According to my camera...

According to my camera, Ileigh had her first taste of baby food on August 10th at 2:59p.m.

Man, I didn't even remember when we started; it has only been a week ago. She started on cereal a few days before she turned 6 months...I think.

(We have had a little bit going on; at least that is my excuse.)

Anyway, here is a picture of the optimistic start...

(Yes, I don't have the cover of the high chair on. It has been repurposed by Eli as some sort of fireman's hat and coat. Don't judge- the child is lucky I cleaned the high chair off for her! :))

Homemade acorn squash baby food! (If you ever get the chance, make your own baby food. It is really easy and very cost effective)

And the less than dramatic after picture. She just looks stunned.  

"Well, thanks. What was that, Mom?"

"Ummm. It was good, I guess. Sorta." 

This little one is still refusing a bottle, but hang on- she is halfway drinking out of a sippy cup. ThankYouJesus.

An awesome friend of mine gave me a few of their old sippy cups and she really loved them! She has just had a little water with her squash so far, but maybe soon she will drink milk too! 

Ileigh is also cutting two teeth. I can see them...I know I can see them. I am hoping that I can see them and it isn't just my imagination. I would love to explain her recent neediness and fussiness! :) 

Kick Back Day

Man, we love July. The big culmination of the month is the White Deer Rodeo and Kick Back Day. Tons of family come into town and we all hang out and eat a ton of good food- what could be better? :)

Eli would say "fire trucks". This was his year.

Here is my baby girl at her first Kick Back Day parade!

Here was Eli and I in 2009...

Eli got to ride in the fire truck with Memamaw and Gramps! He was in heaven. Just this morning he asked if he could see "Eli in the fire truck picture". We might have to print it out for him to put on his wall.

Here is our clan claiming our spot for prime candy-gettin'. 

:) I hung out with Ileigh while daddy took pictures and Eli rode the fire truck. 

Ileigh and her great grandpa... 

Our beautiful niece, Megan was in the parade. :) We were super proud! 

Emma and her daddy... 

Eli got to wear his finished sprinkle shirt! He has been asking for weeks and I caved. I wanted to do a little photoshoot with it first, but I knew it was the perfect outfit for the event. He loved the bouncy house. 

We even coaxed him to climb up the slide and slide down! What a big boy! 

No joke, he is fearless...or he just doesn't know better. He is over 8ft off the ground in this shot. 

Maybe he won't have his daddy's fear of heights; but then again, when this is his normal routine, who could be afraid? 

I love July...:)

6 month pictures

I wanted to take a few pictures of Ileigh with some things of my Nanny's in WD. The weekend we went down for the rodeo was the perfect opprotunity! Here are a few of my favs. (Thanks, Stef for letting us use your new blanket!)

Nanny thinks Ileigh looks just like a cupie doll. 

Big Boy Bed

I have been a little emotional lately. Eli started sleeping in his "big boy bed" this week.

I was actually looking for sheets in Kohl's for the queen bed in Ileigh's room and started crying when I saw all of the college stuff. I could help but think that soon Eli will be in a twin bed. I slept in a twin bed until I was a senior in high school. I could just see Eli packing all his things and heading out the door for college. Ah!

Anyway.

Originally, we had planned to buy a toddler bed for him and move the crib to Ileigh's room. After our trip to Dallas and seeing the quality of what we would be getting for the price, we decided to build one. Actually, I decided that we Chris would build one. I saw a tutorial online of how to do it, but Chris didn't use it. He really can do everything...:)

Daddy loved having his little helper with him... 

Eli was happy to help out... 

Carrying the bed to make sure it fit! It did! Woot! 

Eli really loves his new "big boy" bed. 

Alot. 

With all the fabric and materials we spent around $65- we were going to have to spend around $100-150 if we bought it. Awesome.

We moved his bed in his room Tuesday morning for naps that afternoon.

He has done great at night so far. Wednesday night we woke up to find that he had crawled between us, but last night he slept all through the night! Woot!

Favorite toy...

One little girl got to try out her big brother's favorite toy...

She loved it.

I don't know if she loved it as much as he did, but we will be using it again!

Eli, August 2009 

Nope, they don't look anything alike...not at all. :)