Rest your head baby...

and when you wake up the world will be covered in a blanket of white!

Checking out the snow, with her pajamas to match.

When Haley went down for her nap on Friday afternoon the flurries were just beginning to fall, and by the time she woke up the Snow had transformed our little mountain town.

We got a fresh 6 inches of snow, perfect for visiting our neighbors and for a first sledding adventure.

Getting Ready to go down the hill

Success... Haley was completely unfazed

"Mom, It's cold... May I go inside now!"

Solids, Take 2

Haley Had another go at eating Solids. The second go was much more successful. She has her own spoon to play with. And she was really enjoying each bite. She finished all of the rice cereal I made her. I think it helped that she ate about an hour after her last meal.

Determined to feed herself

The 2 spoon trick worked like a charm

Don't be fooled by the funny face, she actually seemed to like it.

But even the food could not compare to playing with the bowl afterwards.

Small pleasures!

and the perfect set up for bath time!

By meal 3 Haley became a pro. Opening wide for the spoon (most of the time) and containing the mess to her hands, face and bib. The food was a bit thicker but she took it like a champ. I am excited to experiment with new flavors soon. I think Haley will be excited too.

That Rice cereal is finger lickin' good!

Starting Solids

Haley is almost 6 months old, she has doubled her birth weight, she can sit independently for a while (until she gets interested in something else and flops over to it), she is interested in adults food, she indicated when she is full, and she is always putting things in her mouth. So what dies this all add up to?

She is ready for Solids!

So we got started... I pulled out and washed her new spoons and bowls

I heated up about an ounce of breast milk (2 tablespoons) to mix with about a 1/2 tablespoon of rice cereal.

* I started with half of the recommended amount because tit was after class and she had an once of her bottle left that I didn't want to waste and I wanted to stick with the recommended consistency. We started with rice cereal, as the experts suggest, because it is easy on the digestive tract and less likely to trigger allergic reactions than other cereals and solid foods.

Then Haley went to town! (sorry for the blurry pictures but it's what I've got.)

Haley was all about her food

She wanted to feed herself, which made it very difficult to get the food into her mouth.

It was a grand old mess.

Tonight we will go for solid foods, take 2. In reading some more I found a few tips I might try. Putting some of the food on her tray for her to play with, and feeding her some from my finger so she can get a taste for it. I will probably also give her a spoon of her own to play with, and I'll remember to actually use one of the many bibs we have been given.

I think we will wait until Haley is 6 months old to start introducing other cereals and fruts and vegetables. Leavig the recommended 3 days between foods to make sure she does not show signs of any allergies. (Luckily Zach and I don't really have allergies, so hopefully she won't either- but my mom is allergic to everything, so I will try to be cautious)

Check out some great food charts at Tiny Playground, Garden of Eden, Sympathy Pain, and Web MD

There are a lot of great articles and tips for starting solids at Gerber, Huggies, Baby Center, Healthy Children, Ask Dr. Sears, Keep Kids Healthy. Also, What to Expect, Parents, and the Baby Zone have several links about stating solids.

Crib Sheets

I hate changing Haley's crib sheets. Especially with the bumper trapping the mattress in, it is such a hassle. Getting the mattress in and out of the crib seems to take a special amount of finess and skill that I have yet to master. Instead I am resigned to bitting my tongue, holding back the swear words that could be easily wasted on inanimate bedding.

So, to keep myself from having to go throug this arduous process every week or two when the sheets need to be washed, I layer Haley's bedding for easy washing.

As my materials I have 3-4 crib sheets and waterproof crib pads.

I remove the mattress and put on 3-4 layers of sheets, placing a crib pad between each layer so they stay clean and dry. Only one crib pad is a fitted sheet, the others just lay flat on top- otherwise it would be difficult to fit them all around the corners.

And voila- A sheet covered mattress that only needs to be removed from the crib about once a month. I just remove the top sheet and mattress pad layer when it needs to be washed. This makes for a less of a struggle on laundry day, and its a soft cozy bed for my little one.

The mattress also makes a fun new play place while it's sitting on the floor.

Happy Mommy- Happy Baby!

I can't take all the credit though, a close friend clued me in to this trick. I was just lucky to have a enough flat crib pads to multiply its effectiveness. And that certainly works for me.

Check out We are THAT family for more fun tips.

Begin Smart Books

Haley got a few books for Christmas that she already had, so I exchanged them at the book store. One of the books I got her was What does baby do? It's a cute book designed for babies from 6 - 12 months. It features cute baby skills like waving and blowing kisses, all with pictures under large flaps. Haley enjoys reaching for the pages, although she hasn't yet figured out how to lift the flap and reveal the underlying picture. This book also gets me excited as I anticipate Haley learning to imitate the babies in the pictures.

The whole Begin Smart series is wonderful. The books are color coded by age group and each book is written to help babies develop throughout their first years. The books have information for parents on the back. They discuss stages of development and tips for reading with your little one. The website is also full of good tips and information.

These books are fun to read and to look at. They are very engaging for little listeners. I hope that I will be adding more of these books to my library soon.

Bookin it in 2010

Bookin' it in 2010-

My goal: A book a month for a year

I plan to read a lot of books in 2010. According to my resolution I need to reada at least 12.

I made it a goal at the end of last year to read 100 pages a week. I would still like to aim for that but life seems to be getting even more in the way, so I'm deciding to not get down on myself when that doesn't happen.

I have been trying to read 2 books, but that has been unsuccessful, so one is on hold until the first is done.

I am currently reading:

so here is my current reading queue

Still Life with Woodpecker

The Tenth Circle

Radical Reformission

Twilight

Second Glance

The Poisonwood Bible

So Brave, Young, and Handsome

Here is the rest of the list in no particular order.

Lovely Bones

The Notebook

The Help

Kite Runner

Three Cups of Tea

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Velvet Elvis

Irresistable Revolution

Ragamuffin Gospel

Traveling Mercies

Un Christian

Wild at Heart

I also plan to re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows before the movie comes out, and I plan to read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend with my Husband.

For more suggestions or to join "bookin' it in 2010" check out life as mom.

Also, I would love to hear your suggestions for other books to add to the queue. Just leave a comment with your favorites.

I will keep you updated with book reviews as I read through these.

Taming the spit up beast

Haley can be exorcist like when it comes to spit up. Here she is, just barely a month old, showing that she means business. My favorite burp cloths are the prefold cloth diapers. Dont get me wrong, the ones with fabric down the middle, or ribbon along the edge are cute, but nothing beats the uninetrrupted absorbancy of a good gerber prefold.

There are several other good burp cloths out there, the terry cloth ones can hold their own in absorbency but usually not in shape. It's funny to me that burp cloths are designed for cleaning up just such a mess, but they don't seem to do the trick as well as the diapers.

These may be cute, but nothing can beat the classic prefolds

I had a friend today tell me that she held a cup under her baby's mouth at times to catch the spit up, that would have been brilliant for Haley when she was a newborn, but now I don't think she would tolerate it, and she's much less predictable. Just when you think you're safe from spit up, you realize there is a moist spot on your shoulder. (might I add that I have an aversion to the word moist, but that just makes it all the more perfect for describing the all to familiar situation)

Spit up can be such a burden, especially when it marks your jeans in an inconvenient spot, or gets you right down the center of the shirt. But even worst is when it covers your little one in the middle of the night and you are stuck changing a screaming baby at 3 in the morning because her pajamas are soaked.

I guess I really can't complain too much though considering that we were spared from the acid reflux that Zach blessed his parents with, causing them to replace the carpets when he passes the spitting up stage.

So, diapers make great burp cloths. But sometimes the burp cloths are out of reach at the worst moment, and sometimes they're all in the wash. What do I do when burp clots don't cut it? I strap a bib on my breast fed baby and use it to absorb her most recent meal. Silly me to think that the food would actually make it to her tummy. (or maybe silly me for letting her fly around and play upside down so soon after eating)

I thought these would remain tucked safely in the cupboard until Haley started solids, but why let all that absorbency go to waste.

as an added bonus it looks like she's wearing a mexican poncho. How cute is that!

and that my friends works for me. Check out more tips at we are THAT family's blog carnival..

5 month milestones

My little girls is 5 months old.

Weight: About 16 3/4 lb.

(I don't know ounces because I'm measuring her weight on the Wii fit. The Wii knows her as a little grey dog names Wallaby).

Height: 26 1/2 in.

(According to this she's still off the charts. I haven't found a great way to measure her though so it could be a bit off. By my first measurement she was 27 1/4 in. I'm having to measure her with a tape measurer on the ground and then transfer her height to the wall since her legs bend so much when she tries to stand.

This is what the past month has been like ... and here are some milestones she's hit along the way.

In the last month Haley has done several things for the first time, she has swung in the baby swing at the playground, sat in her high chair, faced out in her stroller, been thrown in the air by her mommy and daddy, and she's started going to the mother goose story time at the library. She has also saddled up and rode Rudy (our stuffed black lab)

Haley ventured into the snow and had her first Christmas and New Years. She was baptized and saw all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles on the same day.

Haley has accomplished one big task. She can now roll over in all dirctions, left and right, tummy to back and back to tummy. Between rolling and squirming she is really starting to get around.

(She definitely started ON the blanket.

She is a grabber, she loves to run her fingers over fabrics and grab at them repeatedly as she falls asleep, I think the feel of the fabric plus the scratchy noise it makes soothes her. She can grab tiny things (even raisins, I brought a few out just to test this theory). She loves to reach for things and becomes quite determined when she has her mind set on an object. She grabs everything on the table in front of her during meals; she even ripped a page out of Zach's bible while he was reading with her a few weeks ago.

She is starting to pay more attention to books. She reaches for the pages as I turn each one. She loves to sit in my lap while I read and sing to her; both are part of her bedtime routine, also started this month. And, when she lays down to sleep, her little bum finds it's place sticking high up in the air.

She is starting to really recognize Zach and I. There have been several fussy evenings when she will calm down for no one else. It means a little more work on our end, which is unfotunate when there are wiling helpers around, but it's great to be loved and needed. I wouldnt say she has started giving hugs, but she does have sweet snuggly moments. I also love when she flaps her arms in excitement when one of us walks into the room. She seems particularly excited after nap time. She loves to play together.

She has started talking even more frequently and I love the host of babbles, grunts, coos and squeals she issues forth. She has added wet razzing sounds to her repetoi. But my favorite sound of all is her laugh, and the dog like pant she makes when she's laughing, but has not quite worked up to a full on belly giggle.

Haley is getting strong she is getting much closer to sitting on her own, and as always loves to be held in a sitting or standing position. She sits very well when she's propped up on the couch or on the pile of sheets on the bed. She even learned to sit forward in her bouncy seat.

She discovered a new favorite spot; standing behind the cushions of the couch.

My little fishy still loves baths, especially now that she's discovered that she can use her hands to splash the water. I will be excited when she can sit up and move out of the infant tub (which she has practically outgrown) and into the big tub.

She still loves her toes, and is now very close to getting them in her mouth.

Finally Zach wanted me to add that she is feeding herself. When he was offering her a bottle, she would push it away, and then draw it back close, take it from Zach's hand, and stick it in her mouth. She still needed a little assistance, but she is striving towards independence.

It is crazy to me how quickly Haley is growing. I get excited for her to do new things, and encourage her to sit and crawl, but at the same time I want her to slow down, and forever remain my snuggly little baby.

Haley's 5 month photo shoot

The monthly photos of the bean. Check out how much she's grown in a month, or two, or more.