Volk home for a visit from Iraq

Melissa, Jeremy, MacKenna, Gabby, and Jeremy's dad Lazlo came for a visit this last weekend. Laney had the best time with the girls. She spent most of the time laughing so loud. Gabby kept playing peek-a-boo with her but would end up just saying boo over and over and Laney was just laughing hysterically at her...so cute! Volk came home for a "rest and relaxation" during his leave, he got 15 days to go where ever, so he came home :) to meet Laney. I was still pregnant when he left! He has to go back until November ;( Laney starting sitting very well by herself this week. She sits for a very long time and falls only when she reaches too far to the side. She is very flexible! She gets that from Mommy :) She can lay her belly on the ground as she reaches forward. She has learned to shift her hips back slightly for balance. She also said something this week only 2 times, but she said it none the less...Mom...not mama, or mommy, but Mom came out in a string of babbles :) She is loving her dinnertime solid foods too...she really likes sweet potatoes, apples, and cereal...she just tried peas and seems to like the flavor, but sort of gags at the texture when it gets in the back of her mouth. So I mix the apples with them to make them easier for her to eat...she seems to like it better mixed. It's cute, when she likes a food she signs "milk" really fast :) alternating the sign between her hands right left right left...and she makes a "mmm mmm mmm" sound. It's so cute! She just keeps getting cuter and cuter!

6 months old already!!!

I just can't believe Laney is 6 months old already! Seriously that went fast! She changes so much in such a short amount of time! She has started sitting mostly by herself now. She will sit for quite a while before she reaches out for a toy and rolls over. She can't get back up but she has learned to arch her back as she's rolling to the floor and will end up on her tummy with her face and arms off the floor. She really loves her new perspective on the world. Waves her arms and gets really excited when nothing is really happening, so I'm guessing she's just excited to be sitting :) Grandma Debby, Yaya, came up for a visit and had a great time with Laney, as did Laney with her. Newt continues to be a great little puppy. He constantly is chewing on something he's not supposed to be chewing on...sounds a little like Laney...and I'm always finding him doing funny things. He was digging in his toy basket but got tired so just laid half in and half out while he chose his toy :) We started harvesting our little bit of wheat today, just included a couple pics, thought it was beautiful.

I forgot to mention that Laney started signing "milk" this week. She definitely understands it when I sign "milk" to her, she gets really excited to nurse after she sees me sign, but she tends to sign it all the time. It's funny, when she is playing and getting excited she signs "milk", which I think she wants but just a snack. Then when she is eating cereal she signs "milk"...which I guess is sort of correct, there is breastmilk in it :)

Laney is quite the little eater too. She is already finishing her bowl of cereal most nights, and now is really loving sweet potatoes too! The other night I had her sitting in her Bumbo chair on the floor while she ate her cereal, she finished the whole bowl, then wanted to hold the bowl and spoon, which I don't let her do unless they are empty :) could get messy! She waved them around, put them in her mouth, then handed them both to Sadie to lick :) Sadie thoroughly enjoyed cleaning her bowl, then her face! She is still saying dadada, and bababa, daladala, bububu, and says a "p" sounds, just pupupupu, but not associating anything yet with any of the words. I'm still working on mamama, but I said that to her the other day, she crinkled her eyebrows while she listened, then cracked a huge smile and said "Dada"...I'm toast!

mmmm yummy

Miss Laney started some solid food this week. She seems to love it. She puts her lips on the spoon and breathes out her nose which makes bubbles everywhere and gets cereal up her nose. I guess it's all a learning process. She started this new thing this week where she humms and plays with her lips. She opens and closes her hand right near her mouth and flaps her lips...she just started this Sunday and now she does it all the time. She used to do this to my lips while she nursed, now she figured out that her lips make the same funny noise. She also has started laugh because she thinks something is funny. She watches the dogs play, and when they do funny things like run fast, roll over, or wrestle, she smiles and laughs. The other day, Scott and I were outside laying sod, she was in her excersaucer in the grass, and the dogs were playing all around her. Newt ran over and hid under the platform of her excersaucer from Jo and Sadie, Laney leaned over and watched him smiling, then the other dogs came over and he jumped out at them and started wrestling Sadie, Laney squealed with delight and cracked up. She is hysterical!