Darby & Billie

Darby loves our dog Billie, and luckily, Billie is really good with Darby. Sometimes she acts a little annoyed but for the most part Billie doesn't mind the new "impostor" in her world. I'm sure once Darby is older and can throw the ball for Billie they will be best friends! Here is a video I took of them together somewhat recently.

"Hiiiii" from Darby!

Darby's most used word is "hi". I like to say its her FIRST word (my first word was "hi") but she did say "elmo" before that. Although she doesn't say "elmo" half as much as she says "hi"! Therefore, I say "hi" really IS her first word! She also says "uh-oh", if that's considered a word!

Here's a video of D saying "hi" and waving from her packnplay. She is SO on the go, putting her in her packnplay is a must for my sanity. I can only say "Darby, no!" so many times a day!

Who wants to bet "no!" is her next word??!

Testing My Signature!

Just wanted to test out the signature I made!

But while I'm here, I'll post 2 pictures.

I know I've told you about Darby's LOVE for Elmo. Last week I put one of the Elmo's World dvd's on and sat her on the blanket, next to her Elmo Live doll. She sat and watched, giggled and squealed. It was adorable!

At one point, she reached over and held Elmo's hand. Priceless!

The girl loves Elmo. What can I say!

Darby's 1st Easter

Easter was a BUSY day (to put it mildly) for us! Of COURSE the Easter bunny came, and Darby was so happy to get her Elmo Easter basket filled with fun Elmo things! She got some socks, a book, dvd and some Elmo Easter eggs!

Then we got all ready, and Darby put her beauuuuutiful Easter dress on (thanks again Great Aunt Lynne and Great Uncle Kevin!) and we were off! First stop was to see Lynne and Kevin for an Easter morning visit so that they could see little D all dressed up!

Next up was lunch at Eric's Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jim's house with that whole side of the family (his Mom's side!) It was a great yummy lunch - Darby loved the potatoes, and it's always fun seeing everyone.

She got LOTS of snuggles from her Grandpa Dave ...

... and her Grandma Julie made her the most adorable little bunny rabbit!


She even crawled around and played with her one and only GREAT Grandpa!


Darby had lots of fun playing around with Jordyn too!



... and Francie! (who is off to Notre Dame in August!)

Our final stop (before HOME!) was my parents house in Redondo Beach. We were greeted by their GIGANTIC agave plant, that grows something like 4 inches a day!

Darby had a great time crawling around and exploring their house too. Of course I took a million pictures, I just can't seem to help myself! Here are some:







I love taking pictures of Darby, but I certainly don't have enough of us together. Luckily, we got a few good shots on Easter ...

... and one with Grandma too!


We were exhausted, but it was a great holiday and we are so lucky to have so much family close by to celebrate with! I just can't wait until next year, hopefully Darby will be old enough for an Easter egg hunt in our backyard!

Just out of curiosity ...

I'm pretty sure I know a good majority of the people who read/follow this blog. Mostly family and some friends. BUT, I still just get SO curious to know who is reading/following (besides the people who are following publicly through Blogger! I think there are 8 of you now.)

So, please help satisfy my curiosity! Leave me a comment (you don't have to tell me who you are if you don't want to, just click "anonymous") and let me know you are here! I would appreciate it!

Here's a picture of D and I on Easter. I'm so glad we got a couple good shots!! (I'm usually the one taking pictures.)

Darby in her Easter Dress

Here are some more pictures I took of Darby modeling her beautiful Easter dress, bought for her by her Great Aunt Lynne and Great Uncle Kevin.





We had a wonderfully exhausting Easter, filled with lots of family. I need to upload the pictures from Darby's first Easter, and once I do I will OF COURSE post them here!

Happy Easter!

Look Who's 8 Months Old!

So as usual, I am a bit behind on posting Darby's monthly pictures! While we were on vacation, on St. Patrick's Day to be exact, Darby turned 8 months old! I really can't believe how fast it is flying by. When Darby was born, everyone always told me (many times over!) "enjoy it every second of it because it will go so fast!" Of course I knew it would, but MAN is it! I do enjoy every second of it but also wish it would slow down a little! I am going to blink and have a one year old.





As an 8 month old, Darby...

• has 2 teeth, both on the bottom.
  
• combat crawls like a PRO - she is so fast!
  
• takes a break from crawling by sitting. She still does her side lie, but not as much now that she figured out how to sit real quick!
  
• points at everything with her pointer finger.
  
• has eaten - chicken and beef - the real deal, and loved both!
  
• said her first word - "elmo" - we are pretty sure at least. I took a video of her saying it the other day, I'll post soon!
  
• LOVES elmo, to say the least. If he is on tv, she sits and waves her arms up and down, squealing. It's really cute.
  
• waves hi and bye.
• is wearing 12 and 18 month sized clothes!
• wants strangers attention, wherever we go! She is flirt and will turn around in her high chair when we are at restaurants to "chat" with people at other tables!
• is learning what "no" means. She has been trying to play around with the cable box and dvd player buttons. Every time I tell her "NO!" in a stern voice, she whines. I know she understands what I am saying!
• coughs if I cough. It is hilarious.
  
• is good at entertaining herself. It comes in handy when I want to shower in the mornings! I can just plop her in her playpen with a few toys and she is set!
  
• loves other kids. It's so adorable to see her interact with other babies and older kids too. She loves the neighbor kids (and they love her back!).
• loooooves listening to the Raffi cd we bought her on vacation. She will even "sing" along with us sometimes!
  
• get SO happy when she sees her Papa come through the door after work. Once he picks her up, if I try to take her from him, she leans towards him and wont let go. She loves her Papa!!

Here is the updated slide show! She is getting SO big!

Darby & Jackson

After we got back from our vacation, Jackson came over to play. Of course he brought his Mommy, Rachelle and Papa, Mark along too. We had a great time catching up and watching the kids play.


After dinner Darby shared her cookies with Jackson - it was his first time eating a biter biscuit!


Before bedtime Darby and Jackson crawled around together. Jackson started crawling up on all fours while they were over! It was pretty exciting! We don't know if Darby will ever crawl on all fours. She seems VERY content with her combat crawl! Whatever works for her!





Darby had a great time playing with Jackson. She really loves other kids, which makes us happy since we plan on having a few more (in time!).

On The Road Again ...

This weekend we took our favorite neighbor friends with us for a few nights of camping - rv style of course. We did LOTS of fishing, but we didn't catch a thing (besides 2 plastic bags and a few sticks). Even still, it was a perfect trip. Darby just loves playing with Kaeli, Zane and Myka and the weather was beautiful.

With all our traveling, Darby is turning into quite the road warrior!