This picture was taken a few days before Blakely turned six months old...we were actually on vacation with Essie at Litchfield Beach. She just turned seven months this week. Since this photo was taken...She has had a busy and fun month. At her 6 month check-up she weighed 16 pds. and 13.5 ounces and was 26 inces long. Right after we returned from our beach trip (the end of July), Blakely started rocking and seemed ready to crawl...sure enough she made her official first crawl on August 19th. Before then, she seemed to be getting where she needed to go...she would rock a little then start rolling. She started crawling and was pulling up on the furniture a day later...she has not looked back since. Other milestones this month were:

• hand-eye coordination has improved so much...love grabbing puffs off my highchair tray and putting them in my mouth...if my paci falls out of my mouth, I can put it back in the right way.
• sitting up great...feel so confident!
• My bottom two teeth popped through (on my 6 mos day)..about half-way up now.
• loves to babble...started with the "d" sound..saying da-da..then came the "e" sound and she would say "e-e", then came the "M" sound and says Ma-ma. Blakely loves to talk and be heard...she has a loud squeal she uses if she thinks no one is paying her any attention...looks like trouble!
• Great sleeping habits..2 great naps, a cat nap late in the afternoon, and ready for bed before 8:30pm.
• Trying all Stage 1 baby foods...love them all except bananas. Drinking 4 (6ozs.) bottles a day
• I love my big brother...he makes Blakely laugh and he wants to help so much (most of the time)
• Blakely also loves the bathtub and swimming pool!

Not to forget about my special big boy, Brock. He is growing up so fast. Loves doing all the typical boy things. Took swim lessons at the beginning of the summer and he is our little fish now.. Still a little nervous about the deep end of the pool but that is fine by me...we will work on that next summer. Getting more interested in big boy toys and TV shows...now that He has a little sister and several new little cousins...the educational Cartoons are not as cool anymore. Brock is getting tall and skinny. Essie says we need to get some meat on his bones. He loves riding his John Deere Gator and will ride around and around for hours. Love the outdoors. He is very dramatic (wonder where he got this from)...he is very elaborate in his story-telling and talks with his hands.

Thanks for a specal month Brock and Blakely...looking forward to many more fun memories!