Body by Milk

Tomorrow is Isla's 6-month birthday—where does the time go? So it's time for a half-birthday party complete with a half-birthday cake.


Her present was a lovely lovey. Ok, so I had no idea what a lovey was when Crystal said Isla needed one, but I'll assume I'm the only ignorant one and won't insult you by explaining. This one is a bunny-like thing and she's peacefully sleeping with it right at this very moment.

Six months also means it's time to start branching out from the monochromatic cuisine of mummy's milk. First up: banana! Fun to squish. Fun to lick. Fun to smear in your sister's hair. Just all around fun. I'm a big fan of bananas, too, so we thought it might run in the family. She went at it with gusto—much to our surprise.

She started with the ice cream cone approach and since that seemed to be going well, decided to try her gums out with a little gnawing action. From that, it progressed to licking her tray where the banana had been sliding around. Ellie, of course, loved every second of this, so ran around cackling and pointing. Isla checked in every one in awhile to make sure she had Ellie's approval and to get some coaching points on her solid food technique. Of course, the downside of all of this is that the delightful days of non-stinky poo are over!


It is truly remarkable that Isla's entire (and quite sizable, especially by Ellie standards) body is completely made from Crystal-made sustenance. Well, ok, I contributed a few chromosomes to the process, but let's not get picky. Each and every one of those rolls of squishy, chunky, delightful babyness were built out of milk. It's a bit hard to swallow.

Sitting Around

Most people think Ellie looks like Crystal, but she thinks she looks like me and Isla looks like her mummy. Regardless, I think she's perfected my "writer's block" look.


Meanwhile, Isla is pretty proud of her new ability to sit up on her own. She's decided to just skip the rolling over thing (although there are rumors she can do it, she seems to prefer shouting until one of us rolls her over!). By the way, don't try this pose at home—she's a trained professional. I'd hate to see you in traction.

Finally, in the beautiful-shots-from-the-garden department, Crystal told me to bring my camera with me one morning as I came down for breakfast. The back garden was filled with pearly-dewed spiderwebs! It was amazing.