Crawling... army style!

I hope everyone had a great holiday, Payton's first Thanksgiving was really fun. We awoke early Thursday morning and drove down to Albany, thankfully no traffic. Eventually we made it over to Grandma Joy's house, which is where we were eating our turkey lunch. It was delicious! After taking a nap, we were all excited to give Payton her first real food; mashed potatoes. I thought for sure they would be a hit, especially with a little gravy. Little did we know we were WRONG! She wouldn't eat them! I was really surprised, she usually eats pretty much anything I give her... I think it might have been a texture thing. We even mashed up some sweet potatoes, but that was a no as well. She kept looking at us like we were trying to torture her!

This looks like a smile, but I'm wincing in disgust!

Ewwwwww

Why are you feeding this to me???

We gave her some baby food after that, and she loved it! She's funny, hopefully starting chunkier foods won't be too much of a challenge.

This is what mommy is thankful for :)

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Uncle Tanner's baseball hat!

Little lovey

It was hard to leave Payton behind Thursday night, but I survived. She took off for Lincoln City with everyone else, and Kyle and I headed back up to Portland to work the next day. Kyle worked about 12 hours on Friday, and after he got off work we headed to the coast for the weekend. Kyle's family rented a huge house, and we all crammed in. There were 17 of us! The only drawback was the noise, because the house was not well insulated at all, and it was VERY noisy all the time. Unfortunately Payton slept really bad because of this, but I tried the best I could to make it ok for her. I think she's teething again also, which definitely didn't help. We watched football, went shopping at the outlet mall, played games, and a few brave souls even took a trip to the beach. A fun weekend!

While I was visiting Payton at Wee Care yesterday she started to army crawl and scoot forward! I can't begin to tell you how proud I was, it is amazing to watch her. She even got up on all fours for a split second, and was even better at it today. She is standing really good on her own holding onto something, she is very sturdy. Her first tooth finally popped through about a week and a half ago, and she's already hard at work on the second one. I can see it under her gums, right next to her first. I swear she grows more hair every night, and if I don't brush it right after her bath it gets really curly. Cheryl said that Payton will probably move up to the Dragonfly room in the next couple weeks, especially now that she's getting mobile. My little baby is growing up!

I took this today at Wee Care...

She did it for her daddy tonight too!

Thursday is Payton's 9 month check up with her pediatrician, and I'm anxious to see how much she weighs and how tall she is. I feel like she's grown so much since we were last there in early September! I will let you know all the details on Thursday.

This weekend will be dedicated to making this house look like Christmas. I'm so excited December is here! We're planning on visiting a Christmas tree farm in Hillsboro on Sunday, it's been years since I've had a fresh cut tree. I prefer the fake kind to be honest, but it will be a fun outing with Payton and something she can look forward to every year. I can't wait to see her face staring at all the lights and shiny decorations!

Happy (almost) Turkey Day!

Yesterday Sue, Lindsey and Bryan came up to visit. Kyle was working, so Uncle Bryan watched Payton while the girls went to David's Bridal to pick out my bridesmaid dress for Lindsey's wedding, which is just around the corner in March. It was very productive, I found one that we all liked and it is on it's way! Afterwards we all got our rings cleaned at Shane Co. (gotta love when they sparkle!) and by then Kyle was home so we ate some dinner and watched the Beaver game. I know, normally we wouldn't but Lindsey is a beaver fan (and Sue works at Oregon State)... as long as they are not playing Oregon, I will root for any local team! :)

Uncle Bryan feeding me dinner!

Daddy trying to spike my hair... it's grown a lot!

After I took this picture this morning, I realized how many cords I need to move and get off the ground... sure enough, right after I realized it she lunged for them! I'm working on it!

Today was a very relaxing day. Just hanging out around the house getting stuff done, and we topped it off with dinner at Red Robin. Payton was really funny, there was another family across the restaurant with two little boys and she stared at them almost the whole time! She was cracking us up. One of the boys was staring back, but Kyle kept telling Payton that he was too old for her :) She kept reaching for our food, luckily I brought along some cheerios for her to munch on and that kept her pretty occupied.

It's amazing how much Payton is growing. I know I say that all the time, but it seems like at this age their development just explodes. She can now wave hello, turn the page of a book, and even imitate you. If you stick your tongue out at her and blow raspberries, she will blow some right back. It's super cute :) She's also getting to the age where she throws a little fit if you take something away from her that she wants. She gets over it really quick, but lets out quite a scream! She is rolling EVERYWHERE, Kyle and I will set her down on the floor and look at her a minute later and be like "how did you get over there?!" She is also able to use her hands to propel herself in a circle while on her stomach, and looks like she really wants to crawl. Her legs just haven't gotten the message yet! She won't get up on all fours, and whenever we try and put her in that position her legs go rigor mortis and she won't stay on her knees. I know I need to be patient, I'm sure it will come when she's ready :) I can't believe she's already nine months old in just a couple days. In just three short months we'll be putting together the last minute details for her first birthday party. Weird!

Thanksgiving is almost here! Thursday is actually my day off this week, so it's just a normal work week for me. Kyle has this week off from school though, which is nice. We're going to be heading down to Albany early Thursday morning, the plan is to eat early around noon. The Halls and the Hays have rented a house at Lincoln City on the coast for the weekend, so they're all going to leave after we eat and Kyle and I will join them Friday night after we get off work. Kyle has to be at work at 4:30 am, bright and early for all those Black Friday shoppers :) We decided to let Payton go with the family and we'll come back to Portland alone. If she came back with us she would just spend the day in Wee Care, and if she goes to Lincoln City she will get spoiled rotten by about a dozen people who are dying to play with her. A no brainer!

There was a light dusting of snow when I woke up this morning, which makes me nervous for tomorrow. It's funny how your perception of snow changes over the years. 10 years ago I would have been ecstatic, hoping that it got me out of school. Now I just groan and dread having to drive to work in it :) It was super cold today, so I think at the very least it will be icy. Thank goodness I have all wheel drive in the mom-mobile!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Especially the Books and the Casebolts, we will be thinking about you and are sending love your way. Hope you all have a great weekend, and good luck to all you brave Black Friday shoppers! :)

Eye doctor update

Hello all! Hopefully this weather doesn't find you in the dark, the power went out on us last night! It's been very windy, rainy and stormy here, and they are even saying there is a possibility of snow next week. I really hope not, because that equals the worst traffic ever!

I took Payton to her follow-up eye appointment today at OHSU. The doctor said that her vision looks equal in both eyes, which is good. They decided not to dilate her eyes today because he was hesitant to do any intervention with glasses before she was a year old anyway. So we're going back in 3 months; they will dilate her eyes and if it hasn't improved then he will prescribe her glasses. He said that sometimes they see kids 3-6 months later and it seems like they have a pair of brand new eyes, so I'm glad they're giving her eyes a little bit longer to mature. Plus, my vision insurance doesn't kick in until January, so that works for me :) Hopefully the astigmatism will be totally gone too, since her hemangioma is so much smaller. All in all, a very hopeful appointment!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Date night

Kyle and I have decided we need to do date night more often! It was much needed, especially now that school and work are in full swing. We usually only get to see eachother for about 15 minutes in the morning when we're getting Payton ready for Wee Care, and maybe an hour or two before we go to bed, and that's if Kyle doesn't have class. We're not really relaxing during that time either, we quickly eat dinner, clean bottles, make bottles for the next day, throw in a load of laundry, Kyle does homework... basically we get ready to wake up and do it all over again. We know that it won't be like that forever, but it's been super busy and we just haven't been able to take the time with eachother. So, our wonderful mothers came down on Friday so that we could go out to dinner and a show! We left after Kyle got home from work. First stop: Olive Garden, which was delicious. I always think Italian food is good though. After we stuffed ourselves, we hopped on a MAX train to head downtown. We were seeing Lisa Lampanelli, who is an insult comic, and totally hilarious. You've probably seen her if you watch any of the celebrity roasts on Comedy Central. We were a couple hours early though, so we got some coffee and wandered around to Pioneer Square downtown. They are already setting up their big Christmas tree! It was a perfect night, it was cold but it wasn't raining so I wasn't complaining. We sat on a bench and just people watched, and talked and talked and talked. Eventually we got up to go to the show, which was just up the street. It was so funny! We were super tired by the time it got over though, when we got home we went straight to bed. Our moms let us sleep in the next day, which was also a rare luxury, and had even done our laundry and vacuuming and stuff. Thank you SO much to my mom and mom-in-law, you guys are the best!

Before the show!

Portlad! :)

On Saturday Kyle relaxed at home with Payton while the girls went shopping. It was a very successfull shopping trip, we went to Target, Payless shoes and Kohls. We made it home just in time for the Duck game! It was definitely a very nerve wracking game to watch. It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win!

Go Ducks!

Grandma Sue got me a new toy!

I like to practice my standing with it too

I'm doing a good job! :)

I had Payton's student teacher conference on Thursday, which went well. Cheryl said she's doing great, and is within normal limits for all her skills. She said probably the biggest area she needs to work on is what they call "problem solving", which just means that instead of us handing her toys and stuff to do, we need to work on letting her figure out how to get them herself. So I've been working with Payton a lot by setting her on the floor with some toys out of her reach, and not helping her. She gets a little frustrated at first, but then really concentrates and figures it out!

Official Wee Care picture

Payton wasn't feeling very good again this weekend. She had a low grade fever on and off for a couple days, and was very mellow, not a lot of energy. This weekend was the first time I've EVER seen her not finish a bottle; she drank a couple ounces and then would not drink anymore, closed her eyes and went to sleep on my mom's lap (which is also VERY unlike her). She was not interested in solid food either, but still wanted to try and eat Cheerios. She's been great this morning so far, so I think she's feeling much better!

Her tooth hasn't quite popped through yet, but you can definitely see it!

Today we are off to Costco to get new tires for the Prizm. I've had the current set of tires for almost 7 years, so they are definitely due to be replaced, especially with winter here. They lasted me through most of high school, 2 years in snowy Klamath Falls and 3.5 years in Portland, so it will be with a fond and grateful farewill that we say goodbye. LOL :)

Payton has an appointment with her eye doctor on Thursday, and I'm really anxious to see what he thinks and if he's going to recommend glasses. We recently had open enrollment for our insurance at work, and I enrolled Payton in vision insurance, just in case. We will just have to see what he says!

Oh yeah! It's that time of the month again... no, not that one :) Comparison time, 5 months later!

The one on the back of her head...

... barely noticeable now, especially through all the hair she's grown!

About two months old, you can really see the bulge under the skin in this picture...

... now we don't even notice it!

I thought this was kind of fun too, my mom showed me this picture taken of me at about one year...

... do you see the resemblance?? :)

Growing girl...

Payton has had a lot of exciting changes lately. She is rolling all over the place, and has even started lunging forward for toys from the sitting position, which sends her head first onto the floor onto her tummy. She doesn't really like it, but once she figures out how to hold her head up while doing it I think she will be lunging all over the place. Even though she doesn't crawl quite yet, she still finds a way to get into everything within her reach, which means babyproofing needs to start happening soon. She's very talkative, and if you reach your arms out to her, she will reach hers out for you too. Her front bottom teeth are RIGHT at the surface, I can see them! When I rub my finger on her gums, I feel two sharp little jagged edges, so I'm expecting them to pop up any day now. I've been trying to teach her to clap and wave bye-bye, and yesterday she waved back at me for the first time, which was really cute and exciting. I've caught her several times looking at her hand when I'm changing her diaper, and she stares at it as she slowly opens and closes her fist. I think she's just starting to realize she can control that! :)

Ok, I want these toys... how am I going to do it...

Hmmm... I can't quite reach it...

But Mooooooom!

Ok, I'll try again...

I almost look like I'm on all fours, but I have my foot stuck underneath me!

Ahhh! This isn't working!

Now I'm getting it!

And then I face planted... not too happy about it :)

I'm also getting better at standing! In very short spurts :)

I took her to a Gymboree class last Thursday, on my day off. It was crazy, there were six babies in the class and three of them were born on February 27th! Very random. It was fun, they had lots of different activities for the babies to try and explore. I think I was more tired than Payton at the end though! It was cool to chat with other moms, and see the babies interact with eachother. Plus, Payton took a nice long nap afterwards!

I had a CRAZY hair day on Thursday!

Mom didn't care though, because I'm pretty cute :)

Seriously... it would not be tamed!

Kyle's brother Tanner turned 18 on Thursday, and so on Saturday the Hall family came up to go out to dinner. Little did Tanner know he had some surprises coming! We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, and while we were waiting to be seated Sue gave him his birthday card, which had basketball tickets for the Portland Trailblazers in it. He asked when it was, and we told him right after dinner! Then right after that the Hays family came in, and so his cousins and aunt and uncle surprised him, all wearing Blazers gear. Kyle and I weren't able to go to the game, but Tanner's girlfriend Brittney came up to the game and surprised him too! So it was a great night, and it was the perfect place to take Payton to dinner... very loud! Although I don't let her watch TV at home, and Buffalo Wild Wings is a sports grill so there were like 30 TV's... needless to say, Payton was pretty much in heaven!

With great Aunt Pam and Grandma Sue

Mom and Dad with the birthday boy, Uncle Tanner

Dad let me chew on his celery!

My first time in a highchair at a restaurant!

Today was pretty relaxing, we hit up Costco and Fred Meyer for some groceries. I think after Payton wakes up from her nap we're going to take advantage of this sunshine and go for a walk!

Sitting in the shopping cart like a big girl!

I get Payton's school pictures tomorrow, and I know I'll get suckered into buying more than I should, because I'm sure they'll be adorable :) I'll try and post those sometime this week so you can see them too! I also have a parent teacher conference with Payton's teachers on Thursday, which they do twice a year to talk to the parents and let them know how their child is developing, and any concerns they have. I'll let you know how that goes as well!

Here it is, your moment of Zen. I saw this while out and about today...

Best. License plate. Ever.

Warning: this video is loud! I took this last night before Payton's bath, and in case you've never met her... she yells. A lot. Not angry, just letting you know what she thinks! :)

As promised!

Alright, let's get to the good stuff... pictures! I realized as I was uploading these that I was pretty lame about taking pictures of Chelsea and Richard's visit. Sorry :( That is very unlike me!

Playing with Chelsea and Richard...

Am I a cutie or what?!

I have a feeling her eyes are going to stay blue :)

About to surprise cousin Courtney!

Trick or treat!

Hanging with Daddy and Courtney's boyfriend Myron

And we just got these back today... official Halloween pictures!

Little ladybug

Do I look spooked or what?!





Kyle is taking his math subject test on Thursday, think good thoughts for him! He just found out that his last day of school before he starts student teaching is December 8th, so only about a month left at Concordia. Crazy!

Happy birthday Tanner and Brittney! :)