Daddy's little pumpkin is 8 months old!

Little devil
Originally uploaded by Jaimemjfan.

Dear peanut,
Every month as I write your letter I cannot believe that another month has gone by. I may turn out to say this every month, but this is officially my favorite age of yours. You are so silly and sweet, cute and coy, busy and beautiful. Your father and I are loving every minute of you.
Like the others, you've learned a ton this month. You know how to work all of the pieces of all of your toys and when you wake up in the morning you play quietly in the crib until I go get you. You love to get up on your knees so you can reach your crib toy and will play with all of the pieces. You have a new "wheels on the bus" toy that you love and it has tiny people that are in the "seats". You actually know how to put them back in the bus and make them sing. We also got you a table like Ashton's which you love to stand at and play with. Your favorite toy this month, however, is your dog. You think Manny is the most hilarious thing you've ever seen and will follow him around EVERYWHERE smiling, talking and laughing. You follow him around like he follows us. You grab his fur and pull him close and then push him away when he gives you kisses. He is your most expensive toy.
You're still doing well sleeping although the last two weeks you've tended to get up twice a night instead of once. Your bedtime is usually 7 pm to 7 am. Once you pass bedtime, you shut off. You go from your usual happy smiley self to a fussy grumpy baby who rubs your eyes and begs to go to bed. As soon as we put you in your crib you immediately flop over onto your belly and put your blanket over your thumb to suck on it. You are certainly a creature of habit.
You're still doing very well at daycare although you come home with quite a few bumps and bruises these days. Mama isn't concerned because knowing how busy you are it is easy to see how you get in trouble. You crawl EVERYWHERE at the speed of light and it is very hard to keep you out of spaces that you don't belong. This month we bought a rug to cover the hardwood floor and when we set you in the middle of it surrounded by your $3,000 worth of toys, you make a bee-line for either the entertainment center or the dog food. Oh how you want the dog food! Tonight mama finally had to find a new home for it in the master bathroom far from your little hands. I'm guessing that you think that if Manny likes it, so will you - because after all, you love everything that Manny does.
Contrary to the way you felt about a bottle a few months ago, you now cannot see one without coming unglued. You like almost all varieties of baby food and want to eat everything that we're eating, too. You have discovered watermelon and love to suck the juice out. You still love pickles and lemons. Unlike last month, You LOVE your fruit and veggie puffs - they are now known around the house as fruit and veggie puffs rather than "poison puffs".
You are such a strong little girl. In addition to your crawling all over God's creation, you pull yourself up to a standing position with ease now. You're still unsteady on your feet but once you get your balance down you'll be walking in no time. You're becoming very independant - and though you've been able to hold your own bottle and feed yourself for several months now you quite often will insist on doing so now. You have a real problem with mama's one-at-a-time rule on the veggie puffs and will tell me so when I try to put some back in your little bowls.
Your vocabulary hasn't changed any in the last month. You still say "mama" and "dada" but that is it. I suspect that the next words out of your mouth will either be "doggie", "manny" or "oh my god - you are so cute I can't stand it!".
Everywhere you go you get SOOOO much attention and you just love it. Everyone everywhere comments on your red hair and blue eyes. You eat up the attention and smile at them until they ask to take you home. People are always also commenting about what a good baby and a good "shopper" you are. You are quiet and content and very used to being brought out to dinner or shopping. You are such a social baby and although you are still very happy and smiley, you have been a little more reserved in the past few weeks. Your big, open mouth smile has turned to a smirk and you often make people work extra hard to see those two little bottom teeth. (You also have one top tooth that broke through a week ago).
You are growing so fast Rylee Carmella and I love you so much. Tomorrow I will wake up and you will be 9 months or 9 years and I only hope that I can continue to write things down and capture on film what is passing by so quickly. I adore you, baby girl. Love, Mom

A getaway...

Jaime and Shawn
Originally uploaded by Jaimemjfan.

We had a mini-getaway! Last weekend Shawn, Darren, Michelle and I headed off to Kennebunk for an overnight. "Auntie" Tonya kept the peanut and my parents kept the puppy. Although the hotel - err, motor lodge - seemed a little sketchy at first, it turned out to be okay and we all had a great time. We ate out at a great restaurant and filled up on steak and seafood before heading back to the hotel to relax and swim. It was so nice to get away - and nice to come back. Tonya delivered a freshy bathed and fed Rylee just minutes after we got home. My parents unfortunately spent the night at my house with no power and Manny had an injured leg - which my mom didn't dare to tell me because she didn't want me to worry. By the time we got home, Mr.-I'm-going-to-fake-a-leg-injury-so-i'll-get-extra-attention-and-treats-from-my-meme-and-bumpa was back to his usual self and power was back on. Good times!

Don't be such a chicken!

I'm so excited for Halloween this year - all because of Rylee and her adorable big-fat-chicken costume. Have you ever seen anything so cute? One problem... she HATES it. I even go near her with it and she starts to thrash. Still... it's so freakin' cute. There are more pics of Rylee including other chicken pics on flickr.

Life is pretty crazy these days. We are just SO BUSY. I can't remember the last time I read a book to Rylee. She is in daycare 10 hours days - 5 days a week. I have a 2 & 1/2 hour commute to work (round trip) so my full-time job is even longer. That is only temporary - thank God - and hopefully by December I'll be working close to home. This week I have worked nights for the first time ever. 11 pm to 7 am nights. It was hellish. I am completely exhausted. I worked last night and slept this morning from 9:15 am to 12:15 pm and then headed to a baby shower. I was supposed to work first thing tomorrow morning but luckily that was changed and I have the day off to recover. I start training on my "real" job on Monday. Excited and nervous. Excited to jump in and nervous that I won't be able to focus and stay awake. It should be a pretty intense 6 week training process and then some hands on work until I'm ready to spread my wings and buy on my own. Scary.

I can't believe that just a few weeks ago I was fairly caught up on my "things to do" list. It's once again huge and I can never find the time to tackle it. I'm going to have to figure out how to prioritize better because even things like paying bills are getting put off due to lack of time. Where do the hours go? It would certainly help if my husband didn't work 70ish hours a week. Ugh. Such bad timing for us both to work so much - I just wish I could be home to enjoy this wonderful stage we're in. I love every bit of age 8 months and am hoping that even though I'm exhausted I can remember to post everything in her 8 month letter. Hope you're all doing well!!!