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'Tis the Season


My, my, we've been busy getting ready for and celebrating the various holidays of the season! I hardly have time to blog because aside from work (which has been crazy), I've just been enjoying every little minute of Pumpkin becoming a full-fledged little person!


At 7 1/2 months old, Pumpkin's made many milestones including unsupported sitting, two front teeth (one top, one bottom), and solid foods. She also has a full array of consonant sounds and freely expresses emotions - blowing = anger; laughter = music to my ears. She has likes and dislikes and she knows how to make them known. For example, when her hands start clapping if someone doesn't start singing Pat-A-Cake REAL soon there is going to be some blowing going on.


And although we haven't quite gotten belly off floor yet, we are very, very close to crawling . Just the other day I thought my immobile child was sitting on her play mat and I looked over to see her squirming her way up under the television! After a brief freak-out about her new found mobility (which included "what if she had scooted to the laundry room, out the back door, down the porch steps, across the yard and into the pool without me noticing???") we promptly started ticking things off our mental baby proofing checklist.


Although I miss her tiny baby-ness and hate the unavoidable reality of her growing up, I've also just been enjoying the heck out of it. Every day she is just a little more fun than the day before. It's hard to drop her off at daycare in the mornings and I can't wait to pick her up and get her home to play in the evenings - so much so that the daycare ladies scolded me the other day for never letting Aaron pick her up in the afternoons!


In addition to the various milestones she's meeting almost daily, Pumpkin is also enjoying her first holiday season. Thanksgiving brought us back to Florida where our little Pumpkin gave thanks and ate mashed potatoes and visited with her Ganny. After celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas in a 48-hour span, it was back to Louisiana and on to decorating our home and preparing for Christmas in the Bayou State.


For Pumpkin's first Christmas we had to have a real tree. That turned into not only a very expensive adventure, but also a back-breaking one, as Aaron and I basically rearranged all the furniture in our house to get the tree in just the right spot for Pumpkin. Of course, as should have been expected but wasn't, she hasn't noticed it.


The presents were just as silly - I loaded my Target cart down with every toy in her age range, wrapped each of them carefully and placed them delicately under the sparkling lights of the tree. She didn't notice them for weeks. She did, however, promptly find an envelope containing a gift card for someone else and sucked and gnawed on that until the ink ran and the name was unrecognizable. That is one that is definitely sealed with love.


I will say that when she finally did find the presents, she went for the biggest one and continues to bang on it every night! That's my girl :)


The picture on this post is from the ride home after my Aunt DD's birthday party. She loved all the festivities- bright lights, loud voices and laughter! Based on the amount of fun she had there, I'm certain Christmas is going to be magical (moreso for me than her this year I'm sure) and I can't wait.


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