Dinner Time!

I have forgotten how messy it is to teach a baby how to eat solids. We have tried cereal with Emma a few times this week. The first bite she took alright, and then the next several she would give a whole body shutter when I put the spoon in her mouth. We rested for a few days, and now she is beginning to get the idea, and even likes the taste now (she should, it's just breast milk with rice cereal). She likes to look down towards the spoon while I am trying to feed her though, so a lot of it just dribbles right back out of her mouth. And she just doesn't listen when I tell her to look up. I was able to snap a few cute shots though while I was trying to get her to eat. Today we tried avocados for the first time. She's getting better already and ate it all up. More than a tablespoon already! I think she's giong to be a champion eater!

Spring is Here!

We are finally getting a bit of nice weather, and we have really made an effort to get out and enjoy it. It's been quite windy, so it cuts our walks a bit because Emma is gasping for breath when the wind cuts across her little face. Lilah enjoys it a lot though, as do I.

Before I Forget...

A few funny things that have happened in the last week or so that I want to remember....

-- I noticed the chickens had dumped their water when we came home from the store the other day...
Me in the garage: Oh man.... the chickens knocked the water over....
Lilah once we got inside, while removing her shoes: SHOOT!
Me: What happened?
Lilah: Chickens.... spilled water.... Poor chickens.

-- Emma giggles by simply looking at her bare belly. I think she's learning to anticipate that I am going to kiss it, or give it a raspberry, and she knows that tickles, but it's pretty funny just to pull up her shirt, give her a look, and make her laugh.

I know there are more, but now of course I can't think of any of the others. Bah. They'll come to me, I hope.

More Milk, Please

So I'm convinced my breast milk production has decreased over the last several weeks. Emma sleeps so long at night, so she really only gets in about five feedings a day. In order to boost milk production and to help her gain weight, I've been nursing her pretty frequently during the day. Then before I go to bed at night, I pump, so that I can give her that bit of milk at her nighttime feeding the next night after nursing her. I think she's not getting enough mostly because she is so excited to polish off a 5oz bottle of milk AFTER nursing before bed. She kicks her legs and lunges after the bottle. Otherwise she is still sleeping great and acting normally, but I'm going to mention my concerns to the pediatrician at her 6 mo check coming up next week. And we can get a good weight recheck then too. We'll see!

More Lilah Chatter

In the past week or so, Lilah has really started to make more creative sentences and to put phrases together that I haven't heard from her before. When we were leaving a meeting the other day in the car she said, "see that momma? Circle, circle, circle?" I said, where?, she said "way back there, momma, see it?". I still don't know what she was talking about, but she likes to use "way back there" a lot now.
Even since her friend Asher moved into a new house, she calls our house her new house. As we were coming home from church today, she said, "I see my house! My new house. My super new house!" I guess super is a new adjective for her too.

Fun in the Sun

Today was the first sunny Saturday we've had in a while, and it wasn't too cold out. It was a bit windy, but that didn't keep us from checking out the local park for the first time in many months (six, probably?). Lilah loved getting out of the house, and the fresh air was good for all of us. When we got home, we decided to let the chickens have a first time ever walk in the grass. I guess it was cooler than I realized, because they jumped back into our arms and didn't want to get back down. (We only brought out our two most agreeable birds). Lilah said she wanted to hold one, so Ella Buttercup and Lilah shared a moment today. It was really cute. Lilah kept shush-ing her because EB was a little frightened of the wind. It was gustier than I originally thought too. They only had a moment outside, but Lilah loved it. And of course we took some pictures.

Eloise came out too. Aren't her feathers so pretty?

Big Girl Lilah

I know I should start potty training Lilah now, but with our big trip home in a little over two weeks away, I am hesitating. The thought of taking her to the airplane bathroom while holding Emma scares me. As does letting a stranger hold my baby. So we will probably hold off until we get home. Yesterday however, I decided to give it a try, since she hasn't even peed in the potty, to see if she would do it. She had a ton to drink yesterday morning, and I knew she would have to go soon. She was bottomless, and kept asking to put a diaper on, but I just kept putting her on her little potty. She eventually went after about three hours. Immediately afterwards, she was looking in her potty whispering, "yay, Lilah!". So proud.