wearing mommy's hat

(josh is laughing so hard in this one because i kept saying, "bebe! bebe!," trying to get her to look up, which she wouldn't do. finally i said, "face!" and she looked right at me. oops.)

further adventures in baby led weaning

after a brief hiatus, we are back to having lots of fun with food. a couple nights ago, bebe had some butternut squash for dinner (with a rice cake too).

squash is an appropriate name.

she really liked it.

and this morning, bebe joined me while i had my usual bowl of oatmeal with sliced banana. i gave her a banana to eat,

which got much easier to do once she broke a big piece off.

this was the food she liked most of any she'd encountered so far. with everything else, it has been more of a general exploration, sort of the way she explores everything with her mouth, and it seemed almost accidental that some of it ended up getting swallowed. not with the banana though -- she went back for more and more and more until about half of the big piece had made it into her belly and the other half was on her bib and clothes and high chair and the floor.

banana only occupied the "favorite food" pedestal for a brief time, however. it was quickly knocked off by the spoonfuls of oatmeal i handed to bebe to feed to herself. she couldn't get enough, and made a "mmm, mmm, mmmm!" sound the entire time she was devouring it.

amazing quilts

last christmas ('07, not '08), josh's parents gave us a quilt that had been made by his stepdad's aunt rosy. she is an incredible quilter who spends months and months on a single quilt, and the one they chose for us is a colorful beach scene. it was the last gift we opened, and as he gave it to us glen said, "this is your big present." then, after we admired it for a while, we handed them their last gift and said, "this is your big present." it was a picture frame with an ultrasound picture in it, annoucing our pregnancy, so i'm pretty sure we won the who's-giving-the-best-present contest that year! but a very close second was the beautiful quilt, which josh and i almost instantly decided would be hung on the wall in the baby's room, and would inspire the rest of the decorations (i refuse to call it a "theme") -- all ocean animals. this was a great choice for us because we both love going to the beach and josh especially feels a connection to the ocean.

then, at my baby shower, rosy gave me another quilt she had made, after hearing that the big one had inspired our decorating. we hung this one over the crib (these are pictures josh took before bebe was born -- we don't really have that many stuffed animals in her crib! hello, suffocation hazard!). this one has scenes of dolphins and rays and tropical fish swimming in a coral reef.

we really love these quilts, and so does bebe. the big beach one, especially, makes her smile every time she sees it -- which is multiple times a day, since it's hanging on the wall behind the glider where i nurse her. in fact, sometimes she is so interested in all the beautiful colors that she will get distracted and keep pulling herself off my breast to look at it!

so you can imagine how excited we were when a package arrived a few days ago addressed to beatrix, with a return address of one "a. rosy". inside was a beautiful new quilt, with mermaids all over it. i would have loved it anyways, but what makes it even better is that we need a clock for the wall in bebe's room, and a while ago i found a great one online that i haven't gotten around to ordering yet -- it is purple with mermaids on it!

we may hang this one on the wall as well, but for now i have it draped over the back of the glider. bebe loves to look at it and to reach out and explore the texture of it with her little fingers. and i am so glad that she is surrounded by so much color and so much love, in the form of all her wonderful handmade gifts!

new games

here's one that daddy made up:



and here's one that bebe made up:

out to dinner

last night, we went out to dinner for josh's birthday. bebe got all dressed up for the occasion.



we were happy to discover that she is big enough to sit in a restaurant high chair, which made dinner easy and enjoyable for all of us.

what a big girl!

she drank some water while we sipped hot sake,

and munched on a rice cake while we ate sushi and beef negima.

yum, yum!

_

the best

today is the birthday of the best husband and father in the whole world!

this guy, right here:



the one who brought me her:

see any resemblance?

this blog is supposed to be all about beebs, but today it's all about the man without whom she wouldn't be here.

hunney, i'm so glad you were born!


you have been my partner on this journey for almost eleven years.

you are my favorite traveling companion,

{on the road somewhere}

{the badlands}

{sandpoint, ID}

{the grand canyon}

{jamaica}

{phoenix}

{kauai, HI}

you make me laugh,

you grow a mustache for me even though you hate it,

and you always, always support me.

bebe is so lucky to have you for a daddy,

and you're teaching her about so many things:

video games,

the internet,

literature,

the (defending world champions) celtics,

the force,

how to rock,

the joy of hoodies,

how to enjoy a lazy morning in bed,

and most importantly, how to snuggle:

happy birthday, we love you so much!!!