"Look at me!"

Ainsley has finally decided she would like to sit up on her own. She has been sitting up for a few weeks now with our help and support, but over the past couple of days she has really been able to sit by herself for very long periods of time. To me it has seemed as though Ainsley does not work up to reaching these milestones, it's more like all of a sudden it just happens. I wait and wait on her to do things and then one day it's as if it just clicks and she can do it. I am loving this because she will sit and play now (well for a few minutes until she decides she needs my undivided attention and wants to be held). She also loves being able to look around and watch Bella.

She dropped her paci, which is very important to her.

*2 more new posts below!*

Little Buddies

Last week we got to see some long time family friends of ours who had come up from Alabama to spend Thanksgiving with their family. Daniel and Katie have an absolutely adorable little boy, Maddox, who is only a few weeks older than Ainsley. They have met once before, but it was way back when they were both still teeny tiny little things. We could not wait to get them together again and it was much more entertaining this time! Maddox's grandmother (Lolly) is my mom's best friend, so they could not wait to have their two grandbabies together and take tons of pictures. Maddox is much more talkative and busy than Ainsley. He was cracking me up! Ainsley is more of a "sit back and take it all in" kind of gal, much like her mother. I had so much fun watching the two of them. Ainsley hasn't really been around anyone her own age/size before and she definitely enjoyed keeping her eye on Maddox (and maybe trying to reach and take his toy from him a couple of times :) What little time we had was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see them again!

Ainsley has her eye on that monkey...

she decided she needed a turn with it!

Maddox is getting very mobile. He got turned around and decided to go ahead and have a seat. This was so funny!

They sat like this for a couple of minutes and it didn't seem to phase Ainsley, or Maddox for that matter.

But I guess she finally had had enough...

Katie, Ainsley, Me and Maddox

Gobble Gobble

Every year for Thanksgiving, we travel to Henderson to get together with my Mom's side of the family. This includes all extended family. So it's a house-full! But it's nice because we only see this family once, maybe twice, a year. This year was our turn to stay here and we will be going to Texas for Christmas. We had a great time being with family, catching up, and eating too much yummy food! Here was our day in pictures...

Just before heading to Henderson. We get this look from her a lot! I think it's because she gets tired of the camera. (Or she was just tired in general. We planned it so we could leave right at her morning nap time.)

I love this picture of them. My dad (Pop) can't get enough of his granddaughter!

Getting some lap time with (Great) Mimi

Look at my cutie! I could just eat her up!

Ainsley and Tatum

Fun, Family, and Food

The last of the turkey cookies I made. I won't be doing that again! It was a mess and somewhat time consuming. But people ate them up!

Although Ainsley couldn't enjoy the turkey cookies this year, I didn't want to leave her out, so she got to eat sweet potatoes and turkey like the rest of us. (YUCK!) I wasn't sure how she'd do. I've only given her a meat one other time and it was Apples and Chicken which she actually really liked. Well, she ate this stuff right up too. She loves her some baby food!

We also do a gift exchange as our way of celebrating Christmas with this family. We draw names for the kids and then the adults bring a man and a woman gift. Emily was designated "Santa Clause" which was funny because this was her first Thanksgiving with us and she didn't know most of the kids names. But she was a good sport and Michael jumped in to help. I just love watching little kids open gifts!

At least someone got a good nap with a full belly...

Taking in all of the excitement (can't you tell?).

Ainsley's first Christmas gifts ever! She loves magazines and crinkling the paper, so I figure at Christmas she will like the wrapping paper as well. I got her to pull the tissue paper out of a couple of the gift bags.

We also do a hay ride every year. It had been raining off and on all day, but luckily for the kids we caught a break just before a big storm rolled in.

Daddy and Ainsley about to go on the hay ride.

After about a minute, Ainsley could have cared less about the trees, the water, the huge pot holes, etc. All she did was chew on her paci clip the entire time.

Right after the hay ride with Uncle Michael and Aunt Emily and Ainsley is still chewing on her paci clip.

Me, Rebecca, and Emily

To Daddy, Love Ainsley

It doesn't get much better than this.

*If you haven't read Ainsley's 7 month post below then keep on reading!*

7 Months

Ainsley turned 7 months old this past Sunday. Boy does time fly! I keep saying every month that that month is my favorite age. Yet again, this is my favorite age! She is so interactive and fun, but she is still a baby. I just love this little girl more than anything in the world!

At 7 months Ainsley is:

~loving her food! She eats cereal in the morning, a veggie and fruit for lunch, and a veggie and fruit for dinner (Stage 2). She gets excited at the site of container of food and the spoon. She has gotten to where she will eat all of the foods. The greens are still the most difficult, but with some fruit every other bite she has no problems eating it. She's getting a baby belly and we love it!

~"eating" crackers. We will give her (saltless) Saltines to "eat", which really just ends up making a big mess for me to clean up! But she loves them and it entertains her for all of 5 minutes.

~going to bed at 8:00. She really gets fussy for bed time between 7:00-7:30, especially if she took a shorter afternoon nap. But I try to get her to stay awake until 8:00 to keep her on her morning schedule.

~sleeping around 9 1/2 to 10 1/2 hours a night. She is still waking up once during the night every now and then. But it hasn't been real consistent. I actually let her "cry it out" for the first time about a week ago. Talk about hard to do. I just laid in bed and almost cried myself. But the doctor recommended this because at this point she should be able to put herself back to sleep without my help. But like I said it's inconsistent, so I don't know if it will actually help.

~taking a morning nap (around 45 minutes to 2 hours) and an afternoon nap (around 1 to 3 hours). You just never know with this one! The only thing that is consistent is that she takes a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon.

~wearing a size 2 diaper

~wearing size 3-6 months in most clothes still.

~rolling from back to stomach. I have a hard time believing this one considering she has done it twice and both times was when Brantley was watching her in the morning. She hasn't done it for me yet! Oh well, I guess I'll believe him.

~sitting up with our support. She is still wanting to lean to the side or back when we let go of her. But with the boppy or our help she will sit just fine. She did sit by herself the other night for a minute or so, but still not quite ready.

~reaching for our faces, especially our mouths. I LOVE this!

~pulling mommy's hair. I don't love this!

~fussing when I lay her on her changing table. It's as if she doesn't want me to put her down, but right when I start the motion of laying her on it she begins crying. All I have to do is give her her paci and she stops. She doesn't mind having her diaper changed. I think she's just being a little spoiled stinker!

~also fussy and throws a fit when we put her in her car seat. Yet again her paci usually does the trick. It's like she expects it.

~reaching for her toes and holding her feet.

~reaching her arms out when I reach to get her.

~giving wide open wet mouth kisses.

~reaching for toys, along with the tv remote and our cell phones which she is intrigued by.

~still playing with her favorite toy: the paci

~able to get her paci and put it in her mouth by herself (although I keep a couple in her crib at night and am still unsure if she knows to do this during the night).

That about wraps it up. I'm probably missing some things. But if I haven't already thought of them they must not be too important. But it's past my 9:30 bed time (haha) and I'm about to crash. Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving next week! I know I will!

I guess she thought if she strangled the bear I wouldn't be able to take any more pictures.

Bear, or no bear...the picture taking continued. (Don't worry I stopped after this. I just had to capture her usual "I've had enough of this" mood for my own record keeping.)