Happy Easter

We had a nice Easter. Nothing fancy, just a simple easter basket for the three of us to share (well, I don't know if Christine is going to share her new book with us- it's a pretty cool book).

Jumper-roo

When reading our broccoli poem, did you wonder where the "plastic carrot, you are so sweet" picture was? I accidentally deleted it as I was writing the poem, and since I was writing it on the laptop and the picture was stored on the computer that is set up in Christine's room where Christine was currently sleeping, I decided to just add the picture later. It is now later, and I have uploaded the carrot picture again. So you can now enjoy Ode to Broccoli in its complete form :)

Today, I want to share more about that plastic carrot and tomato. They come from Christine's Jumper-roo.

Jeff and I thought a long time about whether or not to purchase a big "play center." They are expensive and take up a bit of room, and there is a large chance that the baby might not even enjoy the toy. But Christine gets bored very easily, she likes LOTS of stimulation during the day. So we got on Amazon and did a bunch of research on exersaucers and jumper-roos and ended up purchasing this one.

I am so glad that we did! She LOVES it. All the toys are really fun and once she figured out how to jump up the fun factor when up by 100 points. And it give me an extra 15 minutes to do things like clean the dishes... or put on mascara... I could go on and on with this list.

Ode to Broccoli

As we have been introducing solid foods to Christine it has been fun to see what her favorites are. She has liked everything we've given her... until now. Jeff and I have written a poem to help you understand how Christine feels about her newest food...

Broccoli

Broccoli, oh broccoli, you are so gross

Broccoli, oh broccoli I hate you the most

I would rather chew on my shoe

Then take another bite of you

No more broccoli, please, oh please!

Prunes, green beans, or peas

Or even mommy’s keys

I would rather eat any of these

I would eat my blanket without a care

I would eat a wrench on a dare

But nothing's better than Daddy’s hair

Before we eat, can I have a word?

I’d rather have a small stuffed bird

Or a diaper, how absurd!!

I enjoy a plastic tomato in the afternoon

Then I'll take a taste of my metal spoon

My feet are such a tasty treat

Plastic carrot you are so sweet

A camera lens cover would be just fine

On a cardboard picture I would dine

I’d even eat a book of mine

But Broccoli, no no NO!

Broccoli, you are my foe

Stay away from me

Nasty broccoli

My baby is 7 months old!

Christine is 7 months old now, actually she's been 7 months for 2 weeks now but we've been busy around here- I got mastitis...again (third times a charm, or it better be!) and Jeff has been helping me get the apartment ready for a crawling infant, anchoring bookshelves to walls, and organizing closet spaces.

Jeff and I both agree she is much more fun as a moving, smiling, playing baby than a crying, never-sleeping infant. 7 months seems to be the magic number. Christine sleeps wonderfully (which means mom does too!!! FINALLY) and Christine is getting much better at playing by herself for little stretches of time.

Christine is very curious. She is especially curious of all of Mommy and Daddy's gadget's, like the cell phones, laptops, cameras... everything she shouldn't play with! I love her face in this photo, she is intensively studying the phone, so sure that she can figure out how to work it.

One of Christine's favorite pastimes is to go for walks in her stroller. We go for walks around the apartment complex visiting the pools and the mailbox, and sometimes we sneak into the apartment complex across the street and go for walks around their lake. The below picture actually isn't our stroller. Gigi got a stroller to keep at their house so I don't have to remember to pack the stroller every time we come up to visit them. Gigi takes Christine to visit their mailbox too!

Christine isn't crawling yet, but she loves to lung for things. Although, I have a feeling that she might figure it out pretty soon. All I have to do is keep my things (remotes, cell phone, camera lens cover) out of her reach but still in sight.

She's most mobile when she is in her crib. I think it is because the crib offers four walls to push off against that help her maneuver in there. She loves rolling around getting from one end to the other. We place her half asleep into her crib and leave the room with the door closed thinking she's asleep, but then 5 minutes later we hear her laughing and giggling, and we find her on the opposite side of the crib.She also loves her books. Jeff and I read to her as often as we can. I get bored of reading the same books everyday so we make trips to the bookstores frequently. I just discovered that Target carries baby board books in the dollar section!! We can only read board books right now because Christine loves paper and is very good at tearing pages. Daily reads include Goodnight Gorilla (thank you Jessica for the recommendation!) The Going to Bed Book, and My Little Love Bug. Her favorite books right now are Mr. Brown can Moo, Rainbow Fish Counting, and Doggies: A Counting and Barking Book. Other tidbits we want to remember about this time:

Today Christine indicated that bananas are her favorite food by eating an entire tub at one sitting. Jeff was hesitant to keep feeding her, but she kept smiling opening her mouth going maa-maa-maa.

Currently Christine is making 3 distinct sounds. The interpretation of which are still uncertain. However, using time-tested research techniques, we've learned that mama seems to mean food, milk, or mom which in reality are all synonyms for obvious reasons. dada we think means dad or 'carry me' which are also synonyms. The third sound is blah blah blah which definitely means 'I'm bored', as confirmed at a recent visit to the Houston Fine Arts Museum.

When Christine gets hold of something new and exciting she starts breathing heavily, her eyes get very large and begins hyperventilating- especially if it is paper or a paper product including cardboard, magazines, envelopes, grocery lists. Recently one of our friends gave her a magazine to play with and upon seeing this reaction asked "Is she upset or really excited?"

Sitting up

For the last month and a half, we've been practicing sitting up. The problem was that Christine got bored in seconds and would lunge forward to grab a toy or to get onto her stomach. I was telling my friend about our dilemma and she let us borrow her bumbo chair. The bumbo chair was a huge hit! So we bought us one. I wish we had bought it sooner because she loves to play in it.

After playing in the Bumbo for a little while, Christine learned that sitting could be fun.

You see, when you can sit up you can reach more things...

s

Oh, yes, sitting is very fun!

Visiting Cousins

Last week, Christine's cousin Zack came to visit all the way from Canada. I asked Zack how he liked living in Canada. He responded, "It's still winter there. It's summer here!"

My brother and sister-in-law left Canada where it was snowing and arrived in Houston in unseasonably cold weather. It got down to the 60s in the mornings while they were here, but not a worry, it got up to the 80s every afternoon. I'm with you Zack, I'll keep the warm weather!

My sister-in-law tells us Zack is obsessed with babies, and Christine was no exception. He even got excited about when it was diaper change time... has he smelled Christine's diapers?!?

Two of Christine's other cousin's came to visit from Temple, Texas, too. All the cousins wanted to take Christine on a walk, so my mom was happy to oblige.

Everyone took turns pushing her, and Christine was lulled to sleep. The sun was so bright and nice, we were afraid that she would get sunburned!

Visiting cousins means playing with new toys! Zack broke out his favorite tool set to share with Christine. Care for a wrench??

"No Daddy, I prefer the saw!"

"These boy-toys are so much cooler than mine!"

"Binky Smile" and other updates on life

I have been trying for a long time to try and get a picture of Christine's "binky smile"- when she's enjoying her binky and you can just see the corners of her smile. It's very hard to capture because whenever I pull out the camera she stops smiling and focuses all of her attention on how to get the camera from me. This is the best shot I have gotten, and it's not even a real smile. (what is the correct spelling of binky? binkey? "pacifier smile" doesn't sound as cute)

My allergies have been TERRIBLE this last week, and since I am still breastfeeding Christine I can't take ANY of the good drugs (like Sudafed. Oh how I miss you Sudafed!) I am just praying that this doesn't turn into a sinus infection.

Jeff is DONE with his Medicine rotation! Jeff loved it all, but Christine and I did not enjoy the long hours he spent at the hospital, nor did we enjoy our weekends alone, going to church on our own, eating alone, this list could go on and on. The worst of it was knowing that this is just the beginning... it was a glimpse into my life as a wife of a resident. I'm happier if I try not to think about it.

Yesterday as I was making dinner I opened the cupboard and a HUGE cockroach went crawling across the cupboard door above my head. 5 minutes later the smooshed cockroach's carcass was in the dumpster outside (it creeps me out to even have the dead body of a cockroach in the house- what if it comes back to life? cockroaches are indestructible you know!) all evening long I kept seeing cockroaches crawling on the wall out of the corner of my eye, of course nothing was there, I just go a little crazy after having nasty bugs in my house. It's a small price to pay for summer weather 11 months of the year.

Christine doesn't like cockroaches either.

Surprise Package

What's this? a box full of stuff? for ME?

What do we have here?

some bibs so mom can stop washing mango puree out of all my clothes.

A pretty dress! Let's see if it passes the taste test... yep it's a good one!

oops Mom forgot to put on my matching headband!

isn't it a pretty headband?

Thank you Grandma!!!