Christmas in Iowa

We hit the road on Wednesday, December 23 and returned home on Monday, December 28! I didn't have school on Wednesday and Jason had a client to see in Madison, so Macayla and I went "to work" with daddy on our way to Dubuque. We got very luck and didn't hit bad weather until about 30 miles outside of Dubuque. We did receive some not so good news on our way to Dubuque, my Grandma Danner was being admitted to the hospital. She had an infection that started in her thumb but spread up her arm. It was decided that she needed IV antibiotic. My parents and sister Melissa slowly but surely made their way through the yucky weather and arrived in DBQ late Wednesday night. We had a great time with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. Grandma unfortunately was not released from the hospital until Saturday afternoon and missed our Christmas celebration, but she loved all the attention she got in the hospital will all of her visitors. Being over Christmas, almost all of her grandchildren were in town so it was rare that she was alone at the hospital. Tricia and Jeremy decided the roads were finally okay to drive down from the Twin Cities on Saturday late morning...so we were able to have our immediate family Christmas Saturday night.

Sunday we hit the road for Mukwonago to celebrate Christmas with the Skurulsky side of Jason's family. It was great to see everyone! Instead of driving back to Green Bay Sunday night we decided to spend the night at Jason's Grandma and Grandpa Starke's house in Oconomowoc. Once again we were able to make the most of the holiday season visiting family!

Christmas at Jason's Parents

Peek-a-Boo & standing in the crib

Today when I put Macayla down for a morning nap, she crawled into a ball and cuddled up with her blankey. I thought for sure she'd go to sleep right away. About 5 minutes later she started crying. I did not go in by her right away because usually the crying doesn't last very long and she falls asleep. Well, her crying (more like whining) lasted longer so I went in to check on her. When I entered the room, she was standing up in her crib! This is the first time she has done this. I think she might have been crying because she couldn't figure out how to sit back down?!? After taking pictures of course, I layed her back down and went into the other room. After a few minutes she started crying again, I went to check on her and sure enough...she was standing again!

Macayla has learned another new trick. She takes a blanket, holds it above her head, then pulls it down real quick. She has learned how to play Peek-a-Boo!

9 Month Pictures

9 Months Old!

Today Macayla is 9 months. I tried taking her "9 Month Pictures" but now that she is crawling she doesn't sit still. It will have to be a two person job this weekend. The pictures here are from last weekend in Minocqua.

9 Month Accomplishments:

• Says "mom" "mama" and does it specifically when she wants me
• Says "dada"...but not quite directly for Jason
• Says "buh buh" and waves bye
• Has conversations with us as if we should understand what she is sayin :)
• crawls ALL over the place, including over our legs
• pulls her self up anywhere she can
• walks with assistance
• has 4 teeth (2 bottom, 1 eye tooth and 1 front upper tooth)
• eats finger foods (puffs, yogurt melts, pinwheels)
• facinated with other people's ears, eyes, eyelashes, noses
• loves cell phones and remotes
• pushes the button on the remote and then turns toward the tv to see what happens
• has had "chicken & gravy" "chicken and veggies" "turkey and gravy" baby food, but will gag and throw up unless it is covered with her veggies. Not sure if its a texture or a taste thing