We were showing her a little stuffed animal that Kim got for her at the zoo... We said, "Ali, can you say TURTLE?" And she said... "Tur-tle"! Eddie and I looked at each other with a grin - she never ceases to amaze us!
She is getting really good at saying: Mama Dada Dog Ha-li (her attempt at Hailey)
And if you listen real closely, we have translated: Nana Guga CiCi Hi Da
She is SOOO cute when she starts "talking" to us, and "reading" books as she turns the pages!
These are a few of the favorites from Ali's 10 month session with Caroline.
Ali loves her baths!
This shot makes me think of paparazzi ;) Ali looking at her pictures... just like her Mama ;) It's so hard to believe she is already walking! WOW! Look at her go... Enjoying the outdoors... The picture of PRIDE and DETERMINATION... Such a sweet girl! We're so proud of her! I love how these next couple shots capture the inquisitiveness of how Ali views the world day after day... so sweet and innocent. A quick family photo in front of our new house ;) Tiny little tippy toes... Ali as a newborn, and at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 months. We are so excited to see what each new day brings with Ali. She is such an amazing little girl and is growing up so fast. From what people tell me, they say time goes faster and faster... I just want to sit back and watch her learn and grow. We are trying to cherish every minute with Ali and not take anything for granted. We are so very fortunate to have such a beautiful, happy, and healthy little girl, a wonderful husband, good jobs, and lots of friends and family to share our lives with.
It's SO hard to believe Ali is 10 months old... It seems like months are passing by like weeks! These are a few pictures of Ali playing in her new room (2/10/10)"Mama, put down the camera and come play with me!" ...and pushing her little bear around in the stroller. Happy! Not Hungry! Precious little girl taking a nap... she's getting SO BIG!!! Now it's time to play some more... Life is Good! Ali and Bryleigh look more alike than her twin sister ;) These girls will figure it out together...
We did it! VOLUNTARILY! We found a good deal on some tickets out to the mid-west to visit Eddie's sister, Amie, and her family. We were looking forward to spending some quality time with Amie & Lyell, Katherine(6), Nathaniel(4), and Charlotte(18mo) in their new house in MN. What a beautiful home they have! Other than the crazy time sharing of Jamaica (for Carrie's wedding) and the 1 week in NC for Christmas, this was the first time that Ali would really get to play with her cousins! She had a wonderful time and we did too! We got all bundled up and went sledding w/ Ali. She had on so many layers, she couldn't even sit up! The only thing that was exposed was her little face... and it was SOOO cold! We didn't keep her out too long. We took turns walking down to the lake to see what the ice fisherman had caught for the day. She even shared the major milestone of "real walking" with Amie! She was SO excited and SO proud of herself... She took 7 steps! (Watch the video and see for yourself...) It was so cute to see Ali (9mo) and her cousin Charlotte (18mo) playing together! Eddie and I really enjoy and look forward to anytime that we can spend w/ Amie & Lyell. We are so fortunate to have such a great family that doubles as great friends too! I know we look up to them for advice, as they have done a great job raising their 3 kids, and we aspire to measure up!
We will look forward to the next time we can all get together!
... we're almost back home to Florida to thaw out ;)
Today I took Ali to see Dr. Mas for her 9 month check-up.
She definitely hit a growth spurt... She weighs 19 lbs (65%) and is 28 1/4" tall (90%) She got 3 shots... last Hep B, and the boosters for the seasonal flu and H1N1. I told her what to expect and that a little prick would only last a second and we would be all done. She did great!
She is doing all the right things developmentally...
Crawling anywhere and everywhere FAST!
Climbing on anything and everything
Standing up
Walking holding on
Clapping
Banging two objects together
Waving goodbye
Saying Mama & DaDa
Jabbering in her own language - translation please ;)
Playing peek-a-boo
She is a good eater... She can feed herself Cheerios and pieces of waffle, bread, chicken, or whatever we are eating.
She has her first 2 teeth now on the bottom
We are having so much fun with her and enjoy watching her learn and grow. She is such a happy baby and is learning something new every day! It's so hard to believe that she is already 9months old - time really flies when you're having fun! We're just trying to take lots of pictures to capture all the memories and cherish every second with our precious little Ali.
She is just over 9 months old and her long awaited first two teeth finally broke through today! When she looks at you with that cute little grin, you can see the two little buds coming through on the bottom.
We have moved from Lockmar Estates in Palm Bay, Fl across town to Timberlake Drive in West Melbourne, Fl.
This all happened fairly quickly just after Thanksgiving, but Eddie and I had been doing our due diligence to see what the market had to offer for a larger house for us to grow into. We didn't want to look back in 5 years and kick ourselves for not even looking to see what was out there!
We signed the final offer on 12/4/09 and we closed (from NC) on 12/31/09.
As we left NC, we talked my parents into coming back with us to help us move! We could not have done it without them!!! We had our work cut out for us b/c prior to leaving for Christmas, we had not packed a single box! The first few days, we packed up boxes and put them on the trailer, and as we got a load, we would take it over and unpack it.
The new house is a ranch style brick home with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a loft. It is 3100sf with a pool and 3 car garage on .41 ac It was built in 1995 and had been meticulously maintained; however, we wanted to make some cosmetic changes to make it more up to date. The changes included removing wallpaper and painting the entire interior, changing out all the gold hardware and fixtures with brushed nickle, and tearing out the drop boxes in the bathrooms and taking out a half wall that separated the dining room from the great room.
So, in one week, we did much more than move into our new house... we packed up, moved, renovated, unpacked, and decorated! We never expected to get this much done, but it really makes us excited to get the renovations behind us so that we can really be proud of our new home and enjoy sharing it with friends and family. Only w/ the help of CiCi & Pop Pop would all of this been possible!
Just as Mama & Daddy were leaving town, Dru was headed south for a quick visit. He did his share of helping out too! We put him to work on installing the fan in Ali's room and in the great room... no biggie, right? The great room fan installation would not be any bit of a challenge unless he had to climb to the top of a 24' extension latter that was propped up on the 2 story ceiling while I held the 60' fan at the top of the 6' latter while he wired it up (and the fan didn't come with instructions or a wiring diagram for the remote control ;) We figured it all out and the fans look great!
I'll post some of the before and after photos of our project...
We still have quite the "To Do" list to get things settled, but Eddie's parents are next on the list to help with those projects! They will be down this Thursday ;) Hailey's wireless fence is at the top of the list.
We are very excited to be in our new house, but we will miss our neighbors in Lockmar, the walks/runs through the endless neighborhood streets, the big lot with the woods and easement, and all of the memories made in our very first home!
Over Christmas Ali has been pulling up on anything and everything. And she has been walking while holding on to our hands or holding on to the couch, so we knew she was only days away from doing it on her own.
Today when we got home from work, Eddie and I were playing on the floor with Ali. We stood her up, let her get her balance, and she just stood there! All by herself! We kept doing this to let her get her balance, then she did it... she took her first steps!
We are so proud of Ali. She is such a happy baby and so much fun to watch! She is truly amazing!
A couple cute stories...
I was putting her down for her morning nap and as I laid her down, I handed her the soft baby doll that she got for Christmas. I told her that baby was tired and wanted to take a nap with her. She looked at baby, and she looked at me... then laughed out loud with the cutest little grin.
She loves her puppy! If you ask her where Hailey is, she will look around on the floor to find her, then look up at you with her big blue eyes and the biggest smile. She just lights up when Hailey comes close enough for her to give her a hug.
