We've had a couple of fun, but sick and grumpy, weeks here. We started by helping out with a funeral. A loved being there and watching everything going on in the kitchen and then playing with all the little ladies through the funeral. When it was time to clean up though she'd had enough so we went home early and had a good nap.
The sick and grumpy started when A began some really intense teething. It's been really bad the last couple of weeks, but she still hasn't cut any other teeth. We introduced her to rice cakes last week. She LOVED them. A little too much. She bit off a big chunk and choked on it until she finally threw up to get it out. Poor girl. She was wearing these overalls...
Overalls never last long here. I don't even know why I try, putting them on is like asking for something messy. I really should just avoid them all together, lol! She threw up again the next day all over one of her stuffed animals, and then proceeded to hug and wrestle the animal until it was all over her, and her blanket too. I was cleaning the floor, and by the time I got close enough to see why she was fussing it was too late. I think she threw up that time because of her teething.
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| The puppy she threw up on. |
A and I went visiting teaching last Wednesday. She loves to go visit people. She is such a friendly baby. Everyone is constantly commenting about how friendly and content she is, and it's true. She still loves to sit and play - or chat - and will sit contentedly while I visit with people.
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| Hand-me-down from cousin P and K6 |
I always wait to trim A's nails until they are so long she snags herself with them. Last week they needed to be trimmed desperately. Up until last week I made it with out cutting her at all. 9 months is a pretty good record I think. I was on the last nail when she jerked her hand away, and I snipped her thumb along with her thumb nail. She, not surprisingly, was very upset. She cried and cried, and bled and bled. I was pretty traumatized myself. It's so awful to hurt your baby! I still feel so horrible about it. I held her close to comfort her so we ended up with blood all over my shirt, neck, and arm, and all over the washrag I grabbed to stop the bleeding. It finally slowed down enough for me to put a bandaid on it. That bandaid did wonders. She forgot all about her thumb hurting and tried to figure out what the bandaid was. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to keep the bandaid out of her mouth.
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| Thank to SG for the cute Candy Land bandaids! |
Some of my friends threw a Halloween party last weekend that we went to. We had so much fun! They did such a good job. They had a lot of fun games for the kids and SO much good food!
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| Allan getting little A dressed up for the party. |
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| Little A and I in our costumes. I think she is the cutest little fairy ever! Allan was so tired from getting up with A in the middle of the night that he forgot to bring his costume home from work. So he went as a tired dad instead of a miner. And all of the other guys there also dressed up as tired dads.;) |
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| All the cute kids at the party. Back row: Knight in Shining Armor, Wicked Witch, Scarecrow, Candy Corn, Spider, and Fairy |
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| One of my talented friends did face painting and painted a hippie flower on my face. I think she did a great job! |
A hated her costume. She absolutely detested her bonnet and was livid that she couldn't get it off. She also hated her wings because they kept touching the back of her head. Her dress has tulle on the outside, which is itchy so she kept her arms up the whole time. After about an hour in it she was done and burst into tears. Thankfully we'd brought a change of clothes. She had a lot of fun with everyone though.
A has decided that she hates things touching her head so much that even her hair has to go. She pulls her hair a lot and sometimes pulls it out. We're working on it, and she's gotten a little better, but if she's bald by her first birthday you know why. It's really funny when she's really hungry and starts pulling her hair. She gets this look of exasperation, brings both hands up to her head, takes some hair in both hands, and pulls. It's like she's so hungry she has to pull her hair out or something, lol!
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| Care Bear blanket and Care Bear bib. Ha! |
A is trying more and more to crawl. She still hates to use her arms so a lot of her attempts end up with her face planting on the carpet, but she's getting better. We practice every day. She prefers to stand by the couch or have me assist her in walking across the room though. She doesn't like me to help her walk and will push my hands away, but she still doesn't have good balance so she always falls immediately. She is getting more and more discontent with just sitting. We've been using the walker a little more, and she's loving it. She can't go forward at all, but she pushes herself backward.
A also loves to play in the mirror. She gets so excited and will chat and squeal at the baby in the mirror. She also loves to walk toward the baby in the mirror.
We had stake conference last weekend. Allan made it to the priesthood meeting and then stayed home with A so I could go to the adult meeting. We all went to the Sunday meeting. They always broadcast the meeting to our building, and we got there just in time to hear that they internet was down, and we would need to move to the stake center. Thankfully it is just across the street. We only missed a few minutes. It was a blessing though because as we were walking with one of the young men to the stake center we came across a sister in our ward who is blind and were able to inform her of the change and take her to the stake center with us. The theme of the conference was missionary work. My favorite thing said in the meetings was "To ignore a prophet is to
reject a prophet. To reject a prophet is to invite destruction." I think I need to go back over President Monson's talks...
I also went on some visits with the Relief Society presidency on Saturday. We didn't have a set time and weren't sure if I would be going so Allan took the opportunity to work in the yard. I got a call after he'd been in the yard just long enough to get really dirty. I ran out and told him I needed him to come in and shower so I could leave in 15 min. Poor Allan. He was happy to have some time with little A though.
I went to the Family History library with a friend on Monday. She showed me how to use the new familysearch.org. It was so fun! And so much easier than the last time I did any family history. It was so nice to have my friend there too. She snuggled little A while I worked and even got A to take a nap! When A woke up she started giggling and stole everyone's hearts. They were sad to see her leave and kept commenting on how good she was. I am a very blessed mamma to have such a sweet little girl. (
Allan says that A is such a blessed girl to have such a wonderful mother that has taught her to behave so well)
That evening is when little A got sick. She just had a viral cold, but boy was she miserable all week. We carved pumpkins for FHE; I was going to let her help a little, but she was so miserable she just sat and watched.
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| Allan showing A the inside of the pumpkin. |
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| Me showing A the pumpkin goo. She liked it and thought it was funny. |
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| We carved an electric rope shovel this year. I suggested we do an excavator but we did that the first year we were married so Allan came up with this instead. :) I think it turned out great. It only lasted a day though. It looked like a ball of mush by the time Halloween came. :( |
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| Family pic with the pumpkin. You can see by the look on her face that she wasn't feeling well. |
The rest of the week was spent cuddling a sick baby who didn't want to be put down. Quite honestly I got almost nothing accomplished all week except taking care of her. We watched a few movies, read a lot of stories, and whined a lot (all three of us, lol). We took A to the doctor on Halloween because she was having a little trouble breathing, but by the time we got there she was fine. The nurses and doctors were all dressed up, and little A was kind of freaked out by some of them. I loved the doctors costume - Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc, the doctors name is Michael, lol!
We had planned on dressing up and going to our ward's trunk-or-treat but decided we needed to keep A home. Allan was having a bad case of allergies and wasn't feeling well but still went to support the young men and their trunk. Little A and I handed out candy at our house. She absolutely loved it! She would grin from ear to ear at all the people and helped me hold the bowl so the kids could pick their candy. We ran out of candy after about an hour and a half, so I put little A to bed. She'd tried to go to sleep a few times before but was always interrupted by the door bell. She was pretty happy to go to bed by the time she got there. So, for Halloween this year we dressed up as a frazzled mommy, a sick baby, and a sick and tired daddy, lol! Better luck next year.
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| Peeking at Daddy |
A loves to play with shadows. When we go outside she watches and laughs at the shadows the entire time. The other day I stood her up on her changing table after I changed her, and she saw her shadow. She talked and giggled at it for quite a while and was also fascinated by the shadow of her ribbon mobile.
She loves to play with the mobile too. She likes to reach up and touch the ribbon and make it spin. She also loves it when we lift her up and put her head through the center of it so ribbons are all around her head.
A also loves to play peek-a-boo with her blanket. She'll put it over her eyes and wait for me to say "Where's A? I can't see her!" and then quickly pull it down and giggle as I say "Peek-a-boo!" She often greets me after naps this way. I love it!
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| Sunday family picture. She actually wore the headband long enough to take a picture this time! |
A has started to love bouncing. She hated it from the time she was born until about a month ago. Now, suddenly, she LOVES it! If she is upset all we have to do is bounce her around a little and she's laughing and happy again. Allan puts her to sleep like this a lot. She won't go to sleep like this for me though, she just wants me to lay her down; I must not do it right. She loves to snuggle into Allan and let him bounce her until she goes to sleep though. It's so adorable to watch. She has switched. She used to only let me snuggle her to sleep and wouldn't have anything to do with Allan. I think that the sandifer's is gone for good though since bouncing has no bad effects on her anymore. Hooray!
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| After the family picture. Ha! |
Allan got to work in our yard again this weekend. He's working on grading it a little so the water will drain better. As soon as he's done we'll be ready for rock! He also went shooting with the young men. Allan got home safely and informed me that they all survived and no one got injured. I was so pleased. :)
