Yes... I DID forget.

18 weeks old

18 weeks old- all dressed up for church

18 weeks old... on a walk with Mommy

Her first experience with rice cereal... good aim Dave. :)

Wearing her dress that Grandma Dot made her.

22 weeks old

I really think she's starting to look a LOT more like Dave!
20 weeks old

A face only a mother could love...

Tummy time, on her blanket from Grandma Myrna
22 weeks old

playing with Auntie Nae and Uncle Chris

23 weeks old

Hanging out with Grandpa Gus and Auntie Nae while we played a round of Super Yahtzee!

23 weeks old

Kisses from Auntie Nae

23 weeks old

Her big kid cousins (Jadyn and Tori) came over to play one day.

Watching the movie "Annie" with her cousins

23 weeks old

22 weeks old

23 weeks old

Alright, so you may be thinking that I have just forsaken this blog and completely forgotten to write anything on here for about 2 1/2 months... and if that's what you were thinking, you would be absolutely correct. :)

The last couple of months have been pretty much non-stop for us, but we love keeping busy... so it works for us.

August... I really don't remember what was going on with us way back then, except that my Grandma Gilliland had heart surgery. The surgery went great and both Grandma and Grandpa seem to be doing well now. Sophie and I spent the day of her surgery at the hospital with all of the family; there had to be 30 people there for goodness sakes!! My grandma is very very loved! Anyways... Sophia provided much of the entertainment for the day. Grandma (my mom) had her giggling out of control. I have never seen her laugh as much as she did that day with Grandma and all of the family; she was hysterical!

Moving right along to September... I was hired to shoot a wedding (photography, of course) in Wabash, Indiana in the middle of September. Some friends of ours from church were getting married out there, so we took off for a 9 hour drive to Wabash on the 18th. We ended up stopping right next to the Mississippi (yes, I did just spell that out loud melodically like I learned in 1st grade... admit it, you do it too!) to spend the night. My dad officiated the wedding and my brother and sister in law (James and Heather) are good friends with the couple, so we got to travel out their with all of them (and of course my mom). It was a LONG trip, but it was a lot of fun. It was Sophie's first time to stay in a hotel. She was ecstatic, of course. :) She even got her own big bed. So, by this point in her life, Sophie has now been to 4 states (Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota)... not too bad for a (then) 5 month old. The weekend proved to be pretty exhausting, but lots of fun. I shot the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and then spent the entire next day at the church for the getting ready pictures and then the wedding. Immediately after the wedding reception, I took off with a girl, Anna, who used to go to our church but has since moved to Ohio, to take some Senior Pictures for her. We found what I thought was an awesome location for Senior Pictures (waterfall, park, old building, etc). So, I shot some photos for her and then we took off to drive half way home that night. I should note, we took off REALLY quickly after I was done with the pictures... as Dave was entirely creeped out by the small town I found quite quaint. He had to go to the gas station in town twice while we were there and found everyone there just a little off... or as he described it, the "just off enough to be the weird people in the horror movie"). He said he saw several people with chainsaws and lots of missing teeth, no warm water, etc. So funny!!! Anyways... he wouldn't let me stop for gas, drinks, anything until we were in a well lit town where he did not feel that 50% of it's residents would carry around chainsaws in the back of their trucks. Sophie did great on the trip and had lots of fun spending some extra time with her daddy all weekend while I worked. She also got to spend some special time with Grandma and Grandma and her Uncle James and Auntie Heather. She was the only little on the trip, so she got them all to herself!!

Since we returned from Indiana, I have been on a mission to get all of the pictures I took in September edited and out to the people who order them. Deb has been a lifesaver with this! She has been coming over about once a week or so to hang out with Sophia while I edit pictures; SO helpful! They especially like going on walks around the neighborhood and Sophie loves the extra time she gets to spend with Grandma Gus.

Dave's been working even more hours lately- usually from around 5:30am or 6am until about 6:30 pm. No fun... but he is doing well with his job. He's a little disappointed that nice weather for golfing is now gone.

Sophia will be 26 weeks old on Saturday- 6 months old next week! I can't believe how fast she's growing. We are so utterly smitten with this little person who has completely taken over our lives, house, money... that time is just flying by! She has been doing all sorts of new tricks lately. She is now sitting up on her own and rolling from her back to her stomach. She seems to have forgotten how to return to laying on her back, once she's rolled over, so she gets a little ticked off when she realizes that she has just started herself in a session of tummy time. She was so excited the day she rolled from her back to her tummy that every time I laid her down, she immediately rolled over. She did this for days (and nights... every night... all night...) for about a week. She wanted so badly to practice, that she would roll in her sleep right onto her tummy until she'd get so mad- she'd scream... I'd roll her back over... and it all started again. We did this for a few very LONG nights. I'm thrilled that she has now mastered this skill and no longer needs her late night practice sessions. She is still wanting to stand all of the time and will now reach for our hands and try and get us to pull her up.

22 weeks old

25 weeks old

Oh my word... she is such a giggle box lately! We love it!! I always tell Dave that it's so nice having someone around who always thinks I'm funny. :) She is really getting quite a personality now too. She makes faces to try and get us to laugh and likes to play peek-a-boo a lot. She also plays her own little version of "Got your nose" by grabbing ours, just like daddy does hers; this makes her laugh hysterically. :) Laughing at her self... I'm pretty sure she gets this from me. :)

We're all going through a bout of respiratory infections right now. I had it, then Dave got it, and now Sophie has it. She also has a bad ear infection and nasty cough. So, she's on her first ever antibiotics... poor little punky!

Speaking of punky's... :) tonight is beggar's night in our neighborhood. We're not going to go trick or treating- mostly because I think people would catch on that the candy was not for Sophie, but more for her daddy- but we're planning on handing out candy to all the neighbor kids. I'm still trying to decide what Sophie will dress as. Her options are pumpkin, duck, or peas in a pod. (Yes, I bought 3, yes 3, costumes). I couldn't help it. She looks so so cute in them all and they were all very much on sale. :) Besides, I am a photographer after all. The extra costumes I can use for people who want adorable Halloween pictures of their babies... right? ;) See... it's perfectly reasonable to buy 3 costumes for 1 baby (at least this is the excuse I give Dave).

resting her tired little ducky head


perfect little pumpkin