First Swim

A little unsure at first

 "I think I like this giant bathtub!"

Friendships forming

Kendall recently had a slumber party at her cousins house! I love this sequence of pictures because it really captures Quincy and Kendall's relationship right now. I can't wait for them to grow close over the years, being only 2 years apart I know they will be friends sooner than later, but right now it's pretty funny! Quincy adores Kendall and just wants to hold her and be a little mommy to her. Kendall, being a little bit of a touchy baby, isn't always so sure what to think.

We've also had the pleasure of watching our friend Avlynne for a few days. Kendall already looks up to her and wants to be able to do everything Av can do, and no matter what Avlynne does Kendall thinks she is the coolest EVER. She can steal a toy out of Kendall's hands and Kendall just sits there and smiles like "Wow, Avlynne just took my toy, I'm so lucky!" There has been some mutual eye poking and lip grabbing. The beginning of a great friendship.

I dressed Kendall to be matchy matchy one day---so cute!

Library date with Nathan Crawford.

Play date with Rachel Swenland.

Family night kid picture (Liam, Thijs, Aidan, Jackson, Kendall & AJ)

Does 8 months sound REALLY old to anyone else?

Kendall is becoming such a little HAM! I pull out the camera and she pulls out the charm! I don't even have to make silly faces or sounds anymore to get her to smile. Pavlov's salivating dog experiment is becoming very real for us---it's a bit scary, actually!  Anyway... we are LOVING our silly little girl. 

Here are her 8 month dolly pictures. 

She really likes to toss the dolly all over the place or suck on the tag, so I had a hard time getting a picture with the dolly sitting nicely. We think Kendall weighs a little over 15 pounds and is about 26 inches long.

Our days with cute bows are numbered! 

Kendall recently figured out that they are there, and she can take them OFF! It's tragic. I had a cute panda hat on her the other day and when we reached our destination she had turned the hat around so that the ear flap was covering her face and she was playing peek-a-boo with me! 

Kendall's had a few new and exciting accomplishments this month. 

One is that she is scooting and rolling in every direction, except forward---very frustrating for her when she wants the toy just out of reach, but is slowly moving further away from it! But she is SO proud of herself when she moves to a new spot. She looks at us and giggles as if to say "Can you believe how far I got? This is awesome!" 

From a sitting position Kendall loves to lunge forward onto all fours and rock back and forth. She smiles the whole time. She can't go anywhere just yet.

She can finally touch the floor when she is in the jumperoo and goes crazy in there! I swear she would be happy to jump all day long! She laughs and squeals and shakes her head with excitement. 

She loves to bang her toys together, put toys in and out of the basket, find toys that are hiding under her blanket, and throw toys off her high chair to watch them fall to the ground. 

She has added a few new sounds to her vocabulary: baba, wa, p-p-p-p, rrrah, ehh-ehh, and once she said MA! I teared up a little bit. 

After about a  month hiatus she is now back to sleeping through the night (most nights, knock on wood!!!). I think this is because she has figured out how to find and put her binky in her mouth in the middle of the night! WOO HOO! We've also weened her off needing the swaddle (sort of) so she now has a little more mobility and usually settles into a comfy side or tummy sleeping position. 

She also decided she was done nursing. It's bittersweet for me as I loved being able to provide for her in that way, plus the bonding, not to mention the convenience factor. But I'm trying to embrace my new freedom.

Here are a few other pictures from that past month:

Our new play pen...

Kendall still enjoys petting the cats and they still are so patient and kind. I wonder how it will go when one of them decides "enough is enough"?

We had a fun little sunny moment the other day so I grabbed the camera and I caught her in the middle of a laugh and I LOVE this picture---this is SO Kendall! I love watching her personality develop. 

Happy 8 months Kendall!