Happy Halloween! (almost)

Kyle and I have officially kept Payton alive for 8 whole months now! :) All joking aside, I can't believe it's already been 8 months since she was born. For that matter, where did the year 2010 go?! Thanksgiving is a mere 4 weeks away, and I have much to be thankful for... let's start with the fun family visit to Gig Harbor last weekend!

We drove up early Saturday morning and arrived at my parent's house around 10am. Just a short while later family started to show up, and the PaytonFest began!

Grandma got me some new toys!

Wait! What is that?!

Hehe

Got it!

Um... now what do I do with it?

I wish we got to see everyone more often, they couldn't believe how much Payton had grown.

Aren't I a cutie?

Practicing my standing!

My parents offered to stay with Payton Saturday night so that Kyle and I could go out, which we gladly accepted. We don't go out by ourselves anymore, so it's a big treat to have one on one time with my hubby. We decided to do drinks and a movie, and had a great time. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! :) We saw Life as We Know It, which was a movie about a couple that dies and leaves guardianship of their one-year-old baby with their two best friends, who don't really get along. It was a good movie, but it was also really sad for me because it hit so close to home. Kyle kept telling me not to be sad because it was just a movie, but I couldn't help it! I empathized so much for this little girl, because she was never going to remember her parents, and they will never get to see their daughter grow up. It started a lot of conversations between Kyle and I about what we would like to see happen to Payton if we were to both pass away, which we hadn't really thought about before. Sad stuff, but it definitely motivated me to get a plan in place.

Sunday was full of visitors too! In the morning my Aunt Tawnya and cousin McKenna came by to see Payton...

... Payton definitely loves all the attention! :)

Hanging with McKenna

Our old friends from college came by to see us too, Drew and Stephanie and their son Colton! It was so fun to see them and catch up, a lot of things have changed since our college days :) Colt turned a year old in September, and has grown so much since the last time we saw him! It was really fun to watch them interact, Payton loved watching him run all over the room.



Playing together

Look at her face... so cute!



Colton and Payton :)

Moms with their babies... I'm bummed it turned out so dark!

Unfortunately we had to head back kind of early on Sunday, Kyle had a group meeting for a big presentation for school. We had a great weekend though, thank you to all the friends and family that came out to visit us!

Monday I took a half day off from work so that I could take Payton to her dermatology appointment. It had been two months since her last one, which was the longest stretch we've ever gone not seeing him. It went very well! He was very pleased with the hemangioma's regression, and said that we will keep her at her current dose and let her "outgrow" it a little bit. The medication is weight based, so that means she's not at the highest dose anymore, as she is still growing. She weighed 20 pounds and 7.5 ounces, big girl! We're going back to see him in about 6 weeks, and he said at that point we will start to lower it so that hopefully she is completely off it by around her first birthday. Oh what a wonderful day it will be when we don't have to give her ANY medicine! :) I also mentioned to him the nasty rash under her chin, because it had been getting worse and the vaseline her pediatrician recommended wasn't helping. He said it looked like the little red bumps were "yeasty", and gave her a prescription for some hydrocortisone cream, and also told us to get some lotrimin, like for athlete's foot. We're putting a thin layer of both on twice a day, and already I've seen a big improvement. We've also just been having her wear a bib all day, which is good because she soaks one about every couple hours! Everyone says teeth are right around the corner... I'll believe that one when I see it :)

Rash before...

... and after just two days of the cream combo. It's definitely less red and irritated, now we just have to get rid of those little bumps. Much better :)

Today was my day off, and I took Payton to get some pictures done in her Halloween costume. She's a little ladybug! She's so funny with new people sometimes though, very observant... I sat her down to start the picture session, and she just stared at the photographer for like 5 minutes! She finally started to smile a little bit, but she started to look away when the picture was taken. So all the pictures looking at the camera are this blank stare, and the pictures where she's actually smiling she's looking somewhere else lol. Oh well, I'm sure they'll still turn out pretty cute! Hopefully tomorrow will turn out better, Payton has school pictures! Wee Care has picture day tomorrow, and someone told me the photographer is awesome with the babies. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, my sister Chelsea is coming to visit me from Spokane! She's bringing her boyfriend Richard too, which we're excited about because we haven't met him yet. I know she's sad being away from Payton so much, so this weekend will be great for both of us :) Should be fun!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Oh and big game on Saturday... GO DUCKS!

Pumpkin patch

I think we have officially entered into an Inidan Summer! It was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch, in fact a little TOO perfect. I wore a sweater and my Ugg boots, and I was sweating... it was like 70 degrees today! The sun was out without a cloud in the sky. We went to the Sauvie Island pumpkin patch, and I'm so glad we went on a weekday. It was not at all crowded, which was great because I've heard horror stories about that place on the weekends. Since I have so many pictures to share with you, I'll let them tell the story!

Ready for the pumpkin patch!

First we decided to go into a little animal barn they had set up so kids could see the ducks, pigs, bunnies, etc.

I was actually more interested in people watching than looking at the animals!

Cutie in the hay

With mommy!

Hall family :)

What a beautiful day!

Look Mom, I'm sitting on a pumpkin!

Daddy's girl :)

Mom wanted to get a picture of me sitting next to the pumpkin, but I ignored her because I was way more interested in playing with this dirt

So we thought maybe we would get a picture of her with a mini pumpkin instead... can you guess where that went??

Yep, straight to the mouth! :)

Payton really liked being outdoors and taking in all the sights. She went from the pumpkin patch to the doctors office to get her second flu shot, and she did great as usual. Didn't even flinch! Afterwards I brought her home and she went down for a nap, and we must have really tired her out because I had to wake her up after 3 hours so she would be tired enough to go to sleep again tonight. We've been having so much good tummy time lately, it's funny to see her actually enjoying tummy time but I love it. She's so much less frustrated on her stomach, and I think it's because she's rolling and scooting all over the place... weird to think she might be getting mobile soon :)

Have a great weekend!

Visitors

I guess I've been blogging a lot lately, but there has been so much going on I can't help it :) Now that Payton has started rolling back and forth, she has also started to scoot a little bit! When she was on her tummy today she pushed off with her hands and scooted backwards a little bit, and she's also figured out how to scoot when she's on her back (which looks very awkward), but she loves it. She'll scoot, play with her feet, reach for something, babble, scoot some more, shake her head, kick her feet... you get the picture! She is so much fun, and Kyle and I are just enjoying watching her grow. She's starting to exhibit signs of separation anxiety, which she's never had before. It makes me feel like the most special person in the world, and also the worst when I have to leave her. The other night after her bath I was getting her dressed for bed and Kyle left the room; she immediately got upset, so he walked back in and she started smiling and laughing. He kept walking out, and kept getting the same result! We know it's normal, so we just try and smile and give kisses and tell her we'll be back soon. Payton hasn't tried a whole lot of new foods lately, just blueberries and apricots. I put a couple cheerios on her tray yesterday to see if she could pick them up, and she didn't even notice they were there... I'm wondering if she had a hard time seeing them, since they were a similar color to the tray. When I held it in my hand, she reached for it but had trouble getting it to her mouth, and then when she did I worried the whole time about her choking on it. So, I've decided to shelf finger foods for the moment, and maybe try again in a few weeks. She is still babbling a lot, her teachers at Wee Care joke about how much a talker Payton is. Still no "mama" yet, lots of "dadas" though. I got a book on sign language, and I'm going to start signing a little bit to Payton so hopefully she can eventually pick it up. Just words like "milk", "more", stuff like that. We'll see how it goes!

Hehe doesn't it look like I'm trying to say something?!

Look how much hair I'm growing!

Mommy's little ballerina :)

This last weekend my grandparents came down to visit. They were on their way to Sunriver, and I'm really glad they got to stop by!

Hanging with Great Grandpa Casebolt... I am fascinated by facial hair! Lucky for me, the Casebolt men have lots of it :)



Thanks for visiting me guys!

I went out and bought Payton a couple new toys, I think she has started to get a little bored at home. She always gets so excited when I drop her off at Wee Care, they have endless new toys to play with and explore. I haven't really bought anything new for her in months, so most of what we have are teething toys and rattles. I just got a couple things that light up and play songs, and are more interactive. I was instructed not to go overboard, as the Christmas season is fast approaching :)

My first cellphone!

We're headed to Gig Harbor this weekend! I'm excited, we haven't been back since the beginning of August, so it's way overdue. We're going to visit with family, maybe carve some pumpkins... hopefully it's as beautiful there as it has been here! My day off is Wednesday, and Kyle and I think we're going to take Payton to a local pumpkin patch. I always love a perfect photo op :) Payton is also getting her second flu shot on Wednesday, apparently the first year you get it you have to get it twice, which is a bummer. She didn't even make a face last time though, let's hope this time is just as easy!

Finally!

No offense Payton, but I have been trying to get you to do this for months... yesterday she started rolling from back to front! She's been rolling onto her back for months, but I had such a hard time getting her to go the other way because she doesn't like tummy time and did not want to go back onto her stomach. She would get almost there, and then get her arm stuck beneath her or realize she was about to go back on her stomach and change her mind... anyway though when I went to visit her at Wee Care yesterday during my lunch she finally did it! Now she's making it look easy :) She's starting to favor one side though like she does with rolling on her back (for some reason she only wants to go left), so I'm really working on making sure she rolls both ways, and so far so good. See for yourself below!

Exhibit A:


You go girl!

I almost forgot!

Time for another comparison! Payton has been on propranolol for 4 months, more than half her little life.

Payton at two months, before we diagnosed her internal hemangioma... you can see a bulge there if you look closely, and it looks a little purple...

...and Payton at 7 months old! Amazing :)

Payton is slowly starting to move into her 12 month wardrobe, and her clothes are somehow getting cuter and cuter. This morning I dropped her off at Wee Care in a plaid tunic, skinny jean leggings, and pink boots.

SO CUTE!! Thank you Great Grandma Book!

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday, have a great weekend everyone!

Weddings and football...

Hello on 10-10-10! I still have a hard time believing it's October already. The weather here has been very weird, one morning it will be cold and rainy, and in the afternoon it will be muggy and hot. Then the next day it will be beautiful without a cloud in the sky... then back to the rain. I try and remind myself to enjoy the nice days, because they're probably numbered as we move further into the fall season.

On Saturday Lindsey and her mom, sisters, and Sue picked me up and we went to her dress fitting appointment. I can't post pictures of it (we don't want Bryan to see!) but she looked beautiful and it will look even better when they make it fit perfectly. Afterwards we went to David's Bridal so her sisters Madeline and Emma (and myself) could try on bridesmaid dresses, and her mom Melanie even found a dress too, so it was definitely a successfull shopping trip! I didn't buy a dress, because I'm not quite in wedding shape yet :) Still too much baby weight! My whole body is different since having a baby, I'm sure I probably won't ever be as small as I used to be. But I can continue to try to tighten and tone up!

Rick drove up from Albany to watch the Duck game with Kyle and to see Payton, so when we were done at David's we headed back to my house. Sue got Payton an adorable cheerleading outfit, complete with shoes, tights and headband. She looked so cute!





Playing with my shoes

SO cute!

We watched some more football, fed Payton, bathed her and put her to bed. It was a very good day :)

Kyle's friend from class got married today in Troutdale, so we got Payton all dressed up to go!

Mom even put a bow in my hair!



Payton has been doing really well sitting up, and last night when she was on her tummy she even kept bringing her knees up, and it looked like she was almost about to get on all fours. The problem is keeping her on her tummy long enough to do that :) Her teachers at Wee Care told me that she's started to "scoot" when she's on her back to move around, which they said they don't see very often. I actually took her to the doctor this week for a rash she has under her chin from drooling so much, and while she was there I had her check her ears too, just in case. She said they looked fine, and that colds usually bother the parents more than the babies. They weighed her too, and she weighs 20 pounds! No wonder I'm having a hard time carrying her around :) She has been really funny when she eats her bottles lately. Usually she is all business, and wants her milk as fast as possible. Recently she's been using it as a teether, and likes to put the nipple in the side of her mouth and gnaw on it. Also, since she's holding her own bottle now, for some reason she likes to take it out, look around, then start eating again... then take it out again to look around and see what's going on. She's pretty funny to watch!



I made a blog book of just my pregnancy, if you're interested in a copy let me know and I can tell you how to order it. I'm also planning on making one with all the posts during Payton's first year, but that one obviously won't be coming out for several more months :) I think it's so neat that you can print your blog into book form and make it a keepsake!

Happy birthday Grandpa Casebolt and Aunt Tanya!

Weekend with the grandparents

We had a pretty busy weekend... a lot of it consisted of football of course, but we managed to fit in a few other activities as well :) Saturday morning Kyle and Payton headed down to Albany, while I was hanging out with my girlfriends Jenny and Kali for the afternoon. We went to the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island, which is a VERY popular destination in the fall. I thought it was pretty crowded, but one of my co-workers said that one time she tried to go and the line to get into the parking lot was backed up for over a mile... crazy! Anyway, even though we weren't hunting for pumpkins to take home it was still fun to walk around, eat the food, and see the sights. Afterwards we had some mexican food and chatted over margaritas, and then it was time for me to fly south for the duck game!

We definitely weren't dressed for the pumpkin patch... one of the employees was like "can I help you??" lol

It was a beautiful day!

Kali, me, Jenny

I got to Albany right as Payton was taking a bath, and so I got to put my sweet baby to bed. It's crazy how much I miss her when I'm not with her, it feels like a piece of me is missing. If I'm not at work, I try to spend every minute I can with her!

Having a bath at Grandma Sue's!

Fresh out of the bath with daddy and Uncle Bryan :)

Earlier in the day on Saturday, the Halls were visited by some family friends, the Matthews. They met during reenacting a long time ago, and have been good friends ever since... even though they're Beaver fans :) Tara and her husband Mikey had a daughter just 2 weeks ago, Katelynn! I'm sad I missed the visit, but glad Kyle took lots of pictures. I'm definitely planning on meeting Katelynn sometime soon. She was adorable, and SO tiny!

Kyle and Tara with daughters Payton and Katelynn

Let the rivalry begin!

Sunday morning we didn't hang out for very long, my parents were headed down to Portland to visit! Payton was very spoiled this weekend, it's not very often she gets to see both sets of grandparents in the same weekend. It had been almost 2 months since my dad had seen her, so it was long overdue!

I was fascinated with Grandpa's mustache...

... but I liked it!

Kisses from Grandma!

Mom loves taking pictures of me sitting up like a big girl! My face is pretty priceless too :)

Look what I can do!



Grandpa reading me a bedtime story... the same one he used to read to mommy every night before she went to bed :)

Unfortunately, Payton has had a cold for the last couple days. She's got a little cough and a constantly running nose... It doesn't seem to bother her though! I thought at first that her nose was running a lot because maybe she was teething, but when her little cough started, I figured she had caught her first cold. Cheryl said she's been sleeping more at Wee Care too, like she hasn't been feeling as well. She hasn't been cranky or anything though, just her regular old happy self. I hope she gets over it soon, I feel so bad for her. I'm sure it's the first of many colds she'll have throughout her lifetime though :)

My day off this month is Wednesdays, which is actually really nice. It breaks up my week, and I never work more than two days in a row. This Wednesday I'm getting my phone fixed at the Verizon store. I apologize to anyone who's called or messaged me and I haven't called back, my phone completely stopped working and they told me it's a "software" issue, so they're sending me a new one, which is nice! I've only had it 8 months though, so that's kind of frustrating. I never realized how much I depend on my phone until I didn't have it!

Other than that, life is busy. Kyle's going to school and working about 24 hours per week, and by the time I get home with Payton from work, it's time for her to eat dinner, get a bath, bedtime story, and bed... then start it all again the next day. It makes us really appreciate the time we do get to spend together as a family :) This phase in our life will pass though, and we will be at Kyle's graduation before we know it!