Greta and Ellie

Ellie started out curious... showing Greta how to use the bouncy seat...

But then she got a little 'too' comfortable... I am sure there will be plenty more of these two 'playing' over the next several years, being just a year apart.

Hansbauer Christmas

For the third day in a row, Greta enjoyed a Christmas celebration.. I'm pretty sure she is pooped out from all the parties. She had a bit of a rough day and I think is in need of some serious day time napping...

She did have a good time hanging out with the cousins and grandparents though...

Greta and her girl cousins.

She likes her present...

Mom trying to get that baby to sleep.

Tumblison Christmas

Greta got to head on out to her second Christmas at Melanie's mom's house. She'll get a lot more out of it next year... as will Shamus, but Roman and Marissa had a blast...

Greta did enjoy the book she got though...

Christmas Elf

Nestheide Christmas

Greta got to hang out at her first Christmas with Melanie's mom's family. She didn't hardly sleep a wink, she was taking it all in... the first of three straight days of Christmas celebrations.

Christmas 'First Onsie'

Greta got to wear another one of her 'first' onsies from Melanie's shower. This one for her First Chistmas. She only got to slip it on for a photo op though... as it was a '3-month' sized onsie... which should have been great for the 10 week old Greta...however, she's long outgrown the 3 month clothes, so we just squeezed her in to get this shot:

Greta Loves Santa

She's never even met Santa but she knows who brings the presents....

Baptism Party

So, I don't think our house is made for parties with 30+ people there... especially in the winter, when people can't go out on the deck and hang our in our yard. It worked out but it was definitely crowded.

It was great having everyone over to the house to celebrate with Greta... a nice warm up for the next couple weeks of holiday activities.

Greta's first cake... too bad she didn't get to try it... Creative Cake Design - Yum!

Greta with Great-Grandma

Shamus, Robbie and Greta...

Robbie and Greta, i'm sure they'll enjoy future christmas/family gatherings together.

Greta getting fed by Great-Aunt Mary

Shamus gets to meet the Ford kids (Greta's cousins) that Greta warned him about... THis is right after they 'found' Shamus in his car seat, and decided he wanted to play peek-a-boo with them.

Baptism

Today was Greta's first big Catholic day... the whole day was great... it's just great to have her go through her first ceremony, great to have so many people from our families there, and great to welcome her into her religious life.

I'll put a seperate post for the party at our house after, but here are some pictures from the actual Baptism.

She was a trooper, and slept most of the mass, so there was no fussing. however, the church gives you an option of 'pouring water over their head', or 'submersion'. In submersion you place your baby naked in the baptismal font. Well, Greta has an issue with sometimes viewing baths as a toilet, so we opted for the pouring... it's a good thing as while we were standing up there, she did her business :)

Greta in her gown.. this is the same gown used by all her cousins. The slip that is under it has all the names/birthdays of each child embroidered... it's a pretty cool thing to continue to pass down. My cousin Mary made the dress, and adds the names in.

Greta getting baptized...

Father Al providing the blessing

My sister Tina and brother-in-law Sean are the godparents, and great godparents they will be!

Bengal Baby Party

So we had our first baby get-together last night. Was super fun. It was great to get everyone together, see all the babies, and just sit around and have a beer. The Bengals were pathetic once again, but that didn't hamper the fun.

I don't have a lot of pics, but here's a good one showing the babies and moms... not pictured are all the dads, as well as Brad/Brigitte and Greg/Meg...

From left to right (Emily/Thomas, Anna/Miles, Stacy/Gavin, Melanie/Greta, Janet/Ella)...

Pretty crazy that there are 5 babies within about 8 weeks of each... I can already imagine this exact same party a year or two from now, with all these kids being mobile and mischievous.

Grandpa Lessons

I'm not sure if Greta will be able to go back and visit Grandpa Hansbauer without supervision in the future.... we dropped Greta off for babysitting two weeks ago, and you'll see from the images below that she's picked up some bad habits...


First you'll see the picture from her visit to Grandpa's and then notice the shot from her 2-month pictures that she had taken on Wednesday... pay close attention to Greta's hands... and she's getting less subtle about it!

Greta the Giant

So... Greta went to her first Doc visit 3 days after we got home.. she was 7 lbs 3.5 oz and was in the 25% in weight... fast forward 2 months, and Greta has been packing it on.... she is now a little over 13 lbs 4 oz. She's now in the 95% in weight, which seemed surprising for Dr. Bird.. I guess kids don't usually move from the 25% to 95% in 2 months...

But hey we'll take it... she's definitely a good eater and she's also starting to sleep a bit better... just last night she went 5.5 hours of sleep... might not sound like a lot, but it's great.

Greta also got 4 shots today... and afterwards she told me that she's not going back to the doctor anymore.... she's had enough of the poking/proding/sticking...

Looking at Her Insides

Okay, so these pictures are actually fairly old... This is from the day after Thanksgiving, but we wanted to wait and make sure everything was a-ok before we put them up. Greta has had some trouble with her 'insides', and since this is a public blog we'll leave it at that... :) But everything is fine, and really all it means is Melanie gets to go without all the things she loves, milk, cheese, ice cream, etc...

But I did want to share these pictures... is there anything more sad than this picture... To see your 7 week old laying in a mini hospital gown is so sad...


Here is mom trying to keep her calm... gotta love that led jacket for the x-rays... again, seems strange to where a led jacket, while your 7 week old is getting x-rayed without any protection

ANd my favorite picture... this was Greta's face after eating the first thing in her life other than breast milk... I guess the stuff doesn't taste very good, but Greta sucked down two ounces of Barium in record time...

Visit by Katie

Katie came down from the U.P. to visit Greta. Was pretty awesome of Katie to come all that way.... i mean, I know she snuck in visits of Jeff, Megan, Melanie, etc... but really she came to see Greta!

Greta was a big fan of Katie, and she's been asking about her since she left, so I guess we'll have to make a summer trip up north to see them!

Hannah Playing Mommy

I am pretty sure Hannah is a twin for my sister Tina. She takes every opportunity to be the 'big girl'. I am sure it won't be long before she'll be setting up a 'school house' in the basement of the Ford household to teach Cassie and Ellie.

Here Hannah gets to work giving Greta her bottle.

Greta's First Music Video

Greta starred in her first music video, but she like the song so much, she fell asleep instead of doing her dance routine we worked so hard to learn.

Learning 'Opposites'

So, Greta had the 'Happy Day' all figured out, and we're busy teaching her about 'opposites'. She's picking it right up, and had her 'Sad Day'....

New Friend

So... I'm a bit worried about Gavin... Greta's new friend... I just have visions of Melanie, Janet, Stacy, Greta and Ella coming over to hang out and head to the mall, and poor little Gavin's going to be stuck with all those girls :)

So far he's got it figured out though... keep those eyes closed and dream about football...

Big Enough for Bumbo

So the little bumbo seat should give Greta some freedom, she's 'almost' big enough, but she's still struggling a bit with keeping her head on straight...

Happy Days

She may not be Joanie Cunningham, but she certainly had a 'Happy Day'... maybe it was the outfit she liked?

Rebuilding NOLA

Greta and I talked this week, and she's ready to join me in NOLA this summer to help build with Habitat... she added a hammer and nail pouch to her christmas list.

Adventures in Wraps

Greta hasn't quite taken to the wrap/sling/bjorn just yet. But it might just be because it's usually when she's already fussy when she gets put in them...

But here's the first attempt at the baby wrap:

First Night Out

Greta had her first Babysitting experience with grandma and grandpa Hansbauer on Saturday night. It was actually the first time that Melanie and I have been out together since Greta arrived. We've been out without the baby individually, but not together... so that was exciting.

We made a night of it and went to dinner, then went to our friend Maggie's 30th B-day bash. It was great to get out and see everyone, and also to get to spend some time with Melanie sans baby... Was definitely good to see her again when I picked her up though...

So what did Great do at the grandparents...well, same as usual... eat, poop and sleep... and there was a little play time with a book...

Cassie's Talk with Greta

Cassie makes sure that Greta knows what the rules are about pooping... no poop in the pants, and no poop or pee in the bathtub.

Cassie then gives Greta a little love... Not sure Greta was too excited about it yet...

Holiday's Downtown Cincinnati

Well... I am pretty sure that Greta is going to be a lot more excited about a trip like this next year, but we went downtown on Saturday morning anyway. For those that haven't been downtown for the Holiday's you really should make it out... there is a ton of stuff to do for kids.... (Santa's Station Crafts, Dancing Bears, Ice Skating Rink, Free Horse and Carriage Rides, Train Display and lots more...including every saturday night they have fireworks, and Santa Clause repels into Fountain Square)...

Anyway, this year Greta just sat in her car carrier and slept the whole time, but we walked around a while. And I took some pictures to prove she was there...

Fountain Square---her first picture with 'the lady' on Fountain Square:



Here is the fountain in the background, and a piece of the giant Christmas Tree in the foreground..