October 4th, 2009 - We haven't been so great with the updates here. But I just added more pictures and videos. Everything is going well in the Valentine house. We are happy that we didn't lose PJ in the woods of Montana (see September 2009 for full story) and are looking forward to March 15th when #2 is due. We'll find out what we are having on October 29th, so I'll post more then.

May 10th, 2009 -  So it has been a really long time since I wrote an update or added new pictures. Sorry about that. I just added a bunch of new pictures, so enjoy. PJ is more and more fun every day. She is so interactive now and says so many words. My personal favorite right now is when she says Butterfly. It comes out like buffely.  I'll try to get it on video so you can see it. She has a book with butterflies in it and it is her favorite. She also says uh-oh, dog, puppies, sox, shoes, Ryder, mommy, daddy, Spencer, eat, chair, up, help, coffee, Papa, Nonni, juice, milk, elmo, banana, apple, and more. She dances when she hears music, lights up when she sees elmo, and runs around everywhere. She is into everything and is really so much fun. She is a great sleeper. She usually goes to bed between 7:30 - 8:30 pm and gets up between 8:30 and 9am. Luckily Ryan and I have flexible jobs and we are able to let her sleep in before we take her to Karen's house. The only problem we still run into with her is the pooping issue. If anyone has any good ideas to help her poop easier, I am all ears right now.

October 20th - PJ now has 3 teeth. Her top 2 front teeth and her bottom left middle tooth are now all coming in. It took a while to get them, but once they started they all came in! She still isn't walking much on her own. She will occasionally take a few steps on her own, but for the most part prefers crusing around the couch or crawling.

October 12th - PJ stopped taking a bottle today. She moved right into a sippy cup with milk and hasn't looked back. What a big girl!

October 8th - Payton had 2 big milestones right before her first birthday! Today, she took her first unassisted steps and had her top tooth finally poke through. She walked about 6 steps between mom and Nonni. She was so happy with herself!

July 25th - PJ pulled herself up to a standing position tonight! Patrice was laying on the ground playing with PJ and PJ just grabbed on to Patrice's shirt and pulled herself up to a standing position. She is pretty sturdy once she gets on her feet, but hasn't taken any unassisted steps yet.

July 22nd - Wow. PJ is a chubby little 9 month old. We had her 9 month doctor appointment today and she is 21lbs 10oz (74%) and 28 inches long (70%).  Everything else is going great. No teeth yet. She is really crawling now.

 

July 19th - PJ is crawling! Finally, at nearly 9 months, PJ started to crawl. She hasn't mastered it yet, but she definitely knows she is mobile now! Time to get the baby gates up I guess.

July 14th - Very happy to report that PJ is over whatever little bug she had back at the beginning of June. She still doesn't have any teeth, but she is taking full bottles, lots of cheerios, and some baby food without any hesitation. She is threatening to crawl, but still hasn't gone full steam ahead with it. She goes backwards pretty well, and can scoot to places that she wants to go, but she hasn't officially crawled yet. She is back to the normal, very happy Payton... Ry and I are thrilled. :)

June 9th - On yet another paranoid first time parent visit to the doctor, we found that PJ, at 7 months weighs 18lbs 10oz. We took her to the doctor because she wouldn't take a bottle and had 102 degree temp. She was being very un-PJ like. We thought maybe she was teething, or maybe she had the flu... but the doctor told us she had SDV... Some Darn Virus. Even now she isn't 100% back to her old PJ self. She hasn't taken a full bottle in a few days, will eat 4 of the 6 ounces. Maybe she's hitting a growth spurt, or finally getting some teeth... we'll keep you posted.

April 22nd - PJ had her 6 month check-up today. She is now 16.5 pounds and 26.6 inches long. I think 5 of those lbs are in her cheeks. She is so happy and is such a good kid. Ryan thinks we are lucky.... I think we are just darn good parents. Payton now sits up for extended periods of time on her own. We'll plop her down on a blanket with some toys and she will play contently for 20 or 30 minutes. She really likes her new cookie jar toy and anything that she can slobber on excessively. Still no teeth... but now that she is on formula she can get teeth anytime as far as I am concerned, I no longer have to be afraid of those sharp little devils. 

 

April 7th - PJ has been rolling over half heartedly for the past couple of weeks. But today she rolled over with a clear purpose....to grab moms water glass! She is also sitting up pretty well on her own now. She still teeders and todders over, but is fairly stable. She has also finally noticed that we have dogs! Her face lights up at a few things:

March 15th - We tried Solid food for the first time today. PJ has decided that it is a good idea to get up at 2:30am each morning. So we thought she must be starving (I mean have you seen her lately? Practically wasting away to nothing!) and we should try her on solids. She wasn't really into it... pushed most of it out of her mouth. Really was not too fond of the spoon. We'll try again later.

February 25th - PJ went in for her 4 month appointment and is growing like a weed. She is 25" long and a whopping 14lbs 1.5 oz. That puts her in the 90% for height and the 50% for weight. She got her shots and had to take her first test. The doctors gave us a questionnaire that measures PJ's growth and it looks like she is right on track. She has rolled over twice (once from her back to her tummy and once from her tummy to her back) and she can sit up on her own for about 30 seconds or one minute. The doctor said we could start her on solid foods now (rice cereal and some veggies) any time but I think we will wait another month or so before we start that. She is still sleeping really well at night. Anywhere from 8 hours to 11 hours and continues to be a really happy kid. She is getting to be much more interactive and now smiles when you say her name and coos a lot when she looks in the mirror. She gets to hang out with Jewel and Addison a lot and they like to pull PJ's hair already.... I think they are just jealous.

 

December 26th - Payton went on her first airplane ride today. We traveled from Seattle to Spokane on a quick 45 minute airplane ride and Payton did great. She fussed a little while we were waiting on the plane for an hour before take off (I fussed too) but was great once we got in the air.

 

December 21st - We took PJ to the doctor for her 2 month check up. She now weighs 11 pounds 8.5 ounces and is 22 3/4 inches long. She is in the 70th percentile for both weight and height. She got her first round of vaccinations and did just fine. She was a little cranky the night of the shots, but she was over by the next day.

 

December 20th - For the first time, PJ slept through the night last night! 7 straight hours of glorious sleep!

 

December 3rd - PJ went to the Dr. again to have her eye checked out. We thought she had a little eye infection when really all she had was a blocked tear duct. We had her weighed again and she was a whopping 10 pounds 3 ounces. Even with all the spitting up, she is still gaining weight!

 

November 7th -  Payton went to see Dr. Putney for her 2 week checkup. She has grown an inch and is now 21.5 inches and 8 pounds 5 ounces. She also passed her hearing test! Looks like she is healthy and quite happy.  

October 21st 2007 - The story without the graphic details: About 1:30am on October 21st, my water broke. After dragging Ryan out of bed, we got to the hospital and were admitted around 2:30am. After a few hours of trying to rest through the contractions, I got an epidural (highly recommended) and was able to sleep a little.  A little after 2pm, the doctor told me to go ahead and push and at 3:06pm, Payton June Valentine was born. Ryan and I were the only two people in the room (besides the hospital staff) and were able to share some quiet time with Payton before showing her off to the world. We are now adjusting to life with a child and feel very blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy daughter