Flora

My girl and I put on our stripey best and went outside to take some photographs in the beautiful grounds at our hotel.

No matter how frantically my mom squeaked the Sophie toy to get her attention, nothing was as fascinating to Orelia was the Hawaii flowers.

Perhaps she'll be a stripe-wearing botanist one day.  A very cute one.

Orelia Visits the Beach

One of the joys of having kids is sharing new things with them, and John and I were thrilled to introduce Orelia to the beach.

We will never forget as she chewed her index finger as the first wave lapped at her ankles.

I'll be honest, she wasn't exactly thrilled.

At least Orelia was able to enjoy the views.  She is always thrilled to spend time outside.

And even more thrilled to spend time in Daddy's arms.

Our little family of three had a great time on the beach in Kihei, though some of us enjoyed the water a bit more than others.  A day on the beach in Hawaii is always a good day, but a day on the beach in Hawaii with your baby is even better.

Hanging at the Hotel Wailea

We had a great time in Hawaii a couple weeks ago, but somehow I only managed to take photographs while in our hotel room.  (Don't worry, my dad took plenty of photos for me to post.)

Let's be honest, though, when you vacation with a baby, you do spend quite a bit of time in the hotel room (so you better make sure you're staying somewhere nice).

Orelia enjoyed rolling around on the hotel room floor.

Watching her do that is even more fun when you're in Hawaii.

The Hotel Wailea was up at the top of a hill, and had amazing views of Molokini and Kaho Olawe.  Even better, though, we could see breaching whales just outside our window.  It was as incredible as it sounds.

Our lanai was a lovely place to spend the afternoon.  

Orelia agreed, as long as she was in her Noni's arms.  A grandma and a vacation, what could be better?

We did at least occasionally leave the hotel, and when we did, we had to break out the shades.  Our girl was  looking cute indoors and out!

Orelia at Six Months

Our little girl is half a year old!  Unbelievable.  In fact, she's over half a year old, as I'm 9 days late in getting to this post.  I have lots to update on, including Hawaii, Chicago, and moving, but I thought I better post about O at 6 months before any more time goes by!

We had our delayed 6 month checkup today and O weighs 15 pounds 13.3 ounces (roughly 50th percentile) and is 26.75 inches long (roughly 75th percentile) and has a head circumference of 43.5 centimeters (roughly 75th percentile).  She's wearing sized 12-month pjs these days, but I can fit her into 6-9 month clothes during the day.

The doctor is thrilled by how she's doing and is probably even happier that I'm enjoying myself.  I feel like half the point of these checkups is to make sure I'm not getting ready to chuck the baby out a window or something.  Don't worry doc, I love this job!

O just started saying "B" yesterday - her first real consonant, since I'm not counting the H noises the makes all the time.  She loves to babble and sometimes scream when she's very happy.  It can be hard to tell the difference between happy noises and sad noises sometimes.

She loves to roll and roll and roll.  She rolls to get places these days.  We've never set up a long blanket so I haven't seen how far she can go (I always stop her after 5 rolls or so).  It's so nice that she can control that movement well now.  She can sit up pretty well, but has to be in the mood.

She loves her feet and toys.  O recently started playing with toys without putting them in her mouth - she flails them around or she will bat at them while holding them with her other hand.  She will lunge for things that are out of her reach, often when you least expect it.  In a similar vein, she reaches out for people to hold her.

Her cries have gotten a bit more forceful lately, though that might be the result of all the traveling and moving.  She's still sleeping through the night, but bedtimes have started to take a little more work than they used to.

She loves to laugh and smile.  She definitely "flirts" with strangers when she's in the mood, which charms the socks off everyone.

She and Harper have become even greater pals, and John and I frequently call on Harper to come entertain Orelia when she needs a pick-me-up.

Things are great in half-year land.  We are having lots of fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day!

Handle with Care

Fragile, handle with care, describes my mental state right now.  The house is (mostly) boxed up and we are (mostly) packed for Hawaii.  We fly to Maui tomorrow and I'll be home for a day before Orelia and I fly out to Chicago for five days.  We will be home one day and then the movers come to move us into our new house.  The following week our town home will be put on the market.  It's going to be an exciting February!