Ally's 8 and 9 month update...oh, and the sleeping issue at the Fanning house

Above you will see pictures of Ally at 8 months.  Well, to be real honest, that was a long time ago.  So, I will try to catch you up to date!  At 8 months, Ally grew two bottom teeth, learned to wave and clap, spoke Momma and Dadda with recognition, and stood without holding on to anything (only seconds though)!  She is a busy, busy girl!  Oh, and   VERY VERY HAPPY!

Fast forward to 9 months....

At 9 months, I decided it was time to deal with her sleeping issue.  Since I had returned to work from maternity leave (when she was 4 months), the all night sleeping quickly came to an end.  I was tired, and soon "trained" her to become an All Night Nursing Baby.  It was ridiculous to say the least.  She was nursing  or pacifying herself pretty much every hour in our bed from 11pm  to 6am.  I was flipping back and forth from one side to the other, leaving poor dad very little room in our king size bed.  I decided it was time for a change, and the  nursing would stop. (she did have 2 teeth and all!)  So in just a few nights time, she was able to put herself to sleep without me!  I can only remember ONE night that we let her cry for over an hour, but it has been worth it.  She still does not make it normally all through the night, but we are happy with 6-7 hours and sometime more...or less.  She mostly goes to her bed, sleepy and awake.  I guess we have "Ferberized" our baby girl. 

Oh, and since we were at it, it was time for Kiley to start going to bed without Mommy or Daddy lying with her until she fell asleep.  This was a harder challenge!  It has taken nearly 3 weeks to change her sleep habit.  I guess 1 week for each year.  We now read books, check under the bed and in her closet, kiss and hug (many times) and "check on her every 5 minutes".  The every five minutes is now pretty much nonexistent, however, we do have to leave the guest bedroom light on.  The ceiling fan shadow in Kiley's room scares her.  She thinks it looks like a spider, but now a turtle thanks to dad.  Life has become much easier on Mommy and Daddy now....thank goodness!  We still do have a few bad nights, but all in all, we are ALL getting more sleep!

And  here is the link for our 9 month photo shoot....enjoy.  Password: BrandyF

http://www.morelandclients.com/entry/Portraitproofing

Snowpocalypse 2011

Well, the snow has come to GA again.  When it started snowing last Sunday night, Kiley was so excited.  She just kept running to the window and looking outside.  She was so excited, because now Santa would come again! HA!  Here are some pictures of our days in the snow and how we occupied ourselves.  We have not been in school all week, 6 inches of snow packed down with a thick layer of ice!  Yikes! So 10 days off, including 2 weekends and MLK.  Wow!  We are going to have a lot of catching up to do at work.





Snow Day 1--before it become an ice rink

PBS Kids is great!  Kiley asked to play games all day long.  I had to start setting a timer so she wouldn't play ALL day.

We spent lots of time playing Old Maid and Go Fish!



Kiley enjoyed eating the snow/ice!



Thank you, Aunt Kendra, for the Moon Dough!  She even remembered it was from you! 



The Jeep was a big hit and she road it for HOURS!  She even drove a sled behind it for the neighbors.  Sorry, no pictures of that, I was inside :(

Daddy and Kiley loved playing "Woody and Jessie" 

Wasting time in Home Depot

My Little Climber

Today, I was trying to catch up on my sister in laws blog (in her last month of pregnancy), with  the girls  playing next to me in the very same room.  I guess I zoned out (lots of catch up on) because when I looked up,  Ally was on the couch with her feet dragging on the top of her 5 in 1 play gym and Kiley was standing near her,  yelling, "Go Ally, Go!  You can do it baby!"