Update

Once again, it has been awhile since I have updated our blog.  I actually just keep forgetting I have it.  I will try to get better at this!

Tomorrow is the first of October.  I can't believe this year has flown by and Afton will be 9 months old next week.  As I type this, she is sitting in our living room floor, tearing up a LL Bean Catalog and putting small pieces in her mouth.  I have one eye on her and one on the computer.  Letting her tear up the catalog is probably not the best thing to do but it is keeping her entertained.

For this update, I am going to write what I originally thought I would use this blog for.  Updating everyone on Afton's progress and telling what her "new" things are.  I really wish that I had been doing this from the beginning.  Not only for everyone else, but for me so I can have a journal of her life and her milestones.  I do take a lot of pictures, but somethings you just can't capture with a picture.

She is now able to pick up small objects with a pincher grasp.  That is why I am keeping one eye on her and the catalog because she can tear up paper into tiny pieces now.  We have been practicing the pincher grasp by eating Cheerios (which kinda scares me because she isn't the greatest chewer in the world, but I guess she needs to practice that too).  We tried Walmart brand and Gerber baby puff things that are supposed to dissolve once they are in their mouth.  She didn't like their taste too much although she did like to pick them up and launch them off her high chair tray.

She also has started in the last couple of weeks to sit with her legs crossed.  I am not sure what started this, but every time she sits on the floor or in her high chair she sits with her ankles crossed.  I think it is hilarious...maybe she will be a lady.

 Afton isn't 100% mobile either.  Just today she has been getting around on all fours and actually crawling.  She really isn't that motivated.  If she sees something that is out of her reach, she will try and if it takes too long to get to it, she just gives up.  I don't think that she is aware of how well she can scoot around though.  Most times, she does get where she wants to go.  If the realization hit her that she could get around, I think she would try a little harder to crawl.  I can't leave her alone anymore!

She has just learned to pull herself up to a stand.  She tries to pull up on everything-her toys, us, the ottoman, her pac n play, her crib, etc.  It won't be long until she is walking...

She can also put her pacifier in her mouth all by herself now.  When we point to an object and say "put this or that here" she will do that, if we ask for what she is holding she will give it to us and just in the last couple of days she has been putting little balls in the holes of her toy giraffe!  I bought that a while back and she hasn't been interested in it until this last week.  I am really excited that she is learning so many new things!

It is all really sad and exciting at the same time.  I am excited for her to grow and learn, but sad that it is going by so quickly.  I am so blessed that I get to stay home and spend so much time with her.  She is such a blessing to Matt and I!

Been a while...

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I posted my last blog!  There have been so many things that I have thought about that I could write in the last few weeks and thought I need to do that today and never got around to it.  I always feel guilty sitting and "playing" on the computer when there is laundry to do, floors to be swept, etc.  Good thing about that, they aren't going anywhere!  I can do those later.  So once again, here I am "playing" on the computer.

A lot has happened since my last post back in August, especially in the last two weeks.  Mostly it has to do with my family and it is all exciting!  First my brother-in-law came back from Iraq!  We are so excited that God kept him safe while he was overseas for a year.  I know that Sally and Kaydence are so happy to be a "whole" family again.  He didn't get to stay in the mountains of North Carolina very long.  They did get to visit family and then they had to move to Fort Polk, Louisiana.  They have been there for about 2 weeks.  I am so thankful for technology because now we get to talk to all THREE of them on Skype!  It isn't the same as in person, but I don't feel quite so far away from everyone when I can talk to them AND see them at the same time.  We are very happy for Ben, Sally and Kaydence.

Second big family happening: we gained a new sister-in-law!  Adam and Sheena got married Labor Day weekend in Ridgway, Colorado.  Since Ben, Sally and Kaydence were moving, they were not able to come to Colorado but the rest of the family did.  (it has been awhile since the whole family has been together.  I guess that is to be expected since we are scattered all over the US)  I picked up my parents from the airport in Albuquerque and we went to Colorado for almost a week before the wedding.  It was nice for Afton to get to spend time with Poppy and Grammy and Uncle Adam, Aunt Sheena and Aunt B.  It wasn't very long, unfortunately, but it is always nice to have the family together no matter what form it is in.  We did a lot of traveling, a lot of eating, and had a good time together.  The wedding was beautiful and we are so happy that Sheena is now part of the family.  We couldn't have picked someone better ourselves to marry Adam!  (as Dad said in his speech, Sheena was the only girl all 3 sisters liked, and thats the truth!)

After all the wedding festivities, Dad and Judy came to our house for a couple of days.  We went to Gallup and looked at  beads and jewelry.  We visited La Ventana and the Sandstone bluffs and ate Mexican.

Matt and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary on September 10.  Grammy and Poppy watched Afton while Matt and I went out to dinner and drove around.  It was our first date since Afton had been born!  It was a really nice evening that Matt and I got to spend just the two of us, celebrating our marriage.  We both said, who would have thought that 5 years ago we would be living in New Mexico with a daughter!  The Lord truly has blessed our marriage and our life together.  I could not ask for a better man (actually Matt was everything I prayed for and God threw in a bunch of stuff I never thought to ask for!) to share my life with.

We ended our family visit with a weekend trip to Albuquerque.  We went to more bead stores, visited the Sandia Tramway (we couldn't talk Judy into riding it!), walked around Uptown ABQ, spent the night in a hotel, and Dad ran a 10K on Sunday morning before they had to fly out.

So far this month has been a huge blessing!  I am so grateful for my family, even though we don't see them as often as we like; for my wonderful husband; for a healthy and happy daughter-I truly am blessed!