First Shiner

This morning after I had left for work Kari (our nanny) was here and Kole was getting ready to head to work while Payton was crawling around (I forgot to mention in the previous post that Mike and Sarah worked with Payton this weekend and she was crawling with a purpose when they left!) in the family room and slipped and hit her face on a hard toy. I had talked to both Kole and Kari and expected to come home to find a first black eye, but it wasn't so bad. You can see it under her left eye in the picture below...

In my effort to get a good shot of her, I told her to smile and made a big cheesy smile at her from behind the camera. This was her response...

Hope it makes you smile too!!

Mike & Sarah Visit

Our friends Mike and Sarah came to visit for the weekend!! They moved to MD a little over a year ago and Sarah surprised me at my shower in March, but it was a quick visit and Mike didn't make the trip. They flew in on Thursday morning and stayed with us until Sunday. It was so great to see them, we used to spend a lot of time with them when they lived here and have really missed having them around. They got to meet Payton which meant a lot to me. Sarah got in to PA school in MD so they left CO, but rumor has it that they still love it here and may move back some day!!

On Friday Sarah and I went and got our hair done by our favorite stylist and Kole had to work so Mike stayed home with Payton. I was thinking she would be asleep for her morning nap most of the time, but we didn't get home until 12:30 and she's usually up by 10:30. So Mike got to change his first diaper x2 and one was not so sweet smelling, feed her a bottle and lunch, and play. He did a great job, I was so impressed!! (There was a little changing table thing, but all is well!)
Friday night Josh and Kelsey and Amber came for dinner and Mike and Kole whipped up some yummy fajitas. Kelsey was wearing a headband and Payton insisted on trying it on :)

Saturday we just hung at the house and Kole and Payton and I went to the Christmas service at church while Mike and Sarah caught up with some of their other friends they left behind. Payton sported one of her Christmas shirts that Grandma got for her and looked pretty cute!

Saturday night we had a full house, Obi came to spend the night and hang out on Sunday while Amber and Williams tended to Tristan and Dixon recovering from open hear surgery. Obi is a sweet little boy and Payton loves when he is around, needless to say they kept us busy! A funny side note - we put Payton in a pack-n-play in our closet to sleep and let Obi sleep in her crib. She slept better than she has in weeks so we let her nap in there on Sunday and Kole talked me into leaving her in there Sunday night. Wish we could replicate what it was she liked about the closet because I insisted she move back to her bed last night and she was back to her usual wake up and talk in the 5am hour...

We snapped a few pics for Mike and Sarah's Christmas card

Payton jumped in the photo

We took the kids for a walk after lunch on Sunday and came across a park, it was 60 degrees (on December 19th!!) so we couldn't just walk by without letting them play for a while. This was Obi protesting when it was time to go, think he had fun??

One thing we love about Mike and Sarah is they're always up for anything (babysitting solo for the first time, taking on an extra kid unexpectedly, etc.) or content to just sit around, have a beer and catch up. We miss you guys and hope you do make it back to CO someday!!!

Stats, Santa, & Uncle Steve Turns 18!

We took Payton to see her pediatrician on Monday for her (early) 9 month appointment. She's on a modified vaccination schedule so her Dr. wanted her to get her second round of respiratory shots before we travelled to Illinois. She did great at the doctor, was fine with the exam and the doc checking her out. She of course lost it when she got the shots, but that's to be expected. He said she's doing perfectly!

Payton's 8-9 month stats:

Height: 28 inches ~ 84th percentile (maybe she will be tall...)

Weight: 18 pounds 6 ounces ~ 59th percentile

Head: 17 inches ~ 50th percentile

After her appointment on Monday we went straight to see Santa, probably not the best timing post-shots, but we tried this past weekend and the line was 2 hours long! Monday was perfect, there were only a few families ahead of us in line. Payton was not in the best mood so I was a little worried how it would go. She did great, she was more curious about the jolly old guy than anything else. She kept looking at him and not us so they struggled to get a picture.

This is a picture of a picture so it's terrible. I have to say I have lost faith in the Christmas spirit. When we got to the front of the line there was a huge sign explaining the "no personal camera" policy. Santa has policies!?! Then we were handed a price sheet. Santa has price sheets!?! Now of course you can sit on Santa's lap and tell him your Christmas wishes for free, but to have a picture taken, minimum was $25!!! I now wish I hadn't succumbed, but being that they don't tell you until it's your turn and you have a line of people behind you waiting with cranky kids I felt pressured to decide quickly. I really wanted a picture for Payton to have and I wasn't sure if we'd see another Santa this season. The best picture was of her looking at him, but you can only choose one and I wanted proof it was actually her sitting on Santa's lap. Long story short (not really, I know) we paid $25 for 3 little pictures that aren't very good. I thought about all the people out there who would be strapped to come up with the $. Maybe I'm naive, but I just can't believe this is what Christmas has come to in this country.

On a lighter note, today Steven turned 18!! I can't believe my baby brother is 18, life is something. We celebrated early on Sunday at BJ's in Boulder with the fam and some of Steven's friends. Payton got dressed up for the occasion and even wore a bow!! We love you Uncle Steve and can't wait to watch you start the next journey of your life!!!!

8 Months

Today is Monday December 6th and Payton Audrey is 8 months old! I'm so proud that I took pictures and am writing a post and it's not even 9am! Payton was in a great mood this morning and I was able to get some cute shots. This past month went by the fastest so far, I'm sure the holidays have something to do with that! She did come down with her first cold, but a little stuffy nose and a cough didn't seem to phase her too badly, she took it like a champ! I have a feeling 9 months will be here before we know it with Christmas and a week long trip to Illinois just around the corner.

Payton @ 8 months

Measurements: Still none to report, but she has an appointment on the 13th so we will find out soon

Food: Still loves to eat solids and will try anything, we have started giving her bites of some of the baby friendly things we are eating and she loves it. She gets one mom's milk bottle and 3 or so formula bottles a day, but we're going through a weird bottle phase, she's just not that into drinking her milk right now. She will down a bottle when she first gets up in the morning and then it's a battle the rest of the day. She's not really loving the sippy cup right now either. We're going to try feeding her a little less food and see if that will help. We're not worried about her getting enough to eat, but I'm a little concerned she isn't drinking enough fluids. Never a dull moment!

Teeth: Still just the bottom two

Sleep: This is getting a little better, she seems to be past the phase of getting up for the day at 5am, we figured out that if we just leave her she eventually goes back to sleep until close to 7am, apparently mom and dad get training in this whole parenting journey too! Still napping morning and afternoon consistently.

New Tricks: Still rolling all over the floor and now gets up on her hands and knees and scoots backwards. She just last night figured out how to get back up to a sitting position from lying down. She wants so badly to crawl, she just can't quite get it. We're hoping she will soon, not because we're ready for her to be mobile, but because we hate seeing her so frustrated.

Happy 8 months baby girl, hard to believe last Christmas you we're dancing away in my belly!

Ryleigh is never more than an arms length away ALL DAY LONG :)

This is how she spends a lot of her time, but as close as she gets :(

We spent the weekend looking for a baby's 1st Christmas stocking. It was hard to find a good quality, neutral one that didn't say 2010. We plan to use it for each child's first Christmas and hope to pass it through the family. We finally found one at Pottery Barn and it was only $10! I think Payton approves!

Eatiner dinner with Nana & Rich

Payton has spent two overnights now at Nana's which is such a treat for mom and dad, Payton does great, Nana gets to spend quality time and Mom sleeps soundly, we love you Nana!!

On Friday dad came home from work with our tree and Payton was down for a late nap so when she woke up we had the tree up with lights on it. She was pretty impressed and thought playing in the Christmas bin was the best thing ever. Holidays are such a treat with a little one around to share them with! Our house is officially ready. I didn't take pictures because it looks a whole lot like it did in this post from last year!