Ketchup or Catsup?

I mean Catch Up (haha, yes, I'm a dork!)...

G's getting more vocal, practicing her B sounds (b-b-b, not buh or ba) and loves doing it, even when protesting/crying. She also went to a playdate recently and learned a very high-pitched scream. She couldn't learn to be a good eater, to sit longer, or crawl, but she did learn the scream.

Here is G in our first successful EC attempt. Since this photo, she has had one more (half way, because she already started it in her diaper before we got to the toilet) successful attempt. I still have to learn how to wipe her more efficiently after she's used the toilet, as it's a different angle than when she's on the changing table.
Here are some photos from our camping trip a couple weeks ago, up to Lake Tahoe Emerald Bay. We used her little tent inside our little tent (ours was by far the smallest tent at camp, most families had car-camping type of tents, we had a small backpacking tent). The little tent helped to keep her confined, as she moves a lot when she sleeps. Here she is in her tent and sleeping bag.

In the morning, I snuck her into my sleeping bag because she looked so cuddly!

E took her on a little hike to see the Balancing Rock.Here we are back at camp. We didn't bring many toys because we knew she'd find all sorts of other things to entertain herself. I think she liked my water botttle because it was shiny.

I know she liked this empty chip bag because of the crinkly sound it made.

Here are a few photos from her latest photoshoots:
Little Gym photos will have to wait until we get back from our weekend trip to Yosemite.

The Last Diaper Standing

Thank goodness for diapers.com! I placed my order yesterday morning before G's playdate and her diapers arrived today. For new moms, next day delivery plus free shipping (and tax-free) is awesome, and they have more than just diapers. I think there are only 5-6 diapers left in the house, including the ones in her diaper bags. That's pretty sad.

Today I changed G's diaper in my lap, in the car. We saw a friend do a diaper change on the lap with their kid while we were out at a restaurant and it seemed like a handy trick to learn. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of nursing her, and in the second half of her meal, she pooped, so the diaper only lasted maybe 15 minutes.

Today was a busy day, but I felt productive about it. I ran two errands with G and was out most of the day. She slept great, so well that I actually woke her up to feed her. However, since we came home, she hasn't slept at all (and I've fed her 3 times). But I was still able to cook dinner. Yay for running errands and cooking dinner!

We tried to EC her again tonight, but failed miserably. She was hysterical, poop was everywhere, and she ended up having a HUGE spit up (luckily it missed her and me and most of it went on the floor, two big waves). It was traumatizing for everyone involved. I think we may put a pause on the EC-ing for now. Oh well.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. Babies R Us is accepting old Avent and Dr. Browns bottles (they are switching over to BPA-free ones). They will give you 100% back for complete bottles, and 50% for ones missing parts, no receipt or packaging needed. You get store credit, but it's still a great deal.

3 months (13 weeks)

I feel like a broken record every week I'm so surprised by how time flies! In case you were wondering, her bib says, "Daddy's Girl".

This past week was rough, with G's growth spurt. Everything we knew was out the window and backwards. She slept best and longest in her carseat, even when stationary! She reverted to sleeping 3-4 hours only at night (I think she only did that like the first week or two she was born!) and hardly napping at all during the day. She was also feeding like there was no tomorrow. But I'm very happy to say that I think her growth spurt is over, as she is getting back to her 6+ hrs at night.

Friday, she had a "play date" with some other kids at a local park. She slept the entire time.

This week, we also tried to do some Elimination Communication with her. I had one friend successfully do this with her daughter and another one who is currently in the process of doing this. It's not like I have a huge desire to have G trained this way, but it seemed like an interesting experiement that might work, given G's habits of being very vocal and almost always doing her business while I'm feeding her. So, one morning when I thought she sounded like she might be trying to poop, I rushed her over to the toilet and took off her diaper. I quickly realized that she didn't like the cold toilet seat on her legs and she didn't want to be dangled over it either (her feet sometimes went into the toilet and I was so afraid she was going to step in the water, gross!) so E came to help hold her feet. We waited for a while, and some pee came out, but nothing else. I think G was too startled by the whole thing and just kept looking around and smiling. So we gave up and cleaned her up and put a diaper on her. Don't know when we'll try again. But it also seems like a good way to help with the whole diaper/landfill problem.

Today is Memorial Day too, and E had the day off. After a nice relaxing morning and breakfast, we did a family trip out to Rancho San Antonio for a picnic and light walk/hike to the farm (FYI, apparently the farm is closed on Mondays so we only got to see the goats up close and the pigs from far away). We guess that G enjoyed it, despite the farm being closed. She slept thru pretty much the entire trip. I could barely wake her in the beginning in the car to nurse, then she slept the whole hike and picnic and the hike back. I woke her again in the car to nurse her. The hike was tiring for both S and E (E took a nap in the car while G was eating). That night, G slept long enough that we also got to watch a movie during dinner (recorded on the DVR, with one break when she woke up to eat).