One Joyful Baby

Baby Shelby is 9 months!!


We really don't know what we ever did without her.  She is well-named and truly a Joy!


Here's what Shelby can do now (before I forget!):

Sippy cup long since mastered!  We prefer getting water from regular cups, though.

Going up steps, check!  Going down, working on it.  

Observing the many, many (many) needles coming off the tree from a place where she can't eat them.... check.

"Helping" with Christmas decorations...

Pretending to be our best present... yeah, that didn't go so well... 

Learning by Osmosis still...

Eating messy... 

Crashing on the couch.... 

Being a Joy.... 

Being a Homeschool Helper... 

Bundling up for the cold... 

Opening our Christmas Stocking... 

Getting a Christmas Fever... and then popping a New Year's Day Tooth!

Helping with laundry...

Riding wild animals... 

Doing "So Big!" 

Standing up without holding on, pulling while standing, standing up from sitting without using hands

Shelby's first step was to Daddy, sometime before Christmas.  I meant to write it down... but... well, we know it was before Christmas!!    She can also wave by opening and closing fingers now, and her babbling is changing into actual, meaningful words.  She puts her hands together to sign for "more" while eating, nods "yes" when asked if she wants a drink, and says, "Mom" when trying to say "more."  It's without a doubt paired with the attempt at signing and mimicking our teaching for "more."  We have been using baby signs for "eat" and "more" since birth.  She can throw a ball, pretty darn impressively for her age, and loves to throw a ball back and forth with someone.  Just 3 days ago, she said, "ball" for the first time.  She apparently knows she's low on the sibling hierarchy, and fights for her rights.  She growls, charges at and tries to gum (now it's a bite) anyone who takes something away or gets in her way.  If completely thwarted, she throws herself backwards in protest.  She is so fast at grabbing things off the floor to eat. and with this many people in the house, there's always many things available.  Oh, well, build that immune system, right?  She loves taking things out of bins and baskets and now can put them back.  She created a game of sorts, where she points a finger at someone, and they make noise, dance around silly, or sing a song.  Oh, they give her so much power!  When told, "No" for something, she stops, but makes protesting noises, and sometimes turns around to take a whack at you.  And no, she doesn't discriminate parent or sibling!  And then of course, she tries it again.  She loves to climb up and over things.  Human sitting legs and basic toys are good for this.  Tables and things are not.  She is still learning how to drop her legs first to get off a couch, bed or chair, headfirst hurts a bit.  Shelby takes 2 naps, one starting around 10am and the other around 2:30pm.  Bedtime is variable, as it is in a family our size with events and concerts and things to do.  Overall baby Shelby is an exhausting little explorer who keeps us on our toes every day!  

New homeschool blog post....

In case you're not cool enough to get notifications on both of my blogs....


I've updated our Homeschool Blog.

You Know You're a Large Family Mom When....

First things first, I personally think that 8 children and up constitutes a Large Family.  But most people I encounter seem to think our 5 kids are enough to earn us that label, so for all intensive purposes of having fun with this post, we'll be one.



You know you're a Large Family Mom when....



1) You accidentally slide your 3 month old off your hip as if she is a standing toddler.  (Don't worry, I caught her...sort of...)

2) The baby can't yet distinguish whether she is getting yelled at, or someone else is.

3) It's a great day when you only have 2 loads of laundry to do.

4) You wait until 6 months to give your baby solids, mostly because you don't want to deal with real, stinky poop.

5) When a child is crying, you tell them to go cry somewhere else.  Unless they are bleeding, of course.

6) You encourage Pajama Day, it equates to less laundry!

7) You've tried to jam a kid into someone else's clothing on more than one occasion.

8) You just park in the back of every parking lot so your kids can take as much space as they need to unload and load.  And to lessen the chance of someone's else's car getting hit with your doors.

9) Unlike 1st time parents who are eager to call every milestone out as soon as their baby does anything close to it, you are actively trying to DISCOURAGE crawling, standing, walking, basically  moving of any sort.  It's just more work for you.

10) You can do damn near anything one-handed with a baby either on your breast or on your hip...



And now for some random pictures from the last 2 months:

He's cute.

She's cute.

She's cute. 

And they're cute!