8 Months!

Our Allie girl is 8 months old (and I'm almost 2 weeks late posting about it). It's hard to remember what she learned before the 8 month mark and right after, so we're just going to go with what she knows right now, which lucky for her will make her look extra smart since she and her cousin Raiden helped each other learn lots of new things over Christmas break together.

This month Allie:

-- learned how to wave! She waves hi pretty consistently when we ask her, especially if the other person waves hi too. Sometimes it's with one hand, sometimes with both hands at the same time, but it's always adorable
-- is closer and closer to real crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees multiple times a day, and usually takes 2-3 crawls before deciding she'd rather army crawl
-- loves to pull herself up as close to standing as she can get. She mostly uses our legs, but is happy to use anything else she can find
-- is on the move everywhere and anywhere she can go. She does NOT like being left in a room by herself and will follow us from room to room if we don't bring her ourselves haha
-- has starting stringing multiple syllables together of the same sound. I'm happy to say mamama is the most frequent, followed closely by bababa and dadada - it's led to us having to remind Peyton to use her big girl words (she gets very excited to help Allie learn to talk)
-- learned how to eat out of pouches. It's super helpful and much faster than with a spoon
-- keeps eating more than we expect - like almost every meal. She has started chunking up a little, especially in her thighs and I love it. We're hoping this means we can sleep train her next month
-- gets up usually once a night. It was a little more on vacation, but schedules were thrown off, and we were sharing a room, so I'm pretty sure we woke her up. Plus she was just excited to play with everyone. I'm grateful she's fallen back into her routine pretty easily though
-- has decided she doesn't love her carseat. She gets mad every time we put her in it. Luckily she usually calms down pretty easily and is awesome about falling asleep on the go
-- loves to be sitting up in high chairs and shopping carts every chance she gets. It makes me kind of sad, because it makes her seem like less of a baby, but is also fun to have her be able to interact so much more
-- regularly gets us stopped in the grocery store to have people tell us how cute she is
-- is getting more interactive by the day. It's so fun to watch her face light up as she recognizes people or games
-- figured out how to play peek-a-boo with a blanket by herself. It's SO cute and funny to watch her crack herself up
-- likes when dad sings made up songs, especially "wock-a-doo"
-- has the cutest giggle and will fake laugh to get us to laugh at her
-- is finally moving up into 6-9 month clothes haha (we love our petite little girl)
-- loves to be outside. She gets the biggest smile and kicks her legs and is just so content as soon as we go out the door
-- LOVES to bounce. When we try to put her in her exersaucer or doorway jumper she kicks her legs before she's even in. She also bounces if we hold her standing up on our legs
-- occasionally will take a few steps if we hold her hands. Usually decides to stop a few steps before her goal and just falls to get there haha
-- likes to play with jewelry or anything else she can reach
-- is a total daddy's girl. Will reach herself (or throw herself) out of my arms to get closer to Chase.
-- continues to be a happy, go with the flow, cute little girl. We love her and are so glad she's part of our family!

(not my best pictures, that's what happens when we're trying to beat Peyton's naptime and Allie's extra interested in touching the camera haha - good thing she's still cute)

Waving hi :) 

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!!

6 Months!!

Our Allie is 6 months old! I can't believe it. I know almost every mom goes through this, but it feels like she just joined our family a few weeks ago, and at the same time I can't imagine life without her. She really has been such an amazing addition and blessing to our family and we all love her very, very much!

This month she:
-- is moving all over the place. Most of the time I don't know how she gets to where she ends up on the carpet. She wants so bad to be crawling, but for right now is turning, rolling, and moving backwards to get what she wants
-- smiles a big smile at us when we call her name
-- is able to find us and make eye contact from other rooms when we call for her
-- still teething without any teeth
-- has longer hair than I know what to do with most days. She's had a few days of ponytails and pig tails that are very cute
-- still loves to stand up any chance she gets and doesn't like being put down after we let her stand up
-- can *mostly* sit up by herself. We still put pillows behind/around her, but feel confident leaving her on her own like that
-- is waking up once a night most nights, but is still an early riser (usually 7 at the very latest)
-- grabs at anything and everything that comes within reach
-- almost dives at our plates of food if we hold her during meals. She keeps showing so much interest in table food!
-- has tried green beans, peas, apples, mangoes, bananas, and oatmeal cereal and really only likes oatmeal cereal. She's very smart and funny about it - we have to praise her very excitedly to get her to smile big and then sneak the food in. Oh, we've also given her small pieces of tomatoes which she loves too.
-- loves going to the gym and getting lots of attention from the child watch staff
-- loves to play peek-a-boo with us hiding behind books, below counters, behind her feet or our hands, etc.
-- continues to be an easy-going, fun-loving, smiley baby which we are extremely grateful for

5 Months :)

Our Allie-bug is 5 months old! The past couple weeks it's been hard to believe how fast things are flying by with her. She brings out the best laughs and giggles in all of us and is such a joy in our family. We love her so much and are so grateful she's part of our family. At her 4 month check up her weight was a little low in terms of percentiles so we've started supplementing her diet a little bit with formula. She fought the bottle pretty hard at the beginning but now handles it like a champ and we think that it's been great for all of us. It's now much easier to leave her for mutual or date night, she seems happier and goes longer between feedings. Overall it wasn't the easiest decision to make, but it ended up being what was best for Allie and for our family.

This month she:
-- is rolling both ways easily
-- props up on her arms and looks around, especially towards us calling her name
-- will reach for a toy even while she's propped up on her arms
-- is teething and slobbering all over EVERYTHING
-- hasn't shown any signs of teeth cutting (which is already later than Peyton and I'm very grateful)
-- loves to be standing, on dad's hands, on the counter, on the table, basically on anything she can
-- loves most  of the attention she gets from Peyton... not so much the tackling hugs or Peyton trying to pick her up
-- has started to notice when we've left the room and really doesn't like to be left alone
-- is still fighting her way back from her sleep regression. She wakes up about 30-45 minutes after we've put her down and needs a little help falling back asleep, but other than that is a great sleeper even through some Peyton screams (moving her into her own room was a great decision)
-- chats any and every chance she gets, we're both excited and nervous for when her babbles start making sense
-- loves to touch our faces when we get close to her
-- sits in the bumbo pretty regularly and will reach over the sides to grab for toys
-- tries to sit all the way up when we prop her up on pillows or blankets
-- finally moved up into 3-6 month clothes. We probably could have moved her up sooner, but they're still a little loose on her so we've got some time to have her wear them all
-- giggles and giggles at being tickled