Staircase Mountain

Where in the world did October go?! Been so busy living out life that I haven't been updating this blog. Shay changes so much in the span of a week, it's hard to keep up with all of the advances in Baby Land but I'll give some highlights:

* Sometime in the last couple of weeks, Shay reached the summit of Staircase Mountain (aka: figured out how to climb up the stairs). She'd been trying for awhile but just didn't have the "oomph" to get her leg up and pull herself up to the next step. Not a problem now! We've had to move Aslan's (our dog's) water and food dishes from the kitchen to the stair landing to our bathroom so Shay doesn't get into them. She doesn't try to eat the dog kibble, but plays with it and splashes around in the water.

Little stair climber

* We've expanded her culinary horizons and, in addition to oatmeal, sweet potatoes & butternut squash, Shay also likes apples, carrots, pears & cantaloupe. She's decided that rice cereal, bananas, sweet peas & avocados are her nemesis. I tried mashing a little bit of banana in with her oatmeal thinking I'd outsmart her. She took one bite and looked at my like I was crazy. Next big step will be getting her to use a sippy cup and self feed. She has her pincer grasp but hasn't figured out how to move food from her fingers to her mouth. Instead she sits and holds it in one clenched fist while opening her mouth really wide and giving us the, "Why aren't you putting food in my mouth?" look.

* Pulling up to standing has become the activity of choice these days. She pulls up on just about anything she can get her hands on which means more baby proofing for Mommy & Daddy. She also likes to "cruise" around our couch and the inside of her crib. A lot of times in the morning I wake up to see her in the video monitor standing up and letting the world know she's awake.

 Cruising around the couch

* Just in the past couple of days, she's said the word "Mama" several times. It's definitely more baby babble and not intentionally directed at me, but, as her mommy, it's still exciting!

Two of my friends from college, Sarah and Shay, are pregnant and expecting their first babies just days apart from each other. Sarah was my roommate freshman year at Belmont Univ. and was also a bridesmaid in Jeff's and my wedding. Shay (aka "Big Shay") was in the dorm room next door to us and is who we named our baby girl after. Sarah, Kristin (another Hail Hall dormmate), Shaybug and I all went to Big Shay's shower which was in town. A couple of weeks later, Big Shay, Kristin & I all piled in my car and drove up to Indianapolis for Sarah's shower. Good times! 

Shay & Sarah - both beautiful & 30 weeks pregnant with new friends for Bug

Buggy & me at Big Shay's baby shower

I'll leave you with a picture I took the other day when Jeff brought Shay to visit me at work for lunch.