So much has happened in the life of the Sterlachinis. Unfortunately, one of those things is not the completion of a kitchen. Our house is still in shambles, but I did pay our first mortgage payment last night, and it was pretty awesome. We've also had some fun adventures!

E is growing and learning so much. When she gets tired, she puts her own binky in. We got her a new carseat since she was getting too tall for the infant one. I put a closed book on her lap and her binky next to her. 5 minutes later I found her like this. Book open, binky in, looking at me like "Mom! I'm trying to read here!". She's SUCH a big girl now.



We went to a petting zoo on Sunday. She's really too young, but she loves to watch animals, so rather than petting, we watched. Angry baby was angry.

But she cheered up when daddy put her on his shoulders so she could pull his hair. He's wincing, but he's used to it.  

Grandma came to visit. Ohhh boy is she in love. They live in Philly and haven't seen E for a while. She was in her element. E was soooo tired at night, though.

She was happy during the day! She looks like a little elf or hobbit or something, but it cracks me up. She's so freaking cute.

And we are getting better at swimming! She put her face in and didn't cry, and she's starting to pull herself along the wall.

The most interesting thing (that I don't have a photo of) is that she's trying to pull up! She pulls up on my shirt if I steady her. She's like a little gym rat - she's always trying to do sit ups, and rather than getting on her knees and then standing, she tries to just do baby pull-ups. Yesterday she pulled up on a toy and sat there with her butt off the ground. Once again - gymnastics, folks.

She's backed off of saying "Mama" but she still does it sometimes when I call during the day. Still no teeth (thak God). She's been sleeping strangely. For a long time, she slept through the night most of the time. Lately she's been getting up to the point that I have to get up once, which isn't too bad. Last night she got up and cried, though, which she doesn't normally do. Seems to be a growth spurt because she was fine once she ate, and has been napping like crazy. What's strange is if you watch her, she has extremely restless periods at night. Sometimes she wakes up and opens her eyes, and sometimes she just rolls around. She usually is back to peaceful sleeping in a few minutes, but it's so strange to me.

I'm currently shopping for her for Christmas. I can't wait to spend our first Christmas in our new house. We're going to decorate and put tons of gifts under the tree and wake up Christmas morning and open gifts with our little one. I'm feeling very blessed today. I just love my little girl so much. Words cannot express it. Everything is just different now. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can be stressed, angry, frustrated... but it's hard to be sad with this sweet girl in my life.