My 7-month-old Amy

My baby is 7 months old! It's hard to believe. Isn't she the cutest little monkey that you ever did see? She's such a sweetie pie. As long as she's fed, rested, and dry, she's usually just as happy as can be. The only problem we've had so far is that she has some really bad eczema and she scratches horribly. It's really sad. But now that it's getting warmer and the furnace isn't on all the time, it's actually getting a lot better. She's starting to get some mobility. She rolls around all over the place, so much so that I really have to watcher her. She also is starting to do the army crawl occasionally, and I'm somewhere in between excited for her and terrified for me. It's good, though, for her. I'm still waiting for her to sleep through the night, but I figure that if she goes to bed at 6:00 in the evening, what can I expect? 

And spring has sprung! I love taking the girls outside, and Lacey definitely loves being outside more. I've been trying to get the yard into a presentable condition, which is not a task for the light hearted. Lacey really enjoys coming outside and "helping" me.

And we've also had lots of play time with "cousin" Kayla. Here they are synchronized eating.

And I just thought that this was cute--Amy playing with daddy's jacket.

 And I had to add this just because it's funny. Silly Lacey.

Here's February

There's not much to report about February. It was a fine month. Kind of cold. Kind of dark.

This is Lacey in her superhero costume. Or, wearing Mommy's fuzzy socks with her special blanket around her shoulders. I love it.

Lacey is paying a little bit more attention to Amy these days. Usually it's to tell her "Noooo! Don't touch that!" But sometimes it's fun and sweet. 

I gave Amy her first solid foods. She was not impressed. For the longest time she would just gag on anything she put in her mouth that wasn't formula. Even now, she doesn't like straight fruits and vegetables, I think because the flavors are too intense for her. If I try to give her a fruit or vegetable just plain, her face gets all scrunched like she bit into a lemon. So, I mix it up with cereal and she'll eat it. She won't eat the cereal plain either. I think this experience is to make up for how easy Lacey has always been with food. Not that Amy is bad with it, she's just taking more time and patience. 

Amy also turned 6 months old in February. My little cutie pie!

Learning and growing

The other day I introduced Lacey baking soda and vinegar volcanos. She had a blast filling the medicine dropper with colored vinegar and watching it fizz with the baking soda when she squeezed it out. Now she wants to play "volcanoes" every day.

Cousins

Well, second cousins, but close enough. I got to watch my cousin's girls one evening, and it was a hoot. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, having the four of them in the kitchen together while I was making dinner. Of course, dinner was quesadillas and apples slices, so it's not like that much effort was involved.

These two just crack me up. They are so much alike, in case you can't tell from the picture. I'm hoping that Lacey can learn from her cousin how to use the potty..... But, anyway, they always have so much fun together. I'm so glad that we live so close to each other now. 

Heavy Metal Baby

She is her father's daughter.

Piano Lessons

I started teaching piano lessons at the beginning of February. I've kind of toyed with the idea in the past, but never did anything about it. I think that before the time was never right, but now we have a place to put a real piano, and, you know, we HAVE a real piano.

 It sure is nice to have things filling up our front room now.

Anyway, I was really excited and really nervous to start, but I think that it's going to be a good experience for everyone involved. All of my students (I currently have four) are good natured and smart and just a pleasure to work with. I'm trying really hard to make lessons fun!

This little booger can make things difficult sometimes, though.

After my first round of lessons, I was surprised at how exhausted and drained I was, though I suppose I shouldn't have been. I'm amazed at people who do this all day!

Phil is taking a group piano class at BYU this semester, mostly, he says, to learn the theory part so that he can compose more interesting music. I caught him sitting at the piano one evening like this:

I quick snapped a picture so that I could have a perfect example of how NOT to sit at the piano. You're SUPPOSED to sit on the front half of the bench, back straight, feet flat on the floor (or on the pedals):

We laughed about it.