6 Months Old!!

My sweet baby girl turned 6 months old on Monday -- I just can't believe it! People always say time goes by faster when you have children. Boy, are they right!! She is the sweetest gift from God himself and I just can't imagine what I did with out her! At 6 months old, she is such a big girl. There are so many things I LOVE about her and my heart melts every time I hold her in my arms.

We have been out and about the last few days taking some 6 month old photos. I love a good 'ole photo shoot and Cori is such a good sport as her momma takes hundreds of pictures of her!! Good thing they are all digital now. I wouldn't be able to afford to develop the amount of pictures I take!

I have also been a bit behind on my "What I love about you" posts since we have been on vacation. So, here's a few from the last 2 weeks...

week 25 & 26

I LOVE...

• Spending time with you on vacation

• Watching your sweet personality take shape

• That you are starting to move about the house. You may not be "crawling" yet, but you certainly can get places around the house by scooting backwards! And, I wonder if you have been watching me do Yoga because you definitely have the downward dog position down pat! :)

• That the other day I sat you down on your tummy mat with a basket of toys in front of you ... I pulled out a few for you to play with, but as soon as you were tired of those, you reached for that basket, pulled it close to you, and selected the toy YOU wanted to play with! Go girl!!

• Trying new foods with you. On vacation you had a few pieces of banana and watermelon. You seemed to like the bananas, but didn't care that much about them. You sucked on the piece of watermelon until the juice was all gone and then you spit the actual watermelon out. And, earlier today you tried pureed bananas and blueberries with a SPOON and you LOVED it!!

• Being your mom, plain and simple! :)

A Week at the BEACH!!

Whew... we made it through our first vacation with a baby! Every year the entire Smith family (near and far) loads up and heads to Crescent Beach for a week. Every year things seem to change -- first there were girlfriends, then there were wives, then new boyfriends, and now -BABIES!!!

Here is the WHOLE Smith gang!

Babies sure do change a vacation, I must admit! There are feedings and nap schedules to adhere to as well as play time and relaxation time (oh wait.. did I say relaxation time? That must have been a typo!!) My sweet little one is a GREAT sleeper. At least at home. I thought spending a week at the beach would knock little miss out cold every night. I mean what kid after playing in the sun, water and sand all day long wouldn't be knocked out cold at bedtime? MY KID!! I think I got less sleep on vacation then I do during a regular week at home! Oh, Cori Belle! Not to mention that we had to share a room with our dear one all week so crying it out was not an option. Instead, Cori and I played at 1 in the morning, cried at 1 in the morning, laughed at 1 in the morning, rocked at 1 in the morning .. Did I mention we did all this at 1 IN THE MORNING while trying not to wake up Cori's aunts and uncles sleeping in the next two rooms over?!!? I am not so sure we did a great job! Sorry Aunt Missy, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Rebecca, and Uncle Casey! Hopefully we will have it sorted out by next summer! :)

Other than our sleepless nights, we had a blast! Cori...

played in the moon pool,

ate some sand,

let the waves crash on her legs,

had a piggy back ride,

sucked on her paci,

practiced her verbal skills,

sat and watched the ocean,

swam in the pool,

watched her crazy uncles play beach soccer,

hung out with her second cousins who are just one day younger than her,

went for walks on the beach,

took naps on the beach (short lived naps; more like power naps! :),

attempted crawling on the beach,

ate some more sand,

practiced her kayaking skills (beached kayaking!!),

spent time with family,

laughed a lot,

cried a lot,

loved on her momma and daddy a lot,

lounged in a beach chair,

lounged in a picnic chair,

found that a water bottle is actually a great toy,

and wore a different bathing suit every day (thanks to all our awesome family and friends who bought cute suits for her beach trip!!).

Yes, vacations at the beach are different with kids, but I had so much fun! We have some work to do before next year comes around though -- like sleeping through the night!! Now that we are back at home, we are sorting things out. We may have a few "cry it out" nights here at home, but we WILL get back on our schedule! Isn't that right little miss Cori Belle?!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are.

Until next time...

What I love about you... 24 weeks

week 24

I LOVE ...

• Pictures of me and you!!

• Pictures of you and daddy!

• You in your cute bathing suit!! (We are going to have a lot more of those coming soon as we head to the beach for a week TODAY!!) I also love that cute hat your friend, Claire let you borrow! Too cute!

• That you are holding your own bottle!! What a BIG girl! :)

• The mesmerized look in your eyes as you watch me do my hair and make-up in the morning!

• When you wrap your arms around me! Oh, how I LOVE that!!

• Watching you grow, being your mom, holding you close, kissing your sweet head, squeezing you tight, holding your hand, having you sit in my lap, .. and the list goes on and on. I just LOVE you!! :)