39 weeks!

This week is a busy one so let's see what's going on...

• Had cheese for the first time; loves it! Hanna Lu had a bit of quesadilla one day and then just some plain old cheese several times after that and she's a happy camper with it.

• Also is loving on plain yogurt...we tried some a couple of months ago that didn't go over well but in the past few weeks she is all about it.

• Wants nothing more than to crawl around or pull herself up to standing...this child is not interested in sitting still.

• Loves her bath and is getting better at not standing up in the tub.

• Thinks that Guinness the dog is hilarious, still. He will come sprinting up to her and lick her face, run away, and repeat and even this doesn't bother her.

• Had her first adult dinner party this past weekend and rather enjoyed herself {& the snacks}...she slept a bit late the next morning too which was lovely, though not late enough in her parents' opinion.

• Will be traveling on a plane again this week...and then next...and then the week after that; to Arizona, to California, back to Arizona, back to Maryland.

• Still really likes her cereal; she has either an oatmeal or rice or a grain mix and it's usually made with milk  though sometimes we make it with water. She gets a bit impatient with baby food but will continue to eat cereal way after that.

• Has a bedtime routine that I realized I haven't recorded for posterity's sake...has "dinner" between five and six, a bath, jammies, one story, a bit of nursing, another story, and is in bed with the "rain" sound machine {an app on an old iphone we have} between 5:45 and six. She's waking once a night usually though me thinks that's just a bad habit and we'll try to break it once we return from all of our travels in January, what with all the time-zone changing that will be going on. Baby's usually up by 5:30 or 6:30 though on weekends if we give her a quick snack and put her back down she'll sleep until 7:30-ish sometimes. She's ready for a nap within two hours of waking up and on weekend days, when she's with us, she'll nap for one to two hours in the morning and then again in the early-mid afternoon. At daycare I'm not sure how things go but I do know that HL is well rested, full, and happy when I pick her up so I'm not asking any questions.

• Hanna loves her daycare provider...and this woman is such a loving presence that we love her too. She makes me laugh because in reaction to Hanna Lu's somewhat finicky eating, she is so determined to get milk and food into this baby and fatten her up. I don't have the heart to tell her that Hanna is just who she is but I don't discourage her nonetheless {she's just perfect in our eyes, obviously}.

• Is climbing...or at least trying to. If she had the traction and things were easier to climb, the baby would be going vertical...this does not bode well for us in terms of relaxing at home with our child ever.

• Will hilariously kick her legs if you hold her up in the air under her arms. We have started to do this any time we pick her up because it makes us laugh so much.

• Is pretty OK being with other and new people. She does show separation anxiety occasionally, usually if she has just woken up, but she is pretty affable otherwise...this may change soon since I think "stranger danger" might start kicking in around the nine month mark {later this week!} so we'll see.

• Loves "Cuties" {though I think right now the ones we're getting are called "Halos"?}...she kind of sucks them dry and leaves the pithy...seeds come in these things so we just need to check for that before letting her have them.

• Went to the pediatrician, unexpectedly, today for a bit of an icky eye {related to her cold from last week no doubt}...and she weighed in at almost 19 pounds and about 28 inches long/tall - she started out at almost ten pounds and 22 inches. While in the waiting room Hanna Lu was very intrigued by two young boys who were playing and tried to get down on the floor to play with them. They were both about five years old and as sweet as they were with the baby, saying "hi" to her and everything, I figured her style of play {thrashing her arms} wasn't what they would appreciate {they were quietly "driving" cars}. This wasn't the first, Hanna Lu is always very interested in kids and loves to mix it up with them. I think we can thank daycare for this, truly - it's great to see our baby be social.

• Is really goofy and so much fun...we're very excited to spend time with family so they can see what she's been like recently; wish us luck traveling!

Because I can't get enough of those legs.