Girlsl Just Wanna Have Fun

Maribelle had her first all-girls slumber party last night, with Aunt Tara and Cousin Anna. We gave Maribelle a crash course in sleepovers and baked cupcakes, made a mess with frosting and sprinkles and basically ate our way to bedtime. (Instead of cupcakes, Maribelle enjoyed a scrumptious puree of sweet peas. However I'm convinced that she sampled some frosting when we weren't looking. I found a huge smear on my chest that I know I didn't put there!) It was an early bedtime for me and Maribelle, but Tara and Anna stayed up late into the night playing cards and watching the Disney Channel. Just a bunch of wild and crazy girls!

What's up, Doc?

Maribelle is a regular old Bugs Bunny and loves, loves carrots. Can you tell?


She's been loving this whole new world that's opened up for her in the form of baby purees. And I've been having fun myself, preparing all the yummy foods at home (which is crazy, because I despise cooking. But this doesn't really require much cooking, just a lot of planning and organization, which I love). All it takes is a little chopping, steaming and blending, and voila! Inexpensive and awesome baby purees that we freeze in ice cube-shaped portions. I did a batch of her favorites this past weekend, avocados and carrots. Yumm!

Six Months

Poor bunny marked her six-month birthday with a nasty stomach bug! Vomit, diarrhea and all. Needless to say we're now stocked up on Pedialyte and have waterproof pads under EVERYTHING. And the day after that, she had her 6-month doctor's appointment and shots. Here are her 6-month stats and a little bit about what she's doing now:

Weight: 14.11 oz (25th percentile)

Height: 26in (50-75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 42 inches (50th percentile)

* She's starting to show lots of interest in toys, especially those that make some sort of sound or music. Some of her favorites include her babydoll, her musical octopus, and any toy she can cram in her mouth.

* Coinciding with her interest in toys, she now reaches for things that she wants and likes. My favorite is when she grabs for my face and puts both hands on either side of my cheeks, like she's giving me a big face hug.

* She loves to stand and prefers being on her feet rather than on her bum!

* She finally rolled! Granted, she's only rolled from her belly to her back a total of four times, but at least we know she can do it. And I'm convinced she knows how to roll from her back to tummy, but she just has nooo interest in showing us, of course, cause it's fun keeping us in suspense!!

* We've been taking her to Music Together classes for the past couple weeks, and she loves it! We sing songs, dance around and play all kinds of musical instruments. Maribelle is the youngest baby in the class, but enjoys watching the other kids and adults run around the room and make lots of noise.

* She's in love with the dogs, especially Olivia. She loves to watch them, pet them and giggles when she touches their fur, or when they give her fingers a quick lick. And while Olivia seems to have a true maternal instinct toward Maribelle, Manny could really care less about her. In fact, he stays far, far away. That's a WHOLE other blog entry in itself, poor poopers.

* She's made great strides when it comes to the sleep department (but don't let me fool you, we still have a ways to go). She's finally starting to take naps in her crib, which is huge, and we're depending on the swing less and less for her naps. The other sleep development is that putting her to bed at night no longer takes three hours anymore. Finally! I used to have to pace and pace and pace around our family room for hours until she went to sleep, and then I would hold my breath as I put her down in her crib, only to have her wake up 10 minutes later. But thankfully, that has all changed. We've established a nice bedtime routine and now the whole process takes about a half hour from start to finish.

Little Squawk Box

"I like to eat, eat, eat ...."

In my previous post I alluded to a certain milestone that was recently met, and based on the above photo, I'm sure you can figure out what that was. That's right, Maribelle is now a solids-eating baby!! For months now, we've been getting drilled with questions about when Maribelle was going to get her first taste of food, particularly rice cereal. Up until this point, she's been exclusively breastfed, and she's been doing a mighty fine job of it, if I do say so myself. We decided to hold her off on solids until six months, which is what most pediatricians recommend, so with that date not far off, we decided to start her culinary journey last week while Grandma A. was still in town.


I had been debating whether or not to start Belle with rice cereal, or whether I should skip right to tastier foods such as avocado or sweet potato. Well, I decided to give rice cereal a go as Belle's first meal, and our little girl is a natural-born eater! (We're totally not surprised). She ate a pretty hearty portion for her first go at solids (maybe a tablespoon in all). But, she quickly decided that the rice cereal wasn't so yummy after all. I think after taking a second to actually taste the gloppy, clumpy stuff, she decided it totally wasn't worth it. And I don't blame her! So, we quickly moved on to avocado, and she LOVES the stuff. Get this girl a tortilla chip, cause she wants guacamole!!


After eating avocado for a few days, we moved on to bananas, which is where we are right now. She's lukewarm about the bananas (which surprises me!), but I have a hunch it's a texture thing. So I used Jeremy's handy-dandy hand blender to mash up the bananas to a smoother consistency, so we'll see how that goes. From here, we move on to sweet potatoes, which totally excites me (oh how I wish I could melt marshmallows on top!). She's getting food twice a day, in the morning and then at night, and right now, her portions are still very small. She's still practicing all the new tongue and mouth motions and getting used to the idea of eating something other than liquids. Which might explain the new noises she's making now with her mouth. The clip below shows one of the newest sounds she's been making (you might have to turn your volume all the way up to get the full effect). Oh, and she screams now. In pure delight. But nevertheless, she screams. And we love, love, love it.

Red and White Beauty

Where to begin! There's so much to report, but I know it's the photos that are most interesting, so I'll keep this short. Last week was jam-packed with visitors, outdoor dinners, and even a few milestones (more on that later). Our daycare provider was on vacation last week, so Grandma A. came to the rescue and spent some quality bonding time with Belle. Having her around was a huge help, and I know Maribelle enjoyed all the attention and extra hugs and kisses. Grandpa A. and Aunts Laura, Jamie and Tara also made appearances throughout the week and got their fill of Maribelle goodness. We rounded off the weekend with Fourth of July festivities at our house (minus the fireworks ... Belle was already in bed before dark!). After such a great week with the family, it was so hard to see everyone leave!