Baby Elisabeth is now 8 months!!



My how time flies.  I don't know where to begin.  I am writing from the lovely big Island of Hawaii on the Hilo coast.  We are in Hawaii for 9 days!!!  We are some lucky folks.  Paul was sent over here for work and we got to come with him  and we are loving it.  It's during the Thanksgiving holidays and today is Wednesday, November 23 so our sweetie is exactly 8 months in Hawaii.  You know what's even crazier?  My parents took me to Hawaii when I was 8 months old!!  Uncanny huh?  Okay, before I forget I need to write what Elisabeth is doing now.  Then, I'll do another post (or a couple) about Hawaii and it's loveliness.

• She loves to smile at people and I am calling her Miss Public Relations.  Wherever we go, in the airplane, at the beach, she is all smiles for people and she does the cutest thing - she shakes her head at them and then they shake their heads back at her and on and on it goes.
• Everyone adores her wherever she goes and call her a living doll.  She has the prettiest, biggest green eyes right now.
• She loves nothing more than to be held and "walked" as she is held.
• She can feed herself her little puffs all by herself and loves them.
• She still takes two good 1 1/2 naps.
• She has done really well on this trip considering the time difference (3 hours) which has gotten to me and Paul as well.
• She can clap her hands together and likes to clap them against mine.
• We think we have seen her wave bye a little but are not sure.
• She crawls just fine but prefers to spend her time pulling herself up rather than bother crawling.
• She likes the pool and beach and likes the feel of sand on her feet.
• She says "baba" now and not just "amama."
• She has been crawling to me lately and crying as she crawls and it's the cutest, most endearing thing ever.
• She loves to hear music and bounces around and claps to it when she hears it.
• She does not like long plane rides and has a hard time falling asleep on them.
• She loves peekaboo now.

I think that's it for now. 

The holidays are a-comin!!

I just love this time of year and now that I am a momma I love it even more.  I love introducing Elisabeth to new things like snow

Here she is wearing my Russian hat.  So cute!

I feel bad.  Like all I write about these days here is Elisabeth when there is actually a great scope to our family life.  Paul is a great father and husband.  He has been extremely busy these days at work prepping for us to go to Hawaii.  Thanks hubby for taking us too!  Here's a funny pic of Elisabeth playing on his computer.  She LOVES his computer and my phone and she'll crawl to it.

She also likes to pull herself up on everything.

And here we are prepping for the holidays.  I got her a Christmas coat!  Couldn't resist!!!  How precious is she??

I miss Paul tonight.  He went to Hawaii a day early but we'll be there tomorrow!!!  So excited!  Wish us luck on the plane ride.  Toodles!

Halloween

We had a happy Halloween in the McAllister household.  Little Elisabeth dressed up as a bumblebee.

How precious is she??  Look at those squishy cheeks.  We took her to a family party at Grandma McAllister's home where all the cousins dressed up.  Here she is with her sweet cousin Bethany.

And here she is with her Grandma and Aunt Martha.

We had fun dressing her up for the occasion.  Earlier that day Paul was trying on his mullet and we put one on Elisabeth.  She loved wearing it and giggled a lot.  It was so funny and she looked hilarious!!

Everytime I look at the pic I laugh all over again!

And look at her above.  She looks like she's posing with her pretty wig.  Mostly she's happy cause she's with her daddy whom she adores.  But who wouldn't adore a handsome and loving man like him??

On Halloween I took her and my friend Arriana and her little boy Kendrick to the Southtowne mall for trick or treating.  There were soo many cute kids dressed up there.  Elisabeth kind of just took it all in.  Here is Kendrick fasinated by her bumblebee antennae.

Also, before I forget, Elisabeth went to visit her cousin Hayden who is seven months older than her.  She is Andy and Elena's little girl.  They had a fun playdate.

Andy is such a good dad.

As you can see in both pictures, Elisabeth was fascinated by Hayden and kept trying to touch her.  She likes to touch kids her age and play with them.  She also liked hanging out with Aunt Iza.

After we visited them in Provo, I took her to the Love Sac store.  How cute and tiny does she look on this love sac?? 

And now our little seven-month-old is walking by herself as long as we hold her arms up!  She just started today and walks sideways like a crab!  Also, we are all excited because Paul is going to go to Hawaii for work through Thanksgiving and we get to come with him!!!  We think Lizzie will love the ocean. 

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.