Food, tasty food!

Tonight Lila had her first taste of real food. Up until tonight, the only thing that has made it past her tongue and down her gullet has been breastmilk. Well, milk and some Tylenol and gas drops. :)

Tonight's menu included iron fortified whole grain rice cereal (made with milk) and pureed peas. We forgot to put a bib on her so everything got goopy. Oh well. That's just part of the fun the first time, right?

Lila LOVED the experience. She can tell the story better than I can, so here we go.

Rice cereal? Yum!


Here, let me help you with that.


Mmmm, tasty!


What is this? Peas, you say? Not a fan of the peas.


She wrinkled her nose at the mere smell of the peas. I think it's because the peas weren't made with milk, so there was zero familiarity to her. We're hoping she'll take a liking to vegetables at some point. We've got all week to see what she thinks of peas. We have quite a batch pureed, and we'll try to follow the one new food a week rule (well, in addition to rice cereal).

The daycare ladies are going to be elated that Lila's had cereal. For months they've been telling her, "soon you will eat with your friends!" I think we'll wait a bit before having them give her cereal at daycare, but I know the minute we give the green light she'll have some enthusiastic servers.

After dinner, Lila took a bath and zonked out (hopefully) for the night.

26 weeks

Lila is 26 weeks old! She's loving her weekly photo shoot lately. It used to be that I'd have maybe one picture where she was kind of smiling, and now I have 3 or 4 or 5 pictures where she is happy as a clam and smiling her little heart out.


Such big, pretty brown eyes.


Hey, Mama! Put down that camera and play with me!


On Friday Lila learned a new trick - shaking her head "no." The first time she did it was right after she ate breakfast. Then she did it again on her changing table, and she's been doing it ever since. I was actually a little bit worried all weekend wondering if this is normal. She started doing it so suddenly and it seemed kind of....odd. Ed reminded me that she's getting control of her neck muscles and this is just her way of exerting more control over her head. I knew he was probably right, but the email in my inbox this morning finally put my reservations to rest. I get weekly WebMD newsletters on baby development, and today's email was entitled, "My Baby is Doing Some Strange Things, Doc!" One of the "strange things" in the email is head rolling and head shaking. I'm relieved, although something tells me that we're in for some trouble when she's older if she already knows how to shake her head "no" at us! She seems pretty amused with herself, even if she doesn't quite know what it means yet. :)

Still no teeth. Lila hasn't been sleeping the greatest, even though we're trying to keep her dosed up on Tylenol at bedtime to make her as comfortable as possible. I hate that we're giving her so much Tylenol lately, but the alternative is a very, very unhappy baby who is gumming the life out of everything in sight. I just wish this damn tooth would come in already so that we can all have our lives back...at least until the next tooth decides to make an appearance.

We've been dragging our feet on starting Lila on solids, but we've agreed that it's finally time. It just seems like such a Big Girl step. We're not quite ready for our tiny baby to be so grown up. The highchair will officially come out this week and the food will soon follow. We've not yet decided what her first food will be, but we did pick up a great book on baby food purees at the recommendation of a good friend. (Thanks, Adrienne!) We'll see how it goes. If nothing else, there will certainly be some adorable pictures of our efforts!

6 months

Lila is 6 months old today. Six whole months! It is so hard to believe that half a year has gone by since the cold, snowy night she was born.

Here's our pretty girl on her half birthday. She was so happy to have her picture taken this morning.



To celebrate her half birthday, Lila had her very own cupcake from Salty Tart. Well, she didn't have the cupcake - but she certainly enjoyed looking at it and marveling at the pretty (half) candle. (Get it? Half candle for her half birthday!) Mom made a wish and blew out the candle for her and Dad's going to eat the cupcake for her.

Daddy! A cupcake? For me?



Happy half birthday, sweet baby girl! We love you more than anything in the whole, wide world.

25 weeks

Lila is 25 weeks old today!



Lila was particularly happy while I was taking her pictures today. I sat her down, handed her her "Z" and picked up the camera and she knew what to do. She was all smiles! She even sat up all by herself long enough for me to take 4 or 5 pictures. Then she decided she was done sitting up and reclined in the chair and put the "Z" in her mouth and babbled away. See for yourself below. (Sorry for the awkward angle. I had the camera turned sideways, and while you can flip photos, apparently you can't flip video. D'oh!)



Lila is sitting upright by herself quite well this week. She wants to be upright and gets bored pretty quickly when placed on her back to play. She's pretty funny when she's sitting up and gets tired - she'll lean forward ever-so-slowly until her chin is on the floor in front of her. She tries this in the bathtub, too - eek! No face planting in the water, kiddo!

Yesterday Lila spent the afternoon playing with her buddy Hudson, who's 1. It was really sweet to watch them play together. Hudson laughed and waved at Lila and Lila smiled in return. They grabbed at and exchanged toys. Lila is definitely aware of other kids around her and I can tell that she's actively trying to interact with them. It's a lot of fun to watch!

She's still loving her Jumparoo. It's got terribly annoying music and light-up toys that activate when she bounces, which she LOVES. We can't bring ourselves to stop the music because she loves it so much. Getting a picture of her in the Jumparoo is tough because she spins and jumps so quickly that one minute she's looking at us and laughing and then spins around. I have lots of blurry pictures of her in an attempt to capture her antics.


She took a break for a second and I snapped this picture. Just a moment's rest, though, and then back to bouncing!


We're starting to think it's time to start Lila on solid foods. She's becoming more and more inquisitive when we're eating. She grabs at our plates, silverware, and food, and she carefully observes every bite and every drink we take. We decided that we're going to start by putting her high chair next to the dining room table so that she can be a part of mealtime. We'll put some toys on her tray to keep her busy while we eat. It will be interesting to see if she's curious about FOOD or if she's just curious about anything that is placed in front of her. I guess we'll find out! We're growing squash in our garden for her so I'm looking forward to pureeing that and feeding it to her when the time comes. In the meantime I'm reading up on other foods I can puree and feed her. Fun times!

Lastly, I'm sure that inquiring minds want to know...still no tooth (teeth). More teething, but no tooth! I wish the bugger would just go ahead and make an appearance already.

24 weeks

Lila is 24 weeks old!


Look at those FEET! I could just eat them up.


This has been a good week for Lila. She's sleeping so much better, and in turn so are her mom and dad. Here's how she's sleeping at night. (Sorry for the weird lighting - I was trying not to wake her.)


She's had a few nights of waking up due to teething. She's now drooling buckets upon buckets every minute of the day. I hope that tooth (teeth?) makes an appearance very soon. Tonight her favorite teething object was my pint glass. We were eating dinner and Ed and I each had a glass of homemade root beer. She kept reaching for the glass every time I took a sip, so I finally let her put it up to her mouth. I'm sure the cold glass felt good on her sore gums.


Lila is still loving bath time. She wants to sit up so badly while she's in the bath, but she's not quite there yet. I pulled out her baby tub again and she can mostly sit up in there once I take out the newborn sling. Here she is playing with her favorite bath toys - her rubber duckies.


Such a happy girl!


Before Lila was born people told me that babies change every single day. I kept wondering what people were talking about when Lila was really tiny. Then all of a sudden, right around 4 months, Lila started becoming her own little person, and now I know what those people were talking about. She is changing and growing up right before our eyes every single day. She makes new noises, laughs harder, and holds herself up longer every day. She's growing up so fast! It's going to be so weird when she gets a tooth (or two). One of my favorite things about her is her gummy grin. I don't know if I'm ready for that adorable grin to change, but if the past is any indication I know that her new toothy grin will become my new favorite thing about her.

Until next week, happy summer! Lila sends you all a big, drooly smile.

23 weeks on the 4th of July

Lila is 23 weeks old!

I just love this picture of her. Love, love, love.

And this picture is just too cute not to share.

Lila had a very happy 4th of July, complete with a (quick) dip in the kiddie pool, a BBQ with the neighbors, and lots of time playing and hanging out with her parents. It was a HOT day on Sunday, so Lila spent a good share of the day in just a diaper. I know, I know...but we did put her in her cute little red, white, and blue duds when we left the house.

Here she is playing on the front porch. Ignore the runny nose and focus instead on those BIG, beautiful brown eyes.

Lila and Daddy spent lots of time outside together this weekend. Here they are checking out the wildflowers in our front garden. My two favorite people. I love them together.

On Saturday Ed washed and detailed our car. Lila helped out by keeping her daddy company in the front seat.

Aaaand, up goes the skirt. I swear, this girl is going to be t-r-o-u-b-l-e when she gets older! She's quite the sassy-pants. Er, skirt.

Lila continued to have a super rough week of sleeping, but I'm happy to report that I think we've put that phase behind us with the start of the new week. We've all had three very good nights of sleep in a row, and I am hoping for everyone's sake that this continues. No teeth have sprouted, however. At the recommendation of a friend, we've been swaddling Lila and letting her sleep in her swing. Bingo! Up to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep. We know that she likes to be swaddled, but she's too big to be swaddled laying down. But sitting up? She LOVES it and falls asleep almost instantly. We worry about her being upright in her swing all night, and can't imagine how it can possibly be comfortable, but so far she has been sleeping like a champ, and believe me, if she was uncomfortable in the slightest, I believe she would let us know asap. So we've just been keeping a close eye on her both physically and with the video monitor, and so far so (very) good. Not only are we happy to be feeling more rested, but we are so thankful that Lila doesn't seem to be uncomfortable and in pain at night anymore. I think that having her head up keeps her congestion down and helps her gums from being so swollen and sore. I just hope this is the magic bullet and that our luck continues. I'm told by other parents that once a baby sleeps solidly in a swing/bouncy seat/wherever through the night, the transition back to the crib is no big deal. We hope!

Lila is quite the happy girl these days. She loves watching herself in the mirror, and she giggles like a madwoman when she sees her reflection. One of her grandmas sent her a portable mirror with a big elephant on it and she can't get enough of it. Every mirror in the house has become a a great source of joy and entertainment for our little girl. I hope to get her happy squeals on video one of these days so I can share them with you.

Lila has also started to take an interest in bath toys. She has a brown rubber ducky with pink spots, and she chases that duck as he floats all over the tub. She's trying so hard to sit up lately, and especially wants to sit up in the tub. It is quite a bit easier to suds her up and get her clean when she's sitting up!

All in all, Lila is a happy, busy baby these days, especially now that she's sleeping better. Life is good! (But it wouldn't hurt to cross your fingers for her continued restful sleep). :)

Can you handle the cute?

Our weekly update is coming soon.

In the meantime, may I tide you over with this picture from the 4th? Here's our smiley girl all suited up for her first swim with the neighbor baby. You can practically see the humidity in the air. It was a soupy, hot day here on Sunday. Lila didn't love the water, but I can't blame her - it was a bit cold. She preferred chilling poolside.

In other news, Lila slept for TEN STRAIGHT HOURS last night. Mom and Dad still woke every hour or so to check to be sure she was still breathing, but it was still the best night of sleep we've gotten in WEEKS. Please, please knock on wood for a repeat performance tonight (and every night for the rest of...well, forever).