Not quite ready to go solo

She's trying hard but isn't quite confident enough yet to let go of our hand.

Off balance

Rory seems to be having some trouble with her balance when trying to walk. Gee, does anyone have any guesses as to what might be throwing her off?? Hmmm... we can't seem to figure it out...

HA HA HA HA HA

Rory's first birthday!

Yep, she's one. One year ago today, at 3:20am, I was pushing out a 7 pounder plus. We had a much more mild start to the day this year. :)

Jason and I took the day off to spend the day with Rory. In the morning we took her to get her first pictures taken and in the afternoon we went to the zoo. She's having a party on the 17th when family is in town.

What do the animals say?

Rory is saying all kinds of things now! She is 11 1/2 months old. She can tell you that the cow says Moo, the sheep says Baa Baa, the Horse says Neigh (or, "Nah", to her), the doggy says Woof Woof (i can't possibly translate her "woof woof"), and the bee says ZZZZZ. She also is saying: ball, bath, Syd (the cat), Mama, Dada, shoes, duck. Of course, they are her versions of these words, so if you heard many of them, except for Mama and Dada, we would have to translate.

She has been signing "milk" to us for a couple of months now, along with "eat" and "sleepy".

On Monday, Rory is getting tubes in her ears. She's in the midst right now of ear infection #7 or 8 in as many months, so let me tell you, this is one roller coaster we are ready to get off of!!

Rory Olympics

Rory has her own "athalon". Check out her athletic prowess.

drinking bathwater

Always a calm moment for her, regardless of what kind of day she has had or how she is feeling. Ahhh... bathtime. Is it bad for her to get 6 baths a day??

Family, Family, Where For Art Thou Family?

These are the days we struggle not having family close by. For the last 9-10 days, Rory has been going through a bad cold, cutting two (and as of this morning, three) new teeth, and a double ear infection (which as of yesterday she had to start new medication b/c she wasn't responding to the old stuff). Poor girl! Oh yeah, and did I mention that we realized after 4 days of Rory making us absolutely nuts that she was having a bad reaction to the Benadyl we were giving her, and it was causing hyperactivity! Four days of hell we brought on ourselves! These are the days it would be nice to be able to call family and say, "She's asleep. Can you come over so we can get out of here for a couple of hours?" Then again, maybe we wouldn't come back... :) Here is a new pic and a new video.

UPDATE ONE HOUR LATER: Yet another tooth has been found. So yes, she has FOUR teeth cutting at one time. Poor girl!

First Hanukkah and Christmas

Rory's first Hanukkah and Christmas were great. We went to see Grandma and Grandpa in Dubuque. No snow, but we had a good time. Her cousins were thrilled to spend time with her! Click on the picture and you can see more!

Hanukkah and Christmas 2006

Children's Museum

We took Rory to the Children's Museum here in town. OK, let me be clear... we put clothes on her before we took her. They have a special area just for toddlers and infants, and she LOVED it! She even made a friend! Click on the picture below to see the whole album (12 pics).

Children's Museum

Her vocabulary has begun!

Her first word was "DaDa", probably around 7 months. Now, at 10 months, she's proficient at DaDa and Bye Bye (in the cutest highest-pitched sound you've ever heard!). In the last week, she's started to learn animal sounds. If you ask her what a cow says, you get "Mbmbmbuuuuu", which is her attempt at Moo. If you ask what the sheep says, you get a clear "Bah Bah". Also this week she picked up "Dot" out of the blue after I played Mom's Dot Dot Polka Dot game with her (see video post a couple of days ago). And a week ago today I got my first "Mama!", though I've only heard it twice since then. That one will take some more time.

Walking from the front

This is Rory's first steps with her new hippo walker. At Nanny's yesterday we found out she was walking with a similar type of walker, so of course, we went out and bought her one for home today! She's SO proud of herself!!

Dot Dot...

My mom's old game of Dot Dot Polka Dot

Rory and her hippo

Rory's first steps with her new hippo walker

What's she up to?

I don't have pictures to post today, but thought I'd just write a bit about what Rory is like these days. What she can do, etc. First, she can crawl. She Army-crawled for a few weeks but has begun to get up and around on all fours this week finally. She's quickly learning to explore the whole house. She gives "high fives" and can blow raspberries. While she isn't yet using any sign language signs, we use a few with her and she recognizes "milk", "bath" and "eat". One of her favorite things right now is to sit on the floor with her legs in front of her and kick them up and down. As an adult, you should try it. Not as easy as she makes it look. Good ab workout! If you say "kicker, kicker, kicker!", she'll start going!

She's pulling herself up on furniture a bit. A few mornings ago Jason found her standing in her crib for the first time. Oh, and she can clap! Last weekend we bought her a toy that plays a voice singing a jazzy version of the alphabet song, and if she is sitting by it when it starts singing, she starts dancing in her seat. I think she must have learned that seeing older kids at daycare dancing around.

This week she has become an independent eater. She still breasfeeds a few times a day, but at the table, she has quickly decided that she wants to feed herself. She'll eat a few bites of baby food from jars, but then gets frustrated and wants to feed herself, so we have to give her something she can do herself, too, like peas or cheerios.

Of course, I can't give an update without talking about her size. She is 9 months old today. she's 24 pounds and 29.5 inches. That puts her off the charts in both height and weight. She is about the size of an average 15 month old. This causes a dilemma because she needs to be held as much as the average 9 month old, but is getting VERY heavy!

She is really a lot of fun right now and seems to be learning something new every couple of days. She's still very loud and demanding, but very outgoing, smiley and energetic, too.

Trip to Missouri

Missouri Trip Oct 2006

Photo Album - click on the picture and you can see all the pictures.

The three of us went to St. Louis where Rory got to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. Auntie L and Mimi and Pops were there, and Rory met LOTS of new friends. Jason and I snuck away to Columbia for a day for Homecoming and saw friends there, as well as checked out some of our old stomping grounds. Soon I will add pictures of her visit with her new best friend Vivian Jones (Rebecca and Bobby's daughter).

Pumpkin Patch

With our friends Niki and Todd (and their lovely daughter Isabel), we went to Dewberry Farm outside Houston to get our very own pumpkins straight from the pumpkin patch! We all had a lot of fun, despite the fact that it was too hot for jeans in October. Crazy! Anyway, here are a few pics of RoRo at the pumpkin patch!

She's Crawling!

13 seconds.

OK, on here it's only an Army crawl, but it was the first one Jason and I saw together. At Nanny's earlier in the day, I caughter her doing an acual up-on-all-fours crawl for a second. We'll work on getting here there soon. For now, she still Army crawls. Sydney is in trouble now! Rory can't wait to get her hands on that cat!

First two Teeth!

Her first two teeth are here! And yes, there are definitely times she thinks it's cute to chew, but she's got mama's body parts in her mouth (sensitive ones!) and it is NOT cute. She is getting really good at getting Cheerios into her mouth, though!

Lynn's visit

Lynn (Mommy Goddess) came to visit from Indianapolis. She helped me take care of Rory while Jason went to visit Lindsay in NYC. Here are some pics of her with baby RoRo!

And of course... feedings like that are followed by BATHS!

NOTHING makes Rory as happy as bathtime! She loves to be in the water and has learned to splash in the last week or two, making our bathroom quite a swamp at the end of her tubbie time. Of course, she spends the whole time picking up floating bath toys and putting them, where else, in her mouth! And I swear, thought it doesn't look it, my sink IS clean! (No one should take pictures of their sink this close up.)

Fun with semi-solids

Rory began solids in the last month, eating that gooey baby food. First fruits, and in just the last few days, we've added vegetables. Carrots have gone over well, as you can see. She has a habit of wanting to stick her hand in her mouth at the end of every bite, which you can see causes a bit of a clean-up issue! But she is having SO much fun with it!

Trip to Dubuque

Rory had her first flights this weekend going to Dubuque to visit. The weather was great and we had a wonderful trip. Here's a slideshow of some of the highlights.

Dubuque Trip - August 2006

Aug 21, 2006 - 28 Photos

Tubbie Time!

This is Rory's second bath in the big tub and I'm telling you... we have a swimmer, I just know it! She loves the water! Seeing floating tubbie toys is a whole new delight for her, as is sticking her face in the water (though she then looks up at us stunned by the fact that her face is dripping wet!).

Playing at 7:00am

Don't we all wish we were this alert and happy at 7:00 in the morning??

Jazz Hands!

At almost six months old now, Rory is gaining weight, gaining some hair, able to sit up on her own, and... most importantly... able to do Jazz Hands!

Fancy Feet via Auntie L

Auntie L (Lindsay) sent Rory these socks as a gift - she has a whole rainbow of them. So, now she can have shoes that match her outfit even when she doesn't wear shoes yet! Thanks, Auntie L!

Also included is one other new pic of Rory that I like a lot. Bye!

Our Girl Goes for the Extra Credit

Jason took Rory to the doctor yesterday for a variety of odd behaviors, to be sure she's just teething, which she is. Part of the appointment is always to get weighed. At exactly 20 pounds with her diaper on (9 pounds 8 ounces naked), Rory is in the 110th percentile for size! Yes, our girl is getting extra credit these days in the growing department! I thought this picture was appropriate with this announcement, as carrying around that much weight HAS to be tiring!

Rory in her exersaucer

Here is Rory in all her vocal, drool-covered, raspberry-blowing glory! Mimi is playing with her in her exersaucer. The video is one minute long. Enjoy!

Rory playing with Mimi

07/10/2006

Good morning, Rory!

Right after I woke Rory up, June 22, 2006.