Growing Like A Weed

Sydney is getting so big, we can't believe she's almost 10 months old! A bunch of my favorite outfits for her are getting to be too small, so the other day I took a bunch of pictures of her in some of my favorite outfits, before she outgrows them. Here are some of our favorites!

In her floral dress from Janelle in Hawaii.

Ready to play tennis with Daddy!

Standing up so tall, but still not ready to walk!

Sydney loves to read.

Sydney and Madison at Nine Months

We decided to take Sydney and Madison in to get professional pictures taken together. We had the toughest time getting them to smile at the same time, but 2 long hours later we had lots of great shots of our cute girls. Enjoy!

Once Upon A Tooth

On September 1, Sydney for her first tooth! It was a long time coming, too. She started getting swollen gums at 3.5 months, and it took that long for the tooth to come through! Actually, we were at a Duck game when the tooth made it's appearance, which shouldn't surprise me! When I was pregnant with Sydney, she first kicked for my mom, my dad, and my sister at Duck games! I should have known she was holding out. I miss that gummy little smile, but it sure is cute to see a little tooth in there!

A trip to Santa Cruz!

At the beginning of the month, we made a trip down to Santa Cruz to celebrate Chris' grandma June's 90th Birthday. We decided to make a road trip out of it. We stayed in Eugene, then Crescent City, CA, then Santa Cruz, and on the way home we stayed in Sacramento, then Grants Pass, OR. Sydney was a real trooper and tolerated the long hours in the car. We made lots of stops along the way, at the Paul Bunyon store in the Redwoods to buy fudge, at the toll booth in San Francisco to take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, and at lots of beaches. Sydney loved the beach! She got so excited every time we went to the beach, she would laugh and kick her legs and clap her hands in excitement! She loved to feel the wind on her face.

9 Months Old

Sydney is 9 months old now. Hard to imagine! The time is going by so quickly, I wish it would slow down, but I realize our baby won't be a baby much longer! She is always very happy and loves to clap her hands!

Sydney had her 9 month check up yesterday, and here are the latest stats:
She is 18 pounds, 6 oz, which is finally in the 50% percentile. I say finally because she has always been in the 25% percentile and we have always had to make her eat at every meal. The doctor laughed when she saw that Sydney was finally at 50% and said it's probably because at 9 months, most other kids are crawling and scooching around, so their weight drops off, but Sydney is totally mellow and is content to sit and play, she's not very mobile yet, so her weight is finally catching up! She is also 29.5 inches long, which is in the 95% percentile! We might have a supermodel on our hands here, she's long and lean. She is very healthy!

The Monterey Bay Aquarium

We just got back from a vacation in Santa Cruz, and while we were there we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was recently voted one of the 10 best aquariums in the United States, along with our local aquarium in Newport, OR. It was very impressive. The exhibits were very tall, think floor-to-ceiling tall, which made the exhibits larger than life. We saw jellyfish, sharks, an octopus, and all sorts of other sea animals. There was a touch-and-feel exhibit, which Sydney was not too fond of because the water was super cold. She did like going outside to look for whales, and she also liked the jellyfish, probably because of their bright colors. While we were there, we wrote a letter to our congressman to ask him to help protect the ocean and all the ocean animals. While we are not a tree-hugger family, we would like to take this opportunity to encourage all our friends and family to do what they can to help our environment. We certainly want it to be a beautiful place when our baby girl grows up.

Sydney's First Duck Game!

On September 1, we took Sydney to her first Duck game! We were very excited to take Sydney back to the the place where our story began. In case you don't know, we (Chris and Dara) met at a Duck game, where Chris sat 2 rows behind Dara. Chris proposed at Autzen stadium, and we had a Duck themed tailgater rehearsal dinner. If we had had a boy, his middle name would have been Autzen. So, we were super happy to take Sydney to the game. The Ducks beat Houston in this season's opening game, and Sydney had a blast! She loved cheering along and clapped her hands a lot. She even cut her first tooth at the game! We can't wait to go back to all the games.

The Columbia River Gorge

This past weekend we went up to the Columbia River Gorge for the wedding of our good family friend, Greg, to his new wife, Erin. They got married at the Columbia River Gorge Hotel. They truly could not have picked a more spactacular place to take their vows. It was quite a weekend! Friday night was the rehearsal dinner on the Sternwheeler. Sydney was pretty tired that night, but she was a real trooper and stayed awake until the end. There was a fabulous turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Saturday was the wedding, set in the hotel's beautiful garden. We believe there is something sacred and special about taking your marriage vows before God, family, and friends, and Greg and Erin picked an amazing place to do so. The reception after the wedding was a lot of fun, with a complete dinner and fantastic cake. Sydney even got in the spirit of things and started rocking her body back and forth, doing her first ever dance! She was the life of the party! On Sunday morning there was a brunch to end the weekend. We walked around the grounds of the hotel after the brunch to get some family pictures. It was pretty bright outside, so we were all squinting in most of the pictures, but some of them turned out alright. We had such a fun weekend, we can't wait to go back to the gorge again!

The Funniest Little Duck Ever

So I was shopping last week and found the most adorable little Halloween costume for Sydney. Now, I know, Halloween isn't for 2.5 months, but it was so cute, I couldn't resist. Plus, it's a Duck! How perfect for us! Unfortunately, it only comes in one size, and while it fits her now, there is no way it will fit her in October. So, we'll have to return it. However, we managed to snap a few pictures of her in the costume. We were laughing so hard we were crying!

Good times with food!

Sydney was cracking me up today when she was eating her dinner. She was such a mess! She kept making the funniest faces! She is at the age where she wants real food, no more bottle or baby food. The problem is, she doesn't have any teeth yet, so she can't chew much real food! She does take tiny pieces of chicken, some cheese, yogurt, some bread or bagels, and other bites off of our plates. She'll have to make do with the baby food until she gets some teeth. In the meantime, she makes the funniest faces with her baby food!

We love to play!

Summer Fun!

It's hard to imagine that August is already here. Summer will be over before we know it! Sydney has had a great summer. We love getting her outside to play!
Look at those long legs!
The whole world is a chewing ring at this point! Here, Sydney is chewing on the chin of our good friend Shelley.
What a funny picture! We put her in her Hawaii dress for my mom's birthday, and my mom found this hoola skirt to complement the outfit.
After swim class one day, we let Sydney sit outside and enjoy the flowers.

The County Fair

This weekend we went to the Washington County Fair. We had such a great time looking at all the animals, playing skeeball, and eating the yummy fair food. Sydney even got to taste her first elephant ear, but she did not like it at all! Chris and I played our hearts out with skeeball, but we couldn't win a thing! We saw lots of cows, goats, pigs, and alpacas. It was so much fun! We can't wait to go back next year when Sydney will be big enough to ride some of the kiddy rides.
Mommy and Sydney with the goats.
"Ew, dad, the pigs stink!"
First taste of an elephant ear-she did NOT like it!

Swim Class

Ever since Sydney came home from the hospital, she has loved the water. Bath time is the highlight of her day! We decided to take a swim class at the aquatic center. Twice a week for five weeks, and Sydney loved it! She wanted to be on her tummy kicking the whole time! The instructor said she had never seen a baby kick as much Sydney does. We had a great time singing songs, blowing bubbles, and doing lots of swimming. We think we might have an olympic gold metalist in swimming on our hands!

We love to swim!

Cutie pie in her life jacket! She normally didn't wear the life jacket, but for our last class, we got to go down the big water slide, so life jackets were mandatory!
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Sydney sure loves to be on her tummy kicking!

We love summertime! Sydney has so much fun exploring the great outdoors. Here are a few pictures of our girl (and me) playing outside.