8 months and a beach trip

First off, Payton turned 8 months old last week. This girl is growing and changing so much right now. It's crazy to think that a little more than a month ago she wasn't even mobile. I think it's fair to say that she is in the "exploring" phase. She has finally figured out the crawling can get her places, not just to the toys in the living room. All she wants to do is stand up, and can even stand for a few seconds all by herself at times. I do not anticipate it being too far down the road before she is taking steps. She weighs a whopping 17 lbs. 13 ounces these days. She has started stage three foods, and still isn't too sure about them. She does love eating/playing the Gerber stars. Meanwhile, she proved once again to be her mama's child tonight at dinner as she enjoyed a few bites of mashed potatoes.

We were able to get away for a few days this weekend to the beach. The weather was beautiful, and it was so nice just to get out of Auburn. We stayed with Jonathan's brother and sister, but I think there were a total of about twenty family members down for the weekend. It is so much fun to watch all of the little ones together. Payton tries so hard to keep up with Ella and Chase. We are sure going to be in for it in a few months. This was Payton's first real experience with the sand. We had taken her down to the beach a few times earlier this year, but she was too little to know the difference. She loved running it through her fingers. I must admit, I was a little shocked it didn't go straight to her mouth. Unfortunately, we didn't take too many pictures. Here are a few of my favorites of what we did take.