Entering a whole new, delicious world

It's milestone time, the first solid food!  We served her some rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, and to no one's surprise, she was very pleased and ate it all!  It only took her a bite or two to get the hang of it, and most of it was actually swallowed.  She ate equally well with Jeremy and I, and will eat it runny, porridge-y, warm, or hot.  I'm very impressed with her and am excited to start on fruits/veggies when she's 6 months old!  Here's a photo array of that special time!

 I want what's in that bowl, you're not going fast enough, I'll just grab it!

 Slurping every last drop

 Mastering the lip purse to keep it all in

All done, very full, somewhat messy face, VERY messy tray!

So proud of our big girl!

Swimming part two

So I know I just did a whole blog post on her first time swimming, but I just had to share her second time too.  This time, Daddy got to come too.  Maybe it's because we were both there, or maybe it's because it was her second time, but this time around, Willa was much braver and sat by herself in the yellow floaty. 

Just chillin' like it's nothin'

As you can see, she has yet another ridiculously cute outfit, this one compliments of my wonderful Aunt Gail.  What's not to love about a perfectly coordinated hat, suit, and terry cloth cover up?

Close-up cuteness

She had lots of fun floating between the two of us in the water, and didn't ever seem scared.  She was very focused on her toys, and on avoiding getting splashed by the bigger kids doing cannonballs on the other side of the pool.

 Mommy, those big kids are getting very close!

Loving her toys

She did so well that we got to stay until we got all pruny, and let me tell you, the only way that tiny tootsies get cuter is when they get wrinklier!

I couldn't stop kissing them!

Our second time went so well, I'm sure there will be many more to come.  Our little fishie is progressing very well!

Getting her swimming legs

On May 31, Willa got to play in a swimming pool for the first time.

Seen here, getting her sniffer zinc-ed

My friend Audrey's mom, Karlan, who takes Willa for us sometimes, invited us over for a baby pool party at her townhouse complex' pool.  It was a perfect pool for little ones, 3 ft deep at either end and just 4 feet deep in the middle.  I was very excited to start her in the water at a young age, in the hopes that she will be comfortable in the water for life.  So I dressed her in the ridiculously cute suit and hat I got at a recent church consignment sale

Pictured: ridiculousness

bought her a yellow floaty thing for the water,

of which she was very skeptical

and set off with hopes of getting lots of cute pictures!  As you can see below, I think we achieved our goal!

She was the happiest swimming around with me holding her

By the end of the day she was relaxed in her floaty rings, playing with her chain link toy as happily as she would on her playmat.  Karlan took pictures of that time, so hopefully I will get copies soon so that I can share them here.  For now Willa is geared up for a long, swimmy summer!

5 month state of the address

Willa is five months old, wow!  This month has seen a host of new experiences, like swimming in a pool and Kindermusik, as well as the basics like her feet and the joy of chomping everything with her two new teeth.  She is about 15-16 pounds, based on the difference between my weight holding her and alone and is still long and thin.  She has great head and neck control, excellent grabbing skills, and is improving in sitting up alone.  During tummy time she is starting to scoot with her first half consistently, and can move across the floor if we help push her lower half.  She has rolling from her front to her back like a champ, but is still working on going from back to front.

Right now her favorite toys are her chain links and the Jumparoo, with the playmat starting to get boring.  When she's in the Jumparoo, she moves and grooves a lot with a big smile on her face, so it seems like this will be the Summer of Jumping for little miss.

She is still sleeping through the night, although most nights she wakes up needing to burp a couple of times before she goes down for the night.  She is still exclusively breastfed, but we will start her on rice cereal in the next couple of days.  As a bonus, she has started to hold her own bottle for Jeremy and the sitters, which is quite impressive.

One handed, no less!

Stranger danger is starting to develop too, which makes me glad that we have had the same babysitters since the beginning.  We went to a craft event at church yesterday, and there were a lot of very nice people that wanted to hold her, but she was very shy.  I think she made it a couple of minutes before she was ready for mom again.  This, plus her reaching for me, makes me feel very loved indeed.  I just hope she doesn't hurt people's feelings during this stage!

Right now we are loving life.  She knows us, is sleeping through the night, eats well, and stays where we put her.  It seems like a perfect sweet spot, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here!

Teething Queen

Despite it being a little early, Willa has officially sprouted her first tooth!

My finger is just over it in this picture, its the lower right incisor

Closer shot, but it's still hard to see!

We could tell that it was coming in for a little while, with her excessive amounts of drool and uncharacteristic fussiness.  Once our sweet girl started being irritable all day, every day, I knew something was on the horizon.  To help her deal with the pain, we tried a few different suggestions from books and friends.  She was very confused by the cold teething ring and didn't really take to it right away.  I bought a vibrating teething ring, but it's activated by strong chomping, and she can't sustain a bite that strong yet, leading to me having to squeeze it and getting very tired thumbs.  

The thing that seems to have brought her back to her usual self is the necklace you see pictured above.  It's an amber teething necklace bought at a local baby boutique.  I was skeptical of this, as I usually reject all baby jewelry as silly and excessive, but after hearing strong testimonials from more than a few friends, and doing some research to make sure it isn't just "magic," I decided to give it a try.  I bought it with a gift card to a store where there wasn't much else I could use it on, so I figured if it didn't work, or I was too concerned about her safety, there would be no big loss if I tossed it out.  As you can see, I didn't toss it out!  Placebo or not, she has returned to her usual self.  She still gets crabby, but she isn't crabby all day.  I make sure she's never alone with it on, and I definitely take it off of her when she sleeps, but for the time its on (playtime and nursing) she doesn't seem to be in pain.  Such a relief for Mommy!

So far it's only one tooth, but we are incredulous that our little one is growing so fast!

4 month state of the address

Willa is four months old!   Time is passing very quickly now that she is getting older, we have settled into a routine, and she is being very easy on us.  She is regularly sleeping through the night now, although we have had to deal with a four month sleep regression.  For the past few nights she has gotten up at least once in the middle of the night.  Let me tell you, once your body is back into the routine of sleeping for 7 hours, it is VERY hard to go back.  Not that it wasn't hard in the beginning, but doing it consistently helped my body to get to a new normal.  I think I forgot how to function properly on significantly reduced sleep.

She is still eating like a champ, and her consumption has skyrocketed lately.  Whereas 4 ounces was once a comfortable feeding, she is putting away 8-9 ounces in her afternoon feeding.  Crazy!  That constitutes a lot of pumping on my part, so I'm hoping my production catches up soon.

Developmentally she is hitting all of her milestones.  She is in the 85th percentile and 37th for weight, smiling, laughing, and starting to sit up.  She needs her Bumbo seat to sit for any extended period of time, but she's great at holding up her head, turning it, and keeping her front half up during tummy time.  In the past couple of days she has also starting reaching for things during tummy time, and she has been reaching and grabbing for a few weeks now.  Yesterday she finally accomplished a personal goal, chewing on her foot:

We are so proud!

She has also started to scoot a little. As long as we put her arms forward during tummy time, she will scrunch her legs until her shoulders are over her hands. So great to watch!  Hopefully I will get it on video soon :-).  At the same time, I'm glad she still stays in one place when I put her down, so she can enjoy her playmat while I make lunch or do some dishes quickly.  I know I need to savor this time!

In sum, we have the best baby ever.  She spoils us with her sleeping, eating, and loving disposition.  I'm excited to see what the next month brings!

Willa's Baptism

Willa is officially a member of our church!  To mark the occasion all of our immediate family and Willa's godparents came to visit us in one crazy, whirlwind weekend of barbeque, babies, and brunch.  Julian and Sandi once again took lots of pictures, but here are my favorites:

Portrait with the grandparents, when Willa is actually looking a little forward instead of straight at Grammy's green sweater.  For some reason she was fascinated and wouldn't stop looking at it for the longest time, as in the next picture:

Oh well.  The whole family looks great, although Lark was understandably losing patience.  

 So great to have everyone together at the same time!

Willa was losing patience during this time with her godparents, who dressed (accidentally) in coordinating outfits.  They both traveled long distances to be there for her and were so wonderful with her, lucky girl!

Pictures weren't allowed during the actual baptism, but BJ was nice enough to do a reenactment later so we could get a quick shot.  During the real thing she made sustained, inquisitive eye contact with BJ.  

During this, she slept.

This is the best shot of her in her little bonnet, which can be converted into a handkerchief for her "something old" when she gets married.  It was a little small for her head, but I thought it was extremely cute.

What a beautiful day and weekend it was.  It was such a blessing to have everyone together at the same time!