Another one bites the dust.

Our collection of nebulizer masks. We now have one for each child. I'd really rather my children share some other trait besides the difficulty to breathe.

Kisses.

This better be the only boy she kisses for a long time! Well, besides her brothers. :)

Nine months.

i'm in awe of how much older she looks here than last month.

here are her nine-month stats:

• 17.7 pounds.
• 28 inches.
• blondie.
• still baby blue.
• what's that?? teeth? yes! two of them! had 'em for about a week now.
• naps? ha!
• last month she was babbling "m" sounds. that came to a screeching halt and was replaced with "d" sounds. grrr...
• is a master sitter. can even turn in circles now.
• still prefers rolling. the latest maneuver is to turn in a circle on her belly until she's pointing the right direction and then roll to her desired location.
• loves her toys. until christmas, she really didn't have any.
• is, without a doubt, the loudest child i have ever heard. she yells/screams when she's happy OR sad. not much differentiation. there are times when i'm afraid she's going to bust my ear drum...seriously.
• has quite the temper. when she doesn't get her way, she clinches her fists, grits her two teeth and shakes. it's a little scary.
• is no longer interested in wearing headbands. tragic. (this one came off as soon as i left her hands alone.)
• has never been and is still not interested in wearing shoes. tragic. (i put these shoes on multiple times during the two minutes i was taking her pictures.)
• still loves me. especially when she's sad.
• stops everything as soon as she hears her daddy's voice when he comes home from work.
• absolutely LOVES to be outside. if she sees outside through the door or window and doesn't get to go, she throws a fit. luckily it's been a little warmer this past week.

totally in love with this over-the-top smile!

happy nine months, baby girl. momma loves.

here are a few more pictures for entertainment.

this looks like attitude already. you better check that!

the shoes! she only wanted to eat them the whole time.

the next three pictures were taken back to back. my how she can turn fast.

 again with the over-the-top smile. love.

i guess we're done. :) oh, see those teeth?!

outside time.

we really have to watch the boys' toys. everything goes to her mouth these days.

how'd this cutie get in here??

and this one??

Christmas 2011.

a whirlwind, as usual. i can't believe it's already come and gone.

we started at my parents' on christmas eve.

 fake smile from jacob, real one from casen, and a half-smile-half-cry from mya.

 money from granny.

 shell shocked from the craziness that is my family.

 this was the scene christmas morning as we waited for the boys to wake.

 santa gifts.

 not quite sure what this look is.

 new bibles.

 then christmas night at jerry's mom's.

 pretty sure the shiner on his head will never go away.

 this is as good as it gets.

 hmm...

 again, hmm...

 she really only cared about eating the paper.

 see.

my boys declared it the best christmas yet. i'd have to agree.

late thanksgiving post.

as usual, we made a trip to my parents' for thanksgiving this year. my granny's been pretty sick, so the festivities occurred at their house this go round. 

now, in case you don't know, i'm one of six children. holidays around our house get pretty crazy. this one was sure to not disappoint. in fact, for the first time in who knows how long, we were supposed to have every kid AND grandkid there (sixteen of those!).  i was beyond excited, mainly for the opportunity to get a picture of everyone there.

well, life happens and a few ended up not showing up...or at least not on time. :)

nonetheless, it was loud, crazy, stressful and fun. and we'll do it all over again in a few weeks for Christmas! 

here are a few pictures i captured. there are so many more, but due to the potential of them being Christmas presents, I'll have to share those later. :)

my children. are they not the cutest things you've ever seen?! you can agree silently...so you don't hurt your own kids' feelings. :)

my boys with their cousin, jaycee. now, she certainly gives my kids a run for their money. she's sassy and country and just cute!

and this is what i was most excited about. i wanted to have a picture of all the grandkids. there are four of them missing from this picture. bummer.

anyway, i told my sister the vision i had and that the older kids would probably not be happy about it. but we like to torture, so we did it anyway. we laid all the big kids down first and then piled all the little ones on top of them. mya's the youngest...and most likely the last...so she got the middle spot. it was so much fun! on a side note, we made them do it again later in the living room when some of the other kids showed up. it didn't turn out as well, but we had fun making them suffer.

clockwise starting with jacob we have jilleana, kenzi, lexi, haiyden, cutler, jaycee, kalee, casen, garet and jay t. and the missing ones are kandice, kristen, kendra and shaun. (shaun was there, but he's two and was not having any part of it.)

oh, and don't you love the funny faces?!

Eight months.

a half-smile for me. :)

here are her eight-month stats:

• 17 pounds.
• 27 1/2 inches. the girl is growing!
• her blonde hair is multiplying daily.
• still hope for keeping the blue eyes.
• and yet still...NO TEETH! i have a feeling we're in for it when they finally do come in.
• holds her bottle really well. she can even manage it in the car now. sweet for me!
• sits up like a champ now. she still topples over sometimes...but remember, her head is above-average. toppling is to be expected. :)
• really trying to crawl. still can't manage to get both ends of her up at the same time.
• mom's day out is a breeze now. she kinda has a boyfriend there. :)
• wears a size 3 diaper now. not because of how much she weighs, but because of how much she pees!
• total momma's girl. i kinda like it.
• been babbling for a while...and just started her "m" sounds. i might actually have a child that says momma first instead of dada!
• sits in her bumbo in the middle of the table while we eat dinner. really bad habit. must break it. she gets really upset now when no one pays attention to her.
• still only eats vegetables if a fruit is mixed in. but hey, at least she's getting them!
• has kinda gotten over the crying-anytime-someone-other-than-momma-holds-her phase. that is, until she sees me walk away.
• loves to roll under the christmas tree and look at all the pretties. (or pull them off.)

happy eight months, miss mya! love, momma.

to document...here she is putting her very first ornament on the tree. (i guess it's more like trying to pull off her very first ornament.)

and i don't know what it is about this picture...but i just love it. even with the awful quality, yellowy tone, noise, blurry hand, etc. :)

Family Photos 2011.

we had a few technical difficulties and it was bitterly cold, but we stuck it out!

a smile from the baby girl!

thanks, jenny!

Seven months.

just realized she's wearing the same sweater that she wore in her six month picture. (gasp!) :)

here are her seven-month stats:

• right at 16 pounds.
• 27 inches. (either this or last month's measurement is wrong, or she grew 2 inches in one month. she does seem a lot longer...)
• much more blonde hair.
• bluer than ever eyes.
• once again, no teeth!
• will lay on the floor in the morning and drink her first bottle by herself. other than that, she gets easily distracted and i usually have to hold her for the rest of the day's bottles.
• can sit for quite a while unsupported, but as soon as she gets off balance, she falls over.
• rolls all over the place.
• has not coordinated her legs and arms together to crawl yet. she'll get one set up and the other set will be flat on the ground.
• is doing better at mom's day out. today, she didn't even cry when i dropped her off. progress.
• still not much of a napper. i'm still having hard time accepting that. :)
• loves to sit in her bumbo on the kitchen counter while i cook or do dishes.
• discovered the game of throwing things on the floor to see if anyone will pick them up.
• definitely knows she has a voice. she yells for no reason.
• has the cutest little shy smile. most everyone gets it...as long as momma's holding her.
• does a weird head shaking thing now.
• gets really excited when she's the center of attention. flails her arms and shakes her head. (hence the blurry hand in the next picture.)

happy seven months, baby girl. love, momma.