As a disclaimer, I’ll admit that this week is going to be all about the personal posts. Baby today, family vacation pictures tomorrow. Sorry! But we’ll have a wedding super sneaker on Sunday… then it’s on to a full three weeks of daily posts (provided the weather cooperates with us). Three cheers, right?

As I’ll explain further when I post vacation pictures tomorrow, our planned beach vacation in Port Aransas turned into Hurrication 2010. Heavy winds, scary tides, flooding, torrential rain… nice, right? Well, YEAH, actually! We thoroughly enjoyed our little vacation in the rain. The only thing that bummed me out, though, was thinking that I wouldn’t get a chance to take Dorothy’s 5 month pictures on the beach like I’d planned. 🙁

Then, on Sunday afternoon, for about 2 hours, it stopped raining! YAY! The sky behind my sweet baby is moody and gray, and there was barely any beach to be had because of how high the surf was… but we got the job done. I LOVE how the lack of an outfit or prop in these pictures makes her personality shine.

I’m not just saying this because she’s mine… after all, I have an older child who’s mind-blowingly awesome as well… but I’ve truly never seen a happier or more expressive baby in my life. She’s not a freak, though. She can cry, and MAN, can she throw a wicked fit when she wants to. But overwhelmingly, she’s just as you see her in pictures on this blog. Dorothy Jane is in love with life, and she reminds us all to have the same attitude.

Having been raised as a beach baby myself, these pictures are so special to me. I hope you enjoy them as well!

She started off kind of lounging, but I wasn’t crazy about the bright blue swim diaper being so obvious in the shot. 🙂

I think she looks like she’s holding a tea cup in this next shot… such a priss!

She was talking to me here. That’s the “I have something very important to say” look.

I can’t resist this next shot in black and white… she’s playing in the sand, and discovering, and learning, and growing. Makes me cry happy tears! (and it’s absolutely my favorite one from the whole batch.)

More smiley baby…

And here’s the fully edited version of the one I shared on FB a few days ago. Not a whole lot different… I just feel better because it wasn’t “quick N dirty” on the laptop. 🙂

Next time we’re at the beach (or next time we PLAN to be at the beach… stuff’s kind of fluid in our lives), she’ll be almost a year old. I wonder how different those pictures will be?

Is anyone else freaked out that the next one of these Monthly Dorothy Photo Updates will be her SIX MONTH pictures? That just doesn’t seem like it’s possible…