9 Months

Our girl had her 9 month checkup yesterday. Here are the stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz - 75th %tile

Height: 29 inches - 90th %tile

At 9 months she:

Stands up by herself and will pull herself up on anything or anyone

Walks along the furniture

Can stand by herself without holding onto anything

Loves to walk holding your fingers - it won't be long now

Says "hi" - her first official word

Talks constantly including ma ma and da da but it doesn't mean anything yet

Loves oatmeal with fruit

Has started eating puffs

Has officially weaned herself from nursing

Has 6 teeth

Has started to develop a unique relationship with different family members

Loves to play with other kids

Knows how to clap her hands - thanks Gma

Loves to walk to the park and swing

Is still one of the happiest babies I have ever met

Love her!!!!

The new do...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It was definitely time for a change. Plus, I was able to donate the 10 inches they cut off to Wigs for Kids. I don't know about you, but I love it.

Who needs toys?

Who needs toys when you can just play with the box that your new big girl car seat came in? We've left it in the living room for the last few days since she seems to enjoy it more than anything else in the house right now.

Thanksgiving week

Last week was a busy one for our little family. Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful time with all of our family. Thanksgiving just might be my favorite holiday. It is a wonderful thing to have one special day dedicated to being grateful for all of the wonderful blessings we have been given - and we have more than our fair share! The food was awesome and the company was even better. Jasmine got to play with her cousin Maddie...

I got an early birthday surprise from Patrick and my cousin Brittany. She made me a beautiful, and might I add, delicious birthday cake.

Then on Friday, our little family headed north to San Francisco for the rest of the weekend. The main reason for the trip was to attend a Norte Dame football game at Stanford. The tickets were my present to Patrick for our anniversary. While we were up there we also go to visit Muir Woods and spent some time down at the pier. We had some amazing clam chowder and fish n' chips and Jasmine rode her first trolley.

This is a family of trees... love it!

Muir Beach... there is a little place right down the road called the Pelican Inn. We will go back to stay someday!

Not such a great picture of me... but Jasmine is sporting what we call the "Elvis face." It is hilarious, she does it all the time, we've been trying to capture it on camera for weeks now.

Jasmine and her daddy at the big game... can you tell how happy he was? Jasmine loved all of the cheering and enjoyed yelling with everyone else.

It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun. Jasmine was such a trooper - she was as happy as a clam in spite of the fact that she was fighting a cold. We bundled her up and she had a blast. It is so nice to have a baby that is such a good little traveler and who loves adventures as much as mom and dad do.

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Over the summer, Patrick and I got a great deal on annual passes to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the San Diego Zoo, and last week we decided to make our first trip there, now that our knees are working a little better. We loaded up and took Aunt Katie with us.

Jasmine and I both loved the flamingos. Flamingos are one of my earliest childhood memories, although I'm not sure where exactly I saw them.

I think Jasmine's favorite animal of the day was the gorillas. She was grunting and I think would have climed right into their pen with them if we would have let her.

The lorokeets were very friendly, and a little too close for comfort as far as Jasmine was concerned.
Jasmine spent most of the day riding in her new big girl jogging stroller. She looked quite comfy...

...although this is a pretty great way to get around as well.

Cute family picture...

Very tired baby on the way to the car.

We had a great day and can't wait to go back. There was so much that we didn't get to see. Jasmine did very well, especially considering she was in the midst of cutting teeth 3 - 6. It is so neat (and a little surreal) to make special memories like these together.

Why so close?

Not bragging here (believe me, this is Patrick's toy, not mine), but we have a pretty BIG television... WHY oh why does she insist on being so close? Drives me bonkers (notice the couch pillows to try to barricade her from the cable box).


I find myself telling her she is going to go blind if she insists on being that close - sounds so familiar Mom and Dad!

Pure Joy

Last week Patrick and I went to the dentist for cleaning appointments. The ladies there are so nice and sent us home with a toothbrush and balloon for Jasmine. That balloon delighted her for the next 3 days. She wouldn't let go of it on the way home, even after she fell asleep. I love how exciting everything is for them at this age!

8 Months

Jasmine has been so busy this last month. She is crawling all over. I will put up a video soon.


This is what we come into her room to find at naptime. The little prisoner calling for escape from her cell.

She got a new toy and loves to practice her standing skills. Do you think she likes it?

She loves to eat and play in her highchair. It is one of her very favorite places these days.

If it gets really quiet and Jasmine isn't in sight, you will probably find her in her room pulling her books out of the bookcase.

She continues to be one of the happiest babies I've ever met. It is neat to watch her forming relationships with her family members. She just gets more and more fun - who knew that was possible?

Bug invasion

It's a little late, I know...

There have been little bugs running and crawling all over this place lately. Daddy actually caught one!



They're awful cute, I think we'll let them stay!

Two Years

In two years we have gone from this...

to this...

It just keeps getting better!

7 months

I know, this is becoming a baby brag blog... sorry, I can't help it. The reality is that Jasmine is much more interesting than anything else we've got going on right now. I am working at Centex still, and hating every minute there. I just hope they lay me off soon. Patrick is back in school, and is super busy with that. We are both finishing up our physical therapy from our knee surgeries.

So, on to fun things going on around here. Jasmine still loves her baths, but has moved into the big girl tub.

She has mastered sitting up by herself, loves to stand and walk around with help, and has been working on figuring out how to crawl. She is always after anything she shouldn't have... remotes, cell phones, power cords... and spends her days playing.

Her cousin Maddie has visited a few times recently, and is showing her the ropes on all fun things in life. It's cute, she just gets quiet and observes when Maddie is around. I know she is trying to figure out how she can do the same big girl things Maddie does.

Ultimately, she is an incredibly happy and healthy baby and I feel so blessed to start each new day with her.

6 Months

It's hard to believe that our sweet girl is six months old already. She is a very happy independant girl who loves to laugh and play. This picture captures her little personality perfectly. We call her the wild beast because she loves to attack and devour her toys. At her six month checkup she weighed in at 18 lbs 6 oz and was 27 1/2 inches long. She is almost exactly the same size as her cousin Maddie who is 7 months older. Here are some things she has done recently:

• Cut two teeth and she is working on cutting two more
• Rolls back and forth and all over
• She can sit up on her own all day long
• She will stand if you help her and she is now trying to take steps
• She can sit up from laying down, but only in her sleep
• She will answer you back if you say hi
• She loves to eat her baby food - especially sweet potatos, peaches, and applesauce
• She loves to drink cold water out of her sippy cup - with help

The last six months have been so much fun and we can't wait to see what the next six will bring.

This Week

This week has been pretty low key. As I mentioned, I had knee surgery a little over a week ago, so we have been at home most of the time. I worry a lot about things disrupting her, but I think Jasmine is doing pretty well with this surgery. She loves to scratch her nails on my brace, and LOVES to play with the bags of ice of my knee.

One day while Patrick was out for a walk with our girl, he went by a florist to surprise me with some flowers. Jasmine was so excited about them and wanted to hold them with her little hand. She held them all the way home, even after she fell asleep. I feel so lucky to have these two just loving me and taking such good care of me!

Laughing

I love this sound... we got a good one of our sweet girl laughing at her dad.

By popular demand...

I decided to post some videos since you all tell me you enjoy them so much. Some of them are a little long, so feel free to skip this post if you like.

Jasmine loves to play and is busy all day long. It is so hard to get her to nap. She always wants to go go go and most of the time she is pretty happy. This ball and apple are two of her favorite toys lately. This video was taken the week we were packing up and getting ready to move. We didn't have as much time to hold and love her, but she was very cooperative and a good little helper.

I wanted to give all of you a little taste of what I am so blessed to wake up to every morning. I would say 6 out of 7 mornings a week, I wake up to Jasmine talking and playing in her crib. It is very unusual for her to wake up crying, and I always try to get to her while she is still happy. Keep in mind, she is a little camera shy, but you still get a feel for her little morning personality.

Like I said in my last post, she is laughing out loud now and it is the cutest thing ever! She especially finds her dad pretty funny. This is a video of the two of them playing.

Jasmine still loves her baths. Some day she will kill me for posting videos of her naked on the internet. But, I just can't help it. She is our happy little fish! It is funny to look at how long she is in her whale tub now versus when she was first born. I don't know how much longer she will fit in it.

I will try to get a good one of her rolling over on her own and more of her sweet laugh. I never want to forget that sound!

4 Months

Our girl is officially four months old. Just like I say every month, I can't believe how much she has changed in such a short amount of time.



At her check-up this month, she weighed 16 pounds and is 26 1/4 inches long, which means she is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. It seems she may be a tall girl like her mom. It is hard to believe, but looking at her you can easily see, she has grown 6 inches since she was born.





She tried cereal for the first time, and really enjoyed it. She laughs out loud now. She can officially roll over on her own from her back to her tummy. She is very good at holding her toys and can even toss them across the room if she gets too excited. She is almost sitting up by herself. She also just started playing in her new bouncer that her Uncle Arnold bought her and likes it a lot.

She is a very happy girl and we are so grateful to have her!

Catch-up

So it has been a while since I've posted, and it's because we've had quite a bit of change in the last month. I will hit some of the highlights. Some of you know that we were going to buy a home in Beaumont, but decided to back out. So, on 4th of July weekend, we moved to Yucaipa instead. It is so nice to be so close to family!

Uncle Derrick came to visit...

Uncle Bennett graduated from the Paramedic program. We are so proud of him! He has worked really hard for this. We think Gwynne should get to be an honorary medic as well, for all of the loving support she has given him in the last year.

We got a new ride... we are now a 3 Toyota family.

I (Jenn) had knee surgery. Things went really well and I am in very little pain. It has been so great to have family close by to help out!


We love our new place and are really happy with where we are and how things are going. Life is good!