's okay with me!



Although it doesn't really seem like it, Megan really likes to look at bubbles. (I think she was just protecting her eyes in this picture) These are Gymboree bubbles. They stay around FOREVER! If only Sampson could get a hold of them.

Brown's Camp with Cousin Hunter

Jeff, Bobbi Jo, Hunter, Aunt Shirley and Gene were all camping up at Brown's camp for the Memorial Day weekend. We visited them on Friday night for a few hours. Megan's cousin Hunter is 9 1/2 months old. They had fun looking at eachother and of course Megan tried to eat him.

Megan is 7 Months Old Today!!

I just can't believe that Megan is 7 months old today. We are officially on the countdown to 1 year old! I just can't tell you how much happiness she has brought to our lives. She is one stubborn little baby but that smile melts our hearts in an instant. She is getting really big, unofficially she is about 21 pounds. She is starting to like her baby food a lot more now. Her favorites right now are mangos and peaches. We are trying to get her to eat some vegetables but she puts on a gagging show for us when we do. So tonight she got the yummy green pea/mango mixture.

Megan is sitting up on her own now. She still wobbles a little but she can catch herself most of the time. She is almost getting up on her knees and looking like she is thinking about crawling. I'm not sure if I really want her crawling though, that will require even more energy to keep track of her. I can't wait to see if she chases after Gracie and Sampson though.

I've met some new friends at a mom's group in Newberg that I really like. We've been doing lunch the last few weeks after our meeting. Last week there were about 7 of us all with babies under about 8 months old. Everyone in the restaurant looked at us like the plague with all the babies about to ruin their lunch hours. They all were really good though. A couple of the older babies' moms gave them pickles to entertain them so I thought I'd try it with Megan. She really liked it so I had to buy some at the store. These are the pictures of her at home with her very own pickle. And again, she's pretty cute. I just can't get over her.

LOTS of Pictures to Share

Our parents had their 25th wedding anniversary and we threw them a party. Here is Megan in her pretty little dress.

Stacy got to come up for a short time and show off her tan.

Aunt Kelly and Megan

Daddy and Megan

Grandma bought Megan a little swimsuit cover up to wear to the pool. This is her right before we went swimming.

She's just really cute. You can't deny it.

Finally Megan likes her baby food. This is her sweet potato day!

We bought a hot tub and before it got too hot we let Megan float around in it. She really liked it. She kicked her feet around and splashed. Again....very cute.

Megan is 6 months Old Today!

Megan is getting so big. We can't believe that it has already been 6 months. All of those stupid cliches are true. They grow up too fast, you just want them to stay small, you love them more than you ever thought you could, etc, etc. It's all true. She had her 6 month doctor visit last Thursday and had to get 3 shots. She did pretty good, cried a little but was pretty tough about it. We talked about giving her solids. I've been making her food, so far she's got yams, pears, mangoes and bananas. And so far she has no interest. I've tried several times with different things and she just doesn't want it in her mouth. She's going to need to learn to like it though because I don't think milk is getting her through the night anymore. She has been really good about sleeping 10 hours a night and then last week she decided she didn't want to do that anymore and has been waking up between 3-4 a.m. I tried to just rock her back to sleep last night but she wanted to be fed. We'll see how it goes. She also has a brand new highchair to use!

She's learning a lot of new things. She's is getting really good about using her hands and fingers. She has found her feet too and loves to pull them to her mouth and eat them. Amazing how flexible she is. She is almost sitting up all by herself, she still wobbles over sometimes. She rolled over in bed last night which she's never done. She can turn from back to stomach but once she's on her stomach, she hasn't been able to go back to her back. She seems to be doing something new every day.

Anyway, that is Megan's update. Josh is still working hard at his job and he's also been going to his parents once a week to help them with their house. He's also helped my parents with their new landscaping job. He's pretty busy. I'm still trying to get my Pampered Chef business up and going. What I've done so far has been good but I STILL NEED TO BOOK SHOWS! I went to work last night and found that without any warning, I've been scheduled as a full time employee rather than a 3 day a week employee like we agreed when I went back from maternity leave. I'm really disapointed and it breaks my heart thinking about leaving Megan that many times in a week. Not to mention Josh and I barely get to see each other anymore. So, if you or anyone you know are even thinking about Pampered Chef, let me know and I can do a show for you. I'm personally offering great perks in addition to the host benefits from The Pampered Chef. I hope to hear from you!!