Growing Paynes: Eight Months of Wonder

I've been an absurdly bad blogger of late. I've actually been quite terrible for the last eight months, but I have the most fabulous reason in the world. She is 19 lbs of pure light and wonder. My sweet Ella Harper is eight months old today, and I absolutely can not believe it. It's just...cra-cra (That's kind of ghetto for crazy...sorry...). Despite things not going exactly as planned since just before Ella arrived, the last eight months have been the most spectacular months of my life. Really, since last June has been spectacular. I've been pregnant, had a baby, learned to be a mommy, came back from having my head cut open twice and worked full-time in between all of that. All in all, I would say 2011 has been quite the eventful year. I can't say that I haven't learned a lot, and I know that I'm more appreciative of my life now than I have ever been.

Now, since I haven't posted in a month (and even then it was a month behind), here's the nutshell of our last couple months:

I went back to work, and my hair is growing back pretty quickly. It's only long enough to barely hold between my fingers, and it isn't growing back where my incision is, but it's growing, and that's enough for this girl. I'm actually going to get my hair cut for the first time since April this week - once I found out what was going to happen, I refused to cut it so that I would have plenty to cover everything up. But the time has come - hopefully I won't freak the girl out.

Ella talks all the time. Correction - she says "da-da" all the time, and she says it to Kyle. Someone else will be holding her, and he will walk into the room, and she yells, "Da-da!" It's incredibly sweet and nauseating all at the same time. I absolutely love it, but being the jealous one that I am, I'm anxious for her to yell "ma-ma" at me. She has said it quite a few times, but not with the same recognition that she has when she talks to Kyle. She also got her first pair of Keds:) Now, child has a lot of shoes, but Keds are kind of like a rite of passage. Plus, it's the first pair she hasn't been able to rip off as soon as they are on. Golden.

We are going to the beach next week, FINALLY! I've literally been thinking of the first time I would get to take my baby to the beach for years...YEARS. And this summer didn't go quite as planned, so things were postponed a little. But none of that matters now, because we are leaving next Wednesday! We are headed to Granna and Pop's condo in Amelia Island, and it takes everything in me to not pack the car now. Last summer, Kyle and I were in Hawaii for what we knew was our last baby-free vacation for a while - what a difference a year makes, and it's the most fabulous difference in the world:)

And finally, my most fabulous friend Amanda C. B. is having a baby:) I'm beside myself with excitement, and I actually get to see her and her growing belly while we are at the beach (lucky girl and her hubby live in Atlantic Beach). I actually have a lot of friends that are having babies, and I couldn't be more excited to shower them all with gifts. I'm so excited that Ella Harper will have new friends to play with, and I will have more mommy friends to share with.