Catching Up

 Holly loves to be outside whenever we have the opportunity.  Walks, playing or just going from the house to the car - she loves it.  She's growing so quickly now that I find myself wishing more and more every day for this first year to slow down.  Just comparing her newborn pictures to now reveals such a dramatic change.  It's a bittersweet feeling I have and I'm sure all mothers will agree with me when I say that we wish they could stay little for so long, but then we wouldn't have their childhood and adulthood to look forward to and experience as well.

Holly's now sporting a total of six pearly whites.  Four on top, two on the bottom.  She keeps sticking her fingers in her mouth on the left side which indicates to me that number seven may be working its way through.  I hope it pops through soon, because I feel so bad for her having an almost constant runny nose.  All of April she had a runny nose and after those six teeth had come through she had a two week reprieve and now its begun again.

 Our little one is also becoming more and more mobile.  She gets frustrated because she's not crawling with abandon, but it's really her own darned fault (and her father's).  One little peep out of her that sounds anything like distress and her father's there to rescue her.  ;)  It's endearing, really, to see how much those two have bonded and I love seeing them interact and play together.  There's no doubt about it, she's going to be a Daddy's girl!

Part of her mobility now, though, allows her to begin chasing after the cats.  Poor Bailey, she doesn't know what to do about Holly and just this morning Pat was allowing Holly to crawl across our bed to get to Bailey.  She snagged her tail and literally worked her way up the tail like it was a rope to get to Bailey's butt before Bailey could escape.  Dallas, on the other hand, is a curious creature (although she will keep her distance carefully) and quite concerned whenever Holly will start to cry.  She'll come from another room to see what's up and give us her little feline glares as if to say, "Aren't you going to do something about it?"

 We're also introducing table food to Holly now, so it's not solely baby food.  She's had a few of our dinners blended and has gobbled them down with as much gusto as she does what comes out of the jars.  This pleases me because it helps tremendously to know that she won't be a picky eater as she continues to grow.  She's already eating a lot of foods that I don't typically like and that Pat doesn't typically like.  We both hope that this will continue and that she will always have a very healthy and generous appetite and an interest in a wide variety of food.

I think the other biggest news to note is that she pulled herself up to a standing position (she's yet to pull herself up from laying down to a sitting position, but I'm hoping that's not too far off in the distance) by using my hip as I lay on my side on the floor.  She delights in being able to do that and the freedom that she's gaining is making her both excited and frustrated as she's not fully obtained said freedom.  She still has a lot to learn, but she also still hopes that either myself or Pat will come to pick her up and take her from Point A to Point B.