On the move!

This is her signature face when she sees something she likes. For example, if you hand her a stuffed animal she sqinches up her nose, squints her eyes and sort of breathes through her nose like she is excited about it. It's hilarious. We're not sure where that came from.

Uncle James got a new Harley and Sydney cried when he started it. It was a little too loud for her. I swear, she can scream louder than a motorcycle though.

But she liked it and got to sit on it.

Sydney's friend, Kylyn, came over to play. Kylyn's big brother, Greyson, was there too along with her parents, Karrie (Walker) and Matt. Unfortunately, they live in North Carolina, so we don't get to see them often.

Last Sunday, April 19th, Sydney officially started crawling. She'd been going backwards and one crawl forward before dropping down to her belly before. Aunt Kristin came over and she crawled right over to her. It was great and I was happy that I wasn't the only one that got to see it. She's been crawling for a week now and is already pulling herself up on things. Geoff saw her kneeling in her crib peeking over the edge this morning. We're in trouble! Get the baby gates ready! We have her 9 month pediatrician visit Wed., so we'll have an update again soon. She's already slimming down from crawling. I weighed her at home the other day and she was 22 lbs.

Happy Easter!

Sydney LOVED the Easter Bunny and squealed when she saw him. She sat on his lap, played with his fur, and stuck her finger in his mouth. I thought she might freak out, but was pleasantly surprised! She loves stuffed animals and I think she thought he was just a really big one that could move!

Seth, Grandma Haslauer, Sydney and Connor

Connor, Sydney and Seth (cousins)

Sydney in her Easter dress.

Geoff and Sydney Easter morning

Sydney wasn't crazy about her bunny ears. She would immediately rip them off as soon as they were on her head.

The Easter Bunny brought Sydney a Dora the Explorer Egg Hunt video, an Easter book, a stuffed puppy (that looks like Tyra) with bunny ears, and a Little People Easter toy.

Sydney picked out her bunny Easter basket herself.

Sydney's cold is just about over. She's still coughing here and there, but that is all that remains. I ended up taking her to the pediatrician a second time, after a week had gone by with her cold, and they put her on antibiotics. When they looked in her throat with the little flashlight I could see that her top two teeth were coming in. They are just poked through the gums. That is part of the reason why her nose has been running so much, I'm sure.

She's still using the army manuver as her main form of transportation. She's excellent at going backwards :) Last week she did progress to getting up on all fours and rocking. In addition to her normal babbling and squeals she is also saying bababa, but doesn't know what she's saying. She's not saying it to get a bottle or anything. She raises her arms to "so big," and squinches her nose and eyes with a smile at things she thinks are funny. She has also been shaking her head 'no' for a few weeks, but also doesn't seem to know what that means either since she responds with a no head shake for any question you ask.

For Easter we went to Grandma and Grandpa Kent's house on Saturday and to Grandma and Grandpa Halstead's house on Sunday. Uncle Mike came home from Connecticut and Sydney had a great time playing with everyone. Uncle Adam, Aunt Tammy and Uncle Evan all came home from Buffalo and Aunt Megan, Uncle Matt, Connor and Seth all came home too. Sydney had a great first Easter!

Is it Spring yet?

First nice day in March out on the deck!

It's been a while since we put Sydney in her swing and looking back at her old photos in the swing... she's huge!!! Look how long she is! She may have hope to not be short like her parents. There is a photo of her as a newborn in the swing earlier in the blog... go ahead, check it out.

I gave her a tomato to hold while I was making dinner and she decided to try it.

She bit right into it and it was a surprise!

Ahhhh, this is so relaxing Grandma... I could do this ALL day. Nice thighs!

Catching Grandma's bubbles.

First time going to the park.

On April 1st Sydney not only turned 8 months old, but she also had her first sick visit to the pediatrician. She had a fever of 102 with a cold, so I took her in. Turns out it is a cold and nothing more, so we just have to wait it out. The fever is now gone, but her nose is running like a faucet and she has that yucky congested cough. I hate seeing her like this and just wish I could be sick instead of her. I know... I better get used to it, because it may be her first sickness, but definitely isn't the last!

Sydney is moving around pretty good on the floor now - mostly an army crawl. She can stand while holding onto something too. I just measured her at home, so it isn't the official dr. measurments, but she was 29" long and weighed 25 lbs. According to the growth charts she's maintaining her high 90's percentile for both her length and weight. She's officially into her 12-18 month clothing.

Laughing...

Sydney and I got Tyra a new toy and squeaking it was just hysterical to her.

Toes in the sand...

Sydney, Geoff and I went to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers for a few days for a little birthday get-a-way. It was nice getting away from the cold. Sydney enjoyed the sand, ocean, pool, and warm weather that allowed us to take walks and not have to bundle up. She hates putting her winter jacket on. It's hard to believe she's already 7 1/2 months old. It's been several weeks now that she's been sleeping all night, never fail, 11-12 hours. We're enjoying every moment and she just cracks us up daily.

Sure, I'll try broccoli... I'll try anything

Dunking dad

Loving the pool

Splashing and getting water in my eyes!

Floating in the pool with dad

Walking with mom in the sunet

Mom & me in the sunset

Posing with a sand snowman

Toes in the ocean for the first time

Touching the sand for the first time

I love being on dad's shoulders!

Wearing my pumpkin hat Katie got me in Bali

Visiting friends and already mimicking?

Sydney (7 months) and Cooper Alvarez (10 weeks).

She was happy to see cheeks like her own and just had to squeeze them.

Sydney and Bailey Faldzinski (14 months)

I think she went for a squeeze of Bailey's cheeks too.

Flinging the spoon during dinner is fun.

Look at all of my toys in my new toy box!

Nice play, right dad?!

What kind of move was that?!

Sydney's first pancake

Cruising around in her walker.

Mastering the sippy cup.

Loving to eat her toes

Sydney is expanding her menu options daily. She had a pancake last week and some cake, ice cream and frosting at a birthday party. Luckily, she also likes cooked vegetables (mainly carrots) and will share a banana, peach or pear with me. Her bottom two teeth are coming in nicely, but we haven't seen any other teeth yet. That limits the variety of food we can give her.

A few weeks ago, Sydney went to a Syracuse basketball game with us. I was a little nervous that she'd get nervous with all of the noise, but she is one of those babies that likes to be startled and scared. She thinks it's funny, so I figured we'd give it a try. She did get nervous when all 32,000+ people there started cheering all at once, but that only lasted a few seconds.

Sydney loves to "fake" cough. She thinks it's funny to hear someone else cough and then she'll mimick it. That is her latest fun thing to do.

Eating, eating, eating...

Sydney's new chair... quite warm and furry. Tyra has been so good with Sydney. Sydney has a big smile when ever she sees the dog and reaches right out to pet/grab her. She usually grabs right for Tyra's eye or ear and then grabs a handful of skin squeezing it as hard as she can and Tyra just tolerates it.

Sydney LOVES ritz, graham crackers, biter biscuits and just about anything she can hold onto and feed herself. She always gets it everywhere though!