Bookworm

Do bookworms eat books like they eat apples?

Because if so, we've got a real bookworm on our hands.

Viva La Ford

John and I are constantly talking about Orelia's future, and we love opining on where she will go to college.  My current pipe dream is that she will attend Wellesley (no boys, hooray!), though John is gunning for Stanford (since it's in our backyard).

He obviously wouldn't mind if she attended his alma mater, however, hence the black squirrel stuffed animal and Haverford sweatshirt.  Viva la Ford, indeed.

Orelia at Five Months

These past five months have flown by, and we are having such a great time with our little girl.

A week after she turned 4 months old she started sleeping through the night.  I decided not to go in and feed her the moment she awakened in the middle of the night, and turns out she was more than capable of going back to sleep.

Ever since that first night, she's been sleeping about 11 hours straight - from 8 pm until 7 am.  I'm really appreciating it!

Now that she wakes up at the same time every morning, we are on a very good routine every day.  She feeds 5 times a day, every 3 hours.

She's napping three times a day, for 45 minutes or more each time.  She naps in her crib or in her car seat if we are out and about.  If she's not in her car seat, she usually goes through a bought of crying (sans tears) before she can actually fall asleep.  Now that I know what's going on, it doesn't bother me.

Orelia is still a very happy baby who loves to smile at Mommy and Daddy.  She smiles at strangers or friends too, but she is happiest with Mom or Dad.

She has been developing her sense of humor recently, and will go through periods of 5 minutes where she finds something hilarious and will laugh hysterically if you keep repeating it.  Usually this involves me growling in her face and pulling away or perhaps bringing a puppet into her face and making it disappear.

She is becoming enamored with Harper and will now smile when she sees her.  It melts our hearts.

She has been rolling back to front for awhile now, and does it often during play.  She now consistently rolls from tummy to back, as well.  This makes enforced tummy time a little more difficult.

Singing to her, especially with hand movements, is a sure-fire way to make her content.  I am learning all kinds of new songs to entertain her.

She loves all her toys and stuffed animals.  She is learning how to play with toys in a way other than just sticking everything in her mouth.  She wags things around intentionally more for the fun of it before stuffing it in her face.

She can't sit up yet on her own, but she can sit up when leaning against someone or some thing.  She sits great in her high chair and loves to play up there as well as eat.

She probably still prefers to lay on her back to play and sometimes doesn't even need a toy to entertain herself.  I can plop her on a thick blanket on the floor in the kitchen and she will just roll from side to side and be happy.

She is becoming more and more vocal.  She has been making a noise recently which makes us refer to her as the Frog Princess. It's kind of a croak noise she does when she is very happy.  We love our loud little Frog Princess and are so happy to enjoy this precious time with her.

Starting Solids

Food is important to me and John, and he has been really looking forward to introducing Orelia to the exciting world of solid foods.

At our 4 month appointment, our pediatrician gave us the go-head to introduce Orelia to solids, but told us that at this point it's more for the experience of it all (instead of nutrition).

We waited until all the hubbub of the holidays had subsided, and on New Years Day, gave our girl her first taste of solid food.

Rice cereal isn't very "solid," but I guess it's more solid than anything she had eaten before.  I was skeptical that she would even know how to swallow, but John was confident she was ready.

Dad was right, and she had no problem eating.  She kept on going until she made a sufficient mess, and then wanted it out of her face immediately.

After three days of rice cereal we progressed to avocado, which Orelia definitely preferred to the cereal.

Can't say that I blame her - the cereal looked disgusting.

John and I prefer the avocado route too, since it doesn't require any heating or wondering "is it too hot or too cold or just right?"

So far my job has been "preparing" Orelia's nightly meals, and John has had the job of feeding and cleanup.  I haven't put a single spoon to her mouth yet, but I'm sure my time will come.

After she eats, we let her play with a spoon and make a mess while John cleans up the dinner dishes.  Making a mess is fun!

Since avocado, she's moved onto bananas, and perhaps likes those best of all.  I'm just happy she likes the two foods (avocados and bananas) that require no cooking.  Next up - butternut squash and sweet potato!

Brown Eyed Girl

At least for now, we have one blue eyed girl (Orelia) and one brown eyed girl (Harper).  The brown eyed one finally got in some photos recently.

My dad had the great idea to take Harper to the park while he was in town so we could take some photos with his new (super fast and amazing) camera.

 Harper was more than happy to go and to perform acrobatics while playing fetch.

She doesn't get to go on as many adventures as she did before the baby came, but that just makes her enjoy the park even more when she does go.

We couldn't be happier with how she's been with Orelia.  Harper is a sweetheart who is always eager to kiss Orelia, even when Orelia is yanking on her fur with all her might (and trust me, I know from experience that it hurts).  Orelia is getting more and more interested in Harper, and today I saw Orelia's face light up with a huge smile once Harper came into view.  She must love all those kisses!

Hopefully we'll be able to take our great dog to the park more and more now that Orelia is a bit older.  John and I know that without a doubt, Harper deserves it.  I don't think the fur yanking is going to stop anytime soon.

First Christmas

My parents along with my brother and sister-in-law came out to California to celebrate Christmas with our special little munchkin.  Merry 60-degree Christmas to all!

Christmas morning came, and Orelia was not impressed, McKayla Maroney-style.

She was, however, impressed with the waffle cookies sent by my Aunt Ginny.  Trust me when I say she was even more into these cookies than she looks in the picture.  She was dying for a bite.  Next year, sweetie!

A sensory ball would have to do.

By far her favorite thing on Christmas morning was chewing on the handle of a paper bag.  We saw this coming, but it still amused us all.

Harper was quite excited about her new triceratops toy.  This is probably the third or fourth version of this toy she's had in her life.  She just loves them so much she can't control herself...and the head gets eaten off.

I told Orelia to be on her best behavior for David, and she happily obliged.

I'm so glad David and Kathi got to chance to meet Orelia.  It's so special to introduce your child to the ones you love.

Orelia even got to enjoy the new board game Kathi and David brought.  She didn't bring Daddy good luck though, as he lost every game.

We all had a very merry Christmas together.  Perhaps next year Orelia may prefer presents to the wrapping...but I wouldn't count on it.

NYE 2012

Our family was lucky enough to get a baby-friendly invitation for New Year's Eve this year.  Natalie and Mitch had a potluck that started before O's bedtime, and we jumped at the opportunity.

Our girl loved the party atmosphere, though she apparently adopted at least one un-ladylike pose in the process.  

Her favorite part of the night was hanging out with her new buddy, Bridget.  Bridget was such a sweetheart who was so helpful in trying to entertain our little munchkin.  

Nothing is more entertaining to a baby than an older role model.  My favorite part of the night was hearing Bridget say "Orelia, Orelia!" over and over.  I've never heard a kid say her name before, and it was music to my ears.  Here's to hearing it many more times in 2013!

(Thanks to Natalie for the photos and the wonderful night!)