Beginning a lifelong affair with shoes

The plan was to put on the fabulous new shoes so she could try out the walker in the driveway. That plan was not the best idea. First of all, it was the first time Alice had tried on her shoes and as you can see from the first picture, she is not really thrilled with the idea. She really had no idea what to make of them. They did not impede her crawling or standing up but you can tell that she did not like the feeling of them.

I tried to put her hat on and she kept yanking it off. I should have stopped right then and forgotten the idea of going outside but decided to give it a try anyway. Alice and I went out followed by John with the walker. I sat in a shady spot and put Alice in her walker.....instant meltdown. Between the new shoes and the heat from outside, it was just not happening. So, in we went.

She fingered the shoes for a few more minutes and when I took them off her feet, she grabbed them. Seems as though they are much more enjoyable to eat and play with. Maybe she will be a barefoot hippie when she grows up or maybe she will just think that shoes make for better eating than wearing. :)

We also went in the pool for the first time this weekend. John took about 150 pictures so it will be a little while before I weed through them and post the good ones. Alice loved it and splashed a lot but hung on tight to me!

I am Alice, hear me ROAR!

RRROOOOOOAAAARRRRR!

nom, nom, nom, nom.... yummy toys....

Whatcha reading Daddy?

Alice's new music chair

Alice always sleeps with her bottom in the air.

This is how we find her most mornings.

How wonderful to be greeted by such a cheerful little girl!

Alice and I are finally starting to feel better but neither of us can shake this cough. I think I have bruised ribs and I can only imagine how hers feel. John did not seem to have the cold as bad as we did and so he is starting the recovery already.

John said the funniest thing this morning. He said that Alice had an "angry" breakfast this morning. Said that everything started fine but by the end of the oatmeal, "she was swearing at me". LOLOL - can you just picture her actually doing that? too funny!

Mama

Yup, you guessed it. Alice said "Mama".

She has been hinting at it for about a week and has actually said it at random times but John insisted that it did not count unless she was saying it in reference to me. Well,...she did yesterday (on Father's day, no less) while we were on Skype with ChaCha and Marshmallow. John tried to deny it once again but his dad said, "Uh, John, get over it, she said Mama." LOLOLOL

Alice, John and I are sick. We think that Alice caught this cold from her school boyfriend, Garrett - I knew they were kissing :). As usual, I have it the worst and John is about 2 days behind me. He will get super sick by Wednesday, just as Alice and I are coming up for air.

There is nothing harder than trying to comfort a sick, coughing baby knowing that you can't do a thing to help. The poor thing is just so tired of coughing....last night while I was trying to rock her back to sleep for the 7th time, she was coughing and then sort of wimpering as if to say, "I am so tired and just want to sleep". Talk about heart breaking. I wish someone would invent baby Nyquil or baby Ambien. The good news about this is that there is no sign of ear infections! (Forgot to mention it earlier - Alice had ENT check up last Monday and I was told that everything looks perfect - no infection and tubes are working! Yeah!)

Big Girl

Alice was up earlier than usual this morning so I went to get her while John was in the shower. I cracked open the door and there was the wee one STANDING in her crib grinning at me. She is just amazing! I know, I act as if no one has ever had a child before and she is the first to do everything but...she may as well be as far as I am concerned - she is just plain awesome. She said mama this morning too, well actually it was mamama and it was not in reference to me so John says that it does not count. I am counting it!

This is how Alice fell asleep on Daddy last night...her face buried in his chest.

Enjoying a good book.

"Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi" (check out the socks - little sneakers)

Always something new to figure out.

Here she goes!

"That was a lot of work, Mom"

Follow that ball!

Alice inherited the 'stick out tounge while working hard' from her Grandpa S.

Alice's Saturday Adventure

The family went to a wedding yesterday for one of Colleen's friends. It was a small ceremony and we decided to bring along Alice. She was perfect angel as usual and even quiet through both the ceremony and reception. She was happy to take it all in. The photographer probably took 40 pictures of Alice sitting with Colleen before the ceremony. I hope that we get to see some of those pictures. Here is a picture taken by Lori and I want to thank her for sending it along.

2/3 of 1

Our girl is 8 months old today! Amazing! She did two fantastic things last night...She crawled across the room (real hands and knees crawling, not the commando schooch) AND she pulled herself up using the couch. So little time until she will be unstoppable. John and I will be installing baby gates this weekend for sure. She is babbling and squealing almost constantly. You can see that she has a lot to say from these pictures. And you can blame the Grammas and Grampa for the massive amount of toys. :) We have even begun to split them up and change them out every few days so she is not overwhelmed and does not get bored (or, so M&D do not kill themselves trying to walk through the room).

Updates and Pictures

There is not a whole lot to tell you about our girl today. She is going so great and is learning and doing more and more everyday. This weekend she figured out how to get from her belly to a sitting position. This is a fantastic thing for Mom and Dad because she is much more content to play in her crib in the early morning instead of crying to be picked up. BUT, it also means that she is just one small milestone away from pulling herself up in the crib, then flipping herself out of the crib....so, a little more sleep for now but I am sure it will not last long.

Alice's two front top teeth are in and do not seem to be giving her any more problems. I think that her left eye tooth is going to be next and I hear that those teeth are some of the hardest for babies to get in. We are heading to the ENT on Monday morning for a follow-up. I sure hope all is well on the Dr. end. She has been flicking her ears a little this week but I think that it is due to the teething. I have been really good about putting the ear plugs in for bath time so I hope that everything is still looking good.

John and I are FINALLY taking the cover off the pool this weekend. We decided to start running it and put the chemicals in it with the cover on so we would not have to worry about the dogs drinking out of it with all the shock and algicide in it. John said that it is looking pretty clear...can't wait to get in it. I got Alice a little float and like a typical girl, she has two bathing suits already. She really likes taking baths so I think that she will love the pool.

Here are a few picutures of our cutie...

Telling Daddy all about it.
And another thing, Daddy.

Peas and Carrots

Super Alice!

No comment necessary - she is just too cute for words!

For those of you who knew my Dad...she looks so much like him here, even down to the strawberry hair.

Playing at home - do you think she has enough toys?

All tuckered out.

"Here I come!"

Look at those teeth!

Gramma ChaCha and Grampa Marshmallow

Our little family went to visit John's family in Montana over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. This trip was a long time coming as it has been quite a while since we had been out that way and it was to be Alice's first visit to the mountains.

Gramma and Grampa were not the slightest bit excited for our arrival....um, just joking!!! Kathy/Gramma ChaCha told me that she had not slept a full night in weeks because the was too excited to sleep. As we expected, she had the whole house in full Alice-mode. John/Grampa Smokey took the whole time we were there off work and just watched Alice play. I think that it had to be the most relaxing vacation he has ever had!

Alice is going through a "stranger danger" phase right now and is VERY mommy-oriented. She will not go to anyone other than John, me and Ms. Michelle at daycare. And she absolutely has a fit if I am not in her sight at all times - even if she is with John. (this has made for a difficult week since John is in the field and I am alone with her but that is another blog post :)) So anyway, she would get very upset if she was being held by Gramma or Grampa. We did discover that she would sit on Grampa's lap if she had something to do (and was too busy to realize who was holding her). Toward the end of the weekend, she warmed up to Gramma a little bit but would only allow holding for about 2 minutes. They did have some pretty good conversations on the couch though. We have found that if you get down on her level (i.e. the floor) she will interact with you a lot more and will be more comfortable with you faster.

The weekend was really great. All of John's family came to visit us - oh, who am I kidding, they only came to see Alice! We did not really do much for activities, we just all sat around and watched Alice play. It was a really relaxing and much needed vacation for John and me. Good company, good food and good entertainment!

On the way to the airport for our trip home, we stopped to see Grampa at the office. Everyone was expecting Alice and she even got to meet the Board of Directors. You see, Grampa is the last of the administration to have grandchildren so he has taken this opportunity to show off his girl! We made one last attempt for Alice/Grampa hugs and as you can see Alice was not having any of it. We'd like to think that she was crying because she did not want to leave. :)

But wait, you are saying, I have so many questions! OK, I think I know what they are so here we go. And also an update since it has been so long since I have posted.

• Alice did great on the plane rides. She was not bothered at all by the pressure and ear popping. The ENT told me that the tubes essentially make holes in the ear drums so they do not allow pressure to build up int he first place. The tubes are the best thing that she could have had for air travel.
• John's parents are Kathy and John, Sr. Over the years, they have been given the nicknames of ChaCha and Smokey. This is what we had planned to have Alice call them but after this weekend we have decided that while ChaCha still works for Kathy, Smokey will not work for John Sr. Due to his tender and enamoured behavior towards Alice this past weekend, the only suitable name for him would be Marshmallow. So ChaCha and Marshmallow, it is!
• Alice now has 4 teeth!! Two on the bottom and two on the top. She was cutting the top right one while in MT so she did not sleep very well but it is almost completely in now. She has started grinding them together when she is eating which makes my skin crawl but I am sure she is just trying them out and will stop doing that soon.
• The schooching has begun. She is getting on her hands and knees and rocking a lot but has not figured out how to actually crawl. She has, however, mastered a different method of getting around very quickly I might add. She looks like a surfer (before they stand up on the board) when she moves. Her belly is on the floor and her legs are back and up with her arms paddling and pulling her around the room. She spins too - like a breakdancer. I am amazed at the speed. John and I will have to start baby proofing the house with some room gates this weekend!

I simply CANNOT believe that my little girl is almost 8 months old!! So strange to think that she is closer to 1 year old than she is to the day she was born. She is so big and so long and so beautuiful and so strong. She is the most amazing little thing I have ever seen in my entire life.