January Bleakness Made Merry

We rang in the New Year with my mom and step-dad arriving for a visit.  Well, let me rephrase that, I ACTUALLY didn't ring in the new year as I was sleeping and had to work the next day, but I rang in 9:30!  It was wonderful having them here.  Being as it was January we didn't do much except baby snuggle, which I think was ok with them!

Trying to crawl

Modeling some Christmas gifts

During their time here we celebrated Miss Annalise's half birthday! 

At her 6 month check she clocked in at 15lbs 10oz and 26in.  50th percentile for length but dropped slightly to the 25th on weight, the doc says not to worry though since she is so active.  As is evidenced by the above photo she is starting to crawl.  She hasn't quite gotten the hang of the traditional crawl but is a master of the army crawl.  Nevertheless she can get to the dog bone she desperately wants at rapid speed.  She is full of giggles and smiles and is really just a delightfully easy baby.  She has her two bottom teeth coming in and hasn't even complained about it.  I am so in love I can't stand it sometimes.

Since she hit the 6 month mark it was time to start food.  We decided to go with the Baby-led approach after seeing how easy it was for my nephew.  It just makes sense to me.  She is still getting all the nutrients she needs from breastmilk so any food at this point is just bonus.  So why not let her explore and learn to enjoy food?  It is super simple and just cuts out the puree stage.  So we just feed her basically what we eat, just cut into baby-manageable sticks.  It's pretty fun to watch her, and, as evidenced by what comes out, she seems to be actually getting some food down!

First attempt on Christmas with Broccoli

Thoroughly enjoying pasta w/ sauce

  So, if you are looking for an alternative to spoon-feeding your baby bland purees, I highly recommend this method, read the book (Baby-Led Weaning... by Tracey Murkett), it just made sense for us.

Last week we took our first trip with A to visit by brother, sister-in-law, and my two beautiful, giant, nephews.  A visited the cockpit of course

And she really did great on the plane.  I'm glad there were two of us though, I don't know how I would have managed solo!  We had an amazing time, although it was too short, as always.  My nephews were so incredibly sweet with their baby cousin, taking turns holding her.  I think my favorite quote of the weekend was when my younger nephew was told to stop touching/messing with the baby when we were in the car, his response was "I just want to pet her!" 

Really trying hard not be jealous!

But really helpful too!

My 3 loves

Tantie's lap is happy once more

Very important to keep babies warm

Enthralled by her big cousin

It was just such a wonderful visit, but also heart-wrenching that our kids don't get to see each other all the time.  Luckily we already have our next visit planned. 

That about sums it up!  We are back to work and delving in to our new positions (oh, did I not mention it, Well, I took a permanent charge nurse position at work) and trucking along while watching in amazement as our sweet baby girl grows up before our eyes.