Mid Week Playtime

Here are some mid week pictures of Rose for all her followers :)

Rose has a new favorite game of emptying her toy bins...she is VERY good at getting everything out and then lets mommy put everything away...I think she is training me ;)

 And whether it is food or not everything goes in the mouth, YUMMY!

 Rose is also showing interest in books and especially likes this one of colors.

 Again pulling things out of the bin. Rose is also starting to push up more and more...can't wait for her to start crawling!!!

 And no matter how many fun toys she has, Rose just loves to pull our glasses off our face.

7 Months and Thankful!!

Well Rose has now hit two holidays this year with her milestones...born on Easter and now 7 months on Thanksgiving. Rose thought all the people who came to eat today were really here to celebrate her :) which of course, they really were!
This year was the 3rd Annual Bechtel-Stillinger Fried Turkey Thanksgiving. Justin and I have enjoyed hosting various family members over the years and eating LOTS of food. Actually Rose was the *PERFECT* little girl...she was up while we made the food and then took a 3 hour nap while we ate and relaxed after the meal :)

Here are some pictures with special people to celebrate Rose's 1st Thanksgiving:

Ok, so on to an update on how Rose is doing at 7 months!!!

She is still a terrific eater and now she has breakfast, lunch, and dinner...usually one or two cubes of food and then bottles throughout the day. This weekend we introduced a sippie cup to Rose and she is starting to get the concept of taking the cup up and tipping her head back...she'll get it! The only thing with eating solid foods is the poo...twice this month she got a little constipated...we used a little prune juice in her milk and that seemed to do the trick. On a really happy note, I am over half way done with breast feeding! I will keep the morning nursing after she turns a year until Rose is ready to give it up, but I am only pumping for the year and that means 5 months to go :)

Rose is also showing her personality much more...she likes to smile and giggle when she is happy, but also knows how to whine and cry when you are not entertaining her enough...she is good on her own for a few minutes, but mostly likes when her big people are entertaining her. Rose enjoys peek-a-boo, riding on our shoulders, chewing on paper, and watching the dogs.

Rose is also demonstrating new skills all the time. She has mastered the rolling in both directions and sitting without support. She is starting to push up on her arms and showing some interest in movement...I don't think she will crawl for a few months yet, but it is exciting! Rose is also making lots of different sounds and enjoys yelling at her toys before stuffing them in her mouth. We can't wait to hear the first word out of her cute little mouth. I am really hoping for 'mama'.

Rose also continues to be a pretty consistent sleeper. She is taking 1-2 morning naps and usually 2 afternoon naps ranging from 30 minutes to 3 hours...honestly we can't figure out why some days the naps are long and other days short. If I could pick she would take 2 naps for about 2 hours each at regular times each day, that would be nice right? She is a good sleeper at night and will go to bed by 7pm and get up by 6:30am, a few nights have been a little rough, but honestly we have no complaints. It is really cute when she wakes us up by yelling her 'wooo wooo' :)

Some New Things...

In the past 2 weeks we have had some new acquisitions in our home...mostly revolving around Rose (of course!).
Last weekend we purchased another bookcase from Target to hold Rose's ever growing collection of toys...really she does not think she can have enough, nor do her grandparents :)

Then Rose was concerned about her bath toy storage, so we hung the frog that was a gift at our shower to keep all of Rose's bath toys together.

The last area of storage that we updated was Rose's changing station in our living room. It is our routine in the mornings that after I nurse Rose in our bedroom, then Justin takes her downstairs and changes her and dresses her. We do all of her dressing and diapering downstairs, because that is where we are, so it makes more sense to have everything there, rather than going up and down the stairs all day.

Rose also got a new carpet in the living room to play on, really we needed a new one, but Rose thinks it is for her so we will let her think that...

Then there are those *CUTE* new shoes from Etsy.com...yes, I am an Etsy freak! Thank you to Andrea who hunts on Etsy for Lena and posts lots of cute finds so Rose can benefit also :)

AND Rose has a favorite new game...that does not involve her extensive toy collection...she LOVES to turn the ceiling light on and off...and on and off...and on and off...until daddy gets too tired to keep going.

Finally, our last new thing was a dishwasher...we survived the first year of our marriage without a dishwasher and then got one for Christmas in our first home...then we took it with us to the house we rented...and finally it was here with us until Sunday when it passed on. So now we have a new dishwasher, which so far I love and a happy mommy is VERY important!

Rose and Daddy...

For the first weekend (that I can remember anyway) Justin, Rose, and I have not had ANY plans! It was such a nice weekend to just be together, get some little stuff done around the house, and make some really yummy dinners. Justin and Rose also enjoyed some bonding time by watching old infomercials on th VW Bug...which Justin is teaching Rose to love at a young age in hopes of adding even more Bugs to his collection in our yard :)

Rose's Dedication

On Sunday we had Rose dedicated at Oley Mennonite Church (along with 3 little boys) and were so excited that all her grandparents, a set of great grandparents, and most of her aunts and uncles were able to attend. We are so happy that most of Rose's extended family live close and will be able to share special times with her!

End of October Pics

Here is an update on the end of October....

 Rose got to see SNOW for the first time...I thought she would have another couple months to wait, but it decided to snow early so she wouldn't have to wait any longer...she likes watching it snow from inside and enjoyed seeing the dogs play in it...but didn't love it falling in her face :(

 Rose also is now trying to eat whole foods...while I can't do anything about the weather, it is definitely too soon for whole apples, so she will have to wait on the whole foods :)

 Rose is also now fitting into most of the 6 month clothing I got her, so her wardrobe has now expanded to some very cute outfits!

And ok, Rose and I {LOVE} her daddy, BUT, he was in charge of the costume for Halloween...well so back in September he looked around and had an idea of what he was going to get for her. I dutifully reminded him to remember to get it...well he waited until the last minute and then it snowed....so no costume for Rose. BUT mommy did have a cute little mouse outfit and a Halloween headband for her :) Mom ROCKS!