That Darn Leaf!

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything. Here are some older pictures of Rylee.  It is crazy to look at these pictures and see all the changes that have happened in just a few months.

Here is Rylee in her bouncer when she is about 5 1/2 months old.  The leaf is by far her favorite! It always goes straight in her mouth:)

Rylee finally started to enjoy tummy time!  Our ward has LOTS of babies and they are all around Rylee's age. During the adult session of Stake conference Rylee was being too noisy, so we took her into the foyer.  There were a few other babies from our ward out there for the same reason.  Rylee saw them all scooting or army crawling on their tummies and finally realized that you can actually move around on your tummy!  She couldn't move forward, but she could move around in circles:) There was hope for her crawling after all!

Apple Fest

We spent a weekend before Halloween at Way Fruit Farms at Apple Fest with the Gibsons. Apple Fest was PACKED with people! I never knew a fruit farm could have so many people at it. In a picture below you can see one guy directing people to park in the huge parking lot. We bought a few pecks of apples, picked out a pumpkin, and got a bag of freshly-made kettle corn. 

After parting ways from the Gibsons, we decided to take a long detour home, over the Pennsylvania mountains. It started to rain as soon as we left the farm, but we were already on our way, so we decided to continue onward anyway. By the time we started up the switchbacks up the mountain, the rain had stopped, and the sun came out. It made for some really good photos. All in all, it was a pretty fun day. 

It was a chilly day, so my girls had to dress up warm. 

We had a hard time deciding which pumpkind to get, but in the end we picked the short and squat one. 

Of course dad had to carry it. 

Pumpkins were like 30 cents per pound. I thought this one weighed about 15 pounds. It actually weighed 22. I'm not such a good guesser. I guess I had a good reference weight of ~13 pounds I should have used. 

This picture was taken as we got to the top of the mountain and headed into the forest. The Pennsylvania landscape is truly beautiful!

Good thing we turned around, otherwise I would have missed this!

Because of the quick rainstorm before the drive, the colors were really vibrant. 

We hit the leaves at the height of their color on this day. 

On our way back we saw a nice double rainbow (all the way across the sky)! The sun was almost down, so the rainbow was almost a perfect semi-circle on the eastern horizon. Notice how the order of the colors for the 2nd rainbow is the opposite of those of the 1st---science is cool!

First Solid Food

When Rylee was a little over five months old, we decided to see how she would do with some rice cereal.  We followed the directions on how to make the "first food" and it was so runny!  I don't think she swallowed any of it.

You can see it all running down her face:)  She would get it in her mouth and then push it all out with her tongue.

And after feeding her (or attempting) for a little while, she decided she was starving and this food wasn't getting her anywhere.  After trying this consistancy a few times we decided to make it thicker and it worked SO much better!  I also decided to try using formula instead of breast milk but that was a no go.  She would cringe and even twitch when we gave it to her.  She is a picky girl:)

Family Pictures

It is rare that we actually get pictures with all three of us in it.  Thankfully our friends were able to take some pictures of us together.  Jeff and Melanie found a nice bridge near the golf course and thought is would be great if we took turns taking family pictures of each other.

This is one of Rylee's favorite things to do--stand on dad's hand.  She sticks her arms out and is so proud of herself for balancing.  She also loves to put on a show for others.  And Kenny loves to scare all the older ladies in the ward with this trick.  The more people freak out, the bigger her smile gets:)

Rylee at 4 months

Rylee still loves bath time.  Sometimes she splashes like crazy and other times she just quietly talks.

Rylee's lovely pajamas:)  You can't see the ears on top of the hat...You will just have to use your imagination.

Rylee is also learning to sit.  And she loves the Bumbo!  It has been a lifesaver.  We can set her on the table while we eat and she feels like she is a part of mealtime.  Of course we have to give her something she can put in her mouth also.  (And her toys won't do.)  At breakfast she loves the cereal bags!  Here she is eating Cheerios.

 Don't worry the stove isn't on:)

 If it was, she wouldn't be this happy!  And don't you love the headband with its matching socks!  Thank you mom!

The Woombie

When Rylee was a newborn she didn't like to be swaddled.  Sounds crazy right!  She would just keep fighting it.  And she couldn't sleep very well without being swaddled because she kept startling herself.    It was a difficult situation...  

We had a friend let us borrow a Woombie to see if that would help.  She hated it initially but after a few weeks we tried it again and she stopped fighting it and fell in love with it.  Now she can't have a descent nap without it.  Weaning her from it might be a pain but I will cross that bridge when it comes:)  

She looks so funny in it :)

She is so happy!

My favorite part is watching her stretch once you take her out of it;)

Thank you Sami for introducing us to the Woombie!

McAllister Family Pictures

While we were in Hawaii we decided to take advantage of the whole family (minus 1) being together.   We decided we would try to photoshop Sean in...since that probably wont work we might just have to go back to Hawaii to take some more :)

And of course we had to have a deep in thought picture!

We finally got Rylee to smile!  However, we were unable to get Skye to smile at the same time.  I guess you take what you can get:)

I wish we had a picture of what Ashley was doing to get Rylee to laugh!

The guys weren't able to entertain Rylee as well as Ashley did.