9-month update

Today was Beth's 9-month ped appointment. She's 27 inches and 17 lbs 8 oz- both in the 25th percentiles! Our little girl is growing! Her ear still has fluid in it, although her infection is clearing up. I am praying now that she doesn't have a childhood filled with chronic ear infections. :-(

Swinging at the park!



Vegas and her new friend BFF, Lady. They're sisters now- Vegas no longer lives with us. :-(

Our freaky tree- the whole thing is wrapped in webs like this- even the branches. I'm a little weired out.

Crawling

Fun day!

Today we had a play group for Beth's friend's first birthday. She was able to play (well, as much as a 9mo plays) with 6 or 7 other kiddos. She's becoming more interactive every day it seems, she enjoys watching the other kids toddle around her! It's so neat to see all the cogs turning in her head as she tries to figure out the world... A couple of days ago we think she made her first "sign"- well, she is definitely signing something because she's repeated it several times at different times throughout the day. I think she's signing "more"- usually we use this sign when we're playing or eating. The first time I noticed it, she didn't use it in the right context (or if she wanted more of something, I didn't understand what- she was crawling on the floor in the kitchen). So now I'm really trying to emphasize it when she's eating and wants more food. There are a lot of other signs we do with her, mostly please and thank you, nurse, play, bath, and sleep. I think she understands "nurse" because when I do it she throws her head off to the side and gets ready! But she hasn't signed it to me yet!

Playing in the morning, in her favorite corner... Where she can attack the cd player, magazines, and trash can all at once.

Playing in a ball pit at our friend's house today!

Enjoying the beautiful weather outside!

Swinging with Mommy

The concert from last Saturday- The Killers. It rocked.

On the move

This video was taken last week, the day before she started crawling the "right" way (I have yet to capture that on film). But it'll show you exactly how agile, quick, and determined this litte girl is!

Baby's First Fever :-(

My poor little darling is sick. Last night she became hot to the touch, and we took her temperature- it was around 102. :-( She was stuffy, congested, and glassy-eyed. She slept on my chest last night, I slept sort of sitting up so that she could breathe. This morning she seemed better, but as the day wore on the fever kept going up (despite the Motrin) so I called the pediatrician and we went for a visit. Since she'd had such a high fever today (103.7) they tested her for a urinary tract infection and took some blood- everything is within normal limits. So... looks like we have to wait this one out. The good news is that we know it's NOT a UTI, which apparently can be very painful and hard to treat in little girls. We'll just have another easy day tomorrow and rest up so hopefully she's better by Saturday for her uncle's birthday party!

Here are some cute pictures of her from three days ago, before she got sick! These were taken in the morning, right after her breakfast.

Lots going on

My day planner is filling up quickly! We've all been so busy this past week, and as of yesterday all of our weekends in October are already filled!

Last Thursday Beth and I went to mass at Northwoods Catholic School- they had a very special visitor! Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, who is the general director of Regnum Christi, came to celebrate mass with the kids- and the local Regnum Christi members were invited to attend mass! We felt very blessed to be able to attend mass and receive personal blessings from him. There was a big crowd and Beth behaved pretty well, although the past few weeks she has become very vocal during mass. I think she likes all of the singing, but when the congregation stops she keeps going! So I think my days of having a quiet baby sleep through mass are over!

Saturday we asked Grandma and Grandpa to come visit for a few hours so Ryan and I could go out. We just went out to Lowes and walked around, but it was nice to have a few minutes alone. Those moments are rare and they are treasured! That evening was Beth's first Aggie game- well, we watched it on TV. Okay, she played while Ryan stayed glued to the TV and I made dinner. We plan to go to College Station to tailgate in Ocotber- but not to the game. I don't really want to pay full price for a ticket for Beth! So we'll have fun with family members outside of Kyle Field!

Monday we had a playgroup at our house. Five moms and 7 kids! Need I say more! It was very loud, very busy, and only slightly messy. I had a fabulous time and I hope we can do it again!

Beth semi-behaving herself during mass. The first time she tore a page from the hymnal!

The crowd welcoming Fr. Alvaro and several Legionaries of Christ

Before mass began- Fr. Alvaro is second from the right!

Daddy and Beth on game day-she's waving!

Playing at the fish tank

Her first real finger foods. They're the generic brand of Gerber Puffs- soft, easily disolvable cereal-like "puffs". They're banana flavored and she loved them!

New Furniture

Here are some pics of our new furniture- well, we've had everything for about a month, I'm just now getting around to posting the pics. The sofas are new from Lane Furniture, and the entertainment center was purchased from someone in our town who was moving.

Here you go, Mom. Here are those pics you've been waiting for oh-so-patiently. :-)

Praise God!

Last night we had a rainstorm. It really wasn't all that bad, but at one point there was the most sudden, loudest crash of thunder I've ever heard. It sound like two cars slamming into each other- Ryan and I both jumped, but Beth wasn't phased, lol. We didn't think anything of it. So this morning I let Vegas outside and she runs to our hammock and starts smelling something that appears to be a snake, so I flip out and call her to me and go investigate (don't worry, I made sure it wasn't moving before I got too close!) It was a huge piece of bark that had been sliced clean off of a huge pine tree- by lightning! Lightning struck our tree- a tree not even 10 feet from our house! PRAISE GOD that the tree or its branches didn't catch fire and fall on our house. It is really quite a site- the pictures don't do it justice.

My little escape artist

Happy!
Trying to get out of the playpin.
Almost...