Happy 8 month old day!

Kaelyn is 8 months old today - where is the time going?! Summer is coming to an end also & it feels like it just got started - I'm not ready for winter, although I do love fall! Kaelyn is extremely curious & becoming quite the social butterfly. She seems to make friends everywhere we go and absolutely everyone comments on her huge smile & what a happy baby she is. If only they could see her an hour before bedtime when she's at her worst - you'd never believe it's the same baby. She's been saying dada dada a lot, and yesterday she did make a sound that sounded like mommy - but she definitely seems to prefer the dada sound. I told Barry that she doesn't know what she's saying and that it absolutely does not mean that he is her favorite (because we all know that I am).

These are pictures we took in the yard yesterday. Kaelyn looked cute & it was a bright, sunny day, so we just took some quick shots. I think they turned out cute.

Later in the day we went to Breakheart Reservation in Saugus. It was only 20 minutes from our house, and it was so pretty. It had tons of great walking trails & midway through the woods there was a lake with a beach - pretty cool. I love the fact that there are evergreen trees next to the beach - so New Englandy!

These are all from last weekend when we went to Good Harbor beach in Gloucester & then Rockport with Barry's parents.

I put this one on here mostly to show you the 2 lighthouses in the background - I just think they're cool. You can see them from Good Harbor beach.

Barry took these pictures. I really like them.

Kaelyn & I love to catch up with our magazine reading. Kaelyn is obsessed with paper products - she loves magazines, paper, kleenex - anything she can rip to shreds!

Tired of the beach yet?...uuhm, no!

We just keep going to the beach. We can't stop. We need to go to beachgoers annonymous. Barry has actually been swimming in the ocean when we go & that's his new favorite thing. Not me. I just get my feet wet. I have a whole lotta pictures here because we've been taking so many and they're just too cute to pick just one or two - so I'm just going to post a bunch. I hope you don't mind. We finally worked in the yard last weekend a little - Kaelyn paid the price though because she got tons of mosquito bites on her poor little head - luckily they almost went away by the next day. I had a bunch of moms & kids over today to play in the yard - the weather has been picture perfect for about the past 3 weeks - mid 70's, sunny, light breeze. Now both our parents are visiting in the coming weeks and I bet the weather will suck. Hopefully not. Kaelyn is 7 months old now by the way, and she finally started sitting up on her own on a regular basis. She just hates sitting. She just wants to stand up all the time instead. I can't even get her legs to bend - she just stiffens up like a board and stands up when I pull on her arms. Already giving us problems at such an early age!

This first group of pictures are all from last weekend at Plum Island near Newburyport. It was a huge beach & there were like 5 people there total.

There is something seriously wrong with my hat. It keeps getting thrown in our bag & looks worse and worse everytime I put it on.

It's feeding time at the beach.

Are these towels shrinking or is she just getting that much bigger?

The next beach pictures are from Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-sea. The sand is supposed to "sing" when you step on it - I guess we weren't listening carefully enough.

She was supposed to be sleeping - instead she just pulled the cover off her carrier and flashed that devilish smile.

We went to Salem and she went on the swings for the first time. She seemed to like them, but it was actually putting her to sleep.

This was the first night she sat up for a long period of time totally on her own with no pillow behind her. It's about time!

Misc.

We have had lots of projects around the house that we wanted to get finished before each of our parents come to visit us in September - but the weather has been so great, & fall & winter are just around the corner, so we've been doing our best to enjoy the outdoors instead. I figure, there will be plenty of crummy days when we'll have nothing better to do than work on the house - but our beach days are numbered! Kaelyn and I have been enjoying lots of playdates with our moms group we joined - Kaelyn is making all sorts of little pint sized friends. She experienced the baby swings at the park this past weekend for the first time - I think she's hooked now. I don't have a picture here with her on the swings, but I will next time I post. She's doing lots of reaching and grabbing for things & becoming very active & social. It's been a lot of fun for sure!

Who is that cutie pie under there?!

We went to Rockport a couple weeks ago & it got cooler while we were there - so we bundled Kaelyn in a receiving blanket. She looked like a samurai. Barry was doing his best impression of "looking manly" since he felt stupid carrying her around looking like this.

This is supposedly the most painted and photographed building in the U.S. (who am I to argue - I have no idea) It would've been more picturesque if the large boat wasn't parked in front of it. Still pretty though.

Here is a preview of Kaelyn's Halloween costume. Can you guess what she is going to be? I can't wait - it is going to be adorable!!

I got my hair cut a little shorter last weekend. I don't think it looks all that much different, but it feels soooo much better! I also highlighted it myself (to save money) - we all know how these things go...I had to spend twice as much to get the coloring corrected because I screwed it up!

Happy baby

Her future's so bright, she's gotta wear shades. Cheesy, I know. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

Big smiles for mama! That baby bjorn ends up in so many of our pictures - they should be paying us for the free advertising. Sometimes we try to cover it up, but they've strategically placed their logo everywhere!

Summer Fun

Well, we've been enjoying the beach some more. Every weekend we say we are going to get stuff done, but then the weather is so nice all we want to do is go out and enjoy the day. That's OK, we will have plenty of crummy days to work inside the house I'm sure. It has rained here almost every single day this week, which has made the pleasant weekend all the more appealing. I guess every town around here has their "thing" - their special event in the summer that they are known for. Well, Beverly has "Homecoming Week". I don't know who's coming home, but there have been some fun events. There was a classic car show yesterday that was walking distance from our house, so we went to that and then walked to the ice cream store down the block. Let's see, ice cream within walking distance of my house...I love this place! Then our neighbors invited us to the beach, so we were there until it got dark - we had pizzas delivered to the beach and sat around and drank beer while all the kids played. It was lots of fun. Everyone here seems to really try to get the most out of summer, probably because winter seems so long.

I think this is one of the best pictures we have gotten of Kaelyn in awhile - the lighting is great and she looks so pure - I love it!

I really liked this one as well. So sweet.

Sweet little smile.

We thought this would be a great angle for a picture - which it was, but her mood wasn't cooperating. It actually still made for a pretty amusing shot.

Even though this is off-center, I still think it's so sweet. Barry captured our "moment".

Barry and Kaelyn with their hats.

A rare family shot. We are due for some professional pictures so we can get some nice family shots while she's still semi-cooperative.

We were at West Beach in Beverly Farms - it's private, but our neighbors have a parking pass, so they got us in. It was nice & practically no one was there - even better!

Just in case you were curious what Kaelyn might look like with hair - or as the lead singer of The Cure.

Again, bad mommy.