Summer in WA/ Paige 11 months

The very end of May, Paige and I headed to Washington to stay with my parents for 6 weeks, while Ben finished up his work at Sears and stayed with different friends (thanks again Nelsons, Andrews, and Quinns!). It was hard being away from Ben, but we were glad we could get so much family time in WA before we headed to Duke.

She did awesome on the flight!

The first week we were there Paige had some major events: she learned how to say "hi", turned 11 months, and learned how to WALK!

She took her first steps the night before she turned 11 months. She lunged from the coffee table to my mom on the couch, and then did it again while trying to get pretzels from my dad. Ben was, needless to say, crushed that Paige did this while he was gone, but I called him immediately and he saw her walk on skype that night. Soon she was walking all over the house!

My mom, sister, and I did our first "race". We did the 3k walk for Retts Syndrome, but ended up running almost the whole thing. We were very proud of ourselves (we are not natural runners) and it was surprisingly a lot of fun!

(excuse all the blurry phone pics, most are ones I would text to Ben)

Smiling for a picture for daddy

Nightly snacks with Grandma and Grandpa

Walk around the lake with Grandma Jean

Licking the knobs...kind of weird...

Paige got her first bad goose egg from hitting the coffee table. Here's my parents trying to console her with books and holding an ice pack to her forehead. 

It really was only hot for like 10 days the whole time I was there (to the point where we had to go buy Paige warmer clothes), but on those hot days we took full advantage!

She LOVED Leo and followed him all around

BBQs outside! This girl loves baked beans!

One day after swimming I put her down for a nap in just her diaper. When I came to check on her I found this: one nakey baby with the diaper thrown to the corner of the crib.

She loved crawling through the coffee table "tunnel"

I was able to see a lot of friends while I was home...

-One day we met up with my best friend Jamie and her little girl, Sailor, at the Children's Museum. The girls loved running around/eating lentils off the ground, and Jamie and I had a great time catching up.

-My adorable friend, Kate, from college just happened to be passing through town. It was so fun chatting with her and meeting her husband and cute little boy.

-My old roommate and fellow Hampton nanny survivor, Stefi, had her wedding reception in Seattle. So glad she married someone from WA so I could see her and meet her new hubby (who Paige immediately loved!).

-I was able to get together twice with my friends from high school. I had forgotten how much fun those girls are and how much they make me laugh.

Ben was apart from us for Father's Day, so we sent him a "Super Hero" package full of fun little surprises.

And this picture pretty much sums up the 5 weeks we were apart (before Ben flew to WA). Whenever Paige would start to hear the "skype calling noise", she would immediately say "Daddy, hi daddy". She seriously thought her dad lived in the computer. When Ben came to WA, it was too late for Paige to go with me, so he saw her in the morning. We had them skype from different rooms, and then Ben walked in to see her. Totally freaked her out. After a few minutes she was excited to have her daddy back.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

One of the huge hurdles we had in our preparations for grad school was to sell our house. With the market being the way it is, we were extremely nervous, but thankfully after only 2 people looking at it, it sold! HUGE relief! This meant, however, that we had to pack things up quickly (with a baby that liked UN-packing boxes) and say goodbye to our wonderful Chicago friends.

To start with, our ward. I don't think we will ever be in a ward that will love and adore Paige like that. There weren't a lot of babies so Paige got all the attention a baby could dream of. We also really enjoyed our callings. I was in the young womens presidency and worked with amazing women and had some really sweet girls. They were so cute to throw me a little goodbye on my last Sunday, complete with sweet notes and Cinnibons! We just had some great families who really looked out for us and made us feel a special part of the ward while we were there.

One of the families from the ward that we became instant friends with was the Jones'. I truly don't know what I would have done without Kristin the past 2 years. She got me through my miscarriage, chatted with me about anything and everything, invited me to the pool/scrapping/etc, threw me a baby shower, visited me in  the hospital, and the list goes on and on. And not to mention, Ben and Nick played basketball together and Kristin's girls are absolutely adorable, and we all enjoyed a good Chilis and Red Robin run. Needless to say, it was a struggle saying bye to their family.

Then the B.A. (business analyst) group. There were a group of guys that started working at Sears around the same time, that were LDS and lived in the same area. We did a lot with this group, from playgroups, game nights, dinners, BYU games, etc. We squeezed in a few last get-togethers, including a bbq at my brother's house, complete with delicious food, soccer, slip-n-slide, and lots of chatting.

And these two little cuties-

I'm starting to realize how much me we took living next to family for granted. What will I do next Halloween or Easter? Who will I make hair bows with? What will Paige do without her little cousins just 10 minutes away? And how will I move again without Camille helping me pack and clean? I think this is one thing I didn't fully appreciate until the realization of not having it, and now North Carolina is sounding very far away from family, and I'm already missing the comfort of knowing the Warnings were just minutes away.

We got everything packed up in the pod, thanks to some awesome friends that miraculously made everything fit! The house sure felt empty...

Last family photo in our house

Then I headed to Washington with Paige, while Ben floated around to friends houses so he could finish up his 2 year commitment at Sears.We'll miss our house and friends in IL, but are excited for this next adventure! Goodbye Illinois!

Girls Trip to Pennsylvania

In May I went with my mom to Pennsylvania to see my cousin, Tad's, mission farewell.

 It was quite the girls group, with my mom's two sisters, my grandma, cousin Leigh, mom, Paige and I.
 The first day we headed to the Hershey Factory, which was adorable!

 We went on a "ride" where they showed you how they make the chocolate- very fun!

The singing/dancing cows were the best part!

Paige was mesmerized 

Whole bunch of crazies

The next day we visited Gettysburg. I had been there before, but hadn't seen the new fancy visitors center. It was very interesting and makes you so grateful for the sacrifices that were made.

That night we went to my cousin, Max's Eagle Court of Honor. My cousins are awesome boys!

Saturday we saw downtown Harrisburg.

Then we headed to Lancaster. It was very interesting seeing all of the Amish farms, and all the darling little kids. We strolled through cute little shops and just took our time driving through the countryside. And of course we had to giggle as we visited "Intercourse", PA :)

Buggy parking at Costco!!

Apparently after a long day of traveling, Paige had some serious "business" to take care of. Yes, I'm a mean mother for posting this, but it's just classic.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Ben did an awesome job on the first "real" mother's day, giving me a cute poem and massage before I left- perfect gift, I was thrilled! My Aunt Lynne was so sweet and had little presents for all of us women there visiting. It was fun to have 4 generations of women there to celebrate. Then we headed to church to hear Tad speak. He did an awesome job! That night we went to Max's voice recital.

It was hard to believe that the mature young man was the same little boy I used to babysit. Argentina is lucky to get Elder Wright!

Paige 9-10 months

Since it's almost Paige's birthday, maybe I should get caught up on blogging. 

Paige 9 months:

19 lbs (50-75 percentile)

28 in (75 percentile)

18 in (90-95 percentile)

She enjoyed waving to the doctor

Camille took some cute 9 month pictures for us (I'm already missing having her as my personal photographer!!)

Thanks again, Brambles, for the dress!

My favorite

Showing her new trick of standing

Little cousins

-At 9 months could stand and hold onto something, 10 months started walking along the furniture

Trying to capture her in her cute room before we moved

-Her crawling became more much effective and soon she was crawling all over the house

Daddy's hat

-She got her 2 bottom teeth!
-Still an awesome sleeper, with 2 naps. Although loved to stand up in her crib

She's a great shopper

-Loves her food. Was still nursing about 3 times a day, but started having more table food
-Started on a sippy cup, which made her seem so big
-Started babbling a lot more, and said "woah" and "dadda" (which I guess we'll claim was her first word :(
-Does ok with bath time, but usually hates getting her hair washed and getting dressed

-Learned how to blow raspberries and click her tongue
-She met Uncle Tyler for the first time! He was in Chicago for business so we were able to meet him for dinner. Paige absolutely loved him!

-At the end of 10 months, right before we moved, Paige figured out how to climb the stairs. We hadn't worried too much about her going up, and then one day we look over and she's 3 steps up! She would get so excited and stop to clap for herself...which would result in falling

Bribing her with a binky

We made a quick trip to Minnesota in May to see the Holms before we moved. Paige was amazing on the drive (slept about 5 out of 6 hours). I barely got any pictures, but we had a great time chatting, seeing a play downtown, and seeing grandparents and some of Ben's friends. Paige loved all the attention from so many family members.

Uncle Jordan

Getting babysat by Aunt Hannah

Paige still loves mommy when she's sad or tired, but there's no one funnier or more exciting than daddy. I would put her at the top of the stairs every day when Ben got home and she would get so excited to see him walking up. We love our little baby, but she sure is seeming older!