The Clayburns!: "They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!"

My little girl is growing up right before my eyes. She is just the cutest thing in the world. She smiles at anything and anyone. She truly is a very happy and good baby. She only cries when she's hungry or tired. She's still sleeping 12-13 hours a night.

In less than 2 weeks she will be 8 months old. This year has gone by so fast. Since I'm going back to school (starting Monday!) I've already planned her first birthday party :) It's going to be magical. We will be having a party for her in Indiana and Logan. I hope she remembers it! Ha!

The most notable thing she has done is crawl. She just woke up one morning and started doing it! I caught it on my cell phone... but I'm not sure if I'll be able to upload it on here.

She jibber jabbers all day long. The girl loves to hear her own voice. She says dada, mama, baba and all sorts of noises that sound like she's a dinosaur or something!

She laughs so hard she snorts.

When the radio is on she continually goes "ahhhhhhh....ahhhhhhhhh.....ahhhhh" really softly. It's adorable.

She had a new silent laugh. It's hilarious. It kind of sounds like she's hyperventilating, though! She kicks her feet and raises her eyebrows really high while she's doing it. She does it to every person she see's in the grocery store. Cory and I just laugh and laugh.

A couple weeks ago we had to lower her crib cause she can pull herself up on her feet. I'm so glad I was in the room the first time she did it. She totally could have gone over the crib had I not been in there.

She will "walk" if you hold onto her hands with her feet on the ground. (Does that make sense??)

She is literally devistated if Cory or I walk out of the room.

She loves the zoo. There is a little one a couple blocks from our house and she just loves the monkeys, turtles, and ducks.

She is a bouncing machine. We have a jumper and an activity gym. That girl could bounce all day. Actually, sometimes, she does.

Food she loves:

Pancakes (no syrup :))

Muffins

Avacado cubes

Mushed Bananas

Sweet Potatoes (real, not jarred)

Little graduates finger foods

Beans

Mashed potatoes

I could just go on and on and on! But I'm sure no one cares about these little facts except me :)

Anyway, I've started keeping a little book. It's supposed to be a sketchbook. I got it from Borders for $5. It's not like a journal or anything, but things I want to do when raising my children.

For example, section one is family traditions. I just jotted down my own family traditions, new ideas and different things I've heard. We're not going to necessarily do them all but I like having them all written down. One I recently heard was Back to School Feast on nieniedialogues.com. The Sunday before school starts they have a Feast and she makes each one of her children a "crown." The homemade crown has pictures and all sorts of things that are interests of that specific child. I think it's a wonderful idea. So, I put it in my book... cause I'm sure in 6 years I'm not going to remember it! Another tradition is keeping a journal for my children. Growing up, every night my mom and dad came into mine and Brooke's bedroom. We would get out our journals and tell our parents what to write in them or my parents would ask us questions and write in our journals what we said. I love looking back and reading them! They are sometimes hilarious and sometimes so sweet. Once I told my mom that I hope one day Satan can have a family of his own. Ha! I was 5!

Section 2 is cute decorating ideas for bedrooms... either for the next baby or when Sophie gets older. Even ideas to make our house more kid friendly/functional...

Section 3 has fun snack ideas. I get parent magazine's in the mail all the time, I flip through them and cut out ideas for food or activities I think would be interesting.

Section 4 has "rules" I have for myself when raising my children.

Anyways, you get my point. I'm very excited about it and I hope I keep it up! If you have any fun family traditions or anything you think I'd like to add to my book... let me know!