8 months and 3 weeks

Winky Wormy,

Today I was looking at pictures of you and I realized just how quickly you are growing up. Suddenly you look like a little girl . . .

At 8 months you weighed in at the 50th percentile for height, 75th for weight (18 lbs 13 oz), and 90th for head. I guess you just have too many brains cramed into that little head.

I want to record the following, just so that we can all remember (some year down the road when you ask me), I will be able to tell you tell you that these are were the things that you were up to when you were 8 months and 3 weeks old. . .

You cut your first two teeth near Thanksgiving time. I have a hunch (perhaps because you have been drooling, chewing, and are much crankier than normal--that is to say that you are now occaisionally cranky and no longer sleeping through the night) that a couple more teeth will shortly be joining the first two in that gummy grin. I think that I can finally officially say that you are crawling, and once again your Wormy girl nickname is very appropriate--this time, because when you crawl, you look like a little inch worm--not very efficient, but affective none the less. Your first real efforts at crawling you made a few weeks ago on our cream shag rug. You would grab two handfuls of rug, bury your face, and do a little baby pull-up, pushing your bum into the air and moving yourself forward an inch or two. I often expected you to look up with a rug burn on your face. You can now perform the manuever without a shag carpet, but your mechanics remain much the same. In addition to your inching, you pivet like a top and roll to make your way around a room. You also just learned to wave (your whole arm gets in on the action), but you only show off this trick when you really want to, so you often have loving family members waving to you enthusiastically, receiving nothing but a stare or mischevious grin in return. You have become somewhat of a picky eater (mostly you don't like anything green or those meat and veggie mixes--but it's okay--they are gross to me too). You DEFINETLY let me know when you are not happy about the food that I put in your mouth; not only do you refuse to swallow, but you actually start gagging and look at me with a how could you do this to me kind of stare.

You are still such a smiley and happy baby, returning my smile each time I grin at you. Your Grandma Manning is always saying how funny/amazing/awesome it is, that when you start smiling, the smile just kind of stays on your face. You laugh really easily (water fountains make you giggle everytime) and quickly get people wrapped around your little finger because you are so sweet. Your Grandma Manning has been literally wrapped around your finger as we are in Idaho visiting right now, and she will let you walk and walk around her house while holding your little fingers. I think that if you could just keep walking that you might actually never cry (although you just made one of your first attempts at a tantrum when I tried to sit you down today after a walk down the hallway). A couple of weeks ago you learned how to pull yourself to you feet in your crib if you start in a sitting position, and you were SO proud of yourself. You still love going to new places and doing new things. When you enter a room or place that you have never been before, you look around and around until you have thoroughly examined your new surroundings. The first time you rode sitting in a cart at a supermarket you smiled at every person you passed, as if to say look at how much fun I am having! You have such an expressive little face; your eyebrows alone can tell your mood. My favorite eyebrow expression is one in which you raise one eyebrow with a little twinkle in your eyes. This expression says to me that you are in on the joke, whatever it is.

You have recently started to enjoy playing with other children. Your friendliness started when we traveled up to Utah and Idaho to visit your cousins. At church last Sunday, you got into an active game of tug-a-war with another baby, and prevented the entire back row of Sunday school from learning anything . . . we were too busy laughing at your antics. I do have to watch you when you are with other children because you sure like to pull hair. . . babies, kids, adults, dogs . . . you are non-discriminatory. If a being has hair, you will find a way to pull it.

You are a little bundle of sunshine to your Daddy and I. There truly is no sound sweeter than your laugh and nothing better to cuddle than your warm, soft, squishy little body.

I love you so much. Thanks for letting me be your mommy.

What's New . . .

Not Much. I am just procrastinating doing any of the things that I really should be doing, so I thought I would publish a few pics from Thanksgiving weekend.

For some time, Maggie has been showering Joe and I with kisses. Lately, those kisses have extended to other babies . . . okay, we don't let her slobber all over other people's children, but everytime she sees herself in a mirror, she leans forward and gives herself a big wet one. . . open mouth and lots of tongue; I now have lots of smudgy mirrors around my house and I love it.

I can't get enough of that face. Sometimes when she is sleeping I want to go and wake her up because I miss her.

Adventures in ER Nursing

When people find out that I am an ER nurse, they are always asking me for funny and/or interesting stories and happenings from work. Aside from the time that I watched a SWAT team with assault rifles at the ready storm through the department (at the time more frightening than funny), I can rarely remember a good story. However, this is not because crazy things and crazy people don't happen, so I decided that I need to start occasionally recording some ER happenings.

So, the other day . . . .

Patient A was totally drunk.
Patient B was laying in bed, not drunk, and sick.
Patient A wandered into Patient B's room and proceeded to empty his bladder onto Patient B's coat and chair.

Patient B rang the call light and said, "Some dude just peed all over my chair."

Patient A said, "Oh, I was just looking for the bathroom."

ER staff was actually not that surprised . . . this is just another day at work.

6 Months

My little Winky baby,

I cannot believe that you are six months old! My time with you as a little baby is going by far too quickly. I realized the other day, that at six months, you are practically half way done being a baby, and that makes me a little sad.

You are growing so quickly. This month you weighed 16lbs 14oz (75%) and measured 26" long (50-75%).

You have all kinds of new talents. You can sit by yourself (although I have to watch you carefully because you are still likely to tip). You can roll really well from your tummy to your back. You haven't figured out how to roll the other way yet, but I think you are really close. You recently sprouted your first two little teeth, and they are sooo cute! They are also razor sharp. I know this because you LOVE to chew on things (including my fingers!).

You still love being outside and going for walks. Recently, we have been running a lot; you are very interested for the first half of the run, but by the time we make it home you are often sound asleep. You have really started to take interest in whatever your Dad and I are using--I think that your favorite toy right now might be my blue water bottle. You squeal with delight whenever your Daddy walks into the room. I think he might be your favorite person in the world. You also have started eating solid foods. You LOVE sweet potatoes and butternut squash. You also love putting your fingers into your mouth after every bite, and then smearing the food that you find all over your chair and yourself. Sometimes when I am holding you, you grab my face and give me sweet, slobbery kisses. Every kiss warms my heart. Sometimes I still rock you to sleep. I know I am probably spoiling you, but I just don't want to miss a single minute that I can spend holding my little sleeping angel. You coo and squeal and babble all day long. Sometimes when you are sad, if I just sing to you, then you are happy. The joke still lingers in our ward that you are the baby that never cries. When I am feeding you, your free hand wanders all over. You grab my nose, my lips, my chin, my shirt, my glasses (and you leave your dirty little finger prints). The finger prints make me smile.

I am having so much fun being your mother. Thanks for being my little angel baby.

Love,

Your Mommy

Cousins

It was so fun to get these girls together. Lydia is actually 4 months older than Maggie. While they appear nearly exactly the same size, Maggie clearly outweighs Lydia. I think she has bones of steel.

I predict a lot of fun in the coming years.

El Matador Beach

My sister, her husband and their baby came to visit us in sunny Southern Cali and all they got was rain. We braved the beach anyway. The beach is so foreboding on a stormy day. It makes me shiver and smile.

Joe and Dustin got pounded by huge waves, breaking in shallow water. See Joe, tiny black speck in picture, about to get smashed by huge wave. The waves were acutally the biggest that I have seen since living here. I am not sure that the picture does them justice.

Webb Weekend Part 2: Beach Day

The second half of the weekend with the Webbs was just as fun as the first. Maggie had her first real beach day and she LOVED it. She tasted her first mouthful of sand (I swear, if you turn your head for 0.5 sec . . . it is amazing what those little grubby hands can grab).

Whenever I would start walking away from the water Maggie would start squawking and trying to climb over my shoulder to get back to the waves. If I walked back towards the water she was perfectly happy. . . away from the water and she would start squawking. What a funny baby.