9 Months

It's hard to believe that in 3 months our beautiful daughter will be 1 year old! How fast time flies (and how quickly she changes).

Here's some updates (on our very big bug):

• She weighs in at a whopping 20 lb 13 oz (81% percentile) and continues to be VERY long, measuring in at 29.75 inches (98% percentile). Again, we are not sure who she got that gene from.
• She now not only can get herself down from the standing position but she also has had a few moments when she has stood totally by herself. On Mother's Day she stood for a good 5 seconds all by herself. Daycare tells us that she now uses other kids heads to help herself stand up (sorry!).
• She can also walk along the couch or another long piece of furniture. Today I was cooking dinner (Callie is often very content playing in the kitchen with "non toys" while I cook) and I looked over and she was pushing the kitchen chair across the floor. I was so excited, I made her do it again so I could video tape it (she was a bit frustrated with me at the end...)

• She is now very good at waving - although very rarely does she want to do it to say good bye to anyone.
• She can now clap - which she just thinks is so funny. I often see her in the back seat just giggling and clapping away. She loves the song "If you're Happy and you Know it" and anytime someone starts singing it she just starts clapping away.
• She continues to be the happiest outside and is often found staring out the window smiling away.
• She has mastered the sippy cup - although has learned all about dropping it and watching it fall, then complaining when it is on the ground. Yup - lots of fun. Tonight she realized that when she drops broccoli it makes a fun sound. Yup - even more fun. Our pediatrician now tells us we need to give her practice using a real cup, not sure if I'm ready for that mess!
• The cat will now let Callie crawl over top of her, pull her tail, "brush" her, and all around attack her.
• She is getting very good at placing toys into things and pulling them back out. She has a little bird house that has a small hole on the top. She is so proud when she gets the birds into the hole and then once all four are in, she pulls them back out. Hours of fun!
• She loves the playground (although, I haven't quite figured out how to get her to not eat the wood chips). She is now being included with the older kids in her class at daycare when they go outside. She is so happy crawling through the tubes. 

                                        

                                                              ;Her favorite place to stand!

Enjoying the beautiful Seattle weather




She does not seem to mind textures at all - you cannot contain her on a blanket, she doesn't mind the feeling of grass. One of the classes at daycare had a garden party and she was the only infant who wanted to play in the dirt - that's my girl!



I decided we would spend a day cleaning up the house - here's Callie's idea of cleaning.....hmmm....not so helpful! Remind me not to ask her to help me to clean anymore.

Tacoma Nature Center

We spent last Tuesday with the Sarions (Callie just LOVES Maya). One of the greatest things, is that I learn about cool new places to take Callie - Sarah is really good about knowing what's going on around us. We headed to the Tacoma Nature Center. Very cool. It let Sarah and I walk and then the kids got to play in the discovery playground.

The girls ready for a walk - Callie was very excited!

Checking out the baby ducks

 Maya leading the way

How do you get a nine month old not to eat wood chips?

Maya had an awesome slide to play with

Callie appears to be a bit overwhelming to Laurel - sorry!

Let's Call it What it is......

A problem......!!!!
So, we take these great trips, spent fantastic weekends away from home, and take fun day trips making sure we pack the camera to capture the fun times. Yet, not once do we ever take the camera out of its bag and take a picture.
We just spent last weekend down in Vancouver and had a wonderful, relaxing visit. Callie slept better than she has ever slept anywhere (which was VERY nice). She got to experience her very first "Graham taco party" (although I didn't let her taste it), ate pancakes for the first time (and loved them!), and got to spend time with her grandma, grandpa, and aunt Kristine. Of course, we took no pictures so you will have to take my word for it :-)
I got some pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania (thanks grandma, Aunt Kay and Aunt Marty) and wanted to post a few.

Fun times on the plane

Cousin Caleb with Granny playing Where's the Baby

Callie is a bit into touching faces lately

We tried VERY hard to get all three cousins to sit together - this was the best we could do! Notice the 2 adult hands that are pushing 2 babies back into the chair

Adalyn cuddling with her mommy

Laurel wasn't feeling too well on the trip so she was all snuggles

Look at those beautiful brown eyes

There was a bit of a stomach flu going around so a few of us decided to try to escape the sick and we drove out to Jack's farm to see the cows. It was really exciting because a new baby was just born.

Callie hanging with Aunt Kay

Callie LOVED Uncle Doug and they were rarely seen without eachother

Hanging with Uncle Paul - Callie was VERY spoiled on this trip

Hanging with Grandpa

Four generations - too bad Callie was more interested in her foot than the picture

Stuck!

So, chicken pox = home all week. Although Callie and I are feeling a bit stir crazy, we have found many new games and toys to keep us entertained. She has had some rough nights but overall is doing MUCH better than you would expect an 8 month old to be doing. I take back my previous statement that Callie's chicken pox are mild - they now are ALL over her body (the only place they aren't is her arms). Much of our days are spent chasing each other around the house and playing peek-a-boo around a corner (which she finds hilarious) but here's some other creative things we got into:

It's very difficult to see in this picture, but she does have chicken pox EVERYWHERE! This is by far her favorite place to stand (the bathtub - although she also really likes to let go when she's standing here - which she is totally not ready to do)

She has learned how to take ALL her toys out of her toy container....then mom thought it would be fun to put her in it....she loved it!

Standing in her box - and yes, it does tip over when you stand in it :-)

She figured out how to open a few of the cupboards in the kitchen, then proceeded to take all the Tupperware lids out and taste them.

She also figured out how to take EVERY book off her toy shelf, including the ones on the top shelves (didn't get a picture of that). After she wiped all her books out, she then crawled to mom and dad's bookshelf and started pulling those books out too. By far, her favorite book is called "peek-a-boo".

Because of all the chicken pox, after a bath, I can't rub her dry. Here's what her hair looks like when you let it dry naturally (I know, I know, there's not much hair there! - which then makes the mohawk even better).

We have been working on waving and she has really gotten the hang of it!

She can pull herself up on anything - I tried to get her to wave while she was standing (which she can do) but she didn't buy into it.

She also has been taking pretty good naps because she is sick. It has let me make some new food for her, which she is loving. By far, her new favorite is chicken, sweet potatoes, and apples. She also likes carrots, potatoes, and parsnips. Next to try is chicken, carrots, leeks, and peas.

It Seems Meant to Be....

As a kid, I spent many of my summers in Pennsylvania. I had many new and first experiences there. I even got the chicken pox there......
It seems that Callie is following in my footsteps!

She isn't too bad (bumps are mainly on her back) and she has a super great attitude about it. Only real big changes in her behavior are that she is actually napping more, getting up at night, and she will cuddle now (which I love - selfish, I know). We are keeping our fingers crossed she is the only one that comes down with it....

Another Plane Ride

So, Callie and I spent my spring break in Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful trip and Callie just LOVED being spoiled by all her aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandmas! (she was a bit in shock when we came back home and she was stuck with just mom and dad - she also took a two hour nap the day we got back, which she has never, never (and probably never will again) done, traveling sure is exhausting!).
I was a bit nervous about the very long plane ride, but besides not eating at all, Callie did fabulous! Although, she never really did understand why she couldn't grab the people sitting next to us or in front of us. Even though she got sick on the way back, she was still a wonderful traveler. She loved sitting with Grandma and looking out the plane window (yuck!).

We met Grandma in Chicago - at that point in time both Grandma and Callie needed a snuggle, so they spent part of our layover cuddling up in the airport.

(sorry, I took these with my cell phone) Looking out the plane window, checking out the sites

More pictures to follow from during the trip (again, I of course, did not take my camera so will get some from Grandma). 

8 Months

Here's some updates on our little bug:

• She is VERY mobile! She crawls all over the house and is extremely proud of it. One of her favorite things to do, is to chase us around the house (it the most fun when we crawl like her!).
• Now that she is mobile, she gets to choose what she plays with. No longer does she just have to take what we put in front of her. It is very fun to see what she wants and prefers (and she will stop at nothing to get it). Many of her favorites include her drum, books, daddy's hat, spatulas, paper (especially mail), and the cats!
• She can now pull herself up to the standing position (although cannot quite figure out how to get back down). She is the most proud of this when she is in the bath tub.
• She now sleeps on a mat at daycare - which to me is absolutely amazing - in fact, she seems to sleep better now that she is on a mat!
• Callie can now feed herself food from her tray - I am getting braver and braver with giving her more solid (not pureed food).
• She is getting more and more vocal - which she just thinks is fabulous.
• She is getting very close to waving - her aunt Kay has been helping her with this. Anytime you say bye-bye to her, she will stop whatever she is doing and put her hand up in the air - we are finding it is a good way to get her to stop crawling somewhere we don't want her to go. 
• She has 2 bottom teeth - which she loves running her tongue against. It's now very weird to hear her chew on things because her teeth now scrap against whatever it is. 
• Still no hair......
  
  
  
Playing outside (on one of our nice days - they are few and far between!)



Reading the mail

Playing with Daddy's hat

Our little rocker!