campfire birthday celebration

We met my Mom's side of the family at Red Rock Lake to celebrate some birthdays tonight. Here are a few pictures.

Sleep sweet sleep

My daughter is asleep in her crib sawing logs. zzzzz Score! This is day two of sleep training and so far so good. I went through the bedtime routine, fed her, and held her until she was drowzy. Then I placed her in her crib and turned on the rain sounds. After a small protest she rolled on her side, then her belly, and fell asleep. This is the first night we've gone without the swaddling blanket with any luck so my fingers are crossed that we make it through the entire night. She did wake up about an hour after going to sleep but actually put herself back to sleep. AMAZING!
In other news, Katen is having a lot of fun rolling from back to belly and back again. When I put her down to change her diaper she always has to show off and roll. Oh she's going to be fun when she's mobile. I can just tell. She's also strong enough to push up on those arms now and just tonight she got her legs under her so I think it won't be long before she figures out how to crawl. I really think she's quite intelligent for her age. I may be biased.

Our food of the week is prunes. Katen's not crazy about prunes. They produced our first "yucky" face so far but she will eat them.

Another funny thing she's been doing is when we're out of the room or not paying attention she'll do a quick "ack!" and smile to get our attention. We'll call "ack!" back and she'll repeat herself giggling the whole time. It's a fun game I guess. ...and pretty darn cute.

She's also started smiling when she sees the cat and when she recognizes her bedtime song that I sing to her. How sweet! The cat couldn't care less about her and tries to avoid Katen's reaching arms in general. Swiffer does enjoy supervising baths though. She gets pretty ticked if we lock her out of the bathroom.

Big Girl Bath

Katen got a new big girl bath tub this week. It's a large inflatable duck that Daddy just LOVES having in his bathroom taking up room. She's having so much fun with it though. She can sit up in it instead of having to lay down in her infant tub. This allows her to play with toys in the water. She tracks her floating toy duckies with such concentration that it cracks me up. She also thinks she's a monkey and uses her feet to pull them nearer to her. I do have to watch her like a hawk in the water, because she's still a little wobbly sitting alone but it's worth it to see how much fun she's having splashing and playing during bath time. I can't believe how fast she's growing and learning. wow!

We also tried sweet peas last night. I was prepared for nasty faces but Katen looooved her veggie. I think she finished dinner in record time actually and was still making little hungry bird motions for more after she'd finished her portion. I'd stripped her down to just a diaper and her chubby belly but she's getting pretty coordinated and apparently didn't want to waste any food by wearing it for a change.

I can't say as much for pears. Katen will eat pears but not with as much gusto. I think they're kind of sour for her. Same with Sweet potato. She'll eat it but it's just okay. I think we'll try some plums next maybe. I'm also anxious to get to the farmers market and pick up some organic peas, apples, avacado, pear, and carrots to make food at home for her. We'll see how that goes. It's a good excuse to get the food processor out!

Baby TV

Did you know there's a network devoted solely to TV for babies? ...and I'm sure you've seen the Little Einstein videos advertised. Just because a product is on the market, doesn't mean it's good for your child.

Here's an article from one of the newsletters I receive each week:

TV for babies?While babies may like the sights and sounds of a TV, research strongly suggests that watching TV is not healthy for children under the age of 2. A recent study showed that infants learn about emotions based on what they hear from others. This includes not just their parents' pleasant talk but also the actors' argument on TV. While there are still questions about the impact of television viewing on babies, the evidence is growing that it may interfere with healthy development. Interacting with you and exploring safe toys are far better uses of a baby's waking hours.

While Katen would love nothing more than to be a couch potato, I think we'll wait. :)

Memorial Day Weekend

I stayed home with Katen on Wednesday and Thursday because she was vomiting. We saw the pediatrician on Thursday and an ear infection was confirmed along with a probable stomach virus. We also got some great medicine for her eczema which is really helping. Poor Katen has just had a rough week. I also caught the stomach virus and went home from work on Friday early. Still on Sunday I'm feeling sick.
We went to the drive in for the first time with Katen last night. We saw Iron Man and the latest Indianna Jones movie. Katen did well. She slept until around 9:15 when the movie broke and it got too quiet in the car for her. :) She played with mommy's glow stick for a while before falling asleep on Daddy's chest. He held her through the first movie. I held her though the second. I gave her another feeding when we got home at 2:30 and then she slept until about 6:30am. Thank goodness she decided she still needed some sleep after that and went back down after a snack until 8:30. Sleep is still sort of a hot comodity at our house.

Recent milestones:

I think we're teeting. There are no visible bumps but whoa nelly is Katen ever drooling and she'll chew on anything and everything she can get into her mouth. She's not afraid to try sticking her whole fist in her mouth and often goes for our fingers as well. The main problem right now is that most teething rings and toys are just too heavy for her. Since they're filled with water they weigh too much. I've got to find something safe for the kid to chew on for some relief!