Prettiest Baby EVER.

Louisa and I spent some time out in the backyard late Friday afternoon and the sunlight was beautiful. But, it wasn't as beautiful as my little girl!












And a few in artsy B&W:

Swinging at the Park

Our playdate this afternoon included a trip to McKinley Park to play in the playground...and by play, I mean that the babies sat in the swing while their moms visited. I've got a TON of cute pictures to put up, but until I get around to it sometime later this weekend, here's a little video:


Louisa got so relaxed that she feel asleep:
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This is what Louisa did while her daddy and I worked on our new front door this past weekend. (We hope to have the hardware installed and the door in place tomorrow or Saturday).



And a few more:

The First Supper

Louisa's new high chair arrived last night as I was leaving for my German class. Walter had it assembled and all set up by the time I got home, so Louisa got to join us for dinner! I think she really enjoyed being at "our level" and communicating with us while we ate. After we got through, we fed her some pears and she was definitely interested. She really enjoyed the spoon and even managed to get a little bit of the pears down, too.





And for your enjoyment, a little video of the experience, too:


Next up: sweet potatoes!

Happy St Patrick's Day

Our Irish-themed photo shoot quickly went downhill...





I couldn't keep my model from eating the props!

7 Months Old!

Louisa turned 7 months old Wednesday. Here are the current stats (which are a bit redundant given the doctor's visit last week, but for the sake of continuity, here you go):

Weight: 18 lbs 3oz
Length: 27.2 inches (you didn't think she grew THAT much in a week, did you?)


She is definitely able to sit up now (as you can see in previous posts and videos). She sits if we put her down in a sitting position, but she can't sit up on her own yet. She's also figured out how to lock her legs and prevent us from sitting her down, too. Such a smart little girl!


If we put her down on the floor on her tummy, she can pull herself up onto her hands and knees which means that she'll be figuring out how to crawl sooner rather than later, I think. In the past couple of days, I've caught her sort of swaying back and forth on her all-fours, so I predict that she'll be crawling by the time I write the 8 month update four weeks from now. She's definitely good at wiggling backwards, especially underneath the couch. She has managed to successfully wiggle her way in reverse like a crawdad all the way across the living room!


She can entertain herself for longer periods of time now, but when she wants to be held, nothing else will satisfy her. She is enjoying her cloth books and we are trying to use them to entice her to crawl forward when she's on the floor. She also loves the "crinkle paper" sound and I must confess I've been tempted to buy her a few cat toys that also make that sound (I figured that would make Dido too jealous though!).


She still takes three naps a day--one in the morning, one around midday, and another in the early evening. Luckily, her daddy usually scoops her up and carries her around in the sling while he cooks dinner and she's happy as can be, sleeping away. She still wakes up once during the night to nurse, usually around 2-3am sometime, but she sleeps until 7:30-8am most mornings. Most of her naps are in the seat of the rocking chair in the nursery because Elisabeth and Walter can successfully put her down there after she falls asleep in the sling. The crib is a different story!


We have ordered a high chair for her and have some prepared frozen baby food in the freezer from Whole Foods, but lil Lulu still doesn't have teeth yet and she's not really showing an interest in food at the moment. She will reach for our plates but she doesn't really want what's on our plates. Of course, it probably doesn't help that her daddy keeps giving her orange peels to suck on. (Those are funny faces!) We want to be prepared for when she does start to show an interest though. Elisabeth especially has been anxious to see her eating solid food--I don't think she has to wait too much longer!

Sittin' Around

Louisa is sitting up really well now (at least until she topples over!):


And no babies were harmed in the making of that video btw. She stopped crying as soon as I picked her up. We were both watching her Daddy work on the new front door this past weekend.

This one was shot earlier last week when she and I both were getting over our mutual illness. So, you can see/hear her coughing, too.


No crying as this one ended though--I think she had a softer landing.

Jogging Stroller

We bought a new jogging stroller this past week and had the opportunity to try it out this past weekend along the American River Trail. I can happily report that it's a beaut! It's light and agile and will be a lot of fun to jog behind as the weather dries up and warms up this spring. Louisa is *just* big enough to start riding in it. Elisabeth took it out for a spin around the neighborhood a few times, too:



Somehow in that last picture, I'm not sure Louisa looks pleased to be jogging??

6mo Doctor's Appt

So, Louisa had her 6 mo doctor's appt this week. I'm happy to report that she's growing fine!

Height: 27.2 inches (0.691 m) or 83rd percentile
Weight: 17 lbs 13.4oz (8.09 kg) or 71st percentile
Head Circumference: 17.6 inches (44.7 cm) or 91st percentile

She got her 6 mo vaccinations and took them like a trooper--a little crying and then she was okay. The nurse gave her two stickers, but I think they were more fun for Elisabeth and me.


Dr. Bullen checked out her chest congestion and said that she sounded okay. (She hasn't coughed at all this afternoon, nor have I, so I think we're in the clear) Still no teeth yet and he said that it may yet be a while. According to my baby book, I didn't get teeth until about 9 months, so we may have another couple of months.

She is definitely sitting up unassisted now and she'll be starting on solid food pretty soon. And, I suspect it won't be long before she's crawling, too....