7 days, wait... months, old already!

7 months? Really?? It is hard to believe how fast the time has flown by. It seems like every day, our little girl is growing, learning, and changing. She is a lot of fun to play with, and definitely has her own little personality.
Here are a few recent pictures.

I walked in on her like this one morning while I was getting ready for work. She got really quiet, so I went to check on her. This is what I found. It was pretty funny. About 5 minutes later, she woke up and started playing again.

We've also graduated to the regular sized bath tub. She loves it because she has more room to play and scoot around.

We love making funny faces, and apparently, Dad is a great teacher.

Rayleigh & Granny K

And here is my little Stacy Lee....

Rayleigh's 7 month "stats"
Weight: 21 lbs 12 ounces
Foods: all fruits, sweet potatoes, carrots, fruits mixed with cereals or granola
She isn't crazy about the green veggies yet, and soon we will be trying some veggies mixed with meat.
Still just two teeth, but with the amount of drool lately, I'd say a few more are on the way.
She sits all the time on her own now, and she is reaching for all kinds of things. She's not quite getting near crawling, but hopefully soon. I am enjoying these last few weeks of her being immobile.
Her hair is getting a little longer, but not much thicker. Hopefully we'll be able to put bows in soon!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I always love the Christmas season, and this year is definitely no exception. In fact, this year is even better because we have someone to spoil like crazy!! Christmas shopping is even more fun this year because she is just so fun and so easy to buy for.
Dad put a few lights up on the house, and we've got the tree up.

And Rayleigh is in the Christmas spirit too, modeling her new outfit from Paige & GiGi (Piper)

Rayleigh's little boyfriend, Bryson, turned one on December 5th, and we had a party for him. She liked playing with his toys!

We took Rayleigh to see Santa Claus. She didn't mind him at all! She even smiled at him a bit. It was really cute!

My whole world:

Thanksgiving 2009

Another Thanksgiving, another year that Brianne slays the Stripper bass on Lake Texoma! We had a fabulous time this year, and I earned the title of "Fishing Goddess". The fish were a bit smaller this year, but they were still fun to catch! Piper & Paige stayed behind to play with little RayRay while Dad, Kit, myself, Kaitlyn & Wyatt went out and froze our tails off on the morning after Thanksgiving.
It started off pretty cold, well, cold by us Southerners' standards. Our Northern counterparts were a little more at home in the below freezing wind chill.
Dad on the trip out of the marina:

Wyatt on the same trip about 2 seconds later:

We had a blast fishing and caught plenty!

Wyatt even attempted to eat a fish head, but didn't get it all the way down. It was pretty funny!

Here is our total catch, 52 stripper and about 3 sand bass.

This year was a time for our family to be especially thankful for everyone and everything that we have. It has been a very tough year for some people, and we are fortunate to be so blessed. God has definitely been present in our lives this year. He gave us the most precious gift ever this year, with our beautiful Rayleigh Jean!

We are also mindful this year of the brave men & women who so selflessly serve our country to defend our freedoms, especially Rayleigh's Godfather & one of our best friends, Matt Machacek, who is now over in Afghanistan. Our love, thoughts & prayers are with you, Matt!