It's been a week of new experiences in the LeCuyer house. We started with a new state last weekend. We went to Indiana to see one of Andy's college friends get married. There were several events over the weekend and it was all in the charming town of New Harmony. An interesting mix of small-town folks and a new age, religious, artist-colony vibe. We tried the "buy diapers when you get there" approach and had to decide between the 3 packages in town - one way too small and the others too big. And yes, cheap diapers behave like cheap diapers. Gave us an excuse for a lovley drive through the countryside to a bigger town!

Victorian carriage meets the BOB at an antique shop in New Harmony.

On to Hannah's other firsts - her first truly cranky reaction to shots. We had her 6 month appointment on Thursday. She's growing like a champ. More out (nearly 18 pounds!) than up at the moment, but it's all good. She's been fine after shots in the past, but she was up 3 times that night clearly uncomfortable and feeling sorry for herself.

That brings us to the big first - she's cutting her first tooth! After the cranky night and some Tylenol (when my half-asleep brain finally figured out that she had a bit of a fever), I discovered a little something cutting out of her bottom gums. Curiously enough, it's not coming up through the little slits that have been there for a couple of months. Who knew?

Baby plays air guitar!

6 months!

We've been parents for 6 whole months! At my new moms group, I actually find myself getting nostalgic when I look at the 4-week-olds. But not when I look at their tired mothers!

Hannah did a lot of smiling and giggling today (which helped make up for the fact that the only grown-ups I saw were at CVS on our run this morning and at Target getting diapers and a new bottle brush this evening). Apparently she's really amused with sit ups. More specifically, sitting on Mom's lap while Mom does sit ups and counts. This is apparently hillarious. Of course then I laugh, which leads to a pause in the sit up madness, then we start again.

These are my attempts at getting official 6month (a day late) photos of Hannah at 6:00 this evening. Tired baby.

For a change of scenery, this is the sky after the really intense storm that blew through out neighborhood this afternoon. I managed to stand outside for a whole minute admiring it without getting a mosquito bite. A rare occurrence in Dallas these days. I met a 2-year-old yesterday who's currently fascinated with taking off his pants and was running around on the sidewalk minus said pants - he had bites on all of his cheeks!

Daddy's girl

Andy had training for work in Cambridge (UK, not Mass) this week, and he had the camera, so instead of silly photos of Hannah, we have classy photos of Merry Ol' England. Hannah missed her Daddy and had a lot of fun playing with him this weekend.

One of our favorite parenting rituals is floppy baby. It began with the nightly ritual of watching her sleep before we turn in. One night we found ourselves unable to resist the urge to pick her up. For those of you blessed to be able to experience this, you know that there's nothing like the feeling of holding a sleeping baby in your arms. Thus began floppy baby. Now we know that Hannah will at some point stop going back to sleep so easily, and we do don't do this every night, but it's a great way to end the day! Sorry there's no photo of floppy baby - I think it might ruin the magic.

I realized that I never published the link to the photos we had taken of Hannah by our friend Kristen Iwai in Flagstaff. If you're looking for a great professional photographer, especially for pregnancy, babies, and families, she's fabulous - you just have to make the commute to Flagstaff...

http://www.kdiphotography.com/LeCuyer

Big baby

I've been really blown away by the idea that Hannah is now a big baby! No more newborn - even the 3 month clothes are finally too small. She sits well, with only the occasional tumble, and she usually rolls on to her stomach to sleep. She has also figured out (finally) how to get back onto her back from her tummy. This means a lot less crying when she's turned over, though she still gets frustrated when she's tired, but don't we all! The best part of this is engaging with her. I feel like she's starting to show real affection, not just the "you keep me alive and I love you for that" type. She loves to smile and squeal, and even giggles a bit more. She surprised me by getting scared when I imitated one of her loud cries to Andy - busted out a full pout and just had a good cry over it!

We now have both pairs of Wellies I wore as a baby and child. The smaller pair were boxed up at my parents', while the larger pair had been gifted to a family friend in Virginia many years ago. She surprised us by returning them when we visited last month! After much wiggling to get the little ones on Hannah's feet (not sure how, but they fall right off after having to be jammed on), we managed to get a decent photo. Her legs need to be longer so the boots don't pinch her "full" thighs!

Hannah tried rice cereal for the first time this weekend. First off, in the process of making it, I ended up tasting formula. I don't know how she stomachs it, much less wolfs it down like she's on the brink of starvation. So rice cereal is basically that with little lumps. Think sour milk with bits of fake snow. Despite Hannah's affinity for formula, you can see what she thought of the cereal. We'll keep trying to see if it's the taste or just the idea of lumpy stuff on a spoon! (The sequence actually ended with her happy washing it down with the last of her bottle.)

Hannah and Caroline

Last Friday night, our friends Rebekah and Benji, with their adorable 3-month-old daughter Caroline, were kind enough to babysit Hannah while we went to a McKinsey event. (THANK YOU!) They took these great shots of Hannah appreciating Caroline's luxurious locks.

Makes me think of that cheesy John Trovolta movie where the babies talk to eachother. Sorry Hannah, Caroline can't tell you the secrets to long locks.

I really hope this isn't because Hannah just ripped a chunk out like she does with me!

Based on Hannah's soaked shirt, looks like Caroline made the right fashion choice.

PRs

Hannah is all about setting personal records this week:

1 - Degrees and directions turned while sleeping. She still can't get back off of her tummy, but she can get there from either side and has been rotating and scooting all over the crib.

2 - Length of sleep. Sleeping on her tummy seems to have magic powers, and I've actually had to wake Hannah in the morning and from her morning nap! This comes with a really big (but not loud - she's sleeping) knock on wood. I've been able to get things done around here, but it's not good for wanting to get out of the house!

3 - Distance of squirt. Yes, it's a poop story. Hannah was sitting and happily playing on her mat this afternoon while I talked to a friend who's dealing with major baby sleep (lack of) issues. I looked over to notice Hannah making "the face". As I continued chatting, she seemed to be staring at me with a strange, far-away look. No smile, not playing, just staring. Apparently this look meant, "I've got poop up my back so far it's about to leak out the buttons of my outfit." I'm starting to be more drawn to Anna's idea of potty training Juliet early! (Scroll in safety, there's no photo of this record.)

The bear usually lives, untouched, in the corner. Note the lovely signs of spit-up and drool.

This is how I found her this morning. Our little jailbird.

She's usually awake and talking to the mobile with her toes in her mouth.

No records here, just adorable.

The 4th in Flag

In order to be able to take as much baby and hiking gear as we wanted, we packed up Hannah and all of her accessories and drove to Flagstaff to spend the week with my parents. Hannah did quite well in the car, with only the occasional melt-down. Music (Mom singing) definitely soothes this beast. I can only sing my standard repertoire so many times, so I found that James Taylor (turned around backwards from the front seat) works great and Simon and Garfunkle (in the back seat with the volume cranked) doesn't.

Our biggest challenge was dealing with the 5% humidity in Flagstaff. For those of us who live in the Texas swamp, this might seem attractive. Turns our 5% is dry enough to suck all of the moisture out of a person, especially when this person won't drink water! Hannah had some fussy moments, but seemed to do okay with a bit of extra water in her formula.

Of course one of the best things about a week with grandparents is the sharing of baby duty. Early riser Grandpop took morning bottle duty and Grammy changed way more than her share of poopy diapers - thank you!!! Andy and I also had the chance to get out for a hike (too high for baby) and went out to dinner on our own! (Of course Flagstaff is a small town and the proud granparents were just a few blocks away showing off their precious grandbaby.)

Hannah took advantage of the extra attention to show off her new sitting skills.

This is the bassinet that my I slept in, as did my mother and her brother!

(Please disregard Hannah's subtle sign language!)

Hannah and Grammy in their matching "Life is Good" t's. Indeed it is.