11 months

I've forgotten how much I love this stage.

Showing independence yet cuddling, exploring her world, trying new things. Allie finds joy in {almost} all circumstances. She loves to have free reign of the toys when Reese is out of sight, she squeals and laughs to get our attention; throws back her head with excitement when food is coming her way. 

There is so much fun to be had when you're this big!! Here's what we've been up to:

~Pulled up for the first time 2 days after turning 11 months...mom never thought it was gonna happen

~She now stands more than sits...maybe walking isn't too far off

~Top 2 teeth FINALLY came through! That only took 3 months. :/

~Loves loves loves to swim! The pool is Allie's favorite summer pastime. When she goes down for a dunk she comes back up sputtering, gasping and smiling from ear to ear. 

~Hasn't yet learned to say a word...this is a big change for us given that Reese had about 7 by this time. Allie communicates through grunts and signing "All Done" ;)

~Got her first black eye from sister...it's so hard to see your baby suffer because of your other child (another new experience for mom)

~Has an uncanny sense of rhythm and beat. Even if it's just Reese singing "Jesus Loves Me", Allie will bob her head or rock on all fours. Gets me every time!

~Miss Personality! The nursery workers at church always have a story to tell about her entertaining them with crazy faces, laughs and antics.

~Down to 2 bottles a day...formula you're on your way out (yes!)

~Had her first Father's Day...She sure lights up when he walks into the room

~Has now been on 3 plane-ride trips in her short little life

~Baby food is a thing of the past. Even with {barely} four teeth, she loves table food and eats anything and everything we put in front of her. What a blessing good eaters are!

10 months for Allie

My sweet baby,

Only 2 more months of considering you a true "baby."  It breaks my heart to see how fast it's gone. Like 10x faster than Reese! I've merely blinked and already I'm starting to think of your 1st birthday. Wasn't I just pregnant? Weren't we just making plans for our trip to deliver you in Alaska?

But with the sadness of her babyhood slipping away comes all the joy and crazy fun of seeing her personality develop, interaction and playtime with Reese, along with discovering new things.

Allie makes us laugh all day long. 

She's spastic, crazy, goofy, full of energy and smiles. She loves to entertain herself, find shoes to eat (such a strange obsession she has), watch Reese make faces and noises and try to imitate them, and will always hold her hand out to you if/when you talk to her.

Here's some highlights at the 10 month mark:

*Loves table food and is so happy when it's eating time -- especially when cheese is on her tray!

*Takes 4 bottles...morning, night and one after each nap

*Weighs 20 lbs

*Is a great napper but still a 10 hour sleeper. Maybe one day when she's 5 this will change. I've accepted the fact that for the near future there's no hope in altering the 6:30am wake-up.

*LoVeS music!! As soon as we turn a song on, she immediately starts bobbing to the beat.

*No interest or desire to pull up. She's fine with kneeling or even putting one foot down to start a pull-up position but just doesn't want to figure out how to go all the way.

*Waves hi and bye

*Really loves sharing a room with her sister. They sleep so much better during the night knowing each other are there. It's just the early mornings that are a bear!

*Allie's nicknames are continuing to grow...they're weird, crazy and so confusing to someone who just happens to hear us say it. The most current ones: Ju Ju Be 'oelle, Juey, Aggie Ju or simply...the Ju.
Poor baby! Thanks for not judging us by our wacky names! ;)

*Has the most beautiful blonde hair! Sometimes I look at her and can't believe she's mine merely because of how blonde she is. My siblings and I all had lots of DARK hair...eventually 3 of us turned blonde but not at 10 months. Love this Mehringer trait coming through. :)

A Day to Remember

Parent Dedication Day. Asking Him for His grace, strength, wisdom and guidance as we seek to raise our daughters. To help them understand their sinful, fallen hearts that are desperately wicked {Jeremiah 17:9} and that BECAUSE of CHRIST we have an amazing HOPE! Though we are separated from Him and bound for hell...the story doesn't end there! We have an AWESOME Savior who came to earth 100% human and 100% God to live a perfect life and offer Himself as our substitute. Instead of us experiencing God's wrath eternally separated from Him, we can be welcomed into the family of God by acknowledging our sinfulness and our absolute need of Christ's righteousness {Romans 10:9&10}.

This is what we proclaimed in front of our church body today. We humbly admitted we can't parent alone! We need prayer, support, faithful friends to point out our weaknesses, failings, the things we're doing right and to offer love, encouragement and help. There's a great need for other families in the faith to come along side us. We are thankful for godly men and women who love Him and serve each other. What a blessing! 

Matt and I praise God for the two little lives He has entrusted to us. "Children are a heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward" {Psalm 127:3} and we consider ourselves richly blessed to be given Reese Lanae and Allie Joelle. 

Pastor Steve introducing the 6 families represented who were dedicating their children.

After church was finished we went to Stonefire with Papa and Marmee to celebrate! Mollie and Spencer came too...I just didn't get a picture with them.

Eating some really yummy food! Reese loved that she got to sit next to Papa and Marmee on the other side of where mom and dad were. ;)

Papa's first granddaughter...a girl after his own heart! 

The youngest cutie loves to give 

cheesy smiles for the camera!

Thank you Papa and Marmee for coming to Placerita today to witness the girls' dedication. What a privilege to have you there to witness this event. We know you (and Nana and Poppy Ryan) have been loving and praying for our girls since the day you found out they were on the way. We love you!

8 months for Allie

She's gone and done it...

~Gotten a whole month older

~Popped her first two bottom pearly whites

~Rolled, flopped, scooted to finally crawling

~Ever so s-l-o-w-l-y weaning ( sad :( for mommy but coming at a good time)

~Learned to clap

~Has a fascination with ANY and ALL shoes

~Is the most flexible baby I've ever seen...her newest trick is going from a tummy position to sitting doing a chinese split. It's amazing to watch!

~Is a "by the clock" 10 hour sleeper (which makes wake-up times 5:30am/sometimes 6). I didn't realize how wonderful Reese's 12 hour nights were until 

Ju Ju Be joined us. Sleep is for the birds, right!?! ;)

~Completely, utterly, hopelessly stolen our hearts

Lots 'o Firsts

It's been quite eventful around our house lately. To start off, Reese got her first haircut! Gulp/yay!!! I was super nervous as to how this would go. Reese gets hysterical when it comes to new things...I mean, screaming, crying, won't let go of my neck kind of nuts. My mother-in-law Missy agreed to come help hold Allie for me while it all went down and she also snagged some dum-dums from the bank as an incentive for Reese to "hold still." She blew my socks off with how cooperative, pleasant and agreeable she was the entire time. She doesn't have the thickest head of hair so it must have taken all of 5 minutes. But wow!! I was so thankful for that answer to prayer and she even smiled through out it. I wish I had thought to get a picture right afterwards. I didn't. So here's a before and then after a few days later.

Next, to document here on the blog...Reese and Allie have moved onto bigger and better things bedtime wise! For the first time in Allie's 8 months of living, she finally gets to claim the crib as her own. This past weekend Matt and I decided that it was time for Reese to sleep in her toddler bed. She's been doing so great without the paci and we're ready to start potty training soon. We figured that before that could happen she needed to be out of the crib and really happy/comfortable in her new bed. 

As poor Aunt Mollie can attest...the first night was brutal for 30 minutes. Reese screamed/wailed...*ahem, yes just as I said above* and Allie having never been in her new bed, cried too. BUT we let them cry it out and eventually...or rather what felt like an eternity...they both fell asleep. And that was that. Since then, it's gone amazingly! Everyone is sleeping soundly and happily right where they should be. Reese is even doing super great with staying ON her bed and not getting off to play. Same for naps! So so thankful! :) Good job Reesie Roo! We're so proud of you!

The first night for these two little munchkins!

And if that wasn't enough, Allie decided to start crawling the day she turned 8 months! She's been a movin' and a shakin' with all her rolling for quite awhile but today she actually crawled to get to what she wanted. It's so fun that even though she's my second and I've already been through this whole process with Reese, it's still just as new and exciting this time around. Daddy came home and while Reese was snoozing away during her nap, we had a great time just the 3 of us putting enticing things out for Allie to crawl too. We love our little Ju Ju Be so much!

7 Months for Allie

This cutie keeps getting sweeter and sweeter! Yesterday she turned 7 months and decided just in the knick of time to sit up by herself. I keep finding how different the girls are from each other. As much as Reese loved it once she could sit, Allie prefers to be on her back or tummy rolling between the two. She can get everywhere she wants to go without much standing in her way and in the sitting position feels just a little "stuck." 

Allie has also decided that now would be a good time to start rocking back and forth on her knees! Either I have a major lapse in my memory or this kiddo decided to do this super early.

For the most part she is sleeping from 7:30pm-6am every night. There's always the exceptions to the rule like Reese screaming that her "pa" is on the floor, that she needs water or has a nightmare which all wake up sister and cause a major chaotic moment. But on the nights when everyone sleeps soundly it sure is nice to get a full night's rest.

We had a doctor's appointment at 6 1/2 months and Allie's stats were: 17.2 lbs ~ 66% and 27in ~ 88%

Some other fun, new developments...puts on a cheesy smile when the camera comes out :: Playing with toys while Reese plays nearby :: Crying when strangers (particularly men) talk to her out in public :: Still no teeth! Not really even a hint that they're on the way. Super-duper fine with me! Maybe the longer she waits the more tolerant she'll be of them. One can always hope. 

What a little ham in this next picture! Life with Allie is fun!

Need a toy??

No problem...

Watcha Been Up To??

Time doesn't really stand still...at least around here. As Matt and I were falling asleep the other night he said to me, "The days are just going by so fast!" And they are. It feels as though once your baby reaches the 6 month mark, everything gets much easier and you can be on the move a lot more.

Here's a little of what we've been up to:

Made this incredible soup for dinner this past weekend. It's an oldie but a goodie recipe. You can cut the cost down by choosing to boil and shred a couple of chicken breasts instead of buying a rotisserie chicken. HERE is the recipe!

This plus a warm blanket snuggled next to my husband is where you could find me Sunday night after we got home from church and the girls were in bed. You also might have found us watching this. We are completely hooked!!

This girl is all over the place with rolling! She's figured out how to get where she wants to go by scooting around and it's so fun to watch her entertain herself. Reese never did that. She'd just get fussy as soon as you put her on her tummy. So thankful and happy to have a content baby this time around.

These two cuties have moved in together! We are rejocing to have our bedroom and living room back to ourselves at night and they couldn't be doing a better job with it! What a HUGE gift from the Lord. Matt and I were beyond nervous/fearful/concerned about how this would go down but except for one bump in the road they haven't been apart. I think Allie even sleeps better being with sissy! She's gone from getting up twice in the night to sleeping from 7:30pm to 6am! Yay Yay Yay!

Reese is putting more and more words together. She's really close to saying {almost} complete sentences. The BIG one came Sunday afternoon. The phrase you've been wanting to hear since you first caught a glimpse of your baby. Those 3 beautiful words: I.Love.You! Matt and I were ecstatic while Reese beamed. Music to our hearts. A few other ones for the record: Come on, Daddy. Go Bye Bye to Marmee's House? Shhh! Allie Sleeping! Breakfust? I hungry. Show daddy boomboom! (Wanted to show daddy her new Valentine's balloon.)

On Sunday night Matt and I became members of our church we've been attending since September 2010! We are so thankful for the privilege to serve and be ministered to with this body of believers! After the Right Hand of Fellowship was extended to us we both were overwhelmed by the love and warm welcome we received from the rest of the congregation. We are hopeful of what the Lord has planned for us here as we grow in our church home. If it comes to mind...please be praying for this group of believers as well as our elders. We are in the midst of searching for a pastor.

And last but not least Matt surprised me with an early Valentines/Birthday/almost Christmas present (maybe that's taking it a bit too far) when I opened this on Monday. I have no idea what I'm doing yet but am so excited to begin learning about this amazing camera! I've already gotten a few great tips but if you have any suggestions PLEASE leave me a comment. I've got a lot to read up on!

Here's my very first picture.

I know it's not the greatest but I'm just so excited with how great the colors look and the attention to detail. Don't laugh if you're a pro and are thinking how terrible this pic looks. :)

A few more: