Long Weekend with Mimi!

Delanie's Mimi and Uncle Nick came last weekend for a belated Christmas visit. Delanie is so active now, it was a fun weekend for all! We spent the weekend enjoying some (barely) snowy weather, eating out and opening presents.

Delanie got a great pink Pooh dress from Uncle Nick, pictured in the first few photos.


Mimi brought Delanie a lot of neat gifts, including this ride-on toy. Delanie didn't know quite what to make of it, except that she got lots of attention while seated on it, so that made her happy!


My mom joked that she wanted to see one of Delanie's "firsts" while she was down, since Delanie seems to be growing so fast. Well, her wish came true, when Delanie proceeded to climb the entire flight of stairs unassisted (but well protected). She has since done this several times, and is quite pleased with her accomplishment. We are starting to work on getting down now, but are not as successful.


Delanie is getting to the age where she's smart enough to know that she could be missing out on fun times during her naps. The operative word here is "could" because if she spied on us during her naptime, she would see that we are either cleaning or napping ourselves. Nevertheless, this means she no longer naps at daycare, and she'll nap in the car only when absolutely necessary. She also spends a long time awake in her crib before falling asleep. In fact, sometimes we think she is asleep, but later find out she wasn't when she begins talking again. Anyway, all this to explain the bottom picture. After assuming she had been asleep awhile, I went upstairs to find her like this: sitting up, a stockpile of 3 pacifiers in her lap, two socks off her feet and thrown across the crib. For some reason, this is hilarious to me, almost the equivalent of a teenager getting busted for sneaking back from a party - Mom had no clue what was going on that whole time!

January

Here's a picture of Delanie with her Daddy



Delanie playing in her room - Thank you Great Grandma for the purple outfit!




Getting ready for bedtime in my new Ladybug jammies from Uncle DJ and Auntie Justine! Delanie loves climbing on this soft chair, which has been in her room since long before she was born but she just now found it.

Rather than wipe the green bean off her nose, I grabbed the camera!

If You're Happy And You Know It, Watch This Video!

Here is a short video that really shows how fast Delanie is growing! She is very active now and a very fast crawler. Her current fascination is the dog water bowl. She will make a beeline toward the waterbowl in seconds. We can see her get a little mischievous look in her eye before she takes off toward it!

Delanie is so impressed with her clapping that as soon as the tune, "If You're Happy And You Know It" starts, she begins clapping and laughing. She is also quite impressed with her ball-throwing, and she has a pretty good arm. We may need to help develop her aim a bit though.

We started going to a weekly aqua class and are having lots of fun with that. Delanie went under water a few times, I hope we'll get her to swim a few feet before the class is over. This week, we also went to one of those mall indoor play areas, which she loved. She and Caleb were the only two non-walkers, but she loved chasing little kids around and watching. Of course, she was fascinated with pulling herself to standing from the ladder of the slide - just about the worst place for an infant to be! But, I kept diligently moving her back to a quiet lilypad that the older kids overlooked.

Delanie has unfortunately started to become a little demanding when it comes to food and the speed at which she wants it. Since she is pretty much done with baby food, she has to rely on me to dump the baby carrots on the tray, then she proceeds to shovel them in until her cheeks are full. I am honestly not sure when she decides to swallow. And when her cheeks are full and the tray is empty, she starts screaming. I hope this is just a phase - a sign of the frustration of not being able to communicate with words. She obviously is having no problems communicating to us what she wants, however. So, we are diligently using the three ASL signs we know to help her learn how to communicate her needs: eat, drink, more.

The silver lining to this is how well she is self feeding. If you can just accept the fact that at least 1/3 of all that is offered will end up in her lap or on the floor (or fed to a dog), she is doing a pretty good job with the other 2/3. We can go to a restaurant and she can sit through a 45 minute meal (yes we try to order as soon as out butts hit our chairs) because she is busy stocking her cheeks full for a long hard winter. And, if you can get past the fact that people come by with a broom more often than a pitcher to refill your drink, eating out is finally becoming an enjoyable experience again.

Since Dave was against the idea of waking Delanie up at 4 am this morning, she did miss her first glimpse of NC snow this morning. We did head out early to get some grocery shopping done in preparation for Mimi and Uncle Nick to visit. Delanie loves the grocery store. The funny/difficult part about bringing her now - she is so agile and has a pretty good reach. She has grabbed a few things off shelves, or sticks out her arms when someone passes. Today, she grabbed the block of Swiss from the cart and chewed on it a bit before I noticed. And, what grocery trip would be complete without losing at least one article of clohing? Her hat was in aisle 7 when we returned several minutes after checking out.

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry though the nasty (but needed) weather! Looking forward to seeing family this weekend and a short work week!

New Camera!

Yes, we will come up with any excuse to post new pics! Thanks Auntie Sarah for the shirt, Auntie Kate for the book and Papa Dave and Nana for the Giraffe toy!

Happy New Years!

Last weekend Uncle DJ and Auntie Justine paid us a visit. We headed down to Myrtle Beach, where we caught up with Papa and Nana, Auntie Connie and Uncles Patrick and Reggie. The weather was nice - mid 60s. Thank you Auntie Connie for this beautiful sweater!

Delanie spent lots of time in this stroller - we did a lot of shopping!

Here is a pic from Huntington Beach State Park, one of our favorite parks. Incidentally, the last time Delanie was here, she was the size of a piece of rice and giving her mother horrible morning sickness!

Baby Rule #62: While renting one's house, thou must explore remotes that are normally off limits at home!!

So Much Fun To Be Had!

Now that Delanie is moving, she is having so much fun being Lil Miss Independant!

At her 9 month checkup today, she weighed in at 22 lbs, 14 oz (95th percentile) and her height is 30 inches (>97th percentile). Doctors counldn't believe she had grown 2 inches in 3 months! They even noted Mom and Dad's heights in her charts and asked some family history questions. Dr. Durand is pretty convinced we've got a (permanently) tall girl on our hands. Oh and what about that head? 17.5 inches around (70th percentile).

The following credits for outfits pictured: Thank you Grandma Molly for the flowered two piece and thank you Mamo for the striped shirt and capris (glad it was 72 degrees today so she could break it in while it fits!).

9 Months Old!

I am now 9 months old! It's hard to believe my birthday is only 3 months away! I am really developing my sense of humor now that I am a bit older. When I laugh or smile, I like to make the scrunchy face seen above, it helps show off my 6 teeth.

I continue to grow more and more beautiful each day. I swear, I am the best looking baby around! I could stare in the mirror for hours... Thank you Great Aunt Linda for this robe!

On 12/28, my Uncle DJ and Auntie Justine flew in for a long weekend. Along with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Brian, Uncle Andy and my cousins Skylar and Jayson, we had a little get together where we opened some Christmas gifts. Thanks again, Aunt Linda for this pretty blue dress!

I am a very proficient crawler at this point, crawling around the house and starting to find trouble (stairs, cabinets, lamps, etc). One of my favorite games is to empty the contents of the coffee table, which is filled with boring grown-up books. I am also pulling myself into a standing position, with the help of furniture or Mommy's leg. I have started to throw things - balls, books, toys and even pacifiers when I would prefer to cry. I began waving this week, so I enjoy waving to the waiter every time he comes to our table, or waving to Daddy every two seconds from my spot on the floor. I also have clapped my hands a few times, although I lose interest when my hands don't make the same noise as everyone else's hands seem to.

I am starting to expand my vocabulary. Some of the words I am working on are Daddy, duck, bottle, light and cat. I don't quite have the pronunciation, but Mommy and Daddy seem to understand what I am saying most of the time. Still no "mommy" but that's because I want to get it perfect before even attempting.

I am a very good eater, long surpassing any charts that pediatricians publish. I enjoy feeding myself, so I get some chopped veggies every day to munch on (carrots, corn, green beans and peas). In the past few weeks I have also tried raspberries, asparagus, cheese, yogurt, wheat bread, and even french fries and milkshake from Steak-N-Shake (don't tell Daddy). I have a doctor's appointment in a few weeks, so we will check in regarding my growing appetite.

I am currently in 18 month clothes, but finding a good fit is hard since I still have baby thighs. I have the weight and height of a toddler, but need a few more months of crawling before I slim out some.

Please Do Not Feed The Animals!

You dog lovers out there will appreciate this one!!