darrell a bogar

one of many reasons why my trip home to see my family with kahree was so wonderful is that i got to spend so much time with my grandpa. he's my only living grandparent and he's been very dear to me my whole life. we were good buddies when i was little, his birthday is the day before mine and we always celebrated it together. but during the last few years we've barely gotten to visit. he moved away before i became a teenager and just recently moved back to within a few minutes of my parent's house and besides the occasional trip we just hadn't had enough chances to catch up.

while on vacation kahree and i took several chances to go out and visit him and just talk and talk about everything and then talking about it again the next day. i love seeing him and kahree together, he says he loves having a great grandchild but "all my grandchildren are great." i love when he says that. they were just too cute together.

even though his current home is the 3rd i've known him in there are still so many familiar things all around it, things that i've seen for years, that remind me of my childhood. i'm so grateful i got some time to remember and document this time. that little case was filled with tiny treasures when i was little but i found it empty on this visit and i was determined to find the trinkets and put it all together again. while i did it grandpa told me stories about them, about where he got that mason ring, about who handmade those tiny moccasins. i wish i could remember everything he's ever told me. but i don't mind being reminded. he's a wonderful grandpa and i'm glad i have him forever.

on the road

my little family and I have been enjoying some quieter time together this week after a crazy weekend of picnics and get togethers and baby showers and barbecues and oh so much food. tomorrow we're packing our bags and heading off to Seattle for the weekend and then driving to Spokane from there. i'm going to spend some time with my family after craig heads home alone and after a while i'll fly home with my tiny sidekick. the very next day we'll start house sitting for four days and then a week later we're all flying to California for three days.

and after that we're going into hibernation. but really, i'll probably be in complete holiday mode at that point. i'm already making Christmas lists and looking at tiny Halloween costumes and getting oh so giddy for Kahree's first holiday season. and after Christmas i have a very special February birthday to plan for a very special little one's first birthday.

i love life. this is such a blast.

we'll catch up with you soon <3

baby jeans

this is my favorite outfit that kahree has ever worn. she's had some amazing clothes, especially in the 9 month size, but this combo is by far my favorite ever. she handles summer heat so well but i pretend she needs tank tops to stay cool. give me a break, when else will she be able to wear them?

how did my daughter get such blonde hair and such dark eyebrows and eyelashes? i'm not complaining. except for how i'd love to see her with darker hair. she has more of it than you'd think, it just gets so light at the end. goodness knows how much i want a baby with a full head of hair. sometimes i pretend it looks strawberry blonde in the sun. maybe someday. it is in her genes. baby genes. and jeans. because she's wearing tiny, cute baby jeans. see where i've tied this post in with the title? genius.

she's still only pretend crawling, she gets up on her knees and rocks back and forth, like she's winding up for take off. but then she gets up on her feet and very ineffectively tries to get around. i don't really mind though, even though it seems so inefficient. i love that she can still hang out with me all day while we watch netflix and craft after morning chores while we wait for daddy to get home so we can eat dinner and watch the twilight zone. yeah, our life is pretty awesome.

6 months

my little daughter turned six months old this week. six months! she's half a year old already. where is it all going to? i can hardly stand to see her get so big but i adore who she's becoming. for a couple months there i was longing to have my tiny newborn back, but six months is amaaaaazing. it's my favorite stage so far. she's so bright and intense and into life.

she's a big kid. i'm glad she hasn't gotten too heavy for me to carry around yet but some days i swear she's half my size. she's been sleeping in her new crib in her own room all night for almost two weeks now and it's AWESOME. i missed her so bad the first few nights but she seems so much more comfortable now.

a few more things she's been doing lately include eating like crazy every day and, wait for it, crawling. crawling! she did a real crawl yesterday. that's rare though. for the rest of the weeks she's mostly just been wriggling around all over on her tummy, getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth, and my favorite, getting up on her hands and feet with her bum in the air and just staying there. for ages. it's so funny to me.

little kahree is my best buddy. i'm so lucky that i get to spend all my days with her. she's finally getting a little more snuggly and she talks to me all day long. i can't wait until she uses real words and tells me all about the big things she has in her brain. i can't wait to see who she becomes. right now i just love who she is.

p.s. shooting in manual still seems to be working. i figured out how to use my camera's timer today! please be impressed, it was hard.