First Boat Trip of the Year

Today we took the boat out for the very first time this year. We just took a quick trip over to Cooney Resevoir, and it was a lot of fun...EXTREMELY busy, though. I guess you sort of have to expect it to be busy when the forecast shows low 80's, and it really happens. This was also Blake's very first trip out on the boat. She did really well. We made her a little area that we shaded with a beach towel, so she could nap...it was supposed to be her nap time. Anyway, she decided to laugh, play and chat the whole time instead of even attempting a nap. Here she is in her onboard "tent" that we created for her.And, here she is still NOT napping.Amazingly enough Blake's worst part of the whole trip was putting on her sunscreen. You'd thought it was absolutely horrible by her reaction, but she quickly calmed down and started talking. We really have a little jabber jaws on our hands. Needless to say, the dogs were very excited to get to come along, and they both seemed to have a lot of fun.Poor Maddie had a little trouble finding shade and was getting pretty hot at first, but Copa was her normal fishing self. Here she is watching a line for us. She's such a little fisherman!
The mountains still have a lot of snow on them, so we had some pretty nice views while we were out on the lake.We didn't stay out too long, but it sure was a nice little day trip. And, guess what happened on the way home...Someone was a little tuckered out! Hope you all had wonderful weekends as well. Ours seemed to be just right.

Unexpected Visitors

We had a wonderful day today! Bob had to go into work early this morning, so Lauren & Blake hung out and did the usual play, eat, nap routine until he got home. We then heading into Billings to get some shopping done at Costco and we even stopped by the new Cabela's that just opened this week. Lauren wasn't exactly thinking and wore her Sportsman's Warehouse hat into the store. The greeter asked if Lauren wanted to trade for a Cabela's hat...Sportsman's Warehouse is a competitor. So, Lauren traded and then ended up buying a hat there anyway because the hat she traded was much better than the one they gave her. O WELL! We can always get another one at Sportsman's. We also stopped by Famous Dave's for a quick lunch and then we really did stop by Sportsman's on the way out. Lauren didn't re-buy the hat that she had traded, though. Bob just needed to pick up some fishing supplies. Brice, Lauren's cousin, was passing through Billings on his way back home, so he stopped in to say hi really quick. It was a very short visit, but it was awful nice of him to stop by and meet Blake and Bob. We sure hope he had a safe trip back. He and a friend were driving all the way from Lafayette, Indiana to Portland, Oregon...YUCK! Well, that's pretty much it for us today. Here's a video of Blake from earlier this morning.

9 Months

Blake was officially nine months old on the 5th, but she just had her nine month doctor appointment yesterday. She weighed in at 20 pounds even and is now 27 1/4 inches tall. She's only grown 1 3/4 inches and 2 pounds 14 ounces since her six month appointment, but she seems to be staying on the same percentage growth curve from appointment to appointment. Her height has been consistently around the 50th percentile and her weight around the 75th. It's funny to think that she has grown 13 pounds 13 ounces since she was three days old, though. Blake still hasn't shown much interest in crawling, but she loves to stand up. She hasn't starting trying to pull herself up yet, but when you lift her up on to her feet, she just thinks it's the greatest thing ever. Here's a little video from this morning...ENJOY! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all!!!

Goofy Girl

Blake is just getting SO big. She is now starting to wear "big girl" jammies. She still has some of the one piece sleepers, but she also has some pant/short/shirt combos that she wears at night as well. They just make her look like she is such a big girl. Here are some pics of our little cutie before bedtime tonight.Blake is getting pretty good at standing up when she has something to lean on or something to hold on to. Here she is standing on her daddy's lap leaning against the couch.And here she is hanging with Daddy before bed. She just LOVES her daddy!Well, we finally caught Blake lauging on video. She's been laughing and talking much more lately, but it seems like she gets camera shy when we bust out the video camera. Tonight she seemed pretty happy to lay on Daddy's lap and play...even with the camera running.

NO!

Blake LOVES to grab at people's eye glasses and faces, so we've recently been telling her, "NO". Friday morning Lauren had gotten up to give Blake her morning bottle, and Lauren hadn't put her contacts in yet. Blake was sitting on Lauren's lap, and after Blake finished her bottle, she started to reach for Lauren's glasses. Before Lauren could even say anything, Blake quickly clasped her hands together in front of her belly and said, "NO!". It was absolutely hilarious! It's amazing how quickly little kiddos pick up on things. Otherwise, we haven't really had much excitement around here. We'll be taking the boat out over Memorial Day weekend, but that's about all we have planned in the near future. Surely, Bob will take the boat out at least once before that weekend, so that'll also be something to look forward to. We're just hanging around the house this weekend...cleaning up the back yard a little bit and who knows what else we'll come up with. Here is some video footage from Friday afternoon. Blake is pretty content to sit on the floor and play with toys, and you'll even get a small taste of Blake laughing at Copa. We didn't really catch a good laugh, but you'll hear Copa crunching on food in the background, and then when she gets to where Blake can see her, Blake usually starts laughing. You'll also hear Blake's rendition of "all gone". She doesn't quite use it in context, but it seems to be one of the words/phrases that she likes to repeat...Blake's other favorites: ma ma, da da, num num (food), ba ba (bottle), dog, Copa, no, and "M" (not sure what that's supposed to mean...maybe the beginning of Maddie). Well, hopefully everyone else is having decent weather. It looks like we are FINALLY warming up after a chilly week that was complete with snow and all...YUCK! I am so ready for Spring/Summer weather!!!