No Pictures!

Grandma and Grandpa Dedini visited us last weekend. We had a lot of fun together. We went out to eat several times; Erik, Lee, and Cairo went for a hike; and we spent a nice day at the Norton Simon art museum where Cairo loved to hear her voice echoing through the different galleries.... but, alas, I have NO pictures! So, if anyone, anyone at all has photograph they can share with me so that I can put a picture to these words, I would love it... just e-mail them to me and we will make it work. :o)

8 months, plus 4 days....

What a difference a week makes! Last weekend, Cairo was just beginning to think about scooting forward, now she's going forward, backward, to the left, to the right in what is a mix between a scoot, a crawl, and a lunge. She can move fast! We need to start nailing all our belongings down.



Cairo loves to play and splash in the tubby. When we pour water over the top of her head she always spazes out. She loves it, though. That is good. It wouldn't do to have a little surfer girl who doesn't like to get her face wet.


For a while now, Cairo has been babbling. More and more now, her babbling sounds like words. Her vocabulary includes "Hi", "Dog", "Dad", and "Yeh!" Last Thursday, Cairo and Erik came to help me after school in my classroom and Cairo was switching between saying "Dog, dog, dog, dog" and "dad, dad, dad, dad." During one of her runs of "dog," Erik asked her if she liked dogs and she responded with "good dog." So, she's got her Ds and Gs down. Occasionally, we get a "ma ma ma ma."

Cairo loves to play Peek-a-Boo. She will commonly hide between items like her shirt, a discarded piece of clothing, a book, or a toy. She thinks it is SO funny when we "find" her.



Cairo's most recent trick is clapping her hands and saying "Yeh!" She started doing this today and has been doing it over and over and over again.... Yeh, Cairo!






Eight Month Overview:

At eight months, Cairo is a lot of fun.

She likes sweet fruit but she will still work her way through the not-so-sweet veggies. She still won't hold the bottle for herself, though it is time she learned.

She doesn't care for drinking water or juice, but loves her formula. She thinks her sippy cup is a chew toy... in fact, she thinks that most items are chew toys.

She loves to pull strings and scratch her nails over different textured surfaces.

She is LOUD and loves to talk and sing, and she is as opinionated as ever.

Lately, she has been a mama's girl. At night, if she wakes up, she will scream and cry until I have her, then she immediately stops crying and snuggles into my arms (thank goodness this only occasionally happens during the wee hours of the morning). Cairo generally sleeps from 7:30 pm to between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning. She doesn't like to be put down to bed, but we seem to trick her into it each night.

When she's on the changing table, she keeps kicking everything off the side (a picture frame, her baby wipes, baby monitor)... she just did it as Erik was changing her poopy-butt.

Though her hair is short, it is getting thick. It is just starting to creep over her ears. I imagine in another two years I will be french braiding some thick brown hair.

Her two lower teeth are getting big and once in a while he enjoys leaving teeth marks on my hand. She loves to be nak-e-baby (aka naked baby).

Bouncing is one of her favorite pass times, along with Guinness and Sienna watching. The dogs love to clean her tasty toes.

When we are out, she smiles and flirts with everyone around her.

She's a tough cookie. Nose dives don't faze her, she loves to be startled, squeals with laughter when we throw her into the air or pretend we are going to drop her.

She loves to spit and blow bubbles... And let's not even get into her tongue! She constantly waggles her tongue, flips her it in her mouth, and rolls it.

Valentine's Day Cookie

Grandme Biggle made everyone heart-shaped sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. Cairo got her very own special cookies with her initials on it. Though Cairo wanted to taste it, Daddy said that she can't have sugar until she's 18. So, I took control of the situation. Boy, that cookie tasted yummy!

Brushing those two teeth-

Cairo does a great job each night brushing her teeth. Here are several pictures of Cairo, after her bath, in her bathrobe, brushing her teeth. Her Great Grandpa Biggle (who was a dentist) would be proud!





Even more than brushing her teeth, Cairo likes phones. Any phone will do, but if it lights up its better!

The many moods of Cairo...

Each day Cairo is becoming more assertive. Though she doesn't have the words, yet, to tell us what she wants, she does a pretty good job of letting us know. Her wide emotional range suits her well in her role as a baby. Her movement and small motor skills are developing very quickly and she is really loving this new independence (more on that later). For now, enjoy these photos and videos and be glad that I squeezed some time in to FINALLY update this blog!

7 months... a few days ago.

Over seven months have passed since Cairo entered the family. It seems like she's been here forever, but I also can't believe that she is already seven months. Time does fly! Cairo had a doctor's appointment on January 9th and came in at 17 pounds and 26 1/2 inches long. Here weight was just above the 50th percentile. Her height was between the 50th and the 75th percentile.... and, her head was just a little over the 75th percentile. So, she has a big brain! It must be a combination of my chubby cheeks and her dad's stellar brain power. Cairo is progressing perfectly.

Cairo has two teeth coming in nicely. She tends to drool a lot (look close at the following picture for a nice glimpse of it). She is constantly rubbing her tongue (long and pointy as it is) over her teeth or just sticking it out at everyone. Her lower lip is starting to get chapped, but I haven't quite figured out how you get a seventh month old baby to stop licking her lower lip other than taking your finger and pushing her tongue back into her mouth.


Cairo does a fabulous job sitting up on her own now. Once in a while she will do a nosedive, but she has learned how to brace herself a little. She is very frustrated by the fact that she can't sit up on her own. She very much prefers sitting up to laying down. When she is on her back she grunts and struggles to do a sit up, but to no avail. I am trying to get her to put a hand behind her to help push herself up, but she hasn't quite caught on. Once up, Cairo can sit there for an hour playing with toys and books. She especially likes her basket (thanks Katie B) filled with wooden blocks.


As much as Cairo likes sitting, she has discovered a new baby sport that she likes even better- bouncing! If Cairo is in your lap and you are holding her you can almost guarantee that she will begin to bounce. She bounces from the minute she wakes up until after her nighttime bottle when I am trying to rock her to sleep.... bounce, bounce, bounce. Her legs are starting to get lean and strong. Once she's done bouncing, it it time for sleep. Whether she is taking a nap or sleeping for the night, Cairo will scoot herself around until she can smash her face up against something. When she takes a nap on the bed, she won't stop scooting until her head is under the pillow. Once she's asleep, though, I move the possible barrier to her airways.

She seems comfortable, but it doesn't always look that great to me. This is what she looks like EVERY morning.


As of a little over a week ago, Cairo wasn't interested in crawling or scooting. Last weekend, Cairo got up om her hands and knees and began to rock back and forth. As the week progressed, Cairo began to scoot (much to her frustration) backwards. Her favorite things to try and scoot to (with the help of something to push her feet against) is the telephone and the remote control. As it is now, with Cairo still pretty immobile, she is getting into everything she can get her hands on. Cairo's world is really going to open for her now.


Cairo is also betting better at playing games and entertaining herself with her toys. She can sit and play with her toys for much longer time periods and with much more vigor. Play, play, play play, sleep.... Her vocabulary is starting to become more rounded with new sounds. Though I don't think she meant to she said daw-g (aka dog) last weekend when she was out with the dogs and last night she said da-d when Erik was changing her (I think another accident). I am waiting to her her say it again with more purpose to count it as an actually first word. My mom thinks that she hears Cairo saying hi all the time...


In typical baby fashion, Cairo has begun to wave... at herself. She began waving her arms around a week and a half ago. That turned into opening and closing her hand at the same time. Every time she does that we say hi or bye trying to get her to make the connection. It is her new talent, but every time I try to get her to show it to someone new, she refuses. My sweet little angel...

Our new favorite family toy is the baby backpack my Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan gave to us. Cairo loves being in the backpack. I gardened with her in it for hours last weekend, took her around Universal Studios on Monday with her Aunt Heather, and went on a walk with it this morning with her dad, Sienna, and Guinness. Not only is it very confortable, but it also has a rain hood and shade cover which worked out nicely in out sunny/stormy and rainy weather we've had this past week.

Cairo asleep in the backpack...



So my big brained girl is finally getting some hair to cover her noggin. Her hair is coming in thick and brown. My visions of a blond hair, blue eyes baby have been shattered, but now I imagine my brown haired, blue eyes girl... with freckles (which I won't know for a while about). She has her dad's hair- thick, a huge cowlick in the back, and it likes to stick up. Cairo's hair today resembled her dad's same style.


Cairo's favorite things- her backpack carrier, basket with wooden blocks, books, bouncing, her dogs (especially Guinness), and the Itsy Bitsy Spider (with hand motions), waving (mostly toward herself).

Tub Time

Since Cairo is a big girl now she gets to take her tubbies in the sitting up side of her tub. This make it easier for her to play with all her bath toys. YAY!