Happy Halloween!

Okay, I'm a day late. But now you get pictures! After driving all over creation...

first stop: Mark's office. The accountant taped an envelope to Alessia that read "I only take cash" and brought her around the office, making people put money in. I was soooo embarassed.


Second stop: Livingston Camera Mart to visit the in-laws. Alessia had a blast flying through the air. Did you know turtles could fly?

Third stop: My parents. Some family and friends stopped by to see her as well. She had fun playing with candy (no I didn't let her eat any, but she loved playing with the M&Ms and Skittles packs)

Finally, home. Tick-or-treating with her best friend, Eliza (and Danielle and Pete too)

Where should we go?

Any yummy candy for mommy?

I thought I was pretty creative with the sling. You could still see her shell that way, although people still couldn't tell she was a turtle. "Cute frog!" "oh she's a dragon!" "Is she a slug?"

yum yum yum

it's official, Alessia looooves food. And loves to let you know she loves it. She insists on "singing" while you feed her. Tonight she practiced her "eeee" and "aaayyy" sounds while she chowed down on some butternut squash. Cute, but makes it difficult to feed her. Today she also had avocado for the first time. My mom said she made a funny face at first, but still ate it. So far, she hasn't rejected anything. Soon to come: oatmeal (we've been eating brown rice cereal), peas, green beans, and carrots. I have to get some recipes for some yummy combos for her as well. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow I'm playing hookie from work so I can spend the whole day with her and show her off in her costume. We're driving all over creation to make the rounds to all the "important" people, then back home to do some trick-or-treating with Danielle, Eliza and Pete. Can't wait!

Wordless Wednesday

...and we're back!

Sorry I've been MIA (though did anyone really care?). There have been plenty of blog-worthy events and topics, however for various reasons - being freakin exhausted, having to self-censor, and having absolutely no time to do anything - I haven't posted a thing. So here's some news:

Alessia is 6 months today! How the hell did that happen?! She's too cute. I'm too lazy to download any pics because this computer is too slow for my patience tonight, so I'll have to add some tomorrow. But here's just a few amazing (well at least to me) things she has been doing:

• make an array of noises, some even I can't make
• transfer objects from one hand to the other, even tiny pieces of ribbon on her toys
• sit up with minimal assistance
• rock on all fours - actually she kind of does like a military crawl, but gets annoyed after a while and decides it's just faster to roll around to get places
• anticipate what's going to happen in her favorite bedtime books - every night when we read The Going to Bed Book, right before the last line "...they rock and rock and rock to sleep." she starts to smile and giggle cuz she knows we're about to rock her. When we read Good Morning, Good Night, she gets ansy for the last page where she can play with the little blanket that covers the baby.
• she's starting to love "peek-a-boo"
• she gives me huge, tight hugs when I pick her up from my mom's everyday

She's been enjoying "big people food" for the past 2 weeks, and so far has had apple sauce, pears, bananas, sweet potato and butternut squash. She's loved them all, and gets so excited when she sees the bowls coming. It's all been homemade, so I'm happy she likes them.

She was supposed to have her 6 month check up tomorrow, but when I didn't get a call from the office to confirm, I called them only to find out that someone cancelled the appointment without calling me, and she wasn't in the system. So we're going next week. No biggie. I'm happy she's not getting shots tomorrow, but really wanted to see how much she weighs. I guess I'll just have to wait!

Wordless Wednesday

more big people food and other updates

This weekend Alessia had applesauce for the first time! (homemade) The first time we got a mixed review when she had it separately - I don't think the apples I used were really sweet. But she ate it when I mixed it into the cereal. Today she was uberexcited when she saw the bowl, and was lovin the cereal, but still not excited about the apples on their own. I mixed it in, and then kept sneaking her some apple-only spoonfuls on the side.

Yesterday I also made her pears and sweet potatoes and froze them. I figure we'll try the pears Wed. then try either the sweet potatoes or squash on Sat. Should be fun!

So while food has been going well, Alessia's sleep patterns have been horrible. For the past week, she has been waking up around 10 screaming and will only calm down if I go get her. If Mark gets her she continues to wail and look for me. As soon as I pick her up she falls back asleep, but I can't get her to go back in her crib. I wonder if she could be having nightmares? Last night while I was holding her, she started to whimper then cry again in her sleep like she was scared. I tried a night light earlier in the week but it didn't seem to make a difference. I'll try it again tonight, and hoping it will work. Before going back to work, getting her to go to bed and sleep had gotten so much easier. The past two months have felt like we took 3 steps back. I just hope it'll get better soon! I can't take all these wakings during the night when I have to get up before 5 in the morning.

Okay, I've procrastinated doing my lesson plans enough. I'm off!

Wordless Wednesday

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