Sad...

Our Purdue plates expired so we had to get Illinois plates.... yuck! We may now have Illinois plates on both cars but we will never be FIBs or FISH.

New Tricks

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th with my family in Oshkosh and had a great week and weekend. Ally got to hang out with the whole family and play at the water park and in the lake for the first time. The weather was perfect all week and we took lots of walks. She was so busy every day, she barely had time for naps and she liked to stay awake as long as possible before settling into her pack and play for bed. We didn't make it to any of the parades on the 4th but we had a lot of fun at the lake. Ally loved hanging out in her starfish float and playing in the grass with her toys. The water was a little chilly but it didn't seem to bother her at all. After some playtime in the water she took a nice long nap in her stroller and spent time crawling around from one relative to the next. We figured she was a little too young for fireworks this year but next year we will be sure to introduce them to her. I didn't take a ton of pictures but here are a few from the week.

9 Months Old

This month has been a big one in Allyson's development. She has reached some major milestones and is close to a few others. Here are some of the latest fun developments:

• In addition to crawling, she can pull herself to a standing position while holding onto things
• She crawls FAST!
• Her hair is really filling in and getting very curly
• Two bottom teeth are in and the two top ones are getting closer to the surface
• She is very careful when letting herself down to the ground from a standing position
• She likes to climb on and over any obstacles including our legs, toys, pillows and her toy basket
• Her current hobbies include people watching, emptying toy baskets, emptying bags, emptying book shelves and more people watching
• Cheerios and puffs (any flavor) are the foods of choice and she will also feed herself breads, pretzels, crackers, noodles and other Gerber snacks
• This past week she started to clap for the first time
• Her vocabulary has grown to include dada, ga, la, ba, ya, ah and a strange sound almost like "unk"
• She loves to yell and sing loud, especially when she can hear an echo
• She can turn on and off the light in her room if you put her by the switch
• She is a wonderful sleeper at night, usually going for 10-11 hours
• She loves to read and can now turn the pages in the books herself
• Swimming lessons have been fun and she enjoys being in the water
• She smiles at anyone and laughs often
• Sesame Street holds her interest for a few minutes
• "Single Ladies" by Beyonce is her favorite song and can be used to entertain/distract her when needed

Some not as fun developments:

• She can crawl fast and gets into things before I even know what she's doing
• Her favorite activities include emptying Ella's food and water dishes onto the floor
• She thinks all of the things in the apartment are her toys and its tough to keep her away from the blinds and the cords near the sliding glass door
• Eating is still a struggle and can either go very well or very bad. She only wants to feed herself hard/crunchy items and is very picky when it comes to other textures. She also does not like to eat breakfast. Meats are still not part of her diet as we just cant get her to open her mouth.
• She discovered stairs and thinks they are for playing on when we are in a place that has them
• Poor Ella just cant get away from Ally... there is no safe spot in the apartment and Ally likes to steal Ella's bones and chew toys
• She is nearly impossible to change as she is constantly squirming to get away. This is a huge frustration but its also hit and miss. Some toys entertain her and some don't so you never know whats going to happen. When all else fails, break out the "Single Ladies" song and dance!
• She hates the vacuum cleaner and hair dryer

Today we visited a new pediatrician here in Springfield. Ally has really grown since her 6 months appointment: 19 lbs 6 oz and 28.5 inches long. This brings her into the 61st percentile for weight and the 75th for height. Dr. Ehrlic seemed nice and gave us the anticipated "shes perfect" response. No shots this time but she will get the full work up at her next appointment which will be the Monday following her first birthday. Enjoy some photos from the last month!

9 Months!

Today Ally celebrated her 9 month birthday. We are currently visiting family in Wisconsin so her official update and photos will be posted next week when we get home. She has reached many new milestones this month so there will be a lot to share!