The Zoo

Yesterday, Tenley, Annie, and I went to the zoo. We had a lot of fun. I took a few pictures of Tenley's favorite animals to look at. We went in the morning when it was cooler, which I think was the best time to go because the animals seemed very active. We even got "chased" by a peacock. That was funny. He really didn't want us in his territory.








Also yesterday, Tenley ate the first fruit that she enjoyed! She ate a whole jar of mango. We had tried almost everything else - I even tried mashing up my own fruit to give to her. I think the texture of the mashed fruit was a little too much for her at this point, though. Today she ate prunes, and loved those as well. And she is still eating her veggies like a champ. Good job, little girl!

Ice Cream, A Tooth, and Laundry Soap

Tenley has been doing SO much better eating her "real" food. It took a couple of rough days of her screaming and me making her eat anyway, but we made it through. She still doesn't eat full servings of anything, but that's okay with me. Slow and steady does it. I'm just happy she's eating it at all. I give her oatmeal (she likes it runny still) and veggies once a day. It takes her a pretty long time to get used to a different flavor, so we stay on the same veggie for almost a week before starting something new. Oh - there is one food it didn't take her much time at all to get used to though...ice cream! Sunday we were at Easton's 1/2 birthday party and we had homemade strawberry and chocolate ice cream. I wasn't going to give Tenley any, but I wanted to, so I did. :) I gave her a VERY small bite, and she just kept crawling on me for more! She didn't get very much, but the little she got, she loved. This girl has a sweet tooth like her Mama!

Speaking of teeth, Tenley just got her first tooth! This could explain why we had a very rough Sunday night and she didn't nap at all on Monday. When we went swimming Monday afternoon, Aunt Jessica discovered her first tooth - it's a bottom one. I was a little worried it would continue to bother her, but last night she slept 13 hours straight, and she's already down for her first nap, so I think we're good. Yay!

Another fun thing Tenley and I have been able to do this summer is spend a lot of time with my niece, Annie. We get to hang out with her while my sister works a couple of days a week for a few hours at a time. We do crafts, play games, read books, run errands, take walks, go swimming, etc. Yesterday Annie helped me with something new for her, and I think she had some fun with it. We made laundry soap! The last time I made laundry detergent, it was early February. So 1 batch lasts me a little over 4 months. I didn't have to buy any more ingredients either, so that was nice. I spent under $10 the first time, so, so far $10 has bought me 8+ months of cloth diaper safe laundry detergent, which I use on everything. Annie did such a good job helping grate, stir (making some wild whirlpools :) ), and measure. There are some pictures below of our adventure.

A Food Success...Almost

So yesterday I decided to try food again with Tenley. She's about 8 1/2 months old. Since she didn't like rice cereal before, I tried oatmeal instead. I know I'd rather have oatmeal than mushy rice. I was preparing for funny faces and pursed lips, but she loved it! I was so excited. "Stephen, get the camera!!!! She actually LIKES food!" She opened wide every time I put the spoon to her mouth and would even get a little impatient if I didn't feed her fast enough. This was exciting for me, since we ended our 2-3 week food trial with lots of tears and screaming and definitely no eating.


Since she loved the oatmeal for lunch, I tried it again for dinner. Totally different story. Closed mouth, funny faces, and fussing. Well, maybe that was just too much to ask for one day. We'll try again tomorrow...

So it's tomorrow, and we just tried more cereal, and this time there was crying, pursed lips, and not a whole lot of eating. Sigh. I will probably try again tomorrow. If she doesn't like it at lunch, I may try a tolerable veggie for dinner to see if she likes that. If not, we may take another break. I'm not quite sure. Stephen and I were planning on taking a little trip by ourselves in late June, and I was hoping we could supplement her well by then with table foods, because I have just been too tired/lazy to stay up and pump at night. Oh well, such is life. Maybe she's just not ready yet. Silly, beautiful, fun, crazy girl!

First Swim of the Summer

Today Tenley went swimming for the very first time. She really enjoyed it. She loves splashing and kicking in the bathtub, and this was like a giant bathtub - so much fun!




This is a video of her very first dip in the pool.

Tenley looked super cute in her pink bathing suit. Thanks, Aunt Gretchen!

Catching some rays with Mommy --

She wouldn't wear her sunglasses, but she loved to play with them and chew on them.

She had fun kicking around in her motor boat float next to her cousin, Navy. We are going to have a fun summer full of swimming on these hot, hot days!