Setting the Table

Lizzy helped out tonight by setting the table for me. She did everything by herself with direction from me. I'm so excited that she's becoming such a big helper!

This was the final result. And here's a video of her setting it. :)

First Haircut

Before:

After:

It's now slightly tamer (and slightly more assymetrical). Just a hint: cutting a squirmy baby's hair in the bath is more difficult than I first imagined.

Lizzy's First Tea Party

Little Miss Millet

She's so happy she can feed herself. I'm loving it because I can eat my own food while she goes to town on hers.

See it here

and here.

Sand, Sand, Sand, Here I Come

Adventure at the ocean continued...

After about 6 minutes of lying in a comatose state, and 5 more minutes of marginal movement, Elizabeth's hand wandered off the blanket and discovered sand. She was very intrigued, so we sat her up to let her play.


She loved it. Too much. It was obvious this was going to end badly, but we were having so much fun with her fascination, we let the discovery take its natural course.

I don't think she expected it to turn out quite like that. Nothing had ever stuck to her face before.

Of course it ended up all in her eyes, and she felt compelled to lick her lips. This elicited a ridiculous expression followed by hacks and coughs to remove the unwanted invaders, unsuccessfully. So the adventure ended by taking one more dunk in the ocean to wash all the sand off and then feeding to wash the sand away. By the time we got to the car and put her in she was asleep (no pacifier, no cajoling, just sweet sweet sleep). It was lovely.

On a side note, I thought she picked up a cold for the next two days. Her nose constantly ran with clear mucus and she sneezed often. When it ended abruptly, I realized she didn't have a cold. Her body was just getting rid of all the sand particles shoved up her nose. Poor thing. :)

My Bonnie Went Into the Ocean

Elizabeth became sea worthy this past weekend when we visited friends in Florida. They took us to Destin (which has to be the most beautiful beach I've ever been to), and we played!


Elizabeth's very first dip was as a naked baby to wash off the last of her bottom between a diaper change. She squawked, understandably, when I quickly dipped her in and out. Then we headed back up the beach and put on a bathing suit. Too cute!


Her next trip all the way in went something like this:

Elizabeth learned that ocean water is salty and probably learned that it stings as well. I learned to hold her with her back to the wave, not her face. After that Courtney put the camera away and we had a ball. Elizabeth got more comfortable in the waves and really liked it.

Jesse (6 foot something) and I would play "Quick!! Pass the Baby!" when a wave taller than I would approach. The game usually ended in Jesse running at me, me passing Ducky off as quickly as possible, and in the meantime losing my foundation and getting hit and toppled by the huge wave. It was a blast! :D Elizabeth didn't seem to mind either unless she wasn't promptly passed back to her mama.

After about 30 minutes of wave riding, I gave Elizabeth a break. This was her reaction:

Complete and utter exhaustion. Guess we wore her out. But don't feel too bad for her...yet. She still had to discover sand!

First Laughs

Mmmmm....this little girl's belly laughs (or constipated pushing noises) is music to my ears. She just started doing this last Monday (April 20th). It's so fun!

First Food!

Ducky's first food was a peanut butter and white chocolate chip cookie. Do I win a mothering award or what?! :)

It actually was an accident. I was having her smell the cookie, and before I knew it she had whipped her hand up and shoved the cookie and my hand into her mouth. I removed both, but she succeeded in eating some crumbs. After a few lip smacks and a happy face, she looked for more.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that experience, but she proved her intelligence and hunger for cookies in the bath that night. It's as if she knows the cup has pictures of cookies all over it, and she wants them. :)

Initiation by Cousins

I'll warn you ahead of time that this post is image HEAVY! However, I knew it would be better than coffee-flavored ice cream to one Grandma. :)

We traveled down to visit with Lee's family in North Carolina this weekend.

Lee's purpose was to celebrate the start of March Madness with lots of TV and lots of pickup basketball.

My purpose was to visit, and Elizabeth's purpose was to get initiated to cousinhood by two wonderfully maternal and loving cousins.


Before we left, my pediatrician warned me not to let her be cuddled and touched too much by little kids since she's so young. Somehow I knew that a "no touch" rule would never fly with this two cousins!! :)

It was a rare moment that Elizabeth was awake and not surrounded by one of the two girls (if not both). They even visited with her while she was sleeping.

The littlest cousin loved to help change diapers. She would always pipe up, "I throw it away!!!"


We also dressed her up like a princess for church using one of the girls' old dresses.

Actually, my sister-in-law let me go through all her girls infant clothing and borrow some.

The two girls were very helpful during this process.

Every time I saw a cute outfit and said so, the oldest cousin would chime in, "You can have it." :) Such generosity in that little heart.

This littlest would scream, "YOU WANT THIS!??," holding up onesie after onesie.

We really had a great time visiting with everyone!

So Elizabeth ended up with lots of kisses, cuddles, hugs, as well a few bumps and bangs. All in the name of love.

I think she liked it. :)

Speaking of Chiropractic...

Betcha can't do this...



or this...

or this...

Yep, I'm a gumby baby.

This was her first craniosacral fascial therapy from her Great Aunt Linda. Lizzy actually really enjoyed it and it was hilarious to see her body twist itself about. Linda did very little of the moving; she was really just there for support and to help the fascia unwind.

Are We in Trouble?

Is it trouble when you child's first word is "No"?

Elizabeth was objecting to a book being placed on her stomach. Grandma Rosie mentions that the book is something she has to get used to, and Lizzie says "nooooooo" very clearly and uses quite properly for someone who has no idea it's even a word. :)

Sleddding...Inside Style

We took Lizzy sledding today...but inside. This website gave me the "bright" idea. I still can't tell if she liked it or not. She was very still, quiet, and super alert. However, the moment we stopped for good she did the fastest flip over (and off the paper) I've ever seen. I figure she either wanted to keep moving...or she was jumping off for dear life. :) We'll see tomorrow when I try it again.

In other news, I think Little Bit has read been reading parenting books on the sly. Yesterday I was cuddling with her to get to sleep for her nap. She cried until I put her down in her crib! I didn't know babies weaned themselves from comfort. I was going to eventually work on getting her to sleep by herself, but she beat me to it.

So yesterday after I put her down, I put in her pacifier and quietly read to her. Eventually she fell asleep. Today I put her down when she was calm and sleepy and got out the book to read to her. She cried and fussed until I stopped reading, then she was calm again. Hmm...that's a very clear message. "Shhh Mom, I'm trying to sleep."

On Feb. 13, we gave her her first bath in a big tub. I've rarely ever seen her this still!

We took her out after about 10 minutes...

...and she cried and cried!!! I thought she was sick of being bathed, but it turns out she wanted back in that bath. Mom had already emptied it, but I laid her back in the tub and she immediately stopped crying and start flailing her arms looking for the water.

Of course she cried again when she realized the water was gone. Oh well. :)

Flips and Roses

I had to show off the pretty roses Lee brought home for my birthday. 2 dozen for my 24th. Isn't he a sweetie?

We had another in the world of first for Little Bit. Yesterday we were playing and I was rolling her from belly to back. After 4 or so times, I rolled her on her belly and looked at my inbox on the computer. When I looked back at her, she was on her back!

She did it three more times by herself before I ran and got my camera. Of course, she didn't do it again that day. :( But I was prepared today and caught her on camera.

First Church Outfit and Sabbath

Smiles

So I'm learning what every parent knows. When your kid first smiles AT you (because of gas or a reflex), it's sweet and warms your heart. But when your child first smiles BECAUSE of you (or something you did), it's overwhelming and you get so excited, yell out loud, pump your fist in the air, and jump up and down, then try to get them to do it again. Ok, so maybe that's just how I reacted, but my point it that it's awesome and exciting.

Gas/Reflex Smile:

I was playing around trying to get her to burp and giving her kisses. Then I saw that each time I came close to her face, she would crack a smile. This video only gets a little portion of it, but it was so fun!

Real Smiles!

Sink Baby

Elizabeth's first bath in a sink. I think she likes it. :)