6 months old!

     Baby Ayla Cupcake is 6 months old!

CC and I found this book at the library and had to promptly purchase it at Powell's the next day!

    We started trying solids just a couple weeks ago. She was helping me make pumpkin cupcakes one day, so I gave her a little bit of the canned pumpkin. She was way more tired than I thought, because she ended up passing out within about a minute of trying the pumpkin (resulting in the following pictures):

Droopy head

Even slept through me holding her head up and then taking her out of the wrap!

Who wants banana when you've got rainbow pants?

        The next food we tried was banana. I mashed up just a little and she wasn't very interested (at least, not in the banana). Chris bought some small Gerber baby food containers a few days later (banana and peaches), so we tried the banana and she seemed to like it. The next day, she was grabbing for the spoon with both hands and leaning forward with her open baby bird mouth! She only had a few teaspoons, but seemed to really enjoy smearing it around her face and getting it on her hands. We tried peaches a few days later, but every time I gave it to her, she'd make a slightly disgusted looking face. I told her that I wouldn't want to eat something that smelled like feet, either. Just a few days ago, I cut up, baked and pureed a sweet potato that she seemed to really enjoy. On day two of the sweet potato project, she was leaning forward and grabbing for the spoon again! I think the next food we'll try will be avocado. Should be pretty easy to scoop out and puree up. I'm definitely more interested in keeping with fresh fruits and vegetables instead of buying the pre-made baby food. It's pretty easy at this point and a lot cheaper. I think we bought the sweet potato for less than a dollar and got about 12 cubes out of it (after you puree it, you can freeze it in an ice cube tray then pop out each cube and keep them frozen in a bag until you're ready to use one). I think 2 cubes fit in a baby food container and each one of those is about $0.50. I'd much rather pay the $1 for one sweet potato as opposed to $6 for the equivalent in pre-made food (not to mention much less plastic to have to re-use or re-cycle).

I found her sleeping like this one day... beautiful little weirdo!

     On Sunday, Cupcake participated in her first 5k! Chris ran this one as well and we met up with Will and Caroline. Chris' mom showed up to support us and take pictures (and get some Cupcake snuggles while we enjoyed the post-race food and entertainment). It was a good run, no rain and lots of costumes to look at. Ayla made it to about the one mile mark (right by the water birth center!) before getting bored (or overwhelmed) and falling asleep. Chris pushed her in the jogging stroller for the first 3/4 of a mile and I pushed her the rest of the way. We crossed the finish line at 35:31 (my second fastest run of the four 5ks I've done these last few months). Not too shabby.

Cupcake dressed as a cupcake!

She was fascinated with grandma's earrings

"Grandma, where did you buy these?"

"Can I get some mama, please??"

Caroline, Will, Mama, Cupcake, Chris

First family 5k... high five!

We went over to Voo Doo Doughnuts after the race and had to take a picture for our 1-year wedding anniversary!

    And some pictures from a playdate with Omi and Icen a few weeks ago at the Children's Museum:

On the sweet water bed!

Icen is crawling around and getting into things!

He liked the scarves (or whatever they were)

Water bed again

Water bed and bead toy

Wobble warning! Icen is too speedy to be captured on film.

Making his way over to Ayla

Making his way over to my cell phone. That kid is addicted!

Pumpkin fest!

     Ayla had her 6-month check up at the pediatrician's office yesterday. She now weighs 13 pounds and 15 ounces (almost double her birth weight! Only half a pound away) and is 24 1/2 inches long (she's grown 5 inches since her birth day). She's in the 25th percentile for both height and weight, but has shown consistent growth at every visit.

She loves watching the fish tank!

 

 

 

       Chris, Ayla and I went to the Wooden Shoe Pumpkin Fest in Woodburn after her appointment yesterday. It was weird to be back there when just 6 months ago, we were there on Ayla's birth day (I was in labor). We didn't do as much walking (no tulip fields and it was getting too dark/cold to do the corn maize), but got some good pictures!

Floppy hood

That's better!

Pirate ship and pirates

Pumpkin face

Dorky mama (with CC still strapped on my chest)

Dorky daddy

Pumpkins!

Chris setting up the "photo shoot"

Look at that face! Love that little baby!

"Hmmmm, what's this?"

"Hey, what's that?"

"Dad, prop me up!"

I'm not sure what this face is... maybe wet butt from the muddy grass?

"Whoa! That's a big pumpkin!"

"There's a reason that big pumpkin was sitting to my left before... whoa!"

"I'm okay!"

Yeah!

Socks came off when she was "walking" in the grass

"Whoa, dad!"

"Ewwww, gross!! Is that supposed to be horse hair?"

Teeter toter!

Inside a little play house

Inside the pumpkin wagon

So happy!

5 months!

     Ayla turned 5 months old on September 28th. Can you believe it? I can't. There are still times when I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a beautiful, happy little baby girl. It seems unreal and like a dream.

She sleeps like this pretty regularly :) We love these pj's from Uncle Justin and Aunt Kim!

"I need a pillow!"

     We've gone to a few Baby Boot Camp classes up in Washington Park and we love it! On Friday, we had class down in NW Portland and then went to Playdate PDX afterwards. I can't wait for Ayla to be big enough to toddle and run around that place, it's awesome! The class instructor's daughter (Evi, 19 months) showed us around. She loves the big (fast!) slides and the dance/game floor. I think I almost had more fun than she did.

Baby Boot Camp!

I was eating a cupcake and she could not keep her eyes off it. Look at her reaching for it!

    

     Cupcake and I went back to the zoo last Sunday for Member Days. It was the perfect day! It was overcast and we went around 3 in the afternoon, so there was hardly anyone there. It was great!

I love this cupcake jacket from Zoe! I figured CC could wear the animal print pants since we were heading to the zoo (I'm not usually an animal print fan, so don't anyone get any ideas!)

 
     On Sunday, September 18th, Chris and Ayla came to support me in my Race for the Cure! It was my third 5k in three months and we have one more planned for later this month (Run Like Hell through Terrapin Events). It's a Halloween themed run where people dress up in costumes. This year, the theme is zombies (last year was Alice in Wonderland), but you can dress however you want (costumes are optional). We're thinking of taking CC in the jogging stroller with us so she can wear her cupcake Halloween costume! I don't know if we'll dress up or not (hey, running is hard enough!).

Cupcake and Mama before the race. My best run time yet... 34:46!

 

 

Cupcake and Daddy!

     Chris and I have our 5-year anniversary coming up at the end of the month (October 28th)! It doesn't feel like it's been 5 years, which is better than feeling like it's been 10, haha!  It's also our 1-year wedding anniversary (again, October 28th. We picked the same date for a reason). And... it's going to be Ayla's 6-month birthday! Yep, she was born on our 6-month wedding anniversary. Guess 28 is a good number for us! We're thinking of going to Bend to stay in the Old St. Francis School hotel (it's a McMenamin's) for a few nights. Grandma Peggy is going to Cupcake sit for us and we're super grateful! It will be hard to be without our little baby for 2 nights, but we know she's in good hands.