Goofy Grin

Lilah has a new smile since yesterday. She still has her normal sweet smile, but she has added a goofy one, where she crinkles up her nose and squints her eyes. She looks so silly and I am glad I was able to catch it on camera.

On the move

Lilah did this herself!

Lilah loves yogurt!

We have had an exciting weekend! Jonas stayed with Lilah Saturday and Sunday while I worked, an he taught her some fun things. I got a message at work on Sunday around noon that said 'Guess who's crawling!?!' I couldn't believe it. Jonas said it was more of an army crawl and it was very slow, but she is getting around. She also pulled herself to standing on her own for the first time. She has done it many times with us as helpers, but this was a first. I can't believe it. I have attached some videos from today, and after Jonas saw them, he was impressed with her speed after just a day's time.
She is babbling all the time now too. She loves to say dadada the best. I try mamama but she just replies, 'dadada'. One day. Her hair is getting really long now, well, relatively long. Especially compared to how it was just a few months ago. It is even laying down on the top more, and you can almost hand swipe it to one side, sort of. Her tooth from last week that was bugging her broke through, and the fourth one is not far behind. She will look like a little vampire pretty soon, because her top middle teeth show no signs of appearing anytime soon. It could be pretty cute.
We shot off some fireworks at the neighbor's house last week and Lilah was not impressed. Scared actually, so this weekend should be interesting. I tried to point out the pretty lights in the sky but she was too afraid of the loud bangs that preceeded them. Maybe we'll get some baby ear plugs?

Peek a Boo

The other day Jonas and I were playing on the bed with Lilah before her evening bath. She kept picking up the sheets over the head, and then throw them back down and smile so big. We don't often play peek-a-boo so it looks like she discovered it almost on her own. We'd say 'Where's Lilah?, there she is!' each time. What a fun little girl. She can move around a bit on her bottom now, and this week has just started to get up on one knee with the other leg folded underneath. She's great at easing herself onto her belly from that position too to get to something out of reach. She is feeling better after her ear infection business, but we did return to the doctor for a recheck and she was still inflamed, so he prescribed another antibiotic. The visit was awful though, and he was so slow at checking out her ears (not our normal pediatrician). She screamed so hard and long that she busted the little capillaries in her face and scalp and ended up with little red dots all over her. Poor child. She was still doing the gasping sounds from crying hard twenty minutes after our appointment. Needless to say she got some extra extra momma love that day.
She has also become shy in the last week. When strangers say hello when she is in her car seat, she turns her face into the side of it to hide a bit. When I am holding her, she turns her face into my shoulder. It is really cute, but I didn't think it would happen this soon. It much more often happens with men than women. I think because we see women all the time in playgroup and walking and such, and she doesn't see many men other than her daddy.
She loves playing with her playgroup buddies, especially Nick, our neighbor. They get so excited when they see each other, it is really cute. We went to the water park the other day with Bernie and Nick for a field day with Bernie's daughter and her class. Nick and Lilah played in the water and we got some cute pictures. What fun babies!

Home Again

Turns out that Lilah was working on an ear infection. We got antibiotic and decongestant prescriptions from the doctor, and now Lilah is feeling a bit better. She is less stuffy but still has a nasty cough. We got back today from Arizona. The flight back was nice but Lilah was a bit fussy and still not back to her usual happy self. This afternoon she was really fussy and was not happy unless she was being held. We took a nice long walk, and she napped, which was nice. After we got back we were playing on the floor and she was so cranky! I took a good look in her mouth, and she has another tooth coming through! It is on the top, but not in the middle. It is one on the side and it is really pressing on the gum. You can see the point so white through her gums, poor baby. No wonder! From there I gave her a frozen washcloth to chew on, and then put some cold apples in her mesh feeder which seemed to help. What a funny progression of teeth! She is really having a hard time with this one, and to have a cold/ear infection too!

We had a great time in Arizona. The weather was great, which I wasn't expecting. I didn't pack any cool weather clothes for the baby, so I guess we lucked out that she had a fever for most of the trip. The scenery is absolutely amazing and it was so different than anything I've seen before. The landscaping and architecture is so different. We didn't any really cool animals, but I did almost step on a scorpion. Yuck! It was wonderful to visit with family and to meet ones I haven't met yet. Such sweet people all around. Too bad it will be another three years until we see most of them again!

Welcome from Arizona!

I am sitting at the kitchen table of our little cabin in Prescott, Arizona. It is super sunny but not hot yet, but I must say it's been very comfortably warm so far during the days and pretty cool at night.  What a great combination! It is 8am and Jonas and Lilah are snuggled in bed still. The landscape has been amazing to watch. It is SO different from home. We had a good flight in with the little one, although she was feeling warm to me even before we left the house. I checked her temp once we arrived and she had a fever, her first. She was still in good spirits though, my sweet little trooper. Last night her temperature was even higher after another day of traveling and she was a bit cranky. I don't blame her. The tylenol and ibuprofen help a bit but I know she still feels like crud.  We've had two rough nights of sleep so far, as Lilah is uncomfortable and is having trouble breathing through her stopped-up nose. I am going to take her to a walk-in clinic this morning once she wakes up.
The time here is going by so quickly! I've got to catch up with picture taking. I haven't gotten a single picture of Lilah and a cactus yet! Maybe she'll feel better today.  It's been great meeting more of Jonas's family.  I've heard their names and stories, so it's nice to be able to finally meet them.  We are really blessed with a huge loving family on both sides.  

Good Sleeper

Tonight is the sixth night that Lilah has slept un-swaddled. We started swaddling her around six weeks old, and since then she has slept very well. Most nights sleeping all night. The weather has taken a change up here, and it has been quite warm. The house has been getting pretty hot, and Lilah's room has been in the mid to upper seventies when she goes to bed. So, we decided to leave her unswaddled and see how she does. I am very leery of change, especially if what you have going works, but she has surprised me and slept very well. Sleeping later into the morning than usual too! She is pretty funny with the positions she now prefers, most often on her side. We are headed to Arizona this weekend, and with the rumors of 100+ degree heat there, I knew it was time to change things up. I am so glad it is working!!!
Since last I wrote we have added carrots and cantaloupe and mango. She has also just started to try good ol' Cheerios too. She likes them, and over the last week has gotten very good at picking them up and putting them in her mouth. I was pretty scared in the beginning and would break them into fourths, which makes for a pretty tiny object to pick up, but she's an expert. She is very delicate and pinches it perfectly. They also make a whipped yogurt snack that is freeze dried and looks like a small hershey's kiss. They melt quickly in your mouth and taste pretty good. She likes those a lot too. What a good eater! She is really cute when she chews, really gets those jowls moving and sticks out her lips. So goofy.
She is happy happy nearly all the time, and has even started to laugh more easily. She loves watching me dance goofily around the room and thinks it's hilarious when I blow my nose, which has really reminded her how much she loves to spit. I try to say "no spitting" with a stern face if she does it while I am trying to feed her, but she just shoots me this coy smile and I have to smile back. Already knows how to work her mother. Of course, I think she knew how to do that from the beginning....