7 Months!

Our Allie Jo is 7 months old! I'm a little late writing this, and it's crazy how much she's developed and grown in even the past week! She's so much fun to be around, and so happy on such a regular basis that I just want to bottle her up and keep her how she is for a while, or maybe forever.

This month she:
--has learned how to move herself by doing more than just rolling. She kinda army crawls, sometimes using her legs more, sometimes using her arms to pull herself. It's pretty entertaining to watch
-- has gained a newfound obsession with our charging cords. They're normally in the corner of the living room, pushed under a table or couch, but she always finds them and is content to play in them more than anything else
-- loves the gym and getting extra attention form the child watch there. She's always all smiles when I drop her off and pick her up. I couldn't be more grateful for all of them helping me keep my sanity ;)
-- has really started eating baby foods more consistently. She loves them and gets SO excited when we put her in the high chair. She also LOVES bananas.
-- also loves finger foods. Is now almost a pro at eating her baby puffs and happily tries our french fries or pizza crusts anytime anyone is willing to share
-- decided her favorite game is peek-a-boo. She giggles and giggles the whole time we play, especially when we use her feet to hide.
-- learned how to sit up completely by herself
-- loves to play with our faces/hair while she is being held
-- has started riding in the seats at the grocery store. Sometimes it's a safety hazard with Peyton next to her, but we're slowly but surely making it through more and more of the shopping trip each week
-- got to try out the swing in the backyard. I'm pretty sure I've never seen her happier
-- is still waking up once a night, usually right before 5 and then is ready to play by 7:15. I'm hoping she slowly starts dropping that wake up time then 7:15 won't seem so early. But I'm loving the one-on-one time we get while Peyton sleeps in
-- has hair that resembles a troll doll. It's very cute, and makes us smile every time
-- loves to watch older kids play, just like Peyton did. She will keep herself awake way past when she would normally fall asleep if it means being entertained by other kids
-- LOVES bath time. As soon as we take her into the bathroom and she hears the water running her legs start kicking
-- falls asleep regularly in the carseat. Hazard of being a second child I guess, but has gotten good at sleeping on the go and transferring into her crib
-- put herself to sleep much better than I would have expected at this age
-- continues to love Peyton, but has started to show some hesitancy/fussiness when she can tell that Peyton isn't going to be as gentle
-- does this funny thing where she grabs her own hand and when she gets excited moves both arms up and down together. It's super adorable
-- looks more and more like her dad to me, we'll see if that continues
-- got 2 little teeth! They're so cute, especially since she hasn't bit me yet ;)

2 Years Old!

I'm more than a little late posting, this but didn't want this special day to go by without writing things down about our Peytie-Emma (as she calls herself). She turned 2 at the end of October. All she wanted to celebrate was a cake (pink of course), a sammwich from the orange restaurant (Whataburger) and to go down slides. We were happy to oblige all of her requests and had some family come over for a special lunch to celebrate her. She loved being the center of attention and opening presents and had a great day. She was only sad when she had to wait to blow out her candles for us to sing to her haha.

Here's an update on the ways she's grown recently... She:
-- loves, loves, loves books. We go to the library probably every other week and come home with 10-15 books for us to read over and over until we get to go back.
-- is speaking in pretty much full sentences. Almost everyone is surprised to hear how old she is because she's talking SO much.
-- has gotten very strong opinions about when she doesn't want to do things and has no problem telling us no... we're working on that one.
-- likes to pick out her own clothes. That's turned in a battle more than a few mornings, but for the most part we just let her pick. It's fun to see what she likes and what she thinks matches
-- likes to match outfits with Allie or with mom and will go around the rest of the day telling us and anyone else that we're matching
-- loves anything to do with cars, princesses, buses, airplanes, and pink
-- got reallllly into trick-or-treating. It was so fun to have her help with her costume and to practice trick-or-treating around the house
-- loves candy (this really isn't a surprise, but has been funny to watch develop). I think this helped with the trick-or-treating. She caught on pretty quick when she realized she had to just say a phrase or two to get some candy and was asking us to practice by the time Halloween got here.
-- has gotten very independent about getting in and out of the car and doing her own buckles.
-- is brave enough to go up into play-places at restaurants and down the slides by herself
-- loves slides anywhere we go. I think the big slides were her favorite part of the corn maze/fall festival we went to. She asked us to go again and again.
-- has learned to jump a little better. Her feet leave the ground now most of the times she tries. She regularly asks us to watch her while she jumps
-- figured out what places look like on the way there. Depending on where we're going she gets excited to tell us where we are as we get close based on what she can see out of her window (this one is hard to explain... I hope it makes sense)
-- loves to sing. Her favorite songs are the popcorn song, wheels on the bus, the snowman song, 5 little monkeys, and head, shoulders, knees and toes.
-- still loves church. We've had a couple stake/regional meetings recently and she's always so sad when she doesn't get to go to nursery because we're not on our normal schedule
-- is getting better at sharing on her own. Hopefully this one keeps progressing.
-- pretends to call family members on mom and dad's phones alllll the time. It's fun to watch her get so excited about it
-- is very particular about her bedtime routine. She likes to be wrapped up, then have 2 extra blankets put on top of her and her favorite stuffed animals, while she holds the corners of one of them and then we have to get her piggies and sing her songs. It's pretty funny, but sometimes we just want to be able to put her down and have her sleep...
-- has started saying her own prayers. It's kind of funny, but a good reminder for us to be grateful for all the little things she thinks to pray for
-- still LOVES when dad comes home or stays home. I get questions about when he's coming, or if he has to go to school almost all day
-- loves to play with her friends, but is shy about making new friends
-- is an amazing big sister to Allie and is constantly watching out for her needs. She likes to help feed her bottles, make sure she's put to bed ok, makes sure her carseat buckles are on, and plays games with her. It makes up for the times she's less than gentle with her...
-- loves to be outside. Our family walks are probably one of her favorite activities, especially because she gets to choose between the stroller, her bike or her dragon (wagon)
-- is a big fan of the zoo and sea world, and is SO brave on the roller coaster rides. We're so excited for her to get big enough to do some bigger rides - we have a daredevil on our hands
-- is growing faster than we know what to do with, but is so much fun to be around. We love her!!