Lots of pictures of Phoebe

Phoebe still sometimes surprises me with how much she likes to sleep. She gets up in the morning and plays for a while, but soon she just wants to nurse and nap. And then she does about the same thing in the afternoon. 

So sometimes how exhausted I am surprises me. But there you have it.

She's starting to do fun things, like bring her fists (and anything she happens to grab onto) to her mouth, stick out her tongue, blow bubbles, and is tolerating tummy time a lot better these days.

Benjamin was so proud the other day when I finally gave him permission to stand up with Phoebe (I've been telling her he needed to wait until she could hold herself up a bit better and she can now). He was really quite good with her (though now he thinks he can just pick her up whenever he wants, which makes me nervous because I like to be in control of what's happening to Phoebe). 

I posted this set of Benjamin/Phoebe pictures on Facebook and it seems the general consensus there is that these two look a lot alike. I'm probably including far too many pictures, but I don't care because they're cute:

And here's Phoebe next to one of our little soprano ukuleles:

We've been trying to be better about including a music session in our homeschool day (aside from piano practicing and strings practicing) so that the little kids learn to appreciate music. We are doing okay but not great at being consistent with this.

Here's Phoebe on the day (February 9) she figured out she could simply lift her head up (rather than smashing her face into the carpet): 

Remember when I wrote about how I was a good mother to Zoë that one day? Well, don't judge me when I tell you that those braids stayed in her hair for over a week. She's since bathed and we've rebraided them a few times (it's one of her new favourite hairstyles), but...yeah. Sometimes we fall behind on things. Here she is rocking her big hair after taking out her braids:

Miriam gave a Family Home Evening lesson about how we should seek to improve and fill ourselves, using a balloon as an object lesson. The balloon was great just the way it was (and Benjamin demonstrated that an uninflated balloon could still be fun—you can still toss it around); however, when the balloon was filled with air, tossing the balloon around was a lot more fun (if the amount of giggling was any indicator). It was a wonderful lesson, and we were all reminded to be diligent about cultivating our talents. 

The balloons were later used in an impromptu science lesson on static electricity. Somehow I've never showed my kids the magic of rubbing a balloon on your head and then sticking it to the wall before...

Let's see...here's Phoebe putting a toy in her mouth:

Here she is sticking out her tongue:

Here's Miriam holding Phoebe:

Miriam had her first adjudicated performance this morning, which I hear went wonderfully. She was a little nervous about it because while we were doing some partner stand-ups as part of our PE, Rachel and Miriam collectively lost their balance and Rachel ended up falling onto Miriam's hand, crushing her delicate—and ever important—fingers. The index and ring finger on her left hand are bruised at the nail bed, but we don't think anything's broken, and Miriam was able to play through the pain this morning. 

Like everyone in this house, Miriam likes to get her fair share of Phoebe-loving time:

Did I say everyone in the house? There's still one skeptical party:

Our kitty still just isn't sure about this squishy, squawky little thing, but she sat somewhat near her for a considerable amount of time, so that's progress:

Here are Alexander and Benjamin helping Phoebe through a tummy time session (the day before she learned she could simply...lift her head and look around):

I went to the library (last week?) and left Phoebe sleeping in her bassinet, only to return home half an hour later to find her screaming her head off (and everyone at home quite frazzled). The next day I put her down in her bassinet for a nap and she slept for two solid hours and when she woke up she was happy to see me:

So we're never quite sure when or where Phoebe will commit to sleeping (though we're also confident that she'll eventually commit to it since it's still one of her favourite activities).

We've been doing a lot more outside time; the other day some of us played Scrabble while others of us played in the yard. Phoebe sat and blew spit bubbles:

My neighbour loaned us a super fancy baby swing that I honestly wasn't sure Phoebe would take to at first, but she's since accepted it as a cozy, enjoyable place to be and often sleeps here (supervised, while mommy works). It has different settings to mimic movements babies enjoy (like "car ride" and "kangaroo" and things like that).

We spent the day doing yard work—putting plants in the ground and so forth.

Phoebe sat happily in her seat...until she wasn't happy anymore.

So I brought her inside to change her diaper and feed her. She can tell when I'm gearing up to feed her and gets really excited about eating time these days. Here she is desperately chomping on her fist:

Here she is saying, "Ooh! You are going to feed me, aren't you? Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!":

And here she is thinking, "What's taking so long?! Show me the goods, lady!":