One notch lower

On Monday night we had to move Jessica's mattress one notch lower on her crib - because she is now able to pull herself up to standing from lying on her tummy!

She did it for the first time while we were playing on her foam squares in the loft - she creeped over to one of her toys, grabbed it with both hands, pulled herself onto her knees then onto her feet! Jess did it a few more times throughout the day and just before bedtime I put her in the crib just to be sure...and she did it...pulled herself right up! Needless to say, Jessica went to bed a little later than usual because Russ had to make the crib adjustments, but it was definitely worth not having to worry!

I recently bought Jessica the Leap Frog Learning Centre - she plays with it so much during our "Creep, Crawl & Toddle" playgroup I thought it would be worth it. She loves it!! She loves that she can pull herself up and stand the whole time she is playing. She bobbles when the music plays, enjoys turning the page in the book and pressese all buttons non-stop. Mommy loves it too - it sings her "ABCs" and allows her to learn so many things. Definitely a great investment.



Tuesday the 29th marked our 3 year anniversary! It's hard to believe we were married that long ago! We went to Boston Pizza for lunch with Jessica - it took her a while to decide what she wanted on the menu, but definitely let us know once she picked something out (she LOVES pointing at things now). =)

Da-Da

Jessica can finally say Da-Da...Russ is sooo happy!! A couple of days ago we were in the car and I wasn't sure what she was saying so I turned off the radio and listened to her babble "Da-Da-Da-Da" - it was very exciting!

Jess has also started to raise her hands in the air when you say "Hooray!" - now she just has to learn to "stomp her feet" and she can do all the actions to the song on her Baby Einstein DVD. She is clapping ALL the time and is also starting to point at things.

As for moving around, she isn't crawling on her hands and knees yet, but is definitely able to pull herself up from kneeling if she has something to hold on to. We think she might just skip the true crawling stage all together. We'll see.

I think she knows how to give kisses - whenever I ask for one, she leans in and plants her lips right on mine (with her mouth open, of course) - giving me a slobbery, but adorable smooch!

Oh, and did you know we're teaching Jess how to drive the truck?? =) How cute are these photos?!?



That's it for now...it's hard to believe she's 8 1/2 months already. Yesterday I got a little teary-eyed at the thought of having to leave her to go back to work in September. I am secretly hoping that the next 4 months will either go by REALLY slowly or we win the lottery so I don't have to go back to work. Jessica is such an angel I can't imagine spending an entire day without her. C'est la vie, I guess. *sigh*

Here are some layouts I also did recently (yes, my stock is FULL of pink!!):



Thanks for stopping by! xoxo

8 Months on May 12, 2007

I totally forgot to mention that last Saturday also marked Jessica's 8 month birthday. Here's her picture with the bear:

Jessica's Baptism on May 13, 2007

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - it's been a busy week, especially since Jessica caught a cold! She's on day #3 now and still has a runny nose (she was up last night at 5:00 am!) but I definitely think she's on the the uphill now.

Last Sunday, May 13th (Mother's Day!) Jess had her baptism, which was a lot of fun. Rod came to visit from London, Tita Agnes & Tito Jerry came from Wisconsin and Tita Alma and Tito Boying from Texas. Most of the Manalo-clan also came to the dinner celebration at Mom & Dad's, as well as many of our friends. It was really nice to spend time with everyone.

Here are some photos from the baptism:




We were happy that Jess was soooo good - because the ceremony was at 2:00 pm and the dinner at 4:00 pm, she missed her afternoon nap. But she was quite content, playing with everyone that held her, waving and always smiling. She started to get fussy around 7:00 pm- which was our cue to head home. She cried most of the way home and finally fell asleep, of course, just a few minutes before we pulled into the driveway. She skipped her typical bedtime routine that night and was passed out in her crib by 8:00 pm.

Rod came over on the Friday night before the baptsim to visit with Jess (he hasn't seen her since Christmas!) They got to spend a lot of time together, which was great. I just LOVE these photos he took of her:



As for the rest of the week, not much has changed - Jessica is still creeping around on her tummy, wobbling on all fours and waving at everything under the sun. She loves to clap her hands (especially if we sing "If you're happy and you know it"), stand on her feet (with assistance, of course) and has yet to say "da-da". She has "ba-ba", "ma-ma" and "ge-ge" down pact, so we're trying to say "d-d-d" as often as we can!!

Here are a few more photos from the past couple weeks....I can't believe how fast she's growing!!

Layouts

More teeth!

I'm not sure if I just missed the two front teeth (#5 and #6) when I was feeling her gums, but they are in! Actually, the are growing faster than the 4th tooth - and now Jessica is getting used to having all of them by grinding her top and bottom teeth (which makes me cringe).

I can't believe she has 6 teeth!

She's also clapping her hands...of course, they don't make any noise when she claps them together but she definitely responds to it when we say "clap your hands!". And she loves to wave at EVERYTHING! Sometimes she evens says "ba-ba" when she waves...maybe a baby form of "bye-bye"?! Maybe not. Nevertheless, it's cute!

As for eating solids, we'll be starting fruits at the end of this week. So far she's enjoying cereal: brown rice, barley & oatmeal and veggies: pureed carrots, squash (which she LOVES), zucchini and soon, peas. Introducing these new foods to Jessica has been a breeze...she definitely enjoys eating! =)

That's it for now...next Sunday, May 13th (also my first Mother's Day!!) is Jessica's baptism. Rod (who is also going to be her Godfather) will be here on Friday for a visit - he hasn't seen her since Christmas! I'm sure you're going to LOVE playing with her bro...she is way too much fun at this age.

Here are a few photos from the past couple weeks. I have to admit, we've been playing with her so much I haven't been focusing on taking pictures...but I need to be more diligent on that one because she's growing way too fast!