Inch Worm

Six months and two teeth later, we've got a sweet little munchkin attempting to crawl around the living room! No joke! I've been calling Grace Louise my little "inch worm". Cutest dang inch worm you've ever seen! She scrunches her knees up under her belly with her little tush in the air and then pushes forward. With an arsenal of transportation methods, she manages to get where she wants to go. Already getting rug burn!

Went in for a 6 month check up and GL weighed 17.6 lbs! She has (accidentally) said "ninny", "mama" and "dada". I say "accidentally" because the words just sort of fall out of her mouth, along with a bunch of other crazy sounds and syllables. She will be speaking with purpose before too long. (I still think she knew exactly what she was saying when she said "ninny"... afterall, it was time to eat!)

Now for some pics of the gal and her pals...

Triston turned 8 last week and we had a BDay party for him at mom's.

Being silly, but he loves to read!

Big Lou and Little Lou


Papa Coates doing what he does best... crashing parties! ha!


GL chillin' in the new Babyhawk carrier. (Getting too big for the Moby).

Pears. Exploring Food.

I have an announcement that will make so many people happy... Grace Louise is finally getting to taste some flavors and textures other than breastmilk, breastmilk, and breastmilk! She is just turning 6 months old (already 6 months if you count by weeks, otherwise celebrating 6 month BDay on May 1st) and showing some clear signs that she is ready to start exploring foods. Two particular signs are square, white, and protruding from her bottom gums! GL has two teeth and is ready for mastication.

It has been so interesting to see how eager people are to feed babies! And fighting them off has not been easy ;-) I've been tortured with pictures of *hmm hmm* some particular babysitters pretending to feed Grace Louise strawberries and grits/eggs... all in fun, of course! I've also been accused of taking all the fun out of my child's life. No cake icing = no fun in life. Of course. Knowing that waiting to introduce solids was the best thing for my baby, made it easy to resist starting before she was ready. Making it even easier is the fact that dunking cloth diapers before washing is not required when babies are only fed breastmilk. Let the dunking begin!

About a week ago, during a teething meltdown, I offered some cold watermelon in a "chum bag". (For those of you not familiar with this contraption, it is a cloth, mesh bag with a handle that allows the baby to experience the flavor or the food without biting off pieces. Perfect for little ones just learning to eat). Her first "official" food, given yesterday, was a pear. And as you can see in the pics below, she was VERY interested in eating it!

I know handing a 6 month old a whole pear may seem a bit extreme. Pureeing and spoon feeding just aren't necessary if she has the motor skills to pick it up and put it in her own mouth. Plus, eating softened finger foods teaches her to chew before swallowing (whereas spoon feeding pureed foods, especially before the baby overcomes the tongue thrust reflex, teaches babies to swallow before chewing). I'm just learning all this (of course). The coined term for introducing solids this way is baby-led weaning. If any of you are rolling your eyes at me right now, please, have mercy. I'm not trying to be difficult or particularly different... How often do we "do what we do" just because it has always been done that way?... What if there is a better way??

[I have several articles written by pediatricians if any moms are reading this and wanting more info. I can send you the links in an email].

I only peeled half of it, not thinking that she would get very far her first time.

This face says, "new flavor. not ninny."

"Ah. But now I will use the table to my advantage. I like this!"


*Burp...* "More please!"
No, really, she didn't eat the whole thing. I took it away after a few minutes. She was being so aggressive with it, I started to get concerned that she would bite off more than she could chew. literally.
Tried apple in a chum bag today. (More of a teething remedy). We will be trying sweet potato in a couple of days. Happy Eating!

Spring in Our Step

Spring has finally arrived! The skies are blue, the birds are singing, the sun is warm on my skin; I am looking forward to a great summer outdoors with my family! I guess you could say we have a little spring in our step...feeling motivated to get out and enjoy the sunshine :-) (Ask me again in August and I may be running for the a/c!) Amber, Carson, and Brayden joined us on a picnic last week. Looking back over these pictures, I found it neat how they truly captured our fun and relaxing day at the lake.

On the road again

Over Spring Break, mom and I took Grace Louise and my Aggie to see one of her last living cousins in Tampa. We do this every year, which is a really nice way to stay connected with relatives that we otherwise wouldn't know. There is something about family heritage that intrigues me... (more on that later). We enjoyed lunch and good conversation at Sheri's. Back porches and iced tea.... ahhhh!

Fun Milestones

She amazes me! Learning how to use a cup! Although she prefers to drink water out of a glass, she says she'll settle for the no-spill sippy cup.

Sitting up like a big girl in the shopping cart and the restaurant high chair makes going out much easier on mom!

Hay fever, coughing, a stuffy nose... What's ailing the Hurst's? Nobody knows!

Okay. Corny blog post title. The point is, we've all been feeling quite yucky since Thursday night, and whatever it is (allergies maybe? or just a cold?) we are praying it will go away soon! Grace Louise cut her first tooth this morning (YAY!) so I think her diarrhea and runny nose were symptoms of that. Since Jimmy and I have all of our teeth, I'm thinking we simply have colds ;-)

I should have my sick self in the bed, but I just couldn't resist posting some Easter pictures from last weekend. (Plus, my husband is entirely too intrigued in the PBS Lewis and Clark expedition show to go to bed).

We had a wonderful Easter service at church celebrating Christ's resurrection! I'm so thankful and excited that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living in us! After church we had lunch at LaLa's, enjoyed some Easter basket goodies, and had an egg hunt for Triston. I snapped some really neat pics, which is so easy since my daughter is obviously quite the little ham!

You know the rule, not everyone can be smiling and looking at the camera at once!




Granny and Papa Coates

LaLa made Grace Louise this precious Easter basket! She made mine when I was baby, which I kept into my teenage years. So special. She had Grace Louise's monogrammed with her name on one side and "He Is Risen" on the other.

Now that Jimmy and I are parents of an impressionable little human, we get to decide which cultural traditions we want to celebrate and how to incorporate them into our family in a way that reflects our priorities and values. Finally. Power!!!...Muhahahahahaha! Just kidding. Really, it is a neat responsibility.

5 Whole Months!!!

Grace Louise turns 5 months tomorrow, April 1st! And I'm not kidding!!! No April Fool's here! We enjoy her so much... all 16 pounds of her! Wherever we go, everyone seems to just love her... and it is easy to do! She is such a fun and loving little baby, with all sorts of new tricks up her sleeve- most recent is drinking water out of a cup! One more month or so and we'll introduce some veggies!

She finally fits the hiking pack and seems to love it! We're going on our first hike in the Nature Conservancy this week.













Did I mention it doubles as a teether?









Happy Feet!

"I see you!"

Making use of all her toys now. She loves to jump in her JumpARoo!

She's learned to jump, so now she jumps in the ExerSaucer (which is NOT made for jumping)... more like crashing!

Who sits up now? I do! I do!

Equilibrium

Yesterday I took Grace Louise on our first solo picnic at the lake! I had been feeling really overwhelmed, especially by work (and my CRAZY plagiarizing students!) and just needed to get outside and enjoy the weather. I had a "moment" the day before (commonly referred to as a meltdown), and the teeter-totter of life felt completely out of balance. This happens from time to time, when something is taking up too much of my time or thoughts; something unworthy becomes the center of my attention. So, as I told a friend earlier today, meltdowns are really just epiphanies; they're reminders that life is out of balance. Yay! Meltdowns are good!!! Ha- not!

Realizing that so many things were competing with the undivided attention I wanted to give my baby girl, I decided to retreat where nothing could interfere (besides my BlackBerry ;) My afternoon with Grace Louise was precious and it turns out she loves the outdoors as much as her mom! We strolled around Lake Wailes, had playtime under a big, beautiful oak, and she took a nap on a blanket while I read! Doesn't that sound serene and amazing?!?! (IT WAS!!!) Pics to follow...

Knowing where I long for the Center of my life's focus to be, I've committed to sing this first song on my playlist everyday for a week. Hmmm... we'll see!

On the road again...

One of our fave things to do is visit! We usually spend a couple of days during the week visiting friends and relatives, and I'm so thankful to be able to do this with her! Here she is with two of her uncles (who, by the way, are just crazy about her!)