9 Months

I know it has been a while since I posted. More about that later. For now I just wanted to get some more cutie patootie pictures on here of my 9-month-old. I can't believe it! She's getting so big.

She is completely content to not be crawling yet. She just loves to sit on her little play area (as evidenced below) and doesn't seem to be concerned that she can't go anywhere. She just rolls around if she feels like going somewhere else, but even that is not that often. 


She loves when you make stuffed animals have voices and thinks it's even funnier when they give her kisses. 


She loves to go places. If we sit at home all day long, she will be much fussier than if we get out and go for a walk or to a park or the beach (she loves the beach).


She especially likes the baby swings at the park and will just lounge and stare sleepily around while being lightly swung.


She is such a little person. I treasure every day with her.

bed head

first time with her toes in the sand

Monterey County Fair

So I will admit that nothing beats the State Fair in MN, but we found a good substitute in the Monterey County Fair. We took Cora on the Friday before Labor Day. It is so much more fun to go to things like that with little ones! I loved showing her all of the sights and watching for her reactions to everything. We found an ice cream stand that made the best soft serve I have ever had, I think. I was going to ask them where they are the rest of the year, but I thought maybe that was something I didn't need to know. 


We found the agriculture building with free samples of deep fried artichokes and talked to a funny old lady wearing a hat with NRA in glittery letters across the front (my dad would be proud). I should have taken more pictures but I just got some of Cora with the animals. She got to see chickens, cows, bunnies, and horses. 

first time touching a cow

what a nice cow. Gramma's favorite - Brown Swiss

this calf had just been born that day!

Cora's cow from the front

wow, chickens!

Gramma Comes To The Ocean

At the end of August my momma flew (if you know my mother, you know that is pretty impressive - not her favorite thing) into San Jose to visit with us for a week. And what a wonderful week it was! 


Cora is so much more interactive now that it was very fun for me to watch them together. Cora was a little scared in the beginning, but after a day or so, she was reading books on Gramma's lap and playing with toys.


We didn't do anything wild and crazy, which made the time all that much more special, because we were able to just enjoy spending our days how Cora and I usually do. Sean had a few days off during the time she was here, and we went to the aquarium and the farmer's market and on lots of walks.


It made me more sad than ever before that we are so far apart. Not that I want to live in Minnesota, but I was just thinking how my heart hurts a little that family is not closer to see Cora grow older. But as a friend once said, it just makes the visit all that much sweeter.