look where I climbed all by myself!

I Know this video is dark. I had to take it. I was amazed at my daughter mimicking me. Here she's mooing for the cow.

Beans!

She really enjoys mommy's beans with avocado! Click on the picture if you want to zoom in to see her forehead's beany crown.

Changing and growing

Abrianna had succumbed to the land of nod. This gave me an opportunity to jog on the mini tramp. (This is a much preferred exercise for me right now. The icy temperatures result in inconsolable crying of my child/children on every attempted walk in the past two weeks. )
I heard little noises emanating from the bedroom about the time that Cliff Huxtable was returning home after the surprise birthday party that Clair had managed to pull off.
I glanced towards the hall, there was a small face peeking out at me, smile in place - usually when she wakes she cries until she's picked up.
As I made my way to her, she stood to meet me. Just stood up in the middle of the hall way. She appeared to be considering meeting me with a few faltering steps. Not today. We'll save that for another day.
My baby is going to be off and running soon!

Standing

I just thought you all may like to know that Abrianna began standing on her own Friday night. She'll either pull herself to standing and then let go or stand up from the floor without hanging on to anything. Pictures not the best but I did catch her on camera. Way to go Abrianna!

Eating snow

We took Abrianna and Lucas out into the snow to play. She surprised me by taking off crawling through the snow like a snow-cat. Then she paused to bury her face the frozen whiteness! In this first picture she was dipping into the snow with her mittened hands and licking it off. YUMMY! I'll bet it feels really good on a sore little mouth.

Here she is lowering her little face down to lick the snow up.

Connection! Score! She didn't fuss. She loved it. No problem with getting cold or anything.
What are tough little girl!

Eating snow

Make me big and strong

Lucas has been going through a faze of saying different things make him grow Big and Strong
We topped a piece of pie with a candle and trooped into the office singing Happy Birthday to Rick
Lucas wanted a candle on his pie. A little while later he came over to me merrily munching the candle exclaiming, "Candles make me grow big and strong!"
I explained that only good for you foods make you grow big and strong. He thought cookies would make him big and strong too.

Yummy Crayons

Lucas has been playing with washable crayons. This is what a nine- month old little girl eating them ends up looking like. Click on the top picture and zoom in to look at her teeth. Her clothes and face are a mess!

Drinking by myself

She's getting really good with a cup now. She thought she could manage a cup without a lid! Oops! All down her shirt and a shocked look and gasp. Next time, Mommy made sure there was a lid.

Blowing baby

Abrianna's 9 month check up

Hello All,

My baby doll has reached her 9 month well baby check mile stone. She weighs 17 lbs 11 oz ( 28 %). She is 27 3/4 inches tall ( 58%) with a 17.9 inch head ( 88%).
Dr. Wren is happy with her size and progress. Her last month has seen many changes. For New Years she got her third tooth followed 15 days later by her fourth tooth. She is working on three more- poor girl.
Dr. Wren she's exploring her environment by putting things into her mouth. I don't remember Lucas choking and throwing up like she does. But then again, he didn't have a 2 year old brother to add to the number of chokable things available :-)
She has learned to clap her hands. She does it randomly sometimes. At others, she claps while we are singing or she sees us clapping.
Waving bye bye is another thing she learned this month. She can now balance for short periods of time while standing. She crawls up on the trampoline anytime I'm using. She still loves to be with mommy. The anxiety is decreasing when I'm not with her though. If I leave without her seeing, she'll play happily. If she sees me leave... Watch out! Wails immediately follow!
Since coming home from California she has turned into a little explorer. I've lost her a couple of times. When I call her she'll come crawling back to where she can see me as if to ask, "What mom?" The exploration is necessitating trash cans being put up, bathroom doors being closed and toilet seats being put down. She finds great delight in playing with the toilet bowl brushes ( EWWWW!)
She can blow air out of her mouth. She seems to enjoy doing that more when eating in her high chair. Did you know a nine-month old can project food a foot or more straight out of her mouth? I didn't know that. Lucas never discovered this. I tried to video that yesterday. I will be posting a video of blowing but no food :-( I'll try to catch that on video in the future.
Along with asserting her independence comes wanting her space at night. Lucas would cuddle close all night. He still would if I let him :) Abrianna on a nightly basis will roll onto her back and scoot up between the pillows or with her head on my pillow and sleep.
It's amazing to see her personality emerge. She's a very strong go getter with a lot of energy. The nurse yesterday couldn't believe how strong she was while we were measuring. She didn't want her legs held down. This determined little miss, like to steal brothers toys if he's not paying attention or has just left them. She screams if he comes too close to the toys she is playing with.
She is also like her Aunties Alyssa and Jen, being a night owl. The later the evening gets the more wound up she becomes. Her happiest times of day are in the evenings.
Well, I'll end my ramblings and hope all of you have a wonderful day!

Rompin

Maybe they're learning to be friends and play together!

Alas...

As most of you probably already know.... Lucas developed pink eye last Thursday night. I tried home remedies on it for several days but then decided to try the drops. Maybe they'd work faster.
I need to be doing massages, and my clients don't want to share pink eye with us.
Sunday we trekked into the on-call pediatrician to get the drops. I learned that he should no longer be contagious 24-48 hours after starting drops and not having discharge. Yeah! I will be able to go to MOPS on Tuesday.
I thought to be on the safe side that Lucas ought to enjoy some father/son time. So I arose early, did my worship and hit the shower.
Abrianna woke. Rick put her on the floor, where she proceeded to search for me tears streaming down her cheeks and wails emanating from deep within. She found me in the shower. The wails continued until I got out.
Alas, both of her little eyes were very icky and goopy. So much for heading to MOPS.
Next best thing was to make a nice breakfast for us and enjoy my precious treasures. Hopefully I'll catch the next meeting in February.
I must go. A dirty diaper is calling for me. :-)

Cute Story

One day while in California, my brother offered to take both Lucas and his son Jadon to the dump with him. The boys love riding in the truck.
I was getting Lucas ready to go and noticed a very drippy little nose. "Let's go in the house and wipe your nose." I said.
On the way up the steps I also noticed that his little boots were very muddy. Not wanting him to mess up the floor in Grandma's house, I told him, " make sure you wipe your boots on the rug."
When we went through the door, I headed towards the Kleenex box. Lucas standing on the rug, asked, "right here, momma?" Thinking he was referring to his muddy boots, I said, " yes, right there." He then proceeded to bend down and wipe his snotty nose on Grandma 'Tine's rug.
Silly boy!

Helpful Brother

Lucas came to me excitedly exclaiming he'd made
his sister dirty this morning. I asked if he was
feeding her oatmeal. He said, "Yes."
I walked toward the table only to see him smearing oatmeal on her head.
He had given her the bowl too. What precious
messes we have when older brother tries to help out.

Saturday night

Tonight Rick, Reggie, Cousin Danny, and Grant took off for a hockey game in Tri-cites.
I generally feel very lonely on Saturday nights anyway- Rick disappears into the computer room to play WOW till the wee hours of the morning.
But tonight more I was singing the blues. I didn't have the option of having company. Thursday night Lucas' right eyes was a little goopy. I thought we'd gotten on top of it yesterday as it was looking a lot better.
But, I didn't apply anything to it during the night. After putting something on it this morning I left with Abrianna for church, leaving him home with his sick daddy. When I got back both eyes were red. I do believe that I"m going to have to take him to the doctor. I was hoping to avoid it. Sigh...
Anyway.... We enjoyed a Papa Murphey's black olive pizza, which we dressed up with mushrooms and roasted garlic, and an Italian Blood Orange Soda.
For entertainment, Lucas and I put on an old Jerry Lewis movie, "Jumping Jacks" . Abrianna went to sleep shortly thereafter. We had some good mommy/son time while putting together a 100 piece Noah's Ark floor puzzle.
Now its time for bed. The evening was more enjoyable than I anticipated. If I take the time... I really enjoy my kids.

Reading a children's Christmas story.







Listening on Great Grandma Jeanie's lap. He really loved Grandma Jeanie.

Abrianna opening a gift

What a yummy bow!









I didn't even attempt having Abrianna open presents with all the cousins. I saved a gift and when the noise and confusion had died down... I gave her a gift to open.

Just like all other babies, she found the paper much more interesting than what was contained within the paper.

Christmas pictures

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Cousin Seth loved mauling Abrianna. He loves babies. He would hug and kiss her, knocking her to the floor. Also anytime she was on all fours he tried to ride her like a horse. She didn't appreciate smothering. Surprisingly she kept kissing Seth while I was taking these pictures.

Abrianna was fascinated by the beautiful shiny Christmas lights.

Lucas sitting with Aunty Lyssa listening to, "My Bible Friends" version of the Christmas story.

Greely Hill, CA

The Sunday before we left, my dad convinced me to come riding ATV's with him. I haven't done that in a year! True to fashion, the men picked a trail they would have to conquer.

Just before this 10 foot cliff/bank we came down a really steep hill. I WAS NOT going to drive down that. My older brother Jeremy, knowing I wouldn't want too, came to the rescue and took the Kawasaki down for me. There were ruts over 2 feet deep on the trail!

I walked down. There was my dad in his "Grandpa-mobile" easing over those ruts. Now to clarify, he and my mom had my youngest brother Mitch, nephew Jadon, and my kids with them strapped into the seats. My brother Kyle, brother-in-law Peter, and I were standing around it. The angle was bad and it started to tip over with my babies in it!

All three of us grabbed a hold, preventing it from tipping over. We unloaded the kids. Mom and I helped/dragged them up that steep muddy bank. Then came the fun part- for the guys- conquering the hill. The Grandpa-Mobile winched itself up without mishap. But, just at the top it was a little off camber, tipping it into tree branches resulting in multiple cracks in the windshield.
Then each bike was driven up as far as possible. The brakes jammed on and a strap attached to the front. With much spinning of tires, pushing and grunting it would inch its was to the top. Then repeat process.
Rick wanted the challenge of riding his motorcycle up the hill. Throttling up, he went for it. Didn't make it. The back tire slid out and the bike came to an abrupt halt.
I was over watching the 4-wheelers being drug up the hill. I heard my mom gasping as the bike went down and my heart accelerated! Whew! Fortunately all turned out well.
The above pictures show this adventure.
ENJOY :-)