Merry Christmas!

Hello and Merry Christmas. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday. It was such a special year for us, Rose's first Christmas! She has loved the lights, sparkle and huge 10 ft tree parked in our living room for the last few weeks. She loves reaching out to grab the branches and touch the ornaments. Her favorites are the round ones. She finds Mom's Baby's First Christmas ornament from 1980 every time! There has been so much to look at and she has enjoyed taking everything in.

Opening presents

We were happy to host the traditional Russian Christmas Eve lunch and enjoyed meeting up for Ryan's family party later that day. Santa Claus found Rose, since of course she was on the nice list this year. We had a wonderful Christmas day and hosted Grandma and Grandpa H and Uncle Jay for a yummy lasagna dinner. The 26th was a day with Grandma and Grandpa T and then over to Great Grandma and Grandpa W for a visit with cousins and aunts and uncles. What fun!

How am I going to decide what to wear?!

Playing with my new toys

Happy family

It appears Rose may be in another round of teething. She bites everything (including us sometimes, and hard). Those 2 bottom teeth are pretty sharp! She is working on crawling, but is not quite ready yet. She does have the freestyle kick figured out while on her tummy. May we have a future swimming champ on our hands? She loves dancing to all kinds of music and enjoys standing and holding up on us or furniture.

Working those gums

I have been enjoying the last week and a half at home with her. We have had some busy days visiting, but it is so nice to have her at home to myself since we are so busy when we're in regular work routine. Going back on the 3rd will be tough, but I know she will enjoy her time back with Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Playing around with Dad

Silly girl!

Happy New Year!!!! 2011 has been an amazing year for us and we are so thankful for all of the wonderful memories made. May you be blessed with health and happiness in 2012 :) We can't wait to see what's ahead for us.

Holiday Time

What an exciting month Rose has had. She had her first weekend sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa T and was on her best behavior (thank goodness that she'll be welcomed back!).  She has also been spending more time with Grandma H and is enjoying having 3 different houses with lots of fun toys, all for her!!

I love sitting up all by myself!

She is also getting used to eating lots of solids. I am attempting to make her baby food at home and have had success using the Baby Bullet. If I can do this, surely anyone can. Her favorite foods include pears, apples, banana, avocado, zucchini and squash. She is not a big fan of sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, or peas. It took a week or so to get used to eating and now she loves it!

This spoon tastes pretty good

We had her 6 month checkup and she weighed in at 18lb 5oz and 27.25in long. She is a healthy girl, on the higher end of the percentage charts. The doctor said her extra "girth" is a good thing :) Those cheeks and chubby thighs couldn't be cuter. We think there is just more to love. She is in her 9 month clothes and in a couple of weeks, I expect us to be pushing into 12 months! She grows so quickly.

I better be on Santa's "nice" list this year!

She is babbling non stop and we think we hear "hi", "mama", "dada", and "yeah". She also loves to crawl in a circle and try and pull up on your legs. She is standing with little support and pulls hard on everything (necklaces, earrings, hair etc.). She loves music, lights and is fascinated watching Layla our dog. She loves her jumper and exersaucer and enjoys rolling across the entire floor now.

Dad and his little girl

Mama's Buddy

We're looking forward to Christmas to slow down a bit and enjoy our family time. Wishing Great Grandpa W strength and healing too. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Baptism, Halloween, Solids, First Cold & Two Teeth!

I can't believe it's already November and Rose will be 6 months old in just a few days. The last couple weeks have flown by. A lot has been happening keeping us pretty busy. We introduced Rose to solid food last weekend. We started with homemade puree of carrots and then sweet potatoes. This week we will try squash. It was one of the funniest things ever. She made some faces never seen before and didn't know what to think of that stuff we were trying to get in that little mouth. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it and start to enjoy it a little more.

What is this stuff?!

After drooling and putting everything in her mouth for the last several months, her two bottom teeth cut through! Rose officially has a couple of chompers. She was a trooper and didn't get a fever but was a little fussier than normal. We're on the lookout for more which will be coming soon.

Little fashion diva 

We also celebrated Rose's baptism with the family last Sunday. She was a very good girl, but was getting so tired at church since she missed her morning nap. Surprisingly, after fussing a bit throughout the long service, she was on her best behavior when it was show time with the minister. We really enjoyed having the family at our place afterwards. It was a good day.

At church

Sleepyhead was exhausted

Right after solids and then the baptism, Halloween was upon us. Rose was a sweet little strawberry this year. We didn't do any trick or treating but enjoyed her costume for some photo opps.

Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat

Why am I dressed like a strawberry

How can I eat this pumpkin?

I love my toys!

She started to get a little cough this past week and lost a bit of her appetite and was kind of fussy so we took her in to get checked. Rose has her first cold, but hopefully is on the mend. Mom and Dad have had a few short nights since that cough will wake her up. Poor thing :(

Daddy's Girl (in her guitar PJ's)

Check out my cool new ball

 Her official weigh in at 5.5 months was 17lb 6 oz and 26.5in long. She is getting so big and strong. She even started sitting up on her own this week. What an amazing transformation from our little newborn just a few months ago.

Go Green!

What a fun couple of weeks! Rose is getting more and more coordinated everyday. She is our little jumping bean in her jumper and has been rolling around more to reach out for her favorite toys. She loves anything she can chew on (including her feet) and anything with lights or music. She seems to really enjoy Cookie Monster (thanks to Grandma T) and you have to do the voice along with him. She grins from ear to ear.

Yum!

She had her friends Simona and Campbell over to cheer on the Spartans play the Wolverines. The kids looked so cute as their parents had them all decked out in green and white. We also went to celebrate her friend Ashley's first birthday this past Saturday. There were so many kids to keep an eye on and she really enjoyed seeing those on the move, especially little Miss Ashley. She was dolled up in an Elmo outfit, so adorable! Rose is fascinated watching other kids. She also got to spend some quality time with her cousin Jack, who spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He's a busy boy!

Future Spartans?

Over the last week, Rose has starting sleeping longer which gives Mom a well needed break. She's working on 7-8 hour stretches. We've even had a couple of 9 hour nights (keep your fingers crossed that this continues!) She has also moved out of our room and up into her crib this week. She seems to be doing just fine, but we miss having her so close.

Happy Girl

 Another big update is that her first tooth is appearing! She has been fussing a little more than normal and drooling like crazy. We checked on Monday night and we can see the bottom right one coming up. She's been doing pretty well so hopefully it doesn't bother her too much. We're also planning to start solids this coming weekend. I am going to attempt making the food at home and see how it goes. Stay tuned for the next big update.

Indian Summer

 This past weekend we had lots of fun enjoying the great weather. We hit the trail, (ok the mean streets of Saline), and enjoyed the neighborhood on Saturday and Sunday. Many people were out and there was a lot to look at! We did a little shopping at the mall and Rose was awake and checking things out the whole time. I think she really enjoyed all the shiny things at the Macy's Christmas display. Can you believe it's out already?!

We did lots of playing and I hit up a mom to mom sale and found some great finds. Rose now has her first toy guitar, much to Dad's delight. I'll need to get a picture of that.

We enjoyed celebrating Great Grandma W's belated birthday. Rose was full of smiles for everyone and busy in the exersaucer and her bumbo. Those thighs are getting pretty chunky so I think the bumbo's days are numbered.

Our Big Girl Has A Big Week!

So Rose has been very busy this past week. She enjoyed her very first sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa T last Saturday! She was a very good girl, so will hopefully be welcomed back :) She also spent three days in a row with Grandma H enjoying the nice weather and all her toys.

We set up her jumper last weekend and she enjoys bouncing around while trying to put any or all of her toys in her mouth at the same time. No teeth have popped up quite yet, but we are certainly going through the bibs trying to catch that drool.

She has discovered her feet and likes putting those toes in her mouth after bath time. She squeals with delight at this newfound talent. Such fun :)