1 tooth + 1 tooth = 2 teeth!

Larkyn woke up with her first tooth on September 13th, the day she turned 6 months. About a week later she woke up with her second tooth right next to it. Cutting teeth brought about some congestion, running nose, and a few nights of interrupted sleep! She woke up many times throughout the nights of teething crying out and was up for quite some time around 3:30 or 4 AM for a couple consecutive nights. Luckily that has only happened when she is cutting teeth!

Framing in the basement...

Shea and our neighbor Scott went to get the lumber on Friday night. They unloaded the trailer and brought the lumber in from the basement window. Gotta love great neighbors who are willing to help at 9 PM! The finishing of the basement has officially started! Our deadline, March 11, 2011. I want to be sure the basement is finished in time for Larkyn's first birthday party in order to have enough room to accommodate out of town guests!

Shea and Rick began framing in the basement Saturday morning. Shea had a great time working with Rick. They began at 8 AM and were finished by 5 PM! What a day! Larkyn and I spent some time shopping at MOA and hanging out at the neighbors while the guys pounded away...

Looking at the extra bedroom...

Basement bathroom...

Looking through the extra bedroom towards the living room...

The basement project begins...

We spent some of the day on Sunday getting the basement cleaned out and ready for framing. We don't have a whole lot of storage room in the basement, but were able to find good space in the attic above the garage. Larkyn found "Shea Jr.," a cabbage patch doll, and loved playing with her while we cleaned out boxes and got the basement picked up.

The basement was a mess!

Within the week we were able to get the basement in good shape for work the following weekend...

(This is looking at the family room)

Looking toward the bedroom...

Here is the basement bathroom. It will have a standing shower, toilet and sink!

This is the utility room with the beverage refrigerator.

Looking in on the family room from the bottom of the stairs.

Larkyn Kate is 6 months old...

6 months old is such a fun age! Larkyn is such a happy and bubbly little girl who gets more excited about life each day. There are so many changes happening and new things she is beginning to figure out. Larkyn is rolling over from front to back and back to front with no problems. Larkyn is also enjoying being able to sit up on her own for long periods of time. She is able to sit up and bend down to grab toys around her without falling over. She loves to grab for everything now. We have to watch what we put in front of her! She is really into grabbing faces and pulling them in for "kisses" or her newest thing...bites! Larkyn Kate woke up Monday morning, September 13th at 3 AM with her first tooth! One of the bottom teeth in the middle had made its way through the gums! The other bottom tooth came in on the 22nd. We had a few rough nights in between, but once the tooth was through, her sleeping went back to normal! Speaking of teeth, Larkyn loves to have her teeth brushed. We use a warm washcloth and sing our "brusha brusha brusha" song and she opens right up with a smile! Along with the teeth came a small cold. Larkyn was very stuffy for a couple days and had a runny nose and slight fever. We are thinking the runny nose came with the teeth, but who knows!? Larkyn continues to enjoy eating! She weighed in at 19 lbs. 2.5 oz. at her doctor's appointment, which is the 95 percentile. We switched her to oatmeal cereal in place of rice and she absolutely loves it! She is now eating cereal for lunch at Tracey's and dinner at home. Other foods she has tried include; carrots, bananas, squash, pears, peaches, sweet potatoes, mmm's, and puffs. Lastly, Larkyn has developed quite the personality. She loves to make herself laugh and will pant like a dog and kick her feet when she gets exicted.

"Oh Giraffe, look at how big you are getting!"

"You are just soo cute! Let me give you a kiss!"

"Yah, thats right...I'm 6 months old!"

"But Mama, I was hungry!"

"Say what? You have oatmeal cereal for me?!"

Larkyn was 27 inches at her 6 month well check. She is still in the 90 percentile for height!

Larkyn flashing her little nubs...

Larkyn and friends...

Scott, Heidi and Lily came over to visit us for a little while on Saturday night. Scott and Shea run together almost every weekend as they prepare for Twin Cities Marathon, but it has been a long time since we've seen Heidi and Lily. Heidi and I took a Mommy and Me class together just after the girls were born and saw each other every week for a couple months. Now that school has started (Heidi is a teacher too), it is definitely a lot harder to get together. Larkyn is 3 weeks older than Lily, and at least 3 pounds heavier:) It wont be long and these little "sitters" will be running around the house.

There are some smiles!

Lily wasn't feeling well, so Larkyn was checking to see if she had a fever!

Lily thought that was pretty funny!

"I couldn't quite get a good read with my hand, let me feel with my cheek!"

Jenny and Jason were in town from Chicago visiting Jenny's sister. They came over for the Packer game and dinner. We had a great time catching up with them and enjoyed their company. Larkyn loved playing with Jenny...

...and Jason too!

Go Pack Go!

Yummy Yummy in my Tummy...

Larkyn is enjoying trying new food and shows pure excitement when the bib and/or bowl is in her sight! She began eating rice cereal just after 5 months and we have slowly introduced some of the yellow and orange fruits and vegetables into the mix. After we went through the first box of rice cereal, we switched to oatmeal and Larkyn absolutely loved it! We decided to make our own baby food using some of the vegetables from our garden, but also adding in food from the grocery store. We have tried a couple different food choppers/processors and are still looking for the "right one". After pureeing the food we place it in an ice cube tray and freeze it over night. Once frozen, I put the cubes in a freezer ziplock bag and take one cube out as needed.

Larkyn loves to grab for the spoon and feed herself.

The first vegetable we tried was carrots. It took a couple days, but Larkyn took to them pretty well. Carrots were by far the messiest of the foods we have tried! Oh, and they leave a good stain too!

Bananas are one of Larkyn's favorites...

While waiting for dinner, Larkyn gnawed on a Biter Biscuit, which felt pretty good on her teeth I'm sure!

The fresh food feeders are the best! I put a pear slice in it and Larkyn loved sucking the juice right out of it. I enjoyed watching her puckered up face:) Pears were probably Larkyn's least favorite. Crazy girl...I LOVED pears when I was little!

Larkyn has also experimented with "Mmm-Mmm's" which are rice cakes that melt in her mouth. Well, usually melt in her mouth! She has figured out how to bite off big chunks and bites off more than she can handle. Though it melts pretty quickly, it still gave me a scare when she started making gagging sounds after taking a big bite!

Larkyn loves sweet potatoes! She has gobbled them up quickly each night for dinner. She also has taken more control of the spoon. Dinner time can take quite a while if we don't give her her own spoon!

Labor Day Golf Outting and Family Get-together...

Larkyn and I made a quick trip to Cedar Falls on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend for our family's annual golf tournament and gathering. We drove down Sunday morning during nap time. Larkyn slept for about an hour and a half, played and talked for an hour and screamed for the last 15 minutes of the trip! Overall, she was a pretty good traveler. When we arrived in town we met up with my sister Megan, brother-in-law Luke and my dad for lunch. Later in the afternoon we got to see my friend Krista and her daughter McKenna. It was great to get the girls together again to "play". We then went to Grandma Barb's where Larkyn stayed with her cousins while I went to play golf. We ended the evening at Sharon and Chad's for dinner, volleyball, and hanging out! We decided to leave around 8 to head back home to Minnesota. My cousin Kayce rode with us until Owatonna which helped me stay awake and gave a great opportunity to catch up and have a little "girl time". Larkyn slept the whole way home and went right to sleep when transferred into her crib!

Larkyn and McKenna

Larkyn and Grandma Debbie

Larkyn and MacKenzie

Courtney and Larkyn

How many blonde hair look-a-likes does it take to dress Larkyn?:) Courtney and Holly were getting Larkyn in her pajamas for our road trip home.

Ok, how about a brown-haired beauty to add to the mix?

Sitting Up...

We have really enjoyed watching Larkyn's core strength mature over the past month as she is now sitting up. It is great to be able to sit her up with all of her toys and walk away for awhile knowing she will entertain herself! Some of her favorite sitting up toys are the shape and sort, stacking rings, leap frog learning table top, Tigger, Pooh, and many more. Below she is sporting her favorite teams now that it is football season.

Go Pack Go!

Go Hawkeyes!

Go Badgers!

Larkyn is quite musical:) She loves to dance and bounce to the music. When the music starts she will tap her toe to the beat!

Larkyn and her friends...

"Oooh Eeyore, I love to pull out your hair! Mom wasn't thinking when she bought you!"