She's crawling

As of yesterday, she's officially crawling. She gets a little frustrated, fighting with her wobbly arms and legs. I don't think they are quite as coordinated as she wants them to be, but she's getting the hang of it pretty quickly. Hopefully, I'll get some video to post soon.

First Easter

It's been a great weekend! We celebrated Easter with an early morning stroll at Mercer Arboretum. We only saw two other people there. It was beautiful and peaceful (aside from almost walking face first into an enormous orb spider web. Yikes!). After our weekly trip to Hubbell and Hudson, we went home and decorated some easter eggs. We had hoped to pull out our little pool to let Aurelia splash around, but the wind was terrible and both Aurelia and I have been suffering from allergies this week. We took plenty of pictures to share.

First Easter Basket

 She spent most of the time trying to crack the dinosaur egg open against the bubbles.

My easter present - an antique tibetan box.

Garrett's easter present - deviled eggs.

Mercer.

 This cardinal was singing a very nice song for us while we explored the gardens.

 I was actually quite excited to find this enormous and blooming Gardenia. One of my favorite flowers.

Our egg monsters:

Second from the right is our Donald Trump easter egg monster. I thought it was a pretty good likeness.
We hope you all had as lovely an Easter as we did.

She just stood up!

I had to jump on and post because Aurelia just stood herself up. Garrett put her in the laundry basket and she grabbed the sides and stood herself up for a few seconds. I didn't catch it on camera but got the aftermath. It was pretty awesome.

Almost crawling

Last week Aurelia started lunging forward from a sitting position onto her hands and knees. She rocks back and forth and gets a little forward motion but not much. She's so close. She's also started waving and clicking her tongue, especially at the cat.

She has been very vocal, as well. She finally said "da" which has made Garrett very happy.

Here are a few photos from this month.

Rocking the new dino bib from Gma and Gpa Vice

Hanging with Daddy on the lawn.

Almost crawling. Anyday now she's gonna figure it out.

Already geeking out! (Thanks to our friend Amanda, who works at the Lunar Planetary Institute near the space center.)

Update

Again, It's been a month. Every time Aurelia goes down for a nap and I think "Go write something on the blog" I also think "Maybe tomorrow. A nap would be nice" and then I end up straightening the house or folding laundry or staring mindlessly at the computer. Oh well, I will get it up to once a week soon enough. For now I hope a month's worth of pictures is enough for the next month. ;)

March began with 6 month vaccinations with the new nurse, who I am sure has ruined the doctor's office for Aurelia. The old nurse was very gentle and patient. This new one brought in a cohort and hit Aurelia with two shots at once. She was not happy. It didn't help that she was also hungry and tired. It was a rough day for all of us, but as always, we survive and move on.

We've tried a few more foods and so far so good. She is a big fan of pureed banana, enjoys the sweet potatoes, and tolerates the green peas.

Either carrots or apples next, and then avocado. I am having fun making her food. We found a great little market with really good produce. They carry a lot of organic and local stuff that is all hand selected. We haven't had much luck with the local chain grocery stores in our area so we go to the Woodlands for better stuff. I still miss the farmer's market and produce in Reno.
Our good friend Cas came for a visit this month to meet Aurelia. It was so nice to see her. We took her out to Brenham to see the few wildflowers that are blooming. It's a late season this year because of all the cold weather.

It was Aurelia's first long car trip and she did great. We are hoping to take a longer trip in May with a few days away from home. A little prep for our big trip out to Reno in July.

We had Bridget and the girls over for a St. Patty's Day dinner. I made my first Shepherd's Pie. It turned out pretty good.

First Food Woes

Our first solid food meal was a lot of fun. Aurelia was excited about it. Smiling the whole time and eager to play with and use the spoon. The whole experience left us quite pleased . . . until a few hours after. I figured there would be some digestion issues as her body adjusts to new and thicker food. We chose an organic brown rice cereal. Across the board the suggestion was cereal as a first food, as it is supposed to be easy on the tummy and accepted better because it doesn't have a strong flavor. I was hesitant, and I think I should have gone with my instincts on this one.
By the afternoon we could tell she was getting uncomfortable and our normally happy baby was getting fussy. By that night she was so gassy that she woke up several times in just the first few hours after bed time with the most heartbreaking screams of pain. Around nine she woke up again and was inconsolable. Finally, after trying a tummy massage, moving her legs, warm wash clothes, I stripped her down, filled the tub with warm water, and hopped in the bath with her. She calmed down really quickly but she was so tired by that point that she just laid there limp in my arms. Once she started feeling better and realized there was water to be splashed, she perked up and had a little fun. She slept, restlessly, but still slept, until her usual waking time after that. I wish that was the end of it though. She was pretty gassy and uncomfortable for the whole next day and night and is just now starting to feel back to normal.
I started poking around on the internet and found so many people with the same story. Apparently rice cereal is not so easy to digest. The brand we had picked up had some additives and was fortified with iron (infant cereals usually are. That is the main purpose for beginning solids at 6 months. A babies iron stores usually run out by then). I had thought that maybe it wouldn't be as binding being mixed with a lot of breastmilk, but that wasn't the case, i guess. In the process, though, I found a few really good websites for making your own food purees.
So. . . I think we'll wait another week. She's got her 6 month vaccinations and doctor's appt on Saturday, so I am going to see what he thinks. My new plan: the one that kept trying to scratch it's way passed all the feeding advice I had been reading- Fruits and veggies first and I'll add grains a little later down the line. I can't imagine that she will have issues with iron if I give her a chance to try some good homemade greens and keep my own iron intake up.

P.S. When I was younger, I used to laugh at how parents constantly talked about their children's bowel movements. It seemed so absurd, and while it still feels the smallest bit absurd as I type all this, I have certainly come to realize how much that process communicates when the baby can't. It's really an excellent way to monitor the health of your child. I marvel at everything my baby girls achieves - even the smelly diapers!

Milestones

We've hit a few milestones this month! Aurelia has finally moved from her bassinet in our room to her crib in the nursery. It was a bit of a traumatic move for her. The first few nights were rough, but I stumbled on a suggestion that helped a lot. Each night when she went to bed I left a breast pad in the crib with her. I was a little skeptical at first but it worked like a charm.
We tried to switch her to a new, bigger tub, as well, but I think it was too much change for her. Her usually pleasant bath time was a trial. So, we've switched back to her old tub for the time being. She will be able to use it for another month or so, and we'll try again later.

I was surprised earlier this week when I went in to get Aurelia from her nap and she was on her tummy. She's been rolling over for awhile now but that was the first time she had done it in her crib. It's created some more sleepless nights, but it's exciting to see her do new things. She is still only accidentally rolling from tummy to back.

She has also been sitting up with even less assistance and was jabbering quite a bit this afternoon. A lot of "Nananas" and a few "Mas."

She is growing so fast. She'll be six months in a week!