Hellobee

I can’t believe I’m so behind on my updates! Things have been incredibly busy in the Hopscotch household and Mr. H was holding our weekly photos hostage on his camera. I’m excited to get back into writing these, as these updates help ensure I remember all of the special, exciting details about Baby H’s growth and development, as well as our growth as a family.

As always, I feel like Baby H’s sunny personality really shines through. She’s such a happy girl and seems to enjoy herself wherever she’s at. She knows the tradition of the weekly photo now, so she’s always ready for the camera!

I love this sweater! It looks somewhat like our pup, Charlie! (ok, it’s techinically a basset hound and he’s a beagle/foxhound mix, but close enough!)

Baby H loves pajama day!

 

 

I need to get better about more diaper shots! She just looks so cute.

I thought this outfit was great and easy until I learned that waffle knit fabrics stretch out like crazy when your baby is drooling a lot and pulling on the sleeves! By the end of the day, it looks like my baby shrunk. Fail.

Mr. H thought she looked silly, but I thought her outfit was so fun – cute leg warmers, onesie and awesome sweater!

We obviously really love this sweater!

Our “state of the family” right now is this:

What we’ve learned:  We tend to bicker a lot in front of Baby H. Neither one of us is a fan of this behavior and we feel to guilty about it after the fact. We’ve been working on saying “parking lot” when we see an argument starting to develop – i.e. we’re putting that topic away in the parking lot, where we can revisit it at a more appropriate time and place. Baby H notices everything now: our facial expressions, tone of voice, etc and I’d rather her not pick up on arguments, especially when they are silly, petty arguments about where we’ll get dinner from or who forgot to do something. We’re a work in progress but definitely working on bickering less in general and, if we really need to bicker, no doing it in front of her.

What we’re enjoying right now: How much FUN it is to have a little one! Baby H is clapping, crawling backward, playing with her food, laughing all the time, pulling the dog’s tail, playing more with toys. She is interacting so much with us and the world around her and it’s really exciting.

What our biggest struggles are: While Mr. H might have a different answer here, for me it is definitely food. Baby H is a fantastic eater and loves food! It’s absolutely adorable to see her take a puff or a piece of cereal, pick it up and take little bites of it (she has 6 teeth!). She likes all fruits and veggies we’ve given her. But I worry about not having enough variety, not being proactive enough about introducing new foods (now that she has a variety that she eats, I’ve dragged my feet on adding new ones lately). I feel like it is only going to get harder as her food options expand, so I really want to work on basic meal planning for her to ensure we’re giving her plenty of variety!

What has been Baby H’s most exciting milestone: Clapping! If you say “clap, clap, clap” she will, indeed, clap three times in a row! It is so cute. And, of course, in addition to clapping it has been so exciting to see that she understands certain words: “clap,” “dance,” “puppy,” and “milk” are the words she knows best. “Clap” and “dance” will have her clapping and dancing, “puppy” will have her looking around for the dog, and “milk,” well, the word makes her happy! She is also getting a lot better with baby sign language and the sign for milk.

What we’re looking forward to: We are still waiting for her to crawl forward (she’s super speedy going backward and turning around), and while she says “mama” all time, I know a certain someone can’t wait for her to finally say “dada”!