8 teeth, "Momma", schedules, and trying to walk!

First off, thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this blog! It is fun to have friends tell me that they are waiting for a new update! Secondly, sorry I am so terrible at updating it! Starting the month off, Jon's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (not too common these days!) and we had a fun celebration with them! Unfortunately we didn't get any family photos!Aunt Kim and cousin Riley.

So days in the Klubnik household have finally become some what of a routine and I am enjoying the little bit of predictability that comes with it!

Allie gets up about 6:30 each morning (except last week with the time change-I guess she didn't get my memo and decided that 5:30 was an acceptable time!), eats, makes a nice diaper present for us, and goes back to bed about 8. Lunch is at 11 with a second nap around 1:30 followed by snack at 3. Then it's dinner at 5:30 and bedtime usually NO later than 6:45. We have tried for weeks to get her to stay up till 7:30 and to sleep until 7:30, but to no avail! You wouldn't think it would be that difficult to move the schedule up by 1 hour! She will have nothing to do with it and lets us know by crying for 1-2 hours when we put her down and then doesn't nap the next day! BUT, I am so thankful that she sleeps so well and I like to have a routine to know what to expect! So, mom and baby are happy! Dad is happy, but would like to have more "Allie time" at night! Jon and I have been playing Skip-Bo at night, and I think I am winning more games than he is.... :O)

This past month, Allie had her first temperature (103.2 while taking Motrin) and sick visit to the doctor! NOT fun!

Now that we have a routine, it has made it so much easier to meet friends for lunch, (Marie and Zoe; 4 months-our small group)Kim and Jordan; 2 months (our small group)do Friday fun group with girls from my Sunday school class; 5 of them were born within 2 weeks of each other (children's Museum, Halloween party, zoo) run errands, go to the park, and clean house! Jillian; 4 months, Kennedy and Kaitlyn Slate; 3yearsStill working on how to get dinner ready when so much is happening all around 5-7 at night though!

First trip to the zoo with Parker 3, Kaitlyn 2 and Hayden 3.

Big news with Allie is that she is now 9 months (check-up tomorrow) and has 8 teeth: yes there are really 8 of them! Check out her smile!She has also started saying "ba-ba" (probably for ball- Raymond is always playing with it, and bottle) and she also says "MOMMA"! Her first official word! Yea!

She is also crawling EVERYWHERE and pulls herself up on everything! Including Raymond's home! She is trying to walk and I think she will have mastered that by Christmas for sure. She also has the best hairdo right now! No matter what I do to it, it sticks straight up and even though it has grown about 2 more inches, it just sticks up higher! When I put stuff in it to keep it down, it sticks straight out sideways! I have hope that one day she will get some of my curls!

One last swim before winter -who says you have to wear a swimsuit!?!

8 months and A LOT has changed!

Allie Keegan is now 8 months old and wow has her life changed (and ours)! She is not a snuggle-bug (I actually miss the days when I could hold her for hours!) and she doesn't stay still very long! I think she will be walking way too soon and I will be chasing after her!

1.She is officially crawling! She started off scooting around and going backwards and doing the army crawl at 7 months. 3 days before she turned 8 months she figured out how to go forward and she hasn't slowed down yet!

cute story... We picked her up from church 3 weeks ago and they had her in the bumbo chair and she was NOT happy and you could tell she had been crying. So the next week, I told them she hated the bumbo and sits on her own very well. When we picked her up last week, she was sitting on the floor with 2 other babies; but they were in the bumbo chairs and it looked so cute b/c it was like she was showing them how to do it! She was just as content as could be!

2.She can drink from a straw and a regular cup now (still a little messy with the cup- but overall great).

3.We had to take off the bumper pads on the crib b/c Allie was untying the ribbons (while she was suppose to be napping) and she can pull herself up in the crib. I went to check on her the other day at nap time b/c she was quiet and I peeked through the door crack to find her sitting up and staring right at me! It made me laugh so hard b/c I was caught! This is how she used to sleep, holding onto the bumper and blanket over her face! She always sleeps on her left side as well.

4.She got her "big girl" car seat b/c she would arch her back and cry every time I put her in the other one! She actually only had 1 1/2 in. until she outgrew it anyways (the Keyfit 30) she is in the 95% for her height!Old infant seat.New child seat. In case you can't see, her feet already touch the carseat and she has 4 more months of riding rear facing in this!

5.She started eating regular food mashed up and teething biscuits. LIKES everything, including pickles! This picture was of her very first bite.

Video of her eating a pickle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ehUGVtRJp4

6.Her two top teeth have officially broken though. She now has 4 teeth and the 2 upper and lower ones came in at the same time. (is that common?)

7.She has learned how to be just like Ralph!

8.She can pull her self up into a standing position now. This is her basket of toys!Jon's parent's celebrated their 5oth wedding anniversary in September, so we took them to dinner and Allie was quite the happy one!
Dinner to celebrate my Mom's birthday. Allie's cousin's are a few years older than her! Jon was out of town.

A fun story... Our house is on the market and 2 Saturday's ago Allie was still taking her nap when the people showed up, so I told Jon to tell them I was staying in her room while they looked and he could take the dogs and leave. As he went outside I heard him say "We watch your t.v. show!" I looked out the window and I see Jen and Bill from TLC's show "The little couple"!!!! I raced down the stairs to meet them and they really are as short as they look on t.v.! They were so nice and Jon got to show them around! It would be hilarious if they bought our house and it was on tv! We didn't get a picture with them b/c Jon "chickened out" and didn't ask them when they were leaving (I was in her bedroom)! :o( Oh well, it's still fun to have celebrities come look at your house and they liked it!....

A week in Breckenridge CO.

Ready for Take off! Last week, we got to go to Breckenridge, CO. for 6 days using our time share! It was a working vacation for Jon and it was perfect for Allie to get her naps in during the day while Daddy worked.

Our friends, Chris and Susie(with baby Tobin on the way) joined us for the weekend, and we had lots of fun hanging out with them and doing the alpine slide. (Susie is a lot more daring than I was at 7 1/2 months pregnant!) She is in her big girl stroller now.

The first couple of days it was quite chilly with the lows in the upper 30's, but by Monday, the weather was really a wonderful treat. The town was absolutely gorgeous with flowers EVERYWHERE and it was so fun to just walk around. There were lots of great places to take pictures- just wish I knew how to use our camera better! (and stage them better)

We went to Vail one day and it is also VERY beautiful in the summer with flowers everywhere. It reminded me of a little town in Switzerland!

We got this frog in Vail, and she LOVED it right from the start. She hugs it and sleeps with it every night; too cute!Daddy's little Einstein! We pray she has Daddy's "super brain!"She finally got to wear some of her clothes that were for warmer weather and I must admit that I think she looked adorable! :O)

A little business and a little pleasure! Who has to know exactly what you are doing??An office with a view!

We took Allie on her first mountain hike up the ski slopes and had a picnic lunch. She much prefers to drink from big people cups than her bottle or a sippy cup!The view of the slopes from our balcony. No snow yet...The place we stayed at was wonderful because it had a full kitchen/living room, and washer/dryer in the unit! That is the best way to travel as you don't have to eat out every meal and it is easier with a baby! Allie slept in a crib in the closet(!) and she even started scooting backwards while we were there! She LOVES this jump up! I think it helped her legs get strong b/c after 2 weeks in it, she has been "crawling" everywhere! She is getting really good at getting up on her knees; she just has not figured out how to go forward! I love this portable high chair by "Phil and Ted". It is perfect to take along and only weighs 2 lbs.

It was great to take a vacation and she did great on the plane even though she was up both ways for over 5 hours. On the way back there was a nun sitting behind us and Allie was flirting with her and just cracking up the whole time! It was too cute! I think this was the perfect age to take her and it was easier this time to travel with her. We have another week long trip to Sedona in Nov. so we will see how that goes!

Some of Allie's updates at 7 months: Starting to crawl, eating all kinds of baby food and started biscuits today, doesn't like a sippy cup- prefers a regular one, She sleeps from 6:15 to 6:45 ALL NIGHT!! Takes two naps during the day, Loves to laugh and make noises, Weight- just shy of 18lbs (95%for her age) height- 28in (60%), two teeth on the bottom and the top two are coming in right now, LOVES her doorway jumper!!!!, and is starting to be a little more cuddly! :O)

6 month photos and my life

I can finally say that I know what my day will look like in advance. Allie is now on a pretty consistent schedule of awake at 6:45-7 eat and play then back to bed at 8-8:15. She will wake up anywhere from around 10-11 eat, play and we usually run some sort of errand. Then nap again around 1-2 until about 3-4. Same thing again eat dinner and play, sometimes swim or run an errand and then in bed by 6-6:30. And sleeping all night! I do love having a schedule!!! Now I just need to figure out how to have a life outside of my house with a baby who sleeps so much and won't sleep if we are out and about!
I have realized that getting to see friends is a real treat these days; in fact I think after having Allie we lost a lot of friends and now we are trying to make new ones! So my big accomplishments today were we went to HEB and got groceries and then later we went to Walmart to look for a Johnny Jump up for Allie. I even did some house cleaning in between! And tomorrow I have lunch plans with a friend, so all in all I guess I am doing OK. I guess I just feel very isolated at times, love being a mom- just getting used to a different lifestyle now!
The above pictures I took with a black tablecloth over our couch and made a tutu with left over tulle from my baby shower. I was very happy with the way they turned out and I just adore looking at her sweet face.

Update

Great news on the sleeping issues! Allie will now sleep from 6:30 to about 7 in the morning with out a peep! There have been times when she cries during the first hour or so, but no more waking up and crying in the middle of the night! YEA!!! I just read the book called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" which really helped a lot.

Other news: I finally broke down and bought Allie a new high chair. I had been given one, but the straps were broken and they didn't have any replacement ones. I also was given a TRIPP TRAPPE one that I repainted (it's all wood and can be used for years as it adjusts to a real chair) and I love it, but she is too little for it right now. So instead of holding her and trying to feed her, she now has this super cool chair. She has enjoyed it and still LOVES to eat everything! Green beans took her two tries, but loves them now! She definitely got her Daddy's love of food- thank goodness!

Allie will be going on he r second plane ride in 2 weeks when we go to Colorado for the week! We will also get to spend some time with friends who moved up there. Hopefully it will be cooler weather and we will get to do some hiking with our new baby backpack!

Cutting a tooth and NOT sleeping anymore!

It's hard to believe that Allie is getting so big! It really seems like just a few weeks ago that the was still a newborn! Part of the reason may be that I am getting delirious from no sleep these days and everything is flowing into one long drawn out time frame! Last week I noticed Allie was becoming very fussy and not her happy self. It took me a few days to finally realize what the culprit was though. Then I stuck my finger on her gums and viola-a tooth had come through! So now I knew I could give her some Tylenol to help with the pain, and to help with my sanity!
Along with teething, she has given up her sleeping through the night and for the last month and a half I have been too tired to do anything about it but go upstairs and stick the pacifier back in (many times) so that I could get some sleep-even if it was only for a few hours!
But tonight is the night- no more! I am going to tough it out and "Ferberize" her! (based on the theory by a doctor named Ferber who came up with a way to help babies sleep.) I pray that I can do it and that Allie is a quick learner! We shall see...

Allie Flips

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First Cereal

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Many 1st's

My goal now is to update this at least once a month! I keep meaning to do so and somehow the time flies away! Here is a recap of the last couple of weeks.

We took out first airplane ride with Allie to Scottsdale AZ over Memorial Day! She did fantastic on the plane and adjusting to a new place. We took my parents along with us and I am soooo thankful we did! Jon got to "play" with my dad and I had help from my mom. Allie also went swimming for the first time, and has a couple times since. She loves the water and is getting more animated each time we put her in. Allie also got to meet her out of town relatives as we spent Memorial Day with my Aunt Nancy's family. She also slept 12 hours for the first time while in AZ.! For the most part, she is sleeping anywhere from 9-12 hours each night! Some nights, like tonight though, it is really hard to get her down... She started rolling from her back to her tummy about 3 weeks ago, and now she rolls over in her bed and then gets stuck!

Jon and I really enjoy her and it has been so fun to see her squeal with delight and she is even ticklish now! When we go on our nightly walk with the dogs, she just "talks and talks!" She has also experienced her first and many since mosquito bites! ;o(
I realize most if not all of the blogs are about Allie; and thankfully other first time moms can identify! I don't want to just talk about her- but really she is the highlight of our lives right now as it is so fun to experience being parents!