So full of joy

I am so in love with my baby lately. She is becoming such a personality. She gives open-mouth kisses almost non-stop. I lay her on her changing table at night to get her ready for bed and we have a ball. She loves being stripped to her diaper. I give her lots of kisses on her neck and armpits and she laughs up a storm. She is stingy with her laughs, so I love them all the more when they come out. I say "Oh Ma Ma" to her and she sometimes repeats back "Ma ma ma ma." When I lean over her to talk, she places both hands on my face and I let her pat and rub while I tell her gentle. That makes her crack up too. She still smiles her big mouth grin, but sometimes I can get a regular gummy one in.

She eats two meals a day, oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and oatmeal with 2 veggies or a veggie and a fruit for dinner. She LOVES her mealtimes. Her mouth is always open like a baby bird. When you eat, she watches the fork go to your mouth so intently. I can't wait to start her on Stage 2 foods because there is so much more variety. Yesterday she got a biter biscuit for the first time and had a blast with it. Of course she was a total mess, but it was fun. Also last night after her dinner we were feeding her Cheerios. She actually reached for them for the first time and was raking them around the tray. When I picked one up to put in her mouth, she would grab my hand and lead it to her mouth. She gets a daily bottle with juice and glycolax (stool softener) since she is now having trouble pooping. (Same meds Leah was on, Leah goes off it Erin goes on *sigh*) She loves her juice. I have stopped giving her formula in bottles because I want to limit the amount of bottles she gets. We were having some trouble nursing, so Laurie suggested that maybe she was getting used to the ease of bottles and needed to relearn to nurse properly. So we have been working on that. It is getting better.

Erin is almost sitting up. She can sit for short periods on her own but she still tends to fold forward or fall back often. She has been sitting in the cart at the store and in the high chair at restaurants in my shopping cart/high chair cover I still have of Leah's. (It's funny that when Leah was born, it was just becoming a thing and there weren't that many out there on the market. But now there are tons of cuter ones to choose from. I will never get away with buying a cuter one when the one I have still works great.) Erin has rolled over front to back a few times but not consistently. When she lays on her tummy, she usually swims instead of holding her upper body on her arms.

When she is not tired, she is such a joy to be around. I know I thought Leah was just the most lovable baby, but I feel like Erin is so cuddly, she just makes you adore her. I have forgotten Leah like that. Now I am just in awe of the way Leah's mind works. I will have to pay attention today to all the wonderful things she comes up with and I will post tonight some new Leahisms.