A fun weekend at Great Grandma Speichers!

Just an FYI - mom put links to the online photo albums on the right hand side of the page...there are a lot more photos there than are actually posted in the blog.

I got to go visit Great Grandma Speicher with mom this past weekend! Dad went to RYLA and Jenny and Kaitlin were visiting Great Grammy, so we decided to go visit for the weekend. I did NOT like the car ride up - especially with mom driving, there was no one to keep me entertained and I screamed for a long time. I hadn't met Jenny or Kaitlin before and we all had such a great time. I just wish they lived closer :( Or that Kaitlin was looking at colleges closer to here because I'd love to have her come babysit me!

Jenny gave me my first "car" - doesn't it look like fun? I love it, although I can't quite push myself on it yet. I can play with the toys on it and sit on it and wave uncontrollably. And guess what??? I'm a crawling fool now! Mom says that she and dad are in trouble now, but I don't understand why! I had crawled a few times before, but now it is consistent and I'm quick to get from one side of the room to the other. I'm also getting very good at waving hi and bye to people and if you blow me a kiss, I sometimes do what could be construed as kissing back. Mom just put away a bunch of my "baby" stuff like my bouncy seat and bassinet - I guess that means I'm growing up.

Here are some of the photos from last weekend.




















My new car!


















Waving to Great Grammy in my new fishy outfit





















Upside down binky doesn't bother me. I've heard that my cousin Beanie was really good at spinning her binky around with her tongue if it was in the wrong way - I get to meet her next week and I'll have to ask her to show me how!





















I love my car and my puppy! And now I can crawl from one to the other...




















Four generations of the Speicher family


I hear that this is a short week since the 4th of July is on Saturday. That means I get to stay home on Friday!!! Happy 4th everyone!

I'm 9 Month's Old and Happy Belated Father's Day!

Hi everyone! I am now into my 10th month - can you believe it??? I have 5 big pearly white teeth now and love to chomp down on anything in sight, particularly mom's shoulder when she's holding me :) I even figured out how to feed myself and don't really want baby food any more - yuck! I had turkey, green beans, carrots and a bagel tonight - yes, I'm a piggy...

We went to Penn State last weekend and had a great time. There was lots of singing which I really enjoyed and everyone seemed to love me! I even slept well in the hotel despite dad's snoring (mom tells me I snore too, but I don't believe her...). We stopped at the Lion on our way out of town to get a few photos - I was wearing my pj's because it was pretty chilly and I didn't have any other warm clothes!






















































I went back to the doctor yesterday for my 9 month well baby check up and the doctor said I look "perfect." I am 17 lbs, 8.5 oz and 28 inches tall (again, tall and skinny baby!). My head circumference is still very small, but my doctor said "Small heads mean small hats" and wasn't worried about it. Developmentally, I'm right on track or ahead of where I should be. And my cough FINALLY seems to be gone. My pertussis culture came back negative last week, so at least we know I didn't have what mom did. My doctor even gave mom the booster vaccine so she doesn't have to go back to her primary care doctor. If any of you haven't had it, you really should get it - it's the new tetanus booster (Tdap) for adults that now has the pertussis vaccine in it. It's relatively new (2005), so most adults have not had it yet. You really should get it, particularly if you are ever around small kids.

I'm guessing most of you heard about the Metro crash on Monday evening. Mom does take the Red Line train for work, but wasn't anywhere near where the crash happened. It just took her over 3 hours to get home - they had to stay late at daycare with me and I was hungry when she finally got there!!! Here is the latest article about the crash in case you haven't heard...

I'm back to not sleeping so well because I've learned a new trick. When I wake up now, instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, I sit up and can't figure out how to get back down! This goes on for several hours after mom puts me to sleep, then I finally stay down for the night (usually). Hopefully this is just a short phase and we can all get back to the "normal" routine and get a full night sleep soon!

I think daddy had a good first Father's Day, but he was pretty tired after the Pennharmonics reunion the night before. He got his big gift even before Mother's Day, but mom let me paint a picture for him that we gave to him on Thursday night. I had a blast with the paints, but I tried to eat them...mom didn't think that was such a good idea.








































I get to meet my Great Aunt Jenny and mom's cousin Kaitlin this weekend! We're going to meet at Great Grandma Speichers home in Indiana, PA. I'm excited and mom hopes I'm good in the car and I don't scream like I usually do. Mom and dad say that's pretty nerve wracking and makes it difficult to drive, but after a while, I just don't want to be in my car seat anymore!

Finally, HAPPY BELATED FATHER'S DAY to everyone! Mom is hanging her head in shame because the Father's Day cards that she wrote are still in her work bag :( She'll send them tomorrow, but I'm sorry they're so late!

Till later!

Hooray First Place!

We went to the DC United game last night - they beat the Chicago Fire and are now first place in the Eastern Conference! The game was a lot of fun, but it was pretty hot. Mom took some wet washcloths and put them in the cooler, so that felt good on my sweaty head, but it gave me some pretty bad hair ;) I got to wear the new shorts that mom got me at the last game and my jersey - I got LOTS of comments on how cute of a fan I was :) Everyone thinks I'm a boy, though, so mom and dad ordered me some pink Adidas shoes to wear. I had lots of fun with Gabriel and Arabelle at the tailgate and at the game. Arabelle learned to say my name and was really nice and shared her toys with me! Gabriel is just learning how to sit up and he hung out and played on the blanket with us. All three of us fell asleep during the second half of the game, but we were all awake by the end and said goodbye to each other.

I've been scooting backwards for some time now, but I moved forward a few feet yesterday! It wasn't quite a crawl, but at least it was forward motion. I tend to back myself into corners and get frustrated by not being able to get back out.

I hope everyone had a good weekend - enjoy the rest of it!





















My Barnyard Bath book cracks me up :) It's even funnier upside down!




















Helping mom pack the diaper bag























I decided I wanted to wear my turkey - I banged my head into the spoon when mom was feeding me!






















Soccer player in the making!

A few more photos...

Again, not much new going on. I adjusted very well to being back in school this week, but Miss Laurie is on vacation the rest of this week, so I will miss her! She's really taken me under her wing and takes such good care of me. Her 2 year old son Zachary calls me "his baby."






















I LOVE to stand. When nothing else makes me happy, let me stand and play and all becomes right with the world :)



















Mom set up my turtle pool in the family room! There wasn't any water in it, but I had fun anyway. If it ever stops raining, maybe I'll actually get to use it outside.





















I can be so serious sometimes!

Mom and dad tell me that I get to go to another soccer game on Saturday! Hopefully I'll get to play with Gabriel and Arabelle. They also tell me that I get to go to Penn State next weekend - I'm very excited about that - apparently that's where mom and dad went to college, but they tell me it looks very different now than when they lived there. There are roads where there used to be buildings and vice versa. Maybe (but probably not) mom will let me have some Creamery Ice Cream...I hear it's fantastic!

Hope everyone is doing well!

It's been a long week!

Not much new to report here. Last Saturday, mom took me to PA for my Great-Great Uncle George's funeral. Mom tells me that he is Great-Grandpa Coble's brother. Everyone was sad, but I tried to lighten the mood a little and it was nice to see grandma, grandpa, Great Grandma, Great Grandma, Elenor, Sue and Clay. I spent a LOT of time in my car seat, but was pretty good all day. I even got to see 3 new kitties, one of which looked exactly like Raz, but about 10 lbs lighter :)

Mom also got to talk to my Great Grandma Speicher on the way home and she is now safely back at home and feeling better. I'll get to see her again and will get to meet my Great Aunt Jenny and Cousin Kaitlin later this month!

Mom ended up coming down with a bad respiratory infection and was home with me all week. She had a fever for 6 days straight, despite antibiotics, tylenol, and ibuprofen. It was (and still is) no fun for any of us. I had to go to the doctor several times to make sure that I don't have it. They don't think I do, but we'll have to wait a few weeks to know for sure. I only had a fever for a day, so it's probably just the same cough I've had for quite some time. In the mean time, dad and I are also on antibiotics and I had to have a chest x-ray, which was not surprisingly clear. I'm now 16 lbs, 13 oz. I've outgrown all of my 9 month clothes that have feet in them (guess I'm tall and skinny), so mom had to buy a bunch of new pajamas.

Since we had so much time at home this week, mom put up my play yard in the family room. It's a giant gate that we put up so I can move around and play with my toys without climbing up the bookshelves, TV or entertainment center! All I want to do is stand these days, so it was only a matter of time before I tried to pull myself up on the TV and that just wouldn't work! It's fun to have all of my toys in one place - they can't get too far away from me! But I don't like it when the kitty stands just outside of the gate and I can't get to her :)

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but I've been waving to people and giving high fives! Here's a short video from this morning - I also imitate people sometimes :) You can see my 4 teeth in the video - 2 on top and 2 on the bottom. There's a 5th that's about to come through on the top, but you can't see it here.



These aren't the greatest, but here are a few photos - one from the Washington Freedom game last Sunday and one from this morning - I didn't want mom to take my picture!














































Till later...