Hallee watching the ropers at the horse fair

Napping with Daddy

Hallee snuggled with her dad for a nap. He loved it!

Photo Shoot!

We had a fun, spontaneous photo shoot the other night and got some really cute shots.

Hallee liked sitting in this wicker chair,but wasn't so fond of this white one!Eeyore seemed to help!

Four Generations

We went to visit my Grandparents in Canistota this week. I know that I'm darn lucky to still have both of my Mom's parents living so I don't like to pass up an opportunity to see them.

Here is a picture of my daughter with her mom, my mom and my mom's mom. I love it! Hallee (10 months) and Abbie Williams, Leona Mammenga (92 years), Darla Brown

She's Too Cute for her Pants

The results of crawling with her belly on the ground!

Like a Fish

We took Hallee swimming at a hotel a few weeks ago and she LOVED it! She didn't even hold onto us. She was so busy splashing and kicking her legs. When we went back to the pool the next morning, Hallee squeeled with delight!

She was exhausted from all the fun in the pool. I didn't even have time to get her dressed before this happened:

9 Months

Hallee is 9 months old! My sweet little baby has turned into a little person right before my eyes! She is amazing.
She:

• pulls herself up to stand on everything, including Diesel.
• is starting to eat table food.
• waves bye-bye. (as of yesterday)
• can crawl on hands and knees, but still lays on her belly and Army crawls most of the time.
• walks if she is holding our hands.

We are so blessed!

New Hat

I saw the cutest hat yesterday and I immediately decided I needed to crochet one for Hallee. I'm pretty good at blankets and scarves (flat things), but I haven't had much luck with gloves and hats (not so flat things). It took me a few tries to get it right, but I thought it turned out darn cute!

It's a little bit too big and Hallee would not leave it on, but she'll wear it someday!

On another note, Hallee has two new teeth! The top middle ones. She has been CRABBY all week, so I knew they were close. We could see them pushing through her little gums which had become purple and swollen. Poor thing. I hope she feels better, now that they're through!

My Helper

Hallee really likes socks. Her own socks, my socks, her Daddy's socks, it doesn't matter to her. I was folding the laundry the other day (I always save socks for last) and I couldn't keep Hallee out of the laundry basket. She kept tipping it over! I finally gave in and let her play.

Little Girl, Big Mess!

I guess kids have a natural ability to drag toys all over the house. Hallee can barely crawl and she made this mess all by herself!

8 Months Old

Hallee turned eight months old on Saturday! I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

• She army-crawls all over the house. She doesn't push up onto her hands and knees, yet, but she's pretty quick dragging her tummy!
• She can push herself up to sit after she's been laying down.
• She can no longer take baths in the kitchen sink. Not because she's too big, but because she has figured out how to splash... a lot!
• She eats solid foods twice a day, but she still hasn't figured out that it is supposed to fill her tummy. She eats food when it is something she really likes, but she would much rather nurse.
• We've started letting Hallee cry herself to sleep at night. She started waking up during the night just so I would rock her back to sleep. We decided enough was enough and it was time she learn to fall asleep by herself. Some nights are better than others, but its best in the long run (or at least that's what I keep telling myself!!)
• I'm kind of proud that she's 8 months old and has never had a drop of formula. I feel blessed that I have been able to breastfeed her this whole time.

Go Bears!

Their season is over, but we have a family of Chicago Bears fans through it all. Even in their 'less good' years, like this one.

Only her Daddy can make her face light up like that!

The Tables Have Turned

Time for some more pictures of Hallee and Diesel. He really puts up with a lot!!

Santa

We took Hallee to see Santa! She's terrified of strangers so we knew it wasn't going to go well, but we thought it would be fun!

Seconds after Daddy put her on Santa's lap:

a few seconds later:

I wonder what the older kids waiting in line were thinking!!

7 Months Old

Hallee is 7 months old today. She has changed a lot in the last month. She can't crawl yet, but she rolls and scoots to get all over the place. A couple of weeks after starting solid foods, her tummy decided it wasn't quite ready! She got a little backed up and was up all night for several nights. We decided to give her a break from solid foods, and start them back up very slowly. Her tummy recovered, but her sleeping has not. Her naps have finally gotten on a schedule. She has taken a few naps in her crib, but she sometimes will not sleep unless she's in Mommy or Daddy's arms.

We took a little trip to Dallas at the beginning of the month. Hallee got to take her first airplane ride (outside of Mom's belly!) and she was a little trooper. She traveled like an expert! Even when we hit bad weather on the way home and had to spend the night in Minneapolis. She slept pretty well away from home, but it definitely didn't help the sleep recovery. The reason for our trip to Dallas was to see Andy's dad and step-mom and their kids! We had a great time and Hallee had a lot of fun with her aunts and uncles. She even let everyone hold her, as long as mom or dad was close by! We brought home some bad colds, that we're still trying to recover from. Andy and I decided it was definitely easier to travel before Hallee came around, but we had fun anyways!

Hallee and Daddy looking at our airplane.

Hallee looking out the window of our airplane, in the air.

Hallee with Alex, Avery and Aleighna.

Hallee sleeping waiting for our delayed flight.

Carrots

Hallee got a taste of my homemade carrots. She didn't really like them as much as this picture leads you to believe!

Baby Food

Hallee had her six month check up this week. She is up to 19 lbs 8 oz, which is the 95th percentile. She got another set of shots, including the first half of the seasonal flu shot. The clinic didn't have any more of the H1N1 shots. Her poor little legs were pretty sore after four shots. The pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start baby food. Hallee seemed to really like the bananas we started with. I decided I would try to make some of her baby food. Not because I think jarred food is bad, but because I think it could save us some money. It was really a lot easier than I thought it would be. Today I steamed some green beans and carrots for her. She hasn't gotten any yet because we were told to wait a few days between each new food. Should she be allergic to anything, we would know what it was. I made about the equivalent of 12 jars of baby food in less than an hour (it will go quicker next time, now that I know what I'm doing). The total cost was $1.18. The total cost for 12 jars of baby food would be $4.08. Plus, it was kind of fun!

Our Weekend

We had a fun weekend! Andy's schedule at work changed so now he has weekends off for the next six months! His first weekend off, we decided to go to Madison to stay. Saturday afternoon we hung out with Grandma Dorine and Grandpa Danny at the farm. Hallee got to see all sorts of fun animals. Her daddy even sat her on a horse all by herself. Thanks to Diesel dog, Grandpa and Grandma have one less kitten, but all in all we had a great afternoon!

Saturday evening, we went to visit Grandpa Tim and Grandma Darla to celebrate Grandma's birthday. Hallee got to play with her cousins Emmett and Selma. We stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's house Saturday night and went to church as a big family Sunday morning. My parents, my brother's family and our family doesn't even fit in one pew anymore! What a blessing!

Teeth

Hallee has two little teeth poking through on the bottom of her mouth! They weren't there Thursday night, but when she bit down on daddy's hand Friday morning, he found a surprise! Hallee has had what I thought was a cold since Monday, but maybe it was her teeth bothering her all along!

Funny Girl!

Significantly larger, but definately the same kid!