The Vernons: 8 months old

Sadie turned 8 months old last week. It's amazing how quickly she's growing up. She is crawling all over the place now, with great ease. She's even pulling up on things and putting her hands down and fully extending her legs, sticking her butt up in the air.

Some highlights:

Being much more vigilant, now that we have a mobile child. It seems she has a magnet that draws her to the stuff she's not supposed to touch.
Having tougher skin, as falling down is becoming more and more commonplace.
Having more and more "conversations" as she develops her communication skills. (Usually loud ramblings and blowing raspberries. It's quite productive)
Finding the right combination for cosleeping that enables all of us to sleep through the night. It's working quite well, and we're all well rested.
Sadie loves dancing. Anytime Star Trek: The Next Generation's theme music comes on, or any kind of music, Sadie starts moving almost her entire body. If she's standing up, she backs that thing up. If she's sitting, it's a hilarious head bob and body weave.

Couple of funny stories, then pics of course.

I work the late shift at work, and Steph goes in early. So I usually get a good bit of time with Sadie in the morning. Typically she takes a nap at around 8:15, so I get ready while she sleeps. Well, last week she slept in consistently and didn't want to take a nap. So one morning I put a blanket down with her toys in the bathroom. I jumped in the shower and planned on taking a real quick one. Shortly after I got in, Sadie crawled over and started playing with the shower curtain. Soon after that, she realized that there was water behind the curtain, so all of the sudden I heard splashing. She was halfway in the shower, splashing around in the water on the floor of the shower (It's a walk in shower, so easy access for a little one.) When I would stand under the water, it would bounce off me and hit her. She would stick her face up with her mouth open, trying to catch the water. Needless to say, after my shower, it looked like she had taken a bath. I had already gotten her dressed for the day, so I had to pick out a new outfit for her. From that day on, I brought in her bouncy seat thing to keep her occupied.

The other day we were at the farm and Alan was making faces and noises at Sadie to get her to talk. She stopped for a second, then got up in his face and yelled at him, making all kinds of noises like she was telling him off. It was hilarious, and we all laughed heartily.

My brother Kyle and his wife Hillary came into town this weekend, and we got to spend some time with them. I've included some pictures below. Sadie loved climbing on Kyle and playing with his beard, and it was great to watch her with them. I wish they lived closer and that we could spend more time with them.

Also, in my continual quest for manly skills, I've taken up making homemade wine. I started my first batch last night. I'll keep you updated as we move through the fermentation process and bottling stages.