9 MONTHS

I can't believe that my little girl is 9 months old. I wish I could freeze time and just enjoy her more. She loves to swing on the swing set. She has tons of fun with her daddy. John can't get enough of her. Just a couple nights ago when I was getting ready for bed, I saw Kelsi's door open and I peeked in and John had picked her up and was cuddling her on his shoulder because he said he couldn't resist. So cute.
We get comments all the time that she is such a happy baby. Overall, it is very true, however this week has been tough because her fourth tooth was cutting through.
She is so special to us and we are so thankful that she is in our lives.
I took Kelsi to her 9 month well child check up today and it was AWFUL. She didn't get her morning nap due to the time that her mom scheduled the appointment for so she was cranky going in. For the first time in Kelsi's life it took forever to see the doctor. She cried while getting weighed and measured. Cried while the doctor tried to play peek-a-boo with her, cried during her shots and cried during her lab work. I am talking SCREAMS. I have been a little concerned that Kelsi hasn't started crawling yet. My doctor said that her nerves and muscles seem fine and she wasn't concerned (even though Kelsi wasn't letting her check anything due to her screaming) and she just said that if it would ease my concerns I was welcome to bring her in for developmental testing. I am fine to wait a bit, but nice to know it was there if I change my mind. I cried a little when Kelsi had to get blood drawn for her lead and anemia check. It seemed to take the nurse FOREVER to squeeze enough blood out of Kelsi's finger. When I came out, the waiting room was FULL of concerned eyes and "awwws". One woman said "We were all crying out here for her too". This was Kelsi's hardest appt yet. I hear the 1st bday is even worse....great.

Stats:

Head - 42cm (55%)

Length - 28.25 in. (75%)

Weight - 19 lbs 15 oz. (71%)

Still a pretty well proportioned girl!

Teeth: 4 (her fourth one broke through this morning. YAY!)

Finger food update: Kelsi will eat cheerios and puffs and food with chunks in them now. YAY again...but still can't pick it up on her own and make it to her mouth. I am so glad that there is progress in that department.

Mobility: no crawling or pulling up yet. She loves to stand, and sit on the floor and turn herself around in circles. She can also move around the floor by turning herself in circles...pretty funny when she is in action.

Verbal: babbles all the time. All varieties of ba's and ga's and da's...not no ma's. She said mama once about 2 weeks ago and not again since.

Grocery shopping is fun again

Just over a month ago I was perusing through blogs and I found that my friend Kelley posted about a site called The Grocery Game. She took a picture of the food that she bought one week and she said that she fed her family of 7 for about $50 a week give or take a few. That was enough to get me interested. I knew that I was spending too much at the grocery store for a while now, but I didn't know how to fix it. I was usually spending $120/wk with an additional stop at Costco every other week for another $100 or so each trip for our family of 3. For the last 6 weeks I have been a participant of the grocery game and I love it so far. It is based on stockpiling and not "need" shopping. It gives you a list of all of the items on sale at your local grocery store and then lists the coupons that make them rock bottom deals. For example, I bought a jumbo pack of huggies last week for $5 after the sale and coupons. After 12 weeks of buying items and rock bottom prices, you are supposed to really only have to go to the store to buy MAINLY produce and milk! It took a few adjustments, but I am finding that I am buying SO MUCH MORE FOOD, for less money. Yesterday, I spent $93 at Albertsons and saved $105.

14 2-packs of Gerber baby food, 11 jars of baby food, rice cereal, jumbo pack of huggies, jumbo pack of huggies wipes, 8 rolls of TP, 3 chicken/hamburger helper meals, 5 LBS of ground beef, 5 LBS of fresh chicken breasts, cool whip, 3 jello pudding, 3 cans of albacore tuna, 3 packages of beef franks, jelly, 2 jars of PB, 4 cans of broth, 2 taco seasoning, 3 ranch mix, crystal light on the go packs, 2 6-packs of jello, 2 boxes of ready to eat bacon, 2 jars of mustard, scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner, 4 cans of fruit, 2 cans of tomato paste, 2 packs of turkey meat, 2 boxes of ice cream treats, 24-pack of arrowhead water, ziplock bags

This is also a great way to get some food storage going! The site also encourages you to go to Costco once a month for your eggs/cheese. Thanks for sharing Kelley!

To Shave or not to Shave....

For the last week John has been sporting a beard. Please see the poll and give us your opinion. John promises that he won't be offended either way.

O, CANADA

We took a trip up to Rossland, BC last week with some friends so John could do some "EPIC" mountain biking. This included a 6 hour ride along what is called "Seven Summits" which is basically riding up the whole mountain range. I was so proud of John. They came home every day very tired and sore, but they never really seemed to get enough (until we left).

Us gals hung out in the town of Rossland and gave ourselves a little tour of their downtown area which took a total of about 15 minutes. It was a cute town.

Trish should be a travel agent, because she found us great condos that were killer deals during the summer.

We all look pretty tired in this picture...but we really did have fun.

Grant and Kelsi had fun exploring the condo (well, mainly Grant, but Kelsi loved turning herself around in circles all day)

Attack of the killer babies!!I love this picture. She looks so funny. What kind of face is she making??

Oregon

John had some CE's to do in the Portland area, so we took a short weekend trip over and stopped at Multalomah Falls on the way. It is the 2nd largest continuous waterfall in the nation, and just outside of Portland. It was beautiful. It was only a short easy hike to the bridge and then we continued up to the top which is about a mile. It wasn't too bad of a hike either (except for the 100 degree weather..even in the shade it was pretty bad), Coming down killed me because I was wearing flip flops. I brought tennies but when I saw so many other people in sandals, I followed the crowd. We thought it was just so beautiful on the western side of Oregon. It was hard to come back to our dry brown part of the world.

8 months

Of all the posts that I did last week, I missed the 8 month post! Kelsi continues just to grow so fast. From my rudimentary measurements:

Weight: 19.8 lbs (I don't know what that is in ounces...12oz??)

Length: 28 in

Teeth: 3 (2 bottoms and 1 top)

New developments: Kelsi has decided that sleeping on her tummy isn't as bad as she thought. No crawling yet, but signs that it is coming.

Mommy's only frustration is that Kelsi won't eat anything that she has to chew. She doesn't realize that baby food is expensive. Every time I give her ANYTHING that she has to chew, she either spits it out or gags until she throws up. Stubborn little thing. I feel like I am going to have to puree her food for the rest of her life. It's really not that bad, I would just love to be able to keep her happy by letting her snack if we are out. I should know by now that Kelsi is on her own time table. She is just a doll. She is very verbal and just babbles all day long. John is so happy to have her home after being away for a week.

Visit from Alli

Kelsi was finally able to meet one of her mommies favorite people! My great friend and former roommate Alli drove down from Hanford to see us. We just vegged and caught up and of course played with Kelsi.

Becca, if you are reading this...we thought of you and missed you and decided that you and Alli need to come up to Clarkston and pay us a visit!

Kelsi was so sad to see Alli go. Don't worry we won't let another almost 2 years go by before we see her again.

Family Pics

My Aunt Rachael had back surgery last week, so we picked up my Aunt Lisa who flew in with her 3 yr. old daughter, Jena from the airport. They were going to take care of her for the next week. We decided to make dinner for Aunt Rachael and here are a couple pics from our day. We still miss you Tamar.

Dad,

I had a great time at the beach. I wished that you were here with me.

Love, Kelsi

Kelsi's first trip to the beach!

Kelsi had a fun time at the beach. She was mesmerized by the ocean and it calmed her down when she got fussy (it must be the wave sounds that she falls asleep to every night).

Taking a little catnap

Hanging out under the umbrella

Aunt Shayla and Kelsi

Grandma Manderino took Kelsi down to the water and let her put her feet in

We had a great time together

Chillin' at Chilis

We miss you Tamar. These pictures are for you!

Letter to Daddy

Dear Daddy,

Mommy and I miss you.

I am having fun with my Grandpa Manderino. He likes to tickle me and whistle and sing to me too! He even rocked me to sleep last night. I wasn't so sure how I felt about him at first, but I think he is pretty cool now.

Mom took me to meet a couple of her friends and their daughters. I thought that they were very nice and I wished that I could have ran around with them, but I haven't learned how yet. But, I DID roll over from my tummy to my back for the first time. Yup, I can finally roll both ways, but no crawling yet. I finally got sick of being on my tummy and just rolled over.

This is us with mommy's friend Jolynn and her daughter Aleena. Her niece Samantha also wanted to take a picture with us.

We then took another picture with Jolisa and her daughters Samantha and Audree. I wish that they lived closer to us so that we could play more.

I really like my Aunt Shayla. It makes me so sad when she leaves the room.

Well, I love you a lot. I am very sleepy. I don't understand why mom doesn't let me sleep, so I get my cat naps in when I can. Love you, Kelsi

It's about time I move her to the tub. At least I won't be risking my life everytime I walk in the kitchen after one of her bath's from slipping on all the water on the floor.

Last week

Here are some randoms from last week. Enjoy!

Sweet little girl in a swing

Messy eater...

Getting cleaned up in the bath