First Solid Food

Aveline has been grabbing at my plate lately and watching me intently as I eat and drink, so I got the bug in my hat today to go ahead and let her try a vegetable -- peas. As you can probably tell from the photos, she was not quite so sure of the green stuff ("Mom, how dare you adulterate my palate?"), but she did keep some in and down, so that was something. I guess I may have started us on a new chapter in baby life. We will see if I keep it up over the next few days.

And here are my girls, showing off their skills:

Batting at the bouncer toy

Learning to play her new harmonica

Playing Around

Aveline is Four Months

Aveline turned four months old today. And I can say that she actually slept through the night last night, from about 7:30 p.m. until 6:15 a.m. Had I gone to bed when I should have, I would have been able to sleep eight straight hours -- I believe the first opportunity to do so since Avie was born. But, regardless, I got seven, so that was pretty decent, and felt quite nice. She is kind of all over the place on her night wakings. Most nights recently, she has been waking sometime around 2:00 a.m. and then usually again in the 4:00 a.m. hour. If that happens, I will usually just try to sleep on the couch in the back room with her from then on. I can get her back down after the first waking fairly easily, but that second waking is a bit more difficult. A few things changed for her over our holiday travel. I had started keeping one of her arms out of the swaddle prior to heading to North Carolina, and over the first leg of our trip I switched which arm was out, until eventually I just left her unswaddled, and she seems to be doing fine with it. Then, when we were at my parents' house in the middle of our trip, Avie slept in a crib in a separate room, albeit a room that was only separated from us by a bathroom, jack-and-jill style. But that was enough to make me feel comfortable to keep her separated once we got home. Thus, she is now in the pack-and-play in the back room. Once she is sleeping through the night on a more consistent basis, I plan to attempt moving her into her actual crib, in with Elsa. Elsa seems to like the idea of having Avie sleep with her, but we shall see what she thinks once we actually decide to make the move.

Elsa and I witnessed Aveline roll over the other way, from tummy to back, on her playmat a week or two ago, but she still does not roll in either direction on a very consistent basis at all. When lying on her back on the floor now, though, she does roll onto her side quite often. She is batting at more toys now and started grabbing and pulling the little bird that hangs on her carseat over our holiday travels. She will hold onto a lightweight ring toy or rattle for a few minutes as well. She laughs when you tickle her ribs or blow on her tummy. And she is starting to enjoy peek-a-boo. She will look at the pages of a book when I am reading to Elsa, and she already seems enthralled with the television (kind of frightening -- Elsa did not give it the time of day at this age). She still loves the swing, and takes many a nap there, as Elsa did at this age. And I remember worrying that I was starting bad sleeping habits, but I have to remind myself that Elsa turned out just fine. She still tolerates the bouncer for reasonable periods of time as well, but, really, she is getting quite big for both the bouncer and the swing, so we shall see how much longer they last around here. Most of all, though, Aveline thoroughly enjoys watching her big sister. Just this week she actually started laughing from the swing while watching Elsa dance around the living room. It was priceless.

Speaking of growing, we went to the doctor today. It was really just a vaccination visit, of which Aveline received two (Haemophilus influenzae type b [Hib] and pneumococcal conjugate), but I asked if Avie could be weighed, and dear Susan, the nurse practitioner, obliged. Avie weighed in at 14 pounds, 6 ounces (1 pound, 2 ounces up from her last visit). I am not sure where that puts her on the charts, but Susan said she seemed quite healthy. Because Elsa had not yet received the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine she was to receive at her three-year appointment, we decided to give it to her today since she was tagging along. Susan had the smart idea to have Elsa go first so that she would not see Aveline cry. That was probably the best route to take; however, Elsa was just as upset knowing that her shot hurt and that her baby sister was crying and having to endure the pricks as well. The poor child was hyperventilating by the time we left the office. But she was a trooper with her own shot, which she chose to have in her arm rather than her leg. She sat straddling me, facing my chest, and I hugged her close as Susan poked her right upper arm. It was quick, and Elsa did not shriek or cry... until it was all over and I exclaimed, "It's all done!" Then the tears flowed ("Yay! It's all done [sob, sob]!"). And then they came down in buckets and heaves when it was Avie's turn.

Avie's hair continues to fall out. Just look at how much hair Elsa had at this age in comparison! And I really do think I see blond hairs taking its place, but I guess we will not know for certain for a little while longer.

Aveline is a complete joy. She is such a happy baby. When she cries, you know there is a need to be met. (Unless she is in the car. Neither of our children have enjoyed car rides as young babies.) Her smiles are endless, and are such a breath of fresh air at the end of a hectic day. And she is cooing and babbling, which is such a delight to the ears. We could not be more thrilled to have her, rounding out this sweet little family.

Tummy Time from Last Sunday

The Disney Effect

Because I just cannot do it all (at least during this season of our lives), Elsa has been watching a decent amount of television lately, and has been introduced to several of the Disney movies, including her two new favorites, Finding Nemo and The Lion King. This past weekend, she decided she needed to "dress like a diver." Lucky for her, both her mommy and daddy used to scuba dive (Jarrett way more, and way more officially than me), and we still have all of our gear. So Elsa spent most of the two days begging to watch Nemo and donning Daddy's scuba mask and snorkel while watching the diver scene. She used to be a little frightened of just this one scene, but, since dressing up, seems completely okay with Mr. Diver. She was a little sad to find out we do not own a "diver suit," though. Today we went to the aquarium with Kate and James, and she was super excited to see divers in one of the tanks, as well as Dory and Nemo and his daddy in two other tanks. Prior to this visit, she was not really familiar with Finding Nemo, so this brought a whole new perspective to the aquarium. And, quite honestly, she seemed even more interested in all of the fish, and wanted to spend a fair amount of time at the tanks, actually watching the fish, and she wanted to revisit some of them several times over. This was Avie's second time at the aquarium, and she was also very interested in watching the sea creatures swim by in front of her.

And her Lion King dramatic debut involves acting out the scene where the monkey presents the lion cub to the rest of the safari animals. This completely cracks me up, as she seems so serious about the whole ordeal. And this might be common among children, as I remember my friend, Shelly, telling me that her son, Christian, did this exact thing with his baby doll. Elsa started out using her baby doll, but then discovered she had a stuffed lion cub, which she was greatly excited about. This has always been one of my favorite Disney movie scenes, and I think it just proves its dramatic effect on its audience.

Just Because