Fall is here...

What a busy week it's been! On top of it being Payton's first full week at Wee Care, I've been sick most of the week, and so has Kyle. I started to get sick while we were in Reno, and I think I gave it to Kyle a couple days later... Payton hasn't seemed to have gotten it though, thank goodness! So by the time we get home, get her fed, bathed and put to bed, we pretty much went to bed ourselves. I'm finally starting to feel a little better! I don't get sick very often (last time I can remember is a couple years ago) so when I do it takes me a while to recover. But enough about me; it's been busy around here!

First on the agenda: Reno. Kyle drove down with friends last Thursday, while my mom, Payton and I flew really early Friday morning. I'm really glad my mom flew with me, I had NO idea how much work it takes to get through security with a baby and all their gear! I only had my diaper bag, the stroller, and the carseat, but it was much more work than I anticipated. After collapsing everything and stuffing it in the x-ray machine, security searching my bag (and running explosives tests on the bottles of formula I brought for the plane), then getting myself put back together and finding our gate, I was exhausted and our trip had barely begun! Payton proved to be a great traveler last weekend. She only cried for about a minute during descent each time, but you could tell her ears hurt because she kept grabbing them. Other than that she was a happy camper! She played a little, slept a little, and before we knew it we had reached our destination.

The hotel we stayed at was HUGE; it had a casino, several bars, restaurants, a movie theater, bowling alley, a pool with cabanas... there was tons to do! We just kind of hung out and relaxed during the day, and went out with friends at night. We didn't get much sleep, but we had a lot of fun! We reserved adjoining rooms so that the grandmas and Payton could be in one, and the "kids" could be in the other. We reserved them, but when we checked in the rooms were down the hall from eachother... My mom had a little talk with the person at the front desk though, and we got adjoining rooms after all :) We wanted them to be adjoining so that Payton could take naps in one and we could be in the other room so we didn't wake her up. Her naps still weren't as good as at home, but I didn't expect them to be. If there's a lot going on, she doesn't like to miss out! We really appreciated our moms going with us to watch her, it was so nice to go out and not have to worry about her, and even get to sleep in a little bit! I was really sad I missed this though; Bryan taped this Friday night while Kyle and I were at rehearsal dinner...


So stinking cute! She thinks it's hilarious to play peek a boo!

I'm almost ready to sit up like a big girl!



Saturday was the big day... Tom and Crystal's wedding. Tom was Kyle's roommate in college, and many of you may remember him as the groomsman who fainted at our wedding :) I love going to weddings, always brings back memories of my own and what a special day it was. Their wedding was at a beautiful old church, it was even a historical landmark. It was quite the experience getting there though... we almost didn't make it! Kyle was gone most of the day doing wedding stuff, and I didn't know that when he left the hotel he took our car... and when he came back he parked it in a completely different parking lot. So when Bryan, Lindsey and I went down to go to the wedding (in 95 degree weather), I told Bryan where the car was so he could bring it around for us. When he came back and said he couldn't see it, we started looking... and looking... Finally after about 10 minutes I called Kyle (who was ushering people to their seats at the time) and asked him if he moved the car. He said he had and that it was in the other parking lot. Let me paint you a little picture... this giant hotel has like 10 parking lots! He tried to give us directions to it, but we still couldn't find it and were getting really frustrated. Finally after like 40 minutes of confusing directions, we gave up looking for it and Bryan ran to get the keys for Lindsey's car. The ceremony was supposed to start in 10 minutes, and we were just leaving the hotel... plus we were hot, sweaty, frustrated, and Lindsey and I had acquired some new blisters from our shoes. We were a little late, but we made it!

The ceremony... Kyle is the third groomsman on the right

The reception was at the hotel, which worked out great because I got to go visit Payton before all the festivities got started. We took her down to the reception for a little while so the moms could eat some dinner and we could show her off :) She was really sleepy though, it was close to bedtime!

Looking good Uncle Bryan!

Hall family

Good food, good friends, dancing... it was a fun night! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Nix!

Sunday we decided to rent one of the cabanas by the pool. It was called "The Beach" which was very fitting because the cabanas were surrounded by sand. After she had a nap and some lunch, we brought Payton down in her swimsuit for her first dip!

She didn't really know what to think about it! I'm thinking of getting her started on swimming "lessons" in a couple weeks, I think once she gets used to it she will love it!

Swimming with mommy

Daddy had a great time

From left: JJ, dad and I, Tom (groom), mom, Crystal (bride), and Sharlie. Mom looks super short standing between the 6'5" people :)

Everyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am with my camera, I have to capture every moment. Well, my camera stopped working last weekend! I have a memory card error, and can't get any of my pictures that I took the whole time. I'm going to try and recover my pictures, but unfortunately all of the pictures that you see are from other people's cameras. I'm bummed because I took pictures of her sitting in the sand, on her first airplane ride, etc. Hopefully I can get them all back!

We left Monday afternoon, and even though it was a great weekend, it felt really good to be home. Back to the real world...

Payton is doing really great at Wee Care. Her teachers love her, I had one tell me that she's such a friendly baby, and when I picked her up one day another asked me "is she always this mellow?" I love being able to visit her during my lunchtime. It totally breaks up my day, and I can tell she's happy to see me too :) She loves looking at the other babies, and she smiles at all the decorations they have on the walls. Her main teacher Cheryl told me that people were talking about her already moving up a class, but she told them they couldn't have Payton yet... she just got there! I guess babies move up from the ladybug room to the dragonfly room around 7 months, but Cheryl said probably the earliest she would move would be October. She's been trying lots of new food lately, the newest additions to her diet are pears, peas, bananas, and chicken. Sweet potatoes are still her favorite though. She's reaching for everything these days, and likes to bat at people's faces with her hands. She figured out how to really bounce in her activity chair last week, and goes nuts when we put her in it. I got a really good video of it, but am having trouble uploading it to my computer, so when I do I'll definitely post it :) We discussed with her doctor last week about continuing her prilosec, and she suggested maybe giving it to her every other day to see how it goes. We did that for a couple days, and she did fine so we stopped giving it to her altogether. She hasn't had it for a week, and is happy as can be! So it looks like introducing solid foods has really helped, and she's finally over the reflux stage. Yay! Now the only medicine she gets is the propranolol twice a day, and eventually that will be over too... speaking of propranolol, she's been on it for 3 months now! Comparison time...

3 months old...

... and 6 months old! Amazing huh?

Next weekend our good friends Pearl and Ryan are getting married in Salem, and so we're going to leave Payton at Grandma's for the night. I've never physically spent the night away from her, so I'm a little apprehensive about it, but I know it will be fine. I will suffer much more than she will :)

Happy birthday to Grandma Book! (and happy anniversary as well!)

Giving daddy (really slobbery) kisses