Our Little Pumpkin...Literally!

Today we went to a Halloween party for Allie's little buddies and it was our first chance for Allie to wear her Halloween costume. For those of you that know me, you know that I LOVE pumpkins! So, Allie just had to be a pumpkin for her first Halloween!

Angela and Everett came over before the party so we could have an individual photo shoot. It looks like Allie has a new boyfriend (sorry Carter!). Look how they are holding hands.

Allie is really putting the moves on Everett. I think this is love! :)

Here are some of Allie's buddies. We didn't get it together to take a picture until most of the kids had left. At least we got some of them! Allie is the oldest and, as usual, the only girl.

I think Allie must really like pumpkins too because she stayed in her costume (hat and all) for about an hour after we got home from the party. Here she is with her favorite toy.

Sharing with Bella!

To all my faithful readers, don't worry. I'm sure there will be more photos of Allie in her costume as we have another party on Friday, and we still have to carve pumpkins and actually celebrate Halloween on Sunday. More to come! :)

Big girl!

I wanted to capture what Allie has been busy learning and doing since her 9 month birthday really seems to have triggered lots of changes in her. We witnessed a lot of firsts this weekend,

At nine months Allie:

• Crawls, which also means she terrorizes poor Bella!
• Claps!
• Has the craziest baby hair I've ever seen. It continues to grow...in every direction!
• Giggles and smiles ALL day long.
• Pulls up on furniture.
• Says dadadada and we think she understands what she saying. (I ask myself, why not mamamama? I certainly practice with her enough. But, what can I say, she’s a daddy’s girl!).
• Has 2 teeth on the bottom.
• Loves to throw balls, especially Bella’s baseball.
• Wave hello and sometimes goodbye.
• Very ticklish.
• Eats three solid meals a day, including finger food. Her favorites are, bananas, waffles, sweet potato, and rice cereal.
• Will only cuddle if nursing or very tired. Otherwise she is way too busy checking out her world to cuddle.
• Has two favorite toys, an empty water bottle and Bella’s baseball.
• Weighs 20 lbs. 13 oz (80th percentile) and is 27.5 inches long (50th percentile).

In addition to all her firsts this weekend, Allie did have one second. She (and mom!) got pink eye for the second time. When I took her to the doctor the doctor said Allie was the happiest sick baby she had seen all week. I’m so proud! J

Here are some photos of Allie's recent accomplishments. She looks a little sick because of the pink eye and a cold she's getting over. Poor baby!

Crawls!

Crazy hair!

The backwards wave!

Come a little closer mom so I can grab that camera strap!

9 Months!!!

I can hardly believe it, but our baby is 9 months old today. I cannot believe how quickly time seems to pass, but I can honestly say that each new phase of Allie's life is more fun than the last.

Today was an exciting day for us. Allie greeted me from her morning nap like this:

She was yelling (not crying or screaming), at me almost as if to say, "mom, what can you POSSIBLY be doing that is taking you SO long to get me up!"

But once I walked in the room she was so happy to see me!

She then proceeded to show me her new tricks that she performed for the FIRST time on her 9 month birthday. (Some of my friends probably can't believe she's just now pulling herself up in her crib, but she's always been a sleeper and used her crib for just that!). Dan and I will be lowering the crib first thing tomorrow morning!

For her afternoon nap she greeted me like this:

Now she knows her own strength!

Today was also the first day that she started to cry when I left her in the gym daycare. Previously she could have cared less.

A few things haven't changed. She still loves the camera strap (or teether!).

And, even though she's nine months, she still went to bed at 5:51 PM. Getting her past that 6:00 PM bedtime continues to be a struggle for us. It's a good thing she sleeps 12-13 hours at night!

So, to my sweet little girl who blessed us more than we could imagine 9 months ago, we love you!!!

(Allie at 2.5 weeks old)

Pumpkin Patch

Today Allie and I went to a corn maze and pumpkin patch with one of our mom groups. Besides the fact that our stroller was too wide for the corn maze, we had fun! I tried to get some cute photos of Allie, but she was much too interested in the hay to focus on the camera!

Good Morning!

Sometimes it is hard to get out of bed on a Saturday morning when Allie wants to get up and we just want to sleep in! Usually it takes a few minutes, and a little caffeine, but it is so fun to watch Allie explore her world each morning.

Allie loves her basket of toys,

especially her favorite toy, the water bottle!

She's getting really good at reaching for toys.

Got it!!!

She's learning to crawl and is able to scoot herself along, but isn't doing a full crawl yet.

Allie is telling me in this photo that it's too early for all the pictures. Put the camera away mom.

I decided to put the camera away once Allie thought it was a toy she could play with!

Professional Photographer???

I've had a few comments that there are almost no pictures of me on this blog. I really do exist, I'm just the one behind the camera. I thought I would try to take some photos of me and Allie by myself since I've seen it done successfully by others. This is what happened.

I think we need a professional photo shoot ASAP so that the entire family can be in one picture together. The shots above just won't do!