photography by Paolasft

the light we love at Christmas emanates from the light of the world,
Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

N I N E.
our sweet Sky baby is a whole nine months today. I could probably say that this is my favorite age.
but then last month was my favorite age. and 6 months was pretty great too. I can't even begin to say how much joy this little sugar butt brings to our family. and anyone that knows her for that matter. she is everyone's favorite. I know I sound like a broken record, but people freak O U T!
I think Brandon and I finally have the whole 2 kids thing figured out now. we've learned to keep our crap under control and not freak. I'd say we're doing pretty good. at least I'd like to think.
I could say I wish I could have 38 more babies just like her, but I would be lying. girl is wild! although she is just about the cutest baby girl on planet Earth, she is a handful! we often have those "what were we thinking?" moments. we created a wild child. I'm not exaggerating, and anyone who knows her would agree.
her with her chubby cheeks, long beautiful hair, amazing laugh and glistening eyes.
she is a dream. and you guys, her loving personality.

you know what else? I'm planning her fist birthday.
what.

Skylar at NINE months
Weight: 18lbs 8oz (48th percentile)
Birth: 7 lbs 3 oz
Height: dont remember but.. (52nd percentile)
Birth: 19 in

so. what's new?

• baby giggles. we have a belly laugh! she giggles all the time and I cannot get enough.
• goes from standing to sitting to sitting to standing completely unassisted.
• and standing completely on her own. unassisted and cute!
• baby steps! she has taken a few half steps and one FULL step forward, but she hasn't figured out how to bring that opposite foot forward fast enough. in due time.. I am patient.
• still in shock at the above point.
• baby babble. she's starting to enunciate certain sounds and making repetitive noises.
• mama & dada. she's got them both down ad knows when to use them. dada is for when she's happy and silly. mama is when she is upset and wants cuddles.
• play. Sky plays independently, but loves to be close to brother all day long.
• toys. she wants everything Noah has. even if its the exact same thing she has, she isn't happy until she has what is in his hands.
• cars. she doesn't know how to play with anything else but cars. she knows to glide the car back & forth. ferociously.
• she has mastered the pincer grasp. especially with her graduate puffs. it's the cutest!
• baby love. she kisses back! even though that's mostly just a full open mouth on your cheek for 6 secs.
• engagement. she has started to seek attention from others. mostly just mom and dad at the moment.
• admiration. she thinks brother has hung the moon. she looks to him with the biggest eyes.
• wearing a size 3 in diapers and 6-12/9-12 in clothes.
• independent. we just leave her to herself and she likes to explore the WHOLE house. she especially like brother's room.
• car rides. she sings to us in the car. we are hoping she gets Ra-Ra's talent for some singing. it's not looking promising at the moment.
• teethe. she's got her two bottom and working on the top. she feels like she can eat anything!
• head gear. she is not one for any head anything. we bought the cutest beanies for winter. she hates them. like a lot!

E A T

this girl. she loves to eat (still) and is a human vacuum. she will eat just about anything, literally. except beans. she makes a sour face with beans and wont take a second bite.
a meal isn't over until she has rubbed about 60% of it all over herself. when she is allowed to anyway.
I don't tolerate picky eaters. so I will try it all. even if she doesn't like it, like the beans, I offer it every once in a while. and will keep offering it until she eats it all up. Noah is such a good eater and I want her to be the same. he will eat anything, except cotton candy. weird right? its the texture. freaks him out.
she wont take baby puree anymore. nope, not even for a bit. she gives us the, "really, we're still playing that game? look. she wants real food, real flavor and lots of it. she's so grown up!
her favorites are.. mashes potatoes, avocado, green beans, lasagna, stroganoff, diced fruit (especially peaches), chocolate cake, ice cream and bread. basically anything she can feed herself.

S L E E P

Sky continues to sleep well through the night. she goes down between 7-7:30pm and will sleep until we wake her about 7:15am. we have no trouble getting her to bed. when she is ready, she will certainly let us know so we make her bottle and put her in her crib with Lamb-y. her bottle and the lamb, that's all she needs. I wish she needed some cuddles before bed, but no game. she is not one for cuddles. (unless she is sick of course.)

when morning time comes, she will often be up before any one in the house. this is what she does..
she opens her eyes and sits up 2 secs after. she looks around and admires her bedroom for a bit. then she will start talking. I'm convinced she is telling us about her dreams with the amount of babbles that come from the monitor. then after she's done with her story, she continues to find the camera and wrestle with it. until it ends up on the floor. she will soon become bored of everything and start the whining. that's our cue.
she is the BEST sleeper, I am so thankful for that!

P L A Y

playing continues to be great with her. she absolutely loves to play with Noah, but she can entertain herself very well. which we are happy about. she doesn't need us to stay occupied. we just cut her loose and she finds her own way.
we have bought her a few girl toys for herself as well as people gifting her toys, but nothing entertains her like a good hot wheel car does. she has quite a bit of "baby" toys, and she doesn't want anything to do with them. she wants what Noah is playing with. so for Christmas, we literally only bought her ONE toy. there are so many cute things out there and trust me, shopping for a baby girl is so dreamy, but there is no point. she gets more excited about a tractor than a dollie. what can you do?

she is also standing on her own. its only been about 4 days that she's been doing this and we're so excited about it. she lets go and will stand completely on her own for a good while. we celebrate every time. why wouldn't we right?

S K Y L A R

to my sweet girl. I never thought my heart could swell so much. it blows my mind that you are almost at the end of babyhood! I make it a point in my every day to try not to take for granted your resilience, cheer, sparkle, and absolute beauty. I am floored and completely fascinated by your ability to see nearly everything as wonderful and humorous and we all wish life would be. your smile lights up our every moment, and your laugh- OH I LOVE YOUR LAUGH - its become the regular soundtrack of our house. the admiration of our Noah grows every day and its the joy of my heart to watch you two play together. your desire and drive to seek out everything around you is impressive and you are a tiny tornado through the entire house- it wont be long before you are up and running all over the place.
thank you for filling our days with laughter and joy and your sweet little face. you are going to be a whole year old before we know it and I am soaking in these last months of babyhood with you in this season. I cannot believe how richly you have blessed us.
our tiny girl.
our rainbow.
our Sky baby.
I love you so.

photo dump

its the most wonderful time of the year.
there'll be much mistltoeing...


my love for decorating came from my mom. from the time I was little, she would deck the halls right after Thanksgiving. and I mean she would go all out. and of course it all stayed up until mid/end of January.
add that to a Christmas fanatic, (Brandon) and you've got a Christmas blow up! we both love Christmas time so much, we get a little crazy. this is the time of year we can justify a lot of things.

I like all the "new things." and Brandon is as traditional as they come. that the only aspect we tend to crash in. but when Brandon and I met, he warned me. he said he would always want a traditional Christmas. and he quickly figured out I was always on the hunt for the new and upcoming trends. we had to meet in the middle.
it was like a pact. Brandon wanted a traditional family Christmas tree with all the family ornaments and straight red, green and white everything. he likes colorful lights and lot of them. so I agreed to a traditional family room with all the things he wanted.
as long as..
I got the rest of the house to do all the modern things. he agreed, so his tree is untouchable. and I get to still do all the new things.

most of everything is from Target but I will link as much as I can.

family room
mantle garland - made by me
this tree is pre-lit with white lights but Brandon likes the colored lights. so we strung some extra lights that match the lights on the outside of our home. when he's not home, I get to turn on the white ones. best of both worlds.

mouse / garland

trees / squirrel / ornament trees - made by me / candle

elf on a shelf / wreathe - made by me

joy sign

candle

tree / tree topper / tree skirt / lights

I'm not sure where most of these ornaments came from as they were gifts from family. but they sure are my favorites. we have ornaments that were Brandon's grandmothers long ago. there's too many to keep up with.

noah & sky - made by me

truck

trendy nutcracker / fisherman nutcracker

we were so excited that we actually found this camper in stock that we didn't notice the wreathe was missing. we went to multiple targets during the black Friday sale to find this, so we just need to go exchange it. its still super cute.
camper

lumberjack nutcracker

kitchen
this was the first tree I ever bought. Noah used to wreck it with his walker as a baby and pull all the ornaments
off to stick 'em in his mouth. it's a special little guy.
tree / ornaments / candle

dining room
I wanted this room to just be elegant and simple. so I went with a champagne frosty look.
candle / candle ring

tree / tree skirt / ornaments / twigs

skylar's room
I was a little skeptical of weather I wanted to put a tree in her room since I didn't want her to drop it on herself. but it has worked out pretty good. the day I put it up, she was obviously very intrigued to grab the ornaments but a few, firm, NO NO NO's did the job and we haven't had an issue.
tree / ornaments / beads / tree skirt

trees / nutcracker / candle

noah's room
Noah had his very own tree last year as well but in storage, one of the legs broke so we bought him a new tree this year. we found this darling flocked tree from walmart and snached it up. and I just used the ornaments he already had.

tree / tree skirt / animal ornaments / snowflakes /twigs

night time