The Banks Family: Fall has arrived

Fall has arrived, and with it, the cold and flu season. We've passed around a few more colds in our family lately, which is hard to deal with. Luckily nothing serious, but it's still hard to be run down all the time and to take off work to care for yourself or the baby. But fall also brings an important date, our anniversary! Glen & I celebrated #2 on September 29th. Over the weekend, my parents watched Claudia so that we could have a fun evening together. We went on a sunset sailboat trip from the Seattle waterfront that goes toward Bainbridge Island and then loops back. It was a relaxing and unique experience. Even though it was a little chilly out, the weather was perfect because there was a little wind and the sparse clouds in the sky made the views even better. After sailing, we went to dinner at the Pink Door in the market. Since my last post, we also went over to Alta Lake one weekend joined by my Auntie Pam and my mom, so Glen got to hang out with all the ladies. Lucky for him, Bruce & Luke were also over for the weekend, so he got to escape the estrogen party for one afternoon. Glen & I got to golf a whole round of 18 together one morning, which was a lot of fun. Our trip over was more eventful than usual because we missed the signs that said the bridge over the river was closed for emergency repairs, so we ended up taking an hour detour over this massive mountain. Scubi-blue (our car) got a workout and we saw several deer along the way because we were in the middle of nowhere.

Claudia continues to entertain us everyday with her antics. She still loves to kick her feet wildly, so laying on her back is one of her favorite places to be, especially on the changing table. We're working on her tummy time, but still just likes to quickly roll over so she can get on her back again. She is able to roll both ways now (left or right). She likes Peek-a-boo and we can often get a big belly laugh out of her. She also likes the song Old McDonald had a Farm. The animals that make her laugh the most are the duck (quack quack) and the bumblebee (buzz buzz). We've tried some more solid foods, but nothing has really taken, not even the mashed potatoes. Although, she did enjoy beans and guacamole one night at a Mexican restaurant. We're not exactly following the rule of only introducing one food at a time now are we.

We've put "sleep training" on the back burner for now. I keep hearing all these stories about babies sleeping through the night, but that's just not our baby. She is on a good schedule of sleeping 11-12 hours at night, but she still wakes up 1-2 times to eat. I've been following the advice of the author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (Marc Weissbluth) and he outlines a sleep pattern for 4-8 month old babies that looks exactly like Claudia with three daytime naps and two night awakenings. Also, even though the "cry it out" worked, I just don't have the heart to do it even for a few minutes when I have a sick baby, so I'd rather just get up and feed and comfort her.

A rare instance of Claudia enjoying tummy time.