Our Climbing Baby Girl

Baby Girl has loved climbing up on things for months-- mostly boxes-- but this past week she has started climbing up on things that she couldn't before, like coffee tables. Here are a few of her favorite spots. :)

This is the first day she was able to climb up onto this coffee table on which, until now, we had placed things so they were out of her reach. We can no longer do that.


We put a big box behind the couch for her to sit on and stand on, and she's so happy that she can see over the couch.


As of this date, she can now climb up onto the couch/ottoman, which means she can go from the couch to the black coffee table and then onto the ottoman and reach the TV and computer, which is unacceptable. So we had to move things around again, and this is one of her favorite places to sit:

Yeah, we have EVERYTHING up on that table so she can't get at it. Makes things look crowded but hey, she's safe this way and so is our stuff. We do what we've gotta do. :)

She can also climb up onto the recliner in her room. She loves to look at books as well, and I caught this picture today:


It's fun to see her grow. Sure the rearranging is annoying but once things are in place and she's safe, it's fun to see where she'll go.

Altered Dress and Holiday Pictures

**Be advised: lots of pictures in this post**

So I just remembered today that I was going to post pictures of the dress that I altered for Baby Girl for my sister's wedding. My original plan was to add green puffed sleeves to the dress to make it festive, but the other decoration I had in mind really clashed with the green color, so I did this instead:

Before: dress from Carter's


After:


And she looked really cute in it: (that's Daddy behind her, making sure she doesn't fall)


My youngest sister got married/sealed at the LDS Oakland Temple, and here they are coming out of the temple right after the sealing:

She looks really happy, and I was happy for her.

Here are my brothers B and D being silly. I love these guys.


I had posted a picture of my dad and his fiasco with his tuxedo pants from the Men's Warehouse, but I just remembered that he didn't want it posted, so it's down. But I'll describe it anyway. Let's just say: he did NOT like the way he looked. Originally the pants he ordered were I believe 4" too short, so he went in and got remeasured. Only problem was, instead of adding 4" to the pants, they took away 4", so he was left with tuxedo pants that came up to his midcalf, and he didn't realize it until he was in the dressing room at the temple. Luckily he had worn black pants to the temple and so he was able to wear those with the tux top. If he had worn any other colored pants though, he would have been in a real jam. To their credit, my dad has gone to them for tuxes/suits for years and this is the first time they've screwed up; but they sure screwed up big-time! He walked into the store wearing his full tuxedo outfit to return the tuxes and the whole store became quiet. Needless to say, he got a refund for his tux.

Baby Girl loves to touch Christmas lights, so here is our baby-safe Christmas tree:

Cracks me up every time I see it. I liked it though. (and there's one of my sisters)

On Christmas Eve morning we went with my brother B to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Baby Girl is still a little too young to appreciate everything we saw, but she liked a lot of it. Here she is checking out fish and the signs they have on different aquatic life in this tank:

Mere railings can't hold her back! No, really, they can't; she fits right under them.

This is one of my favorite shots from our trip to the Aquarium: it's my brother taking a picture of some jellyfish:

He got some really cool pictures too, and I liked the one he got of a sign in front of the octopus tank that read, "Do not flash the octopus." :)

And lastly, here's Baby Girl with a fun present from Grandma and Grandpa:

She actually had seen it on top of my mom's dresser a few days before and she wanted it, and now she could have it! :) She still likes to play with it here at home.

This vacation wasn't without its issues, and there were a few unpleasant things that happened, but all in all this was time well-spent with family. Baby Girl warmed up to my family after a few days and she enjoyed exploring the house and going for walks with my parents' two dogs... which I enjoyed as well. We ate good food, played games with family, played a lot of Peggle on the computer, and got introduced to "How I Met Your Mother" which is actually a funny show. Thanks, B! And thanks to the rest of my family for loving us and being there for each other and making this extended Christmas vacation a good one.