Meal Time

We've been offering Carly cereal every night, trying to let her discover some new textures. I think she may be catching on slowly, but she still pushes a lot of it out of her mouth with her tongue. We have noticed her swallowing some cereal. It is so cute, her facial expressions always make me smile. Last night we got her high chair out and she really enjoyed sitting in it. I, however, wanted to cry just a little. She looked so grown up in it. She continues to change so fast. Two of my friends recently had 6 lb little girls and it's hard to believe Carly was even smaller just six months ago.

We also gave her a sippy cup to play with so she can get used to holding it. It wasn't more than a minute or two before she figured out what part to chew on. (I know it's obvious but we were so impressed.)

6-month Appointment

At Carly's 4-month doctor's appointment, she weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. Today she weighed in at 14 lbs 4 oz and was 24 1/4 inches long!!! She had quite a growth spurt over the last two months. The doctor was very pleased and said she was doing fantastic. She just needs to grow in to her head so she can sit on her own - she is still a little top heavy. She is a motor mouth and I am sure will be getting in to everything very soon.

Weekend in FG

We had a nice weekend with my parents and Carly and I decided to stay a few extra days. We were able to see lots of our Fair Grove friends and I am going to try to get together with some high school friends while I am here. Jon had to head home on Sunday and I can tell that Carly has missed him. She adores her daddy. When he gets home at the end of the day her whole face lights up. I think she has been watching for him tonight. She knows how lucky we are to have him.

On Friday Mom and Dad's surround sound went out while I was watching television. On Sunday we exchanged the system and Jon put it all together and got it working before he headed back to Columbia. Jon is the lucky person who gets to put things together when he visits. Dad saves lots of jobs for him, but he really does love to help out.

Today Carly and I went to lunch with Jody and Tiffany. After lunch we went by Sam's Club and then headed back to their apartment. We fed Carly and headed to the pool. They have a really nice club house, gym, and pool. Carly loved the water and we tried out her new float.

July 4th

We love holiday weekends! We headed to Fair Grove on Thursday evening. It always feels good to get to Dad and Mom's house. The quality time with them was great, and everyone enjoyed Carly. This week she has giggled more and she rolled over for the first time on Thursday! She can now roll from her stomach to her back and I think she surprises herself.

On Friday there was a block party in the neighborhood and everyone enjoyed a picnic before the fireworks show. We ate and headed to Jody and Tiffany's apartment to watch fireworks from their deck. They have a really nice place. Dad, Carly, and I took advantage of the pool. Carly went for her first swim and she loved it. Her facial expressions were very entertaining. On Saturday we slept in and then went shopping and out to dinner. We were able to see some friends and I even ran in to a few people from high school. I also talked to Brandee on the phone - looking forward to seeing her in the next couple of weeks.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday and enjoyed the great weather!

Thumb

Just a short post . . . Carly has definitely mastered the thumb. She had been improving steadily, but this weekend we noticed she has it down.

A Good Week

We had a pretty good week, nothing too exciting. Carly and I were lucky enough to have lunch with my cousin Brooke and her oldest daughter Abi on Monday. They were in town for a doctors appointment and asked us to meet them. It was the most fun I have had at lunch in a long time. Abi is a beautiful girl and she is hilarious; she kept me laughing the entire time. Carly loves her cousin Abi and Abi always does such a good job holding her. Abi was full of questions, like how old "Baby Carly" is and why she couldn't have some 'pasghetti' for lunch. Abi was amazed that Baby Carly was zero. I made the mistake of telling Abi that the doctors told us the birth mark on the back of Carly's neck was called a stork bite - like you see in story books when storks deliver babies. Of course, Abi asked me if that was how we got Baby Carly. Brooke gave me that "you had to open that can of worms" look, and I quickly changed the subject. We had a very nice time and I hope we get to do it again soon.

We have a few friends getting ready to have babies this summer, and we are very excited for their arrivals. I talk to Meera quite frequently and I am so eager for her to deliver and to find out if it is a boy or a girl. She has amazed me with her patience and determination to be surprised by the gender, it is so exciting. Jon's cousin is having a girl on July 9 and we are looking forward to her arrival. It will be great to have playmates for Carly close by.

Carly has made good progress this week, she is getting interested in her feet and grabbing hold of them. She has been very vocal for quite a while, but now she is shrieking. She gets especially excited at night before bed. She gets so loud and so animated. She is also getting very close to rolling over. I think she has the strength, she just doesn't realize that she can do it yet. It's really exciting to watch her discover all of these new things.

First Date

Jon and I had a very nice evening on Saturday. We had our first date since Carly arrived. We went to dinner and a movie and really enjoyed ourselves. It gave us a nice chance to relax and reflect. We are fortunate enough to have a great babysitter. One of my friends, Ana was up for the challenge and she did a great job. I met Ana's mom, Liz, in grad school and the three of us have been friends ever since. Ana is a terrific young lady and I think she and Carly enjoyed each other. Carly fell asleep on Ana at 7:45 and somehow still managed to sleep all night for us!

We have been blessed with a happy baby who is also a great sleeper. She has her moments, don't get me wrong, but for the most part as long as you keep her dry and fed she is content. She may look like Jon, but she loves to "talk" to us and we all know where she got that from.

We went for a walk at Rockbridge State Park this afternoon, it's been a long while since we've been there. Carly really enjoys being outside and so do we. She was wide-eyed and chatty the whole time. After our walk, we went for a drive and ended up down by the river at Easley. We also went through Sapp. I had never heard of Sapp, MO before. We saw some really pretty houses and ended up along the river. The MO river was moving fast and you could tell how high the water had been. It was a beautiful day!

Wishing everyone a great week . . .