So much... (part 1)

So much has happened since I last wrote that I'm going to have to break this blog up into a few pieces. This is part 1.

"Busy, busy, busy. Lots to write about."

"Oh, hi! I'm just working on the blog."

Two Saturdays ago, the 21st, Rob, Gloria and I went to Rockford for dinner with our friends Jason and Corrie. We enjoyed some delicious hotdogs and ice cream cones before taking a walk by the river. It was a beautiful evening - perfect weather for a walk. Gloria had fun watching some ducks and seeing the water flow over the dam.

"We're so cute!"

"Our happy family."

On Wednesday Gloria and I went to a thrift store that was celebrating it's 4th anniversary so everything in the entire store was 1/2 off! We bought some toys, a swing for outside, and two outfits. Then we went to Babies R Us to get some diapers and walk around. I had to nurse her so we went into their nursing room. There are two large baby faces on the walls and Gloria kept smiling and playing peek-a-boo with one of the faces. Needless to say, nursing was not super successful with her continually turning her head to look at the baby face. While there, I took a picture of Gloria's first owie. She must have scratched herself in the morning because it was a red spot for awhile. At first I thought it was a bug bite, but upon closer inspection, I could see a scratch. She was not bothered by it one bit :)

"My first owie!"

To be continued...

Meijer

This afternoon Gloria and I went to Meijer for a shopping adventure. Rob and I have been trying to go for a few days but it never worked out that Gloria was content enough when he was ready to go. So, I decided that in order for us to have dinner tonight Gloria and I would have to make the trek alone.

I put her in the front carrier I have and we were at the store for close to an hour. She happily looked at everyone and everything. I hooked her keys onto some links and connected it to the carrier, but she didn't even want to hold them. I was quite impressed with my ability to shop with her alone. Gloria didn't fuss once while we were there or as I put her back into her carseat in the car. She fell asleep on our way home - I tired her out :)

We've been giving Gloria cereal everyday since Saturday and she still loves it. Tonight while Rob and I ate dinner we were feeding Gloria as well. She kept making noises that sounded like "Mmmm" as she was eating. And it seemed like we couldn't shovel it in her mouth fast enough for her. We've been making about a tablespoon of cereal mixed with an ounce of breastmilk and she finishes it off with no problem. I don't think we have any plans to increase the amount of cereal at least for the rest of the week. We'll probably start giving it to her in the morning and evening next week, if she keeps eating it with such gusto. As for other solid foods, we won't be starting those until she's 6 months old (which is only a few weeks away!).

Now for a "blast from the past!"

Cereal!

Yesterday Gloria had rice cereal for the first time. She LOVED it! She would open up her mouth as the spoon was coming towards her and then she started grabbing for our hands to make it come faster. We're going to start giving it to her once a day for a week or so and then move to twice a day. Our baby is growing up!

"Open wide!"

"Mmmm"

"That's some good stuff."

"Hurry Daddy! I want more!"

Here's a video of Gloria's first cereal experience.

And here is a video of Gloria jumping in the jumperoo! She finally figured it out. What a smartie-pants!

5 month Update

"Just call me 'Miss Blue Eyes.'"

Let's see...where to start?

Gloria has been really good about taking naps in her crib. Every once in a great while I'll put her in her swing or she'll fall asleep in my arms while nursing. Mainly she's in her crib. The 90 minute cycle is right on with her. Usually she takes a 30 minute nap every 90 minutes throughout the day, with one (or possibly two) stretches of being awake for 3 hours. What Rob and I have noticed since we started putting her in her crib for naps is that Gloria will sort-of moan/whine with her eyes closed right before she falls asleep. The first times she did it was really funny because she'll do it fairly loud but her eyes are closed and she's not moving. She even does it in the car before she falls asleep now.

A little more than a week ago Gloria discovered that she has ears. Now when she's nursing she loves to grab onto them and tug. I actually took her to the doctor last week because she was pulling on her right ear so hard and also didn't want to lay on her right side to nurse. Her eardrums looked perfect so she really was just figuring out that she has new play things on the side of her head. (On a side note, she weighed 17 lbs. 2 oz.)

Last Friday, on Gloria's 5 month birthday, she and I went to the mall. She really likes riding in her stroller looking at everything. Since we had no company for the day, the birthday treat was small. I made some s'mores for me and Rob in the broiler. The marshmallows get golden brown and the chocolate melts. Yum - I might have to make some tonight!

"I'm 5 months old! WOOHOO!"

"My favorite book is interesting and tasty!"

This past weekend, while we were at my dad's house, Gloria spied Auntie April getting ready to open up a can of root beer. Gloria really wanted her to share since she has seen pictures of her cousin Ami drinking muscle milk and beer :)

"Yum!"

"Nice and cold. Just the way it should be."

Check out Gloria jumping at Grandpa's house this weekend.

The other day, Gloria and I went to a thrift store that I hadn't been to in awhile. I made some great finds - a Little Tykes washer/dryer/ironing board and a Little Tykes doll bed with a drawer underneath for doll clothes. My dad is storing the washer/dryer until Gloria is a bit bigger; it will be a fun Christmas or birthday present! The doll bed is currently in our living room, but I'll be saving that for a present too. Yesterday, being the silly daddy that he is, Rob put Gloria up on the doll bed. She thought it was funny and was giggling and getting her toes.

"This bed is too short! Or maybe I'm too tall!"

"I'm so cute, I'm a little doll!"

Since we're planning on starting Gloria on cereal one of these days, her highchair had to be put together. I took the task upon myself as Rob put Gloria down for a nap yesterday afternoon. It went together surprisingly well.

"The Handy-Woman of the house."

When Gloria woke up, we put her in the highchair and watched her reaction. At first she didn't enjoy it because we buckled her in like we do in the car seat. (She doesn't like getting buckled into the car seat.) Once she was in there and we showed her the toy that goes on the tray, she got all serious and began concentrating, trying to figure out how the toy works. She's definitely a thinker.

"How does this toy work?"

"I've figured it out! I turn the turtle and the music plays!"

We haven't really decided on when we're going to give her cereal for the first time. Over the last few days she's started going 3 hours between some of her feedings which helps me feel less "tied down." However, we have experimented with a baby spoon just to see what she'll do. Somehow Gloria knows exactly what to do - she opens her mouth, closes it around the spoon, and lets us pull it out. You can be sure that I'll post pictures/video of Gloria's first cereal experience once it happens.


Another fun thing that happened yesterday was Gloria figuring out how to jump in her jumperoo. Up until this point, she had only really just sat/stood in it and played with the toys. Occasionally she would stand up really tall, lift her feet off the ground, and then enjoy the bounce. As we were waiting for Rob to come home from work yesterday, Gloria started going crazy. She was jumping on her toes and wiggling all around. She was doing double-footed jumps and single-footed jumps. She was picking her feet up really fast like she was running. I put her back in it today and she remembered how to jump!

"Enough pictures already.
I'm taking that camera from you and
we'll see how you feel having your picture taken all the time!"

Oh, one more thing from yesterday! Gloria has been rolling from her back to her tummy for awhile now, but she seemed to have forgotten that she already knows how to roll back onto her back. I had her on her tummy yesterday morning and she rolled onto her back three times in a row. She remembered!

And I had to include this next picture because it's so cute. Monet decided to take a nap in the sun by our front door - using my shoes as a pillow :)

Birthdays and Father's Day

This weekend we celebrated April's 21st birthday as well as Father's Day. We spent Saturday at Grandpa Hettig's house. Gloria had a fabulous time! They had an exersaucer for her to play in and a jumper that hooks on a door frame. She thought that was the coolest thing! She was bouncing and spinning all around. (I have a video of Gloria bouncing that I'll have to edit when she's not sleeping in her swing right next to me.)

"Grandma Vicki's hat might be a bit too big for me."

Then, on Sunday, we went to Grammy's house to celebrate the birthdays of April and Great-Aunt Kathy. Gloria tried but couldn't stay awake to watch Auntie April blow out her candles. She had had a very fun-filled and exciting weekend.

"Happy Birthday April (and Aunt Kathy)!"

For Father's Day, Gloria gave Rob some presents. She found him a new pocket knife, a small water bottle, and a shirt that says "World's Greatest Dad." She also gave him some pictures of the two of them together - one large collage and one in a frame that says "My heart belongs to Daddy."

Zoo

"What's a zoo?"

Today Gloria and I went to the zoo with my friend Susie and three children that she was watching. Gloria enjoyed being outside in the stroller and took a nap for part of the time. She didn't realize we were at the zoo. The weather was hot but luckily there was a breeze and the sun wasn't pounding down on us. I definitely will be taking Gloria back to the zoo this summer - even if she doesn't know we're there, I can get out of the house and walk around, looking at the animals. (The zoo is getting lions this Saturday! You can bet it will be crowded there for awhile.)

"The wallabies are fun to look at. One even had a baby in it's pouch!"

Gloria was sleeping while we watched the bears swim and splash.

"I like the monkeys!"
(There's one in the top left corner.)

A close-up of Gloria's face from the monkey picture above...

"I'm a little monkey!"

Gloria and Boomer are great friends. She gets a smile on her face and starts talking to Boomer whenever he walks by or she spots him across the room. When his tail brushes by her face, sometimes she giggles. She likes to pet him and is fairly gentle with him. Boomer doesn't mind - unless she grabs his fur a bit too hard.

"Best friends"

Time to think about child-proofing

Gloria had so much fun in her swimming pool the other day! We'll be packing the pool up when we head to Auntie April's 21st birthday BBQ this weekend though! Hopefully the weather will be warm enough for Gloria to show off her swimming skills.





Now, the reason why this post is called "Time to think about child-proofing" - just take a look at the following two pictures that I took yesterday.




Her knees are coming under her body and she's lifting her booty up in the air. After she gets her knees under her, sometimes she tries to push with her feet and will move an inch or so. I can't believe she's already doing that! She's not even 5 months old yet!

"How fun! My exersaucer is outside!"

Today Gloria wore a new outfit that I bought yesterday at a kid's consignment store. I got 6 outfits for her - they were all 50% off, so I spent about $20. I'm addicted to baby things and good deals. When I find good deals on baby things, it's the best!

Posing for Mommy in one of her "new" outfits purchased yesterday

Now Gloria would like to type out a story for you to read. She always wants to type if I'm holding her at the computer. So here's Gloria...


c lon 7n bfhn h xcg bv
y CVX FGV NNNNNN ACFNH ZCVTG BXD NTF EGY V, C G B C D BS NH Z N NXM

Swimming

Today Gloria was able to enjoy her brand-new swimming pool! We filled it up with warm water and let her splash and "swim" outside. She had so, so, so much fun! She got to wear her new bathing suit for the first time. I have a feeling that we'll be doing this a lot this summer!

Warm weather means summer clothes!

"I have friends on my feet!"
May 25, 2008

"I'm wearing another pretty dress!"

June 5, 2008

Yesterday was the end-of-the-year party for Trinitas at Silver Lake. Gloria and I went to visit with the parents, teachers, and kids. Gloria had a great time seeing new people and being outside. She didn't stick her toes in the water; it was a bit too cold.

Playing at the lake

Cooling off inside before we drove home

"This shirt is a lie. I do mornings.
I just don't do early evenings - that's my fussy time."

This morning when we woke up, it was getting pretty warm and sticky in our house so we turned on the air conditioning and hung out in summer clothes. Gloria is finally able to wear her cute summer onesies and sundresses! They are so incredibly cute on her!

"Good morning! I'm a happy happy girl!"

"I'm so excited!"

Gloria likes to lift her legs and arms up while she's on her tummy and make swimming motions, especially when she sees something that she likes laying in front of her.

Now, prepare to be entertained by our little fishy :) (From Wednesday, June 4)