"She Likes the Movin' and a Groovin'"

I love to write about how Carly changes from week to week.  Her physical skills improve and her cognitive ability grows by leaps and bounds.  My favorite thing to watch, however, is her growing awareness of the world around her.  I am excited that this essentially never stops.  It's the beauty of the human life, always maturing.  In fact, I'm sure many of you have seen a growth in mine and Brian's maturity over the past year, and especially the past 4 months.  I know I can see it in myself.  I knew becoming a Mom would change my outlook and awareness about the world.

Physically, Carly is getting close to mastering her ability to grab whatever she wants to grab.  She doesn't get the concept of pushing (like pushing a button, or playing the piano), but you can bet if you have something that she wants she is going to get it.  She has grabbed my glasses right off my face multiple time now!  She has also been experimenting with the features on our face, particularly the result of what will happen if she sticks her little fingers close to our mouths.  Which brings me to her cognitive development.  She is beginning to learn cause and effect.  If she puts her fingers near our mouths than her little fingers will probably get chomped on!  If she reaches for something in her play gym, she knows she will be able to see and touch rather than just look at!  When I am making breakfast or lunch in the kitchen I have to be careful not to let her grab my food unless I want to clean up a big mess!  It was hard to keep her from my oatmeal this morning!  Carly is trying her best to go places, but is not real successful at this point in her development.  She can't scoot forward like she intends to, and somehow ends up facing a different direction most of the time.

  We have been giving Carly lots of tummy time, and overall she seems to enjoy it.  She still prefers to be on her back looking up at things, but likes the change in scenery.  It's so funny to me that she has been rolling over for 3 months now, but still can't remember how to do it all the time.  She gets so frustrated when she can't roll over, but is so pleased when she figures it out.  Anyway, this is how you can often find miss monkey in our house:

I know these pictures aren't the greatest quality.  I tend to get out the iPod when taking a photo rather than just using the camera.  You can see she still loves that spider!

After my work week this week, I slept in while Brian and Carly got up to play.  When I came out of the bedroom I found her wearing a Cyclone onesie and jeans.  The perfect daddy outfit! ;) I, of course, added a bow!

Seems appropriate as we watched the NBA draft last night and had a Little Cyclone and a Big Cyclone get drafted in the first round!  It was fun to see Harrison in the green room, and very cool that Coach Downs got to be there with him!

And finally, I want to share this photo with you.  I snagged it one morning before we had gotten out of bed and couldn't believe how much it resembled Brian.  I should really put their baby photos side by side.  And, if you can't tell, her hair is now blonder than her daddy's hair, especially on the top where the sun kisses it!

Thanks for checking in with us this week as we were experiencing bad storms.  We were under a hurricane advisory and tornado watch all week.  When I drove to work on Sunday it was scary...I had never ever driven in rain that bad before.  I was thankful the cars around me were also going 40 and using their hazards.  The winds picked up so bad one night that Brian even decided to take Carly into the closet.  There was a tornado warning for us and he wanted to be safe...especially with our big glass doors in the back of the house.  He said she did not enjoy the closet. Ha.  She is SO opinionated!  Brian and I have no idea which one of us she gets that from?! ;)