6 months!

Our little girl is half a year old already! We've been slowly packing away clothes that are too small (or that still fit but she's been wearing them for 3 months and its time to move on!) and when we weighed her a couple of weeks ago she had hit 14 pounds, so she may have tripled her birth weight by now...we go to the doctor on the 17th.

As sad as it is that she's not a little baby anymore, we're entering the really fun stages so that is exciting. She can sit on her own for pretty much any amount of time. She still hasn't rolled from back to front, but now that she knows she can sit up and play, she refuses to lay down. She's working on crawling, but it sometimes it seems like she might just skip that and move on to walking. She likes to stand on the floor with her hands on the couch and can do it unassisted for a little while.

She's also discovered the many sounds she can make, and our little ham enjoys making those noises loudly in stores. People always come over to tell her how cute she is, which I just know is her plan! Last night at Babies R Us, she was talking up a storm, and a woman came over to talk to her, and when she called her a 'chatty Cathy', Vivi giggled. She knows it.

So, here is her 6 month bear picture, and then for comparison, a picture of her on Mother's Day when she was 4 days old, and a picture of her next to that same outfit. You're not going to believe it!

More Halloween Pictures

I posted more pictures to the album of Vivi's first Halloween

Her first ever trick or treating was a success! We went to Aunt Karen's and Amy and Aunt Karen got to go with us on her first stops, then we went over to trick or treat with Kaylee. Kaylee's big plan was to be ladybugs and ride in her wagon. When we got there, Kaylee was already out trick or treating down the street, so we went out to find her. She saw us first and yelled "JENAVIEVE!!!" and ran toward us, hugged Vivi, then ran past us toward her house to get her wagon. When we came out, we met up with her friend Clara, who joined them in the wagon. Vivi didn't like the wagon ride, but Kaylee and Clara really enjoyed it. Eric is a good wagon puller. We went to a few houses, but then it was getting really cold and windy, so we wrapped Vivi in a blanket, and she ended up falling asleep mid trick or

We headed back to check out our candy and hang out for awhile, then went back over to Aunt Karen's to check in on their candy status and visit with Grandma Ruth, who is up from Florida this week.

All in all, a great Halloween! Click on the picture below to see the album.

Jenavieve's First Halloween

Vivi's first Halloween!

We've had a busy week without much time to post, but we've had a lot of Halloween fun! Here is a link to an album of the events we've done so far- Vivi and Amira, the Zoo Boo, and carving our pumpkin. We'll add more to it after all the trick or treat fun tonight!

To get to the link, click the picture below.

Jenavieve's First Halloween

Here is a sneak peak of the adorableness that you'll find in the picasa album.

Baby Halloween Party

We got Vivi and Amira together for a Halloween photo shoot. Amira wasn't too fond of her legs being trapped in a bunting but they had fun for a few minutes.

Little Composer

Adam and Amy gave Jenavieve some of their old baby toys. It is fun to see them again, I remember playing with most of them when they were babies. We're bringing them out slowly as part of our rotation, but yesterday we pulled out the little piano, and she LOVED it! She went nuts banging on it for 5 minutes straight, then she started banging on it a few times, then throwing her hands in the air.

Jenavieve's Gift Suggestions

We started getting questions about what Jenavieve might like for the holidays, and my first thought was "you're thinking about that already?? It isn't even Halloween yet!" But, there are only 65 days until Christmas, and Hanukkah is early this year, so some of you are just good planners!

PLEASE don't think we're asking anyone to get her any gifts! We are so blessed to have everything we need, and feel a little tacky asking for more. We have just had questions about what she might like, especially since we're doing things a little differently from most parents, so here are some suggestions:

We are incorporating a lot of Montessori's theories into raising Jenavieve, which includes trying to stay away from plastic as much as we can, opting for more beautiful wood options when possible, and avoiding anything that uses batteries. We are also not using plastic dishes or cups for her. I'll do another post about our thoughts on that later.

She is still in 0-3 month clothes...and has been in this size for so long that we have quite a collection of 3-6 month clothes waiting for her. We don't have much in any bigger sizes though if you enjoy buying cute little girl clothes. She can't wear pajamas with footies because her feet are so long. Footless ones can be found at BabyGap, Old Navy, and Babies R Us that we've found so far. She wears size 2 shoes.

If you're looking for something specific, we made a little wish list for her on ChildTrek.com, which is where we like to buy her toys. Here is the link.

She LOVES music, so cds or instruments would be a great gift. We want to expose her to all kinds of music, not just children's music. As a suggestion, Putumayo world music covers different types of music from all over the world, jazz, reggae, etc.

As far as books, she doesn't have a favorite author yet. We like Sandra Boynton, Eric Carle, and Dr. Suess books. Target (and maybe other places) have a cute book from the new Disney princess movie The Princess and the Frog, it looks like a pillow and has cloth pages.

We don't have a social security number for Vivi yet, since we had a question about savings bonds for her-I don't know if you can get one with her name and our number? If its something you're interested in, let me know and I can find out how it works, or let you know if we get her number before the holidays. We applied for it, but haven't heard anything yet.

If you have any other questions, you can ask us, we promise not to tell her :)

Happy Fall!