Emma eating apple sauce

Emma eating apple sauce for the first time

Emma Rice

Emma eating rice for the first time

Emma's first food

Emma eating rice porridge.

Not ready to teethe just yet

So I've been really worried that she's been in pain from teething, but the doctor assured us that her first tooth is only just starting to come and it will be weeks or even months before it comes through. Guess I was just looking for problems! Also, she had no reaction at all to her shot, so that's a big relief. She didn't even really cry when she got it. By the time she knew something was wrong it was over and I was feeding her. She calmed right down and was fine for the rest of the day.

The doctor asked whether she has been having "conversations" with us. We haven't really noticed that yet. So Dustin has been thinking up conversation games to play with her. Last night I came home to Emma finishing Dustin's sentence. He'd go "Um, um, um, squeal", then he'd go "Um, um, um?" and she'd go "Squeal!" Well, it makes more sense in real life. Suffice to say, it's really cute. Her squeal is much cuter and more under control than it has been, too.

Well baby -- 6 months

It was a busy weekend for us. On Saturday, Emma tried rice porridge mixed with breastmilk. She clearly liked the flavor better, but still balked at the texture, coughing and gagging as she swallowed. Then we tried mashed bananas. Same reaction. We spent the afternoon at the Andaluz Waterbirth Center family picnic. It was great to see some of our midwives and all of the beautiful babies. Everyone agreed that Emma was the cutest of them all. They didn't say it out loud, but I could tell they were thinking it.

On Sunday, Emma tried applesauce. It was much more successful. She ate about a 1/2 teaspoon full. Which seemed like a lot at a half-pea-sized bit at a time. I think we'll continue to feed her applesauce for the next few days to get her used to the concept of food. Then maybe we'll try squash. In the afternoon we met our friends the Darlings at Chapman Elementary School to watch the Swifts. Every year during this time of year the swifts stop by the school on their migration route. At dusk they all swarm together in a great mass, growing larger and larger, until they all funnel into the large chimney at the school. It was really amazing. Emma actually watched the birds. I was very surprised that she was interested. After the birds, we went out to Japanese food at Yuki on 23rd. It was excellent. I highly recommend the mango maki. I know it sounds crazy, but it was fabulous.

Today I worked from home and we had lunch with a friend. Mexican food. It was a place to which we hadn't previously been. I was happily surprised. After lunch we went to Emma's six-month well-baby checkup. She's doing very well. 17 pounds and 26.5 inches. She also received her first Hib shot. :( She took it better than we did. No adverse reactions so far.

Teething woes

Emma had a rough night last night. We had to give her a dose of acetaminophen before bed, and then another at 2:30 am. Poor thing. I hope the tooth pops through soon. I hate to think that it might take another couple of weeks or something.

yelling at trees

emma yelling at the backyard

Bunny slippers

Check out Emma's super cute bunny slippers! They almost don't fit anymore. :(

Her teeth didn't hurt too bad last night, so we didn't have to give her any medicine. But she latched on strangely during the night, so I think she is still in some pain, just not enough to cry.

Emma's first food

Emma "ate" her first solid food yesterday. She had rice porridge. She pretty much hated it, though she did swallow it. She didn't seem to understand why there was gooey stuff sticking to the roof of her mouth. We caught it all on "film" and we'll try to get a clip of it up soon.

We'll try it again tonight. Maybe I'll mix in a little breastmilk to thin it. She might like that better.

We'll keep giving her bites of rice porridge each day for another couple weeks before we try the next food (probably mashed banana).

Poor thing is teething. Her bottom front gum is really swollen. She's sleeping and eating rather poorly because of it. We might have to give her some acetaminophen tonight. The Baby Book said that Orajel isn't recommended because they haven't done any reliable safety trials of it, and to use acetaminophen instead. Scary!

Emma

emma at play

Here are pictures from our baby picnic at Silver Falls State Park. It was so beautiful, and the company was wonderful. The babies really loved all the nature and the wonderful water falls. And of course spending time together!

Emma is getting ever so close to properly sitting up. This morning we sat up together for the entire time Papa was in the shower and the only time she fell over was when she reached too far for a toy. She couldn't even do that yesterday! It's really amazing. But she should be getting stronger! Last night she ate for over 6 hours of the 8 hours we were in bed. I think by this weekend she'll be sitting up well enough that we will try feeding her rice for the first time. (The doctor said to wait on solid food until she can sit up on her own.) I'm all a-buzz with excitement!

6 months old!

Here is a series of her rolling over onto her tummy. Notice all of her toys are a perfect arm's distance away from her. That's cause she's really good at pushing her toys away instead of grabbing them. It's too cute.

I can't even believe it, Emma turned 6 months old yesterday. She's quite good at rolling from her back to her front now, though she seems to have forgotten that she can go the other way, so she gets upset after being on her tummy for a while. Silly girl! She's working hard on sitting up on her own. It won't be long, now.