Eight months old!

Our little turkey is 2/3 of a year old already!  Where did the time go?  She is getting to be such a big girl now.  She can hold and eat finger food by herself now: sticks of cooked carrot, squash and sweet potato, steamed broccoli, banana and rice husks (Baby Mum Mum).  I even gave her Cheerios the other day and she was able to pick them up and eat them.  I was so afraid she'd choke but she hasn't yet. She really seems to enjoy the independence.  I think I am going to try and find her some pouches to eat out of - they seem like a good idea.  She is still mostly eating purees - today on the menu is carrots and roast beef.

Still not quite expertly crawling.  Those knees are just not getting up under her.  She can go pretty far with a combo of army crawling and barrel-rolling though!  Once in a while she gets a knee going and pushes forward.  Hopefully she'll have it figured out soon.  She continues to want to stand all the time and hold onto things to the point that she'll cry if we try to make her sit or lie down.  She tried out her dinosaur walker and really liked it but was a little reluctant to walk forward with it.  She prefers to still walk holding on to one of us.  A couple of times she has been able to sit up from lying on her back as well.

She has started to say "mama" and does so usually when she is trying to crawl and is frustrated and looks up at me forlornly.  "Dada" is for when she is happy!  She is pointing at everything these days.  I try and tell her the word for whatever she points at.  Not sure on the weight right now as the scale at Ys moms is not working right.  I am guessing still somewhere around 18 lbs.

We have been enjoying the few nice days and going for walks with her stroller.  Nice to have friends we can walk with too.  We are sad to be losing one of our main playdates as Tara is headed back to work and Adrian to daycare.  We'll really miss hanging out with those two.

An awesome thing that happened this last month is that Mairi's Uncle Dan and Auntie Devon came to visit her from Vancouver.  They hadn't seen her since she was just a tiny baby so this was really neat.  We had a great time with them at the lake.  Miss those guys so incredibly much.  It was so cool to see them with her.

On Easter weekend we got to have a visit with my cousin Nathan, his wife Terry, and their twins Addy and Ella.  We had a hoot with those guys!  The highlight was definitely hunting for golf balls on the course at the lake.  So much fun!  And we collected over 600 balls!

It is raining here today and I'm really wishing that spring would just hurry up and get here.  But not go too quickly.  I am realizing that I only have spring and summer and then she's a year.  I am cherishing every moment.

A selection of finger foods

Standing and playing (one hand only for balance)

Crawled from blanket to under the table

Enjoying a rice rusk

I'm crawling but I don't like it!

Sharing an apple with mama

Best friends

Learning to crawl!

Practicing walking with my Dino

Dino walking (or standing)

My new bib Gramma and Grampa got me from the Phoenix Zoo 

Eating broccoli

Hanging out with Grandma at the cabin

Hanging out with Grandpa

Auntie Devon thinks I am cute I think!

And funny!

Uncle Dan giving me a meal

Good feeder!

Grandpa showing me the finer points of why a Samsung is far superior to an Apple

Gramma and me

Visiting with her buddy Dexter

Meeting Auntie Devon and Uncle Dan at the airport

Trying egg yolk

Helping mama with laundry

Jeff getting his nails painted by Ella - a taste of life with daughters!

Addy wearing Mairi out on the golf course

Our ball-hunting trip

Our score on the first day

Chewing on a golf ball and an Easter egg

Charming Nathan

Rhumba tights for Easter supper

She was really exploring her space.  Jeff said she needed a cowbell.

A snuggly, rainy day with mama

Seven months old!

Ok so this post is really late but my excuse is that I was on vacation in Arizona.  Mairi and I flew there on March 11 to stay 10 days with Gramma Debbie, then Jeff and Grampa Ward joined us on the 22nd for another week.  The weather was lovely: sunny but not boiling hot.  We enjoyed our visit and did lots of shopping, a bit of walking, went to the pool a couple times and just generally enjoyed having our feet bare and our arms and legs uncovered.  While we were there Mairi had a lot more freedom to move around with less restrictive clothing and pampers all the time instead of cloth diapers.  She started rolling all around to get places and even started doing it over her right side (both tummy to back and back to tummy) - which had been a challenge because of her neck problems.  That was pretty neat to watch.  She's not crawling forward yet but can push herself backward and in a circle.  Still need to get those knees up under her!  She wants to stand up all the time now.  I go to put her down sitting and she stiffens her legs so that she stands instead.  If I hold her hands she'll take steps now and she will stand and hold onto stools or her little table-toy thingie and play with it for quite a while.  Still definitely have to watch her though as she'll suddenly let go and then it's kerplunk!

Her babbling is starting to sound a lot more like words now: lots of "dada"; "baba", "vava", "papa".  I even swore I heard her say "grandpa"!  Probably not...  She also started making a really funny clicking noise - just like my mom does when she disapproves of something racy on tv or a movie.  She likes to move her hands up and down - sometimes at the same time - her water pump dance - and sometimes one at a time.  We got her a maraca to shake and she keeps very good rhythm!  She waved bye bye to Jeff yesterday and today and gave us both a high five.

Mairi still loves sweet potato best, but has now also tried butternut squash, chicken breast, green beans, carrots.  She liked it all but the beans.  I am still doing purees as I'm too scared she'll choke on pieces.  I think I will suck it up and give her finger food soon, sometime when Jeff is home.  He is a lot calmer about things like choking.  I do think she's ready for it.  Especially since she has a big chomper!  Mairi got her first tooth a few days after we arrived in Arizona.  I was fairly surprised by it, though she did have red cheeks. Went to give her vitamin D and there it was!  I called Jeff right away to tell him the news.

All in all life is pretty good.  Looks like spring is coming, we are getting ready for a few really exciting weddings, including Mairi's Auntie Janelle and Uncle Scott!  They got engaged February 29 and we are so happy and excited for them!  Last weight check was about 18 lbs.  At her six month check up she was 17.6 lbs.  Continuing on that 50th percentile streak.  Just perfect!

Started out my 32nd birthday morning with an amazing surprise breakfast made by my sweetie!

Ended my birthday out for a fancy dinner with these lovely friends

Hanging with Grandpa Mark

Loving her sweet potato - definitely her favourite!

Congrats Janelle and Scott!  We can't wait for your wedding! SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!

Oops!  Puking on Grandma Gail.  Don't worry - she thought it was hilarious!

Played right out

Oh that face - so coy!  We had just arrived in Arizona after a challenging flight.

Loving the sun in Gramma's backyard - even has two of her own little chairs

Nom nom - love the hairbands Gramma!

Played out after a long day of shopping, bbqs, etc.

Playing with mommy's skirt

What's up?  I'm seven months old today!

Love 

At Schnepf Farms with Gramma

Swimming with Grampa and Daddy - she loves the water so much.  Splashes the whole time!

At the pool with mom

Shopping in Arizona

Most amazingly perfect way to start my day - how lucky am I?

Visiting with the animals at the petting zoo within the Phoenix Zoo

She liked the cow

She does not care for goats so much.

Mairi rides her first horse

My handsome date for the evening

We went for a date night before we flew home - Gramma and Grampa graciously offered to babysit!  We had a great meal and an awesome time at the Olive Mill.  $10 carafes of sangria? Yes please!

Helping Grampa with the water fountains

Shopping for wedding dresses for Auntie Heather!  We got to hang out with Mr. Carson and his mommy Audrey too!

Reunited and it feels so good!  A romantic lunch date rekindled the romance between these two.  Audrey and I will enjoy being mothers-in-law together!

Mairi wants to stand all the time now.