Jabber Jaws

Here's the video we promised!

New Couch

Well, it has been quite a while since we have posted any new pictures, so here ya go! Blake has three bottom teeth, two top teeth (neither of them the front two), and the front two look like they are going to pop through at any moment.
We did some rearranging in our living room, and Blake got her very own couch.She hasn't quite mastered crawling or walking, so she isn't climbing all over it yet.She does seem to like the view up a little higher when you sit her up on it, though.The cushions also fold out to make a little bed that I'm sure will come in handy for a nap or two every once in a while. Otherwise, we've been pretty boring here...just the usual work, eat, sleep, play with Blake routine. It seems like she is just getting SO big, SO quickly. And, she is quite the little jabber jaws. We have a video of her talking that we'll post a little later on today. Blake has also recently become fascinated with saying, "da da" and "dog". It's hilarious because we can't really figure out which one she is talking about...if she even knows what she's talking about. She has also started saying, "apple". We have a little puzzle that has an apple, a banana, and some grapes on it. She seems to also say "ball" every once in a while, but she's been saying "ba ba" for a long time...so maybe that's what she's getting at. At any rate, she is a ton of fun at almost 11 months old now...time sure flies! Hope all is well with everyone, and have a wonderful 4th!!!

Another OK Visit

Lauren got another chance to head to Oklahoma...thanks to extremely low airfare and a little time off work. Of course, Grandma & Grandpa were greats hosts, and they may have even enjoyed having Blake around...not sure though :0) It's been a busy couple weeks, so here's a bunch of pictures...ENJOY! Bathtime at Grandma & Grandpa's... Blake posing for pics...and GUESS WHAT?!TURKEY BUTT!!! Blake got to see the wild turkeys in Grandma & Grandpa's back yard.

Grandma and her grand babiesCousin Collier

Grandma, Grandpa, Collier & Blake...YES, we do realize that Blake looks like a little Chris in this picture. Lauren even looked at some of Chris's baby pictures while she was back home, and it's a little scary how closely this picture resembles some of those.Lauren & BlakeIt was great to get to see everyone, and if we missed ya...SORRY! It's been an extremely busy couple of weeks, so we'll keep this short and sweet.

Memorial Day Weekend

Sorry to be a little late in posting pictures lately, but holiday weekends and warmer temperatures bring busier schedules. We headed up to Fort Peck over the Memorial Day weekend. We had a lot of fun hanging out our friends, Jonathan and Jennifer, and their kiddos, Kaydn and Emma. We ended up staying in a motel next to the lake...we decided NOT to rough it with this being Blake's first weekend out for the summer. Blake did GREAT, and it was nice to have a quiet space for the pack-n-play...not to mention the luxury of a real bed, toilet and shower :o) Here's a picture taken from the front porch of our room. We were really close to the water.And, here's little Miss Blake hanging out on that front porch.

Our happy camper......and our not-so-happy camper...check out the cool camping chair that Bob got for our little girl. It is just too cute, and it matches daddy's old chair.Emma and Blake hanging out at camp

And, the cool kid hanging out in her shades

Bob fishing on the boatEmma driving the boatBlake driving the boatBlake and Maddie sharing some quality napping space on the boatTwo tuckered out kiddos...and Maddie, of course. It's too funny. Maddie gets so excited to get on the boat, but all she does is nap.

Bob and Kaydn showing off the weekend's catch

And, last, our little goober hanging out in the motel room...what a sweetie!

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!!!