Nine, nine, nine

That's right, the babe is nine months old. Or the title could mean "No, no, no," symbolic of my disbelief that she has been here that long.
Okay, so she was actually nine months old a week ago, but we were on vacation in Utah (which will be its own post) and I didn't update then.
It's so weird to think that my baby girl had been out of me for as long as she was in. Where has the time gone? She has grown and changed so much since she was born!

Calista has a tendency of coming towards to camera, if she can, which means more pictures end up like this one, very close up. Still, cute?

We've been having more nice days, so we've been going outside. It took her a few days to decide she wanted to crawl on the grass (it's poky!) but she wasn't idle: she liked to try and eat the grass instead.

Ladybug on her foot! I took it away after the picture so Calista wouldn't eat it or crush it.

Smiling!

What a cool baby, huh? All the cool people where their hats backwards...

Calista is such a happy baby most of the time, and loves people. She stares and smiles at and reaches for and crawls (in that order, as she warms up) towards anyone and everyone.

Toys are great fun - especially ones Daddy puts on her head - and so is just about anything else.

Among her favorite things are dishes (plates, cups, utensils, lids...), paper, remotes, my watch, you name it and she's going to at least try to play with it.

Oh, yeah, and anything connected with the computer.

Continuing from last month, she loves her mobility and new skills. She follows me from room to room most of the time, but sometimes she takes off and decides she wants to be somewhere.

Like in her bedroom.

"Reading" her books.

Or, you know, pulling them all out. Whichever. 

Did I get them all?

Helping me with a sewing project, obviously.

She is such a funny girl. When she gets excited, Calista bounces up and down and kind of hyperventilates. She thinks it's hilarious. The first few times she did it, it freaked me out.
This isn't a video of that, but it's still funny.

She had been flailing both arms and legs repeatedly while Kyler held her, and it was hilarious.

Shall we talk about sleep?

She usually is still on her back to sleep, but when she looks funny, I have to take a picture.
Calista is, yes, still up to eat in the middle of the night. Twice. I've kind of tried a crying-it-out thing, and I give in after 10, 20, 30, 60 minutes depending on the night. I just can't handle ignoring my screaming baby, it stresses me out and makes me incredibly anxious. So, after she cries enough for me to know she for sure is awake, I go in and feed her. Someday I will be able to sleep a solid 8 hours straight, but then I won't have a baby to cuddle, so until then, I'm enjoying holding her... though I wouldn't mind if she'd magically start sleeping 12 hours straight on her own...

Anyway...

Happy nine months, Baby Girl!

Fortitude!

Recently, Calista and I made a fort for her. She was a little wary of it, but after a while I convinced her to go in.

Once she was in, Calista decided fairly quickly that she wanted out again.

The blanket made it difficult to escape.

 Freedom!

We'll have to try to play in a fort again sometime soon.

Bath time

Calista has decided that she likes baths. She has also recently discovered she is mobile. The combination of these two facts means that every time she hears the water start in the bathroom, she takes off towards it. Like this:

She does this every day. Even last night, when she was being really fussy because she didn't nap well, the second she heard the water, she stopped crying and starting moving towards it. Hilarious.

Once in the bath, she has found that there are plenty of things she never noticed before.

 The faucet is a source of great fascination, as is the drain.

 Dad's fun to look at, too.

It's great to stand up and bang on the side of the tub!

Happy bath time!

He is Risen!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Calista got a new dress for the occasion, which I enjoyed dressing her up in.

Calista also got an orange, toothbrush, and some rings in her basket...

 ...but she seemed to care more about her shoes than the toys.

The eggs were fun to play with, too.

Best of all? The toothbrush. Go figure.

This was a good Easter. I am so thankful for the sacrifice my Savior made made for me and for the knowledge that after death, I will live again, with my family forever.

Dinner Theatre

During dinner yesterday...

She laughed like this for probably five minutes. Just looking at me was enough to send her off again, much less if I smiled or laughed back.
It's moments like that one that make everything worth it.

Eight is great

Calista is eight months old today, and she has changed quite a bit in the last month. Some things, of course, have stayed the same. She is still a generally happy baby. She smiles and laughs and enjoys playing with her toys.

With her autobus.

Just playing on the floor.

In the swing!

Typical Calista.

In the carseat on the way down to Raymond. She likes having someone in the back with her, and trying to reach for the camera. 

Helping me unpack from our weekend in Raymond.

Playing with the Wii remote. We took the batteries out of this one and let her go to town.

With an old cell phone, again sans batteries.

As previously mentioned, Calista now has teeth. Two of them, in fact, along the bottom. And they are rather sharp. I think her Easter basket is going to have a toothbrush in it instead of candy. I'm sure a dentist would approve.

Calista is also suddenly mobile. It happened a bit overnight. Kyler was shocked a couple of weekends ago at how fast she was moving. Now that she can move, she absolutely loves to explore the world. Before, she would sit and stare all around her, taking it all in. Now, she stares and then takes off, trying to experience all she can. It's hilarious.

Underneath the end table, trying to figure out what's there. 

Scooting around the front room.

She likes to beeline for things like cords, as most babies do. We try to keep them under wraps, but at Grandma's house, Calista got to play for a little while with the fan cord... until Kyler tried to drag her away.

She did not want to let go, but Daddy was successful in the end.


We had a few warm-ish days, so Calista and I went to the park.

She absolutely loved the swing, and was a little unsure of the slide. Her favorite part, though, was laughing at me pushing the stroller through the snow at the park. She busted up. What a funny girl.


She has finally decided she really does like food. I've decided she likes to figure things out and understand things before she dives in, generally. She's methodical and likes to observe and ponder. This is partially why feeding her solid foods wasn't easy at first. She wanted to do what Kyler and I did, but she was not used to the weird tastes and textures. After a little observation and experimentation, she was willing to enjoy it. It's how she is with new foods. The first bite or two always gets a funny face, but she goes back for more, and she ends up, say, devouring a whole banana.
We have also started to really move away from purées, which (so far) is actually easier and less messy. See Exhibit A:

Roasted Sweet Potato Purée

Exhibit B:

Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes.

Good thing Exhibit A was right before bath/bed time.

She has also started pulling herself up to standing in the last month. The first times were on me, in the laundry basket, and in the bath.

Calista was so proud of herself! 

 

So, moral of the Month-8 Story? Nothing is safe from her anymore, and she loves it!

Happy 8 months!

Attack baby!

Calista loves it when Kyler is home.

 She can use him as a jungle gym...

 Play with his chest...

 Try and get his glasses...

 Success!

Hey, Dad, I was playing with those!

Snow baby

Today is a warm day, feeling almost spring-like, but there's still snow on the ground. That means it's the perfect day to dress Calista up in her snowsuit and make her play in it!

 She mostly enjoyed it, although I do think she thought it rather strange.
After a while, she decided she was done, so we can back inside and took all of the gear off.

Happy sunny Thursday!

Chomp away

Be careful where you put your fingers, ladies and gents. This girl

officially has her first tooth. It's barely peeking out of her gums, but it's there.

And sharp.

Laundry is fun

Look who was my little laundry helper:

 Laying on top of and next to piles of clothes is helping, right?

And once we're done, there's still the basket to play with!

Life is so much fun.