Florida!

We went to Florida last week for vacation with my family - my parents, the Sciba 5, Thomas, and Rebecca!  We rented a 4-bedroom house with a pool for the week.  Even though we all live in the same city, we are hardly ever all together for longer than a couple hours at a time, so it was special.  We had the BEST time!!  We played at the beach, swam in the pool, played games, did puzzles, ate junk food, and so much more.  We hung out at the house most days/nights, but we ventured out on a few different occasions.  

Perry absolutely LOVED the sand and beach!  She crawled through the sand without any hesitation with a big smile on her face.  We could not contain her!  She wanted to crawl everywhere - to the beach chairs, to the water, to the stairs.  She had SO much fun!  It is so special to experience things for the first time through her eyes! :) 

Here are some photos from our time there...

We broke up the drive on the way there, and stopped in Baton Rouge.  Perry wanted a taste of our watermelon margaritas!  Don't worry, she happily drank her water instead.

We arrived to our destination on Saturday late-afternoon.  In no particular order, these are some pics of our fun in the sun!

Love this sweet pic of my baby and her Mumsie :)

We ventured into Destin one night for dinner at Fudpuckers and play time at The Track!

On a rainy afternoon, me and Perry went with Mumsie, Popsie, Brittany, and Georgia Kate to Rosemary Beach for lunch, shopping, and a little treat.  Perry tried mint chocolate chip ice cream for the first time. :)

On Thursday night, my sweet parents watched all the grand babies while the adult kids went out to the best little restaurant in Seaside, The Great Southern Cafe!  Yum!  We had a great time!  After dinner, we all (including Mumsie, Popsie, and the grand babies) went to The Hub for ice cream.  It was a cute little area with live music!

These next pictures are from our last evening in Florida.  We all went down to the beach after dinner. It was beautiful and breezy and the perfect way to end the trip!!

We are SO grateful to my parents for making this trip happen!  It was a perfect getaway and we made wonderful memories!

ELEVEN months!

Perry Frances is 11 months old!  My baby is almost ONE.  Someone cue the tears!  She is just so darn cute, I want her to stay this little forever!

Perry just keeps getting more and more fun, and hitting more and more milestones!  She took her first steps mid-May, but has not been too interested in practicing her walking since then.  When we try to make her practice, she goes limp.  Haha! 

One of her favorite things to do is play on mommy and daddy's bed!  When we walk into our room, she looks at the bed and smiles with anticipation.  When we "throw" her on the bed, she just giggles and giggles!  It keeps us entertained for quite a while. :) 

                             

She has 4 teeth, and a couple more teeth on the top look like they're about to come in.

She has started disliking her baths and always tries to climb out.

Some favorite foods include blueberries, pasta, grilled cheese, and guacamole.

Some of her new favorite "games" include passing things back and forth, and throwing things off the side of whatever she is in (food off the side of her high chair, toys off the side of her car seat, bappies off the side of her crib).

She loves puppies and calls them all "Ja" after my parents' dog Jack.  "Ja" is often the first thing she says in the mornings.  We really think that's what she's trying to say, although sometimes "Ja" sounds more like "Da", and she has started calling almost everything in sight "Da".  So who knows. :)  She really likes all animals.  Her favorite book right now is "Dear Zoo".  She loves opening the flaps, and she gets a big smile on her face when we make the lion and monkey noises.

She still takes 2 naps a day around 9:30 and 2 and drinks four bottles a day.  This schedule seems to be working just fine for us!  Sometimes she fights her second nap, but we are definitely not ready to move to one nap yet.  We are planning on switching her to 3 bottles a day this week because she's been less interested in her bottles lately.  She generally sleeps about 11-11.5 hours a night.

She continues to be our active, wiggle worm!  I cannot stress it enough - she does. not. sit. still.  She loves us to hold her if we're walking around, but she is not a big snuggle bug.

It was a wonderful month with our girl!  We are going to cherish these last few weeks before she turns one!  I just love these series of pictures...

We love everything about you, Perry Pie! :)

New Orleans

This past weekend, we went to New Orleans for the weekend with John's family!  One of John's college friends got married on Saturday, so we decided to make a mini vacation out of it.  We had such a great weekend (despite the heat)!  Perry was amazing the entire time and slept perfectly (which is always a source of anxiety anytime you travel with a baby, amiright?!). 

We left Thursday morning and were on the road for 7.5 hours.  Perry was having too much fun staring at Uncle Peter in the backseat to nap, so we set up this funny baracade with a blanket so that she would hopefully sleep.  It worked like a charm!  She was amazing the entire ride. 

When everyone arrived at the hotel, we went out for dinner at a place down the street.  The next day, we did some shopping on Magazine Street.  It's a 6-mile long street with shopping and restaurants the entire way, so it is a little overwhelming trying to figure out where to go.  We probably only walked up and down a half mile stretch, but managed to stop into a few cute shops!  We went out for pizza for lunch, then headed back to the hotel.  John stayed up in the room while Perry napped, and the rest of us hit up the pool.  The afternoon was spent walking around the French Quarter before heading to dinner.

On Saturday morning, John and I got beignets for breakfast while his parents watched Perry at the hotel.  Baby girl wouldn't nap, so John and I walked around with her in the French Quarter for a couple of hours in the stroller while the rest of the family went to the pool.  Then after lunch, all three of us took a 1.5 hour nap! 

The wedding that night was beautiful, and I know John enjoyed seeing his friends and catching up with them.  His parents, Perry, and I left the wedding around 8 to head back to the hotel.  Perry had a poop explosion at some point on the ride back, but was such a trooper despite that!

It was a wonderful weekend making memories with family!  Perry loved being the center of attention all weekend.  I pray that she always know how loved she is! 

First steps!

Perry Frances took her first steps on May 16th, at 10.5 months old!!  Huge milestone!  She is so proud of herself when she does it, and almost scares herself a little bit!  We are having lots of fun practicing with her.  She has only taken a few steps at a time, but I'm sure she will be zooming all over the house in no time!

Mother's Day weekend

This past weekend we celebrated my very first Mother's Day!  Becoming a mother has changed the way I look at my own mom.  I understand the countless sacrifices she made, hours of sleep lost, showers untaken, and personal time vanished.  I understand how she must have felt exhausted, overwhelmed, unappreciated, and like a hot mess at times!  But I also understand the endless and unconditional love and joy that she must have felt that this little person calls her "mama".  Nothing compares.  I have never felt more loved or in love, more blessed, more humbled, more happy, more FULL, and more undeserving of it all.  I love you, mom!  Thank you for creating the best life for our family and teaching me how to be a mommy!

Perry made this little artwork at school for Mother's Day, and I couldn't love anything more!

On Saturday, we went to Katy to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom and family.  John, Perry, and I stopped at Panera Bread on the way out there for some lunch, then we swam and played at Mumsie and Popsie's.

Heading home with a Mohawk!  My mom used to do our hair like this when we were babies. :)

On Mother's Day, John got me Shipley's and Starbucks for breakfast, and then we skipped church (sh!) to head to the zoo!  We met up with our friends the Boudreauxs.  It was Ellen's first Mother's Day, too!

Perry loved the carousel at first, and then started fussing.  She wasn't so sure!

Perry LOVED the gorillas!  She got so exciting and started hollering at them, kicking her little legs, and waving her arms.  It was presh!

 

It was a very happy Mother's Day, indeed!!!

Perry Frances is TEN months!

Our baby girl is 10 whole months old!

Perry's two top teeth popped through this month, and the two next to those are about to come in, too!  It looks like she will have a massive gap between her top middle teeth, just like her momma. Sorry, baby! ;)   

She is so active and so curious!  She is constantly moving, trying to get into something new, playing with a new toy, etc.  On the flipside of that personality trait, she is also a bit ADHD.  Haha!  Perry is not cautious when it comes to trying new things.  We could have some bumps, bruises, and broken bones in our future (fingers crossed that I am wrong!).  She literally cracks herself up all the time.  She just randomly laughs a lot, and it makes me smile.  Girl knows how to have a good time. ;)  She is so smart, and you can just see her taking it all in!

She stood without holding on for about 3 seconds on a couple of different occasions, but she isn't too interested in doing it.  She has started walking all over the place while holding on to her walker.  She smiles so big and is so proud of herself when she does it!

She started waving this month!  We are still practicing, but she is usually pretty good at it.  Sometimes, she will accompany her wave with a "buh" sound to say bye!  Her wave is more of an opening and closing of her hand, aimed towards herself.  It's adorable.

She has started eating more and different kinds of food and is a pretty good eater!  She gets so excited with anticipation when we put her in her high chair for mealtime.  Her favorite foods are strawberries, bananas, yogurt, and veggie patties.  She also really likes meat and cheese.  She will eat almost anything, except squash, peas, and sweet potatoes for some reason.  I've tried making her blueberry muffins before, and she was not a fan at all.

Perry is really a social butterfly!  She loves her teachers and friends at school.  When we go to music class, she is always crawling over to the other babies and wanting to play, while some babies sit in their parents' laps the entire time.  She loves people!  It will be fun to see her little personality transpire as she grows up.  I have a feeling she will be quite the extrovert!

She LOVES books now!  She likes to turn the pages.  I think she would prefer it if we didn't even read them, but just let her turn the pages back and forth.  We usually read her 2-3 books before each nap and before bed.  She always gets sad when we stop and turn off the light because she wants more!  Her favorites right now are Where's Spot?, Bedtime Blessings, and anything where she can lift up the flaps and see what's behind.

Perry Frances, you are such a joy!  We love you, big girl!