Nine Months

Nine months...

I would say it's gone by quickly (and really, it has) but this month has been a bit of a battle of the wills.

Cute as she is, Miss Princess has her own opinions about sleeping.  

And eating.  

And just about everything, really.

Our big battle this month has been rolling over.  She mastered rolling both directions and suddenly felt inspired to roll over as soon as she was put on her back.  Nap & bedtimes, included.  Well, she had never slept on her belly before and didn't feel inclined to begin now.  Nor did she feel like rolling back over (although she was perfectly capable).  Instead, she'd lay in her crib and scream.  And scream and scream and scream.  It was awesome.  

Thankfully, after a few weeks of this awesomeness, she's finally gotten used to sleeping on her belly.  Oh, and she managed to cut one of her top teeth (and boy, did we hear about that one, too).  Grand tooth total: 3, with another appearing soon.

Other accomplishments this month:

*rocking on hands and knees, with a few attempts to actually crawl

*can actually propel herself forward by 'swimming' on our laminate floor

*loves, loves, loves to stand.  Favorite place to stand: next to a bucket that she can toss things out of.

*still eating like she's twice her size.  No wonder I change so many diapers every day...

*she will eat practically everything, but still prefers pureed food.  Her favorite food in the world is broccoli cheddar soup--she yells at us because we don't shovel it in her mouth fast enough.

*she's okay with other people holding her, unless she sees me or Jonny.  Then it's all over.

*first hair clip

*when we're outside, she insists on sitting directly on the ground.  No blanket, just straight on the grass.  Her favorite thing to do is crunch leaves.  I just have to watch carefully or she'll try to sneak a bite.

*she's our little baby Hoover.  We're going to be very careful when that girl starts crawling because she'll eat everything she can put in her mouth.

*not too interested in her pacifier anymore.  She'll take it occasionally, but prefers to suck on her blanket instead.

*still 6 month clothing, size 2 diapers. I'm getting bored with her outfits.

*will babble 'mamamama', 'dadadadada', and 'bababababa', but no associations yet.

Oh, Princess.  It's a good thing you're so darn cute, because you've been quite the tyrant this month!

 But we still adore you, even if you are a little monster sometimes.  

I Love Jonny

We had some yarn hanging out around the house from a Joy School project.  Seth, of course, thought it was great toy and was using it for various imaginative games around the house.  Eventually, it ended up tangled in his bike and scooter wheels.

Jon got the task of untangling said yarn.  He meticulously removed it from all axles (complaining mightily about my negligence in leaving said yarn out), then carefully wound each piece into a neat little pile and left it on the ledge where Seth was thrilled to discover it the next morning.

Guess what Jon came home to the next day?  Yarn-axled toys.  And guess what he spent the evening doing?  Removing said yarn, and--once again--winding it into careful piles.  Total time spent removing and carefully winding yarn?  Over an hour.  Total time it would have taken to simply remove yarn & toss in garbage? Ten minutes or less.  Definitely no OCD here.  Not at all.

Trick or Treat

We imposed again on Shawn & Krystal for some better trick-or-treating prospects

(our neighborhood gets few trick-or-treaters and not very many stay to hand our treats).

After some delicious soup (and mummy hot dogs), we headed out for the night.

Well, Seth & Jon headed out.

Catherine & I manned the candy while Shawn & Krystal took their girls out.  

(working on the 'rocking on her hands and knees' stage)

"I can totally handle this candy-dealing job!" 

"I think I'll just...make sure the goods are still good." 

"One must be thorough.  Very thorough." 

"Time for a little quality control." 

"Nice sturdy stick.  Yep." 

Princess Catherine, 

Candy Distributor Extraordinaire

The Babe with the Power

Well, to absolutely no one's surprise, I went overboard on our Halloween costumes this year (again).

I did much better with starting earlier this year, but was still VERY grateful they cancelled the Stake service activity from 9-2 that morning.  Otherwise Jon would have been without a hat, and I would be without a wig.  

I now present the Blood Family Halloween Costumes for 2011:

Here we have the following:

The Wiseman and the Hat (the top is cut off), the Labyrinth Worm (without his scarf),
Jareth the Goblin King, and Toby

Let me just add that prior to the party that night, Catherine was in full character as Toby, the whiny baby.  I was ready to send her to the Goblin King myself.

Except I was the Goblin King, and I didn't want her.

Luckily she calmed down and was great for the trunk or treat.

A better picture of the hat, but the Worm had run off to stuff his face with more doughnut holes:

And now a few pictures from someone with a better camera than mine:

Me & Tracie

(many, many thanks to the amazing Mary Ann for the wig.  David Bowie would be proud)

Jon, in all his glory:

Obviously these costumes were a bit of work.  I borrowed Catherine's from a friend in the ward (easy), commissioned the multi-talented Lenae to help me with (read: make) Seth's costume, and took care of Jon's and mine by myself (with the exception of my wig, which required professional assistance).

I'm pretty darn proud of how they turned out.

Especially Jon's.  

We've actually been wanting to do this theme for a couple of years now, but last year I was pregnant.  While David Bowie was surely bending the gender line in the movie, a pregnant David Bowie would have been going just a little too far.  So we held off.  

And no, I didn't even think about the fact that I was cross-dressing at a church function.  

As Jon said, "It's not really crossing the genders.  It's more like un-crossing them."

Amen.

Catherine's favorite part of the whole deal?  The bird hat.

Seriously.

She LOVED it.  If she saw it sitting around, she would smile, sing, and shriek until we let her touch it:

And now, for your information (if you still have no idea what our costumes are) 

or for your entertainment (if you're jealous you didn't think of these yourself),

some videos from Labyrinth:

Seth's character--the Labyrinth Worm:

Jon's character--the Wiseman and the Hat

And mine & Catherine's, David Bowie as Jareth, the Goblin King with Toby:

High-quality entertainment.

Go rent it now.

Halloween Cookies

I love that Seth is finally old enough to be excited about the holidays and to participate in some of the fun.

One of my favorite Halloween traditions?  Making sugar cookies!

This year Seth got to help.

BEFORE:

Placing the cookie cutters carefully in the dough

DURING:

Rolling out the dough 

(and eating spoonfuls of powdered sugar): 

AFTER:

Oh, yeah.   

He LOVED making the cookies, but as I'm not willing to deal with that disaster every day, 

we settled on a cleaner alternative: 

Playdough.  Hours of entertainment, (relatively) small mess.

Hours of Delight

Are you looking for some magical toy that will entertain children of all ages for hours on end?

Well, look no further!

I present to you the greatest toy in the world: a giant bag of fuzz!

Sure, you may have purchased the fuzz for the purpose of stuffing a Halloween costume, 

but you're missing the limitless opportunities it can offer to your family.

Little ones will spend hours grabbing little balls of fuzz and tearing them into minuscule pieces 

that will stick to their fuzzy pajamas:

(fuzz visible here in her right hand)

And older ones will be much more imaginative: 

pretending it's snow and rolling around in it; 

pretending its snow and throwing it in the air; 

pretending it's snow and driving your Matchbox cars into it while yelling 'Oh, no!  I can't see you anymore!"

(as seen below):

So next time you're looking for a few hours of peace and quiet, 

look no further than the stuffing you've been hoarding since you made that one pillow three years ago.

DISCLAIMER: 'Fuzz' may or may not leave your carpeted stairs coated despite your best attempts to clean.  Use with care, and ensure that all 'Fuzz' has been removed before Dad gets home.