Random Pictures of Allie

Well, we want to share a bunch of random pictures of Allie from the last month to month and a half. It has been fun watching her develop and learn each day.

Before sharing all of the pics, we will give you the stats from her 4 month doctor's visit, which she had about a week and a half after turning 4 months. She was 12 lbs, 12 oz (22%) and 25.5 inches tall (85%). She has gone down about 7 percentile marks in each category. But she is doing very well. She is a healthy and happy baby girl. Now for the pictures...

Everyone knows that baby socks never stay on, but we were amazed to see how far she kicked or flicked one of her socks one night. To the far left of the picture, you will see a little white sock. She kicked it from the position she is in in the picture. She had played herself to sleep, so she is actually asleep in the pic.


Here's just a cute pic of Allie.

We've commented that she really enjoys her play gym. Around 4 months, Allie started bringing everything to her mouth. There's a little mouse that we used to always have at her feet so that she could kick it. But we put her head by it one day and discovered that she really liked to play with the little mouse with her hands... and mouth. We joke that she makes out with the mouse; she really gets it soaking wet. Initially when trying to get a picture of her with the mouse, she got distracted by the camera. So the first picture is her looking at the camera and then the second pic is her going after her mouse friend.

Something else she picked up around 4 months was playing with her feet. They are one of her favorite toys.

In this next one, she had actually gotten the toy key chain around her foot by herself.

She is cute whether she is awake or sleeping. Next are some pictures of her sleeping. In the first two, she had been playing with the little purse-looking toy when she fell asleep. I must admit that I slipped the cell phone in her hand, but it is such a fitting picture for a girl, right? Sleeping with her cell phone and purse.

The next two show off her favorite sleeping position: arms behind the head and knees slightly bent. We swaddle her at night still, but if she works her hands free, they always end up behind her head.

I don't remember when exactly, but sometime between 4 and 4 1/2 months, Allie started getting better at sitting upright. We still don't leave her alone sitting. She sat by herself on the floor for 30 seconds the other day, but she still goes down pretty easily. Here are some pics of the learning process. First is with some assistance from Daddy. He's such a good helper!

Then with the boppy around her so that she can catch herself easily and/or have a soft landing when falling backward or to the side.

Next on the couch, mostly by herself. Her little bum is able to sink into the couch a little which helps her stabilize really well. She does great sitting on the couch.

Another cute picture of Allie on the floor.

And Allie with her favorite man, Daddy! Aren't they so cute together!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Everyone can thank Nikki's sister Maria for these pictures. We didn't have a costume for Allie due to hectic schedules and Nikki being sick recently. When we told Maria that we didn't have anything to dress Allie up in, she called us lame (in a very loving manner). Here's what we came up with. It's fitting since we always call Allie, "Pumpkin."

A Little bit of Allie's Laughter

Allie has been laughing for quite awhile, now. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to catch it on camera. This is for a few reasons: 1) Whenever she sees the camera, she gets interested in it and forgets about what was making her laugh. 2) She has a funny sense of humor. She'll think something is funny once; if you repeat something that really got her laughing before, she'll look at you and maybe smile, but not laugh like before. It's actually kind of funny because random things will make her laugh. Both Mommy and Daddy, but especially Mommy, will make all types of sounds and faces just in attempt to make Allie laugh. Some things that prove successful, most of the time, are shaking her legs, shaking her arms, a new crinkly page book, and beeping in tune to ode to joy (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A to see where we got the idea - we imitate Beaker from the Muppets). After many attempts to get her laughing on film, this is what we have to share.

First is just two pictures of her with her new toy, the book with crinkly pages, with a sound bite of her laughing. The other day we went to Walmart and decided to check out the baby toy aisle. We knew she liked thinks that crinkle, so when we saw the book, we thought we would hold it up in front of her to see if she would like it. She started cracking up. She was still laughing pretty good when we got the cell phone out to record her laughing. So here it is:

On occasion we will let Allie watch some Baby Einstein videos on YouTube. She likes the Baby Mozart, Beethoven, and Galileo videos. She seems to enjoy the music, lights, and especially when they show anything with smiley faces. Here is a little clip of her watching the Galileo video. She laughs at a little kangaroo.

Visitors!!

The last month and a half brought us several visitors. We have enjoyed having friends and family visit us! First, Nikki's good friend Becky Lee came to visit over the Labor Day weekend. It was really fun and nice to have her here. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures from her time here. She got to hear Allie's second laugh and hold her a bit. We really wish we had gotten pictures of her and Allie together; we'll make sure we do next time. Thanks for visiting us, Becky!!! We really loved having you!

In the middle of September, Nikki's brother Monte stayed with us a few days. He was making his way across the country to go to school in Georgia and he planned his trip so that he could visit us in Rexburg. It was especially neat having him since we aren't sure when we will get to see him again.

Here's a picture of Allie enjoying watching Monte on the internet.

Nikki took a day off of work to have more time with Monte. They and Allie went to Mesa Falls. It was really beautiful. They had to explain that Nikki and Monte are brother and sister and not husband and wife quite a few times. It was kind of funny. It was also funny that, other than a few kids and Allie, Monte and Nikki were the youngest by a few decades. Mesa Falls has upper and lower falls. The lookout for the lower falls was pretty far from the falls, but still very beautiful.

Here are a few pictures of the lower falls.

Monte at the Lower Mesa Falls

The three at the Lower Falls. Sorry about the bottles blocking some of the falls.

Down river from the Upper falls

You could get a lot closer to the Upper Falls. It was such a beautiful day to be at such a beautiful location.

Nikki and Allie at the Upper Falls

The three at Upper Mesa Falls

Monte and Allie

Monte and Allie in the car ready to make the drive home

Thanks for coming our way, Monte!! We love you!

We had a full apartment this last weekend when Nikki's brother Nathan, his wife Mara, and their three kids, Hailee, Caidance, and Cole stayed with us. Mara's family had a busy weekend that included a sealing in the temple and a baby blessing, but we really enjoyed the time that we had with them. They were so kind and invited us to a dinner after the baby blessing on Saturday night. Here are some cute pictures of the kids.


Allie and her 7 1/2 month old cousin Cole

Allie's beautiful cousins Hailee (5) and Caidance (3)

Pajama Party!! The four little ones... Aren't they adorable?!

It really was wonderful having everyone visit us. We are so grateful for our friends and family! We love you all!

I'm 3 Months Old!

Allie is now 3 months old! We can hardly believe it. We never ended up posting an update when she turned 2 months old, so maybe we will start there... At her 2 month check-up, Allie was 24 inches long (92%) and 10 lbs, 6 oz (28-29%). So she is still a string bean, but she moved up in weight percentile from 23%. She has had quite a few firsts that we thought we would share. As stated in a previous blog, she is smiling. She really started smiling socially the first week of August, about a week before turning 2 months. Now she smiles all the time. She has laughed a few times, though she really squeals quite a bit more. Her first laugh was for Nikki's visiting teacher on August 26th at 2 1/2 months. Hopefully we can catch a laugh on video sometime, but they are still few and far between. September 8th, she rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time. She seemed quite surprised when she did it. There are times when she seems to forget how to do it, and then other times she will do it a few times in a row. When she seems to get frustrated and can't remember, we coach her a little and she will roll right over. This is something else that we hope to catch on tape some time. She continues to discover new sounds that she can make. The newest is a sort of happy, high-pitched squeal and/or screech (She is definitely a girl!) We are not as excited to report that she is an early teether. Though she is not likely to get her first tooth for a bit longer, she seems to be developing the pockets as she is constantly drooling - A LOT. She also loves it when we rub her gums. She is also quite good at rotating herself around on a blanket - it is her new trick - and it doesn't matter if she is on her tummy or her back.

Jared started school on September 10th. It is his last semester at BYU-Idaho. Yay!!!! Though it will be a challenging semester, it should also be a fun one since he gets to work on a couple different projects for his different classes.

Nikki started back at work our first day back from the Washington trip. She works all day Wednesday, and then just the mornings the rest of the work week. The change was hard on her, but she has managed fairly well. Wednesdays are still the hardest.

Here are more pictures of Allie. We hope you enjoy them!

Hi! I'm 3 months old, now!

I still sleep a lot!

Just another cute picture

Look at me, I'm getting pretty good at this tummy time thing.



Why hello, there!

Me and my cousin Jayne! We are two cute girls, are we not?!

My Grandma Terri gave me this play gym, and I love it! I will often play until I fall asleep.

Bath time is pretty fun, though I don't enjoy having my head washed. Look how cute I am in my robe! Daddy thinks I look like a boxer.

Mommy cuddles me after my baths!

Some of My Early Smiles

Before our trip to Washington, Mommy and Daddy kept trying to catch my smiles on camera. Here are some of the pictures that they got.

Some of Allie's Sunday Best

I am so cute when I wear dresses! Everyone at church just oohs and aahs over me! I hope you enjoy these pictures of me in my Sunday best. I'm sure Mommy and Daddy will share more pictures of me in my dresses in the future, too.