Playing Around

A few pictures of Hallie playing around at her Nonna and Pop's house.

Playing with Nonna's gingerbread house

Pop and Hallie

Playing with the basket of "kittens" (every child I know
has played with these at one time or another)

Hallie loved the Baby Jesus--she even started gnawing on
Him. When we tried to give her Joseph or Mary, she
started crying. She knew which one was the most important!

Playing with Aunt Jess and Abby

I love my Abby--she is so funny!

Interested in something...

Hallie and Santa

Hallie had her first encounter with Santa yesterday. She didn't cry at all--she was very interested in his glasses and his beard. Because we didn't know how she would react to him, the wise Santa said, "Don't let her see me yet. Keep her back to me until we get a good picture." haha! That Santa has learned from experience, I'm sure!

Just had to share...

Jonathan, Hallie, and I stopped in the very small town of Start, Louisiana to gas up the car. We saw a pretty funny sight. Let me just share it with you...

The town's fire department

The town's water tower in case you didn't believe us! haha.

Ridin' in Style

Hallie got a new car seat for Christmas! Thanks a bunch, Grammy and Gramps! We all thought Hallie's ride to Alabama would be more pleasant in a bigger, roomier seat! Here are a few pictures of Hallie and her new ride.

Wow, this box is big!

This is cozy! I'll love napping in this!

I love my Grammy and Gramps

Out with the old, in with the new!

I'm ready for my trip!

Too busy to nap

Hallie naps every morning between 9:30 and 10:00. So why would today be any different, right? Jonathan and I are looking forward to the nap to get our car packed up. Wouldn't you know Hallie would be too busy to nap?! Since learning to crawl, she is on to the next task...pulling up. She does a pretty good job of pulling up on our legs with help, and thought today's naptime would be the perfect opportunity to try it on her own! The truth of the matter is that she'll do anything to try to stay awake! haha. After much practicing, whining, and crying, she finally accomplished her task. She's now sleeping peacefully, knowing that she's got one more trick in her bag.

9 month check up

On the way to visit my new pediatrician

Hallie had her first visit with our new pediatrician today, Dr. Pauli, and we all really liked him! He said Hallie looked great and that we're doing a great job with her. She is meeting all her milestones and then some. Yay, Hallie!

Her 9 month stats are...
Weight: 17.9 pounds
Height: 28.5 inches

So basically she's a pretty normal-sized 9 month old. She's tall and skinny (but so is her daddy), but she's healthy! She got her heel pricked to check for anemia (negative) and her arm injected to test for tuberculosis. She also got round one of the baby flu shot. Poor little thing. She was not happy with the nurse!

Overall, Hallie did great and is doing great!

Adventurous Hallie

hallie is so adventurous these days. she is so much fun to watch!

our little alfalfa--hallie with bedhead!

practicing standing with daddy

hallie found daddy's psp

hallie playing under the table

our little rocky--every night after hallie's bath, jonathan bundles her up and we go down the stairs jumping, humming the theme song to rocky. hallie LOVES this!

daddy learned his lesson--don't try to get hallie ready for bed in the floor. the changing table is the place to be. otherwise you have a little naked baby running around!

Sunday Morning with Daddy

So, Hallie took a late nap Sunday morning and skipped out on church. Jonathan stayed home with Hallie while I went on to church. When I got in, the first thing I heard was, "Help!". I walked into the kitchen and there stood Jonathan holding Hallie, stretched out, in one hand. It was a monumental diaper emergency! Hallie had poop all over her--and Jonathan had already gone through about 10 wipes. It was down her legs, up her back, all over him. It was pretty gross. Sometimes, a baby wipe just won't get the job done...so I quickly filled up the kitchen sink and in Hallie went! The Dawn Odor Eraser did the trick! (haha--j/k!)

Hey, Hal--why don't you go ahead and do those dishes, sweetie?!

Would the real baby please raise a paw...

Charley is our furbaby. He was spoiled rotten up until...oh, March 2, 2007 or so. Now he is learning that while he is loved, he's not the baby anymore. On occasion, he gets to revert back to the days when it was only him. This usually happens after Hallie is tucked into bed.

Nonetheless, Charley is still ROTTEN to the bone!

Into Everything

Now that Hallie is on the move, she is into absolutely everything! For the most part, Jonathan and I have "Hallie-proofed" the downstairs--where she's free to explore. But there are a few things that still need to be done. I spent most of the day yesterday going behind her, putting things away or taking things away from her (which she did not like!). She also made it over into "Charley's territory". Charley wasn't too sure about the visitor. He especially wasn't sure about the visitor when she picked up a few of his toys (ewww!). She managed to make it over to Charley's food/water corner also. I had to say, "No, no, Hallie" a few times. With each "no", she would throw her arm on her leg and sigh a big, "uh!" at me. Then she would start going for the food/water bowls again. Again with the "no" which received a loud "uh!" from Hallie. We did this 3 or 4 times...so I'm pretty sure she understands "no". She is SUCH a mess! Here are a few pictures of Hallie exploring.

Let me out of here!

Charley's not sure about this...

I found Mommy's ribbons!

Hmm...this dinnerware is interesting...

Inspecting my jumper for any needed repairs...

Merry, Merry

Hallie's Photo Shoot

Hallie is such a camera ham...it is quite precious! Here are a few snapshots of her while trying to get a pose for a Christmas card!

Hallie hopes your Christmas "rocks"!

Yay for Christmas!

Wouldn't you know it...

The camera batteries are dead--yes, Kendra forgot the "one stays charged rule". The video camera is dead, too. The memory cards are full of a gazillion pictures of Hallie. And wouldn't you know it...Hallie decides to CRAWL!

It happened so fast last night...it was past her bedtime, but we continued our nightly routine. We bathed, we played, Jonathan lotioned Hallie down and then got down on the floor to put on her pajamas. She flipped over, saw something she wanted and took off! Jonathan and I stared at each other in wonder! I'm SO glad he was able to see one of her firsts! He usually gets a phone call from me when she has accomplished something.

I grabbed a camera battery and charged it for maybe a minute. We were able to get a quick video of her crawling before the camera beeped indicating another full memory card! Wow! I guess 19 seconds is better than nothing. So...we hope to get a better video later, but this short video shows our pride!

We called the grandparents and texted the friends! Hallie is officially a crawler! Yay, Hallie!!! She has been doing her own versions (yes, more than one!) of the crawl for a couple of weeks now--she would lunge foward then sit up. Sometimes she would bounce wherever she needed to go. She would get up on all fours and rock madly, then sort of jump forward. Or rock on all fours then go backwards! Now, she's all about the fundamentals of crawling! It's the right hand, left knee, left hand, right knee...and so on! And she's into everything!

And now, the video...the bag of wipes is what she initially went after. So we're using it as bait. haha. She got a little distracted along the way with some paper, but she eventually got to her goal (another piece of tiny paper)!

With pleasure, Jonathan and I present to you...Hallie--the crawler! LOL!

Sweet pictures

Here are a few pictures to get your Hallie-fix for the day! heehee.

I love my turkey shirt!

Playing with one of Daddy's toys

With Nonna and Pop

With Grammy and Gramps

This grass feels funny, Pop!

Finally on the mend...

Hallie and Mommy have been a little under the weather this past week. I think it all started with Daddy. Really, it probably started over Thanksgiving being around lots of kiddies. Nonetheless, we are all finally starting to feel better! Jonathan was feeling better early on this week when Hallie and I were just really blah. Last night a sweet friend dropped off a crib wedge for Hallie to borrow and that truly made all the difference! She slept wonderfully! I woke up this morning feeling a lot better, too! Yay!

Hallie was down in the floor playing this morning when I heard her sort of sniffling. I peeked at her and she had this incredibly gross thick string of snot running from her nose. She looked up at me grinning. It was pretty cute--even though it was gross--and I debated whether or not I should take a picture. I got some tissue to wipe her nose and decided against the picture. haha. I'll forever have it etched in my mind, though! After she fought the nose wipe, she was right back to playing. She is all over the place. She is actually napping right now--going on two hours. I peeked in on her while ago and she was turned toward her bumper, playing with the little flowers on it. Lately when we go in to get her in the morning or from her naps, she's sitting straight up playing. She is getting so big!

I am daily reminded of God's love for us through Hallie. She is an incredible blessing that Jonathan and I cannot thank God enough for. I am thrilled to be her mommy!

Ah...I hear her sweet baby babbles. Hallie's waking up. We are so blessed to have such a happy baby...she always wakes up happy. Praise the Lord! She melts my heart with her talking! I absolutely love it and will never, ever grow tired of hearing it. It is just so gentle and sweet...absolutely precious!

Straws are incredibly funny

We were coming in from an evening at Wal-Mart when Hallie grabbed the straw out of my cup. I don't know if it was the joy of pulling it out of the cup or the noise it made, but something got her giggle box going. And it did not stop! I was sure that by the time Jonathan got the camera to capture this giggle-fest, Hallie would surely be finished. Nope! The straw was captivating and her giggles continued well after the video was completed. Why do we buy expensive toys with all the "bells and whistles" when you can simply give a little one a cup with a straw?! Hmm...maybe I'm onto something. haha. I'll call it...

The Giggle Straw!

A few milestone pictures...

Welcome Hallie

One Month
Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven MonthsEight Months
Nine Months