One Tough Cookie! :)

At the Halloween party that we went to they had baby tattoos... so who could resist. I figured that with the little faux-hawk (she still pretty much only has hair on top, down the middle) that Niya is growing, she should have one of those very tough bicep tattoos!

So here she is looking Tough!

And... that is about how long tough lasted! :)

*Yes the tattoo does say "Mom" in a heart, I feel so loved :)

The Worlds Littlest Elephant

One of our friends threw a Halloween party last weekend, so we got to dress up our little elephant and take her to the party. The little ones where soooo cute! I cannot wait to dress her up again on Halloween... I hope to have more pictures then, but here are a few to get you started!

Our little elephant!

Elephant on the loose!

Even elephants get sleepy sometimes...

An elephant nap! :)

Halloween Cutie

Our little angel

On the Move!!!

Niya just figured out how to roll over from her front to her back on Tuesday... then today she put it all together. She can now go across the room pretty quickly when she want to! I spent today chasing her around and mourning the loss of actually finding her where I left her! :)

Of course the camera was a little distracting... but here it is in action!

Opinions About Food

Niya is showing some opinion about her food for the first time. She loves her rice cereal, her avocados, yams, and bananas... but peas... No thanks mom!

She doesn't even want to swallow!

The New Tooth Brush

Niya doesn't have any teeth yet. But has started drooling and sticking everything in her mouth and sometimes seems like she is in the beginning phases of teething... So, when at the dentist for me, I asked for a toothbrush for Niya. She loves this little brush! It has rubber teething stuff on the back and the handle and then little short soft bristles. She plays with this almost every day and will choose it over other toys! What a silly kid! Our dentist would be so proud!! :)

Niya "brushing" away

Very pleased with herself

Ooh tooth brushes are scratchy!

Dental hygiene is very important... we get started even before the teeth!

How Niya Sleeps... Feet In The Air!

So I finally managed to catch Niya in her typical sleeping pose... all the other times the door opening woke her up enough that she moved. So here she is... both hands behind her head and both feet in the air. If you try to straighten the blankets or to gently lower her legs, thinking she will get a better sleep, both feet pop back up moments later! It is hilarious! As she is drifting off the legs are straight up, then as she falls asleep they bend at the knees. The minute that she begins to wake up the legs go back to being straight up... see below!

The classic pose

From another angle

Oops... she caught me!

Cute Moments!

Not really worthy of their own posts... but all the same, I just love these pictures for different reasons!

Niya actually found the pockets in this jumper and put two of her fingers into this tiny pocket all on her own!

Do I even need to explain this one?! :)

I just love this look that she gets when she is really concentrating hard on something!

See how serious she gets... she is trying to spin this toy!

One Little Punkin' in the Pumpkins

Hoping for better weather to take a few more! :) But couldn't resist posting these now!

6 Years!!

Kev and I have been married 6 years today! Wow!

I am amazed when I realize how fast time has passed. We have already been together 11 years and have experienced so many wonderful things during that time together... We have literally grown up together! There have been ups and downs, births and deaths, moves, graduations, plenty of learning experiences and of course Niya!

I cannot even express all the wonderful things that have happened in the last year. Becoming parents has been such a wonderful new experience. I now love my husband in ways I never thought possible; he is the father of my child and that is such an amazing thing!

I look forward to many more fantastic years and the life experiences that will come with each of those years! :)

Play Date

We are so lucky to have good friends who will watch Niya. Here are some adorable pictures of her latest play date with our good friends little guy (actually bigger than Niya) Asher.

New toys are sooo exciting!

Hey up there!

What?! We weren't doing anything! :)

I can just see Niya perfecting this look for when she is about 14! What? I wasn't doing anything? Just keeping my hands to myself... see! Our little angel! :D

Watch Me Roll

So I caught Niya rolling over, although as you can see, it took a while to get her to actually roll over. She is getting much faster at this move. However, she still gets stuck on her tummy and gets really frustrated about not being able to roll the other way! :)

I think rolling the other way will happen soon! :D

Fine Motor Skills

Kevin and I were both surprised to see how Niya plays with this toy. She already knows exactly how to turn this toy and can do this with one finger... we were impressed! :)

Mmmm Feet!

Paci Control... the paci becomes the toy!

Sorry this is in the swing and hard to watch... but I couldn't get her to do this for the camera any other way!!

Rolling Over

Niya is rolling over now from her back to her tummy... but she is in no hurry!

Each roll takes about 10 minutes... she rolls onto her side, then plays for a while, then eventually rolls a little more so she is teetering... then finally tips the back half over and then has one little "chicken wing" stuck under her chest... finally she pulls this arm out and is officially on her tummy!

So far she has not figured out how to go the other way! Once on her belly she is stuck!

I will try to get this on video as she gets a little big quicker! :)

Hilarious Meal

I'm not sure why but Niya thought this meal (only her 3rd one) was really funny! I don't know if it was Daddy opening his mouth every time he wanted her to do the same or what... but just watch, it is too cute!!

The Big Talker!

After all that... I'm sure an explanation isn't needed! :)

The First Spoon Meal

Niya has been so excited to eat food at the table and we have been putting her off for a few weeks now. Once she hit the 4 month mark, and we got the go-ahead from the pediatrician... we were ready for the first spoon meal. Niya was REALLY ready!

Here are some before shots... showing the excitement...

watch the action!

A very contented full tummy and a messy face! :)

A New Favorite Book

We got this book from Gramma during our last visit. It is one of those ones that is crunchy and is all about tails... the fish tails, the seahorse, the whale, etc... All the little tails hang off of each page. Niya LOVES this book... she wants to eat it! :)

I like this picture, she looks like she is very seriously reading!

I wish I could have captured it in a picture, she was trying to hold the book up with her feet, so she had both legs in the air and was resting the book on the tops of her legs, but every time I snapped the picture, she would grab hold with her hands and let her legs drop... it was really funny! Our little monkey!

A Pretty New Dress

I bought this dress when visiting my mom... and Niya looks so cute in it... I just had to take her picture (or lots of pictures :D)!

She didn't seem to mind! :)

Bubble Bath!

Usually when Niya gets in the tub she is really excited and splashy. Today Daddy did the tub water and made a bubble bath. This girl takes after her Grammy and knows how to appreciate a bubble bath! When I put her in the water, she just relaxed and laid there... totally content just to be warm under all the bubbles. It was really cute. When we started asking her if she was enjoying her LEISURELY Bath, we got a really nice smile in response! She never did splash around in this bath, just relaxed... it was really cute! :)

A Trip To See Gramma and Papa

Niya and I finally made it down to spend some time with my Mom and Dennis (Gramma and Papa). We had a great visit and got lucky with a pretty beautiful weekend. Here are a few pictures of some snuggles!

A big snuggle from Papa! :)

Getting a smooch from Gramma

We miss you already... and hope to come visit again soon! :)

Mmmm Bubbles!

Bubble baths are so great... especially when you think it is fun to eat the bubbles! :)

Niya looks like I am trying to drown her in this picture... I am actually trying to prevent excessive bubble eating!

4 Months!!!

Niya and I went for her 4 month appointment yesterday! She is baby awesome! Currently she is 95% in her height at 26 inches long, 88% in her weights at 15 lbs, 11 oz and is ahead of the developmental stages. She smiled and laughed with the doctor!

She got her immunizations (second round) and sailed through that with a smile. Well she did turn beet red and scream bloody murder at the time... but then a boob made it all better, as boobs have a tendency to do! :)

As the doctor was leaving she turned with a puzzled smile and said "usually I have something to recommend, some advice... something.... but in this case, I've got nothing! She is perfect!"

Hmmm... I couldn't have said it better myself! :)