Baby Elisabeth is now 7 months!!

I admit I breathed a sigh of relief when she turned 3 months old and I believed it when she turned 6 months but 7 months!??  Really???  She's getting so big so quickly.  This past month she has developed more than ever before:

• She weighs 18.5 pounds still and is 27 1/2 inches long
• She only wears 12-month-old clothes and is starting to get a little big for it
• When she is a little sad she says "a-mama" and even "mama."  It kills me!
• She rides in a fancy new car seat - Britax Marathon and likes it
• She laughs a lot more, especially when I play with her a lot and stack blocks for her to push down.  We do it over and over again and she laughs
• She still doesn't mind getting passed around to different people so no stranger anxiety yet
• She loves to eat solids
• Her first bottom tooth has erupted and it's sharp!
• She scoots backwards everywhere and can sit herself up from a tummy down position! Incredible to watch
• She sits up in the corner of her crib and starts to cry because she can't figure out how to get back down
• She still eats everything in sight
• She is such a good girl.  She rarely really cries with tears and only whimpers a bit when she is frustrated but she doesn't like to cry.  She's such a sweetie
• She loves her daddy more than anything in the world and gives him big smiles. 
• She finally likes to play peekaboo and gets it
• She is precious and we love her.  She always sleeps through the night (no dreamfeed) and sometimes I have these mother pangs where I just want to run into her bedroom and scoop her up and kiss on her!

Here we are at the farmer's market yesterday by the pumpkin patch.

And here she is with her poppa

Elisabeth rocking back and forth

Our fabulous trip to Colorado Springs!

So Paul and I went on a minimoon (our first in almost a year) to Colorado Springs for some R&R and it was stupendous and much needed.  I have fantasized for months about sleeping past 6:30 and I did.  One day I slept until 9 in our lovely hotel room at the Cheyenne Mountain resort.  But I digress.  Let me start at the beginning.

First, we took our sweet lil baby cakes on a plane way early in the morning and she did marvelously well!  As we boarded the plane, I laughed as I saw half the people looking at our baby in terror and the other half smiling at her fondly.  People feel strongly one way or the other about babies, it seems.  Anyway, she was just happy and smiling the whole way on the plane and fascinated by it all.

When we arrived at DIA she took a little catnap on me in the front carrier which was so tender.  Then, we took her to my parents' home and she slept for 2 1/2 hours.  She was pooped!!  Then, we had lunch and left her in the arms of my parents and she was happy as a clam.  Didn't cry a bit.

We took off in my parents' convertible which they lent us and the weather was pefect!  The trees were turning color and we were delighted.  First, we stopped by to do a session at the Denver temple. 

Then, we drove to our hotel and sunk into our lush beds.  I highly recommend the Cheyenne Mountain Resort.  Then, we went out to eat at a cute Italian restaurant.  Then we came home and watched the cute movie, Midnight in Paris.  Such a treat! 

The next morning we woke up late and went for a hike through Seven Falls Park.  It was a lovely hike and we took in the sights of the fall and the autumn colors. 

Here I am walking up the many stairs to get up the falls to our hike.

You can see the falls behind Paul.

Here is Paul, master of his hike!

The photographer called us a photogenic couple here.

After our hike.  We went and ate at the lovely and delicious Edelweiss Cafe.  We sat outside and it reminded me of eating in Germany.  It was very authentic.  Paul got the German Cherry Torte and I got the plum cake. I know, I don't eat sugar, but I cheated on our minimoon.

Later on that day, we went hottubbing. This is the view of Cheyenne Mountain (that government mountain) from our hot tub. 

That night, we ate at the plush Penrose Room at the Broadmoor Hotel.  I had long wanted to eat there and it didn't dissapoint.  It reminded me of places I have eaten at in Europe and was even better than La Caille.  We each had a three-course dinner and were just in heaven.  It was so fancy that a different waiter brought us our food on a plate covered by one of those big plate covers and then at the same time, they revealed our food.  Like Ta Da! 

This first little dish was courtesy of the chef.  It was a caviar cream and some other sort of cream and the tiniest sandwich I have ever seen. 

For dessert we split a flourless chocolate mousse.  Divine!

You can see people dancing here.  Paul took me out to dance too and I felt like he was gliding me around heaven. 

The next day we left our lovely room with a balcony

We went to Royal Gorge which was about an hour away.

They had some crazy but pretty cacti there.

Then we got back in our convertible and took a lovely scenic route home.

By the last half an hour I was just dying to see our sweet Elisabeth again.  I couldn't wait to scoop her in my arms and was afraid she would be sleeping by the time we arrived but I got there just in time for her bath.  She had had a lovely time with my parents but I was so glad that she gave me the biggest smile and looked really happy to see both of us again.  Look how cute she is here!

The next morning we went to church and then soon after we left for the airport where we took our plane back to Utah.  Elisabeth did a great job again.  Here she is staring out of the plane window.   

We were happy this worked out well because it looks like our next trip is to Hawaii! 

Random updates

Hello!!  How hilarous is our sweet pumpkin here?  Things are going well in the McAllister household.  Fall is in the air and it's kind of exciting to think about the festivities ahead.  Life is great and this is a good month for Elisabeth.  She has started trying to push herself along with her knees and it's the cutest thing.  She had her 6 month check up last week and weighs 18.6 pounds and is 27 1/4 inches long.  Long baby!  She can only fit in 12 month old clothes.  What a perfect chubby girl.  She sleeps from 6:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.!  Incredible!  Paul and I just thank the Lord.  She likes to accompany me on shopping trips.

And she likes to take dips in the pool with her handsome dad.

She also likes to go to the park - with her dashing dad.

 She enjoyed discovering grass.

She really loves solid foods and so far has eaten cereal, sweet potatoes, peas, and pears.

 She has the roundest, squeeziest face!

 I am obsessed with watching her sleep.  So sweet. 

She loves anything new in life and I love watching her discover her world.  Just wait until we take her to Hawaii, which is supposed to happen in just a few weeks! So excited about that.  Paul, in fact, is in Hawaii right now for a few days of work and my parents are coming into town tomorrow to visit and to go to a gala with me.  Paul called me an hour ago and sounded so excited to be there with the palm trees etc. 

I also had a birthday just a few days ago.  It was nice and simple.  Paul took me out to the Dodo restaurant up the street.  We sat outside, ate Ahi Tuna steaks and watched the world go by.  It couldn't have been better.  Life is wonderful at 32 and much better than 23! : ) 

General conference was also this past weekend and was one of the best I've heard.  Everyone had such poignant messages to convey.  I was so impressed.  Sister Dalton talked specifically to dads about caring for their little girls and she told dads the best thing they can do is love the little girl's mother.  So touching.  Paul is definitely a great example of that.  He makes me feel so loved and secure and I always want to be a better person because of him.  What a blessing it is to be with a man who makes me want to be a better person in every way.  I love you Paco. 

Here are two more pictures of our growing girl.

She was smiling at her irresistible dadums.

Elisabeth is 6 months old today!!!!!

Can you believe it??  Fastest 6 months of my life.  Half a year already!  I don't know if you can tell from the picture above but her eyes are becoming a beautiful sea-green.  So lovely.  Things are the best they have ever been and I was telling my coworker that I feel like I was only half the person before Elisabeth came along that I am today.  She has added such depth and new meaning into both of our lives.  We love it!

So here's what's new with her at 6 months:

• She loves sitting up.
• She sleeps on her tummy all the time now no matter if I put her to sleep on her back and when I come in to see her her cute little bum is in the air.  So precious!
• She can stand for a short time if I hold her up and she can kind of hold herself up if she holds on to a chair but not for long.
• She has been eating cereal now for a few days and took to it very very well.  I'm going to introduce real baby food tomorrow.
• She is finally on a real schedule and I love it plus she takes longer naps!  One hour in the morning, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon and then a short catnap before the end of the day.
• She smiles all the time now and squeals too and always smiles back when you smile at her and is a happy little girl.
• She still shuts down when she goes out although she will smile at strangers if she's not sleepy. 
• Everyone adores her and comments on how big and beautiful it is.
• She has the loveliest rolls all over.
• She laughs a little bit more now but especially if I do anything unexpected like throw her up in the air or toss my wet hair up and down.
• She hardly ever cries unless she is sleepy and she never cries when I put her down to bed in fact she does the cutest thing.  She gets kind of cranky right before I put her to sleep but the minute I put her in her crib she smiles again, pumps her legs up and down and babbles happily for a few minutes and then rolls right off to bed.  She loves to be put in her crib!  Amazing huh?
• She stays awake for longer periods of time.
• She is the apple of our eye and we love her soooooo much!

This last month with Elisabeth has been such a treat.  Paul and I never have "one-kid days" anymore and we just adore our sweetie pants.

Elisabeth cheers for BYU

Here is a fun video of our lil pumpkin I took this morning having her morning squeals. 

We had a lovely day today, the three of us.  We all went down to the farmer's market and partook of yummy, but expensive food and introduced Elisabeth to something totally new.  I felt all hippied out with her tucked into our Ergo Baby carrier and carrying my hippy Guatemalan bag.  It was lovely morning.  Paul, baby and me!

We completed the Book of Mormon 30-Day Challenge

I need to write about this before I forget how wonderful it was but Paul and I (and our whole Sugarhouse ward) were challenged to read the Book of Mormon in 30 days during the month of August.  We were given a whole 5th Sunday lesson about it and a wonderful woman in our ward, Brooklyn, testified of the changes it brought in her life.  We were really moved by it and both of us committed to do it.  I even put it out on Facebook and asked friends to participate and my friend Meagan Gilmore and my cousin Jemmy did it along with me and Paul.  We were given an allotted number of pages to read each day and a check-off list which I stuck on our fridge.  I must admit that the list did appeal to my OCD self.  Nothing better than checking stuff off of a list and feeling that sense of accomplishment, especially about something so worthy as the scriptures. 

We read about 18 pages a night and it was just a magical feeling some nights going to sleep feeling the Spirit so strongly as I read Nephi or Alma's testimonies and especially the words of Christ.  It honestly wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I usually split up the reading into a morning part and an evening part.  It was nice to see Paul reading it too.  He gave me good moral support and the Spirit in our home was definitely there.  I learned two big things from it.  One was that I gained a great respect for the editor of the book - Mormon.  I had never really fully grapsed that he was the true editor and narrator of his book because I had never read it quickly enough to fully feel his "voice" throughout but I did this time and I just really respect this great man who was called of God at such a young age and who obey so well.  The second thing I understood better was that the Book of Mormon is truly a book of testimony after testimony which I felt so strongly this time.

This is a very short summary of what I learned.  I actually had to give a whole talk about it last week and really felt good about my talk.  I am usually incredibly nervous about talking (even though I really try not to show it) and I usually write out my whole talk and then memorize it.  This time, I wrote my talk as usual but I only glanced down every once in a while to quote scripture and it felt so natural and great and Paul said it was the best talk I ever gave.  I think it's because I was really able to speak from my heart and share what I felt about the Book of Mormon, a true testament of Christ.  I love that book and I know its pages must be sprinkled with fairy dust or something even better because my life always sorts itself out when I read it faithfully.  I have begun reading it again but this time highlighting every time it speaks of Christ.  I'm liking it.  Well, that's all for now!