a chatterbox

our sweet Sierra is quite the chatterbox. she is a talker. when we get together with other babies her age is when it is even more obvious. i think she loves to hear herself!

her words over the last couple months:
"wuh wuh wuh" - woof woof, for dog (real, stuffed or in books)
"mu mu mu" - meow meow, for cat (real, stuffed or in books)
"oo ah ah ah" - oo oo ah ah, for monkey
"woo woo" - hoo hoo, for owl (stuffed or in books...hasn't seen a real one yet!)
"dada" - everytime she sees her daddy
"mama" - sometimes when she sees me, but not as consistently as dada
"buh buh" - baby, real or doll
"oh uh uh" - for uh-oh, usually when she intentionally drops something. this one is her favorite and i think she drops things just to be able to say it...i'm still trying to figure out how to teach her the difference between a real uh-oh and dropping something on purpose!
"puh puh" - for up, when we go up the stairs, to be lifted up into the highchair, and also when she wants to get down
"nah nah" - for nose and night night
"hoh hoh" - for HO HO HO in her book that plays the song Up on the Rooftop, she sings along

those are the distinguishable ones. she does a LOT of talking in her own Sierra-speak and we still haven't figured it out yet! her most unique is the sound she makes with her tongue that sounds like "deedle eedle eeedle" over and over again - if you've heard it, you know what i'm describing! she also loves to sing and use different pitches with her sounds - mostly with "ba ba ba ba...". it's so sweet.

she also does a few signs for: more, milk, eat/brush teeth (she made that one up and it's the same for both). it amazes me everyday how much she understands when i ask her something or give her instructions to do something!!!

all of this, and she is also timid and shy around strangers. funny combination. i'm curious to see how this part of her personality plays out in the future. from the safety of her stroller/our arms/shopping cart she is miss social. but beware...if you get too close and invade that personal space, she becomes clingy and shy.

i'm so looking forward to her developing personality over the months to come, she is so fun :)

...and she's off!!

Sierra really started walking last week!! We got back from Atlanta and the next morning she woke up and decided that she liked to walk! For the last month we've been able to get her to take up to 7 or 8 steps but usually only if we distracted her with snacks or toys in her hands.

As of a week ago, she does it of her own will and loves it! She always gets this big smile as she's walking - it's super cute. She still walks with both hands straight up in the air and doesn't bend her knees much, but she is good at it. She will walk laps around the house just for fun!

Here's a video I took of her this morning: (sorry for the shaky and sideways filming!)

There and Back

i have SOOO many pictures (thousands, probably) of Sierra's 1st year. of course i haven't printed ANY of them, so now i'm left with the dilemma of what to do with them? scrapbook? photobook? video?

ok, that is not the point of this post. we just got back from a wedding in Atlanta for our good friends, Duder and Baber (code names, but also their preferred way of referring to eachother). it was our first flight with the little one...and we all survived! the flight there was great, the one back home - not so great. but it was definitely delta's fault for cancelling our flight after we had been sitting on the plane for an hour...with our sleeping baby. she slept so well...it was too bad the plane just didn't go anywhere!

she was an allstar at the wedding and for the whole weekend. and thanks to babysitting/babyentertaining from court, the simons and brian/seth we didn't have to miss out on any of the pre/post wedding activities! kyle and i didn't get much sleep, but we had a blast and it was so so so fun to see so many good friends together!!!


the bride and groom...yes, they really did look JUST like that!!

dancing with her Daddy (line dancing, no less!)

family pic just before the wedding...sadly the dress came off not long after the reception started because it was SO hot outside, but she sported her cuteness either way :)

notice the common factor? yes, the snacks...whatever keeps her happy!

***random cute story: yesterday i was feeding Sierra some peas that were hot, so i was blowing on them before i put them on her tray. as she picked each one up, she blew on it too! it was super cute! she is always watching our mouths when we talk and make sounds and imitating as much as she can. we definitely have a little chatterbox!!!!***

Go Horns!

we are excited for a new season of TEXAS football!! as you can tell from the picture below, the youngest member of our family is also excited :)

showing off her 2 (yes, still only 2!) teeth...and her buddies

i went to run an errand while Sierra was napping and came home to find this! the guys had come over and were watching football and Sierra woke up from her nap, so they pulled up a chair for her and she joined them! hilarious! she was very content :)

and we got to go to the game!!!! we realized we hadn't been to a game since college (many, many years ago!) so it brought back a lot of memories. other than the fact that it was HOT HOT HOT out there, it was really fun. stu and john were there too and we give a big thanks to the smiths for passing on their tickets! it was a treat!

Hook 'em! ...let's go Gilbert, you can do it!

Cousins

*this post was drafted 2 weeks ago*

what fun to get to hang out with cousins - we had a great time this past weekend spending time with family! it is so fun to watch these little cousins get to know each other and we hope for many more moments like these...and more cousins too :)

Sierra can finally play more now, but still can't quite keep up with Alex! he has been so sweet with her since the first time he met her as a newborn - but i'm sure he will like her even more when she can run around with him! and little Anya isn't too far behind either!

check out these 2 funny videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbZPo5P4nXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SHphylfEcM

Anya (6 mos.), Alex (2.5 yrs.), Sierra (10.5 mos)

so sweet with his arms around his girls :)

Sierra is working on cutting a top tooth, as you can tell by her constant finger in mouth! ...and Alex appears to be nibbling on her shoulder...or is that a kiss??!

and just for fun, here is a picture from last Christmas (2009) - hard to believe how quickly they change!

Bella, Sierra (almost 3 months) and Alex (almost 2 yrs)

***and we are SOOOOOO excited to welcome the first cousin on my side of the family in January...a GIRL cousin, that is!!!!!!!!!!***

faces

on this Friday I give you some of Sierra's recent cute faces...she is full of expression and oh so spunky :)

a walker in training

Sierra has LOVED to walk around, holding onto our fingers, for a couple of months now. It was her preferred method of mobility until she mastered the crawl and can get around on her own. But now with the discovery of a push toy that our kind friend lent us, she is up on two feet again...and without the help of Mommy and Daddy! This girl is growing up fast and is on the move..."walking"!

she is holding the cover for The Jesus I Never Knew as she walks around - yes,

so spiritual already :)

here's a video to see her in action, but please mute your volume to avoid hearing my extremely loud and annoying baby talk voice...please...trust me, it's in your best interest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUjph11DRew