1/2 birthday

Although I think its silly to actually celebrate a 1/2 birthday, it is a big milestone for the first year! So I put together her month photos in a collage, cried a little and thought about how great the next 6 months will be if these for 6 are any indication!

xoxo
Ashlea

6 months!

  This has been my favorite month so far! Do I say that every month? If so its because Little Miss just keeps getting more fun and every month I love watching her grow and learn :)

Lots happened this past month - she has been sooting, worming, flailing around for weeks now, getting up on her hands and knees and screaming in frustration because she wasnt moving. Then one day out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw her crawl but then I didnt see it again so we moved on with our day. That afternoon we were playing in her room and BAM - hand over hand crawling. She was sooooooo happy and proud of herself, she probably did 20 laps around her room - no joke.

This was the only decent picture of her I could get because she would not hold still! She was one day shy of 6 months and she hasnt looked back since. Every day she gets a little faster and a little sneakier :)

This month she also has been going from laying on her back, to rolling over to hands and knees to sitting and back again. Girlfriend is on the move 24/7. She has been spending a lot of time in her playroom and I love it because I can leave her there for a few minutes while I go to the bathroom/make some breakfast/get dressed because she is happy exploring all over and I know she is safe because there are no "off limit" things in that room.

and your "official"6 month picture (2 weeks late! ooops!)

xoxo
Ashlea

Thanksgiving

 For Charlotte's third airplane trip we went back up to DC for Thanksgiving to visit with both families. She was a little fussier on this trip because it hit right at bedtime but overall it wasnt too bad.

We did Thanksgiving at Bean's house and did the usual food (it was so easy to make most of it dairy free for me!) and then did our Black Friday shopping. It was pretty tame again this year due to people shopping on Thanksgiving instead, but we will not give in! Black Friday will remain on Friday for us :) We all ended up getting good deals on the things we were looking for and had a good time hanging out together.

Of course the highlight for everyone was hanging with the baby and she of course loved all the attention :)

We also got to celebrate a delayed Dwaili with Tony's family since we weren't together for it this year.

It was as always a wonderful visit and in just a few weeks we will be back for Christmas!!

xoxo
Ashlea

Last bit of thankful giving

  I am so behind but will hopefully get caught up by this weekend!

 Before we left for Thanksgiving we made our contribution to Operation Christmas Child. This was something we did every year through the church we grew up in and I have such great memories of it. Charlotte and I picked a little girl age 2-4 years old and hot up the Dollar store and Target and pack our shoebox full of girly goodies :)

We put in a toothbrush, books, socks, headbands, light sticks, a notepad and crayons, playdough, a "growing" washcloth, coloring book, a bendable flower and one of those water and glitter filled slipper snake things.

While picking out the presents Charlotte got to ride in the cart like a big girl - she was quiet proud :)

It also just to happen that that morning Mama sent me an email with a touching story about Operation Christmas Child that she had read

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/22/how-a-shoebox-forever-changed-an-orphans-life/

It took me about 30 minutes and 20 dollars to put the shoebox together - something so easy and small for me to do but could make a huge impact on a child somewhere.

I hear the unmistakable sounds of a baby up form her nap! More updates soon!

xoxo
Ashlea