"Under the Table"

After crawling underneath the dining room table today while Drew and I were eating lunch and playing Rummy, Bentley pulled herself onto the chair seats and walked between a few. I caught her mischievous look on camera.



Earlier, during nap time, Bentley now likes to "play" for awhile by sitting up, crawling and pull herself up to standing in the crib, but then she finally crashed out for two hours, like this:

Water Baby

Bentley got her first pool experience and sported her pink tankini yesterday. With her friend Brady, they splashed and laughed and squealed in the pool in our friend's Kathy and Alex's back yard. Kathy and I were even brave enough to go out in our swimsuits too. ("The backyard is fully-fenced" Kathy assured me - ha.)




You can see summer in her eyes.



Taking after Uncle Josh with her Cheerio face. Bentley just started eating Cheerios on Saturday and is all about those Os.

Bentley's Crawling and My Life is Changing Forever.

Oh my word, when a kid starts to crawl, their world opens up and your world stops. From pulling herself up onto the couch, to fanning the DVDs onto the floor and reaching for my cell phone charger, life is changing as I know it. But... it is also super exciting to watch Bentley as she discovers things using her newest skill. She started crawling on Saturday and was especially excited about this new skill as she crawled toward my friend, Kathy's son's piano. I took this video this morning. Enjoy!

Pulling herself up!

Bentley has been able to stand and hold onto things, but until today, has not (in my presence anyway) pulled herself to standing in the crib! She would pull herself to her knees (on the toy basket in our living room, or in her crib) as of a few days ago, but when I walked in there to see what all her commotion was about - I witnessed it first hand on video! Oh my oh my.

Baby Girl's new things...

After a couple weeks, I finally caught on video, several of the new things Bentley has been up to recently. Consider the following video like the back of an old Highlights magazine... see if you can find:

1) Bentley's new dance move - her unsolicited head wagging anytime any music is on.
2) Her THREE NEW teeth - both front upper teeth and one new lower one
3) How she uses her finger and thumb to delicately pick up her food
4) She loves using the sippy cup and sometimes reminds me of how Napoleon Dynamite emphatically drinks his Gatorade.
5) She now waves "hi" and "goodbye"
6) She has a neck! She has thinned out a bit and is only 75% percentile for her weight, but still 95% for her height. Remember, the camera adds 10 lbs.
7) She does the scrunchy-smiley face like her mommy used to do. (See photo below)
8) See if you can figure out her own sign language for "More"



P.S. Excuse some of the obnoxious kid music in the background. I love the CD that my friend gave me, but it happened to be on the most obnoxious track during the video.

My scrunchy-smiley face

...and my 10 lbs. added by the camera ;)

the birds and the bees...

Drew and I took advantage of a sunny moment on Tuesday and decided to make our first trip to the zoo as a whole family. While there, we had to visit the meerkats. On previous visits, the meerkats would be bounding around the exhibit. This day, there were three little ones huddled within a rock formation. We propped Bentley up against the glass so she could see. The zoo was empty that day, so it was just us. Then, IT happened. And I literally mean "IT". While I thought the meerkats were simply "cuddling" to keep warm (it was a bit chilly despite being sunny), one immediately became a third wheel as the other two started "doing it". Well, Bentley , here is your first "Birds and Bees" lesson right before your eyes, just 2 feet away. Oh my! While Drew and I were cracking up, I swiftly picked up Bentley and suggested we check out the sharks. Here is Bentley's day with Daddy at the Zoo in photos:


Can you see the tiger behind them? Just over Bentley's head

Stroller Skate

I am a part of a Stay-at-home Moms group and they posted this outing called "Stroller Skate" where you roller skate while pushing your kiddo in their stroller. Hello! Roller Skating at 29 years-old? SWEET! I had to go. And I enjoyed a workout while Bentley enjoyed the "wind" across her face as we raced around the rink. Super-fun.

I'm 9 months today!

Here is yet another photo shoot of baby girl.
Oh yeah and Happy Cinco De Mayo

First Carousel Ride

My friend Vanessa and I went to the zoo on Friday with our kiddos and Ness took photos of Bentley and me on the carousel. She loved watching the other horses go up and down, riding with her mouth open and turned up slightly pretty much the whole time. When I was a little kid, I so badly wanted to ride off the carousel like the horses in Mary Poppins. I think I still secretly hope that would be possible.




...and while Bentley was riding off into the sunset, Simon was chilling with his quite appropriate bib.

Typical Bentley - not so typical

Here is a funny video of Bentley we took at my mom's home. Bentley was making these new clicking noises, giggling and scooting around on the floor. enjoy!