Not too shabby!

Turns out this parental unit cleans up pretty well:

We went to hubby's holiday party last night and it was quite a fancy affair. I wore a gorgeous black dress that my good friend was kind enough to loan me (thanks T!). I didn't have anything suitable since I think it had been like five years since I'd dressed up that fancy (not including weddings I've been in, that is). 

We had a really fun time being adults for the evening and mingling with people. The dinner was delicious, and there was a mock casino that was set up so we played some black jack! Chips were redeemable for raffle tickets :)  

My dear parents took over dinner and bed time duties at home for the night, and everyone was peacefully sleeping when we returned. It was a great night! 

BLW update

Doing baby led weaning with Alice has been so much fun. She's taken to it really well. It's been about 7 weeks since we started and already I can see her pure excitement for food and the enjoyment she gets out of sharing meals with the family. She's recognizing cues that tell her when we're getting ready to sit down for a meal (bib goes on, in her high chair), and I think she recognizes the sign for "more" now, because when we do it, she gets really bouncy and smiley! She clearly knows she's going to be offered more of that delicious food she just ate (or threw on the floor!). 

Not much else to say, just wanted to give a little update how it's going. Pictures speak louder than words, anyway, in this case! And you can see how messy blw is, too... Because, oh boy is it messy!!!

7 Months Old

Mah second baybee is 7 months old!  She is so lovely, she is so happy, so easy going, so cute.  I can't get enough of her.  It's true, I'm sort of obsessed with my Alice Rose.  

The girl is a charmer.  She can be a coy little thing, when she wants to be.  She's known to give a shy smile to someone and then quickly look away, or bury her head in the shirt of whomever is holding her. It's very precious!  She does it most with strangers she takes a liking to (like the server at a restaurant last week), and her Grandpa.  

She's a music girl.  Music and swaying can put Alice into a trance, and it's how Grandpa has started to put her to sleep.  This is by far one of the sweetest things I've ever seen!  My dad can put her to sleep - easy peasy - just by rocking and singing to her, and playing her music (swedish folk music is a favorite).  I love it, he loves it, and Alice does too.  It's not only sweet and touching, but it's simply awesome that other people can put her to sleep.  After Eliza and her...er, trying... sleep habits, this is refreshing.  Makes me feel like I can actually leave and not worry that Alice won't sleep.  It's really really freeing.  Daddy can do it, too, of course!  But Grandpa was first to discover it.  :)

Alice is enjoying eating, and we are enjoying watching her enjoy it!  She's taking to solids just like her sister did, and BLW is going well.  Some highlights thus far, judging by intensity of screeching for more when she runs out (we've also been working on signing with her, but she hasn't started using any quite yet - will be handy when she does, though!), have been: banana, pasta sauce, polenta, guacamole, raspberries, mango, string cheese, peanut butter toast, hummus, steamed baby carrots... ok now that I've started listing things, I realize she's pretty much loved everything, to be honest.  But seriously, the pasta sauce was the most hilarious.  She couldn't get it to her mouth fast enough.  It's clear she has some Italian blood running through her veins!

A few other random things for me to note and keep track of, mostly:

• She's wearing her cloth dipes on the largest setting, she's a big girl! When she's in sposies she's in a size 4.
• She's almost outgrown her infant bucket car seat - the weight limit is 22 lbs, and at her six month well baby exam she weighed 20 lbs 4 oz... so, yeah, we'd better make sure that we check in and weigh her again soon!
• She's sleeping about 12 to 13 hours at night.  Waking up a few times to nurse, of course.  She's taking two or three short naps during the day. We call her our cat napper.  But she's quite flexible about when/where she naps, so that's nice.  She's a classic second child, apparently! 
• She's not quite crawling, but she is thisclose.  Eliza crawled at 9 months, and I am fairly certain Alice will crawl earlier than that.  She can pull herself to standing already, which was surprising to see, and she can army crawl fairly well too.
• She loves to play "so big", "patty cake" and all those baby songs and games.  She is just SO happy, so so happy and smiley.  I love her to pieces.

Her first Christmas was so much fun.  I know it was just another day for her, so really it was just fun for us.  Watching our baby's first Christmas, just being a family of four together... it was so wonderful.  Just plain amazing, really.  I'm not really feeling with the words tonight, so I'll stop there and just post a bunch of photos :)