Flying with the greatest of ease

Willa just seems to keep the hits rolling, she was a great flier! 

Especially when she gets her own seat

As it turns out, we accidentally paid for her to have a seat, even though the confirmation page listed her as a "lap child."  The ticketing agent told me she would refund the price, but the seat stayed open since the flight wasn't full.  With the extra space we were able to move her back and forth and she didn't get too bored.  I nursed her during take off and she napped for a while, until the captain's announcements blared and ripped her from her sleep.  Whoops.  She was awake for the rest of the flight and didn't fuss at all during the descent, so her ears must not have bothered her that much.  People around us complimented her on how well she did!

Toothy smiles all around!

On the flight back, I found out that the previous ticketing agent hadn't refunded our ticket, so I called and got the refund myself from the customer service line. Getting the money back was great, but because the flight was full with standby passengers, her seat didn't stay open.  Bummer.  Add this to the fact that Jeremy and I were seated apart, and Willa and I were slated to rock the middle seat.  Double bummer.  Luckily the standby person given the window seat next to me (Willa's original seat) was more than happy to trade with Jeremy to avoid the baby, so we did end up cramming close together with no legroom in the seats Allegiant Air makes people sit to compel them to pay extra.  I tried to use the plan that worked so well the first time, but because our plane was towards the end of the line to take off, I used most of her feeding and nap time on the tarmac.  Dang.  She stayed awake and active for the rest of the hour and a half flight.  Our arms got very tired passing her back and forth and trying to keep her from eating the safety pamphlets, but we made it with minimal fussing.  She held it together until the very end as we waited for the jetway, but even then she only cried for a minute or two.  The people around us complimented her again, despite the late breakdown.  I'm so thankful for understanding people!

Overall she reminded us, yet again, of how lucky we are to be her parents.  Could she be any better?

My big girl in motion

Here are a couple of videos that I have taken in the past couple of weeks to document just how grown up she is!

This one is footage of her alternative to crawling, rolling across long distances.  It's pretty cute to watch!

This one I took today when I was so excited to see her using her pincer grasp to get little bites of food.  I am marveling at this tiny person who uses her hand eye coordination like a champ!

This last one is evidence of just how much she loves her Daddy, and he loves her.  Lots of sweet smiles and giggles.  I think it's my all time favorite :-).

8 month state of the Willa address

Look at her, acting all casual about being such a big girl!

Our little miss is eight months old!  In the past month she sprouted her top two teeth, leading to quite a toothy smile.  She is doing well with nursing, not biting too much, but she definitely likes to take those pearly whites on test drives with everything in sight.  Her favorite thing to nom is anything cardboard or paper, so we have had to be vigilant about keeping those things away to avoid ingesting any!  She has also started to grind her little teeth, which sends chills up and down Mommy's spine.  I'm hoping I can redirect her to other teethers often enough that she will stop, but for now, yikes!

She has started going to the Little Gym twice a week, as of last week.  It's a fun class for her to take with other kids her age, and I appreciate the time to meet up with other parents.  They have lots of fun, padded areas for her to experiment with crawling, walking, and even hanging from bars (although she isn't doing much of the latter two just yet).  They have fun songs, coach the parents in spotting some flips and rolls, and paves the way for her to continue to attend classes as she grows.  Given how uncoordinated I was as a kid, I hope that this will help her avoid my fate!

She still sleeps very well, but her schedule is steadily creeping earlier.  She's been getting sleepier in the evening, usually around 9 or 9:30, and I can get her asleep by 10:30, which is about an hour earlier than it used to be.  Subsequently, her days have started earlier as well.  Today she started stirring at 6:50 and was fully awake by 7:30, much to Mommy's chagrin.  Luckily, she's good about waking up happy and talking to herself long enough for me to get a shower and become fully conscious before needing to get her up.  I just need to keep all this in mind so that I make sure to push my bedtime earlier to compensate ;-).

Willa continues to be a champion eater.  She has graduated to lots of pureed fruits, vegetables, and savory baby foods.  She loves the fruit the best, and has been known to polish off an entire jar of apples or pears.  She is up to three solid meals a day, with snacks in the afternoon and a feeding right before bed.  There has yet to be anything she refuses to eat, but she gets tired of the poultry based food the fastest.  She likes to assert her independence with her sippy cup, often refusing to drink from it while I'm holding it but immediately picking it up when I set it down.  That's my girl!

Our little swinger

While he was here, my dad took Willa to the swings for the first time.

She had a heck of a good time!

After Jeremy got back from San Francisco, we had to check it out for ourselves!  Being the loving dad that he is, he hunkered down in front of her and pushed her for the longest time.  Me being the family historian, of course I had to take lots of pictures!

She seems to love it, so we will definitely have to make it a regular family excursion :-).

7 month state of the Willa address

On August 11, Willa turned 7 months old!  I am very late in posting this, so hopefully I will accurately recall the details of her achievements by that date :-).  `

Willa continued to sleep through the night perfectly.  My parents were with us for the week when she turned 7 months, and they helped me to let her cry it out before falling asleep at night, and to get her in a regular nap schedule in her crib.  She also started to hold her sippy cup with both hands independently, and started munching on baby crackers that dissolve quickly.  She also regularly feeds herself using a mesh bag and mashing fruit with her gums in a way that prevents her from trying to swallow large chunks.  I am very proud of her growing ability to eat on her own, but she still nurses a few times a day and a little before bed, so she's definitely still my baby :-).

On the 11th she still had only two teeth, but since then she has sprouted her  "baby fangs," her top two lateral incisors.  Her hair hasn't seemed to get any thicker or darker, but it still looks red in the sun!

Watch out, she bites!

So our little one continues to grow strong, and we are so proud of how smart and accomplished she is!