Happy 10-Month Birthday, Margo!

Margo turned 10 months old on Oct. 1. The biggest moment this month was - drum roll - Margo learned to crawl! She'd been trying for quite a while - she finally did it at our PEPS group on Thursday Sept. 17. At first she was crawling on one knee and one leg like a funny crab. By Saturday she was on two knees. Now she's all over the place!


We had a nice visit from Nan Nan and Grampa Miller - they got to see her crawl! We went to the zoo for the first time with them. Very exciting!

We also had a visit from Granny and Grampy Thompson the first weekend in October - a long weekend that was simply too short!

I am way late on this - slacker mom! New photos for the month of Sept are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CarolynPeteMargo/Margo13

Happy (Belated) 9-Month Birthday, Margo!

At the Little Cheerful in Bellingham

Doing push-ups instead of napping

First Cheerios!

I can stand!

Margo has had a big month. She got two more teeth - on top - so now she has four. She's started eating finger foods and loves Cheerios the best. She can now sit up on her own - she starts on her tummy, then pushes back up on her hands and somehow swings her legs around and ta da! Seated. She just learned this last Monday. The only issue is that now when it's time for her nap, she'd rather practice sitting up and lying down and moving all around than go to sleep, and we've had several very teary nap sessions.

Margo can also pull herself up to standing now and she's learned to clap. She's been very busy! Her foods now include:
-- Beef
-- Chicken
-- Salmon
-- Broccoli
-- Pears
-- Mango
-- Butternut squash
-- Sweet potato
-- Carrot
-- Banana
-- Avocado
-- Blueberries
Soon we'll introduce wheat and cheese.

Last weekend Pete, Margo and I went on a getaway vacation overnight to Bellingham, WA. We had a wonderful time! We'd never been there before. We took Chuckanut Drive on the way up. It had been rainy until we turned off I-5 onto Chuckanut. Chuckanut was beautiful as promised, and reminded us of Big Sur. We got to Bellingham around 11:30 and not only did our lovely hotel let us check in early, they upgraded us to a water view room for no reason! We had our own little terrace and a nice sized room so Margo could play on the floor without being too crowded. We walked downtown and had a fun lunch at the Little Cheerful, recommended by the lady at the hotel. We then did some shopping and checked out the farmers' market. We walked back to our hotel - Margo napped on the way back and then we had an early dinner at Anthony's which was a short walk from our hotel. This was the first time we fed Margo anything other than Cheerios at a restaurant - she had mashed banana. She enjoyed the banana and was so well-behaved! Margo slept well in the hotel pack-n-play, and Pete and I chilled out on the terrace and watched the sunset.

The next day we ate at the Little Cheerful again because we'd liked it so well the day before. It was just as good, plus one of the servers greeted Margo by name and held her for a bit while we ate. After breakfast we drove around WWU and thought about our friends Hil and Matty and Chili who'd gone there. Then we walked around Fairhaven, a nice neighborhood that used to be its own town. Then we were off - we took highway 9 down instead of I-5 and it was a gorgeous drive. We picked up Sally in Carnation at Bonnie's farm - Sally had a great time on her vacation too.

Thursday night I had suddenly came down with a bad cold, and Margo was teething unhappily, so we thought about not going on our trip. But I think it did me good to get out and once we were done with the morning drive I felt a lot better. And I think the travel and distractions did Margo good as well - you'd have never known she was teething - she was a great traveler and as we like to say, a champ! In Bellingham she got a lot of attention from passers-by and had a smile for everyone.

We had Margo's 9-month check-up on Friday and she's on track and doing well. She now weighs 17 pounds and neither of us can remember how long she is.

Hooray for Margo!! Latest photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CarolynPeteMargo/Margo12

p.s. Blogger adds all these extra spaces, not me! I try to get rid of them and they come back! Grrr.

Happy 8 month Birthday, Margo

Can you believe it? Our little one is 8 months old today.

It's been a big month. We had a great 4th of July. Margo was in a kiddie parade with her friend Neo in Carnation and we went to a fun Fourth cookout at DK & Ash's house. We were back home by 7 and went to bed before any fireworks shows - maybe next year!

This past week we survived the record-shattering heatwave - high of 103 on Wednesday. Our 3rd floor condo with skylights and limited circulation was NOT the place to be, but with a lot of fans, water spritzing, cool wet washcloths, and AC during the day in our offices and Margo's school, we made it through ok.

We also survived Margo's first ear infection and 3 days of 100-101 degree fever. She was a champ through it all, and we didn't suspect she had an ear infection because although she was fussier than usual and a bit feverish, she was still sleeping and eating well. So it was a surprise when the doctor diagnosed an ear infection! She missed three days of school but was back to her old self in no time.

Margo likes to stand while we hold her up. And she seems to be on the verge of crawling, or some form of mobility - when she's sitting up, she leans far forward to reach things, almost getting up onto her knees. She seems moments away from putting it all together. She can somehow move around while just sitting on her bottom. We can't see it happening so it must occur in tiny increments because suddenly she'll be a foot from where we set her, still sitting there happily. She doesn't seem to be doing it on purpose. We think that when she reaches forward for something, that action must push her backwards a tiny bit. Or else maybe she levitates like a little Buddha when we're not looking...

Miss Miller is cheerful and chatty, loves playing with her toys and reading books. She experienced a wading pool for the first time in her new swimsuit, and her face fills with joy every time she sees Sally. Her foods have expanded to include pears, and she's getting three meals of solids a day - two at school and one at home for dinner. She continues to be a good sleeper (knock on wood!), waking up once in the night. Our only feedback for her consideration would be to think about sleeping in a bit later...sometimes she's up for the day at 4:30!!

Pete and I went on our first post-Margo date last night - Margo's school held a "Parents' Night Out" from 6-9 pm. The kids had a picnic up on the playground, and Pete and I went to Dahlia Lounge to celebrate our 4-year anniverary, which was July 30. At first, it felt weird to be out in the world just the two of us! The food was great and we had a lovely time. And Margo had a great time with her friends while we were gone.

New photos from the month of July are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CarolynPeteMargo/Margo11

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Margo!

Margo will turn 7 months old at 12:55 pm tonight. What a joy she is! Her latest feat is saying "da da da da da da da da." Her food repertoire now includes avocado, banana, sweet potato, carrots, and apples. Avocado and banana are her favorites so far.

I should have noted below that Margo sits up on her own as long as we put her that way.

Latest Margo pics are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CarolynPeteMargo/Margo10

Correction!

Margo has TWO teeth, not just one! They've both broken through.

Growing, growing

Lots of changes at our house. In addition to her new skill of rolling over onto her tummy, Margo has added sitting up on her own to her repertoire of new skills!

She has also been eating rice cereal and avocado. She seems to like the cereal but is mixed on the avocado. This week - sweet potato and maybe banana! We went to a solid foods class on Saturday -- soon enough Margo will be chowing down on beef casserole puree! (?!)

Oh and last but not least - Margo is getting a tooth!

On Friday I went to a picnic at Margo's school. We went up to the private playground outside on the second floor. Margo was kind of fussy but it was fun to see where she hangs out during the day sometimes and to hang out with her classmates.

Here's Margo with her friend Lucas. She is wearing a huge sweatshirt she borrowed from her classmate because her shirt got dirty.

Margo is 6 months old!

Can you believe it? Margo turned 6 months old on Monday. She celebrated this big milestone a day early by learning to roll over onto her tummy! She did it all afternoon long and kept us busy, because she no longer stays put where we set her down! She had a hard time with her nap on Sunday because she kept flipping onto her tummy in her crib and then getting mad because most of the time she doesn't even like to be on her tummy! Silly kid!

It's been a big couple of weeks for Margo. This week we'll be starting her on some solids. She has also found her feet and loves to grab onto them. She's enjoying books more, and Mark & Rosa loaned us their jumperoo and just this past week Margo became tall enough to enjoy it.

Margo's biggest feats came over Memorial Day weekend. We took a plane to Colorado Springs to meet Thompsons, Sutulas and Aunt Barbara for my mom's 70th Birthday and my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Margo was a dream on all of the flights. She mostly slept or ate. She had a couple fussy moments but never went into full-on crying mode. We changed a couple diapers on the first leg of the trip but luckily the plane had a diaper-changing station in one of the restrooms! Margo charmed folks on the plane and she was also a charmer with the family the whole weekend. She made it cheerfully through some meals that were longer and later than what she's used to. She slept like a champ in her crib in the hotel and had fun playing on the Spongebob blanket Aunt Kathy brought. She loved meeting those family members she hadn't met yet and she especially jived with her sweet cousins Maddie and Jamie.

We were very relieved that Margo was well to travel. We'd had a rough time lately - she was sick for 2 1/2 weeks and missed 12 days of school due to a stomach bug. 18 days of diarrhea = not fun for anyone, although Margo didn't seem fazed by it at all. We had her see a doctor three times and each time they said as long as she didn't have a fever (she didn't) we'd just have to wait it out. Who knew a kid could have a bug for so long?!?! Luckily she was better by the Tuesday before our trip. Whew!

We have the latest photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CarolynPeteMargo/Margo9

These include our photos from Colorado Springs.

Happy Summer!