Rolling over!

Christine is getting very good at rolling over from her tummy to her back, but on Wednesday (2.23.11) she rolled over from her back to her tummy! She completely surprised me. While I was changing her diaper she was wriggling around trying to reach the wipes container (making it very difficult to put on a new diaper) and then all of a sudden she was on her stomach! Woohoo!

My Valentine's Day

 How does she know.. he loves her?
How does she know that you really, truely love her?

It's not enough to take the one you love for granted
You must remind her, or she'll be inclined to say...
"How do I know he loves me?" 


Well does he leave a little note to tell you you are on his mind?
Send you yellow flowers when the sky is grey?

He'll find a new way to show you, a little bit everyday 
That's how you know, that's how you know!
He's your love...

I didn't expect anything for valentines day because Jeff has been working really long hours everyday, 6 days a week. But, Jeff is so sweet and picked up yellow flowers for me on his way home from the hospital. Ever since we saw Enchanted, when the sky is gray, Jeff always buys me yellow flowers.  I have the sweetest husband in the whole world.

The best valentines gift, though, was from Christine. She briefly woke up at 6 to eat and went back to sleep until 9 am!!!! She is an EARLY riser and letting me sleep-in for so long was incredible. I forgot what it felt like to feel well-rested! Now if only I could get her to do it for me more often.

friends? or toy thieves?

A little while ago we visited our friends the Bradley's and I forgot my camera, but luckily Katie (who's an amazing photographer, a witty writer, and delicious banana cheesecake chef) pulled hers out to capture the sweet moments. Thank you Katie!! Click here to go to their blog and see all the cute pictures and read about the visit.

12 Things I love about Christine

Change is so gradual and almost imperceptible, that sometimes we do not realize its happening and we end up thinking that it just hasn't occurred. That's why pictures are so wonderful. I had today off, so I thought I would jot down some of my favorite things that Christine does before I forget she ever did them. (This may be boring for everyone else, but these are our special memories)

12. When she is sucking on her binky and we get her to smile, and you can just see the corners of her smile poking out on either side.

11. How intrigued she is with ceiling fans, all pieces of paper, and cooler ranch Doritos bags.

10. She loves faces. She loves to grab your face and then try to stick it in her mouth. This often ends up with her sucking on my nose.

9. Her frowny face. I know, what kind of father am I. But that face makes my heart melt, and I know I would do whatever she wanted to make her happy... it's going to be really hard when she gets older and I need to tell her no.

8. Her little hands both cute and evil. They grab anything and everything around them. Including the mail, coupons, and her own face and ears. The evil hands are notorious for waking baby up. The little hands also like to pick out outfits, and push away things she does not want.

7. Bath-time fun! When I get home early enough I get to participate in this ritual. Christine loves her bath and spending time in the bathroom in general (we're definitely going to need more bathrooms, or I will just have to continue getting up ridiculously early to get a shower). She loves to kick in the water, she loves to play with the rinsing cup, and most of all she loves to suck on the wash cloth.

6. Her cute little feet. She's starting to discover her feet. She loves looking at them and kicking her blankets with them.

5. She loves to pull up blankets over her face, especially when she's tired. As long as I can remember I have loved doing the exact same thing. I love sleeping with things on top of my face.

4. Her facial expressions. Sometimes she makes a face that makes us think she can understand what Angela and I are talking about.

3. Her toots, which Angela likes to blame on me.

2. Her laughs. We have discovered several things that elicit outrageous and continuous laughing. One is laying on the floor of the bathroom, before a bath, and mommy leaning over her upside down. A second one is when Angela sings to her patty cake. The third, and my personal favorite with a 75% success rate, is when I put Christine on top of my head and Angela stands in front of us. Then I turn around so that Baby and I are facing away from Angela and we say "Where's baby?" Then I turn around and we shout "There she is!" She dies laughing, and will continue laughing every time we do it until I faint from fatigue and dizziness.

1. Knowing everyday I get to come home to my sweet wife and my darling little girl. She always makes me feel special.

Happy Valentines Day!

buzz, buzz

We call this friend "buzzy bee"

not to be confused with "squishy bee" who is orange... and squishy.

chomp, chomp

5 months old!

I can't believe it's been 5 months! whew. Times sure goes by fast with a baby... but at the same time I hardly can remember what it was like before Christine came into our lives.
Sleep training is going great! the first two nights were the hardest, but after that she magically started sleeping much better. I also changed her daily schedule to be more consistent and that has made such a difference- for her and me. I feel like I am finally a sane person. Thank you everyone for your suggestions and support on this. Reading those comments you left on the blog gave me the encouragement I needed.
Christine is currently:

• sitting up with support
• rolling over from her stomach to her back
• loving standing on her feet (with mom holding her up)
• savoring rice cereal
• tolerating green beans, prunes, and sweet potatoes
• pulling blankets over her head to play "Where's baby?"
• smiling big
• laughing
• putting everything in her mouth, favorite thing to put in her mouth: her washcloth at bath time. I now have to use 2 washcloths one for her to eat, one for me to put soap on
• demanding to be held all day long (I just started working with her on this one, she not too happy about mom's determination to teach her to be content playing on the ground on her own)

Prunes

We've added another food to Christine's diet: prunes! yum.

When we pulled out the container of prunes, Jeff and I were debating whether or not prunes were dried up plums. He proposed that prunes are to raisins as plums are to grapes. I countered by saying, no because plums aren't great for digestion like prunes are, and wouldn't prune juice actually be called plum juice then? Grape juice has never been called raisin juice.

The stakes were made: if I was right I would get a new book (PW's love story), if Jeff was right he would get a 30 minute massage. Then wikipedia was consulted. Turns out, prunes ARE dried plums... but only a specific type of plum, not the traditional plum that you would eat. So, we called it a draw. I ordered the book from Amazon and Jeff got a 10 minute massage.

Regardless of whether or not prunes are plums, Christine is NOT a fan.

I can roll over!

On Monday (1.31.2011) Christine rolled over! She was playing on her stomach having "tummy time" and I was working on my laptop trying to coordinate some visiting teaching and I glanced at Christine to make sure she was doing okay and she was on her back! I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see the first time she rolled over completely on her own, but that's okay she rolled over for me again that evening. Jeff had to wait until Wednesday morning to see it. Now I have to be MUCH more careful about where I lay her down and what's around her (not that I wasn't before).

In the Papasan Chair: See Her Grow!

At church last Sunday Jeff was holding Christine and one of our friends came up to him and asked "Who's baby are you holding?" We thought he was joking, but he was totally serious! Christine has been growing like crazy! So much that she is now too big for her Papasan chair. Time to pack it up and send it back to our Aunt Ali who is going to be needing it this summer! Yea! We are so excited that she is going to be having a little girl!

Tangie Bear and Charlie Bear

When Christine was the size of a tangerine (when I was pregnant) we joked that we were going to name her Tangerine and we'd call her Tangie for short. When the name Christine was chosen over Tangerine, the name was passed down to a cute little bear. (the name Tangerine was never a serious thought. When we went to the hospital we had two names in mind: Christine and Claire. Obviously, the name Christine won).

Introducing Tangie Bear:

one day old

two months old

four months old

Tangie Bear was given to us by our gigi in honor of her daddy's Charlie bear.

We love you Charlie Bear.

We love you Tangie Bear.