New Year Rewind

Hello again, readers! Here's a recap of our new year celebration:

New Year's Eve morning-- went running shoe shopping with my mama and then met my sister for lunch. Shoe shopping was somewhat difficult because I really wanted to run down the aisle to try each pair, but as soon as I turned to jog away, Baby would totally lose it! I finally had to ask my mom to encourage her to look at some colorful socks so she wasn't just standing there watching me run away. 

How we rang in the New Year: Parent Potluck and Baby Bash 2014! Okay so we didn't really ring in the new year officially because the party went 4-6 pm in appropriate parent-like fashion, but Baby did wake me up at 12:01 am to nurse, so that counts, right?

On New Year's Day, we had mimosas (believe it or not, a party full of young parents is not a good way to go through two bottles of Prosecco) and later went for a 3 mile family run around Jamaica Pond and Baby didn't fuss once! This is a huge breakthrough because I don't think she's ever lasted more than 15 minutes in the jogger without getting upset. It helps that she's now old enough to sit up on her own instead of reclining in the infant hammock thingy, because she can see a lot better. I'm hoping between that new development and my new running shoes, this mama will be able to get into some decent running shape in 2014! (just as soon as I finish recovering from the stomach flu we all caught the day after new year's :-p)

Holiday Rewind

Happy Holidays, readers! I was going to cram Christmas and New Years into one big post, but there were way too many photos, so I'll break it up. We had a great Christmas this year, which involved several days in NH with my parents, as well as having my in-laws at our place in Boston for a couple days. The snow in NH was thin and covered in ice, but the day we were supposed to leave, it snowed just enough to allow for some re-grooming, so we stayed another day to ski! Here are some photos to highlight our holidays:

Baby's first ski (out-of-utero, anyway)! Now before anyone freaks out, keep in mind that a) I've been doing it since I was old enough to walk, and b) I avoid steep downhills when I'm babywearing. She had a blast, in addition to a good nap!

Brian fells our Christmas tree

This may be the least Charlie-Brown-iest tree we've ever found in the woods!

Salt dough ornaments we made and gave to family as gifts. 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 cup water (roughly)... kneed into a ball, flatten with a rolling pin, use a cookie cutter (or top of a wide-mouthed mason jar in our case) to make a circle, and press baby's hand in (easiest when she's fast asleep!). Don't forget to use a straw or pen to make a hole for hanging! Bake at low temp (~150) for at least a couple hours, then either seal with craft sealer or several coats of acrylic paint. I also traced the print with some sparkly craft paint to glitz it up. Ta da!

Random swinging interlude!

Weeee!

"HEY, that has nothing to do with the holidays!"

Okay, okay, back to business. Nestled all snug in (our) bed with her reindeer pjs the night before we headed to NH to celebrate with the Sorliens.

Christmas morning santa dress photo shoot!

Family photo

Even Leigan cooperated (sort of)

Little Santa Baby

Christmas morning-- Grandma lookin' good (and awfully cute) in her new Christmas pjs-- a gift from yours truly!

Yet another Christmas dress! She's so photogenic ;-)

Shaking her sillies out

Having a good time with her Auntie Rachel!

Both Mama and Auntie Rachel got some fun necklaces for Christmas that Baby quite enjoys!

Baby discovered this noise over the holidays. Auntie Rachel calls it her "valley girl voice" because it sounds, like, so totally melodramatic!

Okay they are going to hate me for sharing these, but the goofy hats my dad thought it was a good idea to buy for us:

Oh yeah, lookin' good.

Mmmm tissue paper!

Grandma reading Baby a new book

I always thought the inside of the clementine was best, myself!

Getting to know Great-great Aunt Chip after Christmas dinner

Baby update- 6 months

Just wanted to update friends and family on Baby's vitals, since she had her 6 month appointment today! She is 28 inches tall (98th percentile for height), 19 lbs 2 oz (95th percentile for weight), and her head circumference was 45 cm (average for her ht/wt). I'm told she's doing great, very healthy, and developing as she should!

She also had to get three shots today (DTaP, Hep B, and Polio in one; PCV13, and the flu), plus Rotavirus orally, and that was no fun. It gets less fun as she becomes more aware too, since she is upset for longer :-( But seeing her cry for a few minutes is far better than seeing her cry for days or weeks from being really sick, and of course better than any of the horrible outcomes associated with those diseases! The nurse also used longer needles this time so the vaccines would go into her muscle rather than under the skin. I think it was probably more painful initially, but the reason is that the first couple rounds of vaccines gave her some painful, localized swelling, which is more likely when the vaccine lies just under the skin.

Obligatory vaccination opinion post to come...

Baby Led Weaning

As I mentioned in the Thanksgiving post, we are doing a method of solids introduction known as Baby Led Weaning (BLW). How you wean your baby is another one of those contentious topics that starts mommy wars, so let me preface this by saying it is not for everyone. I totally get the paralyzing fear of Baby choking and if you are stressed every time your baby eats, she will be, too. Although it's easier in the sense that you don't have to puree your food or spend lots of money on jarred baby food, it's definitely messier at times. My partner and I are both prepared to act on an emergency, but we try not to be paranoid about it. It makes sense for us and Baby enjoys it, so we're doing it.

The premise: The idea of mushed up baby foods and rice cereal are actually a fairly new concept. Babies digestion and eating techniques have not changed remarkably in the last century, so the "rule" that they can only eat soft foods at first or that they need to start with rice cereal is a myth. Rice cereal became popular during the era that formula and processed baby food came into focus, and was introduced as early as 3 months to help "fatten baby up." Because babies that young cannot eat solids (they are prevented by a tongue-reflex that pushes food out of their mouths... now thought to be a protective mechanism because they shouldn't be eating solids at that point), moms were told to mix rice cereal with milk and then progress to other thicker, but still pureed, foods.

Now the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization both recommend exclusive breastfeeding (or formula feeding if breastfeeding is not possible) until 6 months. At 6 months, the tongue-reflex starts to decrease and babies this age can start handling finger foods. Thus, the mushy baby foods and rice cereals are really unnecessary. Babies should be getting most of their nutrition from breastmilk or formula up until about 12 months anyway, so how MUCH they eat is not as important as how many different tastes and textures they are allowed to experiment with. Yes, this means lots of hand smushing, face smearing, throwing, and funny faces. It's hilarious and I love it. We never used to laugh as much at meal times as we do now!

And now, I will shut up and show you funny videos and photos of my little goober eating her first solids:

If you give a baby an orange slice... she will make a funny face but continue eating it

Lurking... 

... always lurking!

Happy girl!

I now know that avocado, peanut butter, and cheese should be a meal reserved for right before bath time.

Nom!

Bon appetite, Baby!

Happy 6 Month Unbirthday!

Baby's 6 month unbirthday party was a great success! It was characterized by family, friends, cupcakes, muffins, mulled cider, and (adult!) conversation. And plenty of cuteness, of course. Case in point:

(Thanks Laura Kozlowski Photography for the gorgeous shot! http://laurakozlowski.com/)

It took her a little while to warm up to all the new faces in the room, but once she did, there was much baby snuggle-time to be had, and I got to pretend I was my own person for a few minutes.

Checkin' out her grandma

Playing with cousin Alli

A new friend came to show Baby how crawling is done... they seemed to really hit it off (and by hit it off, I mean they wanted to grab parts of each others' faces and eat them)

And Auntie Rachel knew just what to bring:

Despite her lovely unbirthday dress, Baby still insisted on showing off her birthday suit.

Thanks to all who celebrated with us! We had a great time!

Laughter is the best medicine... especially baby laughter!

This first video already made its debut on facebook. It was actually the very first time I was able to get Riella to laugh for more than a second. What an amazing feeling!

The second video is more recent and very silly :-) Hope they brighten your day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to do a nice long post about all the things I'm thankful for, of course My Little Peanut being #1, but given that there are only 3 weeks left of the semester, I think my time would be better spent on a quick Thanksgiving photo-dump and then working on my management memo!

Happy Thanksgiving, readers, I hope you had a great holiday!

I will explain baby led weaning in another post, but we started solids just in time for the Thanksgiving feast! It only made a LITTLE bit of a mess... having her naked, sitting on a beach towel helped.

This also helped... Leigan strategically placed himself right underfoot!

Resting her post-turkey belly with Daddy

Hanging out with her first cousins once removed