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.

Happy Little Camper

It's been a while, but Monday the Internet was down, and since then, I've been busy.

The camping trip was a success! G had her own little tent inside our tent (which was the smallest tent by far of all the families, and we were not the smallest family). She did so well, we didn't need any of the extra clothes that we brought for her, not even the warm ones because it never really got that cold, and we were putting her down to sleep earlier anyways (because she was waking up at dawn with the rest of the kids running around and making noise). E & G did one little hike up to something called Balancing Rock (pic to be entered later after E processes all the pics he shot in raw). Then, Saturday afternoon everyone went to the beach, but we stayed at camp b/c G was taking a nap. Overall, it was relaxing and fun hanging out with friends. There were about 20-25 kids total there, my guess is that most were under 8 or 10, most of the families there had 2-3 kids per family. Everyone commented about how G seemed like such an easy baby and that she never made a sound (except for when I was feeding her, but that was in our tent).

What else is G doing these days? Now that she is such an expert at rolling, she does it all the time, and sometimes we have to go back into her room to flip her over because she has rolled onto her tummy before going to sleep. G is now practicing her sitting techniques. She can sit for about 1-2 minutes at most, but usually she falls over within 30 seconds. Will post a pic of this too once it gets off of the camera. I am also preparing for when G turns 6 months and can start solids. I will be attempting to make her baby food, so that she can have fresh and organic foods. I'm excited about it, but sad and nervous as well. Excited and nervous to try making her food and hoping it works out in terms of time and effort, sad that her nutrition will no longer come from just drinking breast-milk.

In other news, the other day I went out to run errands and realized (already parked outside the store) that I didn't have G's stroller in the trunk. We had taken it out for camping over the weekend and had forgotten to put it back. Oops. I almost just went home, since G was sleeping in her car seat. Instead, I decided, to use her carrier and continue shopping. It actually turned out well, I managed to get G into the carrier without waking her up, and was able to push around a regular shopping cart with plenty of room to pick up all the stuff I needed (the big stuff were plastic bins for sorting and storing G's hand-me-downs that we've been getting from friends). After she woke up, she looked around and seemed happy. It was such a success, that I did this again to go grocery shopping today, except that she started out awake, then fell asleep midway through, and I was able to get her back into her car seat still asleep.

It's a great feeling to know that I can handle taking her out running errands and adapt on the fly and learn new (and sometimes better) ways of being out with her. There are definitely benefits to using her carrier versus the car seat - preventing flat head, facilitating bonding/attachment through close contact, allowing G to have a better view, just to name a few.

Now all I have to figure out is timing cooking dinner since G always seems to be awake when I need to cook (the hour before E comes home). Today's strategy: cook when she takes her nap in the afternoon, and reheat when E comes home. I'm also going to look into things that take longer to cook, so that I can do it earlier also when she's napping, like roasts or stews that you stick in the oven for hours. We also have a new household rule that there will be no cooking in the house when the inside temperature reaches 80 degrees. Today the inside high was 79, oh well. It was ok, because since I had just gone grocery shopping I had sort of planned a meal already (mixed white/brown rice, spinach with garlic, and ground pork, tofu, squash with black bean sauce, my feeble attempt at cooking Asian style. E is much better at the Asian cuisine, while I am better with the American/Italian/French stuff).

Horizontal 360

It's official, G is now mobile!

Yesterday afternoon I put G down in her crib for her nap and walked out, as usual. She fussed a bit before going down, also typical. However, for some reason, her fussing sounded different, so I went into her room to peek at her and the first thing I saw was a head, the BACK of her head. That's strange! When I got closer, I realized that she had rolled over and was on her belly with her head up. Sigh, silly baby! So I put her back on her back (also redirected her b/c she had rotated) and said goodnight to her. She promptly fell asleep.

Last night when we were playing with her before bed, she rolled over again, from her back to her belly. She had rolled from her back a few weeks back, but since then had only rolled to her side, and then from her side to her belly. Last night, not only did she repeatedly roll from back to belly, but after a few minutes looking around and playing on her belly, continued her journey and rolled again to her back. We have now determined that she is outgrowing her playmat because she can roll from one side to the other (and partially off of it).

G has also discovered that she can grab the arches (which she previously enjoyed kicking) and sway the whole thing with her hand. She is also big enough that she can now grab the toys that hang from the top of the arches.

G is also laughing more, which is soooo much fun! She never laughs when you repeat whatever it was that made her laugh in the first place, which makes things challenging. But this time she laughed when I was singing to her (a made up song about going camping).

We are getting ready to take G camping. It will be her first camping trip and we are hoping she will enjoy it. It is always difficult (especially because we are newbie parents) to know how much is the right amount to pack. It's only car camping, so we don't have to worry so much about weight, but we also don't want to overpack too much, but we want to be prepared for whatever surprises G might have for us (like when she pooped 4 times in one day on Wednesday).