Melia's First Doll

She's excited!


"I like this baby!"


Look at the Baby!

Melia's Birthday was a first in many ways.
Great-Grandma and Grandpa R gave Melia her first doll.

Melia's First "Cake"

Melia had a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese frosting for dinner last night... I'll post a video of everyone singing Happy Birthday to Melia once Blogger works out its tech issues!

Slideshow!

These pics include Halloween... Happy Fall!

SO BIG!

Melia is getting crazier and cuter every day! She can stand by herself for about 20 seconds, is climbing on EVERYTHING and scoots around on furniture. She really wants to walk but it still might be awhile before she can balance well enough! She turns 11 months old on Saturday. Man, time flies! Here are some videos of her being a big girl:

She LOVES taking a bath. It's the start of her bedtime routine. Bath, Jammies, Story, Song, Blankie and Sleep (sometimes a teensy bit of fussing since who would want to go to bed?)



Here's Melia "walking"

Visiting the "Cousins"

Here's Melia at Aunt Allyson & Uncle Scotty's with the "cousins" Copper and Ranger!


Playing Ball!


3 puppies?


Your tongue tickles!


Ranger has always been super interested in Melia. The first time she was over he kept going to her, especially when she was off taking her nap and was away from "the rest of the flock."

Melia says vote for Obama!

YOU! Vote for Obama!

Visiting Friends...

Charlotte, Matt, & Kristi came over the other day. Melia and Charlotte had fun together. Charlotte liked eating broccoli off of Melia's high chair tray. Here she is eating a bun.

Stumbles and Falls...

Melia's boo boo lip.


that same day, pulling herself up again...


here she is!

More Pictures coming soon!

I was told I need to update more often. However, between work, grad school, and various other necessary activities like grocery shopping, it has been slightly difficult! Melia is napping right now and we are on "Fall Break." Casey went to the Science/Math conference so I have some time to work on the computer. Melia is getting SO BIG! She now has 6 teeth, crawls all over, and can pull herself up on things. She had her first bloody boo-boo the other day and her teeth cut her lip :( She got over it fast, though. She's also had some stumbles due to the fact that she's trying to climb on everything and STAND BY HERSELF! She can't quite balance on her own for more than 3 seconds, though.

Teeth...

Melia recently sprouted three teeth: two front bottom ones and one side top one. I've been trying to get a picture... She did a little crawling at daycare today, but then didn't do any at home. She's had a few one-step crawls for Casey and I but nothing too extreme. She also can go from a laying down position to sitting up all by herself! It's pretty cool. I think she thinks it's cool too! I took her to the park the other day and she went in a swing. She loved it! She giggles and squeals whenever she's doing something she likes.

Melia Movie Festival!

6/19/2008


6/20/2008


6/26/2008


6/22/2008

Mmm... Broccoli...

Check out Melia's pincer grasp! :)

August Photos!

Another School Year...

Casey and I are gearing up for another school year. Melia is back at daycare this week since we have teacher inservice. When I dropped her off this morning she was super excited to see Diane again and very happy. Our daycare provider is very nice. She is dedicated to the kids and seems to have a lot of fun with them. It's nice that there are only three... one baby is a few months older than Melia and one is about a year and a half. Any minute now Melia will start crawling- she's been on her hands and knees rocking and she scoots backwards, rolls and pivots around to get places. She's beginning to show preferences. We were shopping with Grandma Sue and she definitely "decided" which toy she would rather get by reaching out. She also was very enthralled with a blue block one day but then when she saw her froggy she dropped the block and grabbed the frog... Today she ate little bits of broccoli all by herself. I have a video I will post soon.

Melia in Jersey City!

Melia's first plane ride!

We are visiting Uncle Mike and Ashley in Jersey City. Today we went to the Liberty Park and tomorrow we might go to the Bronx Zoo. Melia did an excellent job on the airplane! She was happy and took some naps. Here are some pictures of the adventure:

Mike, Casey, and Melia in Liberty Park. Melia is signing "more." We don't really know what she wants more of right now... usually we use more with more food- maybe she's practicing or maybe she's saying more water (referring to the river). She's also been signing "milk" but not always in the correct context.


Melia and Uncle Mike! Family picture in front of Manhattan skyline


Family picture in front of Ellis Island- Can you see the statue of liberty?


Melia loves playing with the gate check tag on her carseat. It entertained her the whole way from the airport to Uncle Mike's house. She also played with it on the walk to the park.


Uncle Mike and Melia!


In front of Uncle Mike's house


Playing with the giraffe.

Melia is 7 months old!

Melia turned 7 months old today! She is doing 360s on the living room floor with much desire to crawl around! She also was doing the sign for "more" today- we've been trying to teach her more, eat, milk, mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa, and a few other signs- mostly we want to introduce the concept- they say nowish is when babies might start signing back- I can tell she seems to understand the sign for milk! Melia weighed 17 pounds at her 6 month check up so I am sure she's past that by now. She's been eating "solid" (pureed) food for about a month now. Her food repertoire now consists of peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, plums, pears, banana, applesauce, avocado (which she's not the hugest fan of...), and rice cereal. We're trying to give her all organic food, some of which is homemade. She's been an off and on good napper the last few months- I think because she's so excited about everything around her... also, she seems to be moving around a lot in her crib- she was on her tummy several times and likes to sleep on her side with her neck bent back and her arms stretched out. Here's a bunch of pictures to sum up the past couple months...

Sarah's Wedding

DSCN1382
Originally uploaded by alyssarutherford

Here's a family picture from Sarah and Jim's wedding on May 31st

Yummy!

Melia ate her first bite of "solid" food on Saturday. Today she had a taste of sweet potatoes. She seems to like it, banging her hand on the high chair tray and sighing as if to say yum.




The first bite!!!


Day two of rice cereal was a little less messy!

Playtime!

Before we know it Melia will be sitting up by herself! For now she needs some assistance, but she's pretty close. She can sit hunched over a little. Right now she and Mommy are home because she had to go to the doctor. She has a minor ear infection and has to take the pink antibiotics. :( She doesn't seem to mind, though... Her naps have to be in the carseat, though so her ear doesn't hurt (that's the only way they seem to last longer than 45 minutes).

Guess What Melia Learned to do?

Photos from the Dedication

Melia on her dedication day






Mommy, Daddy, and Melia with the tree planted on Melia's dedication




The proud parents and grandparents with Melia

Video of the prayer for Melia

This video didn't turn out the best, but you can hear one of our pastors praying for Melia.

Melia's Dedication

Melia was dedicated to God at church today. We went on stage and publicly proclaimed we'd raise her in the "way she should go" and then the pastors prayed for her. She wore the Aden baptismal gown that was made out of WWII parachute fabric and was the gown Casey wore when he was baptized. After we had a reception at our house and we planted an oak tree. It was a very sunny day today! Happy Mother's Day!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll!

Melia can grab onto things now, and sometimes she grabs them on purpose! Melia has been doing pretty well with Tummy Time (T-squared as Daddy likes to call it...). She can lift her head up almost 90 degrees! Soon she'll learn how to roll over... and crawl... and walk... ah!

Bouncy Chair!

Jumping Bean

Melia testing out the jumpster. She'll probably get better at it... :)

Generations!

Great-Grandma Sutherland, Grandma Sue, Mommy and Melia...
(At Great-Grandma's 80th birthday party)

I'm three months old!

Melia can "stand" while Daddy balances her. She also has decided that sucking her thumb is fun...

Snowshoeing!

We went to G-rock for Easter weekend, and did some outdoorsy things. The Rutherfords all went snowshoeing and Melia seemed to enjoy it! She did end up falling asleep in the snugli, though. Melia had a really good time visiting with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Dana too-- video on that later...

Playing with Daddy

Mirror!

Melia likes looking at that cute baby in the mirror!

another video

I'm two months old!

Melia had her two month check up the other day. She's 85%tile in weight and height. She's HUGE! :) She weighs 11 and a half pounds! Here are pictures of her on her two month birthday.

Smiles, Noises, and Coos!

Melia makes a new noise everday. Sometimes she even sounds like she's saying "Hi!" Her favorite noises to make are what Grandma Sue calls "Pony noises." Melia sounds like a little horsey. Here are some videos of her smiling and making noises for you to enjoy.

I'm So Strong!

Melia can push down with her legs now! Soon she'll be using them to push herself around on the floor and before we know it- to walk!!!

Melia the Movie Star!

Melia and Mommy

It doesn't take much...

Melia in the Snugli...


Melia two seconds later... zonked...