smarty party

last night, we went down to the opening-of-the-academic-year BBQ held by my department -- the "smarty party," as josh calls it. it was good for me to reconnect with folks and to remind myself that yes, i am a student and yes, i am going to get this dissertation written.

ocean and her parents were there, and we were very excited to celebrate with them. earlier in the day, they had gone to court for their second-parent adoption, in which jack was recognized legally as ocean's parent and guardian. hooray!!!

if you're getting bored with the last year/this year comparisons, let me know. i could do these every day and not get sick of them -- i just can't believe how much bebe has changed! here she is with her buddy (and their papas), at last year's smarty party:

and at last night's smarty party:

i think ocean actually gets the "most changed" award here, but will you take a look at my girl. how did she turn into such a kid???

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bones

one of my favorite scores from our trip to the outlets over the weekend: new PJs for bebe.

labor day weekend recap

we spent the long weekend at mems' and teed's house along with aunt marge and uncle ben. we had a great time!

while we were eating breakfast, teed asked bebe if she'd share some blueberries with him.

she refused.

later on, bebe took mems for a walk.



mems and i went tag saling to equip their place with kid toys, for the rare moments when bebe gets bored with petting ramona, flopping on the dog bed, rolling golf balls, and pushing chairs around the kitchen. we got a whole bunch of cool things to play with, and we also scored some sweet shades for her.





and we had a blast by the pool.

bebe, ready?

ready?

wheeeee!

eeeeeee!

eeeeeee!

eeeeeeee!

(close-up on pure joy.)


beebs, what do you think of the pool?

"i love this place!"

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lounging, poolside

in the "what a difference a year makes" category, i give you:


labor day weekend 2008

labor day weekend 2009

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corn on the cob

every week we get some ears of corn in our CSA box. i cooked some for josh and me for dinner last night and there was one left, which i gave to bebe for lunch today.

she wasn't too crazy about it.

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recent cuteness

another hodge-podge post of some recent pictures. sorry i am not wittier, or more verbose, or posting more often -- things are busy right now and looking for a new home for tiny is taking up all my emotional energy.

helping daddy put groceries away.

her new favorite stance.

not sure what this face is about.

all ready to go to the park with auntie jamie.


oh, and auntie ashley posted some really cute pics on her blog. check 'em out.

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the bad news, and the worse news

way back in may, when bebe had her first allergic reaction, i called the allergy clinic at children's hospital to get an appointment. we had to wait over three months (!!! -- i could have gotten in somewhere else sooner, probably, but really wanted her to be seen by the best). since then she has had multiple reactions to many different things. we just finally had the appointment yesterday and, while i was dreading the skin test, i was really looking forward to getting some answers.

oh, ignorance is bliss.

the one piece of good news was that bebe is not allergic to avocadoes or strawberries, which we had thought she might be. the bad news is that, as i suspected, she is allergic to nuts, dairy, and eggs. she is highly allergic to all three, and all three are potentially highly dangerous allergies, with the chance of her going into anaphylactic shock upon exposure. an added piece of bad news regarding those three allergies is that, though she hasn't been reacting to them through my milk, the allergist still recommended that i avoid them as long as we're breastfeeding, because repeated exposure can damage her immune system. since she can't have milk, i plan to breastfeed her for as long as possible, so i have had to say goodbye to cheese and scrambled eggs and all those nut-containing goodies that i've been eating when out of the house without her -- and, worst of all, half and half. i am drinking a cup of black coffee while posting this and am choking it down like it's medicine.

that's not the worse news, though. the worse news, the terrible news, the very most worst news we could possibly have gotten, is that bebe is allergic to cats. and, according to the allergist (and confirmed by my own frantic googling last night), chronic exposure to allergens, especially pet dander and dust mites, in infancy and early childhood can result in the development of asthma.

so. needless to say, we are facing some sad times. it's not hard to figure out what the right decision is -- bebe's health comes first. but that doesn't mean that making that decision will be easy.


post skin-test, waiting for the nurse to come in and read the results. clearly, they were not good.

feeling better, finally, after the administration of some antihistamine cream and benedryl. she has no idea that they still need to take some blood from her. (which, by the way, was one of the more traumatizing experiences of my life. i really feel for parents with children who have serious illnesses or chronic conditions, who have to go through things like that regularly. i had a hard time falling asleep last night, remembering the sound of her crying so hard she choked and couldn't breathe.)

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assorted adorability

yesterday, in the late afternoon, i took bebe and euan to the playground. as we started walking down our street, i was holding bebe in one arm and holding euan's hand with my other hand. i asked bebe, "do you want to walk with euan?" and she started squirming out of my grasp. so i put her down and almost died of cuteness. whenever bebe "walks with" someone, she is always told to hold hands. when i put her down next to euan, she reached right out for his hand and grabbed it. they walked all the way to the playground like this.

then after we got home i tried out another new hairstyle.

chugga chugga, yum YUM!

this morning we went over to jonathan's house. there's a T station in his town, so we walked down to watch the trains go by.

bebe is always excited to see jonathan. "jah-THIN! jah-THIN!" is what she calls him.

bebe enjoyed a blueberry oat bar from starbucks

and had lots of fun watching the trains.

here, she's signing for "more." more oat bar or more train? who knows, she loved them both!

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hair did

i realized today that bebe's hair is long enough to put a little clip in.

here she is with her barrette reading a really cool graphic novel written by a friend of ours.

and, a little bit later, enjoying a late afternoon snack of watermelon.

at least, she enjoyed it until she bit her finger. wouldn't you cry if you got bit by the chompers???

(thanks to our friend wendy, who gave bebe these adorable animal hair clips when she was first born.)

(i'm not sure, though, that i like her in hair accessories. she looks way too much like a kid, not enough like a baby. waaah, my baby girl is growing up!!!)

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