Baby's latest developments:

1. She evidently thinks limes, lemons, and dill pickles are super tasty. Weird.

2. She can triumphantly pull herself up to a standing position.

3. Her first tooth is verrrryyy slllooowly millimetering itself up from gum level.

4. She's getting more fine muscle control, including poking everything for examination with her index finger.

5. She's developed a new game in her doorway jumper - put something on the floor, and she'll kick it just out of reach and then swing and stick out her foot to get it back. Repeat.

6. She's more regularly only waking once at night again, which is great for me and sleep!

7. Just in the last few days she has started actually stepping (i.e. trying to walk, rather than jumping or stumbling), hilariously by lifting up her left foot very high in the air and sticking it out straight before bringing it down again.

5 years together, and 8 month old baby!

Brandon and I have been together 5 years tomorrow, and baby girl's 8 months old today! What a month!

We still haven't picked up our Christmas tree, but we're planning to do it tomorrow when we have use of Brandon's mom's larger vehicle. Ah, logistics.

The baby's vocabulary has expanded from "ba ba ba" to "na na" and "ma ma" with an occasional "la" and an even more rare "daddy." Who cares if it's accidental? She's also crawling, though haltingly - I'm sure she's preparing to wreak havoc on everything in sight!

Time for me to go clean up the kitchen...we made waffles today and made a big mess in the process. (New waffle iron - haven't gotten the recipe and amount quite figured out yet.)

Almost 8 months old!

It's hard to believe that baby girl is going to be 8 months old next week. This past month has flown by!

She's more interested in eating her solid food now, though the whole solid pooping thing was a bit upsetting at first...ah, the joys of babyhood! We're looking forward to getting our Christmas tree this weekend (I don't know that I've ever gotten one this early before) and having family over for the holidays. What fun!

Baby girl has also started babbling "ba-ba-ba-ba" in the past couple of weeks, which is super cute. I wonder what's next?

Yet more photos!

Ooh, I'm on it this month!

I just posted some more photos, for your viewing pleasure!

Milestones abound recently...baby girl's not crawling yet, but she's getting up on her hands and knees all the time and sort of bouncing. I anticipate she'll figure it out quite soon.

Also no teeth yet, but she did have some teething pain a couple of nights ago - baby Orajel worked like a charm. Then of course Brandon had to put some on his tongue and see what it was like - he was talking funny for a little while (the numbing works).

She's also stable enough to sit in a high chair, so we finally had to break down and buy one - it's being shipped now. She's getting some solid food every day, much to her chagrin...I can get her to eat the rice cereal without much problem, but she hasn't been too interested in the other foods I've tried. I also unfortunately made WAY too much of the pureed peas and sweet potato a couple of days ago - good thing I can freeze it! We're not discouraged, though - I have no doubt she'll be getting used to food very soon!

This will also be the first month when we don't have a well-baby checkup, which is a change. She has her flu shots awaiting her in January, though, and I can say from personal experience that they hurt, so she won't be happy about that. But at least she gets a respite for now!

I can hardly believe it's already almost the end of October - we're going to a wedding on Saturday, so not much for the Halloween festivities - though I think we're going to get baby girl a costume anyway, since she can get away with it. I wanted to make something, but of course didn't get my act together, so I'll probably just make a pass by Babys R Us.

That's all for now...

New photos - finally!

I have finally posted some new photos! (It only took me 4 months, right?) Click here to skip to the most current page of the album.

You can also click on the photo link to the right - but keep in mind that the newest photos will be at the end.

Enjoy!

There's no accounting for taste...

My mom and I were in a local store Monday browsing around, and there was a baby section so of course we had to take a look. There were a number of toys, and since I was holding Laurna facing out in front of me, she got to take a good look. She immediately started reaching with both hands towards this one particular toy (above), one neither my mom nor I would have ever chosen for her (ugly, much?). But baby girl had fallen in love, for whatever reason.

She's clearly already her own person! :o)

#1 awesome parent gadget (or anyone gadget!)

Temporal scanner thermometer. So. Awesome.

Check it out.

A note about gas.

Evidently all food gives babies gas. So rice cereal in the evening = unhappy baby at bedtime.

"Solid" food - the beginning!

Well, infant rice cereal is far from what I'd define as "solid," but it's not just milk, so it's a milestone! We've started trying to get baby girl used to eating from a spoon (as of last night), so that's definitely news! Don't get excited, we're not going crazy or trying to replace any of her milk diet (not appropriate till after 6 months of age), but are giving her a couple of (tiny) spoonfuls of infant rice cereal twice a day to get the hang of the whole procedure. Last night it mostly all ended up on her face, but this evening she seemed to actually be eating it. Her expressions are hilarious.

Her sleep patterns seem to have also evened out - it's mostly about 8 PM till 5 or 6 AM, which is great. Go baby girl!

In non-baby news, Brandon and I got to step out and see a movie this evening. We saw "Julie & Julia," and quite enjoyed it. Makes you want to get cooking...or eating, anyway!

Laurna's passed the 4-month point now and is rolling over quite well onto her stomach, though she usually doesn't roll back. She's sleeping in her crib now as well (the transition from the car seat went better than expected, aside from the first night), and is learning how to make "raspberries" with her lips. What excitement!

We all went down to Comic-Con at the end of July, which was a nice trip and a fun adventure - our first "real" family vacation! Sadly I left our camera on the plane (argh), so the majority of the pics are still on my phone - the good news, though, is that the phone actually takes decent pictures. What a shame about the camera, though! Sigh.

Happy 1/4th anniversary of Laurna's birthday!

Baby girl is 3 months old today, so I thought that warranted a post! She's a lot of fun these days - she still fusses now and then, of course, but also smiles a lot and looks at people and things, which is great. She's bringing her hands together now and sucking on them with a vengeance, but hasn't started putting other things in her mouth yet, and isn't really grabbing at things or holding on to them with much intent.

She's had two bouts for vaccinations and has grown 4 inches and 4 pounds (how crazy! When do we ever grow that much but in this part of our lives? She weighed 14 lbs 2 oz and was 25 inches long at her last appointment on July 7).

She does a lot of playing, and crying is the exception rather than the rule, which was a nice change from when she was very young. No laughing yet, but sometimes she sounds like she's trying, and she does a lot of "talking" and squealing, which is really cute.

She's still sleeping well on the most part, though not consistently more than 6.5 hours or so at a time - but that's all right, since she generally goes right back to sleep for another 2-3 hours in the early morning. The latest sleep trick has been to put her to bed in her car seat, which then sits in her cradle. It's been great! I'm not against letting her cry when I need to, but I'd rather not if I have the option - and I find that while when I lay her down flat in her cradle or crib she cries every time, she hardly cries at all when I put her down in her car seat. So score! It's also handy for when we're out visiting, because we don't have to totally break up her routine, even if we're out past her usual bedtime.

I've gotten much more adept at feeding her in public, so that's good. She's still the spit-up queen (I stepped in a puddle of it early this morning, eew), but the quantity has lessened overall.

She's already been all over in the car, and has been on public transportation...next week she's going on her first plane flight! It will be weird to be the people on the plane no one wants to sit next to...

In honor of my 3 months of parenthood, here are some of the things I'm really loving:

- Watching Laurna play, and interacting with her
- The Ergo baby carrier (Amazing! The infant insert didn't really work for me, but thankfully she's big enough that I could use the carrier the normal way at a younger age)
- Cloth diapers (Seriously! I love them! I do like using disposables at night, though.)
- Thirsties diaper covers (They're great and don't leak)
- Receiving blankets (We have about 20 and we wash them all every couple of days - great for spit-up management)
- The sleep-in-the-car-seat trick (A couple of nights she even slept for 10 and 11 hours!)
- Baby wipes from Costco
- Avent bottles/nipples
- Laurna's baby gym

Well that's the update for now...on to the next adventure!

(Above: some pics of Laurna at her Great-grandma's house on 7/10/09)

Photo Updates

I just painstakingly edited the online photos so now they are in the right order and have dates and captions. Phew! No new photos yet, but it'll be easier to put them in th queue now!

More milestones!

Baby Laurna has been doing well with sleeping - she's been managing about 5 hours straight at night, which isn't bad. This week I started working on getting her down in the cradle instead of in our bed, which resulted in my having to put her down multiple times per night because she would start flailing her arms and legs and wake herself up.

Yesterday at her doctor's appointment we asked about this. Her doctor said it was really up to us - we could get her up every time she cried, or we could let her work through it.

So last night I decided to give it a try. I put her down around 10 PM in the cradle, and we were still up so it wasn't as disruptive for her to be crying. She was quiet for about 20 minutes, at which point she started doing her flailing thing and predictably started crying. I wasn't prepared to let her cry for longer than 10 mins straight. Well - she didn't. For about 40 minutes she did cry on and off, but for shorter and shorter periods of time and never for longer than 10 minutes. By around 11 PM she had stopped crying completely, and when I peeked in on her was sleeping diagonally at the bottom of her cradle with her feet in the corner. So much activity!

She slept without making another peep until 6:30 this morning.

Wow!

Any parents out there - as much as it's hard to let your baby cry for any length of time, it can be a good thing!

We're off now on our first BART adventure...

Pictures and immunizations

Baby girl had her 2-month checkup today, which included a bunch of immunizations - she was a champ! She's now sleeping it off, poor girl. At least it's worth it - those diseases are no joke.

In other news, I have finally posted some photos! You can view the album here or by clicking the link to the right. Unfortunately they got out of order when I uploaded them, but oh well! Enjoy!

Official birth announcement!

Milestones!

Yesterday baby girl started hitting at some hanging things in her baby gym. She also played by herself for quite a long time today. Exciting! (for us, anyway...)

And yes, pictures are still coming!

Time is already flying!

Baby Laurna is now just over three weeks old, and it's hard to believe how much we've all grown and changed during those three weeks! She's doing great, and her parents aren't doing so bad either. She's been considerate enough to not get her days and nights mixed up, and has even slept for a six-hour block the last two nights. Thanks, baby girl!

More photos will be up soon.

Introducing to the world

Here's the first picture of Laurna Anne Keuter Sudat. She was born April 16th at 6:39 PM and weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz. Both mother and child are resting comfortably.

Baby shower pictures are up!

I have posted pictures from the baby shower at our house in March. You can view them here. Pictures from last year's bridal shower in June and from the day-after wedding Open House are also up - click on the "Wedding" link to the right and you'll see the new albums! Enjoy!

...and obviously no baby yet... :o)

-2 days and counting

The due date has come and gone, and unsurprisingly there's no baby yet. We're interested to see when she actually decides to appear!

We're in the home stretch people

With the due date on Saturday, we're preparing for the trip to the hospital. As far as this applies to you, when we go to the hospital, we will be updating via this blog as well as various social networks. All these will be unidirectional, so don't expect responses to texts, IMs, phone calls, emails, wall posts, etc. We hope to have pictures up here as well, so stay tuned.

Final Countdown!

Just four days till the baby's projected arrival date! Not that I have any expectation of a prompt arrival, but perhaps her Swiss-German heritage will yet prevail. I'm still doing well, though my feet are giving me more trouble (same surface area with a lot more weight, ow). I'm looking hugely pregnant, of course, but folks still seem to think I have a month to go yet...so that indicates to me that perhaps I'm not so large for being due on Saturday. The baby has been growing like crazy these past few weeks (I gained 4 lbs in 2 weeks), so I'm trying to talk her into not growing too much more before she's made a proper appearance. We'll see if she listens.

The photo below is from the baby shower Bertie and Laurna organized in March.

Less than 3 weeks to go!

We're less than 3 weeks from the due date, and I'm down to having weekly OB appointments. We had our childbirth prep class last weekend, which turned out to be very informative. So far I've been quite impressed with Alta Bates, and with my medical practice.

I'm wrapping up work during the next week, so I'm going a bit crazy trying to get everything in order. The house has descended again into a bit of chaos, but oh, well! Just getting ready for the rest of our life, eh?

Baby continues to be very active, kicking me and squirming around, which is a good thing, of course!

We've recovered from the absolutely lovely baby shower Bertie and Laurna threw for us - I had no idea our house could accommodate that many people! We do hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Pictures to come soon!

The changing table has been installed! How exciting. It even works in the location I planned for it. What an added bonus!

A couple of days ago Brandon put his ear to my belly to listen to the baby moving around. He likened it to listening to a grapefruit moving around inside a balloon filled with water.

I felt this should be recorded for posterity.

2 months to go!

Yes, so most of our updates have recently been baby-related, but hey, it's a big deal! We're heading into the 8th month and can hardly believe it! Life continues as usual with work and school, with the addition of an increasingly active small thing elbowing Sylvia in the ribs!