To start, my favorite two of her "month" pics:
And two more from almost a week later, on April 11th, a very big day for her.
It's not captured in either of these pictures, but this was the day that Abby first rolled from back-to-belly. Sadly, it happened out of my sight line, while Abby was down in her crib for what was supposed to be nap time, but ended up being just a little bit of quiet time instead. I came in to check on her after realizing that she had no intention of sleeping, only to find her on her tummy, and turned 90 degrees from the position that I had originally placed her in.
It was at this point that we were finally able to get some tummy time in. Initially, I could never get her to last for more than five minutes without tears and screaming. However, once she took charge of her own ability to land on her stomach, she had no problem being there. And the long journey toward figuring out how to crawl finally began.
On April 16th, at around 5.5 months old, Abby had her first experience with solid food (oatmeal cereal). I had intended to wait until six months, but her Nana was visiting that day, and I thought it would be a nice milestone for her to get to experience (because, after all, what was a couple of weeks, anyway, in the grand scheme of things?). Nana and Papa don't get to see Abby nearly so often as my own parents do, due to the distance between us.
Abby did well, and made quite a mess.
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| Also, the first time wearing her "Abby" bib, from cousins Chichi and Ali. |
And here's a photo that I just have to throw in, as unflattering as it is. The prominence of Abby's cheeks and ears from this angle always put me in mind of that funny little Rebel Alliance alien in Star Wars. Any one else see the resemblance?
To follow, is another, kinder shot, where you can see that Abby is just starting to work out sitting unassisted, using the arms of her Lamaze playmat to help her balance. Her brother did this too, initially. My little geniuses.
Her cheeks still look pretty prominent there, but that's because they were! And super-noshable, to boot.
And then came Abby's first Easter. Here she is the night before, just past bedtime (hence, the yawn), opening up her very first Easter basket from Nana. It included some bibs, a stuffed bunny, a pair of tights, and a pretty, pretty princess dress. Abby was most interested in the bibs, probably because they were the closest at-hand.
And here she is with Mommy, right before Mass, the next morning. Easter dress courtesy of Mima.
During Mass, in Mommy's lap. I included this one, grainy as it is, because it is one of Tom's favorites. It's also one of the first times that we saw her make that adorable face (she's also kind of doing it in the photo above), which we later realized was an indication of some crazy teething activity in her lower gums.
After Mass, at Mima's house, where we had a lovely Easter dinner together.
These last four are a few more favorites of mine, taken towards the end of the month.
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| Just being cute. |
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| First "paparazzi block." |
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| Ecstatic over finally grabbing that elusive monkey. |
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| Proud of herself for ending up on her tummy again (I did not put her in the crib that way). |
I don't have it written down anywhere, so I can't say for certain, but I believe that by the end of the month, Abby began sleeping through the night (8-9 hour stretches). It was also at around this time that she really began to depend on her binkies (she was rather apathetic about them in the beginning). It is now my hope that we can wean her off of them someday soon, though we've always mainly limited the usage to nap- and bedtime.
Next week: Abby's first plane ride and second wedding experience. She beat me on that first count by 30 years. Destined for great things, my little girl is. (And yes, I was channeling Yoda there.)
