Forty Three Weeks!

Note: this was written on Thursday, March 13 -- five days prior to today's date.

Weight: I'm guessing right around 17 pounds, maybe a little more.  

Sleep: Doing well with sleep -- not up to our gold star naps we had over break at home with mommy now that we're back at daycare, but nighttime sleep is still quite good. A couple nights this week, girlfriend woke up and had to be rocked to sleep, but otherwise we've been sleeping from 7:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. or later this week.

Medical Issues: Feeling great :)

Clothes: We're in three to six month clothes and three to six month jammies!

Socialite!: As much as I like to think she doesn't like daycare at all and only likes hanging out with Mommy, it's pretty clear that she really enjoys being with and watching the other kids at daycare -- so lots of socializing at daycare this week! Both sets of Lizzie's grandparents were away on winter reprieves, so they both came to visit her when they arrived back in Minnesota :)

Diet: This week's favorite food seems to be pineapple. Girlfriend sees pineapple anywhere and she freaks out! So if I give her strawberries and blackberries with supper (a favorite of hers!), but she sees me eating pineapple with mine… she's instantly reaching as hard as she can for my fork and plate. She's also a huge fan of apples, which I think comes from the fact that she never gets them, for obvious reasons. I could, of course, bake apples for her, but I tried that once and wasn't a huge fan of the outcome. Otherwise, she loves roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli and kiwi lately as far as produce goes. She's also in love with peanut butter! I let her try a tiny bit of peanut butter a few weeks ago, just to test the waters in terms of allergies, but no negative outcome -- so I threw caution into the wind and gave her peanut butter toast and she couldn't get enough. Lizzie will eat pretty much anything with peanut butter on it… delish!

Baby Gear Love: Any open jar or cup, Lizzie girl loves. Her favorite pastimes with them are to pretend she's drinking out of them (which we will do simultaneously with another cup, and then she'll trade with us :)) and to talk loudly into them. I think she loves the magnified sound of her voice :) It is too funny.

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: Not much to share on the Mommy front, aside from the fact that being a momma is the best thing in the entire world!

Milestones: Giving more and more kisses on-demand all the time! So sweet… melts our hearts!

Girlfriend is now "cruising" (walking while holding on to furniture) -- she started to do this just last night. Actually, that's a lie: she's actually been doing this for a few weeks, but not with much confidence. Last night, however, was a different story. Lizzie walked around her B. Zany Zoo, reached across a six-to-twelve inch gap to grab hold of a chair, walked across that, and reached across another decent-sized gap to get to another toy to walk along that. We were amazed. These changes happen literally overnight! So crazy.

Forty Two Weeks!

Weight: As of our appointment last week, girlfriend was exactly 16 pounds, 14 ounces. That puts her at the 10th percentile for weight, which is pretty consistent with where she has been the past nine months. She's following right along her growth curve with weight, so everything looks great!

  
Sleep: Back to sleeping clear through the night, woohoo! I had the week off for spring break, and any hopes I had of sleeping in (even a teensy bit) were quickly laid to rest. I did get to sleep until 7:21 one morning, but that was the record for the week ;) Girlfriend is an early riser now that we've been getting her up at the crack of dawn for work and daycare. I did figure something out about naps this week, too: rather than three so-so naps (30 to 45 minutes long), girlfriend does well if we do one nap in the morning and one nap in the afternoon. That way, the afternoon nap ends up being nice and long, between two and three hours -- whoa! We'll see if they can keep that schedule up at daycare with all the commotion from the other kids (or maybe I should say that we'll see if she can stay sleeping for that amount of time with all the commotion from the other kids).

Medical Issues: Feeling great this week :)

Clothes: We're in three to six month clothes and three to six month jammies! Although I bought two pair of "big girl jammies", as I call them, which are the two-piece jammie sets (my favorites are from Old Navy and Gap), and those are 6 to 12 month sizes. I've been waiting since before she was born to be able to wear these types of jams... they are so darn cute on her!

Socialite!: Lizzie's Aunt Tracy, Uncle Josh, cousins Rachel and Michael, and Auntie Jenny, were all home to visit last weekend. It was pretty fun to see Lizzie and Michael together -- Lizzie did a lot of patting Michael's head, and Michael did a little pinching of Lizzie's cheeks :) It was pretty cute. We're hoping a little bit of Michael rubs off on Lizzie -- he's crawling, so we're hoping she took some notes ;)

Diet: Still sticking with the Baby Led Weaning thing for both lunch and supper. I am starting to give her snacks throughout the day, too. My favorite is to give her some banana bread. The only thing I have a hard time with in terms of banana bread, is that it can end up being loaded with sugar and things she really doesn't need, that pull it out of the "healthy" category and put it more into the "dessert" category. I've been experimenting with a few recipes, trying to find a good whole wheat option, substituting oil with unsweetened applesauce, using flax eggs as a substitute for regular eggs (not that there's anything wrong with regular eggs -- we love them in our house! And we usually do organic. But flax eggs add both fiber and omega 3s, so I sometimes opt for them instead)  and cutting the sugar in recipes in half. I'd like to cut the sugar altogether and sub honey in for it, but honey is off-limits to babies under 12 months, so that won't happen just yet. Anyway, I think I found the perfect combination today, so I'm pretty pleased with myself :) 

Baby Gear Love: Lizzie honestly loves anything "unconventional" for babies (like all babies, I'm sure). She loves pens, small bottles of lotion, my lip balm tin from Bath & Body... anything that's not a toy, she loves and can stay busy with for a very long time.

She is also becoming a huge fan of books (!) which I love!! She has her favorites, and will oftentimes reach with all her might toward her books when we walk by them :) We've now developed a nightly routine that includes reading books... sometimes eight of them! She loves it, and looks so closely at the pictures.

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: Sadly, spring break has come and gone. Lizzie and I had an amazing week, and I continue to see how easily I could slide into the "stay at home mommy" thing and how much I'd like to do it (which I've known, but I think when you plug along working, you're fine with the way things are). The debate continues... 

Milestones: We're constantly hearing "bababa" and "mamama" and "rarara", amongst other random sounds mixed in there :) We just love hearing her little voice! It's so sweet! She seems especially inclined to talk (loudly) during Sunday mass... :)

Lizzie is very attached to Mommy these days :) She wants Mommy to hold her, but she loves to look and giggle at her daddy :)

Girlfriend is still incredibly interested in walking and can walk along our ottoman and couch without help, but she'll do this more often when I'm not around -- if I'm there, she really wants me to hold her hands. Sometimes, she won't take a step without holding my hands if I'm there! Girlfriend loves her momma. Anyway, besides that, we've been trying to encourage crawling as much as we can. She wants to get around so badly, but she can't walk yet, so she gets frustrated. She'll go from a seated position onto her hands and knees, but then go down to her belly very shortly thereafter. We're hoping this means crawling might be right around the corner, but we'll see...

Maybe our favorite thing that's happening now is that Lizzie knows how to give kisses! She's known how to do it for quite some time, but the only "people" who were getting the love were her stuffed animals -- she'll kiss them on the noses over and over and over again without being prompted! But giving Mommy and Daddy kisses is another story. She will give me kisses sometimes, but would never give Andy any kisses. I guess she gave up that way of life, because tonight she was giving us kisses on the cheek on-demand :) It was ridiculously sweet. Our hearts were completely melted!

Forty One Weeks!

 

Weight: My guess is around 17 pounds, but we'll be finding out for sure this afternoon at Lizzie's nine-month appointment.

  
Sleep: Sleep had been so good, but Lizzie has woken up the last couple of nights to eat. I think the issue is that she's not feeling very well and hasn't had an appetite… but then wakes in the middle of the night and is hungry. Poor baby. But it's been just a quick bottle and she's back to sleep right away.

Medical Issues: That cough is still lingering, and I'm pretty sure we're having some nausea and GI issues :( Poor baby.

Clothes: We're in three to six month clothes and three to six month jammies!

Socialite!: Hanging out with daycare friends and grandmas and grandpas! Girlfriend was also lucky enough to spend some time with her Godfather, Norm, over the weekend :) We love when he stops by to visit (and when he brings us such cute stuffed animals, too)!

Diet: Due to her upset tummy, Lizzie girl is on somewhat of a "BRAT" diet (bananas, rice, apple(sauce), toast). She's not crazy about toast, but she's all about the bananas. I've also read that yogurt with live active cultures is good for GI issues, so we've been doing that as well.

Earlier in the week, I made a baked ziti with ricotta cheese in it, which I thought would be right up Lizzie girl's alley. I'm not sure if she was just not in the mood to eat, or if she really hated it, but she would put pieces of ziti in her mouth and instantly cry. It was pretty hilarious. Maybe it was a texture thing? Either way, Andy was jumping for joy: he hates the texture of ricotta cheese and isn't a fan when I try to sneak it in things. So I might be outnumbered now on ricotta cheese, two-to-one… dang.

Baby Gear Love: Our gum ball machine from Auntie Jenny! It's the Fisher-Price Roll-a-Rounds: Swirlin' Surprise Gumball Machine and we've now figured out how to press the button to make the gum balls come out and the lights flash and make music! She's pretty impressed with herself when it happens :) We're also becoming a very, very large fan of books. We always read 15 minutes or so of books before bed each night. She loves them! The teacher in me jumps for joy :) Plus, I love reading to her. It was always one of my favorite things to do with my niece and nephews when I would babysit them. Now I get to do it every night!

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: Spring break is next week and I can't wait! One week at home with my girl :) Yay!

My doctor started me on a new medication last week, and one of the side effects is bloating… and wow, that'd be me to a T at this point! I honestly look like I'm 20 weeks pregnant sometimes. Which wouldn't bother me, except for the fact that I'm waiting for a student or a parent or someone who knew me last year while pregnant to ask about it because I really do look it. Last night, I didn't think it would be possible for my stomach to stretch any further… it was crazy.

 

Milestones: Her language continues to develop; I'm beginning to hear some "rarara" sounds, as well as a few "mama" sounds every once and a while (not in my direction yet!). She also is really learning to play with her intonation, so we have some pretty good squeals :) She's definitely having some little conversations.

Lizzie also gives kisses now :) She won't hand them out to just anyone or at just anytime, but every so often I'll get lucky to receive a few and they are so, so, so sweet! No kisses for daddy yet, though. Stuffed animals, though? They're a different story. She's always kissing them on the nose! Girlfriend also is starting to grasp the motion of blowing kisses as well, which is pretty darn cute, too. 

She's also getting really good at sharing. She loves to feed us at any opportunity she has :) Cheerios, HappyBaby Puffs, bananas, pasta, pork, broccoli… she's always up for sharing :)

Forty Weeks!

 

Weight: Between 16 and a half and 17 pounds.

  
Sleep: It's been over a full week since we HAVEN'T gotten a full night of sleep in… woohoo! Girlfriend is sleepin' through the night like it's her job now… and it feels glorious. We do ask each other in the morning if she cried at some point -- because I do think she does most nights, but never long enough to fully wake us and have us really consider getting up to soothe her. Yahoo!

Medical Issues: Still dealing with a nasty cold that we can't seem to shake. She has it and so do I -- it's now morphed into this awful stuffy nose with a terrible sounding cough. Regardless, they tell us to just keep on keepin' on and not worry unless she develops a fever, rash or a distaste for eating. And so far, none of the above are happening.

Clothes: We're in three to six month clothes and three to six month jammies!

Socialite!: Hanging out with daycare friends and grandmas and grandpas!

Diet: Lizzie has always had a healthy appetite for "real" food, but she's really ramping her appetite up in all arenas lately -- pretty sure we've hit a growth spurt! Girlfriend has suddenly gone from always drinking four ounce bottles (if that! Sometimes just two or three ounces!) to drinking full-on eight-ouncers! She doesn't have those every time, but at leasttwice a day, with a few other four ounce bottles sprinkled throughout otherwise. 

This week, we tried pulled pork, beef meatballs and chicken meatballs for the first time, and we were a mega-fan of all of the above! I do think we finally saw our limit with regard to the 'heat' factor -- not the temperature, but the spice-level. I make a homemade marinara for Andy to go with our chicken Parmesan mozzarella stuffed meatballs that he  loves because it's got quite the hot-kick to it. Anyway, I decided that since Lizzie likes buffalo chicken, she might possibly like that marinara sauce, too. I did think that she might not, but I figured we might as well give it a try. Anyway, tried it, we did. And cried, she did! It was definitely too spicy. Poor baby was crying and holding her tongue! So we got rid of that sauce and switched it out for the sauce that I had originally made for her. She was much happier then :)

Baby Gear Love: This week, our favorite gear is pens. Yes, pens. As in, the pens you write with. Girlfriend always wants to hold on to one if she sees it. Of course the rule is that she can only have one if she's standing with our help or if she's sitting -- no accident danger here! She loves to hit them against anything and everything -- I think to explore what sounds they make and how they react with each other.

Weird. But she loves it. I think there's that element of "thrill" from knowing she's really not supposed to have it :)

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: We've had conferences two nights this week, so I haven't gotten to spend as much time with my girl as I'd like! Regardless, she's a trooper and stayed up past her bedtime to be part of my welcoming committee on Tuesday night. When I opened the door to the house, girlfriend was standing in Daddy's lap, her arms alternating between pumping up and down excitedly and clapping enthusiastically :) I need that kind of a welcoming everywhere I go! It's even sweeter when it's from her :)

 

Milestones: We've finally started to babble "bababas"! We got home from daycare yesterday and three "ba" sounds came out in a slow progression… and it was like someone flipped a switch, and she didn't stop all night. SO cute!! Andy and I just looked at each other and giggled all throughout supper while she babbled :) So sweet. I can only imagine what we'll do when she starts saying words, or "mama" and "dada"!

And I'm totally going to brag now, but seriously: girlfriend has incredible fine motor skills. Her movements are so purposeful when eating, it's just amazing. I truly can't believe how accurate and precise her pincer grasp and other small movements are. Hooray for Baby Led Weaning!

I think I noticed today that she's beginning to understand how to walk along next to things. I definitely also watched her stand, unassisted, for at least five seconds today, without wobbling (yes, five seconds seems like not a long time… but when she's never done it before, it feels like an eternity)! We may end up with a walker before we wind up with a crawler... However, she is starting to roll as her method of travel. Just tonight, she rolled from the living room into the middle of the kitchen (which is quite a ways) pretty darn fast. Ruh roh... :)

Thirty Eight & Thirty Nine Weeks!

Weight: I did my classic scale trick (jump on without baby, hop off; hop on with baby, jump off; do the math!) and I'm calculating around 16 and a half pounds. We did measure her today as well, and found that she's 26 and a half inches tall. So at nine months, she's now up 11 pounds and seven inches from her birth weight and length.

  
Sleep: Last weekend (especially Sunday night) was a struggle. Lizzie was fighting sleep like we've never seen before -- we're talking full-on arched back, flailing arms and legs and very, very sad cries. It was like she wanted me to hold her and rock her to sleep, but she wanted to be able to stretch out and lay on me like she would her mattress... which obviously isn't really possible. Anyway, we weren't sure what was wrong, and after three hours of our typically very happy baby being a sad bucket of tears, we called my mom and asked if she had any thoughts. Baby girl was coming off of her first fever, so we thought maybe she was achy or something, so we tried some Motrin and she was asleep within about ten minutes; so either she was feeling crummy, or she'd just worn herself out enough to sleep at that point. She woke again around 12:30 a.m. (a couple hours later) and went back to sleep after a short time of rocking, but then woke again at three and fought and cried like earlier until five o'clock. She had a somewhat similar night of sleep on Monday evening, and I was crossing my fingers that this was a phase -- a short phase. And to our luck, it was! Because since then, girlfriend has been sleeping clear through the night :) Woohoo! I guess I'll take one or two awful nights if it means many (many) subsequent nights of full sleep.

 

Medical Issues: As mentioned previously, girlfriend finally got her first real fever last week. Daycare called me on Thursday afternoon to let me know that she had a 100.8 temperature. Luckily I was on a prep, so I hopped over to see her (so to have daycare so close! What a luxury!) and she was happy as could be -- so I requested they take her temp again, and strangely enough, it was back to normal. We took it a few more times just to be sure, and it really was around 97.6 degrees. So I left and told them to call if she starts acting sick and/or if her fever goes back up again. It wasn't until 3:15 that they called again and told me the fever had returned... so I went over and got her and we came home. She was an interesting sick one -- she really didn't act a whole lot different. Not as smiley, but she was still very interested in playing and wasn't any extra snuggly I wouldn't say, so she must not have felt all that terrible. After much discussion, Andy ended up staying home with her the next day. She woke up around 4:00 with a 101.8 temperature that morning, so we gave her some Motrin; when she woke up in the morning then, Andy let me know that her fever was normal -- and that's where it stayed all day, until around 7:00 p.m. when it returned again. On Saturday morning, she sort of hung on to her temperature all morning, but we did some Motrin around 1:00 p.m. after lunch, and the fever didn't seem to return again after that. Yippee!

Clothes: We're in three to six month clothes and three to six month jammies!

Socialite!: Got to hang out with Uncle Josh, Auntie Tracy and cousins Michael and Rachel last week when they stopped through Alexandria for a quick visit. Always hanging out with grandmas, grandpas and aunties, and loves to hang out with the kids at daycare and smile at people at Sunday mass. She loves strangers as long as they stay far enough away :) She is too sweet when she comes in contact with people she knows, but not all that well -- she'll often smile at them real timidly and then bury her face in my shoulder.

 

Diet: This week's favorites include sweet potatoes, green beans, blackberries, strawberries, baked tortellini (with a homemade marinara sauce that is finally a winner!) and meatballs... yummy! She is an amazing, amazing, amazing eater. Girlfriend doesn't refuse a thing!

Baby Gear Love: Is it fair to say our ottoman? Or her toy box? Basically, anything Lizzie can stand up next to is a favorite. She just likes to stand by things, pat them, and walk between things. Unfortunately (fortunately?), she's not able to do any of the walking on her own -- she hasn't completely grasped the concept that she can't just lean toward something and not fall down. She's great at standing next to things without us, but she needs a little help when it comes to walking between things/along things.

 

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired, and she will definitely let you know if you've taken something away that she was playing with or wanted to play with! We've also noticed that she cries a lot if I leave the room… she's definitely becoming aware of Mom's absence and of strangers. If strangers stay far enough away, she's fine... but too close, and that bottom lip comes out and she gets pretty sensitive!

Mommy News: Starting to think hard about being a stay-at-home mommy again... I just wonder sometimes if I'm doing the right thing. But I do love my job; like, I love it. But, obviously, I love my sweet girl. And obviously, I love her more. Anyway, it's such a back-and-forth -- any other working mommas hear me?

 

Milestones: We're starting to hear more "ba" sounds, but not a whole lot.

Definitely becoming more and more stable when walking; Lizzie can now do some walking with us just holding one of her hands -- she's definitely not stable when we do things that way, but to be able to do that at all is definitely progress.

She's also showing a lot more interest in rolling to get to her toys; we notice she'll really do this if we're not sitting right there playing with her. When she doesn't know we're watching is when she'll get especially active in this way. She'll also play for some time on her tummy when she doesn't know we're looking... once she picks up on it that we're watching, however, it's game over! Then she'll do some whining until we just give her the toy she wants, rather than her rolling to get it :) Stinker!

Thirty Seven Weeks!

 

Weight: Guessing right around that low 16 pound mark. Her growth seems to have slowed down now, after going through quite a growth spurt over the last month.

  
Sleep: We're getting probably sleeping through the night half of the nights each week, which I certainly won't complain about :) Otherwise, girlfriend just needs a little love in the middle of the night to go back to sleep.

Medical Issues: Still nursing that cold/sinus infection -- we're in the middle of our second round of antibiotics right now, though I think our main issue right now is just the common cold, which just needs time to go away.

Clothes: We're in three to six month clothes and three to six month jammies! Girlfriend got to wear some pretty adorable sundresses over the weekend while we were in Florida on the beach :) So fun!

Socialite!: Hanging out with friends at daycare and smiling at strangers on the airplane and at our resort while in Florida :) She loves to people watch.

Diet: We're eating probably four or so four-ounce bottles each day, along with the food we eat. Our new food obsession is bananas -- can't get enough! Unfortunately, they can make an issue as far as pooping goes (sorry, but it's the truth!), so I try to limit their consumption :) However, I can't eat a banana without Lizzie getting extremely agitated if she's not getting some. 

Baby Gear Love: Still loving that MP3 player like last week, as well as her little Playschool Play Favorites Glow Worm  and Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Soothe and Glow Seahorse. She loves to listen to their songs and look at their eyes… she's become really interested and fixated on any toys with big eyes :) She touches them and looks so closely.

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired, and she will definitely let you know if you've taken something away that she was playing with or wanted to play with! We've also noticed that she cries a lot if I leave the room… she's definitely becoming aware of Mom's absence and of strangers. If strangers stay far enough away, she's fine... but too close, and that bottom lip comes out and she gets pretty sensitive!

Mommy News: We traveled to Florida for five days, so I got a few extra days to hang out with Lizzie :) 

Trying to put on some weight again. I was hoping it would come back naturally after giving up nursing, but it hasn't happened yet, so I guess it's time to put a little more effort toward it.

 

Milestones: First airplane ride on Friday night! Lizzie was a travelin' pro! She slept much of the way down (it helped that our flight landed right over her bedtime), and when we landed, she was wide awake and super happy! Girlfriend got her first stroller ride at the airport in her umbrella stroller and loved it. We definitely got a few upgrades (i.e., choose any car we wanted in the lot from the car rental company!) because people thought Lizzie was so cute :) Pretty awesome.

First time touching sand! She loved it, until she opted to take a handful to her mouth a few times… :) As long as it stayed away from her mouth, she had a great time.

First time in the ocean! She hated it! I think the water was too cold and was a little shocking for her. She'd cry and pick up her little feet, doing her best to keep her little toes safe. Though she hated touching the ocean, she did love watching it/walking next to it. I think the sound was so similar to her sound machine we use at home, so that's why she liked it.

First time swimming! She loved it! Lots of giggles, especially at Daddy when he'd swim under water and pop up to surprise her!

We're starting to get stronger in terms of crawling… I don't think we'll be doing it anytime soon, but she's starting to show a little more interest as far as getting up on those hands and knees goes.

Thirty Six Weeks!

 

Weight: Officially: 16 pounds, three ounces. Still in that 5th to 10th percentile for weight.

  
Sleep: We've been battling a nasty cough again, so she's been waking once a night from that some nights. However, she has slept through the night probably three times in the last week, including last night, so that's great! We had two days off from school due to cold and snow, and on those days, she took some pretty fantastic naps. They tell me at daycare that she's a horrible napper, but I have a theory on that… how's a girl to snooze when there's crying, screaming and boxes of toys being dumped out, literally three feet from where you're expected to sleep? Poor baby.

Medical Issues: The cough that was on its way out revived itself with a vengeance! My theory is that it might be another cold on top of the sinus infection, which she had antibiotics for. Anyway, girlfriend was running a low-grade temp yesterday and wasn't eating much, so we took her in. Sure enough, the last infection didn't completely go away -- so we're on round two of antibiotics, with a slight change in the medicine. Here's to hoping this takes care of it!

Clothes: We're in three to six month clothes and three to six month jammies.

Socialite!: Hanging out with friendly friends at daycare, making friends with people at mass and hanging out with Grandmas, Grandpas and Aunties :)

Diet: I've been realizing how easy it is to cut salt from my recipes… at least, from Lizzie's portions. I make my supper recipes as written, without salt -- remove her portion for separate baking, and then add it to ours and proceed as normal. If this isn't an option, I just leave out the salt altogether and we add it to ours later, as needed. I've also been trying to add extra spices to compensate for the lack of salt, in hopes that we won't need at add any extra salt at all.

This week, Lizzie tried meatloaf and mashed potatoes for the first time… and they were devoured by our little lady! She couldn't get enough of either one. She is a fabulous eater! She also tried watermelon and peas and could pick them up and get them to her mouth without a problem. Pretty awesome! Girlfriend has yet to meet a food she doesn't like. Yahoo!

One thing I'm noticing that my BLW book warned about is that Lizzie definitely notices what we're eating and if she's not eating the same thing. For example, two nights ago, Andy and I had apples with our supper, while Lizzie had mango, blackberries and strawberries. I hadn't planned on giving her apples because they're too hard for her and could be a choking hazard; however, she insisted. So I gave her a wedge to gnaw on (it was safe -- I was right there, and she couldn't gum off any chunks); anytime I would switch foods and eat something other than my apple, she couldn't have cared less about her apple -- but the minute I was eating my apple, she wanted hers :) Silly girl.

Baby Gear Love: On Sunday, girlfriend made a great discovery: the (fake) MP3 player that Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Wayne gave her for Halloween! She couldn't get enough of it. Over and over and over, she pressed the buttons to make the songs play and would bob a little to dance… so. Darn. Cute!!!! This was definitely the first signs of her dancing. So it's now become the favorite toy, constantly in her hands, constantly being sung to by us, and constantly being "bobbed" (danced!) to.

Crying: Lizzie cries when hungry or tired and if we take something away that she's playing with. She's also starting to cry if someone takes her away from Mommy...

Mommy News: School was cancelled Monday and Tuesday this week due to bad weather and coooold temperatures. Those two days were heaven -- and I learned that I could definitely do the stay-at-home thing; I've wondered how I'd fare in the dead of winter when going outside isn't an option, but I wasn't even remotely itching to see people or get out of the house.

 

Milestones: Girlfriend is wanting to now stand by just holding one of our hands at times. I keep waiting for her to figure out how to creep, but she hasn't done so quite yet.

She did say "mama" last night after her bath when she was crying, but that's the only time I've heard it, and I don't think it was discriminatory. She did say "DA" the other day, nice and clear, and I've heard "baba" a couple of times, but not much. She does, however, have buckets of other new sounds and intonations… so she's working on things, just not producing those consonants like I keep waiting for.

Lizzie is also a huge fan of splashing in the bathtub! She soaked us last night… good thing we've moved bath time to the bath tub (not the kitchen sink) now!

We also had our first (slight) fever… a meager 99.0 degrees, but still a little elevated.