Its not that I don't like you....

Jenna is going through a stage. I know she will go through many stages throughout her life, but this one makes me feel super important and visitors don't seem to like it at all. Jenna is starting to show anxiety toward strangers (or people she doesn't see daily). This is a common phase for children between ages 8 to 10 months.

It took Jenna almost an hour to sit down on the floor at Kaity's party and try to be social. Then we were at the doctor's office on Wednesday, my mom (Grammy) wanted to take Jenna and show her off, well Jenna didn't want to be out of mommy's sight. Even while I was holding her talking with a couple of mom's co-workers, her bottom lip was stuck out and would quiver if they got too close. I know the puckered lip made the ladies laugh, but I realize it may also hurt people's feelings.

If you see us in the near future, please realize she really is a good girl, it is only a phase and hopefully it will be over soon.

9 month Dr Appointment and Recent Happenings

Today, Jenna and I went to see Grammy at work (aka Jenna had a doctor's appointment). This was her 9 month visit. Jenna is now 15 pounds even and 26 inches tall. She is still in the bottom percentiles for weight and height. However, she is reaching all of her milestones and developing just fine.

Dr. Best asked.... and I said
if she is crawling .... all over the place
if she sits herself up... yes
if she is pulling up .... yes
will she walk holding on to things .... yes, especially holding mommy and daddy's hands
making constinant sounds.... like dada and mama and nana? yes
picking up foods and feeding herself.... yes she had peas for supper last night
what all will she eat .... anything she can get her hands on
does she have any teeth .... one
upper or lower.... lower
is she still sleeping through the night... yes

His response was, she is doing absoluetly everything she should be. Good Job Momma!
He asked if we were having any problems with Jenna and I responded, she doesn't like to be separated from mommy and daddy. If we walk out of the room, she cries. She has cried 3 out of the last 5 mornings I have left her at daycare (which breaks my heart).

As for other recent happenings, we went north this past weekend for Kaity's 6th birthday party. It is hard to believe she is 6. She was 6 months when Lance took me home to meet the Hofmann crew. Miss Kaity has lost her first baby tooth and has another one loose. We had a nice time seeing the family over the weekend.

We also got our window air conditioner taken out of the house and put into the garage for winter storage. Then we took a newer hand-me-down dryer to the basement and carried our old one that stopped working upstairs. Now we can do laundry up north again!

That's all I know for now, I will post pictures sometime around the 3rd, if not before!

Sitting Up and Pulling Up

Jenna can sit herself up, from the crawling position now. She acts like such hot stuff when you watch her do it. It is really funny to see her little personality coming out. Jenna has also been pulling up on everything. She likes to pull up on anything she can. Her recent favorite has been her walk behind toy, which just seems to topple over on top of her. I appologize for the lack of pictures lately. I hope to take a few this weekend.

Tooth and Sitting Up

Jenna has her first tooth. It is her bottom left center tooth! It has only broken the gum and you can barely see it, but as of Saturday, it is through.

When I was picked Jenna up from her 8-10 am nap on Saturday morning, she was sitting upright. This is the first and only time she has gotten herself sat upright.

As for crawling, she has been getting faster and more steady all the time. She got slowed down this weekend because she couldn't get good traction on the hardwood floors. She has gotten to where she crawls over to an object then pulls herself to her knees. She tries to get her feet under her, but so far has been unsuccessful. I know it is only a matter of time.

Bubble Bath and Kneeling

Jenna had her first bubble bath last night. We have been struggling with bathtime a little and mommy thought she would mix things up a bit. Traditionally, Jenna cries when she gets in the tub. Not because she is naked, cold, or hot, just because. This stops after a minute or two, but she seems afraid of the tub, then she figures out it is okay, she may even decide she likes it, then mommy says it's time to get out, and she decides she would rather be in the tub. Last night, even with bubbles, the initial reaction was the same. However, once she figured out there were bubbles, she was funny to watch. She smacked them, tried to eat them, did a nose dive into them, splashed around, and had quite a bit of fun.

Tonight we were playing on the floor. She crawled over to me (like a pro, she is getting faster and faster) and then she got herself up on her knees in kneeling position. She kept trying to get her feet underneath her, but she couldn't quite get it figured out.

Apple Festival, Craft Fair, and Threshermans

I have been in the mood to buy some knick-nacks and decorations lately. Turns out, I have been to 3 very good spots to do just that. Lance, Jenna and I went to the Cory Apple Festival a few weekends ago. There were several nice craft booths there. I purchased this metal pumpkin for my front door. I don't have very many Halloween decorations, because I think they are a little silly. Straight fall decorations can be put up and left out much longer. This halloween pumpkin....
....has a magnetic face, so it can solely be a pumpkin when Halloween is over. How cool is that?

Then, I bought Mr. Snowman. I thought he was adorable!

I watched Ciara a couple weekends ago. When Carla got off work, we all loaded up and went to the craft fair at Audubon Park, in Henderson. It was a pretty nice show. There, I purchased another snowman, that is roughly 4 foot tall.

I also bought a cute picture to go with the Americana theme in the Clay City house.

Yesterday, Jenna and I went to Thresherman's Fall Show. It was really, really muddy. I purchased this scarecrow which stands about 2.5 feet tall. He looks cute standing by the fireplace. He came with chalk to put a message on the board, but I haven't thought of anything whitty to write on it yet.

As for today, Lance has had Jenna crawling around the house in circles. Then we installed her big girl car seat and lowered her crib mattress.

The First Combine Ride

On Sunday, Jenna got to go on her first combine ride. She got to ride in Papaw Rentchler's red combine, harvesting soybeans. This is a picture of daddy coming at us as we are waiting to board the combine.
Daddy holding Jenna while mommy gets a picture. Lance had harvested a full hopper of beans and we were unloading.

Mommy with Jenna on her first combine ride of the season, too. We were dumping into the grain cart, which you can see through the glass of the combine.

Jenna didn't really know what to think of the big machine. She watched sat on mommy's lap and leaned over to look out the front glass. She sat that way for almost a whole pass in the field. Then she leaned over and held on to the metal bar that runs across the door and held on to it with both hands looking out the door. She seemed curious about what was happening, so I explained how Papaw plants the soybeans and the comine harvests the soybeans and separates the beans from the stem and pods. She got a good start to her farming education.

8 months

Jenna was 8 months old on the 3rd. She is growing and changing every day. She has really gotten the hang of crawling now. She is not speedy, but she is now fully capable of getting anywhere she wants to go, as long as she doesn't get side tracked.

Here is her 8 month photo with Nash.

She has a doctor's appointment at the end of the month, so I will update her stats then.

Lawnmower Demolition Derby

For those of you that didn't already know, Lance grew up in a very small town called Cory, Indiana. A couple of weekends ago, we went to the Cory Apple Festival. It has a nice little flea market, car show, craft fair, tractor pull, and lawnmower demolition derby. This was the first time we had ever witnessed a lawn mower demolition derby. It definately was a site to see.

Lawmowers provide very little protection to the driver while mowing grass or pulling a wagon. The provide even less protection when someone is intentionally trying to run into you! It looks like a very dangerous sport, between the lawnmowers tipping over and people crashing at the ankle. I thought I would share a video just to show you how wild it is. At the very end you can actually see the yellow mower tipped over on it's side.