Twenty Five Weeks!

Weight: As of last Wednesday, Lizzie was officially 14 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces. So by now, maybe 14 1/2 pounds possibly.

Sleep: Lizzie has returned to her own room and crib again this week and has been sleeping well. She's ready to sleep like clockwork around 7:15 each night and has typically been waking once around 2:00 a.m. to eat. After that, she'll sleep clear until we wake her in the morning.

Medical Issues: I mentioned last week that Lizzie had quite an icky cough, and it continued to persist through last week and was accompanied by a rattly chest. Anyway, daycare commented Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday about these things and probably thought by the third day that I was a horrible first-time mommy for not bringing her in to get checked out by the doctor yet. But I figured she wasn't running a temperature and she was as happy as ever, so she must be fine, right? Anyway, I decided it's better safe than sorry, so I called to see what her doctor thought. Unfortunately, he's not in Wednesday afternoons, so we got in with the next available pediatrician. Double unfortunately, I teach Religious Education on Wednesdays, so I couldn't take her in and neither could her daddy. So I called my mom to see if she thought we could wait to go in until tomorrow and whaddya know? Grandma to the rescue! She swooped in and offered to be by in 15 minutes to pick Lizzie girl up to take her in. And again, whaddya know? The doctor said she's completely fine -- just a head cold that might take 10 days to get rid of. So anyway, false alarm and a lesson in mommy instinct: follow it. Baby girl's been nothing but happy in spite of her cold :)

Clothes: Our 3 to 6 month stuff is still quite big, especially the pants -- but it sure beats the muscle man look!

Socialite!: Lizzie shows us, again and again, how much she loves kids (and people in general, really). When we go to mass, she no longer falls asleep five minutes in... not our little socialite! She loves to be up, looking around, and making eyes and smiling at people behind us :) Doesn't matter if she knows them or not, she just loves the interaction. Our sweet girl is also making a pretty adorable habit of being "shy" now. She'll look at people and smile and then turn and burrow her head into our neck/shoulder :) It is the sweetest thing. She also touched heads with her great grandma on Sunday after mass at lunch while smiling at her :) So cute.

Diet: Still nursing Lizzie exclusively, even after returning to work. However, we've added one meal to her day now! She now eats supper with us at the table in her high chair. So far, I haven't given her what we've been eating -- for the most part I'm trying to stick with mainly veggies and a fruit as a "dessert" item at the end so she doesn't favor the fruits and leave the vegetables to the side. We're doing baby-led weaning, which basically means we're forgoing the purees and cereal and instead forging ahead and giving her real solids from the get-go. So far, she's had (and loved) steamed broccoli (her favorite!), sweet potato fry wedges (just a teensy bit of olive oil on wedges of sweet potato, then baked in the oven), and avocado. She's also tried banana, pineapple, raspberries, apples and blackberries. She does like the fruits, too, but mostly seems to really enjoy the veggies (whose daughter is she!? Can't be mine!). She found the berries to be a little sour, but really likes sucking on the pineapple and apples to taste their juice I think. The banana she hasn't had much reaction to at this point. I did give her a little taste of ground beef the other night off of some pizza, but she spit it out :) Probably wasn't much flavor there compared to those fruits and veggies! She tried red bell pepper one night, too, but I think I cooked it too long and it was too limp for her, so I plan to make another attempt. I also offered her egg yolks the other morning at breakfast. She tried them and definitely found them odd, but she didn't spit them out.

 Watching Lizzie dive into these foods and eat with such skill has been incredible. She honestly is so amazing to watch. Her hand-eye coordination is already improving so much, and I swear we don't say a word at supper to each other anymore (and hardly eat our food before it gets cold!) because we're just watching her in awe. It is amazing to watch our six-month old handle and eat food so easily. We love love love baby-led weaning so far! It is a mess, but not terrible, really. We've learned to put down some plastic on the floor for easy clean-up afterward (things do definitely come off of her tray!) and that Lizzie shouldn't be wearing anything but her diaper, because she'll be covered from belly button-up in food. So far, she hasn't had any food smashed into her hair -- only hidden in her belly button and in her neck! So a careful clean-up and once (er, twice thrice)-over are a definite necessity. But she is loving it and so are we. She is a great eater so far! It is so much FUN!

Baby Gear Love: We are loving our Fisher Price Luv U Zoo jumperoo now that mommy and daddy have been putting books under Lizzie's feet! She's now figured out a little more how it works and is loving the bouncing she can do :) She's also starting to bat at the things on it more, too. We're also appreciating our very simple high chair, the Fisher-Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat. I did a lot of researching on which high chair would be best for baby-led weaning and considered quite a few. I knew we wanted one with absolutely no fabric whatsoever because baby-led weaning can be very messy! We needed to be able to wipe down the whole thing (or put it in the shower to hose it down...) after supper each night and not have to worry about washing the pad in it. We were thisclose to buying the OXO Sprout high chair, but I changed my mind when I read the reviews and learned that food can get trapped in the velcro of the seat... gross. Then we considered the Keekaroo Right Height high chair, but I read that its tray is too small. Next, I considered the IKEA Antilop high chair after reading some baby-led weaning message boards, but then I stumbled across the Fisher-Price option that we ultimately ended up buying. So far, so good -- we love it. Super easy to clean and doesn't take up any extra space because it sits on top of a dining room chair.

Crying: She is one sweet baby. She's only fussy if she's hungry or tired :)

Mommy News: Not much. Still thinking about weaning and if I'm ready. I think I would be, but I'm not good with change... so for right now, we'll just keep on what we're doing :) And there was some sad news about a stillborn baby in our community over the weekend, which completely broke my heart. I truly cannot imagine -- it would be my worst nightmare. I've been hugging Lizzie extra tight and saying so many prayers of thanks, as well as so many for healing for that mommy and daddy.

Milestones: Lizzie's sitting up skills are insanely impressive now. She can sit-up, unassisted for at least 30 seconds now I'd say. Of course, the moment she gets distracted, she's wobbling and falls over, but still. She can also pull herself up to a seated position from where she's at if she leans all the way forward with her nose on the floor. Most impressive.

She loves peek-a-boo! Oh, she loves it :)

This week also marked her first good try at solid foods... woohoo!

Yesterday marked exactly a half of a year since she was born! And tomorrow will be her six-month birthday. Happy half-year birthday, sweet girl! You are the love of our lives and we can't imagine life without you!