Month 9

Busy busy times! What with all the shopping and family and planning and exercising, it's hard to catch a break anywhere. I've rediscovered the amazingness of coffee. I'm down a good bit of weight, but still about 10lbs heavier than my lightest pre-baby weight, around Carolyne's baby shower.  Well, technically I was pregnant then, but still, that's about what I'm aiming for, to get my health in order. Ed is running as well, and working like crazy these days. We're both getting really excited for MD and seeing friends and family. We have a to-do list that the boss lady will have the final say on, but, hopefully she's flexible on plans. :) Other than that, it's the same as usual around these parts. I'll add notes about what we've been up to as the pictures go - forgive me if this is a bit rushed and rife with spelling errors, I threw it together during a nap break, and goodness knows how fast those times go when you have something you want to get done!

For a significant amount of time, she would only wear this hat. Of course.

Tupperware makes amazing formal wear apparently. Every time we put this on her head and she takes it off we say, 'And good day to you sir!'

You may not believe me, but Ed is responsible for this outfit. It's one of my favorites. 

Sommelier and sous chef in the kitchen

Thanksgiving in Nevada was wonderful. The car ride was blessedly easy, the company and the food waiting for us, amazing. It was such a nice time. Really glad we had such a happy day for Elise's first Thanksgiving. I wish I had more pictures, but funny thing, it's hard to hold a baby and take pictures at the same time!

Also, ham is her favorite thing ever. She would snatch it right out of your hand if you were too slow bringing it to her, or were trying to take it away. 

My laundry gnome, being helpful.

When Mom's away...

Our outfit from Granny Sue. My tiny little engineer/woodswoman. I love it :)

A very nice visit with Granny Sue

Reading our morning paper.

The weather's been weird so I've been trying out some new styles. I remember getting these leggings ages ago and thinking man, my tiny baby won't fit in those for a long time! Well. How about that.

Pinky

Winter garden going crazy!

Elise is very into our Sunday morning smoothies. I think it's a combination of the color and the sound of the straws in the glass.

This day she was the only kid in class, so she made her own friends!

We really like our baby friends. And building our immunity.

Christmas time!

Out picking a tree this year! Yes, this is the same place we went before and we got horrible poison oak rashes. We were VERY careful this time. 

Perfect!

Tried to take a picture of this reservoir.... The drought is terrible. Even just last year, we did a hike in those hills and there was so much more water here, covering all that land past the nearest line of green hedges.

Omi and GrosOmi got to watch me trim the tree.

Final touch!

My favorite time of year. :)

And finally the update!

This session was so much fun, she was just laughing and yelling the whole time, racing towards the camera and getting more riled up every time we tried to reset her

Not even goatly could get her to remain calm for longer than a moment

Yeah, that's the one. :)

What She Is Like: 
Not too much new to report here... she's clapping, babbling, climbing the stairs unbelievably fast, trying to stand on her own (not so successfully), standing on tiptoes to pull everything off shelves... She understands 'no' and 'gentle.' But understanding stops short of getting her to not do it. She just pauses, looks back at me, and then gives me a slow smile before continuing on. Such a troublemaker. We're just about to switch to mostly 12 month clothing. Pants wise she's in at least 12 months because of the bulky cloth diapers. Still only has the two teeth, but that upper set is fit to burst through any day now. She's soooo drooly. She's eats pretty much everything you put in front of her... and things you don't. 

She Likes:

* 'Talking' to you directly. See below.
* Cuddling. She crawls right up into your arms and then talks to you real close, or just uses you as a prop to hold her upright while she drools all over a teething toy.
* Blowing raspberries. It's how she says good morning, good night, hello, goodbye... raspberries 24/7. Even when she's sitting alone in her crib. Goof.

She Doesn't Like:
* When you close the door to the outside. She'd prefer to be out there but it's been rainy and cold and frankly that's just not ideal for outside play I think.
* When you take away the phone while facetiming. I'm not into letting her play on our iPads or our iPhones, but I do let her hold the phone while facetiming family or friends. Because she is a baby, she has not completely grasped the whole 'my hands trying to pinch peoples faces on the screen can hang up the call' notion. I think her next familiar phrase will be 'don't press the red button!' She'll break down into 'tears' when you pull the phone away to call a family member back, and immediately brighten upon their answering. My daughter, the actress. She's got a gift I tell ya.


Not Sure About:
* Strangers. It's a toss up if we react well or not. Sometimes she just clings, other times she cries. I think it's about the slow approach with her right now. It'll be interesting to see how our MD visit goes!

Month 8

Ha, so funny thing, I started writing this up a month ago, before her 8 month mark passed... and then life and visitors happened and I completely forgot about it and all. So... just short of her being 9 months, here's her update for October! I'll write a more in depth account for the November update in two weeks. Lots of family visits to cover.

What She Is Like: 
A wild woman now that she's moving and shaking. Part of the reason it took so long to post this is that we're just playing so much more now. We can sit down and do a little baby sign language and sing and gibberish talk our ears off and sort toys in and out of baskets. All really exciting stuff compared to the laying about that was just a few short months earlier. She's teething, but it's nothing like the nightmare teethings we heard about. Sometimes she fasts from the bottle because of her teeth, and that's unnerving, but she's still eating a ton of solid food and always comes back around to the bottle. She loves standing up and pulling things off shelves because everything belongs on the floor, clearly. She waves, claps, and is a speed demon crawling around. Still army crawling. She climbs up the stairs without any help. We just stay behind her as she makes her way up to her room. 

She Likes:

* Sleeping. I know. It's amazing.
* Homemade chicken broth. She doesn't quite grasp how to keep it in her mouth but she can't get enough.
* My dancing. And by 'likes,' I actually mean she thinks it's hilarious.
* Teething biscuits. Hugely messy, but delicious apparently.
* Other kids. I don't know if they're as keen on her greeting of choice - hollering at them and diving forward in her stroller or in our arms, to get closer to an already wary possible friend.
* Climbing everything, but climbing Mom and Dad is the best.
* Standing in our packnplay and talking to us in the living room
* Singing! She's back to doing her squeaky and breathy high pitched singing. She's also added in some 'jajajaja'-ing to her repertoire. It's my comeuppance for anyone who ever had to listen to any annoying vocal warmups I ever did.
* The vacuum cleaner. I know, she's so funny. She will follow me from room to room as I clean and she gets real close to the cleaner and pets it. 

She Doesn't Like:
* Avocado. But she's warming to it, in that we don't gag on it anymore.


Not Sure About:
* Other adults outside of the house or parents of the other kids in class.
* The rainbow parachute at class. I'm sure she'll come around because honestly, was there any part of gym in elementary school better than the times spent under that awesome rainbow parachute?

She's sort of tolerating hats

We had an excess of persimmons (the not delicious for baking kind) so I employed them in my faux pumpkin army

Bought this outfit last black friday... it's the last of that shipment that fits now!

My most ambitious pumpkin design to date! Ed handled the 'meow meow' pumpkin for Munchkin. I couldn't manage the 'G' of the minion design, but I just said it was intentionally a 'C' because it's Carly's minion. 

The joy of our first blueberries

Our Halloween costume. The outfit is courtesy of Granny Sue and says 'Daddy's under my spell.' Michelle and I saw this hat at Old Navy and when I put it on I laughed so hard I cried. 

This picture is so out of date now. Those two teeth are out in force currently and you can see them when she talks to you and hear them when she gnaws on apple slices. I think the next set is going to be coming in shortly...

Elise's Omi, facetiming with my Omi!

Fountains are our favorites!

Bunny stew?

Oktoberfest in Campbell for Ed's birthday

Hat courtesy of Dad & Debbie for Ed's birthday

Ok, promise I'll get the next one out on time. I've got two weeks to get it together so it can't be too hard to get it posted on time, right? Right? :)