10 Months!

Our baby Allie is not much a baby anymore. She is growing and learning so much and it's so fun to get to watch. Peyton still insists she's a baby on a regular basis and just spent this morning telling me about how Allie's hands were small and Peyton's were big haha, so at least she'll be Baby Allie to one of us forever ;)

This month she:

-- learned how to crawl/climb out of her high chair. It's about as bad as it sounds.

-- still has just 2 teeth. I don't know what I mistook for teething earlier, but her top teeth are nowhere to be found

-- figured out how to consistently crawl with her stomach off the ground

-- is finally starting to be a more consistent/longer sleeper

-- eats like she's never going to be fed again

-- still isn't loving her carseat, but is doing better than before

-- thinks Peyton is the funniest

-- also thinks Peyton can be terrifying

-- figured out how to pull ALL the movies and books off of the shelf in the living room - it's a mess I clean up multiple times every day

-- wants to be included in what the whole family is doing more and more

-- still LOVES bathtime

-- has kind of figured out sippy cups when we remember to give them to her

-- can kind of walk if we just hold one hand, and is pretty quick if we're holding both

-- loves to ride on the little cars we have and will chase Peyton around if she's riding on it

-- loves to "share" things with us as long as we give them right back haha

-- giggles and giggles at her stuffed Sneetch and Peyton's baby doll

-- has no fear of heights (or maybe concept of heights haha) and will crawl right over the edge of things if we'll let her

-- has been a little extra snuggly with mom and dad. We both love it.

-- learned how to give high-fives. 

-- recognizes what we're saying when we sign a few words to her, but has zero interest in signing herself

-- has developed a strong interest in cabinets and pulling things out of them - especially all the lids to the pots and pans

-- loves to play with the toys on the edge of the bathtub and will sneak in there if I'm not paying close enough attention to knock them into the tub and giggle to herself

9 Months :)

These 9 months went by way faster than 9 months of pregnancy ;) But really, I can't believe how big Allie is, and how lucky we are to have her as part of our family every day! She's the happiest little girl, so easy going, quick to forgive, and loves to just be around the family. I'm so grateful for the lessons she teaches us regularly.

This month she:
-- is pulling herself up on anything she can find
-- repeats syllables left and right
-- mimics what we say
-- learned to clap!
-- is teething, but we can’t feel the teeth without risking losing the tip of our finger
-- hit the stage where she is mostly interested in whatever everyone else is doing
-- is still exploring foods, has yet to really turn down anything we’ve offered except puréed garden veggies
-- is a SPEEDY crawler
-- will walk if we hold her hands. Sometimes it's normal steps, sometimes it's more of soldier march type walk that cracks us up
-- is getting braver and braver as she cruises along furniture
-- won’t sit still for a diaper change or to put clothes on
-- not a huge fan of her car seat
-- occasionally sleeps through the night
-- is finally in 6-12 month clothes
-- squints her eyes and snort-breathes when she’s excited (mostly when dad comes home, or we go outside, or she’s about to get a bottle)
-- still mostly content to just be (I LOVE this about her)
-- showing more and more interest in books (our fault for introducing them kinda late)
-- sleeps through the night on occasion, other than that just getting up once
-- loves to follow Peyton around the house and get into whatever she's playing with. Peyton usually gets frustrated but when she tolerates it, it's the cutest thing ever
-- does this really cute/funny thing when she wakes up in her crib: she always pulls herself to standing on the crib bars (even after we moved her mattress to the lowest spot), and ALWAYS is holding her blanket in her hand, sometimes burying her face in it while she cries. Then when we pick her up, she drops it immediately. Funny girl
-- still is a daddy's girl through and through

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!!