8 Months Old...

Where has the time gone?  8 months old..!  It seems like Ansley has learned how to do everything in the past week!  She had been trying to sit-up by herself for a while, but she was struggling with getting herself in the seated position.  While we were at the beach, she conquered that task.  She sits up great now.  In fact, now when she gets upset in her crib, she sits up to cry.  She slept in a pack-n-play in our room at the beach, and when she woke up during the night (which was frequent during that trip), she would sit straight up and stare at us!  The most exciting (and scary) thing is that she is crawling.  She has been getting on all fours for a while, and she would just rock back and forth and then fall down.  However, about a week ago, she just took off.  She's not great at it yet, but she's definitely on the move.  I'm not so sure how I feel about this.  We will be baby proofing this house asap!  She's still such a sweet baby though.  Typically she's all smiles and laughs.  She babbles all of the time, but nothing is quite understandable.  She has no teeth yet, but I don't think it will be too long because she chews on anything she can get her hands on.  Here are a few recent pictures and a video of her starting to crawl.  The video was taken the first day she showed us she could "crawl" so it's not perfect, but she's definitely moving!!

Being a ham for the camera.

I love jumping!!

Yay!  Summer is fun!

Beachin' It

We have successfully completed our first family vacation.  We spent the past week in Seacrest Beach with Nathan and Emily Greer and their sweet children, Ellis and Ross.  We loved Seacrest because you have the convenience of Destin or Panama City, without the crazy traffic.  For the most part, the weather was great.  We had a couple of rainy times, but we overall a lot of sunshine.  We were so excited for Ansley to play in the sand and ocean, and she loved every minute.  Vacation with kids is far from relaxing, but seeing their smiling faces makes everything worth it.  With 3 kids, we ate in most nights, but we did manage to go successfully go out to eat a few nights.  I promised to take more pictures than our last trip, and I definitely did!  :)  Emily has a few shots on her camera that I didn't take, so I'll post a few more when I see those too.

First time on the beach...she loved it!

She even took a cat nap.

A few other vacationers to our right...

...and left.

Mommy and Ansley having fun at the pool.

Nathan and Ellis swimming.

Me, Ellis, and Libby - their babysitter

Nate and Mitch waiting patiently outside a shop.

(I'm having a moment...(maybe lack of sleep!)...and I can't remember how to turn this photo in blogger. :)

We bought Ansley a blow-up pool for the beach....I think she likes it!

Ross and Ellis playing in the sand.

Nate and Emily

Ross and Nate

Chillin'

Happy Girl

 

All of the Greers

Sweet Ellis waiting for dinner.

Sweet Ansley waiting for dinner.

Daddy bought Ansley a new float while we were down there.

Another beach nap!

She loves the sand.  This was seconds before that handful went right in her mouth!

I had to get this picture...Nathan trying so hard to get all of their stuff in their car.  It's hard to pack for a week at the beach!!

A lot of exciting things happened while we were at the beach.  Ansley turned 8 months, and my sister had sweet baby Anabelle!  I will post about Ansley's 8 month accomplishments and our precious niece soon!

Visiting

We just returned from our first long distance trip with Ansley.  We decided to spend the week of July 4th with Mitch's family in Virginia.  Mitch's mom grew up in Greenville, VA, and his Granny, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Jimmy and cousin Jennifer all still live there.  They hadn't met Ansley yet, so we thought it would be a great week to go visit.  Mitch's parents went too, so Mitch was looking forward to getting some time to play a few rounds of golf.  Ansley loves to ride, but she hadn't been in the car for longer than an hour, so we were concerned with the 9+ hour drive to Virginia. I am sad to say I didn't snap too many pictures this week.  I am making it my goal to take more pictures!

I never realized how many things I use daily for Ansley.  After packing what seemed like the entire house, we were on our way. 

Mitch's Jeep was packed with all of the essentials. 

We decided to go a day early and spend the night in Augusta with Joe and Amanda Todd to break up the trip.  We had a great time catching up with all of them.  They have the most precious girl, Kate, and the sweet twins, John and Matthew.  They all played so great together.  I snapped a few pictures on July 4th before we hit the road.  The twins and Ansley were so cute in their festive attire.  Kate hadn't gotten up yet, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of her sweet face.  She's such a big helper though. (I hope I am labeling the boys right, Amanda. :) )

Sweet Matthew smiling for the camera.  He and Mitch bonded.

Ansley was wondering what he was doing.

I THINK this is John.  He had a red bib on for most of the morning, but it did come off.  It could be Matthew though.

The boys were playing so great together.

Matthew showing us that USA is #1.

Joe is a pro!

Ansley and Matthew were holding hands...so sweet. 

All three looking at the camera!

 After a great night at the Todd's house, we hit the road for Virginia.  We only had 6+ hours that day, so the trip wasn't bad.  Ansley was a great traveler.  Mitch's Granny lives in the family farmhouse.  It's a beautiful antique home in the middle of their cow farm.  I meant to get a picture of it during the summer, but sadly my camera didn't come out very often.  Here is the only picture I have of their home.  It was taken several Christmases ago.

These are the only pictures I took during our week visit.  I will do better next time.  :)  We had a great time relaxing, shopping, eating, and the guys did a little golfing. 

Ansley was being a ham for the camera.  She likes attention! :)

Granny and Ansley meeting for the first time.

Cousin Jennifer and Ansley.  Jennifer was 4 years old when I first met her.  She's 15 now! 

We had a great time, and overall Ansley did great on her first road trip and time away.  The ride home wasn't as great as the ride up because we didn't stop and stay the night, but she did as good as she could have.  I'm so thankful for a great traveler.