Geoff and Gina's Little Addition: February 2012

Stella turned 5 months old today -- It's amazing, when taking each day at a time, how very slowly time goes..and when one looks back it's flown by!

We started Stella on rice cereal mixed with breast milk on the 27th January (at 4.5months old) as she was showing all the signs of being physically and developmentally ready to start with some solids.. It took only a little getting used to but she really seems to be enjoying her new food!

puree on it's own is too strong for Stella's taste buds

T'Neal leant me her copy of 'Feeding Sense', so tonight I made 'first veggie mix' with butternut, sweet potato and courgettes. {I felt like a true 'house wife', barefoot in the kitchen - cooking dinner for baby & guests whilst cleaning the kitchen & entertaining baby all at once!} She shuddered with disgust every time she tasted her veggies & I realised that the texture must be wrong. I pureed it to a really fine texture & mixed it with some cereal and breast milk & she ate it up like a little champion! :)

Stella's sitting is coming along beautifully now. She can sit for long periods of time and play with her toys. It's really great as sitting is allowing her the opportunity to watch me while I do other things so she's 'self-entertaining' a little bit more than before. She still has the odd topple over (and has has had a few cries as a result of knocking her head on the topple so I'm being very careful to prop pillows around her to try and prevent her from getting hurt)

Sitting on her own on the rocks at the Kom

Bath time has been an extremely fun experience since Stella learned how to splash!! (She learned to splash one hot day when I decided to put her into her bath to cool her down from the heat-wave)... she can even sucks her toes in the bath!

Sucking her toes in the bath

She's been spending lots of time with dad & they've even done a trip or 2 out by themselves... Geoff has mastered bathing her on his own - hair-wash and all! :)

Nanny & Bampa werein Cape Town for a few days...

We spent 3 nights in Mosselbay at Nanny and Bampa's flat. Stella had lots of fun being entertained by them for the few days!

At breakfast with Gogo

At Nanny and Bampa's flat

Stella suddenly feels so much bigger to me... like she's not a small baby any more -- I had her at Dr.Tessa who said at 4.5 months that she measured as tall as a 6 month old! She also said not to worry about Stella's cough as it is most likely a 'fake' one that babies do when they discover they can cough -- this evidently is common around 5 months -- I find this hilarious! :)

Stella LOVES to bounce up and down. It gets quite tiring on the arms, but it makes her so happy! ...We've been letting Stella play Geoff's piano & keyboards...