9 Month Update

A visit from Grandpa Dan at Thanksgiving. 

Greta's Thanksgiving Meal: Sweet Potato with Chicken, Apples, Apricots, and Cinnamon

I completely blew past Greta's 8 month update. A few days late turned into a few weeks late and all of a sudden she was 9 months old. So I am starting to write this ON her 9 month birthday even though I know I won't post by the end of the day. (Merry Christmas, I'm posting it a week later...)

In keeping with her development over the recent weeks, Greta totally surprised us by sleeping her birthday away. I came home around 4:45 and she had just gone down for a nap. At 8:45, we woke her up to feed her and give her her meds, softly sing her happy birthday, and then put her back down to bed. We have no idea what her night is going to look like, and that's actually pretty typical lately. I have been forgoing pumping in favor of nursing and so our routine is more unpredictable than it used to be. (By the way, that night was a disaster.)

As predicted in my last post, she stopped calling me Mama within a couple weeks, in favor of longer strings of Baba, dada, thatha, and mama (but not like the word -- just babbles). She babbles and just recently has started some waving-type gestures. She can stay in a seated position for extended lengths of time, although she very occasionally still face-plants into the carpet or falls backwards. We tend to avoid this by putting pillow behind her or sitting behind her on the floor and spotting her. 

That Boppy pillow is an awesome invention. 

Greta also is on the verge of crawling. She can "army crawl" pretty well, but she isn't crazy fast. I still feel comfortable with her being out of sight for a moment or two, even when she's not in her playpen. The playpen, by the way, is an amazing invention for folks like us who don't have gates. 

Her inability to crawl causes Greta great frustration. She has been more impatient and difficult to please. She wants to crawl SO badly. Unless she is in a very mellow mood, it is difficult to keep her happy. If you put her down to explore on her own, she's frustrated that she can't crawl. She will do push-ups and wail in frustration as she bends and straightens her legs and arms. Every now and then, she will manage to get up onto all fours -- with her knees bent below her. But once in that position, she struggles with what to do next and eventually cries in despair.

It's actually pretty painful to watch. I wish I could teach her how to crawl, but my attempts at doing so usually end with her face-planting and me feeling terrible for having helped her into a position she couldn't maintain. So no more of that -- baby will have to learn on her own. 

She's getting very good at eating puff snacks or cereal. It's so fun to watch her eat them -- it's a vaguely familiar action that is similar to when she puts other items in her mouth. But when she eats the cereal she does it casually and purposefully avoids eye contact while she puts the snack in her mouth --- almost an affected nonchalance. Interestingly, she's not great at chewing yet, so we haven't given her any finger foods that can't be dissolved in her mouth. She's eaten a wide variety of purées, though -- everything from fruits and veggies to legumes, meats and nuts. 

First time eating multi-grain cereal. 

She wasn't a fan of egg. She was really disappointed in us as parents when we gave it to her, although she still dutifully ate most of it with a look of pained resignation. 

So all of the above was from last week when I started writing this on her birthday. Today when I'm actually posting this is one week later . . . In the first week since she turned 9 months old, she also started clapping. This is one of her favorite activities now. She will clap with joy and with frustration. One of the most hilarious things to watch is when she is fussing and crying and clapping at the same time. It's amazing how fast they change, these babies. I had never seen her clap at all before maybe Sunday of this week, and now she does it constantly. 

She also started playing peek-a-boo again. On Saturday, I was in Barnes and Noble and she was in her infant carrier that was attached to her stroller so she was facing me. There's a little flap that can be flipped up in front of the baby's face and she started pulling it up and then waiting for me to say "Where's Greta?" and then revealing herself. 

Car seat with cover flap. 

What was fascinating was how much she laughed when she'd do it this time. Back a few months ago when she started playing peek-a-boo, she would occasionally smile or laugh, but more often than not she'd just put the blanket over her face again. It was as if she was saying, "Oh, you found me and that seems to delight you. Well, it's not difficult for me to do this, so I will cover and uncover my face as long as it pleases you, you fool." But this time it was much more interactive and fun and she took much more joy in it. 

What was crazy was when I went out to the car. We have a little mirror posted on the headrest of the seat on which her car seat is attached. I looked back in the rearview mirror to see her ducking her head down to make eye contact with me through our mirrors. Then she lifted the flap of her car seat cover and played peek-a-boo with me in the mirrors of the car. I played with her a little before pulling out of the parking lot, but she still tried to engage me in the game while we were driving. It was SO tempting to play with her. It's so rewarding to hear that tiny little laugh. But I was driving a car and it was hugely distracting. I had always heard that you have to be careful of those mirrors because they can cause a distraction and I had always assumed that they were talking about the distraction of a parent worrying about their kid and watching them obsessively. For me, though, that was never an issue. But this peek-a-boo in the mirror thing is totally dangerous and addictive. Must keep eyes on the road! 

Overall, our Baby G is doing well. This is a great age. It's amazing to me to think that she's spent as much time outside the womb as she spent in it. 9 months is a big milestone!

Who ME?

Yesterday, Greta looked right at me and said, "Mama."

Okay, so maybe she's not really calling me that, but when she says it, it sounds JUST like she's referring to me.

I always thought that babies who said, "Mama" while babbling were doing it more repeatedly. It's always described as "Oh, they were just babbling -- you know . . . Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma . . ."

But this feels different than what they describe. I know that it's still just babbling but it really sounds like she's saying Mama. Yes, it's repeated, but it's like this, "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma . . ." And she does the slightly-longer-first-syllable-slightly-shorter-second-syllable thing too. (Not sure if I can explain that properly, but if you imagine someone flatly saying the syllable "Ma" twice in a row, it sounds different than when someone actually says "Mama," right?)

AAAHHH! So insanely cute!

The best part is when she looks right at me while she does it. Yesterday she was playing on her belly and then she'd push up on her arms really tall and look right at me and say "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma . . ." and smile.

Today she would pull off from nursing and I'd sit her upright and, again, she'd look straight at me and say, "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma" and grin all slyly.

But I shouldn't get my hopes up that she attaches any meaning whatsoever. Because in all likelihood, as cute as this is, it isn't even going to last much longer. It's just going to be like the "Hi" thing from when she was around 3.5 months. She did it constantly for like a week or two and it sounded like the PERFECT little sweet "Hi!" and it made me insanely happy. And then she just sort of stopped. I was kind of sad when my baby just suddenly stopped greeting me.  And then the peek-a-boo thing. She did it incessantly for a little while, and then just kind of stopped taking an interest. And then now there's this "Mama" thing. Which she'll probably carry on for a week or so and I will become so attached to the idea of my baby calling my name. And then she'll stop and I'll think she doesn't love me anymore.

So yeah. Trying to walk the line between taking joy in this sweet new thing of hers and trying not to take it personally.

7 Months!

Time is flying by. Greta is already 1 week past her 7 month birthday.

The major updates are that she is a baby on the move. Case in point: I plunked her down on a soft blanket to have her usual floor time maybe 5 minutes ago and she's already scooting around on the hard floor a few feet from where she was placed.

You may remember that on her 6 month birthday, she rolled over from back to front twice in one day.  It was new and different. Now, if I put her down on the floor, I can pretty much be guaranteed that she will have rolled over at least 5 or 6 times within 10 minutes or so. And when she's not rolling, she's reaching and scooting and pivoting and occasionally even doing tiny push-ups onto her toes and arms. No official crawling yet, but she's working on trying to get up on her hands and knees.

She's a persistent baby. If a toy rolls away from her, she works hard to get herself over to it. She grunts and sighs and reaches and tries to use other objects that are within her reach to "lasso" the desired object into her reach. I get tired just watching her.

And watch her we must. Yesterday I laid out a blanket and set her down on it to chill with some toys while I went into the kitchen to start some food for lunch. She still moves fairly slowly and so it has generally worked to leave the room for a minute or two and then come back and check on her. Well, when I came back into the room to check on her, she looked like this:

 

Yes, that's my baby, tangled up in the blanket that I'd carefully laid out and set her upon, playing with a plastic bag. Not my proudest "responsible parenting" moment.

I think because she isn't fast, it's easy to assume that she won't get into stuff. But she's a stealthy baby. She will very quietly get herself into trouble.

At the end of this month, Greta also took her first airplane ride.

Greta on the plane. 

We went to Chicago to visit family and family friends. Greta met her cousin Cora for the first time.

Cora with Michelle -- 7 weeks of adorable.

She also wore matching aunt/niece outfits (sometimes inadvertently) on several occasions.

The trip was a success. We visited with several family friends. We road-tripped to Peoria to see my grandfather and uncle. We visited another uncle, aunt and cousin. It was very busy, I was completely drained without my partner in parenting, and Greta got way off her sleep schedule. But it was incredibly rewarding to see her meeting so many wonderful family and near-family members. 

Although flying with an infant was easier than I'd expected, being out of town and off-schedule with an infant was much harder than I'd expected. I am happy that we won't be doing it again for awhile, as much as I want to see all these wonderful people again soon. 

Other than the mobility, Greta hasn't changed all that much from last month. I think she's focusing all her growing energy into her new activity level. She isn't really any more vocal than she was before, and she's maintained the same levels of focus -- it's just that now she's focusing not on just touching things, but actively reaching them, grabbing them, using them to hit other objects, etc. She continues to be very social and with her stronger core, she will more actively lean towards people in order to listen in on their conversations, smile or laugh. She's become squirmier -- something that I noticed in particular when comparing her to her newborn cousin. Suddenly my baby was the maniac in the room!

She's working on sitting up. If placed in the corner of a couch or armchair, she will put her hands on the arm and back of the seat and sit upright. If she is supported by Ben's legs on her sides, she can sit up on her own fairly well. It's usually falling to the side -- rather than back or forward -- that prevents her from being able to sit completely unsupported. 

Physically, she feels much more robust. This was a change that I noticed shortly after we started solids with her and has continued since then.  All month long, I've been feeling like my baby has suddenly gotten huge. I was surprised when I took her for a weight check and she'd gained less than a pound since last month (although the previous months he'd only gained 3 ounces, so I guess I shouldn't be too dismayed). I feel like it's all muscle, though! Strong, active baby!

6 Months

We are overdue for an update! Greta's 6 month birthday was over a week and a half ago and she's changing so much these days she feels well on her way to 7 months old. Before I forget what happened between months 5 and 6, I'd better write her six month update!

She's getting bigger, but slowly. She's pretty well on-track when it comes to clothing (she outgrew her 3-6 month clothes around her 6 month birthday), but her measurements seem to be slowing down a bit. At her 6 month checkup she measured 25.25" in length and 13 lbs 11 oz in weight. This puts here in the 24th and 9th percentiles, respectively. She carries more of her height in a long torso, which explains why she's still outgrowing her clothing "on-target" despite being on the small side overall.

Even though she's comparatively quite small, it feels like she's getting bigger all the time.

I have heard often of parents mistakenly thinking that a baby has outgrown his/her infant car seat if  the child's feet reach the end of the seat. If Greta is in the bottom quartile for height, I can't imagine how quickly some parents must give up the infant seat unnecessarily. We still love ours!

There are three main (and major!) changes that have happened since her 5 month update.

Food
As mentioned in a previous post, Greta's first solid food was on Labor Day. We started with brown rice cereal and added squash a few days later. Since then we've been introducing something new every few days. So far (as of 9/28 at 6 months, 10 days old) she's had the following:

Grains
Brown Rice Cereal
Oatmeal Cereal

Fruits
Pears
Peaches
Bananas

Culinary Vegetables
Squash
Peas

Botanical Vegetables
Carrots
Sweet Potato

She's generally a really "good eater." We were at Ben's parents' house today and they were shocked at how much she was eating. (She seems to spit out a lot in my opinion, but I guess I don't really have any points of reference.) The only thing she hasn't seemed to like is the peas. We'll try those again when she's a bit older. To be honest, I don't really blame her. The texture of the pureed peas is much more . . . gross. I'm guessing we'll have better luck when we try them as a finger food.

Rolling
The second major development is that she's rolling a lot more now. It happened for the first time back in the fourth month, I think. Then toward the end of the 5th month, she started rolling here and there. It would always be a total surprise, though. Most of the time she'd look very much like she was going to roll, but then she wouldn't.

Fake Out -- A time when Great looked very much like she was going to roll, but did not. 

Then, at other times, I'd look down at my computer and up at her again and she'd have rolled over.

The first time she rolled from back to tummy was like this. I described it with some pictures in my Sept. 8 post. At first after that I thought she wasn't able to do it on her own -- that she'd pulled herself using the bar and it would be awhile before she could do it without grabbing onto something. But shortly after that, she started doing it here and there -- perhaps once a day from tummy to back and every other day from back to tummy (on average, of course -- it's not like she had a schedule). That stage lasted about a week.

Then on her six month birthday, she went all out.

She rolled over from tummy to back twice in one day. And acted like it was no big thing.

And ever since then it's like she leaped forward in her mobility. She will casually roll onto her belly and play for a bit, then roll onto her back for a bit, etc. While I can't say that I'm surprised by it anymore, I am still really impressed when I see her roll -- and shocked at how relaxed she is about it. The other day, I even saw her roll twice in succession (as in she rolled from back to tummy to back as though it was one move). We haven't seen her roll in order to get places yet, but I think that's coming soon.

Right now, her rolling seems to be mostly in the pursuit of toys, in which she has taken a more active interest.

She still enjoys examining them, but she picks them up herself now and passes them from hand to hand, rather than having them hang above her the way that she did when she was a four-month-old. It's weird how subtly some things change (the way that she plays, for example) versus the things that seem to change by leaps and bounds (like this whole rolling thing).

Peek-A-Boo
Speaking of things happening quickly. Greta has started playing her first game. About a week before her 6 month birthday, she started playing peek-a-boo with us. I was on the phone at the time and Ben got my attention to show me that she was playing peek-a-boo with him. She was holding a small blanket over her face and then pulling it down after being asked, "Where's Greta?"

This was a huge shock to me, as I could probably count on one hand the number of times that I had played peek-a-book with her. And I think they were all probably way back when she was 4 months old or younger. As I learned, Ben's parents had been playing some peek-a-boo with her more recently, but to our knowledge this was the first time she'd ever initiated it herself.

Building our suspense on the first evening she played peek-a-boo with us. 

It. Was. Awesome.

We captured it on video, but we don't want to post video here. If you know us in real life, just send Arden an email and we'll send you the link.

I can totally understand why this never gets old when you're the kid's parent. I was so excited to interact with her in this new way. There were so many characteristics that were conveyed through that game that I hadn't seen from my baby until that point -- humor, language, timing, communication. She seems to be experimenting with how long to wait before pulling the cloth away (and smiles more when she builds our suspense with an extra beat or two).

Interestingly, in the days that followed, I learned that although she seemed perfectly capable of grasping the concept of the game if she initiated it herself, she wouldn't play it if you put the cloth over her face. I found that if I handed the cloth to her, she'd put it over her face and play. But if I put it over her face, she'd just lie there, uncontrollably wiggling and giggling in anticipation of you taking it off of her. It was hilarious! At first, I thought that she didn't know that she could take it off if she wasn't the one that put it there. Later, though, I noticed that she'd sometimes do that to herself -- she'd put the cloth over her face and then if she let go, it was like she'd forget that she'd put it there. She'd know it was there (hence all the giggling), but no matter how many times you'd ask, "Where's Greta?" she wouldn't seem to know that she can take it off for the "big reveal."

Last Saturday was particularly amusing. Ben and I were getting ready to leave and Greta was playing on the floor. I was in the dining room folding laundry when I heard the familiar sound of her excited giggles. I went in to find her wiggling and giggling with the cloth on her face -- as though she was just waiting to surprise an unsuspecting parent.  

This is golden. Any second, they're going to come in here all "Where's Greta?" And they'll be so confused, but I'll be right here under their noses. Oh, this is gonna be so good!  

I have to say, she's actually pretty successful with the humor.  I'm laughing!

So many new things!

I think one of my favorite things about solids is that it's like there's a new milestone every 4 days -- and Mama and Papa get to decide when it happens. First time eating pears? Yes, I think we'll do that today!

After the brown rice cereal on Labor Day, we progressed to butternut squash on Thursday and then today it was pears. She had what seemed to be teething pain not too long after the pears, but then while I was standing her up on my lap, she made her "I'm pooping" face and so I think it was stomach upset. When we changed her diaper, we were shocked to see a fully-formed stool. She's never had a poop that could be described as anything approaching "solid" before. I had no idea that after only one week of a few tablespoons a day of solids, things could change so quickly!

Speaking of milestones that we had no control over, Greta rolled from back to front today. She was on her back playing in her gym and just hanging out, stretching on her side and pulling on the arches above her gym.

She was making funny faces at me while she arched her back and stretched, so I tried to capture a picture and this was what I got. 

Ben and I were just chatting while she was hanging out. Ben was on his computer and my view of her was blocked by the coffee table, so I was just checking on her now and then. A few minutes later, I looked over at her and saw her like this:

So Proud!

She really did look amazingly proud. And then she just hung out in tummy time for awhile and smiled at us and looked around back and forth between us as we ooh'd and aaah'd over her hard work.

Yay, baby! Big Day!

Big Day

Today, to commemorate the struggles and successes of labor unions throughout history, Greta ate 4 teaspoons of brown rice cereal.

She's five and a half months today and we decided this past week that we were ready for her to start solids. I'd always assumed that we'd wait until six months, as per the guidance of the WHO, but she just seemed really ready. Also, my supply dropped quite a bit in the last month since I've been back at work, and I've been worried that I can't pump enough for her. Best to get some extra calories in her, since she's already a pretty small kid!

Sure enough, she seemed pretty  ready. She opened her mouth eagerly, grabbed the spoon and held it in her mouth, and made little "mmmm!" noises. Yes, a lot of it still ended up on her chin and the bib, but to be honest I think she consumed 80-90% of what we gave her.

And once we were done she proceeded to have a mini-meltdown. Mama and Papa had teased her with just a small amount of food and now she was SO sad. As soon as I got her nursing, she ate hungrily, which was a relief because I'd worried she wouldn't be hungry. We'll have to experiment with timing milk vs. solids. This time it definitely didn't decrease her intake of breastmilk (which is good), but in the future when she's eating more (we gave her a third of a "serving" this time) we may need to give her solids after nursing, or at other times of day. Right now, she typically is willing to nurse right after a nap, no matter how long it's been since she nursed last. So maybe giving her solids right before a nap would ensure that she'd be hungry for milk after the nap regardless of how much was still in her tummy?

This is a whole new world for us! Any advice is appreciated!

Does "Gender Neutral" even exist?

When I was pregnant with Greta, we chose not to find out the sex of our baby before she was born. We specifically purchased "gender neutral" clothing and requested the same. We purchased a brown car seat with pretty blue accents and the baby's nursery was decked out in a woodland theme.

We don't regret any of those choices. Since her birth, we have been gifted or lent many "girl" items which we've been happy to receive, and we've even purchased a few ourselves. But by and large, we're very happy that the majority of our baby clothing, decor, and gear is considered gender neutral. We hope to have a second kid someday and it feels so wasteful to not be able to reuse as much as possible. Especially since they'd probably share a room. 

In practice, however, "gender neutral" doesn't seem to be a real thing. People just assume she's a boy. When out for a walk, Greta gets lots of attention, and nearly everyone who talks to her or about her, refers to her as a boy. They do this repeatedly -- it's not just that the "he" slipped out initially, but then they ask to make sure. This really surprised me, as I don't consider many of her "boy" items to be terribly boyish -- especially not the ones where this assumption has come up.  A grey onesie with a giraffe on it? A pair of multi-colored overalls? A yellow hoodie with bunny ears? A cute little monster sleeper? A plain white onesie? Are these things really that manly? 

I find myself sometimes wondering whether I should buy some hairbows to dress her in -- just to make it a little clearer. But then I remember that it's not that I want people to identify her as a girl, it's just that I don't want them to assume she's a boy. 

I think it's perfectly acceptable to say, "How cute! Is your baby a boy or a girl?" I understand that some people might feel awkward about asking, so in that case the reasonable alternative, in my mind, is for someone to say, "How cute! What's your baby's name?" and let the name do the explaining (although in the case of Greta, it sometimes still doesn't read as a girl name to people who aren't familiar with it, as Ben found one time). In most cases, asking the baby's name will get you all the info you need to continue with appropriate pronouns and avoid awkward phrasing, and if it doesn't, you can either coo a bit more and then move along in the conversation (or on your way, in the case of stopping someone in the street), or ask, "I've never heard that name -- is it a boy name or a girl name?" 

But for some reason, few people do this. They tend to just immediately jump to, "What a cute little guy! How old is he?" 

Is it just that parents of girls dress them so girly that even when a baby is dressed in just a plain white onesie, the assumption is that the baby is a boy? Does a lack of clear "girl" indicators mean that a child must be a boy? Do people subconsciously default to boy rather than girl because they think it would be more offensive to mistake a boy for a girl? 

As you may remember, we were in a car accident at the beginning of July which necessitated a new car seat. When trying to purchase a replacement from Amazon on short notice, the only two colors available in a jiffy were black and "Violet Spring" (a pink and purple combo). My first instinct was the black, as it was gender neutral like our old brown one. But it looked SO hot. And the Violet Spring was beautiful. Just also kinda girly. 

It went against our "Gender Neutral for Big Baby Gear that Could Be Saved for a Second Child" goals, but we decided to go for the Violet Spring anyway. Who knew if we'd even have a son down the road, or even a second child at all? And maybe some cool new super-safe carseat would have come out by then and we would be tempted to buy a different one anyway. And it would certainly make it clear that our current child was a girl and maybe we'd buy a replacement seat cover if we had a boy later on (their blue color is GORGEOUS and would have been my first choice if it had been available on short notice). Or maybe we'd just deal with a little gender confusion in the first year of life. We're already dealing with it with Greta . . . 

So we bought the Violet Spring and it arrived and it was beautiful and we're very happy. 

And people still think she's a boy. 

Yes, that's right, on multiple occasions while she has been sitting in the pink and purple seat, someone has referred to her with a male pronoun. 

Greta in her car seat, looking so manly. 

Seriously? Well at least we don't have to worry if we have a boy. He will totally rock this car seat. 

First Cousin!

Greta's first cousin was born yesterday.

Clara Ashley Neary

It all happened so fast! My mom was supposed to be arriving to visit with my sister today, but they changed plans so that she arrived on Thursday. Thursday evening, I chatted with them via FaceTime and my mom said that she'd arrived that afternoon and decided to take a nap straightaway. I told them how excited I was that Michelle would be having a baby so soon, and Michelle said, "Yeah, I dunno . . . maybe, maybe not " and remarked on how she'd been off of work for nearly a week and the baby still hadn't arrived.

That night at 11pm, Greta was crying and fussing. I woke up to go tend to her and saw that I'd received a text message at 10pm saying that Michelle's water had broken. I responded and she said that her contractions had started right away and were 3-4 minutes apart and asked if she should go to the hospital. I told her it was really her discretion -- for some people, 4 minutes apart is the "go signal" to go to the hospital, for others (like me), labor can continue like that for hours still.

I got another text from her saying that she was going to the hospital. Then I went back to sleep.

In the morning, I was wondering how long she'd be in labor and how things were going. When I checked my email, I saw that I had several emails from my mom with titles like, "Grandma and the Girls" and "She has arrived." The earliest of these had a time stamp of 2:13am! At 10pm her water had broken (which was her first sign of labor) and at 2:13am, I was receiving photos of her breastfeeding!

For an entire day, I marveled at how fast her labor had gone and kept telling people about her amazing, 4-hour-from-start-to-finish labor and delivery. And then, just now, I realized that it was actually only 3 hours. Because her water broke at 10pm my time, but it was 11pm her time. And the reason that my mom was able to send photos of my sister at 2:13am, when the baby was born at 2:14am was that the photos must have been sent at 3:13am their time. Which means that her labor went from a little before 11pm to 2:14am her time. About 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Ben and I would be lying if we said we weren't jealous. I think I still have a little PTSD over my own labor experience. And she didn't even have morning sickness! Man, somebody's gotta bottle that whole BFP-to-delivery experience and sell it!

We're insanely happy for them and so excited for our little niece! I can't wait to meet her!

5 Months!

At the time that I am writing this, Greta has recently turned 5 months old. I vacillate back and forth everyday – thinking she’s such a little baby one moment and thinking she looks like a toddler the next. Sometimes she just seems so grown up and other times it feels like nothing is really different. 

As far as specific milestones, not much is different. As I posted earlier, she rolled over for the first time a few weeks ago. But she hasn’t done it since then, so it appears to have been a bit of a fluke. For the most part, her development has seemed to be just a matter of MORE, for lack of a better word. She is more active, more demanding of our attention, more needy when it comes to naps (she doesn’t just sleep anywhere anymore). She’s also more coordinated and more purposeful with her movements – she reaches and grabs for things that she wants, she turns her head to look at computers, phones, TV’s (uh oh). She takes her pacifier out of her mouth and passes it from hand to hand, turning it over and looking at it from all angles.

Her growing interest in being able to interact with people and things more has prompted us to buy a "Go Pod." It's basically a collapsible exersaucer -- without the saucer part, the swivel part or the attached toys...okay, so maybe it's not an exersaucer at all, but just the baby version of a camp chair. Why don't I just show a picture of it? 

Her first experience in a Go Pod -- when we tried it out in a store (the one we actually bought was found via Craigslist).

She also has had a couple bouts of what appears to be teething pain. It will last for an entire day – generalized crankiness, crying, gnawing on her fists, etc. And then the next day it will appear to be gone. I suppose I should be glad that it is short-lived, but since we haven’t seen any actual teeth, we have no idea how long this is going to go on or how it will change as she gets closer to actual teeth. Greta isn’t much of a crier, so it’s particularly stressful when she’s upset.

She’s also been biting me while nursing. Just in these last few days. I could swear she has teeth in there, but when I look, there’s nothing. I’m not even sure if I can describe it as biting. It’s not like a distinct chomp. But she’ll just be nursing as normal and then all of a sudden the shape of her mouth will change and I will feel a horrible, sharp pain and have to pull her off. It feels like the early days of breastfeeding again. Part of me wonders whether her latch is just suddenly getting awful, but it doesn’t seem like that makes sense. I think she’s just experimenting with her mouth (she often makes chewing faces when she watches us while eating) and doesn’t realize that she can’t do that while she’s nursing.

Speaking of her chewing faces while she watches us eat, she has been taking a more active interest in food. She will lean forward and move her jaw in our direction while she watches us. She will follow our food with her eyes, as it moves from plate to mouth. She will reach out to touch food items – like today when she was sitting on my lap, she wanted to hold my glass.

Casey asked me recently whether Greta explores the world by putting things in her mouth. It’s strange, but in a way I kinda don’t think so. Which is strange for a baby, I know. It’s not that she doesn’t put things in her mouth, it’s just not her first instinct. She will usually spend a great deal of time looking at something and touching it first. Then, she will often put it in her mouth, but I guess I interpret it more as a “Hmmm . . . After examining this for a bit, I have decided that it would feel good against my gums. Mayhaps I should try it?” kind of reaction, rather than a, “Hmmmm . . . This is something I’ve never encountered before, what’s it all about? Let’s put it in my mouth and find out!” kind of initial reaction.

"I seem to detect notes of silicone, and just a hint of velour."

Maybe I’m reading way too much into my baby’s motives.

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that it is an interesting thing to note, as I’m not sure how she’ll react to food next month (wow! That’s soon!) when she turns 6 months old. I had always kinda figured that babies are so used to putting things in their mouth that it would be an obvious choice to make if they were presented with a piece of avocado or banana. But what if she just kinda touches it and doesn’t try to put it in her mouth? How will she figure it out?

I guess I shouldn’t be too worried about it, since she sucks on her hands like crazy. I guess even if she didn’t put the avocado in her mouth immediately, she’d touch it and examine it and then eventually put her hand in her mouth and I guess that’s when she’d discover the deliciousness and (hopefully), get the whole point of this food stuff. Or maybe putting toys in one’s mouth has nothing to do with learning to eat. Maybe it’s a specific learned behavior that she will naturally do, after having watched us put food in our mouths countless times over the course of her life. 

In other news, we found a great deal on a toddler chair at a resale shop. We'd been looking for one ever since we borrowed Walt's when we were in Steven's Point and used it to give Greta her meds.  Much easier than trying to wrangle her into deep corner of the adult-sized couch. She'd been taking her meds like a champ for the last few months, but she's particularly breezy with them while sitting in the chair. The most trouble she gives us is with distraction (turning her head to look at something just as the meds are getting close to her mouth), but most of the time, she knows to open her mouth wide and the whole routine is over very quickly. 

Just lounging. 

In other "Likes and Dislikes," Greta has discovered an admiration for Ben's hair. It's awesome to see her baby belly laughs when Ben tickles her with it, and she also loves reaching out and touching it, running her fingers through it and putting her face in it. 

She thinks this is the best ever. 

Sometimes we question her motives when she offers to perform a lice inspection. 

She likes my hair too and will reach out to grab it or run her fingers over it, but it doesn't offer her quite the same levels of pleasure as Ben's hair. 

Speaking of hair, she's getting quite the little tuft of her own. It's super cute because there's a part of it that sticks up like some kind of adorable Dr. Seuss character. It's hard to capture on film because it's so light in color,  but this was the best I could do. 

Overall, she's just a happy baby!

A little stranger anxiety? Or just an introvert?

On Friday, I took Greta to a social event with some work colleagues. She's a pretty spectacularly cute baby (objectively, of course) and so she was getting passed about quite a bit.

I was surprised at how she reacted to all the people. Usually I think of her as being such a social baby -- always smiling at people, reaching out to touch their faces, "talking" to them, etc. But yesterday she hardly smiled and seemed to focus mostly on sucking on her hand. Each time she was held by a new person, it was the same -- she would be pretty chill and nonchalant about it and then suddenly she'd make this adorable pout, we'd all say, "Awww! You made her pout!" to whomever was holding her (which turned into "Uh oh, you made her pout," by the third or fourth person), and then she'd start wailing. Greta doesn't cry very much, so it was particularly surprising to see this from her. Every time it happened, she'd get passed back to me and I'd calm her down and then she'd seem fine. Eventually, I'd notice someone eyeing the baby again, ask them if they wanted to hold her, and the cycle would continue.

One of my colleagues who works in early childhood development commented that she's a bit young for face discrimination/stranger anxiety. I figured it was probably something other than strange faces -- that she wasn't used to the way that the stranger held her, or something. Still, it was funny to me. I had only seen that adorable pout once before, although that was also when a new person was holding her.

Then yesterday, I was chatting with my sister via FaceTime. I held my phone up so that Greta could see Michelle and Michelle could see Greta. Greta met Michelle when she was just one month old -- so quite awhile ago at this point -- and then saw her again when she was about three months old. She's now almost five months old and I think this may have been her first FaceTime with Michelle since our last visit. Greta initially looked at Michelle, stared at her quizzically, "talked" to her, and seemed content and fine. All of a sudden, she started making the funny pout again! And crying! It was so bizarre! Even the image of a (relatively) strange person made her pout!

I've gotten so used to her being around the same people so often. When I think about it, she's really only around me, Ben, Ben's parents, Casey and Asher. She's usually so social with those people that I assume she's an extroverted sort of baby who hasn't reached the point of stranger anxiety yet.  But maybe these are the first signs? I will have to be on the lookout for the adorable stranger-danger pout in the future.

Who's rolling?

She just rolled over!

So first of all, I have to mention that I actually said the words, "She just doesn't seem like she's going to roll over anytime soon. I don't know -- maybe she just won't?" to some colleagues today at my first day back at work. I guess Greta could sense my doubt and decided to show me just how bad I am at predicting baby development.

So around 7pm  I was texting Casey this picture and commenting about how much better she's gotten at tummy time.

About a half hour before rolling over.

Casey was telling me about how she seems to be changing everyday now. Then Ben came down and I put her back on her belly and was raving about how proud I was of her chill attitude towards tummy time. He replied that he agreed with Casey that she's changing a lot and said she really enjoyed hanging out in one of Asher's exersaucers today. (Her experience in his other exersaucer last week had given me the impression that she was not quite big enough yet...see picture below.) 

Last week's exersaucer experience . . . she didn't really move. Like, not at all.  

All of a sudden, I felt her against my knee and saw and heard her head bump on the floor. "Be careful..." I said in my mama tone -- half warning, half comforting. And then I realized that she was on her back. 

Me: Ummm... did she just roll over?

Ben: I guess so. Because you put her down on her belly . . . and now she's on her back. Oh God. It begins. 

Proud Mama

Ben had to go back to Wisconsin to drop of the rental car and pick up our car after the repairs. This necessitated an overnight trip, which meant that I was on my own with the little Gretstar. *

I should note that, since Greta was born, she has never slept in a house with only one adult. Whether she was with us or with her grandparents, or her grandparents and us, or (at one point during the heyday of the family visiting) with her parents, both sets of grandparents, her uncle and one of her aunts, Greta has always had at least two adults in the house overnight. I also had had very little time at all (day or night) when I was alone with the baby. Since Ben was able to take time off this month, we've been together with her for all but a few hours here and there. 

So I went into this overnight with quite a bit of trepidation, but I have to say, I'm really pleased with how things went, although they weren't easy. 

I am going to take a moment to log the events of this occasion -- from yesterday morning, through until Ben returned home a few hours ago --  since they are significant to me. Feel free to skip ahead to the "highlights" section at the end if this kind of inelegant time-logging disinterests you. 

5am -- I woke up and pumped. Then I showered and dressed. 

6:30am -- I left the house and got some caffeine and food at Starbucks and then drove down to Eagen because I had a teacher licensing exam. 

7am -- I arrived at the community college where I was to take the test. Once I found it, I drove around looking for a place to discreetly pump without having to use a bathroom stall. 

7:25am -- I park at a local public park and pump with my hand pump. Thankfully, the dude mowing the lawns seems pretty oblivious. 

8am -- I drive back to the testing site and check in, asking for a place to put my milk. 

8:45am -- I start the test. I'd hoped it would be fun, but it isn't. :-( 

11:30am -- Test is finished and preliminary scoring says I passed. I grab my milk and other belongings and head back home. 

Noon -- I arrive home, grab some hummus and crackers and sit down to nurse. Ben leaves. Baby falls sound asleep while nursing on the first side, making it difficult to get her to finish the feeding. 

1:00pm -- Pack up and head to visit my uncle and cousins. This is harder than usual, since it's just me (I can't do my usual, "You get the baby and I'll get the diaper bag and nursing pillow," thing.) Somehow, I manage to get the baby, the stroller, the diaper bag, and my nursing pillow and other accouterments into the car. I do the baseless install for the car seat, since the base is in limbo while we wait for our "family car" to come back from WI. 

2:30pm -- Bid farewell to family and head to Casey's house for visiting time. Get Jimmy John's and start nursing around 4-somthingish. Enjoy lovely time with Casey. 

6:30pm -- Leave Casey's house and head home. 

7:52pm -- Call Ben to ask him whether he thinks I should just put her to bed after this feeding, or whether I should try to keep her up afterwards and do another feeding later on. Decide to try to put her to bed after this one. Reassure Ben that everything is going well. 

7:57pm -- Think to myself about how the only thing that could suddenly make this a lot harder would be a crazy diaper blowout. Prep everything (meds, nursing stuff, the works) while baby chills in the car seat. 

7:07pm -- Go to get baby. Baby is smiling. Pick baby up. Poop is EVERYWHERE. On the onesie, in the car seat, dripping from the diaper onto the floor . . . 

7:08pm -- Panic. 

7:09pm -- Call Ben. Ask what he thinks my priorities should be. Baby is hungry, baby is filthy, clothes and car seat are filthy. 

7:11pm -- After consulting Ben, I give the baby a bath (this is a first for me -- Ben is usually the bathtime pro) and put her in a new diaper. 

7:20pm -- I leave the car seat and onesie for now and just get her nursing, since she is frantic at this point. While nursing, I desperately try to find instructions for how to clean the carseat, but without looking at the seat itself, they make no sense. Halfway through, I give Greta her meds and put a sleeper on her. I finish nursing and put her to bed where she falls asleep, thankfully. 

8:30pm -- I clean the poop off the floor. FaceTime with Ben, who helps me interpret the instructions for carefully removing the seat cover of the car seat and then I put it and the onesie in the wash. 

9:00pm -- Shower. 

9:20 pm -- I get hungry. Empty the dishwasher while making a single-serve frozen bbq pizza and eat. 

9:50pm -- Note soreness in my breasts and decide to pump before bed. Take car seat pads out of washer and lay out to dry. 

10:45pm -- Get in bed. Get up several times to do things I've forgotten (like get my phone charger). 

12:00am-3:00am -- Greta wakes up intermittently and fusses. I go in and put the pacifier back in her mouth a few times. 

3:18am -- She seems hungry, so I decide it's time for her to eat. I consider nursing her, since it hasn't been so long since my last pump session that I'm overly-engorged and in pain. What if she doesn't go back to sleep afterwards? What if she doesn't fully drain me and  I spend an hour nursing, only to have to then still pump afterwards? And how will I give her her vitamins except in a bottle of milk? I decide that I don't want to risk it. I bring her down for the bottle I prepared the previous evening. She fusses while I'm in the kitchen putting the vitamins in the bottle, but smiles huge smiles every time I reappear. She takes the bottle, but keeps turning towards me as though she's expecting to latch while I have her snuggled into the crook of my arm. Seems very confused as to why I'm giving her a bottle. 

3:45am -- Put baby back down to sleep. Swaddle her "arms out" and go back down to pump. Watch her on the monitor while I'm getting pump stuff ready. Note that she is not going to sleep. Go back up two or three times to give her her pacifier and note that she is still not going back to sleep. I need her to sleep, though, because I now need to pump. Finally give in and go up and swaddle her. She falls asleep immediately. 

4:15am -- Pump. Deal with milk. Fill and run dishwasher. 

6am -- Get back in bed. 

7:20am -- Greta wakes up and is ready to eat. I bring her down, change her diaper and nurse her. While doing so, I get curious and decide to see if she'll latch on without the nipple shield. To my amazement, not only does she latch back on, but it doesn't hurt. Crazyness! She hasn't done that since she was a newborn, and at the time, it was pure agony for me when she latched on. Since then, on the random occasions when she's put her mouth on my nipple before I get the nipple shield on, it has also hurt like crazy. But for some reason when I put her on now (after using the nipple shield first for awhile in order to draw out the nipple and so that she's not ravenous), she doesn't cause me horrible pain! 

9:00am -- Celebrate! Put Greta into the stroller and go to Starbucks. Meet a neighbor on the way back. 

10:00am -- Try to start writing this post, but am interrupted by suddenly-hungry baby. Go to text Casey to tell her I've unlocked the front door for her (she was planning to come over around 10:30) and realize that I don't have my phone. And that it's in the stroller. In the garage. Pick up baby, go outside and get phone. 

10:10am -- Change diaper. Get baby back on breast. Realize that, although I've retrieved the phone from the garage, I've now left it by the changing mat. Clutch hungry baby to breast and keep nursing her while walking over to phone and grab it. Text Casey. 

10:45ish? -- Casey and Asher arrive for awesome-fun-happy-times.

Noon -- Ben comes home. 

Highlights: 

1. I dealt with a crazy diaper blow-out all by myself -- including giving her a bath (which I've never done alone before, or even taken the lead) and removing and washing the car seat pad. 

2. I got very comfortable with doing the baseless install with the infant seat. 

3. I nursed without the nipple shield for the first time since Greta was a newborn! And it didn't hurt!

4. I continued nursing while getting up and crossing the room.

5. I did the morning feeding all by myself -- even though that meant bottle feeding and pumping. (I very much hope I never have to exclusively pump for a baby -- it is HARD to do both tasks by oneself.) 

What's the point of all this? As you may have guessed, although this is probably no biggie for lots of mamas, it was a huge deal to me. Ben and I have really gotten into a routine -- especially with Greta's nighttime and morning patterns -- and so to have half of the team be gone was really a huge adjustment. But I did it! And I didn't go crazy. I feel really pleased and independent. And I have a huge appreciation for stay-at-home parents and especially single parents. Many thanks need to be given to Casey, my Uncle Brian, and my cousins -- Aaron and Katharine -- for helping me stay distracted! And to Ben, for believing in me and talking me through the disassembly of the car seat. 

And now, because I am a Proud Mama, I will end with a cute little comparison: 

Me (Arden), circa 1984

Greta, 2013

* Note: This post was written on Wednesday, July 24, but I had technical difficulties that prevented me from posting until today. Now that it's July 26, I might as well go ahead and give a Happy 6 Month shout-out to Asher!

4 Months

One of the things that I love about the number 12 is that it has many factors. So last month, when Greta turned 3 months old, we were a quarter of the way through her first year -- and now, only one month later, we're already a third of the way through her first year! It's a little crazy to think about and while I'm not happy that she's growing up, I am excited to be getting closer and closer to my goal of one year of breastfeeding.

Excuse me, Mama . . . I thought this was supposed to be about me? 

On to the the baby details! Greta seems to have changed a lot this month -- particularly in the last two weeks when we've both been off of work. I wonder how much of that is just that I spend more time with her and see more of the changes. For whatever it's worth, there are definitely some interesting points to note!

Tummy Time's Not So Bad!

Greta has always hated tummy time. Sometimes she tolerated it better than others and sometimes she fussed the second that she was placed on her belly. Often, she'd just spit up on her playmat and make a mess. I worried a lot about her motor skills and whether she was developing okay even though we couldn't do tummy time all that much. Her pediatrician wasn't worried and so we tried to not stress about it too much. 

Then she suddenly started tolerating it a lot better. I got home from work one day and Ben said she'd done 5 minutes of tummy time -- I'd only ever seen her go longer than a minute maybe once or twice, and she'd usually started fussing before the one-minute mark. This was a huge shift! Ever since then, she's much happier in tummy time. She still struggles and grunts, but she will often smile and seems much more content with the struggle than she was before. It's not her favorite, but she's getting better.

Baby's First Word? 

July 1 was our first day of break all together. Ben and I were sitting at the dining table and Greta was in the little seat that comes off of her swing. She was happily babbling to herself and Ben and I were each reading. All of a sudden, I heard a sweet little voice say, "Hi." I was startled and looked up at her, to see her smiling mischievously, quite pleased with herself. I looked over at Ben and sputtered, "Did you hear that?" He shrugged as if to say ain't no thang and said, "Yeah, she says hi." 

It was super cool. She had babbled "hi" and "yeah" a few times before, but this was clear-as-a-bell, sounds-just-like-the-word. Even though I knew it was just babbling, I spent most of the rest of the day crouched over her, chatting with her, saying "hi" to her over and over and trying to get her to say it again and again. Sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't, but it was so fun to hear.

Chatty baby!

A few days later, we traveled to Wisconsin to visit Annie, Sean and Walter. Walter, like many toddlers, also enjoys saying "hi" to people -- often greeting people not only at the beginning of a conversation, but frequently throughout it. One time, Ben, Annie and I were all talking and Walter was repeating, "Hi" to Greta, who had just finished nursing and was looking at him over my shoulder. All of a sudden, I cut Ben off mid-sentence because I noticed that not only was Walter saying, "Hi!" to Greta, but she was smiling and in her tiny voice she was saying, "Hi . . .hi . . .hi" to him as well. It was adorable!

It's important to count the baby's toes multiple times a day. Walter took to this task with enthusiasm. 

The jury's still out on whether it's her "first word" or not. On one hand, she definitely uses it as a greeting and a way to solicit interaction with people -- on the other hand, she isn't exactly consistent about it (sometimes she'll respond back with all kinds of other sounds, and other times she doesn't respond at all). Whether it is or it isn't, it's very fun!

Baby's First Car Accident? 

This one is much less exciting and unfortunately doesn't need a question mark because it definitely wasn't in our imagination. On our way to visit the lovely Annie, Sean and Walter, we hit a deer. Nobody was hurt -- at least not of the human variety (the deer was less fortunate . . . although to be fair, s/he was the one who bolted in front of our car at the last second). Ben and I both described the impact as feeling like little more than a bad pothole, but upon pulling over and surveying the damage, we found our car to be in too bad of condition to drive away. 

Sitting on the side of an unshaded, rural road in Wisconisn, miles from the nearest town, with horseflies bitting at one's ankles and a hot, sweaty baby who needs to nurse is even less fun than you might imagine. Remarkably, Greta handled it like a pro. She wasn't happy about the situation, but she was far less upset than the rest of us. Perhaps because she wasn't feeling  the stress of her parents. I can't believe this sun hat is the only sun protection that my baby has. Do I take her out of the carseat and hold her out here in the sun with all the horseflies? Or do I keep her in the carseat where I can bat the flies away from her before they bite her? How hot is it in that carseat? Will she be okay as long as I keep the door open or does she need more air circulation to not overheat? Should I nurse her now so that she stays hydrated? Or will we both just get unbearably hot? How long will it take the tow truck to get here? And will there be space in the truck cab to install a car seat? Wait a minute -- does the truck even have a back seat in which to install a car seat? 

Hangin' at the side of the road. 

Thankfully, Sean was able and willing to drive their minivan over to our location (an hour away from their home) and pick up us and all our gear. I nursed in the hot car with a thin blanket rigged up in the doorway to provide some shade and a modicum of protection from the flies while giving us a little air circulation. When the tow truck arrived, Greta and I hung out in the air-conditioned vehicle until Sean arrived and they'd loaded all our gear into the truck. Thank goodness for good friends! We all made it to Steven's Point in one piece. 

Through a subsequent conversation with the insurance company, we found out that they wanted us to replace our carseat. Since the newer version of our carseat had come out, this trip ended up resulting in "baby's first seat upgrade."

New Carseat

Finding Toes 

Greta has "found" her toes, as they say. She enjoys hanging on them for most of the day. I don't really understand why these milestones happen this way -- why do babies suddenly not only discover that they can touch their toes, but decide they want to do it constantly? What's the evolutionary advantage of toe-touching? Babies are so weird. 

It's totally cute when she does it all day long, but unfortunately, I think she tries to play with them in her sleep too. She usually sleeps in Halo sleepsacks -- the kinds that allow you to swaddle the arms while leaving the legs in just a sleeping bag environment. Recently, she's begun lifting her legs -- seemingly in her sleep -- and then drops them back down to the mattress with a big THUD. It's like she's doing reverse crunches -- she even has her arms hugged to her chest and everything. She sometimes does it over and over again, and other times she will just do it once (loudly enough to wake me up, but not herself), and then go completely silent again. I don't think it bugs her at all, but it certainly wakes us up! At least my baby will have killer abs. 

Book Baby

Greta likes it when we read books to her, but she has started to show interest in a new way. We recently received an "indestructible" book as a gift. It has no words, just really nice pictures, and it's made of a Tyvex-like material that is extremely durable while also being thin and paper-like. 

The first time I opened this book to show to Greta, she immediately began to reach for the pages. She hadn't shown that kind of interest with board books and I'd never positioned any of our paper books in such a way that she'd be able to grab at them. It was so cool to see her taking charge of a book like that. She loves to hold it and turn the pages. She's not quite "graceful" when it comes to that skill and I am certainly very grateful for the indestructible nature of these books, but it's so fun to watch her interact with a book in this new way.

Moving Towards Mobility

Greta hasn't rolled over yet. We've been pretty okay with that -- after all, the longer she takes to roll over, the less we have to worry about baby-proofing our house. However, in this last week, we saw the beginning stages of mobility. 

Ben had put Greta on her playmat and talked to her and played with her a little before going upstairs. I was sitting at the dining room table -- eating and keeping an eye on her as she played by herself. She was mostly just doing the aforementioned leg lifts. A little while later, I looked at the clock and realized it was time for her to nurse (Greta doesn't really "cue" for her meals anymore -- we've basically got her on a schedule and unless she seems hungry earlier, we just feed her every three hours during the daytime.) I went over to pick her up and noticed that she seemed like she was in a strange place . . . kind of off to one side and, well, a bit askew. I gave her a quizzical look, which she responded to with a big smile. I went upstairs to Ben and said, "Can you come down here and tell me if this is where you left the baby?" He was a bit confused at first, but when he came down, he said, "Uh . . . no, no it's not." 

He reconstructed where he must have put her down and where her head and feet had been, based on what little activities he'd been doing with her before he left. To the best of our knowledge, she'd subtly, sneakily, half-scooted-half-pivoted herself so that she'd moved her core about 3 inches and her head and feet had rotated about 30 degrees counterclockwise. She did it so subtly that to me, across the room, it looked like she was just doing leg lifts and staying in position. 

Three inches may not be much, but we know that this is just the beginning. Mentally bracing ourselves for baby mobility. 

Social Butterfly

I think in general, we're just finding that she's more demanding of our attention now. She is acting more like a kid than an infant. It used to be that all she needed from us was food, diaper changes, and a little help getting to sleep. Any "entertainment" was just icing on the cake -- she enjoyed it, but didn't really miss it when it was gone. In the last month or two, she's definitely become more demanding of our attention. She lets us know when she's just plain bored. She doesn't just want to play by herself as much. Now, if she is in a sociable mood, she begins fussing the moment that we stop interacting with her -- even if we're still in the exact same position. The moment we talk to her and smile at her, she will perk up and be fine -- and the moment we look back at our book, or computer or phone, she will let us know that she's displeased. Maybe this is her way of trying to limit our screen time.

Wardrobe Updates

Greta is still in size 1 diapers and they still seem to fit her pretty well. Although, at her 4 month check-up, we accidentally put a size 2 diaper on her after the weigh-in and it seemed to fit her pretty well too. So maybe we'll just use up the last of our Size 1's and then try out a Size 2 (although Size 1's are the best deal, so we're trying not to jump the gun on that change).

As far as clothing, she's solidly in 3-6 month clothing. She can still fit into some of her 0-3 month pieces, but we have enough 3-6 outfits that we're going to send all her 0-3 stuff along to Michelle and Chris (my sister and brother-in-law) for when their baby arrives in August/September. On that same note, we received a shipment of clothing from them, on loan until their baby grows into it. I love exchanging clothing like this. The box had enough adorable outfits to keep her clothed for quite awhile!

Greta's 4-Month Birthday photo -- sporting a summery onesie on loan from her cousin-to-be!

The More Things Change . . .

In a lot of ways, Greta hasn't changed so much as she's just grown in her experiences and interests. For example, she's always loved light fixtures. I suppose, then, it shouldn't have been surprising that when we visited the MIA with her, she was most taken with the chandelier in one of the period rooms.

A new take on an old favorite. 

Similarly, her interest in standing has really taken off. If she's a bit fussy, that's my "go-to" maneuver. She always looks so pleased with the world when we do it. I love the way that she begins grinning and looking around immediately, as though to say, "Yes! A fresh perspective!" 

We've been running the air conditioner pretty frequently, but earlier in the month, she continued her love of the fan. 

Again, so glad this baby isn't mobile yet! She's already eager to touch the fan!

Can't wait to see what the next month brings!