Catching up...

Yep, it's been awhile. I barely recovered from having family in town and then I got hit with what appears to be my annual February bout of food poisoning. So, for awhile there, my goal for the day was to get to the evening with everyone still alive. I'm happy to report I was successful and am now feeling better and trying to get back into things. I have a LONG list of people I need to email/message back and things to catch up on on the internet (including ordering pics of Julia for you, Mom), so if anyone is reading this and wondering, "Why does she have time to update her blog but not respond to my email of two weeks ago?!" I'm sorry and I haven't forgotten. I'll get there as soon as I can.

So this is just a catch-up mish-mash of thoughts. In list form.

1. We're putting White Bunny to sleep on Thursday. I'm really torn about this. His quality of life isn't terrible; he's not to the point where he clearly needs to be put out of his misery. But I can't imagine he's enjoying his life either. He falls down a lot now, and he spends most of his day sitting in a corner of his pen or inside a box - I think because he has a hard time keeping his balance - and we can't keep up with keeping him clean because he keeps falling in his own waste. But... he eats and drinks with gusto, which is supposed to be the most telling sign in rabbits of how they're feeling, so by that metric, he's still doing okay. But, as I was watching him hop around trying to keep his balance this weekend, I realized he is really an old, fragile little guy and maybe it is time.... I'm not sure. I wish it were more clear whether or not I'm doing the right thing.

2. Julia is four months old! It's crazy - I can't believe she's gotten so big! She's rolled over from back to side, side to front, and front to back, but not on a regular basis yet. Her tummy time is really paying off. She's still a little behind, I think, but catching up beautifully. She can rest her weight on her arms while she's on her tummy and hold her head up for a few minutes at a stretch. Her head control is much better. She turns her head to follow objects, source sounds, and watch TV when she's nursing (which is not my favorite thing in the world). She gets bored in the house but when we go out she just soaks everything up. She smiles at Robert and I all the time, laughs a little, and gives us lots of raspberries. She'll watch us from across the room, and even smile at us when we smile at her from quite a ways away. She loves being wrapped up in soft blankets - it's so cute, she'll wiggle her arms and legs excitedly, throw her arms up so the blanket goes right into her mouth, and kick her legs up and to the side so she's basically rolling around inside the blanket. She loves to grab my hair when I'm kissing her face and pull my head close to her and put my nose in her mouth. She's learned that she can not only put things into her mouth, but also take them out. She's also starting to teethe, I believe, so she's been clamping down on things (me) and gnawing on anything within her reach. She sleeps pretty reliably at night, from about 7:30 pm-7:15 am, although about half the mornings she has an early-morning wake-up between 5:00 and 6:30. Naps are fairly regular but still only for 30 minutes at a stretch (I think we're going to do some sleep training soon and not just wait around for the 4-month sleep regression to start). Her 4-month check-up is next week, and we'll talk about solid foods then, but I don't think she's ready yet - she shows absolutely zero interest in grown-up food. She's still on a diet of all breastmilk so far, although I'm not sure how much longer that will last (more on that later).

Ready to walk the dog!

How cute is this?! And yes, that's a death grip on his hair.

But, to try to get her ready for solids, we busted out the high chair this week. My grand plan was to get her used to sitting in the high chair while we eat dinner at the table, to get her accustomed to the idea of people eating solid foods. But, that'd mean I'd need to get my act together enough to have dinner on the table when R comes home from work, which obviously hasn't happened yet because I'm the world's worst housewife. So far, all I've managed to do is get the high chair set up in the kitchen (and even that required help from Robert). It wasn't what I'd call a smashing success with the baby:

Buckles are for floppy babies.

Chewing on the straps.

"Why would they put me in this?"

I should start practicing my, "Sit up straight, Julia!" huh?

Looking sad.

Blurry but it captured her expression so well.

And after a few more pictures of this, we called it a day.

So Daddy held her. However, he's no match for the flop.

...so I'll just have to start taking all my pictures on an angle.

3. I think we're going to be redoing our master bathroom sometime this spring. I'm not excited about the work that it'll involve, but I'm super-psyched for the new bathroom. Our master bath is teeny-tiny, and an increasingly large portion of it is getting taken over by mold, so it needs to get done - we're just going to gut it and start from scratch. My job will be to bring it in at/under budget while still making it look as nice as possible, which totally appeals to my deal-hunting side. I'm excited to go scope things out; I think Julia and I will have an outing at Home Depot sometime this week.

I'm also working on getting Robert on board with re-flooring our basement. I'd love to make it a living space and not just overflow storage for all our crap. We've got wiring for a TV down there, and it'd be a great space for a sofa and big toys and kiddie craft tables and stuff (please note that stuff is obviously different from crap). But, we're still trying to work out whether to do carpet (cheap but it's a very high-traffic area since our garage door is off of the basement), laminate (cheap, but too cheap?), tile (could be expensive, but I could find a deal, but cold and hard), or wood (expensive but pretty and warmer than tile). And if we go with one of the more expensive options, I'd have to find us the deal of the century. We'll see.

But... We did redo our master closet a few weekends ago. We took down the crappy shelving that was in there, repainted, and put up Elfa stuff from the Container Store. I couldn't be happier with it. I have photos for another blog post about that, later.

4. Seriously could winter please leave? Spring is taunting us, but I'd cut off my arm right now for a week of 60-degree weather. My foot isn't back to normal but feels well enough that I think I could start walking the dog now, and I'd love to be able to take the baby and the dog to the park. Is that so much to ask? I'm so sick of bundling everyone up and needing blankets all the time and not being able to open windows or feel warm air on my skin. Cheese and crackers.

Alright that's all for now. Hopefully more to follow once I catch up on the rest of life.