I'm baaack! Miss me?

Did you think I got hit by a bus?  I don't blame you.  But alas, I'm back, and you know what, I'm feeling much more like myself than I have in a good long while.  My doctor told me that it takes 9 months to have a baby and nine months to get over having a baby, and BAM, almost to the day.  My body is reacting more like MY body, less like Peyton's incubator and buffet.  My energy level is returning.  My enthusiasm for most things is back!

Peyton update since I've been gone for SO long:

She just turned 9 months - WOW
She's eating stage 2&3 foods along with being our little beggar.  She's worse than a puppy.
She's loud!  Babbling 24/7.  She responds to No and her name.  She identifies and says, mama and dada. 
She loves to be outside.  If she's fussy simply sitting on the porch can calm her.
She plays patty-cake, so big (raises arms above head) and waves bye-bye.
Her current fave toy is a framed 12x12 mirror.  She can play with that for hours!
She can pull herself up.  Eek!
She can stand by herself for 20 seconds at a time.  Double eek.
She can not crawl and boy is that frustrating for her.  She can get on all fours and she can "crawl" backwards, but forwards is just a bit tricky still. 
She can go from laying to sitting.
She is ridiculously good at driving her walker! 
She gives amazingly sweet open mouth kisses when asked and sometimes cause she wants to :)
She's experiencing a bit of stranger anxiety.  But she warms up quickly if you're calm and gentle with her.
She has slept all night but it's sporadic, I can't find the common denominator when it happens.  True to her Peyton ways, it's when SHE decides.
But her normal MO is go to bed when we do, between 9 & 10.  She will wind down in our bed, but when her left eye turns red, she goes to her bed.  Then around midnight she wakes up and needs a bottle, and comes to our bed, then sleeps til I wake her when it's time to go.  Or on weekends, we sleep in til precisely 8:30. 
She never has a problem falling asleep in her bed, which I was worried about since she was so used to sleeping with us.
She's still a momma's girl.  I know, I know, enjoy it while I can - I am!
She is 28 3/4" long and weighs 18.5 pounds - following the perfect curve on the growth chart, 50th percentile in all categories.
She has four teeth, the bottom two came in with one day of fussiness, the top two were boogers.  But they're in!  And she's taken to gritting her teeth, eek!
Okay I think that about covers it.  She's a really good baby.  I don't think we can top her, should we just stop here while we're ahead? 

A couple pics - more to come soon after I edit her July 4th photo shoot!
I need a editing program for my new laptop, suggestions?

Okay, it won't let me write captions on pics, here they are in a list.
1.  This is her, I'm grinding my teeth together face.  Drives us bananas.
2.  Her riding her dino.  She's quite good and knows how to get off (most of the time) 
3.  She sits still and can focus on her tv shows.  She likes Super Why and Dinosaur Train, and this weekend we watched Despicable Me.
4.  I love this picture, her and her daddy, and that face, who me?!