Getting Ready for Christmas

This past weekend Melody helped pick out our Christmas tree.

We also went shopping and picked up all sorts of decorations for the house. The whole thing wore her out!

She loved watching us put up and decorate our tree.

The end product!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Melody started day-care this week! We found a great place near our house that has a small infant classroom with really nice teachers and kids. The anticipation of leaving her was much worse than the even itself. Melody was so busy playing with her new friend Kayla that she wasn't even interested in us saying good-bye. That was a huge relief! She had two days this week and will be going three days a week for the immediate future. She's such a social little girl we were starting to feel bad making her hang out with just me all day.

We got an update of her first day, and yesterday she made us a Thanksgiving gift!

Swimmin'

Melody had her first swim lesson last Saturday. She did very well considering we woke her up from a nap and walked her into a pool. She even got a new back pack for her wet clothes! She was so impressed she threw up on it.

Every night, no matter how crabby she gets, she immediately calms down when she hears us filling the tub. As we lay her down on her rug to get ready for bath-time, she starts dancing and laughing!

We have to make sure to give her her fish to chew on.

After every bath, she loves watching Daddy pick up her toys and drain the tub. This is one of my favorite moments of the day.

Halloween

Friday night we decorated our pumpkins! Melody had picked out some stickers of bats and bugs.

We also made sure to decorate the front porch.

Melody spent her first Halloween sweating bullets in her sheep costume trying to stay away from the hungry fox!

We made it down the block and back. Melody was very good, but wasn't quite sure what to think of all the silly people dressed up! We also learned a very valuable lesson about how much candy to buy next year... Thanks Vince and Tressi for the back-up candy!

Walkin'

Melody loves going for walks. She finds them so relaxing, she passes out!

On a side note: for all of us who wondered where Melody got her expressive eyebrows, I think we have an answer!

Sweet Potatoes!

This past Saturday we began introducing sweet potatoes for dinner. She wasn't sure what to think of the first two bites, but by Sunday night she couldn't get enough! She got really mad when I stopped giving them to her after an entire small jar.

Pumpkin Patch

We're getting ready for Halloween! Last weekend we picked up our pumpkins and got to see llamas, cows, sheep, and goat as a bonus! Melody was so impressed she threw up on me.

First Bite

Mellie has officially started solid foods. So far, she's not too impressed.

We've also discovered that her favorite chew toy is the bottom of a water bottle.

She was not happy when she looked away for a second, and looked back to discover that I had taken it away to have a drink of water!

Birthdays

For my mom's birthday this year, my dad surprised her with a trip out to LA. He had taken notes on her clothes, and had everyone at the library covering her shifts and checking her schedule for meetings. He had her bags packed, picked her up from work, and headed to the airport!

Jeremy's birthday was also last weekend, so we had a family bbq:

During the bbq we checked in on Mellie, to find that she had rolled over and was sound asleep on her stomach.

She has also started making more and more sounds. Currently, her favorite is the "mmm" sound. She makes a great face to go with it:

While my parents were here, we got Mellie a little mustache of her own to show off that she is "Daddy's little girl!"

Giggles!

Last Wednesday, Melody had a temperature of 103. Thursday it was much better, and Friday we took her to the Doctor. She had an ear infection. Her medication was making it very difficult for her to sleep, so we have had a very long week.

This made up for all of it.

Kisses

Melody has started giving kisses.

Well, she's probably trying to chew on my chin, but I just think of it as kisses...

She's also gotten much better at sitting up. She can even make it a few seconds before falling over!

Back in California

Since returning from Minnesota, Melody has made some tremendous strides. She has perfected her grip:

Has sucessfully found her thumb:

And can now sit by herself (with the help of her Bumbo chair, anyway)!

I'm now starting to fully appreciate how quickly they do grow up!

Minnesota

We spent the first three days of our trip to Minnesota at Lake Osakis, near Alexandria.

My dad bought a new boat last year and was thrilled to bring us all tubing. I bruised my ribs and Skyler pulled his shoulder.

But Skyler successfully exacted his revenge!

We also had some quality time hanging out around the campfire.

After relaxing at the lake we spent the weekend introducing Melody to her extended family. Here is the happy girl with her great-aunt and uncle Becky and Bryan:

Grandma and grandpa helped calm her down for the next round of photos!

And a calmer girl with her first cousin once-removed Tami, and second cousin Morgan.

And here she is representing the fourth generation of women with her great-grandma Jean, grandma Mick, and mom!

Ashley was able to get in some quality time before heading back to Korea for another year of teaching English. Melody loved her botany walks with her 아줌마 (auntie) and finally had someone who completely understood her temper... I mean determination!

On our way back to Zimmerman we stopped in Atwater to meet the Stoffers clan, but unfortunately the camera battery was dead. We were very sad to have missed so many great photo oppertunities.

Our last night was spent relaxing and playing with auntie Angie, grandma and grandpa.

Melody found it hilarious when Grandpa would wave his hand and say "hi." No one else could pull it off!

Grandpa got some more quality time in before driving us to the airport at 4am.

Melody handled the whole trip wonderfully, and we already miss the whole family.

Un-swaddled.

Friday was our first night of putting Mellie to sleep un-swaddled. She did pretty well, but found it difficult to fall back asleep early Saturday and Sunday mornings. I found it easiest to sleep on her floor.

She's gotten much better and has only woken up once the past two nights.

She seems pretty well rested: