Big post: Park, food and new toy

Lia got a new toy! I like this picture becaues she's just staring cross-eyed at it. :)

Part of the toy :) We have a bigger version of this too. :)

Kate and I brought Lia to the park yesterday to go on the swings. She loves the swings and kicks her legs whenever she's in them. It was COLD outside, by the way. :)

Her shoes kept on falling off, so we finally scrounged up some clean ribbon that was left over from some birthday party probably and tied them on. It didn't work... she kept on kicking them off anyways. :)

"See she flies through the air with the greatest of ease, Lia the bird on her flying trapeeze!"

Messy baby eating!

This is her in her new high chair BEFORE the flying rice. :)

First Bites

So, for the last month or so, Lia has been watching me eat, and when I would give her a spoon to play with, she'd suck on it happily. Yesterday I got a baby spoon and pretended to give her food (with nothing on the spoon) and she opened her mouth wiiiiide and grinned. There have also been instances where I'll be eating and her little hand will reach out and grab a fistful of whatever I'm eating, and then she'll move as fast as she can as she attempts to get it into her wide open mouth. :) So, after this afternoon where she grabbed a cracker from the table, I decided to give her a try. If she didn't like it, no big deal- we'd wait another month or two and try again. I shouldn't have doubted her. She liked it. She was a little confused, but she opened her mouth to eat some more. No gag reflex, no screwing up her face. Yay! However, I think that this will be a once a day thing and only a few teaspoons. Maybe at dinner? :)

Oh, and speaking of food! At 4.5 months past when I delivered Lia at a whopping 178 lbs (shhh!), I am back to my pre pregnancy weight of 133!! Hooray! (but I still can't fit into my stupid jeans...)

"Merciful Lord! What are they giving me? What IS that?"

The icky stuff.

The instruments of torture...

"Hmmm... this isn't so bad..."

"I could get used to this! Gotta get that little bit on the side of my mouth!"

*Big open mouth*

Reading!

Lia was reading her new board book from Grandma Lock this afternoon... that scratch on her head is from when she tried to open a page too fast- caught her in the noggin.

Easter!

This is Lia in her very PINK Easter dress!

Watching the festivites...

This was a quick shot of Clare when she found her easter egg

Nana Duck holding Lia! :)

I love these two shots of Mom and Clare walking across the bridge.

Lia's been making this expression a lot lately. It cracks me up. ;)

Baby Quail!

I put Lia's hair in a little ponytail on top of her head. She looked like a cunning baby quail! :)

I had a hole in my pant legs and she inspected it very carefully for about five minutes...

Lia's a "finalist"

So, there is this contest on thenest.com (babies site) each season. The baby who 'wins' is used for promotional things that are sent out on thenest.com for that season... I was bored one day so I entered Lia. And would you believe it, she is a 'finalist'? :) Anyhow, if you want to vote for her, the website is:

http://www.thenestbaby.com/stages/contest.aspx?contest=nextnestbaby

She's obviously #4. Stupid baby #2 is winning... :) Anyhow, there were 400 entries, so Lia did pretty good even making it to the finals. :)

Sick Baby...

Sorry I haven't been updating much, but we've been busy! Chris turned 30, and we did a party which took up some time. :) Anyhow, these pictures are of Lia a few days ago.

"Hello..."

"Yup, I'm smiling!"

"Okay... time for the camera to be put away, mom!"

I thought this picture was funny because of how teeny Lia looked next to Dad, who was working.

And then there's today... Lia got a nasty cold Saturday night which basically had the whole family up for the whole night. Every time I laid her down to sleep it sounded like she was drowning in her own snot (too much information, I know...). She was such a sick baby. :( Last night, we put her to sleep in her carseat (per Nana Duck's instructions) and she ended up sleeping her normal six hours, eating, and then another three. But today she's still all runny, has a red nose, both eyes are watering and she just looks sick. I feel bad for her. I don't think that babies should be able to get colds, especially since they can't blow their own noses. :( Anyhow, we have a Dr appointment this morning for her 4 month check up, so we'll go in and have her ears checked but delay her shots. Getting her immunizations on top of having a cold would just be mean.

Chubs!

Lia has discovered her toes, and one of her favorite places to be is on her changing table, bare bottomed, nekid and holding onto her toes. :)

She likes to make lots of different faces in a minute...

Johnny Jump Up

Sorry for the poor quality, but this was as clear as I could get it with Lia jumping like a fiend. We got a johnny jump up at the second hand kids store near us, and she couldn't love it more. She spent most of this afternoon jumping in it and squeaking with joy. Her little feet were kicking as hard and fast as they could go as she twirled around in circles and up and down in the air. She really loves it... and tomorrow Grandpa is going to come over and see if he can screw in some wood into the wall so that she can jump in the kitchen! :)

Compulsive Shopper

I swear... it is getting out of hand. So today, I hadn't planned to buy anyone anything. But then I realized I needed some new underwear (I can talk about that- since only people I know pretty well read this blog!) so I set off to the mall. While there I found some adorable pants. And of course, instead of buying one pair like a normal person, I had to buy two. THEY WERE DIFFERENT COLORS!! :) And then I decided Lia needed a Johnny Jump Up... so off I go. I got one, and a carseat toy. Oops. And then I got home and guess what was on my doorstep! My backpack!! Because, of course, the moby wrap, ergo carrier and baby bjorn just don't cut it. I'm on a mission to get every single carrier known to mankind. I think I have some sort of compulsion to get any and every carrier. And there are still two other types of carriers that I want!! See, I told you I have a problem! Anyhow... I have to stop. I buy too much. Must stop. Must cut up check card. Must stop...


(amanda wanders off to peruse ebay and amazon.com)

Big girl stroller!

This is Lia this afternoon on our walk. She's sitting up like a big girl in her stroller!! :) No more baby carrier for her! And I have to go and rescue her now... she's flipped from her back to stomach but she's apparently forgotten how to get back over... and she's mad about that.

Rolling over!

Lia is getting crazy big. Today while on her play mat she rolled from back to stomach at least four or five times. She figured out to tuck her arm under and away she goes! She's getting so big. Today I tried putting her in her stroller in a big girl way (sitting upright) and not in her carseat- she loved it. She was looking all over hte place and chatting. We're heading to the Dr's tomorrow though, her eye is still all gooky and red and yucky and she's been scratching it a lot so I want to get it checked out. But she's getting SO big! She is rolling on the floor right now like a crazy thing, she'll roll from front to back, back to front. :)