Another lovely day at the park...

Oh, one of our many fun days at the park since Elodie was 1 month old.

It was a beautiful day and Elodie was intrigued with the camera..and my keys.

Jumperoo...JUMP! JUMP! JUMP Elodie!

This is just the coolest toy for Elodie. We recently bought her a play pen and that is really great for her to have room to move around, and we also bought her a Bumbo seat with tray to help her sit up, but that was sort of short lived.

I heard so much about this stationary activity center called Rainforest Jumperoo by Fisher Price. I was in Babies r Us one day with Elodie and I decided to put her in the floor sample. I usually don't do this because of other babies germs,etc., but it was my one chance to try it out before looking into buying it.

She loved it right away and a big smile came on her face. I knew it was what we needed. And this would also help her feel empowered to stand up.

This video says it all..It makes us giggle every time she is in it...Hope you enjoy it too!!

My first taste of la cuisine!

Almost 6 months old and we have decided that it is time to introduce solid (really puree) foods to Elodie.

She has been eyeing us eating and drinking for some time now, but I wanted to wait until she was closer to 6 months because that is usually what is recommended to avoid any allergies.

We have decided to make all of our own food, but in order to not delay any further, and since we will be going on a trip next month, I went to Babies r Us and bought a small case of 8 jars of a variety of fruits purees made by Earth's Best (all natural). Before we use those, I decided that I would like to put her on Rice Cereal first (as everyone suggests). I added breastmilk to it and tasted it myself (yeesss..I did! what's the big deal?), and actually it was pretty gross. Elodie thought so also.

Next, I thought we'd introduce carrots. Elodie's first reaction is not a great one. I took some of our home delivered organic carrots and steamed them, then put them into our mini cuisinart to mash.

What did we expect? Breastmilk..sweet...Rice Cereal..yuck..Carrots..yum? umm..no. Of course I made up a huge batch, so much of it had to be thrown out after a few days. We tried again, but it just isn't something she is interested at the moment.

I heard from some friends that Barley was their daughter's favorite so I bought some of that and voila! she liked it, and not only that, but she ended up eating about 10 good sized spoonfuls. I could not have been happier.

Now, we've been slowly introducing the fruit jars of baby food, which are pretty tasty, and she seems to like them. I even made some of my own with some organic nectarines and added some bananas for sweetness and she liked that.

Making the food is very easy and it is fun to experiment with the different tastes.

We'll continue on with this method of fruit for the first couple months, then we will move onto some carniverous baby food, which I'm not really looking forward to, but she will need her protein.

Until then..bon appetit ma cacouette!

My first IM with Dad..

This morning Elodie had her first IM (Instant Messenger) chat with her Dad. It started off simple with just a few letters, and then it got sort of complicated when Dad typed the word "Cookie".

This caused her to have those wrinkles between her eyebrows, so the only thing she could do was to use big words like "s weuynnyhy", and luckily Dad responded in Elodie talk, which brought a big smile to Elodie's face.

I can grab my feet now..

Elodie is now 3 1/2 months and one day I walk into the bedroom and she is lying on her back and she has both hands on both feet. I did a double take. It seems that whenever she has a new ability, I seem to catch it by mistake.

I totally forgot about this ability and remembered seeing other babies (only in pics) do this very same thing. My first thought was that my little Elodie is really growing up. What next?...can't wait! :o)

The Bumbo seat..sitting up..

Another great feat, Elodie at 3 1/2 months is able to sit up straight with great head control, thanks to this Bumbo seat.

Our pediatrician recommended that we get this seat because it might help expedite Elodie's head to shape correctly. I was excited to get the chair and it was a reasonable price of $35 at Target and $9.99 for the tray.

We put her in it immediately and she looked around like, "hey, this is kind of a neat view from here". Since she was wobbling a bit, I couldn't quite get a steady pic, but I still think this pic is too cute.

Ouch..my teeth hurt...

Already starting to fuss with her teeth at 2 1/2 months, it appears that poor Elodie is starting to go through teething.

I went out and bought her some homeopathic teething gel (I didn't want to subject her to the benzocaine stuff yet), and it seems to be helping.

I also purchased a bunch of different types of teething toys and tried the old frozen washcloth trick, but nothing is really appealing to her right now.

Hopefully this won't be too painful for me too (if you know what I mean). eeek!

I can rollover on my own

3 months now and Elodie has mastered the technique of rolling over.

It was funny actually because I was doing laundry one day and she was on her back in the middle of the bed and I turned to grab some stuff and turned around and she was on her little paws and tummy!

I couldn't believe it, it happened so fast, I don't think even Elodie knew what was happening. She had that deer in headlights look herself.

She can't roll back over yet, but this is a good start, although this just means I'll have to keep an even bigger eye on her now and more PILLOWS!!! ahhh!

My first giggles..

The day I was waiting for has come and I have to admit, it made me tear up a little out of joy and happiness.

I was playing with Elodie today and as she was standing (with my help of course), in front of me and was smiling and talking, and I was doing the same, all of a sudden a bunch of giggles came out and I laughed. Then she laughed and giggled again and again, and I couldn't stop laughing. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for her to do it again.

I just had to mark this day in her history. Love it!!

My 1st Mother's Day..

What a lovely day for me, as I was truly spoiled by both of my loved ones and my eldest sister Sylvia and her hubby Brad.

First, on Saturday, they came to visit us here at our little abode in the woods and we shared Mother's Day gifts and wine and cheese on our front patio. Followed by lunch with great conversation and a lot of "catch-up", as we haven't seen each other in years.

Then today, this morning, my honey made me a super duper breakfast in bed, including a yummy cheesy scrambled eggs with whole cooked mushrooms, red peppers, and turkey breakfast sausage, along with toast, fruit, and a big bowl of my favorite Mexican hot chocolate. To top that I received a gift certificate for one of my favorite Pedicure/spa places nearby. This is sooo needed, as my last pedicure was the week before Elodie was born. I also desperately need a haircut and a massage, which should be happening this week too--yipee!!

After lounging in bed with my 2 favorite people (Patrick and Elodie), and watching a movie (our favorite past time), we went to town and grabbed a sandwich and drinks at Whole Foods and went to the park to relax and have a picnic. Afterwards I got to have my favorite Tapioca Pearl drink and fries and we came back home to relax and have one of Patrick's special French recipes of Flank steak...yum!

Ahh..I was spoiled and had a wonderful 1st Mother's day!! Lucky me!