Hollis- 8 Months Old

I thought this went by fast the first time, but man, the second time around is FLYING by. I can't believe Hollis Adelaide is already 8 months old. She is such a cutie! So lately she....

• crawls! On the carpet it's a "normal" crawl. On the hard wood floors, its a funny one knee up and one knee down wobble crawl. It's pretty funny. She can get anywhere she wants but hasn't quite discovered that she can leave a room yet. So if we walk out, Hollis gets upset because she hasn't figured out she can come too. :o)
• draws a CROWD. Every. Where. We. Go.  Young and old, Hollis can attract everyone and get a big smile from every one she meets. 
• loves taking a bath and she when she splashes, she uses her whole body to do it. So it's like a small tsunami. 
• She is NOT a fan of baby food. She will eat apples and pears and surprisingly peas seem to be a favorite. But she eats a lot of snacks and soups and whatever we are eating smashed up or in really small bites. And although she likes to nurse, we usually have to leave the room because she is way too nosy and I can't stand the 'off and on game' for her to see what else is happening in the room. 
• Her favorite toys are an Elmo rattle toy and a wind up walking mouth and slithering snake. She loves Pinky the dog and puzzles too!
• Sleeping....she stinks at it. :o) She wants to be close to me but in her crib in her own space as well. So it can be a up and down, up and down all night. Argh. So we have a trip coming up but once we get back we are going to really get to working on this one! :o) Naps....she takes two a day. One around 10:00 and then usually at 1:00. Marin's classes usually interfere with her morning nap which make getting a good little nap routine hard. And she could probably use a third one but she won't do it. 
• Loves music. Five little Ducks (the quack quack quack part) can still get a big smile.
• She shakes her head no. It is really adorable. 
• weighs 25 lbs and wears 12 month clothing perfectly. Well, some are too small. 
• loves to play Peek a Boo. If she has any blanket, shirt, burp cloth....she is going to cover her face to play peek a boo! 
• CLAPS!!
• is such a happy, happy baby. Seriously, so very happy. 

Hollis Adelaide, you are growing too fast!

Our little movie star.....

A little game of peek a boo between yogurt bites....
100 0015 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

Some crawling....
100 0011 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

Some standing....
100 0006 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

Some noise making!!
MVI 5099 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

Some October Pictures

Some of our October.....

We had a Groupon from a little putt putt golf place near our house.
Marin had a blast walking around and she kept up with her ball and putter the whole time. 

Hollis watched and had snacks the whole time.
Happy baby!

Marin would hit her ball and then run down to find it.
Pick it up and drop it in the hole. 

Loved the dinosaur.

A little pat a cake!

A hug! 

I put some little toys in a muffin tin for Hollis.
Just a little something different.
What does she play with? The camera case. 

A then she sees the toys....

And has a grand ol' time.
Beating the tin on the floor was probably her favorite. :o)

I made these shirts out of Burke's marathon racing bib and an iron on transfer shirt.
(Thanks for the idea, Betsy!)
I love how they turned out and it was so easy!

Pretty girls!

She really is the best big sister ever. (Well, besides you Cissy.)
Marin is so sweet to Hollis and is really starting to play more and more with her. 

Look who is learning how to make a big MESS!

So proud of herself!

Chicago Marathon Day! 

We are so very proud of our Dad!!! 

 So glad we made it downtown to cheer Burke on (even though we really didn't get to see him run because there were 8 billion people there and no one would let us squeeze in to see. Argh.) But it was so FUN to be down there regardless. Chicago is absolutely BEAUTIFUL this time of year and the music and the cheering just made it a fun, fun atmosphere to be in. The girls did a super job and we couldn't be happier for Burke! He is extraordinary. (Next up....a little family walk/run at the end of this month called Strollers in the Front 5k. He is roping us all into this fitness thing. :o)

Fall Festival #1

Just about every single park up here will have some kind of Fall Festival so I have a feeling we will be going to a couple more of these. But the weather was beautiful today so we walked (a longer walk than expected, thanks Burke) over to the park to have a little fall fun.

Marin loved feeding the sheep on the outside of the gate. She would say "baaaa".
But once inside, a sheep completely invaded her personal space and she had a small panic attack.

We were going to hold off on the pumpkin patch since it is so early and do the pony rides instead,
But after the sheep incident, we thought we better skip the animal activities and let her pick out a pumpkin. 

The girl had a blast.
She picked up just about every pumpkin until she decided on one. 

So in this picture she has heard the music across the way on the basketball courts.
(They had a little DJ type deal set up and were playing music and dancing.)
She stopped pumpkin searching and danced for a bit right on the spot.

A BIG one.
I see London, I see France....

She found a winner. 

So proud. 

So they had this little dance party area set up and we really skipped over it because we really didn't think Marin would care. Boy, were we wrong. She could have danced all day.

MVI 5095 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

MVI 5097 from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

Ready for the next song!
She even got some applauses from people walking by.
It was really cute. 

Hollis hung out with Burke and people watched on a hay stack. As usual, she was the best little girl. She will get some fall pumpkin pictures at the next fall festival we go to. :o)

When we got home, I pulled out some glow in the dark pumpkin face stickers I found at the Dollar Tree and decorated her pumpkin. Then we hung out in her closet for a little while to see the face glow in the dark. :o)

Letter Dd Week....

I wanted this picture on our family blog as well as the other because it's just so cute. I plan on pulling these out on her wedding day, of course.

Letter Dd....Daddy Daughter Dance! They have a donut date coming up as well. :o)

They are dancing to a Coldplay concert if you are curious. :o)

(Mom, click on the picture on the side and you can see more pictures on the Giggles and Glue sticks blog.)