I have been so excited to get out with Liana and show her what Autumn in New England looks like. I've wanted to bundle her up from the cooling air and watch her play in the changing leaves. I've wanted her to decorate pumpkins and visit family and dress up in her first Halloween costume.


In the past two weeks, she's been on many trips to experience her first Autumn. We went out for a few days to shoot an Autumn photo set and also shoot her first Autumn video (on our YouTube channel and embedded below). I couldn't ask for more cooperation from Liana. She has been amazing and super curious about everything. She didn't put up a fight for me to capture a single photo, and she loved playing outside and exploring the pumpkins and gourds.


We also had a mini pumpkin painting session and painted three baby pumpkins for Grammy, Auntie, and Grampy. Liana absolutely LOVED playing in the paint and rolling the pumpkins around. As you can see, it was all her; my hands were clean enough to pick up the camera!

On Halloween, we traveled up to New Hampshire to visit family and witness my sister getting married. Liana loves her family so much, I love watching her eyes light up when they take turns passing her around and playing with her. She tells them stories and smiles at them all. It is such a wonderful feeling, seeing her grow up surrounded by such a loving family.



As a last little surprise from Liana, check out her First Autumn video that she so graciously helped me put together over the past few weeks. She is such an amazing little girl. I wish I could capture every moment with her. !!

 
Liana had her six month birthday last week! Her growth and development have been absolutely incredible. Baby girl is sporting her two front bottom teeth like it's no ones business, and a THIRD tooth just broke through as well! (Am I the only one who finds it weird that she has three bottom teeth but no top teeth?) We've been experimenting with solid foods and so far she seems to enjoy avocado, peas, strawberries, and apples. I gave her a black bean once as well and she gobbled that right up. This weekend I decided to give her some veggie rice rusks and she took to them in seconds. Although it was her first food that she had to "chew" to eat, she put it in her mouth and bit it straight away! She hasn't liked banana the first 3-4 times she tried it, but we're going to try again before ruling it out.


Liana is has been sitting up completely unassisted for several weeks now and occasionally lifts herself up to her hands and knees for a few seconds, but has yet to get the hang of crawling. In fact, when she tries really hard, she only moves herself backwards. A few times she has gripped the floor and pulled herself forward (with the rest of her body lying flat on the floor) to move. She still sleeps well through the night and occasionally tells herself a story and puts herself to sleep at night if we lay her down when she shows signs of being tired. She's reacts to her feet, spine and back of her neck being tickled. She smiles and kicks when she sees Ashton or I walk into the room. Her overall mood is generally very happy and bouncy. She laughs, kicks, squeals and blows bubbles all day long. She is obsessed with all technology and anything that lights up. Her Taggie Puppy is her new favorite toy when I add in the sound effects.


I have been waiting to post this update until Liana had her six month appointment with her pediatrician so I can include her weight and other info. Little one is now a whopping 16.3 pounds! I checked out her growth chart and she is right on the 50th percentile with her weight, slightly under the average with her length (25 1/4 inches) and slightly over average with her head circumference (16 inches). So I've been joking saying she is a shorty with a big head!


After playing with Liana for a few moments (having her stand up holding her hands and observing the way she grasps objects), our pediatrician said not to be surprised if Liana starts grabbing furniture to pull herself up onto her feet and developing her "pincer" grasp (picking things up with just her fingers instead of her whole hand) very soon. My little sprout is just growing up so fast!!

I always thought I'd be writing about something much more glamorous for my 100th blog post, but well, this is the real Mummy life.

We have a queen size bed with two huge fluffy comforters on it and Liana was lying on her back near the head of the bed, surrounded by three pillows. I went downstairs (only a half flight, literally six stairs) to grab my glass of water I forgot on the counter.

Then I heard it. The "crash" from upstairs. I was worried, but not that it was her. I left my cell phone and camera on the bed as well and I thought she had gotten a hold of one and thrown it. Well, I was wrong.

I flew upstairs (forgetting my glass of water again) to find Liana laying on the floor at the foot of the bed just staring up at me, smiling. She was playing with the baby pumpkins she had painted last week and was rolling and throwing them around. So that was the noise I heard.

I am still completely baffled at how she managed to make it to the foot of the bed, roll off onto three pumpkins on the floor, and not have hurt herself. ???

I picked her up and did quite the Mummy inspection, feeling her head and undressing her to check for bruises or scrapes. She was giving me the serious face like, "Mum, what the hell are you doing? I just want to play with the pumpkins."

She doesn't seem hurt at all, but she sure is getting some extra cuddles and treats today (I gave her a strawberry earlier and later on she will be getting some peas and then apples).

My baby is secretly mobile, yikes!