6 Months Old!

Can you believe it? Allie turned 6 months old on Wednesday!

She has developed quite the personality lately and becomes more fun each and every day. She's started doing this thing where she pushes her lips together and breathes heavily through her nose. At first we thought she was discovering the fact that she can breathe through her nose, but now we've noticed that she does it to let you know she's not happy with whatever you're doing at the time (i.e. trying to make her eat avocado, give her a binky for bedtime, etc). She does laugh if you do it back to her though.

She loves to have her ribs tickled too. I sing the old Chili's Baby Back Rib song to her as I tickle her ribs and she lets out these huge belly laughs. It's too cute!

She's still not rolling but has completely mastered sitting. She can even get down onto her belly from sitting and is in the very beginning stages of army crawling. Maybe she'll just skip rolling?

Allie got her first tooth on Tuesday and did fairly well with it. She had a hard time eating solids for a few days but seems to be getting back to normal now.

Her favorite toys this month have been the books "Farm Friends" and "Daisy Duck," her foam letters, the pink koosh ball that lights up and a mirror. She's finally discovered the other baby in the mirror and generally either talks to the baby or tries to give her kisses.

She's just the sweetest baby in the whole world! Happy 6 month birthday Allie! Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

They Grow Up So Fast

We borrowed a papasan chair for Allie while we were in Texas. This was her absolute favorite chair when she was younger. In fact, it was the only place she would sleep for the first few months. Since she's started sleeping in a bed, we haven't had her in the chair lately. I cracked up when I put her in it in Texas. She looked huge! For comparison purposes, here are two pictures.

1 month old, in Texas for Christmas

Just shy of 6 months old.

1st Flight

We traveled to Texas this past weekend for my brother's wedding. It was Allie's first time on a plane so we were a little bit nervous. She ended up doing very well! She was great on the first flight with the exception of a 30 minute period before she took a nap. She smiled and talked to the other people and was really hamming it up. On the return flight, she was an absolute angel! No problems at all, even as her first tooth is finally becoming visible. I guess she's becoming a traveling pro! Here's a picture of her first flight.

Texas Here We Come!

This weekend I was telling all Allie about our upcoming trip to Texas on Thursday. I told her that the weather would be warm, we'd fly on an airplane, we could go swimming, there might be people with cowboy hats on, etc. She didn't seem to "understand" what I was saying so I demonstrated with her hat. She was not amused with my antics.

Green Beans = Fail

We decided to start Allie on veggies last week. I really want to make my own baby food so we bought some organic green beans and I pureed them in my food processor. She liked the first bite but it was all downhill from there. Nick and I could not stop laughing at the faces she was making. The good news is that she has since learned to like them and now eats two cubes a night! Next up is either avocado or sweet potatoes...we haven't decided yet.

Pretty Girl

A Day At The Park

Since Nick is still off work, we decided to take Allie to the park on Monday. She's still a little bit young for most of the equipment but it's nice to get out of the house and spend some time as a family. Thank goodness we didn't get any pics of Allie and me going down the slides together. I don't think those things are quite made for adult measurements.

When we got home, Allie decided to do a little bit of reading before taking a nap.

1st Mother's Day

I had a wonderful 1st Mother's Day! We invited Nick's whole family over for dinner. The weather was beautiful so we were able to let the kids play outside while everyone just relaxed. In fact, I must have been so relaxed that I didn't even take any pictures! Not. a. single. one. What was I thinking? Perhaps I was thinking that the Riesling was tasting oh-so-good. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was it. Anyways, pictures or not, we had a fantastic day!

I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and a fantastic daughter. They teamed up to buy me a gift certificate to get my hair cut before Chris & Victoria's wedding next weekend. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't had my hair cut since last August and good Lord does it need it. Allie also gave me some extra cuddle time with her. Her impending teeth were really bothering her so I got to spend almost an hour just rocking and cuddling her in her room, just the two of us. While I'd prefer her not to be in pain, I truly enjoyed the Mommy-Daughter time. She's growing so fast so I just rocked her and soaked it all in. It was the perfect day!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Mother's Day too!

More Bathtub Pics

Just because she's so cute...

Could I possibly look anymore like my Daddy?

I'm ALWAYS chewing on something.

All clean!

Grilling Out

Wow, I'm really behind on updating this blog. I need to get better about it.

We went to Nick's parents' house to grill out last week for dinner. His parents had just come back from vacation and wanted to see the grandkids. The weather was beautiful and I got some great shots of the Alligator playing outside.

She LOVES her Daddy!

Playing in the grass outside.

Our sweet girl showing Ma and Pa her new trick.

Hanging with Pa after his week-long vacation.

So cute!

Sitting Pretty

Allie has been trying to sit up for awhile now but last Sunday, she finally mastered the trick! We were playing on a blanket, watching Daddy fish and I decided to let her try to sit up. To my amazement, she sat for nearly 10 minutes before falling over! She was so proud of herself and had this huge smile on her face the whole time. She sat up some more when we got home and has been going strong ever since.

Looks like we might be skipping that whole rolling thing. I've heard it's over-rated anyway.

My first time sitting up all by myself!

So proud of myself!

Whoa! This sitting up thing is pretty cool!

Okay, this sitting up thing is getting a little bit boring.

Okay, this is fun again!

I'm such a big girl!

Do I have something on my head?

Derby Days

Every year for his birthday, Nick likes to go to a local horse track to bet on the horses and watch the simulcast of the Kentucky Derby. We usually go to River Downs in Cincinnati but this year we were in Columbus for Loren's show choir showcase so we went to Beulah Park instead.

Allie was very interested in all of the action. She loved watching the (crazy) people and just sat there, taking it all in. Victoria had given her this adorable feather headband that was a perfect Derby Hat! Random people kept stopping to tell me how cute she was in that headband.

We had a great time betting on the horses, although there were no big winners. We did let Allie pick a horse for one race (not the Derby) by placing the program in front of her and seeing which horse her hand landed on. She actually picked the winner but Nick wasn't able to place the bet before the window closed. Oh well, I guess we'll have to figure out how to pay for college another way. After the live racing was done and the Derby bets were placed, we headed back to Tony's house to watch the actual Derby. It was a fun weekend!

Excited to be at the race track for the first time.

Posing in front of the big board.

Having fun at the track!

Back at Uncle Red's house for the Derby Party.