Be it ever so humble...

There's nothing like our Christmas tree.












We are going out of town and will be gone for about a week around Christmas so we weren't going to get a tree this year, but since it is Sydney's first Christmas we changed our minds. We ended up buying a little fake 3 foot, pre-lit wonder. It fits nicely on the countertop so the baby can't pull off the ornaments.

It doesn't look too small until you see Sydney next to it (keep in mind though she is really big for a 10-month-old girl).









Her favorite part of the whole deal is her dad's present - it's a watch so it is nice and easy for her to crawl around with. She pulled it down and clutched the box in both hands and proceeded to "belly crawl" around the living room. Everywhere she went that morning, the box was there too!

Looks like Santa overspent this year - a small box with pretty paper would have sufficed.

Third time's a charm, right?

So Sydney has been rather unlucky in the health department. She was born with jaundice, which the doctor failed to treat effectively so she spent the first week of life recieving heel pricks. Then she was treated for thrush. Two months and three medicines later we learned it was just fat deposits from breastmilk. So we're now on to pediatrician No. 3 and things were starting to look up...until September came.

Sydney went to the doctor September 15 and we found out she had an ear infection in both ears. We gave her amoxicillin like it was going out of style, but on October 4 we went back and she had an infection in her left ear. So we moved on to medication No. 2. Then we went back on November 4 and she has an ear infection in her right ear. Now she is on Augmentin, but the doctor upped the dosage, so hopefully we can get over the infection for good this time.

She's such a sweet girl, so it is so hard to see her sad and in pain. Her dad has been helping out a lot more too, but it is still hard for her.

So third illness, third doctor, third ear infection...hopefully the old saying is true.

Halloween

Sydney had her first Trick-or-Treat experience on Tuesday. We dressed her up as a cat.













It was pretty cold so she had on about 3 other layers too. I wanted to take a million pictures, but Donnie was afraid we would miis out on the "good" candy, so he didn't want to wait for pictures.

We went with Donnie's sister and her family and his brother and his family. It was nice to go in a group. There were 7 kids and 6 adults (Donnie's mom was in town too). The oldest kid walked, but the others were in strollers. After about three houses Donnie realized he could get to the doors faster if he carried Sydney, so he ditched the stroller. We made it about 2 hours and then it was time to call it quits - Sydney was screaming her lungs out!

All in all it was fun, but next year (when she can actually eat the candy she gets) will be even better!

On the move...

Most kids sleep with a blankie or a favorite doll, but not our baby - she loves her shoes. She totally gets that one from her dad (he needs a closet just for shoes, seriously).














Sydney's new favorite game is destruction. Donnie will stack her blocks and then she will "crawl" (it's more like a gimpy army crawl, but you gotta start somewhere right?) to the stack and knock it over. She thinks it's great fun. I pulled out the camera, but she had already been going for about 10 minutes so she was starting to wind down by the time I started recording.

Another day down...

I can't believe she is already 9 months old. Sometimes it feels like she just came home from the hospital, and yet at other times I can't remember life without her. It is amazing how much my life has changed In the last year. I am truly thankful for my little angel!

When Sydney was born she had a beautiful head of dark hair (yeah, we still aren't sure where that came from). It was so thick - until month 4 when it just seemed to disappear. She never went bald, but all of the sudden she had this thin blonde hair pop up on her head.

I told Donnie I was so excited for her hair to grow long enough to start using clips, bows, and any other "girlie" concoction I could think of. So imagine my surprise when I combed her hair Sunday before church and realized that I could pull a little into a rubber band. Now, when I say "a little" I really mean A LITTLE. None the less, I just had to do it. Now maybe people will stop asking how old "he is" and calling my baby "buddy" and "such a good boy." MAYBE...

Sydney's first pumpkin!

Saturday we went to Donnie's sister's house and carved (the little kids painted) pumpkins with some of Sydney's cousins. Donnie said a 9 month old baby doesn't need a pumpkin, but as her mom I disagreed. If he gets to go trick-or-treating with her, then I get to have a pumpkin for her. It's only fair!

Finally...

Tonight we put the baby to bed and started to relax. After only 2 hours she woke up screaming. She is battling her second (perhaps just a continuation of the first) ear infection in less than three weeks. We went back to the doctor Wednesday and he confirmed it. So I thought her ear was bothering her.

Anyway, I picked her up out of her bed and she turned to me and bit my finger! Normally this would not be cool, but I was so excited because it means she finally has a tooth! Her bottom right tooth (her right) broke through.

She is one step closer to leaving behind her world of mushy foods. She is almost 9 months old so it's nice she decided to let her teeth grow in. Now if I could just convince her walking is fun...

Mom, this is for you...