June Videos

Lainey visits the Kansas Farm and gets to meet Penny the Kitty for the first time.

It is all fun and games with Auntie B!  That is...until the very end.  :o) 

Poor Nellie...Lainey trying to either wipe her tears or nose since she is in the dreaded "collar of shame" for a couple of weeks. 

Part II of the torture

My little strong girl!

Swimming Lessons and Progression

We started swim lessons at Foss Swim School in June to get Lainey excited to be in the water. She loves tubby time, but we wanted her to feel comfortable and be acclimated to swimming. The first two lessons didn't go very well...lots of tears, crying, screaming. I am pretty sure she was so overwhelmed and overstimulated. After each lesson, she took a 2-3 hour nap which is very unusual for her! So I decided to take her on my own to the swimming pool and to let her get used to the water on her own time. That was the magic ticket as she is now loving swimming lessons. 

Help me!  I just got dunked!

Looking like a drowned rat.  :o(

Get me outta here mama!

Practicing our back float with Bitty Kate

One...Two...Three...Zoom!

 So after two weeks of not having any fun, we decided to hit up Elm Creek Beach and soak up some sun.  It went much better this time!

Do I have to wear this hat?

Just don't throw the keys in the pool

This water feels good!

Then Lainey's friend, Peyton, invited her over to swim in her sweet pool.  These two always have a lot of fun together!

Splishin and a Splashin!

I am having fun mama!

Ahhhhh!

Playing with the cups

These taste pretty good!

 I finally decided that this girl needed her own pool to play in.  If she could be out in her pool at 6AM...she would.  We have been out there as early as 9AM and she played for an hour. 

Playing with my new friend, Rosa!

 

May Recap and 7 Month Birthday

In my lame attempt to catch up... :o)

Happy 7 Month Birthday Laineybug!  (5-9-11)

Eats:  Still trying new foods every couple of days.  So far the only thing you don't like is mango, but you will eat all of your other veggies, fruits, and oatmeal.  You are eating solids at breakfast and dinner now.  Fruits: peaches, prunes, mango, apples, pears.  Veggies: sweet potato, parsnips, peas, green beans, butternut squash, carrots.  Whole grain cereal, oatmeal, and barley at breakfast.  EBF 6x a day.
Sleeping: we were only waking up once in the night until the teeth started making an appearance.  Then it went back to multiple late night parties! 
 
You now have your two bottom teeth and it looks like your two top teeth are coming in!

Can you see my two bottom chompers popping up?

7 Months Old on 5-9-11

 We took a big trip in May to San Antonio to go visit Papa Steve.  This was your 2nd plane ride and you did great!  You were sharing lots of smiles with our nice flight attendants! 

All smiles as we were getting ready to get on the airplane at the airport!

Grabbing some lunch with daddy on the Riverwalk

So much to see and look at! 

Cheese! 

Enjoying one of our many walks along the River!

Three Walker generations!

Avocado Face!



Picture op at The Alamo 

In all of her glory!

You were such a great traveler on this trip!

Enjoying a boat ride along the river

Getting my fix of Vitamin D!

Taking in the great San Antonio Zoo with Papa Steve!

"Three little monkeys jumping on the bed..."

Lainey is racking up the Zoo visits!

 After our visit to San Antonio, Mimi Kathy came up to Minnesota to help us landscape and plant flowers!  We took her to the Farmers Market in downtown Minneapolis for a stroll and to grab some pretty flowers and herbs!

Loves going on walks with Mimi!

Of course, we had to stop for an ear of roasted sweet corn.  It was like eating candy.  Yummy!

 May was also Brandon's birthday and we celebrated on Memorial Day with a BBQ at our good friends house (Thanks Volks!).  This is Lainey in her Tough Mudder gear.  She has already started training for next years race! 

This is where Lainey spent most of her lazy afternoons when we weren't traveling or schlepping her around.  Just sucking on her ice popsicle to help with those teethers making there way through!  Happy May!

The funniest thing ever

Nellie is the funniest thing to Lainey.  She always starts smiling, giggling, screaming, cooing, yelling, talking anytime Nellie comes walking into the room.  She loves her doggie.  I just wish that her doggie would love her just as much back.  Sometimes Nellie is less than enthused as Lainey loves to pull her hair out of her tail or tries to poke her eyes out.  I guess I would be the same way Nellie.  :o)  Here is a video of Lainey's laughs and chuckles as Nellie is playing with her squeaky toy!

The Fake Cough

The Fake Cough

Ever since Lainey has been about 6 months or so, she has started to throw in a fake cough every now and then.  Now, anytime that you ask her "Are you okay?" the fake coughing spells start.  See for yourself! 

 

We are back!

I almost forgot my password to blogger...that is how long it has been.  :o)  Sorry for the delay, but I am back!  I know I am way behind and will try and throw some posts about Lainey at 6 months and 7 months since those milestones have come and gone. 

Below is a new video of Lainey and her best friend...herself in a mirror.  It doesn't matter what mirror, she always has a big smile, drooly kisses, and some "Hey's" to her friend.

Lainey is really trying to still hate tummy time, but she now prefers to sleep that way!  It was a little scary for us the first couple of nights as we sat glued to the monitor to make sure she was still breathing and alive, but now we are all sleeping a little better.  Here is a video of her on her 7 month birthday enjoying some tummy time and mirror talk!

My goal is to try to get back to posting once a week from here on forward!  Sorry for the month delay Mom!  :o)  Enjoy!

-Manda

Baby Food!

First food = sweet potato

Someone is excited to start.  First day of solids = 6 month birthday!

Not so sure about it at first...

Getting the hang of it!

These are so yummy!

The smile says it all!

I have been waiting for this milestone for a long time!  I know...I know...I could have started solids two months ago, but then realized that we had a good thing going (aka I am lazy) and that we would wait until she was 6 months old. 

I have known since the beginning that I wanted to take the time to make my own baby food for Lainey.  Not that I have anything against the jarred stuff, but I wanted to know exactly what I was feeding her and to find the best and most fresh ingredients possible to maximize her palate.  I know what you are thinking...maximizing a baby's palate?  My goal is that she will be requesting to eat lots of different fruits and veggies from now forward and that I don't have a picky eater on my hands.  I have been researching and reading about different methods to make this as easy as possible.  Luckily, I stumbled upon some great blogs that had perfect how-to videos on methods to prepare and store baby food.  There are a lot of contraptions and appliances for buying products that make baby food, but I wanted to go simple.  The only things that I bought were a steaming basket, silicone ice cube trays, freezer bags, and a baby food cookbook.   I already had a blender and the Easter Bunny brought Lainey a small food mill that I can take for traveling or doing protiens and peas. 

First batch and so easy to make! 

Getting the system down!

Apples/Pears,
Peas,
Sweet Potato, Carrots

Just the first of many batches to come! 

So far she has eaten whole grain oatmeal cereal + mashed banana or apple/pear combo in the AM, sweet potato + avocado in the PM.  She is loving it and her favorite seems to be the sweet potato!  After tasting it, I can see why.  They were delish!  No butter, no brown sugar, no salt.  Just a simple baked sweet potato.  Maybe that is how I should start eating my food.  I forget sometimes to taste before sprinkling on the above without thinking about it.  She may have to fight me for the rest of the batch! 

-Manda