Milestones and Memories: Weeks 25-27

Dear Bellabean,

The fall has been so very beautiful.  I love crunching on the leaves with you in my arms, snuggling up, dressing you in cutecutecute fall clothes and showing you the new sights, sounds, and smells of the new season.  I can't wait to take you pumpkin and apple picking! Here's what we've been up to. 

Week 25: September 18-24
We had a great week together.  Tuesday, I went into school for the first time this school year to help out with Percussion Ensemble.  It was nice to be with my school kids, but I just couldn't wait to be home with you! (Ok, I may have teared up in the car a little bit. Or a lot. <3) When you are a little older, and can wear hearing protection, I will bring you to night rehearsals!

During this week, SU made the move to the ACC.  I am definitely not embracing this! You have many SU outfits, and none of them are emblazoned with Big East logos, so we're still fashionably current.

Thursday, you ate solid food for the very first time! What a step! For your first food, you wore a bib from Auntie Erin that says "Treble Maker" (Adorable!).  We mushed up Avocado and put it on your tray.  You played, and painted, and nommed, and gummed, played with your spoon, and even ate a little! LB sidled up to your high chair and showed you how he ate with a spoon five or six times.  Honest-to-goodness, you took the little spoon and put it right into your mouth with a big bit of avocado! You made the most hilarious face, looked at me like "Um, Mom? This is SO not Mamamilk", but then smiled big because we all cheered!  We're doing a combination of Baby-led Weaning (which is not about stopping nursing, but about starting solids) and home made baby food!

On Friday, we had a lunch date with Karen at the Coppertop, and you were so sweet!

Week 26: September 25-October 1
6 months!
On Monday, I left for Lorie's 5:30 yoga class, and just as I pulled in to park at the Studio, I got a call from Dada.  He was breathless, and at first I was worried that something was the matter, but then I realized he sounded really happy! "You will never believe me, but she just said DADA!!!" Oh my goodness, Bellabean, he was completely and totally ecstatic.  From that night on you've been Dadadadadadaing up a storm!

When we visited Natalie, Lauren, and Pat over the summer, Lauren recommended the book Baby Love for making your food.  The book came in on Monday, we food shopped on Tuesday, and we cooked and prepared your first months of food on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! It was a blast! No jars for you, little one! Most of the time I was cooking and prepping, I wore you on my back in the Ergo (omg. I linked to a new color that makes my heart flutter! Repeat after me: We don't need a new one only because of the color, We don't need a new one....).  I have never cooked with so much love.  We hand picked every ingredient, cooked together, and marveled at the beautiful colors, textures, and tastes.  At the end of our first cooking experience we had frozen cubes of Carrot, Peas, Apple-Butternut Squash, Pomegranate-Pear.

Friday, we attended our first Music Together class, taught by my friend Steph, whom I met at prenatal yoga.  You love her daughter Amelia, and you knew each other before you were born! You love the Jumping, Jumping song, My Paddle, and the Train Song. We play the CD in the car and before naps and have rewritten almost every song to be Bella-centric.

Auntie Emily came to visit on Saturday! She snuggled with you, we hung out and chatted, went to dinner at Grimaldi's Luna Park with Handsome Dada, and cooked a big breakfast together.  It was a short visit, but so sweet!


Week 27: October 2-8
This last week was wonderful.  The leaves are starting to fall and they really changed towards the end of the week.  You love to have me hold you out on the back deck while you watch the puppies play and the leaves flutter to the ground.

You had your Six month appointment on Monday with Dr. Purnima! You are 19.12lbs and 27.5 inches long! You're now so long that you are wearing new 12 month clothes.  Speaking of clothes, we sent a love-care-package to Jackie V and baby VB this week with clothes that were passed down from Bryanna and her daughter Charlotte, that came from a Crouse Mama (Betsy MH) before her! Jackie and Tom have now dubbed the Crouse Mamas' Club as the 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Onsie'.  I LOVE it! 

We have been introducing foods slowly, and you love the Pomegranate-Pear and Avocado-Bananas, really like the Butternut-Apple (especially with a little banana added) and well, you actually gagged, and made moves similar to those of a hairball-coughing-up cat when we tried the peas.  Perhaps we will try adding some banana to those also! You certainly have a flair for the dramatic and let us know that peas weren't your idea of deliciousness! Unfortunately, for you, I have heard that it takes 14 tries to learn to like something, so we won't give up!

Well, Wednesday you said your first looking-at-Mama "Mama!"  I swear my heart skipped a beat and you better believe I cried!! You are now saying Mama and mamamamamama! and it nearly makes my heart explode every. single. time.

Also on Wednesday, Steve Jobs, past CEO and founder of Apple computers died.  I think that he is one of the most brilliant artists and entrepreneurs to create and innovate during my lifetime, and I will be interested to see how you will learn about him in your life.

I wore you in the Ergo at Wegmans for the first time! You are SO good in your carseat, and seem to enjoy the vantage point, but I usually put you IN the cart rather than on top of it.  Throughout my pregnancy, I read a number of articles about babies getting hurt (some fatally) by falling from being perched on top of a shopping cart.  We had a big bit of shopping to do, and I did not think everything would fit comfortably in the cart with you in it too, so on my back you went! You were great and the best part of the trip was when a four year old boy saw you, grabbed his Mom's arm, and started yelling "Mommy, Mommy! There is a BABY IN A BACKPACK! You don't see that every day! Mommy! A backpack baby!!!!" You dutifully grinned back at him with all of your might!

Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Saturday for their birthday celebration visit! BEB and LB made cards, and you signed a card from the family with a beautiful handprint.  We went to Riley's for dinner and had a great end to the week.  

I adore you, Bellabean.  I love you every moment of your day, and I hope you feel the love your Dad, brothers, puppysisters, Grandparents, other loved ones, and I feel for you.  I hope that feeling lasts for your whole life! <3

Milestones and Memories! Weeks 21-24 - The End of Summer

Baby girl! you're now 6 months old!!! 

The end of Summer and beginning of Fall:

Week 21: August 21-27
The end of summer was full of incredible (and scary!) weather! On the 21st (Sunday), there was a Tornado Watch that turned into a Tornado Warning.  You, Dad, Puppies, and I watched the news and they said that the weather situation was going to come down Rt. 31 and go right over our house, so we battened down the hatches (closed all the shades, took down the outdoor umbrella, put chairs near the house) and had a Tornado party in our basement.  We camped out with computers and phones, a plush blanket, and waited for the warning to end. You entertained us by doing "Happy Baby" and chewing your toes, all while smiling. All safe, phew! On Tuesday we had an earthquake! Dad felt it, but the rest of us had no idea.  The end of the week was full of Hurricane Irene, and making sure we were ready for the rain, but more importantly, that Grandma and Grandpa and all of our other loved ones out east would be safe.   A hurricane, tornado, and earthquake all in one week!
On Friday night, we had a 2.5 hour family dance party that included a totally fantastic (in my humble opinion) playlist (Beatles, Tower of Power, Buddy Rich, music from Rent, Queen, Bill Chase, Bela Fleck, RHCP, DMB, Beyonce, & Chicago, among others) and encompassed cooking, eating, and cleaning up dinner, dancing, and rocking out on piano, bongos, electric guitar, and voice with Handsome Husband, Blue-Eyed Brother, Legobrother, you, and the pups.

On Saturday, you and I had a girls' sleepover in the house that consisted of an early bedtime, lots of snuggles, nursing, and sleeping (Does life get better?) The boys had a sleepover outside in their summer project treehouse (for the first time!). Don't worry, the boys didn't rough it too much - they had streaming wi-fi movies in the tree house (Star Wars, of course), blankets, pirate flags, pillows, and snacks galore, and there was a fire blazing right outside in the fire pit!
During this week, you also started sitting up unassisted for the first time, using a wooden and wire track toy from your cousins: Autumn and Adam.

Week 22: August 28-September 3
Dad went back to work this week and we started figuring out our daily routine together.  You slept in a bit every day, we went on walks, we cleaned and cooked, and made some trips in to my schools.  We also visited Liz and Addison to return my borrowed maternity clothes and pick up some toys and a bumbo; Addison held you and you two snuggled!

Week 23: September 4-10
BEB and LB went back to school this week - 4th and 2nd grade! This was the first September in 25 years (more, if you count pre-school!) that I did not start school, too.  Best. September. Ever! (Now, don't get me wrong, I love my job BUT. This is WAY more fun!) We had a dinner date with Andy, Carrie, and Henry at the start of the week, and at the end of the week, you attended your first brother soccer games!

Week 24: September 11-17
Sunday was Dad's first rehearsal of the new Syracuse Youth Orchestra.  The date of your birth will always be linked in my mind with the start of the end of the SSO/SSYO and then the start of this new endeavor, so it felt really special to watch Dad get this first rehearsal off the ground.  It was also the tenth anniversary of September 11, which you will learn about as you get older.  It will be interesting to see how you read about it and learn about it in your lifetime.  
Monday, you pushed all the way up onto your hands, with straight arms, for the very first time!

This week, according to a paper in BEB's school-work folder, he had to make a list of household line segments. His list: String, pencils, cords, straws, and... Bellabean's drool. Ah, brotherly love! 
We got brave this week and started taking our walks through Radisson with the puppies! You peeked over the edge of your stroller to watch them for almost the whole first walk.  So cute! 
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and brought Grandma's amazing painting that hangs above our piano in the music room.  I actually missed you a little bit because they snuggled you so thoroughly.

You're just starting to stir from your nap, so I will sign off for now.  Love you SO much Bellabean.