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Tonight we attempted some backyard camping. I live-facebooked the whole thing, so you can see how well that went. Temperature in the morning was 54F, and I was so paranoid that Emily was getting too cold. Her tiny hands were quite frigid! I have since purchased some little mittens for her, and have obtained permission from DH (Dear Husband) to put a knitted hat on her next time.

The Official Guide for Guilt-Free Parenting (HAHA) says absolutely no hats on sleeping babies. Then again, it does not have a chapter explaining how exactly to keep a baby warm while sleeping outside because *GASP* babies must always sleep in a crib with the temperature set to exactly 70 degrees in a germ-free, noise-isolated chamber where you should never let them cry for more than 7 nanoseconds. So yeah, we’re improvising here.

Zonked

So, Emily has started falling asleep while playing. Um, is this normal? It’s so wonderful that she can sleep anywhere, but I feel like this might be a sign that I should be implementing some more structured nap times for her rather than just “play-till-you-drop”. Hmm. Will this bite us in the arse later on? I don’t know. Either way, a sleeping baby is a wonderful thing, n’est pas?

Emily and Grandma Bet

Emily in Space!

In which the Trias Kastens’s get the sillies.

Trying out the Magic Merlin astronaut suit. It was a bit too toasty, but should be wonderful this winter. She slept like a log.

OMG there’s a whole world out there! I can see it all!

Yikes, I was five days behind on updates here! Busy times. Emily has advanced by leaps and bounds meanwhile. To catch you up on the milestones:

• She can now exchange smiles with people. Not just a little grin, but a full face open-mouth smile explosion.
• Very easily rolls on her side, both directions. For play or sleep.
• She can hold her head up amazingly well for tummy time, with a pillow under her chest. Head is still a bit wobbly when you hold her upright, tummy-to-tummy so she can look over your shoulder, but getting less wobbly by the day
• When she sits on your lap facing you, her back is ramrod straight, which makes her much easier to support in a sitting position, as she’s not all a bag of jello.
• Most exciting of all, today we had our first real back and forth conversation, where Emily tried out all the words she knows. It was truly mind-blowing! Her favorite word right now is annglongle. Definition yet to be determined.

Jeeze, talk about a developmental spurt!! Grandma Bet and David have been visiting, so that might have something to do with it (more sensory input combined with being ready for it anyway).

I love my grandma!

Mommy also hit a milestone this week too. We went on our first solo car errand today, a trip to Einstein Bros. bagels (and Starbucks!) Since I only got my driver’s license at age 33, driving with a baby in the back seat I felt like I was really adulting like a champ! The funny part was that I was more nervous about the baby wrangling (mostly because the pelvic muscles are still not quite strong enough to carry her in her car seat, so I needed to do an in-car exchange from car seat to front pack carrier) than about driving with a tiny delicate human. In fact I was definitely disappointed that the drive wasn’t longer. I’m going to do this *all the time* now! The novelty of driving (freedom!) has still not worn off after three years, so I don’t expect taking my baby around town will ever get boring either. She was especially smiley at the bagel shop, so I think she likes seeing the world with Mommy too!

Awe!! Emily feels so safe with grandma and grandpa.

Hellooooo

Emily just started rolling onto her side, maybe yesterday? New skills are coming fast, seemingly every day! She’s technically done with developmental leap #2 (“patterns”) and has 13 days until the next leap (“smooth transitions”).

We finally made it out to hike on an actual trail!

Reading Aerospace Engineering for babies. Also have decided that the outtakes are more interesting than the perfect poses!

The car seat locks into the stroller, which we’ll have to do until she can hold her head up and sit front-facing.

Guess who finally got to ride in the stroller this morning! She mostly slept, but also cried a little bit off and on. I think that was more to do with they fact that she was both tired and hungry than any discomfort with the stroller ride itself.

We only went out for about 40 minutes, but it was so fun! Hard work though, pushing 50 lbs up hills in the neighborhood. (28# stroller, 10# car seat, 12# baby). There aren’t really any flat directions from our house, so I guess I’ll have to get used to that!