What IS this thing?

To most babies, this is a pacifier.  Something that pacifies.  To our dear girl, it is more of a mystery.   She has never really understood what in the heck this thing is really for.

 What is this thing for, Mama?

It has a handy rubber handle to grab onto...

...and the side is rather pleasing to gnaw on... feels good on the gums.

I KNOW!  Mama, I cast a spell on you with it.  ABRACADABRA.

AHAHAHA.

Hey, I'm cool.  I know what's up.  THIS is the right way to do it, YO.

OH WAIT, I've got it now...

(but I still think you make a better pacifier, Mama)

Photo Shoot!

I love this girl!

I love taking photos of her.

I love putting her in baskets, too.

She didn't mind it so much...

Until she told me she was done... by giving me this face:

The end.

Nice Weekend!

We had a packed weekend, and it was a lot of fun.  On Friday, the girl and I played around on the floor while waiting for daddy to get home, and I got a few fun pics of us together.  This one is my fav, I think:

Friday night we went out for a double date with some great friends, sans baby (she was sleeping - Grandpa came over and watched TV on our couch while we were gone! :)  It was a lot of fun, and the food was sooo nummy.  Then on Saturday we hung out around the house, and made a cake for my mom's birthday.  We made a coconut buttercream cake and O.M.G. it was, I believe, THE BEST cake I've ever eaten.  My talented hubby made it using a recipe from America's Test Kitchen (Cook's Illustrated).  Saturday night, we went to the wedding of a friend.  It was in a park in downtown and it was beautiful.  Those photos are on my other camera... I went to the reception by myself while daddy and Eliza stayed home.  This morning we woke up and hung around the house together, trying to cool off.  It was SO HOT here today.  Apparently we broke a record it was so hot.  Eliza spent most of the day in only a diaper!

This afternoon we went to my parents' house to celebrate my mom's birthday.  We had a great meal, and had the coconut cake for dessert.  It was a big hit.  Though I just realized that we forgot to sing 'Happy Birthday' to my mom!  SORRY MOM!

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the air conditioning.  I know, it's only May, but I'm a WEENIE about humidity.  We had a fun afternoon playing with Eliza on the floor and taking lots of photos.  I put her in this adorable little (and really really light weight = cool) romper that my mom and I found at a flea market in 2008.  I was pregnant for the first time when we bought it.  It took a while, but Eliza is finally wearing it and it makes me smile soooo big to see her in it.

Then, we installed Eliza's new big girl (convertible) car seat!  It was delivered last week and I put her in it right away.  We had to try it out in the living room, of course!  She seemed to like it...

And then we installed it in the car.  I hope she likes it when we have to actually go places!  Although she had been getting better about her infant car seat lately, she was still pretty displeased every time we'd put her in it, so I'm hoping she likes this new seat a little bit better.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

It's here.

My book.  My book is here!  It's so pretty.  It has pages - real pages.  Made out of paper.  Heheh.

238 pages, to be exact.

I flipped through it today and read a few pages.  It's really cool to see all my blog posts in a book.

By far, the last three pages are my favorite in the entire book:

I am sorry that I had to take all these posts off my blog history - but I'm so glad that they did some amount of good for some people while they were up.  The comments some of you left about how my blog has helped you meant so much to me.  I am so glad.  

I can't wait to give this to Eliza someday so she can read it.  This is her story as much as it is mine.

No Sweet Peas...

The sweet peas aren't *quite* in season around here apparently, so we had to switch our plan... and we also figured that if we were going to start with BLW right off the bat, we'd want to start with something she can easily grab onto.  So... we didn't really plan it, but while we were eating dinner, she was grabbing at my plate and we were eating steamed green beans as a side, so I just handed her a green bean.  She - of course - put it right in her mouth and started gnawing on it.  It was pretty cute.  Although she didn't really eat any of it, she did seem to get a kick out of the texture and flavor of it.  She kept putting it down and picking it right back up and gnawing on it.  Cute cute cute!

This morning, we decided to really get down to business, so we put her in her high chair, put a bib on her, and gave her some banana.  It was so fun to watch!  She picked up a piece right away and bit into it.  She seemed to like it, because she didn't put it down.  She would put it down and pick it up over and over again until she had banana all over her face, hands, arms... oh MY, it was messy!  But that's part of the fun!  Eventually the banana got slippery and she had trouble holding onto it, so daddy helped out and put it in her mouth so she could get some more.

Here are some pics!  Oh, and of course I didn't grab my camera right away (we were video taping it at that point), so I missed getting a shot of her actually holding it to her mouth.

Check out the middle photo, you can see her two little teeth!!

She can't believe it, either.

Eliza, you are six months old today!  

WAT??  IS NOT TRU, MAMA.

Yes, it's true, my sweet baby - mama can't believe it either!

OK, WHATEVER U SAY, CRAYZEE.
NOW HAND ME A GREEN BEAN!

*********************

So, what's new with Eliza this month?

• She is ticklish!  We were wondering when this would develop, and it is SO CUTE.  We tickle her under her arms or on her belly or her neck and she giggles like crazy.  I love it, I could do it all day.

• She's sitting up by herself really well - once in a while she still topples over, but for the most part she is catching herself before falling; she's getting so strong!

• Eliza has TWO teeth now!  Her second bottom tooth came in about a week after her first one did - they both came in very fast and we didn't see many of the telltale signs of teething, she wasn't even very fussy!  

• Nursing is still one of her favorite hobbies ;)  She's nursing anywhere from 8-10 times a day, and she's gotten very fast - our nursing sessions are rarely more than 5-10 minutes anymore!  I am still loving nursing her, and I look forward to many more months of it.

• She's still wearing medium diapers, and she's mostly in 6-9 month and 9 month size clothing.

• She is grabbing everything, putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, and is just generally intent on exploring everything single little thing around her.  She is a very focused little girl, we think she is already brilliant, of COURSE!  But REALLY (no, really!), it does seem like she is going to be an incredibly smart one.  And it's not just her parents who think so, her grandparents totally agree.  ;)

• Eliza is such a happy baby; it is so wonderful to be around her.  I feel so lucky to be her mama.  She just seems to have a very easy-going personality and I love spending my days with her.  She is content to sit in her crib and play with her toys, and she also loves to sit and play with mama and daddy or grandma and grandpa.  

• Eliza loves her kitties, she pets them, squeals in delight and smiles at them, I won't be surprised if her first word is "cat".  

• She "talks" a LOT.  She says lots of different sounds, like "dah", "gah", "mah" and just today I heard what sounded like "vah"... it's so fascinating to hear her develop "language".  Oh, and of course she still enjoys a good screech - especially when we are in public!

My beautiful girl, your family loves you so much!  We couldn't have asked for a more pleasant, smart, funny, cute, captivating little baby!  Every day with you is more fun than the last.  You are the light of my world.  I love you!

Baby-Led Weaning?

Hi peoples, happy Thursday!  Tomorrow is Friday, the 14th, and that means our girl turns HALF a YEAR OLD.  I know I keep mentioning this... I guess I'm trying to wrap my brain around it.  I just can't believe it.

Anyway, at a play date recently I was telling another mom (who is also a family physician) about our plans to introduce solid foods this weekend to Eliza, and we got to talking.  She told me about a 'method' of introducing solids that has been termed 'Baby-Led Weaning' (BLW).  I've heard her talk about this before, and I've also noticed that her little boy (at 8 months old) eats whole pieces of avocado, crushed grapes and pieces of bread at play dates and was always interested... I thought babies had to eat purees first?  But it turns out that babies don't have to eat purees first, and in fact there is a lot of research that supports offering babies (at 6 months old, not earlier) finger foods - steamed, but not pureed - and allowing them to self-feed instead of spoon-feeding them pureed foods.

Okay, so there is a lot more to BLW, I'm just giving a brief description but the general idea is that baby gets to control his or her solid food intake by self-feeding from the very beginning (6 months).

So I borrowed this book from this mom and haven't been able to put it down all day.  It makes a lot of sense to me; it seems so natural and common sense, and my instincts tell me this is the way to do it... so I am definitely intrigued... but I'm just curious - has anyone else out there done BLW?

(Our PNP actually mentioned this to us at Eliza's 4 month visit - she said that we should wait until 6 months to start solids, but if we didn't want to, we didn't have to give Eliza purees first (though of course we could!).  She actually recommended giving her a steamed baby carrot to gnaw on, which I remember being surprised by...!  I'm going to talk to her at Eliza's 6 month appointment next week and see what her thoughts are about BLW and see if she's heard of this book.)

Mama's Little Helper

Well, someday she will be my little helper.  But for now, when mama is cooking dinner, Eliza happily hangs out here:

She loves sitting and watching me move about the kitchen, from the fridge to the stove to the cutting board and back to the stove.  She's content to just watch me cook... and gnaw on a spatula.

Speaking of cooking... mama's getting ready to cook for baby, who will be SIX MONTHS OLD on Friday!  We're thinking of fresh (and in-season!) Sweet Peas for baby's first meal (assuming we can get them at the farmer's market this weekend!):

Eliza is definitely ready, she's been very interested in our food lately.  AND, her Grandpa Phil made her a set of two wooden spoons.  He made them just for her, and she already loves them.  Can't wait to see her use them to eat some sweet peas!  Thanks Grandpa!

It was a HAPPY Mother's Day!

Mother's Day

Today is a beautiful day to celebrate motherhood!  I am a very lucky woman and I am beyond grateful for what this past year has brought me - a healthy pregnancy and my beautiful precious daughter.

I so wish I could simply revel in the glow of being a mama without a care in the world today, but I can't.  I know too much, I know there are still millions of women out there who are still suffering, still waiting for their chance to be called Mama.  I am thinking about those women today; I am thinking about the pain of infertility and RPL.

I am so very very excited to celebrate Mother's Day today with Eliza - I will celebrate and be thankful and spend the day loving and enjoying my girl... But I will also think of all the women - those I know and those who are strangers - who are still waiting, still suffering from the pain of infertility and RPL.

Eliza and Ava

Eliza and I had a great time with my friend Sarah and her 8-month-old daughter Ava today.  We went to a mom and baby yoga class together, called "BYOB" (bring your own baby) for the second week in a row - Eliza is having a great time doing yoga with mama, maybe she is a future yogi (a mama can hope!)!  After yoga, we went to a coffee shop to eat the lunches we had each packed (cheaper than eating out every week -- though we did buy lattes!), and then walked to a children's bookstore nearby.  We looked at books, chatted, and let the babies "play".

Ava and Eliza LOVE looking at each other, touching each other's faces, and babbling to one another (oh, and sucking on each other's fingers, of course :).  It is so sweet.  Sarah and I have been friends since we were babies, so it is really neat for us to get together with our babies now and see them "playing" together - and it's really fun that we both have daughters.  We hope our girls will be friends as they grow up together.

Ava dives to grab Eliza's ear:  

Sarah, Ava and Eliza browse the books:

Happy Wednesday (night)!

Our Day

We started the day with a visit to Eliza's PNP to rule out an ear infection.  Thankfully, she does not have an ear infection.  But,  I figured every new mom needs to go in at least once with her perfectly-happy-but-just-a-bit-snotty-and-oh wait-did-she-just-pull-at-her-ear? baby to see if said happy, albeit ear-pulling baby has an ear infection.  Because, you know, kids get these things.  I've heard.

Later, we went downtown to have lunch with Eliza's aunt Kelly and her Grandma.  We ate at a fun - and DELICIOUS - shi shi Mexican restaurant and it was so nice outside that we decided to eat on the patio.  It was lovely, and the food was fabulous.  Then we went for iced decaf nonfat caramel macchiatos at S*bux where I nursed Eliza before putting her in the dreaded car seat (her relationship with the car seat has been dicey lately).

After her nap, we ran a few errands.  We went to the pet store to get cat food, where I introduced Eliza to the fishies!  Pets.Mart has a huge wall of fish tanks and since she was in the Ergo, she had a great, up-close view of the fish, and she was absolutely enthralled.  She stared and stared... it was so cute.  Perhaps there is a fish tank in our future?  Then we headed to the grocery store and to pick up dinner, she is such a trooper when we run errands, she just hangs out with mama (well, on mama :) and looks around.  Though it takes us a while because we can hardly make it through a store without multiple people commenting on how adorable/sweet/cute/precious/smiley/happy she is.  She definitely turns heads, that girl.  I'm one proud Mama.

And then it was home for dinner and bedtime.  Tonight we sang The Beatles' "Obladi Oblada" (wow that spelling looks funny), which is one of our recent favs (thanks mom!), before bath time and then to sleep.  It was a good day.

Oh, and then hubby and I did our nightly torture workout: Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.

The End.

(wow have I gotten boring or what?!)

What a Weekend

This has been a full-of-life, beautiful, family-fun-filled weekend!  Eliza had an extra fun weekend, I think, because her daddy was off work for THREE days instead of just two.  That girl loves her daddy, she smiles every time he walks into the room, and it is absolutely adorable to see.

This morning, we hung out just the three of us... laying around in bed, drinking our hot beverages of choice (coffee for him, tea for me), Eliza singing and cooing... 

Then we went to my parents' house to celebrate hubby's birthday.  When we got there, we got to go harvest some wild Morel mushrooms - there were TONS of them growing in the backyard!  A very rare treat.  My dad cooked them up and served them with omelets - they were soooooooooooooooooo tasty!

We also checked out my dad's bees.  Do you know how interesting honey bees are?  They are fascinating little insects.  My dad has been interested in bees for a long time, and he has a hive that he started this year.  I can't wait to watch what happens over the summer with the hive, and hopefully try some honey!!

(You can see the worker bees flying into the hive here - the opening is at the bottom of the yellow box)

Eliza's Uncle (my brother) and Aunt (my SIL) were there and got to love on our girl, which was really fun to watch. 

Then we came home, put the girl to bed and watched some Dr. Who.  :-)  

How was your weekend?

Sitting, a Birthday & Randomness

I think it's *almost* official - Eliza is sitting up on her own!  She's sitting up in her crib playing with her stuffed animals as I type this, in fact.  She's still prone to toppling over sideways or going backwards once in a while, but she is able to sit up unassisted for long stretches, so she is pretty much there, she just has to build up those abs!

This morning we took Eliza's wonderful daddy out for breakfast to celebrate his birthday with just the three of us.  Last night we had another couple and their almost-three-month-old over for some BBQ and cake and had a great time.  We lasted until all of 10:30 - HA!  Tomorrow my parents are having a little brunch-y celebration for him at their house to round out his birthday weekend.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!  You are my love, my life and the best daddy to our girl.  I couldn't ask for more.  I love you!

(oh hold on, she just fell over - ha!)

In bodily-fluid related news, Eliza's nose has been a bit runny/sniffly/generally snot-tastic recently.  She doesn't have a fever and she seems to be her normal happy self, so we're not too concerned.  Everyone tells us (including Dr. Google) it's either teething or a mild cold.  I have to be honest: at first, her snot TOTALLY grossed me out.  I gagged, actually.  I just gagged again thinking about it...  yeah, I know.  Lame.  But after a week I'm pretty much over it and can use the snot-sucker bulb thingy like a pro and not even flinch.  What a rookie, right???

Okay, better go, she's getting punchy, and the cat is torturing her now by sitting *very slightly* out of her reach, which is just making her mad.  Oh just wait, my fine feline friend, just WAIT until this girl is mobile...