My elation over Kavella's new discoveries, specifically crawling and eating, push me to post this entry out of sequence! Long gone are the days of wheel-barrow-style back scooting and in are the days of maneuvering one arm/one knee and then the other arm/knee in order to perfect her crawling skills! Within two days of crawling, Kavella began pulling herself up to the standing postion using any solidly placed object (e.g. coffee table, couches, t.v., crib, changing table, mirror, etc.)! For our personal record, she was 7 months when the crawling began! Of course, along with this milestone comes a greater dose of curiosity--every basket is scoured, every table top is explored and each cupboard proves a challenging puzzle! Even Choco is on the run! What started as, "Choco, be nice...it's the baby," has quickly turned to, "Kavella, be nice...it's the Choco buddy!" Every once in a while, they'll even have a squareoff--Choco grasps his toy securely in his mouth as Kavella uses all her might to steal it! I'll have to work on getting pictures of that! In the meantime, here are a few of Kavella's new accomplishments! 
Ever curious....
Pulling herself to the standing position using the couch....
Standing up via coffee table....
Crawling just as fast as she can, can, can! Trying to get away, into the night, and then I put my arms around her and I say....I think we're alone now....wait...awkward! 
We moved her crib mattress down from the middle position to the bottom position within a week! We took this picture on a Saturday morning! She just hangs on to the bars and stares at the door. 
Annnnnd, accomplishment #2, EATING! Kavella loves her vegetables, fruit and cereal! Just as with breastmilk or formula, she remains pretty indifferent to what it is she eats, so long as it's done! When we first began eating, I used a little bouncy seat (that Dan and LesLey gave us) because we didn't have a high chair. Thankfully, the seat cover was machine-washable. You can imagine trying to feed a baby who has the ability to bounce....
Eventually, though, we got a little booster seat, which was a sweet $25.00 purchase. High chairs run over $100.00, so we thought this would work for a while. 
Annnd the #3 success, SLEEPING all on her own! This one was a little bit more difficult to master. In fact, we're still working on it, but there has been steady forward progress! When it is time for naps or sleeping, we do our little "calm down" routine (singing songs, rocking, bathing, breast feeding, etc.) and then we just put her in her crib. Her allotted cry-time is up to an hour, which she has only reached a couple times. Do I feel bad? Do I feel like a neglectful parent? Not even a little bit. In fact, this could possibly be the best thing I've ever done!! Furthermore, I'm stoked to not have to rock, walk or swing her for hours on end only to have her wake up the minute I lay her in her crib! Here are a few pictures of our early experiences:
Ever since she's learned to crawl, she's been a lot less interested in her bouncy, but she clearly enjoys it every once in a while! 
Getting a clean diaper feels SOOOOO good, man!
