We've been preparing for Frannie's first solid food (she's got a little over a week to go) by reading Food Adventures and planning our produce order. Since it's summer, we have all kinds of choices - fresh fruit, veggies, or fish all sound good to me!

For the last few nights, we've been putting Frances down in her own room, in her crib, for her long stretch of sleep. When she wakes up after we're in bed, one of us brings her back, and from then on she's in the cosleeper or in our bed for the rest of the night. The first couple of nights, I was surprised by how much I missed having her right next to me, but gradually I've become more used to the idea. I know she eventually has to sleep on her own in her room, I just hadn't realized it was going to happen so soon.

Last night was hard. When we got Frances ready for bed, she didn't seem interested in eating, and kept struggling to get out of her swaddle. I unwrapped her and set her down to chill on her "mat of neglect," but after half an hour, she still didn't want to eat. She did want to bite, however, and clamped down while she was nursing, then grinned at me. Not a way to make friends and influence people, kiddo.
After another 30 minutes of this, we realized the last time she acted like this, she was teething. After some infant Tylenol, she took a ting-ting and finally fell asleep. She didn't sleep well, though - lots of waking up in the night to nurse, and a great deal of cranky in the morning.

Today we kept her drugged up, and she seemed happier - still prone to chomping down on fingers, though.

We took Frances to her first Pride Parade last Sunday - as usual, we marched walked with the Seattle Men's Chorus and Seattle Women's Chorus.

Sarah took charge of the pram decorations - note the sparkly rainbow leis. We had matching ones to wear, so we looked like we belonged together. Frannie had rainbow rings to keep track of her toys, and rainbow striped babylegs until the weather warmed up. She was game for all of it, although she wasn't much of a fan of the booming music from the truck. Once we were well ahead of the truck, though, she was happy. We handed out candy and business cards, and smiled and waved to the crowds.

Frannie slept.

Thankfully.

The latest installment in our cheap-entertainment-for-babies series?

Toes and Thumbs. Seriously, why do we have all of these brightly colored, light-up, noise-making plastic things? The kid thinks her toes are the coolest thing since light bulbs (those haven't held her attention in weeks), and would rather chew on her thumb than on any ting-ting or teething ring.

Clearly, baby toys are sold for the parents.

Make that two teeth, now.

At least we seem to be through the worst of it - no Tylenol in two days.

A Tooth for Frances

When Frannie went in for her last check-up, we were told her first teeth were visible below her gums, but weren't given any solid time line for when they might arrive. After three days of fussing (and the purchase of our first bottle of infant Tylenol), we have the beginnings of a tooth. So far, enough is poking through to scratch a toy, or scrape against my fingernail (her favorite chew toy), but her less-than-bubbly demeanor has made it very difficult to get photos.

No, Momma, I will NOT open my mouth!

This morning, we decided to beat the Seattle heat (they predicted 80 - horrors!) by heading to Seward Park to walk the loop with Olive. We had to laugh at the set-up we gave Frannie - she had the life of luxury in her pram!

Note the sun umbrella, so not a ray of sunshine will get in Princess Frannie's sensitive eyes.