Oh You Beautiful Doll!

It seems I can't stop taking pictures of this beautiful baby girl! I can't believe she is 8 months old!!! Why does this time seem to fly by so quickly? We are completely enjoying having her in our family. She really is a good natured baby and we just adore her.

She was the best Birthday/Christmas present EVER!!! (Notice all her dark hair in back? I'm pretty sure she was born with the most hair out of our four cuties.) We love the wonderful Christmas blanket from Grandma Merrell- so cute!






Her first day at church. We had trouble finding a dress small enough for her!







All ready for her Sunday debut!






This one's kinda dark, but I love that she's looking RIGHT at the camera.

All bundled up in her carrier. Don't those cute cheeks just shout, "Pinch me!"

Thank you, Laura for the cozy blanket car seat cover! She's our only winter baby, so I was a bit paranoid about taking her out in the cold weather, but the cover was awesome!

On her changing table- for the longest time, this was one of her favorite places. She has always loved to play with her hands. Oh, and the cute outfit is one that big sister Dani wore!





"Look, Mom! I can hold the bottle all by myself!" Feeding time has been so amazing with her. I absolutely LOVE that she nurses so well, but it's also great that she'll drink from a bottle.





The funny camera angle makes her cute little head look SO BIG. Here she is trying to get to the camera....



"I made it, mom. And I'm ready for my close up!"

Our "smart cookie" laying on big sister's bed. Dani totally LOVES having a baby in the house AND having a sister!

Funny smiles while she's getting dressed.






All cozy for nap time.


I think her beautiful eyes are actually going to stay blue! Grandma Merrell and Grandma Nancy are pretty happy about that!

"Really mom? Haven't you taken enough pictures already?"

This was before our little princess became so good at rolling.

Isn't she just so precious?

Sweet baby girl!

Look at the beautiful carrier cover (in the background) made by my aunt Sandy- I love it. It's so nice to keep the wind and sun off of our sweet Allison!

What a relief to find a binkie she would actually take!

Allison is wearing a cute little Christmas outfit that I wore for Christmas when I was her size! Grandma Nancy really loved seeing Alli wearing it!

"Okay, mom. Are you almost done taking pictures?"

Hey sweet baby, when you're THIS cute, somebody always has to have a camera ready!!! It's pretty much impossible to not smile back at her. I absolutely LOVE her smile!

At 8 months, she is army crawling all over the place, starting to do the "real" crawl, sitting up by herself, pulling herself up from crawling to sitting, and in the last few days she has begun trying to pull herself up to standing and trying to stand by herself when she's next to something (like the couch, next to your leg, or in her high chair). I have this wonderful/terrible feeling that she'll be an early walker like big brother Zack.

I think one of the hardest things about being a mom is trying to live in the moment and absorb all the wonderful things that come with motherhood. I tend to enjoy my kids' stages so much, I just don't want them to end. But at the same time, I love seeing them grow and learn. I'd love for them to stay little a little while longer, yet I know they obviously have to grow up. Hey- even Russell knows it's okay to grow up- When I asked him, "Who said you could grow up?" He answered, "Jesus did, Mom." Well, I can't argue with that, now can I?