Allison is 8 months old!

Allison hit the 8 month mark the day after Christmas. The changes over these past few weeks have been amazing - she's completely mobile and is starting to explore her world from an upright position. It's hard to believe that just a month ago I could walk away from her for a few minutes and expect to find her in relatively the same place I left her.
Another big change for this month is a new 'do. While Ally's baby shag was cute, we decided she could benefit from a little trim, especially since the sure hands of Aunt Ellen were available for the job.

Before:

During:

After:

While Allison did a good job sitting still for her makeover, most of the time these days she's on the go.

She started the month by getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth, then progressed to an Army crawl. These past few days, she's been replacing that more and more with true crawling.

She also decided to add pulling up to her knees to her bag of tricks, which couldn't please her more.

This, of course, gives her plenty more options for hijinks.

The car seat is no longer purely for transportation:

And an open refrigerator offers a world of exciting treats. Including, apparently, generic brand salsa that probably expired months ago.

Of course, while getting up and around delights Allison to no end (at least that makes one of us!) it also adds one more item to the list of things our happy-go-lucky baby will cry about: clunks to the head have joined hunger as the two reasons for turning on the waterworks.

But despite a stumble here and there, 8-month-old Ally remains a sweet-natured, joyful little girl...just one with a couple of bruises here and there.

Allison is 7 months old today!!

Today marks month 7 with Allison, bringing with it all the typical 7-month-old challenges...the pending emergence of a first tooth, the understandably frustrating feeling of being almost but not quite able to crawl, a couple minor colds and fevers, and the onset of separation anxiety.

So of course Allison must be a miserable mess, right?

The "official" 7-month photo:
A day at the beach:

In her play center:

Modeling Thanksgiving PJs (I say modeling because they were too small to actually be worn to bed):

Playing outside in the nice weather:

Yeah, she's pretty awesome.

There's a book almost every first-time parent buys called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" in which the author claims you can appease even the orneriest baby through a mix of shushing, sucking, swaddling, and a bunch of other s-words.

Brandon and I are going to rewrite it and pretty much tell everyone just to conceive Allison. I think we'll sell a few million copies and be able to retire early.

Anyway, at just past the half-a-year mark, our little girl is doing good. She's working on crawling, mastering grabbing for toys (and cell phones, earrings, food, remote controls, etc.), and doing a pretty good job eating solid foods...as long as they're fruits, not veggies.

Here are a few more cute Ally photos...she was SO fascinated by grass...pretty cute:

In any case, Happy 7 Months to our little lady - we couldn't love her more!

Allison is 6 months old!

Little Allison hit the half-year mark Tuesday! Her six-month doctor visit was two days later, and she continues to grow well: 16 pounds, 6 ounces and 26.5 inches.

The past month has been one of new adventures and growing by leaps and bounds.

She can get pretty much anywhere she wants to go by rolling, although that gets her in trouble sometimes...I put a blanket down for her to create a soft, clean, Hotwheels-free surface for her adventures, but even that isn't foolproof:

Don't worry, I put down the camera and helped her escape.

Meanwhile, Ally is also looking into other manners of getting from A to B. She's up on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth and even moving herself backwards these days - all the while with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on her face. Crawling is imminent.

She's also sitting up by herself for short periods of time...

...and holding her own bottle now and then. I guess she realizes at a young age that some level of self-sufficiency is the best way to get fed in these parts.

On a final note, where big brother's eyes were clearly changing from blue to brown by this point, it's looking like Allison is going to keep her baby blues...

Above all, Allison continues her happy, easy-going nature. The girl can't hold a grudge...you can wake her up from a sound sleep to get her dressed, have a little boy (I won't name names) shout in her ear, haul her around on errands, etc., and you'll usually get nothing but a beaming smile. She's pretty amazing that way.

That easy-going nature paid off on Ally's first trip this month.

Allison and I took a "girls weekend" to Illinois (actually we're just too cheap to pay for plane tickets for Brandon and Anthony too) and got to see a lot of family and friends. Ally truly outdid herself on the four plane rides, alternating between flirting with any male in sight and sleeping.

The payoff? Plenty of cuddles and new friends.

With Grandpa Harry:

With Grandma Dianne (check out how Ally's eyeing that bottle!):

With Great Grandpa Harry:

With Aunt Kerry:

With Aunt Ellen and twin cousins Kate and Evan:

With Grandpa Dave:

With Grandma Char:

It was cute watching the three little babies interact (Kate and Evan are three weeks younger than Allison).

I think it's safe to say Ally made a girlfriend:

"Hey! I have these pants, too!"

Pretty girls:

Sharing secrets already:

Meanwhile, Allison's reaction to Evan was a bit more...disturbing...

Yikes! She was a little more respectful to Cousin Matthew, thankfully:

It was a great trip, and we were so happy to see so many family and friends.

Allison is 5 months old today!

Little Allison is 5 months old today! She continues to be a remarkably easy, happy, calm, sweet little baby...and assuming I didn't just jinx us right there, we feel super lucky.

Here's her "official" 5 month photo:

New things for Allison this month include rice cereal (she gives it a thumbs-up), looking around at the sound of voices and her name (Grandma Char aptly described her as "nosy"), laughing (especially when Grandma Dianne says "booties") and giving sitting up the old college try.

She continues to be a good sleeper (I love this kid) and still loves nothing more than attention from her big brother.

There's really only one setback in Ally's life. While I must say she's quite beautiful from her "good side..."

...her "bad side," aka back side, is another story altogether.

Yep, we have ourselves a little baldie.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to bother Miss Ally, who continues to reserve her crying for times of true distress (aka, she's hungry) and otherwise spends most of her time gracing us with her pretty smile...keeps us focused on her good side.