Pots and Pans

As is the rite of passage for all babies, Mikaela played with pots and pans today while Mommy was cooking dinner.

Getting into Mischief

Now that Mikaela is constantly on the move, she is constantly into things. Here she is with a basket on her head.


Eating Mama's banana:
Playing in her room:
Helping Mom sort clothes (really she just pulled everything out):
Crawling under the barstools:

Mikaela is cruising along furniture and pulls up at every opportunity. She can stand for several seconds unsupported but we have not yet been able to capture it on video. Hopefully we'll have it soon.

And an update on Donna: She hasn't had anymore abdominal pain since the ER visit last Saturday (7/17), but did get sick again on Tuesday prompting a visit to her PCP. Initial tests came back inconclusive, but will go back for a check up this coming Wednesday (7/28). Gallbladder has not been ruled out, though the ultrasound looked normal (meaning no stones). For now, Donna is very cautious about what and how much she eats in an effort to prevent any more pain or sickness. Thank you for your prayers.

Playing with Daddy

Another Use for the Door Stop

Mikaela has discovered the door stops around our house and Graem-ma & Graempa's.

"Milk"

Mikaela signed her first word today. Milk. It was more of an imitation than a request, but it's a start and very exciting to see her language developing (especially since that's what I do - teach language acquisition). Hopefully we'll get video of it soon.

She has also decided to shake her head "no" even though she isn't really saying "no," just shaking her head. Daddy got a video of that on his phone. It's pretty cute.

Food Faces

This week we have introduced sweet potatoes and applesauce into her diet. I think the applesauce was a little tart but so far she's eating well.

Happy 4th of July

Thank you to Gran and Papa Bill for the patriotic outfit. Hope everyone had a fun holiday.

Happy Birthday, Mike

Today is Mike's 30th birthday. To celebrate, I took him to a Ranger Game on Saturday night. Here we are all decked out in our Ranger's gear.

Our original seats were right behind home plate in the upper section.

Tom Thumb threw out the first pitch.
A view from our original seats. It was actually a great location.
As part of the surprise, I invited as many of our friends as could come to join us for the game. He didn't know this until they all started showing up. Thanks friends for helping make Mike's birthday extra special!
The bonus was something unexpected. After the tickets had been purchased and everything was a go, a friend of mine from church got 4 tickets, 1st row, right behind the dugout on the 1st base side from her boss for that game. She kindly gave them to us. So... after everyone arrived and we took some pictures and visited, Mike and I and a couple of friends went down to those prime seats for the second half of the game. Below are pictures of just how close we were.



An added bonus was the fact that we were about 20 ft from Nolan Ryan who watched the game on the front row behind home plate. We became a slightly less obnoxious paparazzi.

The Rangers won, beating the White Sox 3-1. Here are the players heading into the dugout.
Post game interview
Also, it was hat night.

Happy Birthday, Mike! I hope it was memorable!

8 Months Old

Mikaela is now 8 months old. She is very active and full of smiles.

- She crawls everywhere and pulls up on anything she can. When crawling on carpet, she crawls on her hands and knees. When crawling on tile or other hard surfaces, she does the "elephant walk."
- She weights 16.1 lbs and is probably about 26.5 to 27 inches long. We'll get more accurate measurements at her 9 month appointment. She is now in size 3 diapers.
- Her favorite toy is the dog toy. Go figure. But since that one is usually up out of reach, she likes her glow worm and the rings that she can shake around and chew.
- She has one tooth and we are pretty sure another is trying to break through because she is VERY cranky. She has become very clingy to Mommy.
- She now reaches out to Mommy and sometimes Daddy to be held. If others she knows (like Graem-ma or Aunt Amy) put their hands out, she will put her hands out to be held.
- She is experimenting with new sounds, like the "eh" sound and "g" and various combinations.
- She now has eaten peas, carrots, pears, banana, and rice. We will introduce sweet potato soon. So far, pears seem to be her favorite and carrots seem to be the least favorite.
- She is learning object permanence because she will peer around things looking for a person out of sight. It's pretty cute to watch her tilt her head to the side.
- We are introducing sign language to her (I know - go figure). She hasn't given any back yet, that I can tell, but we do eat, hungry, milk, bath, and water consistently. I tend to add in colors and other things when we are playing with toys in the bath tub or reading stories. She was very enthralled with my signing when she witnessed a conversation I was having (in sign) one day. She also gets very excited whenever we have Signing Time videos on.
- She sleeps an average of 2.5 hrs for naps during the day. On her best days she does an hour morning nap (between 10 and 11) and then a 2 hr afternoon nap (between 1:30 and 4). Typically it is 40 minute morning, 1.5/1.75 afternoon nap.
- She sleeps an average of 11.5 hrs a night, with the longest stretch of 7.5-8. She goes down (for good) around 7:30 -8. Lately it has taken a couple of tries to get her down without major fussing (again, I think teething is playing a role in this). She used to go down and sleep until 4 or 5am before waking to eat and go back to sleep until 7 or 8. Now she tends to wake between 10 and 11pm, eat, and then sleep until morning. Either schedule works for me, though I prefer the latter. The issue comes in that she "cries out" in her sleep. I don't think she ever wakes up long enough to do anything, but she'll fuss once, which wakes us up, but then goes back to sleep. So... we still really don't get a full night's rest because we still hear from her once a night, but we aren't necessarily having to go to her room to get her.

And that's what Mikaela is doing at 8 months.

A New Cook in the Kitchen

I guess it's time to baby proof those kitchen cabinets. Graem-ma has a picture of me (Donna) doing almost the exact same thing! There's no denying she is my kid.