On the move

The last few days Jaelyn has really starting liking this toy. We bought it for her at Christmas, but she wasn't steady enough for it then. Now, she is always on the move...even plowing through the toys on the floor which don't seem to stop her. It was hard to get the few shots I have because she never stood still long enough for me to take them! Ha!

Jaelyn was flashing a smile to her daddy so I took advantage of the photo op. See Jaelyn's 5 pearly whites?

Not too soon after we got the above shots, she was off...plowing through anything that got in her way.

Besides the new toy, Jaelyn has also found dirt this week! She must love the taste of it because she knows where every plant is in the house and tries to get a taste before I can stop her. She has really become a fast crawler which makes my life more difficult. I can't lay my eyes off her for too long or else she's doing this:

"Mmmmmmmmm.....y.u.m.m.y dirt!"

Another "First"

This is how Jaelyn greeted me after her afternoon nap! It's the first time she pulled herself up in her crib. Guess we need to lower the mattress again!

However, her mood quickly changed when she realized that her wishes to get out of the crib weren't happening quick enough for her.... ha!

Mommy's Little Helper!

This is where I found Jaelyn this morning! I was in the other room getting the rest of the laundry sorted and when I came back my little helper was making sure all her dirty clothes were going to get washed!! We've trained her pretty good...ha!

Once she heard me take a few pictures of her, she turned around to flash a smile...what a good lookin' kid!

There's s a first time for everything....

...including throwing up! Yes, Jaelyn got the flu bug for the first time Saturday morning at precisely 1 am! Both Marcus & I woke up to Jaelyn crying...so he went in to check on her. He found her sitting up in her crib looking at the mess she had created. Poor little girl....it was everywhere including all over the crib sheet, mattress pad, bumper, her favorite blankie & of course her. After we got her all clean up as well as the crib, I decided to have some cuddle time with her in the rocking chair to help her go back to sleep. She had other plans....up-chuck on me! I gagged as I caught all of the undigested food (sorry for the gross mental picture) which made Jaelyn even more scared at what was happening. Marcus kept telling me to "power through it!" Thankfully it ended quickly...but we had a few more casualties...including my p.j's & her 2nd blankie (identical to fav #1 blankie) which was now covered in vomit & needed to get washed. Jaelyn threw up one more time before she called it a night. Marcus stayed up with Jaelyn until her blanket was clean (it's a must-have to go to sleep) and then put her to sleep. He climbed back into bed ~3am. Thankfully we didn't have any more episodes in the middle of the night & she slept until 8am.

On church on Sunday, I found out that 4 other kids came down with the same thing...all were in nursery together on Thursday for our mom's group. Ah man...that's where Jaelyn caught the bug. Thankfully we haven't had any more throwing up episodes, however Jaelyn is definitely not her normal self. She is sleeping a TON & does not have an appetite at all. I'm trying to get liquids in her, but having a hard time. Hopefully she'll get over this thing soon.

10 Months Old!

Random facts of Jaelyn at 10 months:

1. has 5 teeth (2 on bottom, 3 up top)
2. pulls herself up on everything in sight
3. can stand unassisted for ~30 seconds (if she doesn't try to walk!)
4. is crawling "normally", although she will resort to army crawling when she's tired
   
5. eats anything I put in front of her. Right now her fav's are chicken nuggets, cheese, bread, peaches, grapes, peas & avocado.
6. is getting the hang of the sippy cup...but I am still giving her a bottle in the morning & before bed (and sometimes in the afternoon)
7. diaper changes are an adventure to say the least. I've resorted to letting her play with my cell phone to distract her...otherwise she flips over/sits up in the midst of it all...she's too quick! I guess I need to learn the art of putting on a diaper backwards or with her sitting up!
8. takes 2 naps/day. Usually 9-10am & 1-3pm
9. starts her bedtime routine at 6:30pm (daddy gives her a bath) & is in bed around 7pm
10. loves her swim class. she's a natural at it...& doesn't mind going underwater (although she doesn't really like to do the back float...which probably has more to do with the awkward hold they have us do)

I can do it all by myself!

Last night Jaelyn decided to stand by herself for an all time record of 25 seconds! This is just one of her many attempts at standing. She even took a few (4) quick/wobbly steps between Marcus & I. What fun! We probably were doing this for a 1/2 hour last night! She was giggling & having a good time with this new found freedom...you could tell she was pretty proud of herself. (Mommy & Daddy were very proud too!) I wonder when she's going to walk?!?

Here is also a little video clip of her pulling herself up to standing....

Future soccer player?

Here is a short clip of Jaelyn dribbling the soccer ball (Calvin soccer ball, I might add!). She loves to do laps around the house while kicking the soccer ball...if you let her! She's a natural at it...ok...so maybe we are a little bias! Do you think we have a defender or a striker on our hands?!? Only time will tell!!

Standing up & a new sleeping position!

Jaelyn has been pulling herself up on things...furniture, mommy & daddy's legs/arms, toys...really anything that will let her get to the standing position for the past week or so! She thinks she's hot stuff now that she can do this all by herself! If she doesn't try to take some steps on her own, she can stand up without holding onto anything for a short period of time. So much fun to watch... although we have had our share of bumps on the head from taking a tumble!

The other day I caught Jaelyn sleeping like this:

This does NOT look very comfortable! Yes, that's her foot by her head! Jaelyn has been able to get herself into the seated position from laying on her back/belly for quite some time now...but this was the first time I saw it happen in the crib. She must have been really tired to fold up like a little pretzel!