8 months!

Alison turned 8 months old while we were in Philadelphia. The above picture was taken in the morning of the 27th while Alison's cousin Anna and Alison were having fun playing with Rudolph and jingle dog. Then the below pictures were taken after a morning nap. Alison wants to be on the move and is getting so close! Jingle dog is still intriguing...

And yummy fuzzy.

Anna was really excited for Alison to visit and liked being able to interact and have fun with Alison. Aren't they cute?

Alison enjoying hugs from Daddy.

8 months will bring on new fun adventures like finger foods and continuing to work on being more mobile and working on those teeth! We will be sure to post if there are any appearances. Alison's personality is starting to flourish and she is showing off more expressions and expressing more emotions. Fun times as parents and for baby both!

Christmas celebrations--smile and stick out your tongue!

So many firsts for a baby's first Christmas. First stocking was fun and held new things to explore.

Alison was excited about the ball. She talked about the ball and tried to put it in her mouth. :)

Some of the first presents. Alison was able to help open a present each day of December courtesy of her Gran providing Advent gifts. And some of the early Christmas Eve opening of gifts are not pictured b/c we took video instead. But here are some pictures of a couple gifts being opened. Alison liked the paper and also showed some interest in the fun new toys.

After a couple Christmas celebrations in Missouri, we took our first flight with Alison and visited family in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I do not have many pictures to post of the actual celebrations--one at Chuck's sister Kelly's, one at Aunt Ruth's (Chuck's father's side) and then one at Uncle Bill's (Chuck's mother's side). But here are a few pics of some play time at Uncle Bill's.

Alison did well on the flight to PA and was not too much worse for the wear of being shifted in sleeping areas, traveling in the car, staying up later sometimes, more commotion and more people around doing more things. The flight home was not as worthy of bragging on her, but at least the lady behind us said she has been on a plane with worse babies. Ha ha. Well, we thought that she might just go to sleep since it was her bedtime, but instead she faught sleep and did not seem comfortable. In her defense, the temperature on the plane felt like it was at least 90 degrees and we couldn't really move around. We were very glad to land. :) So far, Alison jumped right back into her normal routine although, I did have to wake her this morning to be to work on time. Of course, I would have loved to sleep in too! And now she is bathed and bundled and fast asleep at her normal time of slightly before 7:30. Let's all hope for a good night's rest.

Cousins and Cuteness

Playtime before dinner

Hey, boys, what's going on here?

Hmm.

Hmm um hum um. Thanks, Milo. :)

Alison likes Levi's kisses. :)

Fun times and sassy times

I finally took the above picture from Chuck's phone and made it more accessible. Maybe I should have saved it until January and done a nine months in, nine months out kind of thing but I just couldn't wait! Of course, Chuck was not thrilled about sharing the picture, but I think it represents fun times! The pic was taken during one of our childbirth prep classes. I love my husband! :)

Poor Miss Alison had been sick with an ear infection and a nasty stomach bug (that she promptly gave to me and Chuck). These pics of her were taken right after we cleaned her up...one of the many episodes.... She still shows off how sassy she can be. Luckily, we are all mended and enjoying the Christmas season!

7 Months

Happy Thanksgiving

We enjoyed having Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Lucas, Amber, Levi, Milo, Gran/Mom, Grandpa/Dad, Grammie, and Grandma all made the trip out to join us! Everyone helped out with the meal and all seemed to have a good time. Here are some photos from the time together.

Who wouldn't want to cuddle with this giraffe?

We tried the giraffe costume on Alison the Tuesday before Halloween. She wore it on Wednesday at daycare for a parade that they had for the children. Then we dressed her up in it for a while on Halloween as well. She didn't seem too bothered by it except for when we were first dressing her up. At least the costume got pretty good use I think.

No Peas Please!!!

Is there a baby who likes peas? Are there very many adults who like peas? Alison is wondering the same thing. She actually stopped fussing for the picture but she definitely showed me displeasure during the process. Come on, give peas a chance. :)

Sweet Potatoes trial

Alison seemed to like sweet potatoes. And after a few days of trying sweet potatoes, she seems excited to eat them.

"I want to take the spoon and figure this out...."

6 Months already!

At Alison's check up she received 5 total shots! Painful for both parents and baby, but Alison seems to be tolerating everything okay. She weighed in at 13 lbs 10 oz (9%), measured 26 inches in height (60%), and her head circumference is 16 3/4 (53%).

A little delayed in the 6 months photos b/c Alison turned 6 months last week, but that just means that it is time for an update. 6 months brought on new experiences like sitting and starting solid foods. Fun times.

Mmm, Toes

Alison has fun discovering her toes lately. She can even chomp on her big toe! So cute! Of course she made sure I didn't catch that action on camera. :)