We went out to Crabapple Church this evening for a delicious picnic and photo shoot for Rebecca Rather's new cookbook. I don't know if we were actually in any shots for the book, but we made use of the scenic backdrop and took some pictures of our own:
It's hard to believe how the time has blown by. Willa is now 9 months old. As my friend (and doula,) Vanya, said, "That's a milestone - she's been out as long as she was inside your tummy!"
Her personality is really starting to come through. Willa is friendly and outgoing, and not at all shy like I had predicted. She is extremely alert and inquisitive - a real thinker. And always on the move. I have been noticing lately, that she doesn't cuddle with me as much as I would like. I think she's just too busy. But she makes up for it in smiles. She looks right at me with her big, bright, olive-colored eyes and flashes me a gummy grin...and everything else melts away. She loves to play peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, and wave to her friends (and to strangers.) She crawls from room to room in a flash, and pulls herself up to stand with ease. Up and down, up and down. Sean and I still wait, intently, to hear her first "da-da" and "ma-ma." But we delight in
every "ba-ba-ba." Willa loves to experiment with her own pitch and volume. Like I said, she's not shy.
Over the last couple of months, we have made great strides in the sleep department. After a nighttime routine of nursing, dinner, a bath, and some rocking, my little big girl goes to sleep in her crib at 8:00. Like clockwork, she stirs and fusses at around 11:30, but usually goes back to sleep on her own. At about 3:30, she wakes for a feeding, then goes right back to sleep until morning, at 7:30. Some might wonder why I haven't worked harder to drop the middle-of-the-night feeding. Well, I'm holding onto it a little bit longer because it is such a precious and peaceful few minutes of cuddle time.
My sweet little miracle is growing up too fast. As they say, I'm going to have to put a brick on her head!
I am loving our new addition and fresh paint job. After all those years of lackluster white on white, our home's exterior has finally gotten a personality boost. When we bought the house in 2002, we did a complete renovation. But by the time we got around to spiffing up the outside, my creativity had just about run out. I couldn't decide on a color scheme and was tired of buying sample quart after sample quart of the wrong ones. When the painters put up a coat of white primer, I decided that (safe) white would be "good enough." It might not have been right, but white can never really be wrong. However, after living with my drab selection and zero curb appeal for the past 5+ years, it was time to make a change, a color choice, one that would make a statement. The colors we chose do just that. They are inviting and cheerful, subtly modern, and (my favorite part) they perfectly teeter on the edge of Historic Review Board denial. The project is not quite complete, but I will post photos of its entirety soon. In the meantime, I have been sprucing up everywhere I can, endlessly cleaning and organizing, rearranging artwork, changing out pillowcases, donating, simplifying, purging clutter...In this new phase of infant domination, LESS (of everything else) is definitely MORE. 
