Krysten's First Christmas

So, it's pretty much the end of January and I am finally getting around to posting our Christmas pictures ... sorry. Anyway, Krysten had a wonderful first Christmas. Santa, and pretty much everyone else she knows, were VERY generous with her. Needless to say she has plenty of new toys to keep her busy, clothes to keep her warms, and our house now looks like a Fisher Price showroom.

This is our attempt to get Krysten's picture in front of the tree Christmas morning.

After that, we pretty much dove right in to opening gifts. Krysten did a pretty good job of unwrapping her gifts, however most of the time she was much more interested in the paper she had just ripped off than the gift itself.

She really liked her Fisher Price Learning Chair from her Grandmom.

And Mommy and Daddy gave her the Fisher Price Learning Home.



Of course, one her most favorite things to play with was a big empty box.

We celebrated Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's house too, and Krysten got a princess bath towel, complete with a crown.

Krysten also really enjoys her new rocking horse from Grandma & Grandpa. Here she has fun riding it while showing us she is "so big!"

Krysten Meets Santa

Krysten had her first visit to see Santa Clause yesterday and things went better than I expected, despite the long wait. We arrived at the mall in around 4:00 and got in the long line and then were told that Santa would go on break at 5:00 to feed his reindeer. Well, at 4:50 we were no where near the front of the line, so we decided to go finish up some last minute shopping and sit down for a snack. We got back in line around 5:50 and she was finally on his lap around 7:00. Krysten was a sport through the whole thing, although she was jealous of the kid in line behind us whose parents were letting him play with a cell phone. She doesn't really looked thrilled with the Santa experience, but at least she's not crying ... Merry Christmas!

She's on the Move!

Life in the Ulmer household will never be the same ... Krysten is now officially mobile! She actually had her first success with forward motion the day after Thanksgiving at Dave's mom's house in Jersey when she took two or three crawls, no more than a week later she was officially on the move ...

Now that she can get around, it didn't take her long to discover the entertainment center and all the goodies stored inside.

An sense she is such a good explorer, we had to take measures to keep her so that she won't explore the cat door leading to the basement or decide to conquer the stairs on her own.

Before all this excitement began, Krysten had her 9 month birthday on November 21st. Here she is on that day.

She had her 9-month check-up at the Pediatrician around that time and is proving to be right on schedule (you can see her latests stats on the sidebar), although she is starting to show signs of having some pretty sensitive skin that we need to keep an eye on.

As much as she likes to explore the world around her, she also is enjoying the wonderfuld world of food beyond formula and baby cereal. She eats baby food on a regular basis, but we also are slowly introducing table food that are gumable (she still only has her two bottom teeth). She loves bananas, crackers and cheerios the best.

Krysten experienced her first plane ride when we flew to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving with Dave's family. She had fun hanging out with both Mommy and Daddy on the plane.

Who knew that a baby could pass for carry-on luggage?

Krysten had so much fun on the flight that she wore herself out enough to take a nap before landing.

During our visit we were able to head down to Cape May for a short visit to the shore, where we had lunch at the Ugly Mug and did some shopping on the outdoor mall.

Although it wasn't exactly beach weather, we still had a nice time.

Krysten got ready for her first Thanksgiving Day celebration by enjoying a nice bubble bath ... I guess this is the way they do things in New Jersey :-)

And I think this picture just sums it all up ...

... Mmmmm, Turkey!

Happy Halloween!

Krysten celebrated her very first Halloween last month with great excitement. The fun began on Halloween Eve when Krysten and Dave carved her pumpkin that had been grown by Nana and Papa in their garden. Krysten provided supervision while Dave did most, well really all, of the work.

After he was done, Krysten inspected Dave's work and gave her stamp of approval.

The next morning, Krysten began the day by exchanging gifts with Grandma. Grandma had brought Krysten a Halloween basket of goodies, and Krysten gave Grandma her birthday present.

Later in the day, Grandma brought Krysten to my work for our Halloween party where she met Miss Lita (who usually doesn't look quite so scary).

And here is our little Strawberry, all dressed up with nowhere to go, as she is still a bit too young for trick-or-treating.

She did take moment to pose with her jack-o-lantern after it had been lit on the porch.

One of Krysten's favorite things to play with is a cell phone ... yes, she does have a play cell phone, but prefers the real thing (same with remote controls too). Well, on Halloween night she was playing with a cell phone and we decided to see what she would do if the phone rang ... you can see her reaction for yourself on this video.

Earlier in the month, Krysten was introduced to her first pile of autumn leaves. It was a bit nippy that day, so we didn't play too long.

And, of couse, she celebrate with Dave when the Phillies won the World Series!

Although I'm not sure of her exact height and weight right now (she will have her 9-month check-up next week), I do know that Krysten is getting to be a very big girl. So much so that she has outgrown her baby bathtub. Here she is having her first big girl bath in the big bath tub, playing with her Nemo toys of course.

Last night, Aunt Mary showed her skill as a top-notch teacher when she taught Krysten how to wave bye-bye. Unfortunatley, I am having trouble uploading the video we have of her doing it ... we'll have to catch her at it again and share.

As far as other developments go ... our daughter is a barrel roller for sure! She rolls all over the place, and has even mastered rolling over on the changing table without falling off (don't worry ... she is always supervised while on the changing table). For some reason she just loves to turn over onto her stomach and stick her little bare butt in the air, which is always tons of fun when poop is involved. Krysten can get up on her hands and knees, but is not quite sure yet where to go from there. She has rocked back and forth a few times, but no crawling yet. When she is on the laminate floor in our family room she able to scoot herslef pretty much wherever she wants to be ... and she loves to stand! She can't do it by herself yet, or even pull herself up, but with someone supporting her, she is most happy when she is standing. It looks like it wont be long until we have a baby in motion!

Today is Veterans Day, so I had the day off and Dave only worked until 1:00, so Krysten and I met him for lunch before doing some shopping at Babies R Us for a convertible carseat (yes, she has outgrown her infant carrier seat too). All in all, a good day, and Krysten seemed to enjoy our little family outing.

A House Divided - Our First Playdate - Some Big Laughs

2 weeks ago the Eagles played the Bears, so the Engfer's and the Ulmer's got together for a Sunday night of football ... and yes, everyone was a good sport.

Of course, Krysten was dressed like her Daddy, but I stayed true to my home team.

Even Uncle Brian couldn't resist playing with Krysten, even though she was "rooting" for the other team.

Uncle Brad also thought it would be fun to have Krysten try on his cowboy boots.

This past Sunday, we were invited to our first playdate with the Cermak twins, Gavin and Evie (I work with their Dad, Francis). It was quite an eye opening experience as the twins have just turned one year old and had all sorts of cool toys that Krysten will be ready for in the near future.

Gavin showed Krysten how to work his spinny toy (I don't recall the exact name of it) ...


... and then Krysten took a try while Evie supervised.

Dave made a new friend too, as Evie didn't seem to mind having him around.


The twins are super cute and the kids seemed to get along really well ... we hope to get to see the again soon.

One of my favorite joys is listening to Krysten laugh. Dave has a knack at getting her into some really cute laughing fits ... here is a video of them together.

Krysten's New Tricks

Krysten has been developing at a rapid pace over the last few months, so I though I would post a summary of all the new things she can do.

Earlier in the summer Krysten discovered her feet. Now, almost every time she is lying on her back she immediately grabs her feet (and yes, she can get those little toes in her mouth). I think it is just about one of the most cute things to watch.

Krysten rolled over for the first time in early July. Since then she has become a champ at it. Melissa was finally able to capture this feat on video (it takes a few seconds, but she does actually do it) ...

... and here is a picutre of her in mid-roll sometime in late August.

Dave found a game that Krysten really seems to enjoy. It's hard to explain, so you'll have to watch for yourself.

One of Krysten's favorite activities is playing in her jumparoo. She loves to just jump, jump, jump any time she is in it. She loves it so much that Grandma & Grandpa got one for their house too.

Towards the end of August, we decided it was finally time for Krysten to begin eating in her high chair. So, Dave went to work putting it together and Krysten enjoyed her first of many meals on her new throne.

Dave thought it would be a good idea to let her try to feed herself ... it's a bit soon for that though.

Once Krysten was accustomed to her high chair, we started her on veggies for dinner. Her first one was peas (figured we would start with the ickier ones) ... here is her initial reaction.

Last weekend was the annual Fall Festival at my nursing home. Krysten came of course, and took her try at the duck pond and the lollipop tree.





Today we took Krysten on her first trip to the neighborhood park. She seemed to really enjoy her time on the baby swing ...




... but did quite know what to make of the slide.




Dave discovered that Krysten's balance is good enough that he can put her on his shoulders. She even grabs on to his hair with both hands for support.





Krysten is doing really well with sitting up on her own. Unfortunatley I don't seem to have a picture of her doing that yet ... we'll save it for next time!