Phoenix is 9 months!

On Monday the 21st Phoenix turned 9 months. On Friday, I took Phoenix for her wellness check and she weighed in at 16 lbs and 2 oz, which puts her in the 16th percentile. They measured her height at 28 and a quarter inches, but she was squirming an awful lot. I am not convinced that this measurement is very accurate because our doctor's office doesn't have the nice measurement board that the other offices have. Good thing is she is growing and somewhere in the 50th percentile range for height. 

On October 16th, Phoenix's left front bottom tooth broke through her gums. You can now see two small bottom teeth when she smiles.

Phoenix wants to primarily stand while she is playing. She is working hard at learning how to walk. She is constantly pushing things around either on her knees or feet. She does this really cute walk on her knees that brings a smile to all who see.

She is still waking a couple of times per night, although I am sleep training her off and on depending on how much she has ate and drank during the day. It is very difficult with her food intolerances because she is lucky to have one or two meals a day. Because we have had several recent bad reactions to food, I decided to introduce a variety of squashes because her body seems to do well with squash in general. She is back to eating sweet potatoes after having a two week break from them. Other foods she eats are carrots, white potato, peaches and quinoa flakes. The introduction to solid foods has retaught me the importance of being patient and trusting God. I have been more sad then frustrated with the whole experience because I hate seeing Phoenix suffer. Luckily, her body immediately rejects the food and she vomits continuously until she dry heaves. It is difficult to watch, but once it is all out of her system she sleeps a bit and then is back to her normal happy self.

I found Axel's old shoes and they fit Phoenix perfectly. I am exited she has these to wear to help with traction as the weather gets colder. Not all of her socks have the nonslip dots on them.

Yesterday, we drove to Concord to meet Grandma Susan and Grandpa Brian for dinner. Grandpa brought us the lamb that we purchased from a farmer up north where he lives. Grandma and him have been purchasing a quarter of a cow and a lamb for the past three years from this distributor and have been very happy with the product and thought that Keith and I would be interested. We can't wait to give the organic meat a try.  

Grandpa was really excited to see Phoenix for the second time. He hasn't had a chance to see her since she was a week old. He has been busy working 6 days a week! Although the visit was short, The Szolushas really enjoyed seeing Grandma and Grandpa.

I forgot to mention on the last post that Louis turned 11 years old on the 16th. As you can see he is an old man. He is always cold and definitely sleeps more than he use to. He is still quite energetic though, and most people can't tell how old he is.

Axel has been busy being Mr. Creative Builder. This Lego creation is a building on wheels. If you ask Axel about this creation he will talk for 5 minutes about all of the cool things this building car does.

At school Axel is learning about 3D objects. We built a giant pyramid because of this.

Axel hasn't been working on his work books very much since school started, but he has been on a coloring streak the past week. This is just one of the many pictures he has colored. He always impresses me at how well he stays in the lines.

Next weekend I am taking Axel to a Justin Robert's concert. I have been sick for over a month now so I am hoping to feel well soon. We are not sure how the trick or treating is going to work out with Pheeny's bed time, but hopefully we will get some good pictures so check back soon!

Parties Galore

Last Sunday was filled with socializing. The kids and I headed to our next door neighbor's house for their daughters Annaprasana Ceremony. We were only able to stay for a short bit, but the hour of play time with Rishaan, Axel's buddy, was well worth it. 

After the Annaprasana Ceremony we picked up daddy who was waiting for us at home and then walked over to Axel's house for his 5th birthday party. We met Axel R. a couple of years ago and now time has past and they are in the same preschool class together at Marshall Lane. They get along very well. Axel was the only friend invited and the rest of the party was neighbors and family. 

Behind Axel's house there is a creek that he often walks through. The first event of his party was a hike through the creek. Keith took Axel and I stayed with Phoenix and played in the shade with her.

Phoenix had more fun playing with the water bottles than the toys that Mae, Axel's mom, took out for her. 

After the nature hike was a water gun fight where all the kids soaked, David, Axel's dad. 

After the water fight the kids went inside while the Snake man set up his show, which was a surprise for the kids. 

Here is the brave birthday boy with two snakes wrapped around his neck.

Here is daddy being a brave volunteer getting kissed by a giant lizard. 

And then there was the "big" snake.

And then Snake man decided to wrap it around daddy who was holding sister.

This is pretty cool......

or maybe not!

The entire family had a great time and we are all looking forward to more play dates with Axel in the future. 

On Thursday the kids and I headed to Lemos Farm, in Half Moon Bay, to meet Auntie, cousin Braylin and Grandma Susan. Axel finally was able to operate the tractor. He needed mommy's assistance because the controls were hard to move, but he was still pleased to finally get a try. The first year we went it was broken and last year the line was too long. 

After the tractor we rode the train. Axel wanted to sit next to Grandma Susan so Phoenix and I sat behind them.

After the train Axel enjoyed feeding the goats....

and petting them as well.

Phoenix was having a rough day as she had a bad reaction to breakfast and threw up all the way to Half Moon Bay. Luckily Grandma always brings clothing so she had a clean shirt to wear. Her pants were a bit dirty, but I was able to scrap off the junks of food and the milk luckily dried up :) She ended up sleeping most of the time, but did get a bit of play time in the back of Auntie's car while the rest of us ate lunch.

After lunch we went on the hay ride.

Auntie and Braylin were able to join us as the place was pretty slow during the lunch hours.

After the hay ride Auntie picked out her pumpkins while Axel had a pumpkin made by the balloon lady. Unfortunately, everyone was already tired so we said our goodbyes and then headed home. It wasn't until we were saying our goodbyes that I was able to capture a picture of baby Braylin.

Since I forgot to take a picture of the balloon lady making Axel's balloon the first thing I did in the car was capture a picture of his $10 balloon just in case it popped on the way home. 

Luckily, it made the drive home and is still inflated 3.5 days later. The balloon lady said to store it sealed in a plastic bag in the freezer. We have been doing that which does seem to prevent it from deflating.

We had a great time visiting with Grandma Susan the rest of Thursday and most of Friday. She brought Axel this super hero cape, which you can see he absolutely loves. 

We dropped Grandma off at the train station Friday late afternoon. Saturday we went to our new neighbor's son's birthday party in the park across the street from our house. Axel had a blast with the kids and with the clown lady they hired.

Here is daddy and Axel holding up his new pet snake.

 Phoenix wanted to get in on the action too.

 So much fun!

 What a beautiful day in October!

Next up.........Phoenix turns 9 months tomorrow! An update on her coming soon after her check up this Thursday!

First Tooth, Dentist, Pumpkin Patch and more

It is hard to believe it has nearly been three weeks since the last post, but unfortunately I came down with a bad cold that wiped me out for nearly 10 days. 

I will start with three weeks ago today with our biannual dentist appointment. Axel has matured so much. I explained to Axel that I would likely need him to go first so that I could get Phoenix to fall asleep in the carrier because it was her nap time during the appointment. He gladly obliged. You can see how much he has grown. It is amazing to think that he went from needing to sit on my lap to sitting by himself and going before he saw me have my teeth cleaned. I was extremely proud of him. 

We had to run errands later in the day and it was quite hot and sunny. Axel asked for sun glasses because it was too bright in the back seat for him. I handed him our spare sunglasses that the entire family uses if needed. I thought he looked exceptionally cute so I snapped a few photos at the stop night. 

While Axel was at school, I desperately needed to get some things done on the computer, so I allowed Phoenix to roam around Louis room. I thought it was super cute how she found Louis's water and played in it just like Axel use to. It was well worth the change of clothes as she was fully entertained for 20 minutes while I managed to get some work done.

 Phoenix continues to become more and more mobile. She is becoming more comfortable cruising around holding onto objects and standing to play.

Here is another example of where I found her after leaving her for a minute while I filled my water glass. I love seeing her explore. Just like Axel, she loves to stand and play.

Last week Axel desperately needed some boundaries for himself and his toys. He set up a barrier that allowed him to play with his Lego's without our little terror, Phoenix, destroying his creations. You can see Phoenix's head just peeking out where the alphabet mats are. She was desperately trying to get into Axel's safe play area. 

I thought this picture was particularly cute because he reminded me of Charlie brown, where Charlie Brown's friend would sit on a small stool and play the piano. I love how Axel is so creative in his play and is able to problem solve. The two of them had a blast listening to the pre-recorded music and dancing around the playroom. Axel has been having little "dance parties" since he rediscovered his keyboard a week ago.

During Phoenix's nap, Axel and I started our fun Halloween projects that we purchased last year after Halloween. Our first creation was this haunted house. It doesn't quite look the same a week later because Axel has been playing with it and removing and resticking the stickers. As we all know stickers loose their stickiness, but the important thing is he had 2 hours of fun building the haunted house and hours of fun playing with it since. 

Every day for the past week, Axel and I added one more decoration to the house. The front of the house is now fully decorated with our fun projects and decorations. We have the spooky garland, 

the pumpkin hanging ornaments that line the gate, Axel's school creations

 and fun rats all in the foyer area. 

We also have decals on the window, which are hard to see, and the lovely haunted house on display in the bay window.

This past Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch with Eileen, Luis and Alex. Axel was able to paint his annual pumpkin.

 Phoenix watched, but really wanted to participate.

 This year they added this pumpkin train that the boys were able to play in.

 Daddy wanted to get in on the action.

 Daddy snapped this photo of Phoenix and I because he really liked the big pumpkin next to my head. Silly Daddy!

 Here is Axel, showing daddy how big he is!

 I spent the entire past week trying to get a photo of Phoenix's gums to show her first tooth broke through on Oct 3rd, but I have had zero success. We are excited that she finally has her tooth since she has appeared to be in the teething process for sometime.

We have lots of fun upcoming events so check back soon for more Szolusha fun!