Happy Holidays 2009

Lola is making our holiday so special. It's hard to believe one year ago that she was born. Here is a sweet video of Lola's cousin Jack giving her a Thanksgiving day kiss. Plus some pics from her Christmas card photo shoot.

Lola turned one year old on Dec 4. She is very active and loves crawling and pulling up on things. She enjoys getting into the cabinets and loves pushing the walmart grocery cart she received for her birthday. Her language is developing she now says mama, dada, & ball pretty clearly and she thinks Dottie's name is actually good girl. Whenever she sees Dottie rounding the corner she pipes in "Goooood Gurrrrr." Daddy recently taught her the sign for 'light' and she can do 'more' as well. It is exciting to actually see her signing back now after months of reinforcing these. She has a good appetite loves mostly blueberries, cheese, and sweet potatoes. Just the other day she held a spoonful of yogurt to her mouth. She is a dear sweet girl and we love her so much.

Ms. Mimicker 11 months

Lola started crawling a few weeks ago and is now exploring like crazy. She is pulling up more frequently and is just starting to cruise the coffee table. She loves to mimic us as shown in the video. Amazing how much they change in the first year of life!!

Fall 09

Lola is very LOUD these days and enjoys experimenting with different pitches. Lots of screeching and laughing. She started crawling last week I guess she decided to take her sweet time. She loves to crawl towards Dottie and attempt to grab Dottie's feet. She has a good bit of hair for her age and it seems to be getting darker like dads. She loves music and starts smiling, rocking and singing when we play her cds. For Halloween this year she was a horse. She had a ton of fun trick or treating with her cousins in Macon, Ga. Her one year birthday is right around the corner. Hard for us to believe how quickly the time has passed.

Miss Lola playing recorder 10 months

Lola suprised me the other day by figuring out how to make music with the recorder! I love it!

9 months

We survived our first extended weekend away from Lola last week. She stayed with Aunt Millie, Uncle Dan, cousins Jane and Lucy while we went climbing & camping at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. The trip got cut short as our campground got flooded out on the 3rd day due to heavy rains. As for her development, she seems to be a non-conformist of sorts and is not interested in crawling even though she is a few days shy of 10 months. She can't really stand to be on her stomach at all she would rather sit and play or do a combination roll and/or back crawl to get to something. Thank goodness crawling is not on the motor development charts or mom and dad would be sweating bullets by now. Her favorite thing to do is to stand at the leap frog table and play music. The leap frog table has now taken first place in popularity with the the jumpster and excersaucer placing 2nd and 3rd consecutively. She is starting to shift her weight in standing and we feel like she'll be cruising the furniture b/f long. She is starting to imitate us and continues to say "da da and lola" as she babbles which is really cute. She has almost completely transitioned to chopped foods it has been an interesting learning experience for us. At first, she fussed when presented with the spoon. She would clamp her mouth shut and refuse the spoon adamantly eating only if she could pick things up. We finally discovered that in order for her to eat her fruits & veggies from the spoon we had to let her play with her "fireman spoon" so that she could feel in control. With that said, she will now eat her veggies like a champ. We just started her fall kindermusik class and she is very thrilled to be back with this group. She enjoys her time with the other babies and is mesmerized by Ms. Betsy's guitar and vocal abilities. Man sorry this video is sideways.

9 months A hair bow kinda day

Ms. Lola sported her first hair bow today. She has just enough hair for it to stay attached. She is babbling a lot these days and very interactive with others. Her first two teeth came in a few weeks ago we were very excited. Recently, she started transitioning from sitting to crawling position and from there doesn't really know what to do. Sometimes she nose dives into her toys. She likes to stand supported at the coffee table and just recently started shifting her weight in standing. She is 8 pounds 3 oz and in the 25-50th precentile for weight and height. We recently purchased her first lights and music type of toy called the jivin jukebox. She loves to listen to it especially while she is eating her dinner! She is not one to take a spoon these days. She wants total control at dinner time and prefers items she can pick up like puffs or bread. We started teaching her routine signs like dada, more, hungry, thirsty. She is so much fun right now it is so hard to believe she'll be 10 months in Oct!

Eating 101

Here is Lola at 8 months eating bread which is her first non-pureed food item. Her first attempts she manages to flick the piece of bread over the other hand. In the 2nd video she is perfecting her pincer grasp...2 handed! Dottie does a good job patrolling the area for stray bread crumbs.

Baby Maestro

Forget the baby piano here's Lola playing a very somber piece on our organ. She just loves putting on a show for us.

Water Baby 8 months

Water Baby. Lola is now sitting more upright in her tub & has recently discovered how to splash mommy & daddy. Too cute!

Jump Around 8 months

Looky Miss Lola jump around to da house of pain.

Somewhere in the middle

Well, forget recording any milestones this week. Here is Lola falling sideways attempting to reach a ball outside of her base of support and getting stuck in the process. She tends to get lost in transition frequently she'll be 8 months one week from today.

Dinner time 7.5 months

Here is the highlight of Lola's meal time...playing with an empty water bottle. It is challenging for her as she is still developing her grasping skills. Notice how she is batting it around like a cat. It does not take much to entertain this little one!

Lola's first Vacation 7 months

We stayed in Boone, NC for our first official family vacation with Ms. Lola . Day 1 we hiked at the Moses Cone Estate off of the Blue Ridge Parkway where we saw a beautiful mountain lake surrounded by rhododendron. Lola did ok in the backpack, however, she got a little antsy after an hour or so. Afterwards we biked the greenway in Boone. She continues to really enjoy riding in her bike carrier. The next day we rode in Todd where we biked a long the railroad grade road which parallels the new river. We rode along side families tubing and kayaking down the river a very scenic ride. Afterwards we listened to music at the town square while enjoying ice cream from the general store. Lola actually met her first pot bellied pig!! We can't wait to return to the mountains with her.

Lola Laughing at Phinny-6.5 months

Lola is becoming a very active little 6 month old. She is now able to sit unsupported and she continues to work on her grasping skills. She enjoys watching baby einstein, biting her toes, and laughing at doggies. Oh how she enjoys dogs. Our friend's schnoodle 'Phinny' is in the attached video with her.

Lola's baptism

Lola was baptised at St. Michael's church in Gastonia, NC on June 13th, 2009. Her sponsors were Kristen MacKay of Hershey, Pa and Dan McArdle of Charlotte, NC. She was very well behaved during the entire baptism we were so proud of her. Our funny memory will be of her flashing the other family during the "dunking." It was a special day and she looked beautiful in her little dress!!!

Intro. to climbing/surfing-6 months

I inadvertently discovered that climbing rope is the perfect teething tool for babies. Who knew. All that money spent on teething rings and baby oragel...and we had what we needed right here in our garage! Dad will say she's a climber at heart-notice her affinity for carabiners in this video. I am sure he will be showing her how to tie knots very soon! At 6 months she is becoming more and more active....reaching for things with both hands and perfecting her pincer grasp. She is not yet sitting unsupported but is getting close. This morning we went for her 6 month photo shoot "fun in the sun" where she had more outfit changes than Janet Jackson. Sand in the diaper was not helping matters and we had a tough time getting her to smile. Unusual for her as she smiles 24/7. We opted for the belly surf board pose as pictured. She makes chunk thighs look good in her two piece!

Trip to Atlanta

Mom and I enjoyed our first solo trip together to Atlanta to visit aunt Reenie and Katrice. It was my longest roadtrip thus far. I did not cry during the car ride and really enjoyed listening to wncw radio. I enjoyed the attention from aunt Reenie and Katrice except I overheard Katrice comparing my extremities to "roasted turkey legs and croissant arms." I spent much of the weekend smiling, tagging along with the shopping, and enjoying their edgewood neighborhood. They even let me watch t.v. The cat Pugs watched me while I slept. I think he thought I was an alien. We can't wait to go back when it is sunnier and we will take Phinny to the piedmont dog park!

foods at 5 months

Lola's introduction to solids yay. Since 4.5 months she's had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peaches, pears, bananas, peas and prunes. So far so good she's 15# in the 50th percentile for weight/height..

Moro Reflex- 21 weeks

Lola will have many fun filled days to come in this jumpster seat. She now has enough trunk control to sit in it comfortably without falling forward or sideways. She is just learning to kick and startling herself in the process.

21 weeks

Lola is becoming a very sociable baby. She smiles and laughs and she has recently discovered her toes. She spends a good bit of time in her play gym kicking and reaching for the the rings. She is just starting to use her jumpster seat. We started feeding her oatmeal cereal on a daily basis. She is a very happy little girl.

Biking in Bent Creek

The Barones ventured to Brevard today to take Lola on her first official biking trip. She did really well in her carrier which she has been riding since two weeks old. She stayed awake most of the time no fussing just quietly enjoying the view for the hour and a half loop ride. The only time she became fussy, in fact, was at chili's on the way home where she must have sensed moms frustration over the poor service & undercooked burger. Well, with a little screaming on both their parts mom scored a free molten lava cake. Haa Haa. We can't wait to go back...to Bent Creek that is:)

Little Miss Show off

Lola decided to roll over on Easter Sunday in front of the family. She was able to repeat this four times for us in both directions. The earlier roll over video at 4 weeks was an isolated incident. We feel like, at that time, she rolled out of gas and frustration vs yesterday which was the more appropriate developmental milestone day :)

Fleeting moments

11 grand kids on one couch taken winter 2009. Lola is #11...will there be another??

Lola..Easter 09

We enjoyed our first overnight trip with Lola to Augusta to see family. We discovered that she loves the easter bunny as well as visting with her little cousins.

Easter pics 16 weeks

Lola is entering the "golden age" of baby...much less cryin, more smilin, and still NON-mobile. So she pretty much hangs out and enjoys whatever view is provided for her.

Miss Lola shaking Rattle

Lola-Baby Talk at 15 weeks

Lola in backpack 13 weeks

The Barones went to the park today. Lovely spring weather. Lola got to sit in her backpack for the first time. This is also the first time we were able to catch her smiles on camera.