Adventures of a 7 month old

Well, this week we are getting used to a new furniture "situation" in our front room. We decided in the "baby proofing" vein, we would remove our coffee table, and move it to the shed. We also bought a cute little rug to put in front of the couch, for baby playtime. We also removed a bookshelf, moved the tv, and bought a toy box/bench for Ramona's large collection of blankets. So far, we love it. There is more room to move around, and there are more places to play with Ramona. All in all, baby proofing has benefited our lifestyle.

We have had a few adventures this week. Yesterday we went to Woodinville with Sabrina and Madeline. I know, I know, why would we go all the way out there, unless we were going wine tasting. Well, there is a coffee shop out there that is dedicated solely to moms (and dads), and the little ones. It was really cool, when the kids get older there is a HUGE playroom for them to bounce around in. For now, Ramona and Madeline just jumparooed, and played with some of the baby toys. Then, we continued our Woodinville adventure by going to the Hanna Anderson outlet. I got Ramona her first pair of sunglasses (to Justin's chagrin), some tights, and a cute, colorful summer outfit.

Then, today we went to West Seattle with Sabrina, Madeline, and our friend Kim. We call these "neighborhood adventures" and they are a really fun thing to do as a stay at home mom. We went to coffee/lunch at Bakery Nouveau, which was unbelievably tasty. It seems to be the only feasible rival to Cafe Besalu in the city. We also went to some cute baby stores, and can you believe it, I didn't buy a thing.

Also, here is a connection to Sabrina's blog, with a video of Ramona and Madeline playing, thanks to some amazing cinematography by moi: http://www.extreme-kids.blogspot.com/

McSitterson

Ramona seems to have found her calling. Sitting is a great fit for her. She doesn't have to move to be able to see the dog, she doesn't need her arms at all, and she can kick the toys in front of her for fun. I think she will be content to sit around for awhile (I wonder where she inherited that?).

She does seem to be coming down with a little stranger anxiety lately. She didn't do well when we went out to dinner, and left her with some friends from PEPS. She apparently cried for a good hour or so, and now I'm sure my PEPS group isn't interested in watching her in the near future. So, maybe our date nights will become a little rarer now. Luckily, Ramona does really well with my mom, because she watches Ramona when I go to work.......so we still have her.

We removed our coffee table, and bought a new rug, so we have a nice place for Ramona to play right in front of the couch. She likes to sit on the rug and play with that toy pictured above, and her stacking cups all on her own. She also likes sitting there and waiting for Max to walk by so she can laugh maniacally. It is even better when Max decides to stop to lick her face.....that gets the big laughs. They are quite close, those two.

getting agile

Wow, sometimes I think that Ramona was just laying there thinking about rolling, sitting, and doing all sorts of moving. But, she waited...........watched all of her friends do it first. I suppose she was picking up hints on how to do it right. Maybe she will be like my brother, the five year old that watched World Cup matches over and over to learn the moves of the great soccer players, so that he could do them during his games (of course, they were probably five year old versions of the slide kick and banana kick). Ramona has now learned to sit up. And she can do it all the time. She was sitting on Justin's lap, and then we noticed she was sitting up with no help. Then we put her down on the couch, and she did it again. Now, as long as there is something interesting in front of her, she will sit up unaided. So, after three weeks of crazy advancements, she is now caught up with all of her peers.

She has been kind of moody lately......I say moody, because one minute she is screaming with laughter, and the next she is super irritated (and she does the Ramona moan). We think this is because she is teething, so I guess we better buckle down for a long period of moaning. Her first tooth has yet to come through, but it should be only a matter of time.

This weekend we are putting her new car seat in the car. Its a "big kids" car seat, which means no more carrying her around in the infant seat. This is a positive and a negative. Positive: I won't kill myself by hauling around thirty pounds worth of baby + seat, negative: If Ramona is sleeping, I'll probably wake her up by picking her up out of the seat. The seat has a wonderfully tacky cow print that Justin despises, and for some reason (even with my disgust of animal prints), I love!

rolling, rolling, rolling

I don't have a recent picture of Ramona rolling, but lately she has become a real roller. She has been rolling from her back to her front for a good two months now. However, she would get stuck on her stomach, and need me to roll her back over to her back. Yesterday at Sabrina's house, she rolled over from her stomach to her back on her own. It was a bit of a struggle, I had to let her whine for quite a long time, without helping her, but she did it! Of course, immediately, she rolled back to her stomach. This may seem like a silly feat, but we are really excited, because we've been waiting for this for a long time. Its the little things. Now, we are going to be working on sitting up. She doesn't seem interested......but who knows.

hula girl

What a trip! We just got back from Kauai, and it was an amazing trip. We went with my parents, so there were plenty of people to dote on Ramona. I think she liked the attention. Justin and I were able to do a few hikes (Na Pali Coast, and Sleeping Giant), I went kayaking with my mom (Hanalei River), and we all hit quite a few beaches. Of course we were sitting in the shade so that Ramona's beautiful baby skin was not harmed, but that was actually quite civilized. I used to sit in the sun too long, and would have to nap through the rest of the day because of it. Not to say that there weren't quite a few naps on this trip. I think my dad napped as often as Ramona.

Ramona had a few baby breakthroughs on the trip. She started teething, so she wants to bite on everything. She also chews on nothing all the time....just constantly chewing air. The drool is massive, though I never made her wear one of those bibs, I feel like even a teething baby needs to keep her pride. She also said her first word!!! Of course it was "dada", and not "mama", but I expected that. It was cute, the first time she said it, we were laying in bed in the morning, and she was looking at Justin, and just started chanting "dadadadadadadadada", it was quite the moment. She also started really loving food on this trip. She would really get excited when it was time to eat solids, we introduced her to pears and papayas in Hawaii. She loved both, but I think we are going to hold off on the papaya from now on, since it made her poo about eight times the next day. No thanks. She would also reach for our food when we went out to dinner. She actually banged her mouth on the table, trying to eat my dad's food.

In general she showed that she is getting more active on this trip. As many of you know, Ramona hasn't been "in" to moving as much as other babies. Now, she is moving around quite a bit, eating her feet, rolling over, and reaching for stuff (though half the time she is "reaching" with her mouth).

The plane rides went wonderfully. I couldn't have asked for them to go more smoothly. She slept through most of the trips, and when she was awake, she was charming other passengers. Though we did learn that traveling with a two year looks more than we could handle. Good thing we went on this trip when she is so easy to travel with. We got her a seat, and that was the best decision we made. She slept in her car seat most of the time, and so on the redeye on the way home, Justin and I were able to sleep through the entire flight! I feel very lucky.