Friday, August 29, 2008

Erin is 9 months old

Wow, we can not believe how fast the time has gone by. When Nicole was pregnant, 9 months seemed a lot longer than it does now. Erin is growing and changing so much now. She has mastered crawling, is always pulling herself up to stand, is cruising along furniture, climbing stairs (when we let her) and babbling up a storm. She is able to get herself from standing to sitting without falling too. She looks so cute when she reaches down with her hand to gently lower herself to the ground.

Her hair is getting longer and it is messy in the morning when she wakes up (she still isn't sleeping through the night though). Her eyes are still a beautiful shade of blue, but we've read on-line that they can still change color until 1 year.

She is still toothless, but constantly chewing on everything. She is on two solid meals a day and this month we will start her on a third. Her favorite snack foods are cheerios and puffs. She has mastered the pincer grasp (grabbing things between her thumb and forefinger).

Carl (our cat) is getting used to her too. He doesn't run away as fast now when she crawls toward him.

Erin loves her toys, but seems to love "household items" more. She is quite fond of newspaper, magazines, remote controls, cords of any kind and even enjoys grabbing leaves off the trees (when riding on daddy's shoulders). Needless to say, it is quite the challenge to keep her under our watchful eyes. She seems to understand the word "NO" and "GENTLE," so that has helped some.

We look forward to watching Erin continue to grow and develop. She really is such a blessing to have as our child.

Here are some recent pictures of our cutie.


Check out these neat pictures that Christine took of Erin looking at herself in the mirror at the bridal shop.


Erin climbing the stairs between the living room and the dining room.



Erin makes her way from the window sill to the fireplace.


Erin loves to feed herself cheerios in the high chair.



Our little cutie!
Erin checks out Carl, while he keeps a close eye on her every movement.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Our little jibber jabber!

Erin has really found her voice over the last few days. She has been babbling non-stop! Her favorite word is babababa, which could be her way of saying her last name....Ba...rker. She has also started to make this strange noise that sounds like she is grunting (but she isn't making a stinky, so it isn't her pooping!).

Monday, August 25, 2008

Cruising and Climbing!

Yesterday Erin impressed mommy and daddy by climbing up the two stairs that separate the living and dining rooms! Then today after pulling herself up onto the window sill in the living room, she proceeded to walk along it to the other side.

Jay mentioned that he can't believe our little girl is growing up so fast...

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Allegany State Park....Erin's first vacation

We spent a week camping in Allegany State Park. We stayed in a cabin on Beehunter Trail and we were blessed with the company of many friends and family. Erin went swimming in Red House Lake, went on the canoe and on the motor boat. Here are a few pictures from our vacation.



Erin wearing daddy's Allegany State Park cap.




The Barker family poses at Thunder Rocks.




Four generations were together for the week.




Jay and Grandma "O" have fun sporting their fun hats arond the camp fire.




Grandma poses with three of her great-grandchildren.



Erin on her first boat ride. (she hated the life jacket, but we did catch her smiling)


Erin relaxes on the ski tube with daddy.


Erin goes "swimming" for the first time (she loved to grab the sand in her hands and try to eat it).


Crawling in the sand was much more comfortable than the concrete floors in our cabin.


Isn't she so cute in her sun hat and bathing suit!?

Monday, August 11, 2008

1st Annual Barker Bash

We were blessed with the company of about 60 of our friends and family at our housewarming party on July 26, 2008. It was a great success and we can't wait to have many more fun parties at our country home. Here are just a few pictures from the event. Thanks to Uncle Johnny, Dad/Diane and Christine for taking these (since I was so busy and didn't get to take any).


What a neat picture of our house with a reflection in the pond.

Julie has fun riding on her grandpa's shoulders.


Having fun and relaxing on the beach.

Look at the newlyweds kissing in the pond-Jeff and Kate.




Mommy and Erin pose to show off their home-made matching dresses.




Kevin, Jay and Larry have fun jumping off the dock.
A look at the waterfall going into the middle pond.



Aunt Marilyn, Julie and Aunt Carol have fun hanging out by the creek.


Cody spent about 3 hours making this awesome dam in the creek.


Grandpa Keith and Erin are having a blast.


Uncle Danny checks out his rope that he wants to use to repel across the creek.



Isn't Rushford so cute when he is all wet!?



Rushford and Erin relax with Grandma Mary.




Our guests enjoy some "easy fishing" in the upper pond.



Dad Barker poses with the new sign he got us. What a great addition to our bar!


Grandma Pat is enjoying her little angel.


Rushford relaxes in the Adirondack chair.

Erin kicks him out so she can enjoy it too!


Mom and Erin pose by the creek. It ended up being a beautiful day.



A great nighttime picture of the tiki torches surrounding the middle pond. It looked like a scene out the show Survivor.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Countdown to Jay's 30th Birthday!


This one is for Aunt Christine.....

and any other Hootie and the Blowfish fans out there....

"I'm such a baby, Cause the Dolphins make me cry...."

"See this woman sitting next to me, She's been there for a long, long time. And when I fell, she picked me up. When I cried, she wiped my tears. I thank God she's mine...."


"Her smile is like sunshine, Her tears hurt like leather..."


"I'll be there, be your friend. Hold on strong, don't let go. There will never be no one to take your place. So don't you want to reach out and take my hand..."


"I lay down with memories of you keep that keep me going on, going on..."

Countdown to Erin's 1st Birthday

Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Some older pictures

Erin sporting her sunglasses (this was before she was able to pull them off and chew on them, like she does now) approx. 2 months.
Erin in her robe (4 months).
Erin in her Easter dress.

Erin and mom after their first jog with the jogging stroller. (4.5 months old)


Erin and her build a bear (a gift from the DHS Ecology Club). (4.5 months old)











Erin eating her first taste of baby oatmeal (5 months old).


Erin after her first race (Mother's day).