DOUBLE DIGITS BABY!!

I literally heard a friend of mine say " yeah, Amara is 10 months today!", which reminded me....Amara is already 10 months! I was not prepared ( hence the way late photos), and I find that I am completely shocked when another month has come and gone! CRAZINESS!!

It is official....I gave birth to a ball of energy! She is my little "hot mess" if you will. Amara is all over the place these days! I remember when I first had her, other moms would stop me to say something about her hair, then proceed to tell me that they miss the days that their child would just sleep all day and lay on their chest! I am officially THAT mom. Today, while we were in the grocery store, there was a sweet family shopping together. They had a newborn ( who was being quiet) and a 5-6 year old ( quiet as well), and I found myself day dreaming about peaceful days. How can two be more peaceful than one??? Amara likes to be heard in the cutest of ways. Don't get me wrong, she is so perfect and fun, but I am definitely that mom who blows raspberries the entire shopping trip to entertain my child then feel like I am going to pass out when I leave.

It is so fun to watch Amara claim more and more of her independence. The biggest thing that happened ON her 10 month birthday was that she crawled for the first time. Yes, we got it on video!! Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched her try to get her bearings. It always seems that after a baby does something, they won't do it again for a while. As expected, Amara didn't crawl again for another several days. I woke up this morning to Gabe's voice on our monitor saying " Babe, come upstairs if you can hear me...Amara is crawling for real!" She officially knows that those little hands and knees can take her where she wants to go.

Another super fun thing right now is our meals. I love watching her eat. I know it sounds weird, but it is the cutest thing watching her learn to pick things up and shove them in her mouth. She absolutely loves hummus on bread, kid's greek yogurt ( berry), cheese, avacado, cinnamon toast, bananas, puffs and her banana oatmeal in the morning. Each day is different with breast feeding. Some days, she is super interested, and others not so much! I think it is more sweet than bitter for me for that phase to end :)

We have lowered the crib mattress alllllll the way to the bottom. She really loves being up on her knees. Sometimes, when she wakes up I will just peek in her room to see what she is doing. It is always super cute to see that bed head and listen to her talking to herself and sitting up on her own.

I am loving that Amara is warming up to people and not crying so much when I walk away. She loves to wave at people, say "uh oh" when cued, "na na na na na" all day long and reach out her hand to touch other people ( especially kids). She has been going to the nursery at church ( 2 times and counting now), and it is so great to come back and peek in the window and see her playing happily with others.

The other day the teacher said that Amara is a lover! That is such a prayer of mine! I want her to love people the way Jesus did, and I really hope that just being around Amara will make others take notice to the fact that there is something special about her spirit and the condition of her heart. I want her to shine from the inside out. I feel like I married a man who has so many special gifts and callings. He walks with such a humble attitude and being around him makes you want to smile and be a better person! If Amara, captures half of that, she will have it made!! I am a lucky woman.... I get to be a wife to such an amazing man, and I still can't believe that he chose me to do life with. The cherry on top is getting to be "mommy" to Amara. Thank you Jesus! I will continue to praise You in everything that I do. I do NOT take for granted these moments. I honestly just hope I am doing a good job! ;)


We are having a blast. Summer is coming to an end, and we are gearing up for a busy and somewhat lonely fall season as Gabe will be gone a lot. We are soaking in as much family time as we can! Thanks for checking in and sharing in these little milestones with us! It means so much to me.

Much Love!
Jenni

EXTRAS....

Amen...

Came across this post on my facebook, and I think it is beautifully written and well spoken. Thought I would share.... Pray for these families in CO that suffered tragedy and loss! It is absolutely heartbreaking to me!

Read on...

Inspiration

Amara's first birthday party is just around the bend ( she will be 10 months in less than a week), which means I am in planning mode. I put together a little inspiration board to help gather all of my random thoughts into one place! I tried to stay away from a specific color palette and certain ideas simply because I want a lot of it to be a surprise to my family :) You can also check out my PARTAY board for other great entertaining ideas that I love!

Click the link below to check out Amara's 1st Birthday board!

                                                                           Check it out

DIY Pendant light

I am going to be honest.....This project was a little bit grueling .....ok a LOT grueling for my husband and I. I will explain later!! For that reason alone, I am only posting a picture of it today. I will do a tutorial soon.....when I feel like it ;)

We are super excited to welcome this globe into our home!!! I still can't believe it is up and done!! ugh....

9 months....

My goal for the rest of Amara's first year is to actually get her monthly photos up ON her monthly birthday! It just hasn't seemed to happen for me lately...sorry! I literally had to get these pics of her before church yesterday.

Lots to write about this month. It has been my most exhausting month physically ( yes even more so than the month I had her), but the absolute most fun month thus far! Amara is a little person ya'll!!!!! She feels less and less like my little baby as she gets more and more independent and curious. She is so full of spunk and joy, and I love every minute of it. I feel like 9 months is a milestone month because you have a 9 month check up and there are so many things that she could quite possibly be doing now at 9 months.

I took her to her check up, and her exam proved her to be a perfectly happy, healthy baby. However, going by her file, she was 1/2 lb underweight, which concerns our doctor. We ran through her diet, and he encouraged me to breast feed 1-2 more times a day....WHOA.....WAIT.....WHAT!?!?!?! Tears literally welled up in my eyes. I don't want to feel like I am taking a step back here. She isn't drinking enough water, she needs to be eating meats ( which is have not omitted purposefully, just end up going for the veggies for some reason), we need to put flouride in her water, she needs more calcium ( start baby yogurt), start giving her table foods, etc. I felt so overwhelmed when I left, and I felt like a terrible mommy for not being on the up and up, but I am learning too! 

We went straight to the store and loaded up on yogurt, snacks, meaty foods, and started table foods that day for her. Truth be told, I knew this was all coming, but I was terrified of changing our schedule, and I am even more terrified of giving her table foods. I had even been hesitant when it came to puffs until now. All this to say, I have spent the week introducing Amara to different foods, and it has been very successful. She is a MUCH happier baby! Who would have thought!?!

Amara's first table food venture was avacado. She LOVED it. Then, we tried some mac n cheese, which she also loved! A lot of my fears of change and her trying new things have been put to rest this week once I saw how it all really happens so naturally. She was ready!

Some of the things Amara is loving right now......

Sitting in her new high chair
Waving
Her first babblings..." ya ya", "ba ba" and my favorite "da da" - no association with Gabe yet, but I am working on it :)
Pointing/ touching everything with her index finger
books
standing on her feet
splash mat
bath toys
getting her picture taken
throwing everything on the ground
grabbing anything in front of her :)
Riding in her "big girl" car seat
Squeezie food pouches
Falling more and more in love with Sadie Marie Dog!!

Other goodies....

Instagram wrap

I had some fun with chevron duct tape and mini instagram photos of "boots" ,aka Amara! I just wanted something a little different than the average wrap and bow for "daddy of the year!" Gabe was traveling home on his first Father's Day from a show. So, Amara and I picked him up from the airport around 7 that evening and we brought the party to him. We went to grab some yummy burgers and a milkshake at a place in downtown called The Pharmacy. Amara was definitely grumpy and not up for the wait, but we made it work somehow! Just wanted to show one gift of his that I had a lot of fun wrapping as it was a little trip down memory lane.

 I made a quick little banner during nap time to complete the "party in a car". Sorry, it was dark by the time I decided to take a pic!

Father's Day Shoot

My family really values photos. My dad especially would rather photos of his kids over a gift I think. I thought this would be part of a great Father's Day gift for both my dad and Gabe! These are some of my favorites from a shoot my friend Shara did to give to the special men in my life for Father's Day! I am so blessed to have such sweet moments captured. Shara, you are super talented and you always make me feel super comfortable in front of a camera! I can't thank you enough!