9 months and all is well!

Peyton had her 9 month check up at the doctor on Thursday and everything checked out just fine! She is 30" tall (98%!) and 19 lbs 5.5 ozs (52%). Developmentally she is more than right on track and it was confirmed again by the doc that she is a "very active" little one- not that we needed to hear that again :)!

Also, as shown in this photo, on Monday Peyton all of a sudden had a pretty nice cut on her index finger and developed some red swelling on her hand that later led to more red swollen spots up higher on her arm. Turns out she appears to have been bitten by something but will be ok- yuck. But at least my mind is at ease now that there are no broken bones or anything in her little hand! Between Spike running around, Kylie running around and Peyton TRYING to run around, we have to be very careful of such things these days!

Doink?!

Me & My Monkey

Peyton has recently grown attached to a "My 1st Christmas" monkey that Grandma B. gave her last Christmas. It started off with Grandma using him as a distraction to get Peyton's diaper changed when here one day and now the little monkey has become Peyton's best buddy. Apart from being soft and cuddly, monkey also has a paci attached to his hand which Peyton seems to like having around as her spare in an emergency :)!

Me & monkey riding in the car. Mommy took a video of us playing inside too but she got carried away and it's too big to post and share with you :(!

A HOT time at Brookfield Zoo!

On Sunday we headed out for a day at Brookfield Zoo. It had occurred to me earlier in the week that somehow the whole summer had passed without a single trip to a zoo! Isn't that considered a type of neglect when you have little ones :)? Anyhow, as the king and queen of rain :), we had no complaints on the weather for the day with the temps in the mid-upper 90s (the car read 104 degrees as we were leaving the zoo!) and not a cloud in the sky!

Here are some pictures of us enjoying the day's events as well as both the animals that did brave the heat and the ones we found opting for a cooler retreat indoors! After our animal adventures, lots of sunshine, some cooling off under the water mists, our fill of yummy & sticky snacks and souvenirs for the road we were on our way! Thanks Brookfield Zoo- see you again next year!

The main attraction for Kylie of the day- the elephants!

Don't miss the little guy peeking around Mommy Giraffe- he was adorable!

We didn't dare attempt the sting rays with Kylie but this was a cute photo op!

A wild hog in the African forest exhibit. Lovingly referred to as Spike (our dog) by Daddy. What a mean thing to say about your BEST friend Daddy :)!

Indiana Peyton going through the ropes of one of the exhibits to see what she can find!

Daddy helping Kylie find what's lurking behind that window.

A sunning seal!

Peyton enjoying her favorite part of the day- lunch!

Here's a glimpse of the dolphin show we saw. Kylie LOVED all of the tricks the dolphins could do and Peyton was quite entertained by all of the movement and music!

Labor Day Weekend 2008

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

With still one day left of the long holiday weekend, we have had a lot of family fun together so far!

Yesterday we went to the birthday party for a daughter of a former coworker of Mommy's. It was also a homecoming for their 4 week old twin baby girls, so it was great to meet them as well as see some of my old work buddies at the party too. Kylie was absolutely in her element as the theme was Disney Princess and it was QUITE the princess party!


Yes, that's Kylie with the crown on :)! The kids had a great time painting a castle with the birthday girl (Ariel in this shot- she changed outfits 4 times!).

Daddy and Peyton watching the princesses blow bubbles from their royal goody bags!

After the birthday party we thought we would head over to Naperville's "Last Fling". It's an annual event held here over the Labor Day weekend with food, rides, music, etc. We thought it was a great idea until we had paid for parking, got out of the car and discovered that we didn't have any strollers with us- UGH! It was a hot and exhausting outing to end the day but also a great last blast of summer fair fun!

Kylie big enough this year to go on the "Gravity Storm" for the first time. She found out it's a bit harder to do flips and things than it looks!

This is more like it- the merry go round is one of my favorites!

Trying to catch the big one! Big or small, everyone was a winner and Kylie chose a cuddly brown teddy bear as her prize.

Riding a "Kylie-size" ferris wheel! Caution: do not view video if you dizzy easily :)!

What a week!

What a busy week we had during our first week home together! It was full of ups and downs (and a few exciting milestones for Peyton!) as it's quite a transition for all of us but all in all we made it through :). Among lots of little things here and there, we visited Daddy and his friends at his office, got Peyton's 9 month pictures taken at the mall, had lunch with one of Mommy's friends, had several playdates with Chloe next door and spent many of the sunny afternoons taking a great walk and playing at the neighborhood park!

Here are a few shots from the week...

Princess Aurora having lunch at the mall. Having decided to choose my battles wisely with this princess, we proceeded to the mall on Wednesday morning to have Peyton's 9 month pictures taken with Kylie in the princess garb of her choice. I'm talking from cardboard crown to plastic light up shoes- she really knew how to pick an outfit to leave the house in! I was thrown for a loop not expecting to have to kill some time at the mall before we could view Peyton's pictures but Kylie was as proud and happy as could be walking through the mall and having lunch as a princess! And I think the yucky blisters that Kylie was left with after our outing are enough to make wearing regular clothes and shoes out an easier conversation next time :)!

Can you spot the Princess making her way all the way to the top of the mall playland?

At Phillips Park in Aurora. A great park and zoo really close to our house that Chloe's Mommy brought us along to check out on Wednesday afternoon. It had lots of great new things to play on like this swirly "thing" to climb on!

Kylie, Chloe and "the green guy" at Phillips Park. There's always that one "friend" that tends to not leave Kylie's side when playing at the parks whether she likes it or not. And in this case these girls wanted nothing to do with this rough little guy!

Up she goes! Peyton climbed up the stairs to our second floor for the first time on Thursday morning. We were all so excited as she never really paid much attention to the stairs before but once she did, she was off- no problem! Kylie was the motivator as she had some of her toys on the stairs and continued to move them up step by step and little Peyton was more than determined to reach them herself to play with!

Notice anything different about me?

Look very closely :)...