These Days of December...

Shelby seems to finally be over the worst of her first cold.  Since Shelby had a cold, we have not seen Santa.  She saw him from a distance in early November, but had no interest in him.  

 

The pictures of Shelby are from the weekend.  We went to Moody Gardens Festival of Lights and the Aquarium.  She's been frightened of a few odd things lately, so the aquarium was a maybe little overwhelming for her.  We walked thru the trail of lights, which weren't very impressive to us.  Everything was just a one-dimensional display, and there were big gaps of just lights strung along the walk way.  Shelby's babbling more the last couple of days --- lots of "ne ne ne ne" type stuff -- and just Sunday night she started super splashing in the bathtub.

 

That's what's going on in our world.  Hope the holidays are treating you all well!  Christmas will be here before we know it!

Laundry, too!

Shelby's becoming a real help with the laundry too!

 

Pretty soon, we should be able to hire her out for plumbing repairs as well as laundry services.  ;)

7 months!

Shelby's 7 months old and we're putting her to work.  She's got some plumbing experience now!

 

She's getting over her first cold, and we're still dealing with the congestion.  (I'm so ready for it to be over, because I feel so sorry for her!)   She's been a real trooper and hasn't complained much.  Thankfully no fever, just a runny nose.

 

As of last week, she was weighing in at 21+ pounds.  She's an absolute joy to us.  We are trying to enjoy our first holiday season with her, and cannot wait to celebrate the holidays with her. 

Snow Pictures

Here's a couple of pictures.  We took Shelby out when it first started, it was light.  She could tell it was different than rain.  I'll never forget the first time in the rain, she gasped for air, like it might just drown her! :)

 

The picture of the house was taken just now -- I've never seen snow fall like this.  Shelby's napping, in a room with a humidifier and vapor thingy running. 

 

The pictures in the pink outfit were taken 12/1, before she got sick. 

Too Many Pictures!

These were taken over the last few days.

 

As you can see, Shelby is a great helper as she is helping her Dad fix her toys.  She really loves cooking too.  She has a great lean going on while I try to stir pots on the stove.

 

We took out the pack and play so that she can have a play pen.  With the dogs and traffic, I would hate to just put her on the cold floor.  So, we've been using the pack and play.  She seems to be getting better at playing on her own these days.  She loves her walker and prefers to be in it when she's not being carried around the house.

 

Then there's a picture of the cheesy smile.  It's a little out of focus, but if you look closely, you can see her two bottom teeth.  I'd imagine those top ones will be popping out soon.

 

Pretty much we like her, so we've got her with us at all times.  She loves to watch us brush our teeth, hopefully it will be the beginning of a good habit of lots of bushing!

 

Thanksgiving weekend was a nice little break from the work routine.  We managed to get our Christmas tree up and I think all of the decorations are up outside, too.  We took Shelby to her first parade -- it was at night!  It was an art car parade that had the cars decorated with lights. 

 

Life is just busy, of course!  The holiday season seems to make things go 3x as fast! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Shelby's 1st Turkey Day was amazing!  Of course, it would have been nice to see the whole family, but, we're doing the best we can.  She's running around in her walker as I type this.

 

I was determined to take some great pictures, and well, it didn't work out as good as I had hoped...evidence is in the pictures attached.

 

Shelby loved her cranberry sauce!  She's worked hard at giving kisses, and they're as wet as can be.  It seems that she's even learning to wave "Bye", but a little more practice is needed.  Just today she's learned to scrunch her nose when she smiles, I hope it won't last too long, because it gives her a cheesy smile.

 

We have lots of holiday to-do items with her, as always, we're just trying to enjoy the little moments with her -- they're getting better & better!

What A Week

What a week this has been!  I know they say that babies make rapid progress in development, but WHOAAA, this is to much, too quickly...Gosh, it's only Wednesday, can't imagine what the rest of the week & weekend will be like.

 

Stephanie's attempting to now "email" her blog update, so we'll see how/if this all works.  If not, you got the email, so you know what's going on in our world. :)  There are so many cute pictures from the last couple of days, it was hard to select the "few" that are attached here.

 

Monday, we celebrated Gigi's birthday.  One of the pictures is Shelby opening a present that came from San Antonio.  Of course, she's too interested in the paper to care about anything else.  Then Dad got some "bow" practice.  Shelby was a rather cooperative little model -- she's turned into quite the camera lover. 

 

Tuesday was work as usual.  After Shelby's bath, Dad noticed there's not one tooth, but TWO teeth in that little mouth of hers!  That explains why Monday was a rather fussy afternoon!  She must have been busy growing teeth.

 

Wednesday, Dad and Grandpa finished (we think) putting up our Christmas lights outside.  Shelby LOVES the lights.  She chirps when she sees them the first time, and then just gazes all around.  Yes, there are a lot of lights at our house this year.  None shines as bright as our little one...or maybe that's the sparkle in our own eyes when we're watching her!

 

We've decided she is giving kisses already too.  I was not giving her credit when Gigi said this on Tuesday.  But, I told Gigi, that if she wanted to believe it, she could.  Then today, my parents told me the same thing.  My mom would tell her to give her a kiss, and Shelby will lean in, slobber, and pull back, it seems as if she's really giving kisses.  Gigi also noticed how smart she is with her Christmas puppy.  She sings along with him, and at the end of the song, when his tail wags, you can tell her to get his tail, and yes, she reaches right out for his little wagging tail!  (Watch out real pups, she's coming for you sooner than you'd like!)  There's a picture of her in her walker, playing with the puppy.

 

She's growing up so fast.  What a week this has been -- these are simply the moments I can remember -- and get typed out quickly!!

 

 

2009 Holiday Prep

Daniel is quite excited for this year's holiday celebrations. We're just finishing up Danny's birthday, and we've already embarked on the house decorations for Christmas! Daniel has hung icicle lights all around our new carport/patio (aka "The Pavillion") and completely trimmed the house in lights, too. I don't have pictures yet, and that reminds me that I don't think I have any photos of "The Pavillion" that now graces our backyard.

Shelby has taken good long naps this weekend, so I was able to help, even if only briefly. She's growing and growing. I'm guessing her other front tooth may be near, or maybe the first tooth still creeping out of her gum may make her unhappy. She's actually fussed a little more the last couple of days. Today, was a spectacular day -- just the 3 of us! We're looking forward to the expected "cool down" to give us continued inspiration with our holiday decorating.



This evening we were entertained by Shelby's rolling around on the bed. She is not a fan of tummy time. She'll roll -- either way -- just to get to her back! Once on her back, she just loves those feet!

Who wouldn't love this face??? Totally worth untangling those Christmas lights for her -- she loved seeing them tonight!!

6 Month Check Up

We checked out good at the doctor today. This was Shelby's 6 month check up. She's a whopping 20 pounds, 11 ounces, and 27" long. That's 95+ percentille for weight and 90 percentile for height. Her ears were checked and they look fine. It seems she's just finding them and they don't seem to go away. :) She has a little rash on the back of her arm, and we'll try some cortizone cream on there to see if it goes away or gets worse.

She did get a flu shot, too. So that was a total of 1 oral med & 3 pokes. She cried when they stuck her, but immediately quit crying. It was more of a little yelp than anything. In little ones, they do the flu shot in 2 doses, so she goes back in a month for her 2nd dose, if they still have the vaccine. When we got home, I was giving her some juice, she reached down and pulled off her bandaids, handed them to me, as if saying "Done with these, don't even want to see them anymore!"

She did real good, and as always we're super proud of her! Picture are of her in her little dress, just before heading out!



She's always eager to get at our toothbrushes!

Grandpa's 60th Birthday!

Here Shelby is in the car, our way to see Grandpa for his 60th Birthday. I think this is the only picture I have of her "in" the 66 New Yorker.


Stephanie's Aunts all came to visit for the big celebration! It's always so nice to have them around, of course, it always leaves us wishing that we all lived closer. Here's a picture with the cake -- yum!!! I was having photo difficulties -- I always cut Grandpa's head off!



Grandpa was a little too tempting with the cake.



A little closer...just to see what it feels like...



After all that partying, Grandma and Shelby were very tired the next day!



Happy 60th Birthday Grandpa, Happy 6 month birthday Shelby!!

Books!

Shelby loves to read! Rather than dragging around several books, we were given these wonderful nursery rhyme books.



We read and try to point out the characters on the pages for her, too. She seems to especially enjoy reading about the animals.



When turning the pages, she's quite gentle for a six month old.



Here's me & Dad! He doesn't waste his time reading little books, he reads the best magazines! My dad's the greatest -- he lets me read his car magazines and pick out my favorite rides. He even says he'll build me a fast car when I'm older. Right now, I'm just hoping we build me a wagon, a little car, then a go-kart!

Enjoying the moment

Simply put, we cannot look at her without smiling!



Shelby's tooth is coming in nicely, and seems to make her evenings a little fussy. She's generally so happy, that it really doesn't matter! Of course, that tooth isn't visible in the pictures, but no doubt, we check it every monring & every evening. I'm still her favorite -- and I'll be honest, it's kinda nice. She is really enjoying paper these days -- Daniel has been very nice and let her tear up a few magazines. She LOVES to wrinkle those pages. We read lots and she likes that too. She's not as destructive with her books, hopefully that will continue. Still laughing at the dogs -- they just have to look at her, or she just has to catch their movements, and it's so funny! Obviously our days are good ones, hopefully yours are too!!

Halloween

Ok, so I need some service that I can email my blog to, then it just magically appears with photos, videos, etc. Somehow the process of just logging in and publishing a post seem to be to inconvenient for me to handle.

Halloween was terrific -- even better than when I was little and had to go get my own candy! The pictures say it all...here's our little farmer...weighing in at 19 pounds. She'll be 6 months in two weeks...I'm already missing those baby moments.