9 months

Moving wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be after all and living here isn't as bad either. The cons about living here are: not across the street from the store, is cold, higher utility costs, maintenance, yard work. Although it can be harder to live in a big house than in a small apartment, the extra space does give a little more freedom. I put the futon mattress on the floor in the baby's room and now I sleep with her or leave her in there sleeping without worrying that she'll fall off and hurt herself. Since the house is owned by a family member, we don't have to pay rent: we just have to pay the property taxes and utilities and help fix it up. And the family members that moved out left us some sweet furniture.

It would seem selfish to keep this big house to ourselves, so I would like to rent the upstairs bedroom to someone. The idea is kind of scary and it would have to be someone that we trust. Or, should I just keep it available for visiting family members?

Since it's pretty cold in the house, I have to keep some clothes on the baby. So now I only sit her on the potty whenever she wakes up in the morning or from a nap and whenever I change her diaper. Crystal is still getting taller, of course. The last time that I sat Crystal on a bathroom scale, she weighed 20 lbs. Her shots appointment is next week and hopefully it won't give her a fever this time. I think that I want to space my kids 3 years apart, what do you think?

8 Months

Crystal has been crawling for 1 1/2 months now and she now pulls herself to standing very easily. Before, she would pull herself up and get stuck, but now she can also easily lower herself! She can take a couple of steps while holding but prefers to get down and crawl in order to get somewhere. I keep trying to find a baby that has been crawling as early as she (at 6-7 months), but I haven't found one yet. Out of curiosity, have you found any babies like this? Tell me more about them! When do they start walking?

Crystal has two bottom teeth now and will get the top two teeth soon. She only nurses to sleep now and won't suck on her pacifier anymore and will only play with it, so she has officially graduated from the pacifier. I was afraid of having to force the pacifier away when she would turn one but now I don't have to worry about it. Now I am wondering about how she will relax herself in the future when there isn't nursing: whether it'll be difficult or whether it will come naturally.

She's getting better at picking up little things, like cherios, with her fingers but still needs more practice. She has just started practicing some more consonant sounds like "dadada" and she acts so silly when she does, smiling and with her tongue flapping.

I got tired of Crystal's diaper rashes about a month ago, so Crystal has been naked for most of the time that she's at home now. I've been sitting Crystal on the potty when she seems like she's about to pee. Though, since it requires me to watch her constantly, she often ends up going on the floor. Since it's more obvious when she needs to poop, we always make it to the potty for that. It's easy also because she poops at the same time every day: after she wakes up in the morning. Hopefully, now she'll transition easily to going to the potty on her own in a few months.

I had been continuing to let her go in her diaper while we sleep at night and taking off the over-full diaper in the morning until last night when I tried sitting her on the potty (that I kept next to the bed) throughout the night. Each time we awoke, she wouldn't nurse until after she went pee anyways. It surprisingly went smoother than making her go in her diaper, since she peed more quickly when I sat her on the potty than when she was laying on her back in a diaper. We woke up a 5 am this morning and I actually felt rested! The potty had so much urine in it--I can't believe that the diaper had been holding so much before.

Other news: Steve has been sanding the floors in the house for these past few days. He may have to take another day or two off of work to finish the project. We're moving on the 27th.

About photo: Crystal was a dinosaur for Halloween and we took her trick-or-treating!

How to put this ...

Alison is moving out and we're moving into her place in College Park. I'm sad that they are moving away to Utah. We'll still be around since we're only moving 3 miles but I'm sad about leaving our ward and leaving Greenbelt. Since it will be a lot of empty space, let me know whether anyone wants to rent a bedroom or two from us. We'll now also have the space to get and store our own Christmas tree, so thanks anyways, Merinda! :)

Hooray for Baby!

We misplaced our camera, but I wanted to write a post anyways. At her 6-month appointment, Crystal measured 17 lbs and 3 oz, 25 1/2 inches long, and 17 inches around head. At 6 1/2 months, Crystal is now really crawling! She also surprised me by pulling herself to standing! Crazy. I read online that babies typically don't do these things until they're at least 8 months. Crystal still has no teeth, but I can see her individual teeth underneath what seems to be a thin layer of transparent gums.

Crystal's diaper rash was making her do a hurting cry, so I left her diaper off this morning for it to heal. So, I read a little online about infant potty training. Even though she's past the ideal starting age of 4 months, as she is 6 1/2 months, I took Crystal immediately to the toilet after she whizzed on the floor anyways. I sat on the toilet backwards holding her up by her thighs in front of me. She started grunting and kick-pushing the toilet lid in front of her and she pooped in the toilet!

Throughout the rest of the day, I sat on the back rim of the toilet while holding Crystal in front of me between my legs. She also peed in the toilet in the afternoon. I was so happy with this that it didn't bother me whatsoever that I had to also clean up multiple pees and poops from the floor. I was learning when and how she tends to go. I already knew that she tends to do a squeaky grunt when she goes pee and a grunty grunt when she goes poop.

Other news, we bought Crystal's Halloween costume online and I'm really excited to actually celebrate Halloween this year! Speaking of holidays, if anyone has an extra small Xmas tree, we may want to borrow it! Speaking of borrowing, we could still use
more baby clothes size 9M and up. :)