Night Night Daddy!

Alli got sick this weekend. She's doing fine, just sorta sick right now. So I decided it would be an early dinner for her and an early bedtime. Unfortunately, Daddy had a late night at work, so there was no seeing the baby before she headed off to bed. I was putting her to bed when she heard my cell phone make a noise. I knew what it was - it was a text from Kim saying he was on his way home. Alli knew it was my phone, slid off my lap saying "phone?" and started in to the kitchen where my phone was sitting on the counter. She said "night night Daddy", so I asked her if she wanted to call Daddy to say night night. We called, and she said it! She usually gets quiet as soon as the phone is "live", but this time, it was "night night Daddy!". Once we hung up, she was happy to go to bed. Awwwwwww!!

Mom! I can't find my bellybutton!!!

The weather is getting colder and that means warmer PJ's for Alli. (When do they learn to keep covers on themselves??) Anyway, we're finding that "winter" pajama selection is difficult. Some kids suck their thumbs to calm themselves, Alli plays with her bellybutton. But not through her clothes. What we're finding is if we put her in nice warm, fuzzy, zip-up PJ's, she wakes up during the night because she can't soothe herself back to sleep. No, instead we have to find PJ's that are warm and also snap somehow so we can leave a little opening in her belly area for her hand to slide in so she can find her bellybutton. Well, there goes the soft fuzzy ones!

Alli's 18 Month Pictures and Stats

Alli has a very large vocabulary - I won't even try to count the words. She's been saying phrases as well, like "where are you" and "bye bye daddy", "thank you mommy". It's very cute.

She's able to do her shapes wooden puzzle. It has a circle, square, rectangle, triangle and oval. She can count to 8 or 10 (sometimes it's hard to tell what she's saying) but she skips 4 every time! I'm not sure why.

Her favorite song is still the ABC's and she sings it well enough that people recognize it. And yes, she sings the whole thing and if she doesn't get lost while doing it, she even finishes with "yay" and clapping at the end, just like when mommy sings it.

Itsy Bitsy Spider is another favorite. She does the hand signal for the spider all the time, sometimes she does the "wash the spider out" hand signal, but none of the others really. But it's soooo cute!!

I'm pretty impressed at what she can do at 18 months, and amazed at how much development has happened in the last 3-6 months.

So stats:
Height: 32 inches (59% - I have no clue where that's coming from. Must be Kim.)
Weight: 21.2 lbs (8% - I can probably guess where that's coming from. ;) )
Head Circ: 17.8" (13%. This one seems odd. It means her head hasn't grown for 3 months.)

And finally, pictures of our little darling.

First Ride in a Bike Trailer

Kim and I finally broke down and paid uber money for a really cool bike trailer. Today we made plans with our "biking neighbors" to tool around the neighborhood and check it out. We had lots of fun - all 5 of us! Here are some pics of Alli with her new gear.

Oh - she was finishing up her snack of an apple...

Halloween Pics

Alli was a bumble bee this year. We celebrated the same as last year - with the Searle's, the Searle's, and the Rosings at the festival in Fountain Hills. If you find the picture from last year, you will see that the group has grown - by 3 kids!!! Yes, all of their families have had another child within the year. Pretty cool!

Ovejita! Where *is* that Little Lamb?!

Alli has a lamb blanket that she has cuddled since she was quite small. Kim and I used to call it "lamby", cause really, what do you name a lamb blanket? Well, Sesame Street came up with a better name.... They have a segment on the show now called "Murray has a Little Lamb". It's cute. Murray is an orange monster and Ovejita is a lamb that speaks spanish. Anyway, according to Sesame Street, Ovejita is "little lamb" in spanish (pronounced o-vay-heeta) Anyway, we started calling Alli's lamb blanket "Ovejita" and lately she's been asking for the lamb, wandering around the house saying "jita, jita".

Last night, she had Ovejita and walked into her room, threw Ovejita into the crib, climbed up the crib and managed to plop herself into it, laid on top of Ovejita and said "night, night". Apparently tired, I decided it must be time for bed - at 6:45pm. Might as well. She was asking for it!! And luckily Ovejita doesn't really care what time she goes to bed. :D

Potty?

Yesterday Alli was more inquisitive than ever about Mommy going to the potty. So I talked to her while she watched and then let her flush the toilet. I lost her in the house about 10 minutes later. Where did I find her? In another bathroom. Or rather, inside the toilet of another bathroom. I think she thought she could climb up and sit on the toilet like a big girl, but she wasn't expecting all that water! I laughed and cringed all at the same time while I grabbed her out of the toilet and started stripping the wet clothes off of her.

Today she was still inquisitive, so I asked her if she wanted to go potty. I finished and then stripped her down and set her on the toilet. She definitely knew what to do - she was pushing trying to get anything to come out, but she didn't really have to go. We've done that twice today and she's so proud when she does it (although still nothing has come out). But she'll see me go potty and then she keeps saying "potty, potty" so I put her there.

I don't thinks he's ready to start potty training, but maybe things will go pretty smoothly when she is if she already has the mechanics figured out!

Mommy's Helper

It's been such a while since I've blogged and lots has happened. Kim and I went on vacation without child - 8 days of rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. It was amazing. Alli spent 10 days in Houston with my brother, sister-in-law, and her 3 cousins. Everyone had a great time!

When we met her at the airport, she didn't recognize us. Kinda scary to think that she would forget in only 10 days, but it happened. It didn't take long, and then she was super clingy! That has lasted for the last 6 days (much longer than I was expecting)! But now she's back to playing by herself at times and doesn't need to be physically touching me every minute she's awake. :D

This weekend we had lots of projects as everything seemed to break while we were on vacation. And mommy found she had a new helper, cause everything I worked on, Alli was right there and actually helped. We defrosted the fridge (to try to fix a problem) and she helped me pull everything out of it to put into coolers. And when we were done, she helped me pull everything out of the coolers and put it back into the fridge. Laundry? Same thing. Now she's trying to help me cook too, but I have to draw the line.... ;)

Climbing the slide

Alli the climber

Yay Pictures!

We finally processed the pictures we took for Alli's 15 month photo shoot.




We really love her big toothy smile, and wouldn't you know this was the only shot where we captured it fully!

The Wellness Check

So Alli and I went in today for her 15 month wellness check. Here are her stats:

Height: 29.5" (18th percentile)
Weight: 19.2 lbs (4th percentile!)
Head Circumference: 17.8" (25th percentile)

So we have a short, skinny, big-headed baby! hahaha just kidding.

We were really hoping for 20 lbs though so we could turn her carseat around. Oh well. Maybe by 18 months...


Alli did a great job being examined. When they needed to look into her ears, I picked her up and told her to lay her head on my shoulder, which she did, and stayed very, very still. Perfect! She did that on both sides and even laid still so Joelle could listen to her breathing. And when we were done with that, she lifted her head up and looked at Joelle and said "thank you". AWWWWW!!!! We both were caught up in her sweetness with that one!


On another note, today I decided to introduce Alli to her stuffed animal shelf. It's pretty high so she's never really noticed them. This morning she went after the black lab stuffed animal, which I thought was oh so cute since it looks just like Bagheera. At nap time she pointed to the shelf and I said "sure, you can pick out a friend to nap with." So she did. And I was a little surprised by this choice. A nice, soft cuddly....red lobster!?!?! Clearly she doesn't understand "lobster". :D She hugged it and cuddled it all the same and it just made me laugh.

Alli at 15 Months

I know I haven't posted in a while, it seemed like there was nothing to talk about. Life has been fun, but not changing as much as the weeks in Alli's first year. I suppose that's what happens. But today I was trying to figure out what to blog about and it dawned on me there are some things to mention.

Alli likes showers, baths, swimming...anything to do with water. Right now in the tub we let the water run slowly and she dunks her head under it! We're thinking that came from her times in the shower (we've been very lazy parents and this summer she got many more showers with Mommy than baths.)

If I had to mention a favorite shape, I would say circle. I think it's mostly because she spends all of her time playing with things that are circular - cups, bowls, drink shakers... And if you give her a shape sorter, she only sorts the circle. The other shapes seem to baffle her, although tonight was the first time I saw her put her shapes in correctly for one of her games. That one had circle, square, triangle, and star. I was quite proud of that feet.

Favorite color? Maybe purple? And I only say that because it's the only one she is trying to say. ;) That and we have some beads that she plays with and the ones she carries around the most are the purple ones.

Favorite veggie: peas. Without a doubt.
Favorite fruit: tough one, but I'm going to have to go with mandarin oranges.


Friday the family went to the zoo. Alli was super cute. Finally, she can see the animals. Before, she could only see things if they were moving. Now she can just look and see there is an animal. Everything was a doggie. :D We fed the giraffes and went to the petting zoo to pet the goats. Alli was very happy with the little goats. In fact she went up to most of them, gave them pats on the back, then laid her head on their back, and then kissed them. Kim and I were baffled - how come *we* don't get that much loving!?!?!?

This weekend has been rough in the napping department. Alli woke up from her nap both Saturday and Sunday screaming. It took us a little bit to realize what was happening since we couldn't calm her down. Teething. Molars... So we got the baby oragel and put it on her gums. While doing that, I felt a couple of points on both upper sides, so part of the upper teeth have broken through. I couldn't feel anything on the lower, so I'm sure we'll be in for more pain later.

Hopefully pictures soon. We took some for her "15 month" and are planning on going through them.

Love the Music!

This weekend I decided it was time to get a few more toys for Alli. I can't remember the last time I actually went toy shopping for her - not even for her first birthday! (Shhh!!) So Alli and I went to Target to get some things. She's been interested in coloring/writing, so I got her one of those coloring books with special markers so they only write on the coloring book. Wow - expensive! So we started with just 1. And I got her a little travel etcha-sketch. That's a nice easy doodler without having to worry about her coloring everything in the house. I also wanted to get her some musical toys. Well, I might have gotten a little carried away in that department... I really only got her 3 things but...

I got her a drum that when you hit it, it says a letter of the alphabet. It has an English and a Spanish mode. It also has different modes that you can just create music, or make it sound like different drums... And I got her a little xylophone. I like it because it not only has an attached hammer, but it also has buttons that you can hit and they hit the keys from the underside. And then I got her this percussion set... It's a drum (that actually comes with a strap so you can march with it), a harmonica, a tambourine, and some little whistle flute thing. (No, not a recorder flute. It's round. Weird.)

Anyway I put the percussion set in my closet so that she could play with it while we're busy in the bathroom. What I found is she doesn't play with it by herself, but we sure do have fun making music with all of us sitting on the floor in my closet! haha She likes hitting the drum and the tambourine with the sticks (she's got good form!) and she likes handing me the harmonica and then taking it away to give me the little flute thing. It's fun.

In her bedroom, she likes to bang the drum that does the alphabet. But what I noticed is that she hits the drum so that the music starts and then she walks away and plays with other toys. When the drum stops (the automatic shutoff), she walks over, hits it a couple of times til the music starts again, and then walks away. I guess she likes having music in the background as she plays. I find it quite humorous myself.

Alli & Daddy

Notice Alli playing with a cell phone - just like Daddy!

A Couple More Words I had Forgotten...

How could I forget these words:

Hi
Milk (although this one is really hard to understand)
"all done"
And of course "uh-oh".

I'm sure she has more but they aren't discernable. :)

Alli's Vocabulary

I thought I would jot down some of the words that Alli knows:

Up
More
Cheers (yes, we like to clink our cups together and cheers and then drink)
Mommy
Daddy
Doggy (or Baggy, can't really tell)


And then there is this phrase:

"Ashes, Ashes, all fall down!"

I would say we are just guessing at that phrase as she walks around babbling it, but she did it in the swimming pool in Payson over the 4th of July weekend and I said "are you doing Ashes, Ashes?" and another mommy said "sounds like it to me".

And we think she is reciting some of her ABC's, in her own special way. :)


Tonight I let her explore her "independence". I decided to give her a bowl of baby food with the spoon and just let her feed herself while I made the rest of our real dinner. She actually did pretty good - dipping the spoon in the bowl and then putting it into her mouth. Of course, by the time I finished dinner prep and then went over to the table, I found she was also using it to paint, splatter the dog, and rub through her hair. :D Everyone got a bath after dinner, including the high chair.

But then she showed me just how smart she is. After bath I put her in her diaper but didn't put her jammies on - I left them on the floor of her bedroom. After playing for a while in her bedroom, then living room, then kitchen, she walked away into her room. I was still in the kitchen picking up and she came walking back with her jammies. I thought "Wow, she's decided she wants to go to bed? Or she's cold and knows this will warm her up?" But as I got her dressed a smell came to my nose and a new thought... "I pooped and I know that I need to be changed, so here are my clothes." I'm gonna guess it's the latter, which makes me pretty impressed at her understanding of things at (almost) 14 months old. So proud!

Asleep at the Wheel

More Walking

I just have to jot this down... This morning I was folding laundry in Alli's room. Usually she helps (by pulling everything out of the laundry basket...) But today she decided she would rather play other things while I did laundry. At one point, she pulled herself up and then walked right by me, out the door, down the hallway, into the laundry room, all the way to the doggie door and then sat down to play with it. Oh my!!! I wasn't used to having to ditch the laundry so fast to follow. Exciting times!

Walking....On Carpet

Today Alli decided to be a bit braver. She will let go of objects and walk, as long as her destination is within a few steps. Today she decided to walk across our bedroom. I noticed that she would only make these brave attempts in carpeted rooms. That's okay, it's a confidence builder. It was really cool to watch her just out in the middle of the room, walking around. What a big girl!!!

Her bravery is evident in the pool as well. She's starting to go under water herself. She'll stand on the seat of the hot tub and bend her legs til her mouth and nose go under water. Then she springs up. Of course we're right there in case something goes awry. She's also walking completely off the step and under, only to get swooped up by mommy or daddy because the middle is way over her head. We usually grab her from under the water and she comes up laughing. Yikes! Scary in a way that she's so brave to just walk off the edge into a deep pool of water, very cool that she's not afraid as it should be easier to teach her to swim. We continue to work on swimming lessons in the pool every weekend, and as many days as possible over them.

More Crackers!

Well, I think the days of my non-fussy eater are over. Alli has learned that if she doesn't want something, she can just use her tongue to push it out of her mouth. Now that seems to be happening more and more often. I refuse to cook her separate meals, so she either has to eat baby food or what we are eating. The only couple of times that I've resorted to cooking something special is when we ordered carry-out Mexican and Kim forgot and ordered "hot" enchiladas. We didn't really have anything that she would eat, so I cooked some pasta. Of course then she spit all that out and only wanted crackers. Ugh. So, she had to choke down some baby food veggies first, and then get full on crackers. Yikes! It's going to be interesting.

Not only has she figured out "no" for food, but also temper tantrums for anything else. I don't know how many times she's hit her head on the tile floor because she decides to protest by laying down and throwing her head back. I figure one of these days she's going to learn not to do that. I'm so glad little kids are made of rubber!

Good Bye 4am!

Alli is weaning to the cow's milk quite well. She likes the taste, and we are finally in control of the diaper rash due to dairy output. So this morning was my last 4am "extra bottle pump". I'm looking forward to the new freedom of sleeping past 4am!! (It really just means that during the work week I get to sleep in til 4:30am, but that's so I can log in and get some extra work done in order to keep my Fridays at home with Alli.) :D

Little Piggie

Alli's appetite has really increased. She eats everything we eat, and lots of it! Last night I filled a plate for her - meatloaf, peas, corn, carrots. She finished everything and then "signed" for "more". (Her signing for "more" pretty much looks like clapping.) I thought for sure she was just playing, so I just put a couple of crackers in front of her. She ate them. Then she signed for more again. I put a couple more crackers. Gone. And then she wanted even more. So I grabbed a banana, knowing I would be eating most of it. Nope - she ate over half of it! I was pretty impressed.

Tonight's menu? Chicken tortellini with marina sauce and zucchini. She did very well with her plate full of food.

And yet the doctor said she doesn't weigh enough. Clearly not from lack of appetite!!!

Officially Walking

Everyone practices walking with Alli these days - mommy, daddy, Marcie, the twins... I'm sure Gage and Reegan even try to help her walk. Last night Kim and I watched her practice by herself. It was the first time we had seen this. She had gotten to a standing position by using the office door, then she let go and walked around it and out of the office in order to get to her exersaucer table. We were quite impressed. She did this a couple of times - leaving the object that she used to help her stand and just walking away. So I think at this point, we can officially say she's walking. We tried to video tape walking between us, but not sure how well that came out. She was taking a good 12 steps or so to get from one of us to the other.

Then Bagheera got jealous so we incorporated him into our play. No more practicing walking, now we were going to practice throwing. We gave Alli Bagheera's football and let her throw it. Then we would let Bagheera go get it. Kim or I would take it from Bagheera and give it back to Alli and let the fun happen all over again. I was pretty impressed that she tried to throw the ball and it actually went forward! Ah, the family fun!

MORE!

Just some quick notes about Alli. Right now, it seems like she'll eat (or at least try) anything that we put in front of her to eat. However, we found she doesn't like baked beans. Isn't that strange? She'll eat salmon, brussel sprouts, ground turkey.... but no baked beans!

I also found that she *really* likes breakfast sausage. (I shared my eggs and sausage with her for breakfast today.)

Tonight, I made her ask for more food by signing it. She picked that up really quickly, which was WAY cool. We spent an hour at the dinner table, and I think it was more because she thought it was cool to keep putting food into her mouth. ;)

The Family Blog

We started a family blog, although most people following this one are much more interested in Alli than the whole family. I am trying to keep this blog very Alli-centric as this is also going to become her baby book. I will continue to post items here that are for Alli, but I will also try to maintain a family blog. Some of the information may be duplicate, we'll see. But if you are interested in our family blog, please feel free to check it out: http://grrrette.blogspot.com.

More Steps

Alli is still progressing in the walking. We can now walk around almost the whole house only holding on to 1 hand. She still doesn't want us to let go, despite the fact that it looks like she could walk no problem. She's getting braver though - letting go of sofas to walk the couple of steps to mommy or daddy. We're probably moments away from her just zooming across the room likes she's been walking for years. :) But until then, mommy is very excited with every step that she takes by herself.

1 Year Photos

Kim and I had some fun with Alli this weekend. Here's the fruits of our labors.










And one that was just too cute from last weekend with the icing incident.

A Very Exciting Day

Alli has been cutting her next set of teeth for the last week or so. I've noticed the swelling and a little bit of white. They are the upper teeth next to the front teeth (I think they're called the incisors). Anyway, I keep watching them, waiting for them to make a grand entrance. But today while Daddy was tickling Alli, I noticed something else. Her lower incisors are also coming in (at least on one side). There was a white tooth already sticking through the gums. How I've missed it for the last week or so I have no idea, but she's cutting 4 teeth right now - she's gonna have a mouthful very soon!!!

Later today after Daddy's tickle session, Alli was standing/holding on to me while I sat on the floor. Then she let go and just stood there. She's been getting braver letting go of things, standing on her own for a second or two, but this was standing for quite a while. We were so impressed that we clapped and made her do it again. And again. And again until she got tired of that game.

So then we switched the game and got on the floor to make her walk between us. As Kim and I "passed" her back and forth, she started walking! Just a couple of steps, but it almost seemed like she was as excited as we were for the progress cause she just giggled like crazy when she was able to take a couple of steps without holding on to either of us. I expect she should be taking more steps on her own by next weekend.

But what an exciting day we had today!!

Happy 1st Birthday Alli!

Today is Alli's first birthday. I can't believe it's been a whole year since we were in the hospital experiencing the miracle of the birth of a child.

Alli has grown to be an amazing little person. She is very vocal, repeating the sounds that she hears. She is very social, always willing to meet new people and partake in new experiences. She is very happy, always smiling and laughing, even when exhausted.

Her latest interesting quirk is dinner... She has decided that the only foods she wants to eat are the ones that she can pick up and feed to herself. She does a great job with trying new things - she even ate salmon the other night! But sometimes I have a hard time thinking of things to make for her. I hate resorting to peas every night - my menu might have to change so I can incorporate more veggies that she can feed herself. We'll see how that goes.

So this past week the temperatures have been around 100 degrees. Yikes! Kinda early to be having a week like that! So we've been in the pool and Alli is really having a great time in the water. She giggles like crazy watching Bagheera swim and she loves standing on the bench in the hot tub splashing the water. We bought her a float over the weekend and she loves to float and kick in that as well. We're looking forward to a summer with lots of adventures in the pool. :)

Yikes! Sugar!!

This past weekend Alli's Grandpa and Nana were visiting and so we had a little birthday celebration. We decided to do cupcakes as a dessert after dinner last night (Sunday). I didn't think it would be too bad, I mean, when we celebrated her birthday while down in Mexico, none of the cupcake ever came close to her mouth. But this time things were different. She's self-feeding now and so it DID go into her mouth. Alli took her icing covered fists and shoved them into her mouth, slowly, diligently, like she was really thinking about this new taste. It was fun to watch and Mommy was quite happy that she was such a neat eater. :)

About an hour later, it was bedtime. She was rubbing her eyes so I didn't think we would have much of a problem, despite the sugar. Uh - wrong Mom!!! She nursed on one side and almost fell asleep. We switched sides and slowly as she was nursing I noticed instead of falling more asleep, her eyes opened. Then she was up. Then she was *really* up and doing flips in my lap trying to lay down to do to sleep. Flip, sigh, flip, twist - yikes! I decided to take her out to the living room and maybe lay on the couch with me, thinking more room will help with her comfort. Nope. She was completely bouncing off of everything.

One thing that I've noticed about Alli when she plays is that it looks like she's really thinking - maybe thinking of what else she can do with the toy, or really observing it. Who knows. But she is thoughtful when she plays. This? This sugar-high baby? No such thing. She literally was bouncing. No thought. Almost out of control as her body was going much faster than her brain and she was flopping all over. This lasted for 2-1/2 hours.

Kim and I looked at each other in horror and said "NO MORE SUGAR - EVER!!!" We are sure it is evil as our daughter was clearly possessed.

I Don't Want Baby Food!

The last two days have been interesting with Alli. Feeding her has been more of a struggle than fun. The other night she just cried when I put her in her high chair, and cried out more when I tried to give her some food. In the morning, same thing. Oh, but she would take a Cheerio happily if I put it in her mouth. So the realization hit - she not crying because she's not hungry, she's crying because she doesn't like the food anymore.

So last night I decided that it was time to have Alli eat our food with us. Unfortunately, Kim was coming home late and fish was on the menu (not a good leftover food for us). So I waited on our dinner for him to get home, but for Alli I cooked up some peas and put them a few at a time on her tray. Yep, happy as can be. Most got into her mouth. A lot were in the chair when I picked her up from eating. She only threw one over the edge, and that's when I figured she was done. It was fun once again to eat with her.

So now I have to re-think a bunch of menus and take a little more time preparing meals for the little darling. All great things!

More Challenges for Baby Alli

Alli is a very inquisitive little girl. She also seems to push herself (go Alli!) But who am I to say, I'm only her mother and in my eyes she's doing miracles!

But this weekend was fun to watch all the things that she somehow picked up. While in Tucson visiting friends, Alli decided to tackle the stairs. Now going up stairs is something that Alli has been doing for about 2 weeks now and so that was her entertainment. The thing that impressed me was the fact that she wasn't satisfied with just climbing the stairs - she did it 8 or 9 times! She went to the point where she could barely pull herself up to the stair. Hilarious! (You would think that would mean she would take a great nap, but no...)

Her latest favorite toy is a martini shaker. Yes, not exactly the thing you would think of getting your 1 year old. Of course we didn't!!! It was in a cabinet that she really wasn't supposed to go in, but now it's quite a puzzle and I don't want to take it from her because she really is figuring out how all the pieces go together. She was able to put the cap back on (which I was very proud of). She usually puts the cap in the tumbler and shakes it like a rattle. All sorts of fun things to do with all the different shaker pieces and we have multiple shakers, so even better!

On her exersaucer toy, there is a dolphin that you can pull and it makes another part spin in circles. (This is hard to explain in text.) The dolphin is a little hard to pull, and to make it more difficult, you actually move it side-to-side. Yesterday Alli was making it work like she knew how to do it all along. I was so impressed!

So Alli is just expanding her horizons all over the place and we are scared for the day that she walks, because we'll NEVER be able to keep up with her!!

What IS This On My Head!

Alli's hair is getting longer, or at least a few whisps of it are getting longer. It's long enough though that she has found it with her little hands. Periodically, she will sit there and run her hands through her hair, pulling on it on each side of her head. Unfortunately for us, most of these times of discovery are during a meal, so it's more like she's styling her hair with whatever food we are eating at that meal since her hands are typically coated in it. She gets done eating looking like Jack Nicholson. :)

Dancing Queen

Alli has started a new thing - dancing. It's so cute. It started the other night when she was playing with some ducks that are on one of her shelves in her bedroom. One of the duck-items is a music box that plays "Singing in the Rain". So I wound it up for her enjoyment. To my surprise, instead of trying to grab at it, she stood there next to the shelf and started to dance. (Ok, dancing for a 1-year old is sorta like a little bobbing and sometimes swaying.) But it was very cute. And to my surprise, she followed the beat very well. (I would love to take credit for that, but I'm not sure I can. I have danced with her ever since she was born!)

She's now dancing to lots of her toys that make music. It's quite cute and the whole family gets involved. I'm pretty sure singing is next on her list of accomplishments. No really! She's already trying to repeat the sounds she hears from us, and when I sing to her she usually babbles with me (or back to me).

A Well Balanced Dinner

Alli is starting to enjoy finger food more and more, to the point where sometimes I think she would prefer it over the baby food. I try to give her a little of both since she doesn't eat much in way of finger food. Tonight is an interesting dinner as I just scurried around the kitchen to see what cool things she could try. So on the menu: 1 sandwich-slice of dill pickle, some canned pumpkin, and some Gerber Graduates crackers. She's going to have to eat in stages - they don't mix well. (I sampled...)

She liked all of them. :) What a good eater.

Where's My Baby!

This last week has been an amazing realization for me that I no longer have an infant, I have a toddler. Alli's look is changing, especially with 4 teeth in her mouth. And she feels different - there isn't as much baby fat on her since she's so mobile so hugging her feels like hugging a child, not a baby.

Alli still walks with someone holding her hands - won't try doing it herself yet. But she definitely has ideas of where she wants to go. She's getting good at "steering" the adult, which also cracks me up.

And it appears we have quite the tom-boy on our hands. She loves climbing (up and down steps is great fun) and walking in/on rocks. If she's given a choice between walking the nice sidewalk or the granite beside it she chooses the granite and then heads for the nearest boulder to climb. This morning I went to get her out of bed and I found her standing in the crib with one leg through the bars - foot on the top of the crib bumper pad. She was trying to climb up (and I suppose out) of the crib. Luckily the crib bumper pad is very soft so it just folded when she applied pressure.

On the formula front, well, she drinks it now (diluted 1 part formula, 2 parts breast milk), but I've had problems finding a formula that agreed with her. First we tried soy-based, thinking that with my dairy problems, that might be a good idea. What I noticed was that she broke out that day in a diaper rash. (Apparently, from I've read on the formula websites, this is one sign that the formula is not agreeing with the baby.) So we waited a day for that to clear up and tried another. The next was called "sensitive". It's milk-based (which I was a little concerned about) but lactose-free. OMG - the poor thing broke out in the worst diaper rash I've seen. She was red and puffy and lots of dots. So, back to straight breast milk waiting for that to clear. It's been a week now and not all the dots have gone away, although they are fading ever so slowly. We put diaper cream on her every diaper change (babysitters too). It's just taking a while. Unfortunately, my milk supply doesn't really have a "while". I'm diluting the breast milk with water (1 part water, 2 parts breast milk) so she has enough liquids, but it's not going to be long before I won't even be able to give her that much. So after a week of this diaper rash and only being on breast milk (and water), I tried another formula. This one is milk-based but made for 9month - 24 month babies. And I'm trying a different method of introduction - 2 oz of formula total for the first week. So far, the diaper rash isn't any worse, and she seems to be tolerating the formula okay. I'll keep working on this transition, but at least we may have found something that will work.

Tonight Kim and I installed a new convertible car seat into my car. It's still rear facing, but we're ready now to switch her around when the time comes. Come on 20 lbs! I'm excited to put her in it tomorrow, although she probably won't feel like it's any big deal. But to me it's yet one more thing to remind me that I don't have a little baby anymore - she's growing up!

Alli's first ocean stroll

Having fun in Mexico

Uh oh.. We have a Climber!

First, I have to say that "uh oh" is really for Alli. Apparently that is her favorite word right now. It's funny. She drops something - "uh oh". She hands you something - "uh oh". Cracks me up!

The climber part is something new. Saw it for the first time tonight. She pulls herself to standing *everywhere* and always trying to reach something new. So tonight I was in the kitchen and she pulled herself up to standing by some shelves we have. She thought maybe it would be good to reach for something that was on the top shelf, so her foot went up onto the bottom shelf and her arms were pulling. "uh oh" says Mommy! She never could get her balance to pull herself up all the way. Whew! But I guess we'll be moving some vitamins (top shelf) and watching more carefully. She also tried to climb up the drawers of an end table. I wasn't too worried about that one cause there were really no foot holds. But I do realize we are in for some fun!

Oh, and an update on the formula dilemna... Today Alli took a bottle that was 1/4 formula, 3/4 breastmilk. Tomorrow I'm packing all 3 bottles with that ratio. We'll see how she does.

Mommy's Milk is Best!

My milk supply is starting to dwindle. I guess my body is tired of being a cow... :( I've been using my frozen supply to help supplement what I am producing, but that supply is getting quite low. So, at almost 11 months, Alli will start being supplemented by formula. In a lot of ways, I'm sad that I can't sustain her by myself for as long as we both choose. In other ways, I feel like I see the light at the end of the tunnel, where I don't have to get up at 4am every day of the week to pump for the extra milk.

So today I sent 1 bottle of formula. I marked it for Marcie so that if the baby fussed about it, she would know why. Apparently, Marcie tried giving Alli the bottle of formula at lunch time. Alli put it to her mouth and immediately pushed it away. Not wanting to fight, Marcie just gave her another bottle that had breastmilk in it.

She tried the formula bottle again at Alli's 3:00 feeding. Yep, still pushed it away. The two of them fought, Marcie walking Alli around constantly trying to give her the bottle. Alli wanted nothing to do with it. So Marcie let Alli play and get even more hungry. She tried the bottle again. Nope. Apparently she would rather be hungry than drink that stuff! After 1.5 hours of trying the formula bottle and "fighting" a hungry baby, Alli got about 3-1/2 ounces down. (A sip here, throw the bottle. A sip there, throw the bottle.)

While in some ways it makes me grin because my milk is *obviously* the best, in other ways I realize we have to do something to get her on the formula... I will start weaning her by using 1/4 bottle formula and the rest breast milk and see if she will drink that. Should be interesting...

I can imagine that as soon as I finally get her drinking formula, it will be about time to switch her to cow's milk! ;) hahaha I would switch her now, but I'm waiting til she is a bit past a year for food allergy reasons.

Reading is Fun!

I always wanted to get in the habit of reading Alli a book before bed. I've tried it several times, but Alli has wanted nothing to do with it. Not wanting to force the issue, I would wait a good month or so before trying again. For the last month, we've been able to read a story to her at bedtime. This has become daddy's duty, as mommy and Baggy hang out on the floor and listen. It's always fun to listen to the story. Kim reads it as best he can while Alli is flipping pages back and forth. When he gets through the book, he lets her play with it and tries to read what's on the page she happens to flip to. That's always the fun part - listening to what he comes up with!

Lately Alli has been picking up her books by herself and flipping through pages while babbling. It's so cute to watch her read! We keep a book at the changing table, and she reaches around for it as soon as she's plopped down. It's a 4 page book, so I've got that one memorized. I "read" it to her while I change and she plays with the pages. She "reads" it with me and back to me when I stop reciting. It's so funny how intent she is, looking at the pages, babbling her babbles of the story. :)

Way Down Low

Alli just loves walking around (with an adult - still not on her own). And in fact, sometimes when you go to put her down she stays stiff so she can't sit, all because she would rather stand, or walk. She's also getting VERY good at pulling herself up to standing using just about anything. Now all our lower cabinets are fair game because she can open the doors and pull herself up to stand and reach whatever she wants.

But also the crib... I put her down for a nap the other day and after a while, I heard her giggling. I figured I should check to see what was going on. Well, she was laughing at the dog, who had wandered in and decided to lay on her floor. She could see him because she was standing up looking over the side. Yep, crib mattress went down that night. It's so weird to see her sleeping so low in it, but we'll get used to it. :)

Da-Da-Da

Tonight was a big eye opener for Kim and I. Alli started babbling da-da-da as daddy and I played with her after dinner. We were pretty excited, especially since the babbling did seem to be directed to daddy.

She also surprised us with her eye-hand skills. I got out a new toy - hard to explain the toy, but it's basically a big tree-house looking thing with plastic balls. You put the balls in a hole and they go through the "tree" on different paths and end up at the bottom. We inherited this toy, like so many others, from the Kingery's who were kind enough to clean out their toy closet into ours. :) I'm not sure what the suggested age is for this toy, but I thought maybe Alli would like to play with the balls. So I got it out, set it down, and put a couple of balls in the hole to watch them go through the tree myself. Alli obviously thought this was cool cause she then picked up a ball and put it into the hole and watched as well. She kept doing it! We were soooo impressed! The hole is just big enough to fit the ball, so I was amazed she could do it. And left-handed. So Kim and I were talking about how maybe she might be left-handed and then she surprised us by switching hands and playing with the toy for a while, sinking balls into it with her right hand. Huh. Guess she's ambidextrious! Cool!

On another side note, looks like her two top teeth have finally broken through the gums. They are just barely peeking out, but they are there. Our little girl is growing up so fast!!!

Go Cubbies

Yesterday afternoon we went to a Cubs Spring Training game. This is an annual get-together of "friends of the Rosings" as I will put it. There were about 20-30 people, half of which we didn't know, but all congregated enjoying a tailgate and a ballgame. Actually, it was more like those with kids congregated, and those without kids congregated. Some inter-mixed. :) I guess I probably never really paid attention pre-kid.

Anyway, Alli had lots of friends to play with, especially since a lot of us had babies all the same year (mostly girls). So everyone had brought a few little kid toys and we threw the babies on a blanket and let them just fight it out for toys.

It was a great afternoon of baby-socializing and learning how to nap in large crowds. Alli did great. Her nap was unfortunately short because mommy's arms and legs kept falling asleep. The hand-off to daddy woke her up and that was it. Bummer. I'm gonna have to work on that! :)

All in all, it was a great day and so much fun to see everyone. The game? Didn't see one ounce of it!!

General Fun

Alli is just having a great time walking and crawling all around the house. (Walking is with the help of an adult.) She's still on her toes when she walks - I'm waiting for her to figure out that she's more stable on flat feet, but whatever. I'm sure my little genius will figure it out soon. ;)

She continues to be a happy little girl, loves being tickled and climbing on mommy and daddy on the floor.

Her new habits: throwing spoon and sippy bottle over the edge of the high chair onto the floor, peek-a-boo where she crawls behind the sofa and then peeks out to see if you are coming, crying when we put her on the changing pad to change her diaper. I think the crying is because she always thinks that means she is going to have to go to bed!

She is starting to get shy around new people now. She eventually warms up to them, but she's pretty quiet and almost lethargic when she is put in a crowd with new adults.

I've Been Waiting For This Day!

Alli is really good at taking things "out". If it's in a basket, she will take it out of the basket. If it is in the laundry, she will take it out of the laundry. The last week or so, she has been "sorting" her toys. First she puts them all in a pile over here, then she picks them up one at a time and puts them in a pile over there, and then over here again, and then over there again. But now the last couple of days, one of those "piles" was back INSIDE the basket where it originated. :D So excited. Can I get her to put her toys away now? Maybe not. And I notice that when she's done playing, the toys are never in the pile INSIDE the basket, they are always on the floor. But it's a start!!! :)

Other than that, Alli is still crawling all over and exploring every room in the house. She also prefers walking if we are around. We have to hold her hands, arms, or body for her to balance and she still walks on her tippie toes, but she likes it - big smiles all the time as she walks around the house like that. No cruising on the furniture yet...

We also broke down this weekend and paid some real money for some shoes for Alli. I had ordered some shoes online before our ski trip, and they fit, but they always came off easily. Now that she's crawling (and turning the tops of her socks black), we decided a good pair of shoes (that really fit) would be in order. Marcie, who watches Alli during the week, suggested Stride Rite because they have some really good shoes that stay on. So we went. Well, we didn't get to purchase the shoes that Marcie suggested. Why? Because Stride Rite doesn't make "narrow" shoes, and Alli's feet are so narrow that none of the velcro shoes will stay on her feet. (No wonder I kept having problems!) So they said she would have to go into a shoe that tied. Bummer, but that's okay. She got measured (hated it) and then the lady came out with some cute shoes. Kim had asked about how quickly Alli's feet will grow and when she might grow out of them. The lady sorta laughed at him and said apparently her feet weren't growing too quickly. Her shoe size was closer to a 6 month old than a 10 month old. Oh boy. She's going to have my feet. Not that that's bad, but I remember only having one pair of shoes ALL the time because we had to get them from Hush Puppies - the only brand that made narrow shoes. And they were expensive. So only one pair ever and then we would go back and get that pair again when I outgrew them. Looks like we're in for a similar treat with Alli.

10 Months Old

I can't believe we have a 10-month old daughter already. And what a little personality. Alli is 'super explorer' with her crawling skills. She goes from room to room (usually following daddy or mommy or Baggy) and explores whatever she sees. She continually runs circles around her "exersaucer" table when we work in the office, and she sings and dances with mommy all the time.

Our happy girl is a real joy.

Here are a few pictures Kim snapped last weekend. This is her table playstation that she now pulls up and kneels next to. If you look closely, you can see her little bottom teeth in the first pic.

A Mobile Infant

Kim and I were kinda dreading the time when Alli went mobile. I mean, we have gotten pretty used to being able to plop her down with her toys and continue doing whatever we needed to do around the house not having to worry about her.

But now here she is, mobile as can be. And WE LOVE IT! If it were ever possible, she's even MORE fun being mobile!! When we work on the computer, we put her in her "exersaucer", but hers is different in that the table is stationary and there is a seat that spins around the outside of the table. She has gotten really good at "running" in that seat - round and round. Now Kim and I have fun "chasing" her and she giggles like crazy.

Alli is a big help putting laundry away too. You give her a basket full of clean clothes and she will empty it for you! On the floor of course, so you have to be pretty quick putting the stuff away, but what a big help! ;)

We're having fun seeing what she explores and where she decides to crawl. It's amazing to watch as her world expands before her eyes. She's able to pull up to a kneeling position at her table play station (but not to standing yet). The toys are almost a thing of the past as she would rather explore than play with the toys right now.

She's active, vocal, mobile... Yes, we like this new version of our baby just as well as the last version! :)

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma

Alli is continuing to explore with her new-found freedom of crawling. Bagheera, not so happy about it! But the giggles that come out of Alli when she spots the dog and starts going for the attack are just priceless! And yes, we had to get some outlet plugs for a couple of the outlets she seems to like a lot.

Alli's babbles have possibly turned into association, although it could be just my wishing it to be so. There are times when I pick Alli up and she says "mama". I say, "yes, mama". Not sure if she really associates me with "mama", but she seems to say it most often when being held by me or when looking at me. I also find it fun that when Bagheera comes into a room and I say "hello Bagheera" that she'll turn around and say "ba-ba". Sometimes going on her "Bagheera attacks" she will giggle and say "ba-ba".

No "da-da" yet. Kim's bummed, but she doesn't even babble that sound yet. He still gets the bright-eyed giggles though when he enters a room or when she hears his voice. I'm sure we'll be seeing an association with a babbling sound soon.

Switch!

Alli is doing so much better today. I went to work, after dropping her off at Marcie's around 9am. Marcie said that the morning she really didn't feel well, you could tell, but by the afternoon she was our typical Alli - full of energy and smiles.

But here's the funny thing about Alli today. This morning after her morning nursing I put her on a blanket in the great room with her toys. Usually she plays with them while dad and I finish getting ready. Yesterday morning she just sat and stared, all lethargic. This morning, I could hear her giggle as I walked away and I thought "yes, she's feeling better". When I turned around though, there was no Alli on the blanket. Instead she had gotten onto her hands and knees and started following me! This is a big change - she was crawling, but never more than a few "steps" at a time. Now she was going across the great room floor!

Tonight at dinner I gave her some water in a sippy cup. She hasn't taken to the sippy cup yet, she prefers to drink out of a normal cup (like mom and dad do). But we keep trying the sippy cup periodically because she's going to have to get there someday. Tonight I gave her the sippy cup and she took it and started sucking down the water like she had been doing it for months! Wow, that was interesting!!

After dinner, Alli and I went into her room to play with some toys. Suddenly, with her "hey, I can crawl across the room" skill, she zoomed in on the nightlight. She crawled directly over to it and started reaching for it. I told her "no" very sternly. She giggled and put her hand down. Oh boy. She reached again. I said "no" again very sternly. Again, giggle and the hand went down. This kept occurring so I decided maybe I should give her a little swat on the hand. Yep - giggle. Oh boy. So this is going to be interesting over the next bit if "no" is a game that results in laughter. We'll keep working on it. I'm blaming Baggy for her thinking it's a game! :)

Over The Hump

Yesterday I stayed home from work to take care of Alli. The poor thing had had an awful night. She didn't sleep more than about an hour at a time, and just wanted to be held the whole time. Needless to say, mom here had a difficult night as well trying to accommodate. When we finally were up in the morning, I sat her down in the living room with her toys like we do every morning. Instead of grabbing at things, playing, exploring, etc., she just sat there and stared into space. Wow. Not my typical little girl. She didn't cry, she just sat. She also wound up with diarrhea, so I was nursing her often to make sure she had plenty of liquids. She wasn't eating her solid food either.

Being that we were now on day #4 after the ER, I decided to make an appointment with the pediatrician. We went in at 3:00 in the afternoon and the Physicians Assistant said that she probably still has croup, but the steroids are doing their job by keeping the swelling down. All the infection was in the upper throat area, not the lungs, which is a typical thing with croup. She did notice that one of Alli's ears was red, so she prescribed some antibiotics to prevent ear infection.

When we got back from the visit, Alli turned into herself again. She started playing more and talking, crawling around, etc. It was good to see signs of our little girl.

She's still pretty congested and still requires a lot of holding to get her to sleep, but we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now I just have to make sure all the coughing that I'm doing is merely allergies, and not the croup virus caught from Alli!

Croup Update #2

Alli had a good day today. She's having problems sleeping (naps as well as night), so I've taken the Boppy and propped her up in her crib to help with the drainage as she sleeps. I did it last night after the 3rd time getting up with her. I put her to bed that way tonight, so we'll see.

She's still spitting up quite a bit and has lots of drainage running out her nose. Some of that I think may be from teething. Hydration looked pretty good today, although appetite is down a little (probably because she's having a hard time breathing through her nose). I used the aspirator tonight before bed to get some extra mucus out. Hopefully it will help.

She did do a new trick today... She wasn't happy about going down for a nap, so she cried for a while. I came in after about 5-10 minutes and saw a face staring at me with hands hanging on the side of the crib. No, she didn't pull up, but she did get to a sitting position and was hanging on waiting to see if we would come in. It just made me realize that it won't be long before she *is* pulling herself up and we'll have to lower the crib mattress. My gosh do they grow fast!!

Croup Update

Alli is doing pretty well. And why shouldn't she - she got an epinephrine enhaler treatment last night because she was having difficulty breathing, and also a steroid shot to help keep the airways from swelling too badly. The thing I'm most worried about now is the fact that she keeps puking and is becoming a little dehydrated. (Last night the first steroid was a liquid, but that came up in about 2 minutes - all over mommy.) I will be nursing her often today, although so far she hasn't been eating as much and small amounts are still coming up. Her poop this morning indicated some dehydration. I will be counting diaper changes today to see how the hydration is looking.

Apparently the virus runs its course in 5 days, so the bulk of the problems should be over the weekend. Looking forward to getting "happy Alli" back. Right now she's just uncomfortable...

Alli in the ER with Croup

Alli's First Trip Via Airplane

This weekend we met a bunch of friends in Park City, Utah for a wonderful 3 days of skiing/snowboarding. Alli did great on the plane - I had heard from a friend to nurse her during take-off and landing so that her ears would pop while she fed. I did and she had no problem. On the way there, she fell asleep - right before we landed! So we got off the plane with Kim carrying *everything* and me carrying our dead-weight child. :) Lucky for me she's only 16 lbs. :) Then things really started to get interested...

We picked up our bags. 2 out of 3 anyway. The car seat didn't arrive. How the ??? Anyway, they gave us a loaner car seat and said maybe it would arrive with the next flight from Phoenix. (BTW, my ski boots were in with the carseat - doh!) So then we went to get our 4WD SUV that we reserved. Yay, that didn't work so well. See we arranged flights to maximize the car-rental. We had a friend from Florida (Wink) and two of his daughters (Grace and Ella), and a friend from South Carolina (Butcher) all ready to fit into our car. That's 7 of us - one in a car seat. So that took a while to straighten out, and we finally got a..... minivan. :( We were stylin'!!!

Well, so be it. Then we drove to the wonderful house where the rest of the crew finally gathered. All together for the weekend we had 17 adults and 12 kids. Whew! Alli was the youngest and Grace (from Florida) was the oldest at 8.

So here's what we found out as first-time travelers with kids. a) Don't forget the nightlights - especially if you are sleeping in the same room as your child! (We had to go run out and get some.) b) Your child's sleep cycle will probably be a bit weird. Yes, Alli would wake up and cry and not go back to sleep. This happened *every* night we were there. Funny thing though, as we would be up trying to calm Alli, we heard crying from other rooms with small kids as well. So most adults didn't get much sleep - and it wasn't from excessive partying like it used to be with the kidless ski trips! Other than that, I think we did well.

BTW, our sleepless nights? To try to prevent Alli from waking the whole house, we wound up nursing her to calm her down and then sleep in our bed with us. It was sorta fun, but we're a little worried about what kind of a week we're going to have now that we're home. She's *not* coming to bed with us here, and I'm not nursing her 3 times during the night!!!

Snow was not a fun thing for her. I guess it's because she can't really play in it yet. Her exposure to it was me dressing her all warm and taking her outside, then putting her bare hand in a snow bank. She just cried. Hmmmm... not the response I was looking for, but I guess that makes sense cause it was really cold!!! :) Maybe next year when she can play more...

And one more fun thing... Alli did crawl! :) She doesn't go very far crawling, about 2-3 leg pushes before she gets down on her belly to try to army crawl/reach, but she's moving - forward! It's been very exciting to watch. In fact even the single guys in the house were excited for her!

And one more first from this trip. Kim and I had our first night out together since Alli was born. Avis (our wonderful trip planner) had arranged babysitters so we could have an adult-only dinner out. This was the first time Kim and I had a sitter for the night. So we toasted - with 15 of our friends. :)

9 Month Checkup

Yesterday was Alli's 9 month checkup. She's doing well. So here are her stats:

Eyes: Yep, still blue.
Weight: 16.7 lbs (15th percentile)
Height: 27 inches (31st percentile)
Head Circumference: 17 inches (27th percentile)

She's lost her momentum in the weight gain area, and dropped slightly on the height. But boy has her head taken off! ;) We think part of the slowing of the weight gain is her recent mobility. We're sure it takes a lot more energy to roll and scoot all over the place, which means we'll be adding solids for breakfast (after our ski trip next weekend).

So here are some sweet Valentine's Day (and 9 month) pictures of Alli. No, we didn't put her here - she rolled and scooted to get in the hallway.

Hey, What's That Over There?

Alli's world is definitely expanding. She is no longer content sitting on her blanket and playing with her toys, at least, she's not content to sit there for very long. :) No, the toys are only somewhat fascinating now. Now she looks around and thinks "hey, what's that over there?" and the next thing we know she is on her belly, and then rolling. Once she hits tile, it's scooting - backwards. She pushes with her arms and doesn't move her legs yet, but she gets around. Everything is a curiosity, including electrical outlets. Uh oh. Luckily, she can't reach them yet, and I tell her "no" if I see her going for them. I think she's actually starting to understand that word. I hope so. It sure will make things easier...well...if she listens to it!

I've been resourceful at keeping her contained while I'm doing things. When I'm in the closet changing, I sit her in front of my dresser. She's learned how to open the bottom drawer and apparently finds the items in it interesting. Who wouldn't? It's lingerie! :) I also used a nearby laundry basket the other morning. I wanted to brush my teeth before work and I wanted to watch her, so I took a laundry basket, set it on the ground, sat her in it, and gave her a teddy bear. She wasn't very amused, but I was! :)

Besides not being able to leave her in one place anymore, we had another little surprise this week - two little, white, sharp teeth popping out of her bottom gums. So she gets her first sign of teeth at 9 months! Woo hoo!! It does explain why the last 2 weeks she was waking up in the middle of the night and crying. She would always go back to sleep after some comforting (well, quite a bit of comforting), but I wasn't really sure what was going on. Now I get it! :) (It was always a thought that maybe she was teething, but I never saw anything or felt anything on her gums.)

9 month checkup on Saturday, so check back this weekend for her updated stats.

8 Month Photos

Ok, I know Alli turns 9 months this coming week, but we've been super busy and *finally* took a couple of hours to go through all the photos we've taken of her to get some ready for posting to her blog. So between the last post and this one, here are a few of the ones we thought were super-cute. This post contains pictures specifically taken at 8 months. (She was so cute, we could narrow down anymore!)

Just Some Photos of Fun Things With Alli

Here are a few fun photos that we've taken over the last month or two.

Alli in her new bath tub, finally enjoying bath time again thanks to tub toys:





Alli's first tattoo, courtesy of Ryker Christensen's 1st Birthday:

The End of a Chapter, The Beginning of a New One

Today was our last day of Krista-Care. Krista was offered a teaching position with discounts for childcare for Tyler right there at the school. It's a great opportunity for Krista to get back to teaching, and also a great opportunity to bring in more money for the family. We will miss seeing them every day, and assume Tyler and Alli will miss each other in their own ways.

Alli will be staying with a neighbor of ours. They are relatively new to the neighborhood and we have just started getting to know them. John and Marcie have 5 kids living at home: Rachel (8), Morgan & Mandi [twins] (7), Reegan (3), and Gage (19 months). The oldest 3 girls go to school, so Alli will be spending her days mostly with Reegan and Gage. They both love her, giving her lots of kisses and tickles. When the twins are home, they really help take care of Alli. (Yes, it's odd to watch a couple of 7 year old girls take care of your baby, but they do a pretty darn good job!) Marcie seems pretty at ease bringing another baby into the house. She is also a teacher that became a stay-at-home mom with the kids.

Oh, but that's not all. Marcie works at her husband's business on Mondays doing payroll for him. Unfortunately, that means she can't watch Alli. She takes her kids to a lady's house named Kim that has daughters in the same grade as Marcie's. So, I spoke with Kim to see if she would be willing to take one more kid on Mondays. She thought that would be fine. We haven't met Kim yet - Alli and I (and hopefully daddy) plan on meeting her this weekend and having her start watching Alli next Monday. She sounds very nice on the phone and comes with references, two of which she has been watching for the past 4 years, so that's got to be a good thing.

Mondays are going to take me a little getting used to (the idea of the arrangement). Marcie picks her kids up from Kim's at 3:30, which is an hour earlier than I can get back to Fountain Hills to pick up Alli. So Marcie is going to pick up Alli as well, and I'll be picking up Alli at Marcie's house. It should be interesting. Not only are we leaving Alli on Mondays with a total stranger (at this point a stranger), but I won't even be picking her up from there, you know, to get the debriefing on how the day went. I'm sure everything will be fine and I'm being a typical "new mom". It's just....different.

My Mother and Me

It's interesting the things you recall of your mother once you become a mother yourself. My mom right now says she goes to bed around 11pm. I can't believe this and I keep thinking she's just reading the clock wrong. The mom I remember always fell asleep around 9pm, so clearly my mother must be mistaken (or on drugs - just kidding) to think she can stay awake til 11pm on a nightly basis.

Now I'm realizing that my mom probably fell asleep at 9pm because of all the things she tried to pack into her day in order to raise us kids. From the time I can remember, my mother was always up and dressed before my brother and I got out of bed. Once out of our shower, she would come into our room to ask what we wanted for breakfast. Choices were always egg, waffle, oatmeal, toast… Mom would take our orders and have breakfast ready by the time we were dressed. Then it would be off to school. At night she would make sure our homework was finished, cook dinner, and then as a family we would watch some TV, sometimes getting a snack around 8:30 with dad - either a bowl of ice cream or a bowl of cereal. Mom would always announce after cleaning up the kitchen that the "kitchen was closed".

I'm understanding some of those memories more now. Because of stress from work, my milk supply is waning. In order to get enough milk for Alli, I'm getting up now at 4:30am to pump an extra bottle. Luckily, I produce enough when I'm not working to keep her at least satisfied. And if for some reason I'm short and she cries, I have supplies because of my early morning pumping sessions. During work days, I stay up after pumping so that I can get completely ready for work and log in for at least 1/2 hour before Alli wakes up. I do this for two reasons: 1) I get paid hourly and this helps increase our income slightly and 2) I am able to put in time that I really need for the job without losing time with my family.

When I finally finish dinner dishes and bottles, I just want to say "kitchen is closed", as in, "don't you dare make any more mess in this room cause I have no energy left to clean it!" Bedtime seems to be 8:30-9:00, even though dad stays up til 10 or 11 still. Periodically I stay up with him til 10 (helping with photography stuff usually). I try to keep this at a minimum, not that I don't like staying up with my husband, but I wind up grumpy and that is a worse price to pay we've found.

The last two weeks I've done really dumb things, like forget to pack Alli's solid foods in her lunch bag for Krista's. It's not that bad - we've stocked Krista's place with rice cereal, so at least she gets that. But I always look dumbfounded when I hear that I've done something so stupid and say "I'm going for the mother of the year award". It took my husband to remind me that it's the things that go unnoticed that apply to the mother of the year award, not the stupid little oversights that happen periodically. Getting up early to pump that extra bottle, cooking breakfast to make sure the kids have something healthy to eat in the morning, working while the family sleeps so as to not miss any family time, etc. Mom, I'm sorry it took me almost 40 years to realize some of the truly awesome things you did for us growing up. So here's your mother of the year award - finally.

No Croup, Just a Cold

We had to go to the doctor's today. Alli woke up with a phlemmy cough and wheezing and mommy wanted to make sure it wasn't in her lungs. The doctor said it must drainage from the sinuses because they looked icky but the lungs were clear. We were prescribed a humidifier, Lil' Noses (saline nasal drops), and lots of boob time (which translates to make sure she's getting enough liquids!)

On a side note, they weighed Alli (clothes on and a wet diaper) and she's 16 lbs. :) Go baby girl go!

The Joy of Bath Toys

Over Christmas break, Kim and I got Alli a new bathtub. She had been using her infant tub and was quickly getting big for it. We bought her a blow-up tub over the holiday and put her in it. In her infant tub, she would splash her hands and kick her legs, really started to have fun in the tub. When we switched to the bigger one, baths became more lethargic. I figured that after a couple of days she would get used to it and start splashing again, but that didn't happen.

So weeks have gone by and I was sad that she wasn't so happy about tub time. I went into the bathroom cabinet to see what toys we had gotten from the baby shower. I found a few small ones and threw them in the tub. She grabbed at them and started chewing on them. I was happy she seemed at least interested in the toys.

Well, a few days of having toys in the tub and guess what started happening. Yes, we have water all over ourselves at bathtime. Splashes so big it goes up the wall and all over the floor and mommy while she kicks and plays with the toys. It's so fun to watch her play in the water again!!!


On a side note, no croup. She is a bit mucous-y in the nasal area, and coughs a bit here and there, but no mucous in the chest. Everyone around here is fighting a little of something, so I'm just hoping hers stays about how it is and then goes away. So far, so good.

Teething and Croup, Oy Vey!

First of all, I'd like to say that my blog posts are getting farther and farther apart. At first I thought it was because we were so busy, but when I thought about it further, I realized that Alli just isn't changing on a daily basis anymore. We have a nice little routine, and things are fairly stable, so there really isn't anything new to blog about.

Of course, I say that and then this week turned chaotic. Alli is teething. I swear I saw the teeth at one point, but then you look again and they aren't there. Krista said the same thing one day, that Alli was fussy and when she looked she could see two little white spots in the gum. But then later Alli wasn't fussy and Krista looked and there were no more white spots. Hmm...funky teeth! But it's enough to create a little discomfort for the poor girl and we have to deal with that.

But, no only is Alli going through the teething discomfort, but Tyler came down with Croup. Yikes! By the time symptoms show, Alli has already been exposed. So we kept her going to Krista's anyway and we are waiting to see if she develops a cough. What a week. So far, no cough, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed on that one.

The Week of Poop

This week Alli started something really fun. She poops sometime between 7:10 and 7:25 so we *have* to change her before loading her into the carseat to go to Krista-Care. There's only one problem with that schedule though...the poop keeps shooting right up her back so cleanup takes forever!!! Because she sits when she plays, the poop just goes up. Now, if you realize this is what probably happened before laying her down on the changing table, you can shove a wipe down the top of her diaper, then lay her down and the poop doesn't squirt out all over her back. But for some reason this week, she poops and then winds up on her back playing, so when we go to pick her up it's already EVERYWHERE!!!

Tuesday's poop was so bad that she wound up getting a bath before we could leave for Krista-Care. I mean, when I kept finding little patches under her arm, foot, etc, I decided that a full bath was going to be the only way to get rid of all of it.

Every morning this week we've had to wash out poop from an outfit and find a different one. The washing machine has been on double-duty washing all this crap (literally crap!).

We even tried a different brand of diapers to see if we could contain the poop. This morning I put her into a Huggies brand diaper (and one size bigger even) because Huggies has a little elastic at the top to keep everything in. Alli was sitting playing with her toys while I was in the office working. I then decided to put her laundry away from the day before so I picked her up to bring her into her room. She was laying on her back at this point. Ooops. Poop had already leaked out through the top and was all over her shirt. I must say, at least it was *less* poop than what would have come out with the Pampers. But yikes! I'll be happy when this phase is over. :D

Daddy's Assistant

Before Alli was born, I was always Kim's assistant during photography shoots. Well, now Alli is here and we didn't think that would work as well. But with Alli being so casual about everything, she has fit right in to the assistant work. Check out some of these "behind the scenes" pictures from different photo shoots over the Christmas break:

Just Cause I Haven't Blogged In A While...

All is well around this household. Alli continues to be a charmer. :) We've increased her solids to twice a day. She still feeds herself, but daddy and I still have to put the food on the spoon. Tonight I tried to give her some vegetable pasta to see if she would feed herself something like that. She played with it, so we put some in her mouth so that she would see that she could eat it. She started gumming it, and I thought "cool". And then she started choking and turning red. Darn! Don't be alarmed, we got the food out of her mouth and went back to just the pureed stuff. I try to give her more "whole foods" periodically, to see if she's ready. So far, it always results in her choking, us scraping food out, and then her crying. I feel bad, but I want to try. We don't try very often though...

Tonight I also tried another new thing. I usually thicken any jarred baby food with some rice cereal, mostly because Alli feeds herself and it's usually easier if it's a thicker consistency. Well, tonight the food had some bananas in it and so it had a sorta thick consistency to it already. I decided I would just give it to her straight. Yeah, bad idea. Not only was it all down her chin, but it seeped under the bib and got on her jammies. Oh well. More to clean, but we're pretty used to that. :)

Today she was supposed to go in for a vaccination (Hib) because we are catching her up on that series. However, the other night she ran a fever. We don't know what caused it, but it only occurred the one night (and no teeth showed up). I figured we can wait a week for the vaccination - no sense in taking any chances.

So that's about it. Alli's turning 8 months old next week. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures of her and get them posted. We've been so busy with photo shoots lately that our family shoots have taken a back burner.

If you haven't noticed, on the sidebar of the blog I've added something called "Peanut's Fans" and it's a way for our family to find out who reads this blog. If you follow this blog, please let us know by adding your name there. :)

My Nest Is The Best!

So, I realize my last post was over a week ago. So much going on with vacation!!! My last posted stated that Alli cried when she would wake up. Well, that's over with. I did set an alarm to be there when she woke up, and I think that helped a little. After a couple of days of being there when she woke up, she started realizing that this wasn't such a bad place. In fact, she's kinda liking it now.

This morning the alarm went off at 6:30. I dragged myself out of bed, feeling like it was the middle of the night and slowly made it down to her room. When I got inside, I noticed Lamby wasn't hanging along the side of the crib. (Lamby is this lamb blanket. Picture a bear-skin rug, now think of the same thing but looking like a lamb. It's really cute.) Anyway, she had pulled Lamby down and was playing with it and Monkey (a stuffed monkey wearing a Medtronics t-shirt). When I walked up, she looked at me with this big toothless grin and I knew we had it made. Who knew how long she had been awake, quiet and playing.

The truth is, now I have no clue how long she sleeps for naps. I can put her down, not hear a peep, and then check on her 30 minutes later only to find her playing with Lamby and Monkey. (Yes, I know, very original names!!) I've tried taking them out of the crib and then putting them back in once she's asleep, but then she's crying until she finally decides to fall asleep, which by the way, is about 30 minutes later... So I haven't figured out the best thing to do about this, but at least she's laying down and playing very quietly. Does that count as rest time???

I think she really likes the crib, especially since she has her animal friends to keep her company.