Beckys Blog

It was over 100 degrees yesterday, didn't really cool down over night and is currently 102 degrees outside right now. We are living in an appartment still. Appartments are famous for keeping the hot air inside in the summer and the cold air inside in the winter. How then is it only 76 degrees in our place? That's right, it is 27 degrees cooler inside our appartment then it is outside. What I did was I put ice in a caserole dish with a little bit of water and put it in front of the fan on high. We have 2 fans, so I am putting them both to good use. I have some plastic containers in the freezer right now making block ice to use for tomorrow so I won't have to make as many ice cubes. In fact, the living room where the fans are is about 10 degrees cooler then the bedrooms where there are no home made air conditioners. Anyway, for those who read my blog and are suffering from the heat...you may want to try a home made AC unit for your place too.

We took the youth at our church to Silver Falls today. It was Raquelle's first time hiking. She slept very well in the front pack and only ended up with a very minor sunburn on her little cheeks. It was 93 degrees today and you are not suppose to put sunscreen on babies under 6 months old. So, she got to wear long pants and a hat to keep the sun off as much as possible. Family picture Eating break (halfway through the hike) Playing in the water Brrr!!! That's cold river water! (she actually didn't cry!)  

That's right. She speaks! She started out last week with lots of AAHHH, oooohhh eeeaaaah etc... Then, 2 days ago she started looking at people and saying "I" (HI). I told Thad she was saying "hi". Yah right, she doesn't know what she is saying she is just making noises. Then, yesterday, when Thad got her up in the morning, she looked at him and said "I!" She is saying hi! Today, when I went into get her up from her nap, she said "Mama...I!" (mama hi). She is taking after her mommy who was speaking in full sentances and holding adult conversations by 18 months. This could get interesting as she develops more words and speaks her mind with no discretion! Thad swears that she also says hipopotomus. It sounds like "iii ooohhhh ooww oww aaaa." I told him that's stretching it.

 

We play the sitting game now. I sit her up, she tips over and laughs. I sit her back up, she tips over and laughs. She has started sitting longer and longer. Today, I started timing her. She now sits up for about 23 seconds by herself before she tips over. Long enough to take a picture, so here it is.

Just this week, researchers finished a 10 year long study on infant feedings in relation to food allergies. As a result, they now recomend introducing all of the grains and cereals before 6 months of age. They discovered that babies who had not started on cereals and baby foods by 6 months old were 3.8 times more likely to have food allergies. This contradicts everything that we had been told as new parents, but hey...I don't want her to be allergic to wheat. Their theory is that their immune system needs to be exposed to these common allergens while it is still developing in order to develop an immunity to it rather then an allergy to it. They use to think that exposing kids to allergens too young caused allergies but have now discovered they were wrong. So, in following the new recomendations, Raquelle got her first taste of rice cereal today. I think she liked it! We will still wait a few weeks before we introduce anything other then rice (I think).

This is truely a rare thing. The entire Bernard clan with spouses and kids in one place at one time. Congratulations to Sarah for graduating and bringing the family together again. Brian surprised us by driving up from LA for the occasion. We all expected it to be a family gathering minus him. It was a crazy weekend with so many people in one place at one time, but it was tons of fun.

These were just too cute to not share. I don't really have anything to say with them...just here are some cute pictures. This is a 6-9 month outfit that was handed down from another baby who never wore it. She's not fully into 6 - 9 month yet, I just had to try this on her. I expect her to move up in sizes in everything sometime around the end of July.

 

Here is my little angel sweetly sleeping about 2 min after I laid her down for her afternoon nap. She goes down so easy now! It's nice to finally have a baby with a schedule. I always check on her throughout her nap. This is after about 1 hour of sleeping. I was so impressed I went and got the camera and took a picture. And, about an hour later, she started crying for me to come get her up. When I walked in the room, I just had to make her wait while I took a picture. This is what I found. With this much wiggling I don't think blankets are a very safe idea anymore. I think she is going to become a sleep sack baby like her cousin Lily.

Raquelle has been rolling over front to back for a few weeks now. Just yesterday, she rolled over back to front. I set her down on my bed on her back to go do something, came back and she was on her tummy! It still seems like she rolls over on accident though and not on purpose. This does mean though that it won't be long before she realizes she is mobile! Gone are the days when I could set her somewhere and expecet her to stay put. Now, if I set her on the couch, I have to worry about her rolling off. I wonder, if she is rolling over both ways, how long we have before she starts the army crawl???