Early birthday gifts, eating with utensils, and a weight check, Oh my!

We've had a busy week! We gave Olivia 2 early birthday gifts, a bike trailer (OK, that one is for mom and dad, too!) and a slide. We've been looking at bike trailers for a little while- it seems like everyone out here has one! We ended up getting a Schwinn Joyrider. It's a new design and we really liked the deep seats and 5 point harness to keep her secure. It also came with a front wheel, so it can convert to a jogging stroller. We got a double, so I can take both babies for rides during the week. Here she is checking it out before her first ride:





She loves it, luckily! This was after our ride tonight:





We also got her this slide/climber today. I found it on Craigslist for $20. Gotta love Craigslist! She loves climbing the stairs, which is why we wanted this one. Of course, this is what she does instead of going up the stairs:





Fun stuff!

Eating with utensils is something I've been working up to with Olivia. I don't mind that she gets dirty when she's playing, but I can't stand for her to have food all over her. And she always gets it all over her. Especially now that she's eating mostly table food and feeding herself (with her fingers). I knew adding utensils would be a bigger mess (I was right), but we tried it anyway. I was actually pretty surprised at how well she did for her first time.



Of course, it got messier:



And here's how we ended up:



Meal time is fun (apparently)! We'll keep plugging away...
She had a weight check yesterday and weighed in at 14 pounds, 4 ounces. (This was her weight immediately following half a banana, 3 ounces of milk, and some carrots). Her iron was in the normal range, luckily. I was relieved about that, because I've had a really hard time getting the supplement in her lately. We're going to forgo the supplement and continue with iron rich foods and hope for the best. Her doctor's goal for her one year appointment next month is 15 pounds. He said if she was below that, we'd talk about doing some blood tests to make sure she's absorbing nutrients from food correctly. So, here's hoping for 15 pounds!!

She has started making some really comical faces lately. She's coming into her personality!








I've also noticed that she looks more like a toddler and less like a baby. When did that happen?!





All part of growing up, I guess...