Playmates

Daniel is so eager to play with Catherine, even though she can't do much yet.  He likes to read books to her and is good about remembering to bring her toys when he gets something new out for himself to play with.  He insisted she join him in his "tent" the other day.  Luckily, she's a good sport most of the time and just follows along.

Catherine's Six Month Check-Up

Catherine is six months old already - well, six and a half months old really!  She's grown a lot in the last month.  We had her 6-month check-up on Tuesday, and she weighed 14 lb., 14 oz. (19.68 %ile)) and measured 25.5 inches in length (30.38 %ile).  She is sitting up by herself and working really hard to learn how to crawl.  She can get up on her hands and knees by herself, but she can't get any further than that.  She usually gets on her knees and then lunges toward an object she wants, only reaching it half the time.  She is eating more and more foods and likes a lot of things, including peas, plums, sweet potatoes, potatoes, green beans, zucchini, oatmeal, apples, and chicken.  She's finally got the hang of eating from a spoon and opens her mouth readily.  The big news is that she finally learned how to take a bottle!  Hooray!  After 3-4 months of trying, she got it!  This has been a nice break for me - I was having way too much stress trying to time everything right with work so that I could be home to feed her.  Now maybe we'll get to use those 75 packages of milk I have stored in the freezer!  She continues to squeal a lot rather than coo and has recently begun making a "monster" noise in which she grunts loudly.  Daniel gets a kick out of that one.  She's sleeping okay.  She typically wakes up once during the night to eat, but there are other nights that she sleeps through.  She then takes three naps during the day, ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  The hard part is that you never know what kind of nap it will be!  She also recently got a tooth!  How's that for not feeling like a baby anymore?!

Zens Grandkids' Extravaganza

Last weekend we had all four Zens grandkids together for the first time.  My sister and her son, Bryson (20 months), my sister-in-law and her son, Henry (5 months), and my mom all came to visit.  We had so much fun seeing all the kids together.  It was a wild and tiring weekend!  I'm so thankful that they all made the long trip to come see us!  We didn't do anything special - it's hard to get out of the house with four kids on different schedules.  There were some meltdowns and plenty of crying, but a lot of laughter too!  Here are a few pics, including our many takes at trying to get all four in one photo!



Flattery

I got a haircut today, including new bangs.  I got home, and Daniel said, "Mommy, why is your hair like that?  You look cray-cray!"

Thanks.

Peach Orchard

On Saturday morning, David saw an ad in the paper for a peach orchard where you could pick your own peaches.  We thought it sounded like fun and jumped in the car to drive about 30 minutes to the farm.  It was really pretty out there, even though it was ridiculously hot.  We picked a half bushel of peaches and ate quite a few while we were there.  We had to make Daniel stop after two whole peaches in less than 15 minutes!  I froze most of them, and we made a peach pie with some of the others.  While peeling, slicing, and bagging peaches to freeze, I have never felt more like my mother.  It seems like my mom was always putting up a fruit or vegetable in the freezer, and I can remember watching her slice up peaches with juice all over her hands, being amazed that she didn't slice her fingers while working so quickly.  I hope that my kids will some day remember me in the same way.

Solid Foods

We started Catherine on solids three weeks ago.  So far she's done rice, oatmeal, carrots, and apples.  She liked the rice the most and the carrots the least.  She's still getting the hang of it and gags sometimes when it's not quite smooth enough....or when it tastes like carrots!  Despite that, she's doing fairly well - far superior to her use of a bottle! 

Brotherly Love

This pic cracked me up, so I thought I'd share with everyone.  These two really can't get enough of each other.  I know that's going to change (probably sooner rather than later), so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can. 

Daniel loves to go lie down next to Catherine, wherever she may be.  He sometimes brings her toys or talks to her, but usually he just lies next to her.  He also loves to go to her crib when she wakes up from her naps.  He runs in there with his stool so he can peek in to the crib.  He talks to her in his high-pitched motherese speech, saying things like, "Hey, you!  What are you doin' in there?  Did you have a good nap?  Do you feel good?"  Then he gives her a toy or two and just watches her. 


One of the most popular statements I hear every day from Daniel is "Let's see what Catherine does."  Then he just sits and stares at his sister.  Luckily, she loves staring right back at him.