When Mommy's Gone

What happens when mom leaves to go teach her class at Xavier and leaves Papa and Greta home alone with a case of High Life?

New Tricks and Acrobatics

Greta is full of all kinds of new tricks these last couple weeks. Most recently she has mastered laying down and then sitting back up. She first did this in her crib a week or so ago, and has been working hard on it ever since. Here is the result in a nice short 25 second clip, nice how Greta performs on request.

Puff Daddy

Greta loves her sweet potato puffs. These little A shaped delicacies are also a great learning tool for figuring out how to pick something up and eat it.

Just a couple days ago she literally had no clue, but tonight she did one at a time for about 15 in a row. Making the same growling noise when trying to pick it up, and then the same chatty/chewing noise as she gets it in her mouth.

Fun times....

sleeping beauty

greta is a pretty good sleeper. if you had told me a few months ago that she was going to be a good sleeper, i would have laughed so hard you might have thought i was a tad bit off my rocker. i think i was a tad bit off for a while, when greta was a couple months old and sleep was not her thing. but now we've got most of the kinks worked out, at least for the time being. sleep and greta are fast friends.

memorial day weekend

memorial day weekend is always a great weekend. it's one of those holidays i never get all worked up for, but it usually ends up being one of the best. this memorial day weekend was no exception. saturday was a busy day, as we left our house around 8:15am and didn't get home til it was time for bed. we got family pictures taken with joe's family on saturday morning, and then we spent some time at my parents house. we then went back to grandma and grandpa hansbauer's, and they watched greta while joe and i went to dinner and a movie. sunday we were busy around the house and greta and i tried out our new jogging stroller. we also went to the toy store and greta got to pick out some new toys and a new pool for the backyard! sunday night we headed to taste of cincinnati, where we met up with janet, brent, ella, and janet's family. we had some good food and did a lot of people watching. on monday joe spent some time working in the yard while greta and i hung out inside making baby food. we got to spend some good family time together just the three of us, and again took the jogging stroller out for a try.

greta and her bear

"monkey guy" might be feeling a little neglected lately, as greta has found a new stuffed animal that she enjoys spending time with. behold bear, who she likes to snuggle with, chew on, and roll around with. sometimes she also holds the bear out in front of her with both arms and looks at him and smiles at him. it's hilarious. when we hand bear to her she screams (loudly) and gets very excited. who knew stuffed animals could be this much fun.

papa look a like

some pictures of our sweet baby greta. does she look like joe, or what?

check out my chompers

i've had some requests for some pictures of greta's teeth. this is trickier than it seems. here are a few shots with her pearly whites showing.

milestones

so we lowered greta's crib mattress on saturday. joe and i were discussing that greta probably wouldn't be able to pull herself to standing anytime soon, but that we should lower her mattress just in case. we also were sort of wondering out loud about when she might be able to get from lying down to a sitting position on her own. well, i swear she hears what we are talking about. last night when joe went in to get her up from her nap, she was SITTING in her crib!! i'm glad he saw her because i probably would have passed out from the shock. just two days ago we were talking about it and now she can do it! and i guess it's just a matter of time now before she figures out how to stand in her crib. the day we walk in and she is standing there, peering over the side.....that might cause some shockwaves....

another day, another carseat

so saturday was a big day for greta. the baby carrier carseat was retired, and greta moved up into her "big girl" carseat. no longer do we have the portable carrier to carry greta around in. this is both good and bad. good, because the carrier + greta = a mighty heavy load. so it's nice to carry greta places without the weight and bulk of the seat. on the downside, now when we take greta anywhere she is FREE. i ran an errand to xavier, and typically i would have just carried greta in in her seat and she could have sat in it and played. instead, i had to figure out where she could sit, and then of course she wanted to roll and army crawl all around.

all in all, it was a big day for our big girl. in the pictures you can see her trying the seat out in the house, and then in the car with mommy strapping her in for the first time. she seemed to like it. she was kicking her feet and looking all around while in the car. what a big girl!!

hangin' out

here's greta hanging out with her two favorite boys....her papa and her monkey guy (peeking out from underneath greta's head). lately she has been snuggling on her monkey guy and her bear. and of course she'll always snuggle with her papa. this week was my first week of classes at xavier, so joe has been coming home from work early to hang out with greta. i miss her like crazy, but i think the two of them have such fun together. they go on walks, they read books, they sing and dance.

and i don't think they miss mommy one bit!!

Big Girl

Our baby was 7 months old yesterday... and she sure does think she's big...

to our 7 month old mover and shaker

greta, you are seven months old today and we continue to marvel at all that you can do. it seems like you are growing and changing so much. i just said to your papa the other day that it might be a while before you crawl, and then BAM! just like that you started getting up on your hands and knees and are moving and scooting all around. you are SO on the verge of crawling. you get up onto your hands and knees and rock back and forth. you are able to scoot and pull yourself around the room, pushing with your feet and pulling with your arms. sometimes you still get mad and mommy has to come over and sit you back up again. but as soon as i sit you back up, you lean forward and it all starts again.
you are eating foods now and seem to have the hang of it. so far you have had rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, squash, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes. carrots seem to be your favorite, but you will eat it all. you also seem to like drinking water, although you prefer when mommy or papa gives you water out of a straw over trying to figure out how to hold your cup.
in the mornings after you eat you sit and play in the kitchen while mommy cleans up and fixes her own breakfast. you sometimes get sad at the loud noise that the blender makes (and the vacuum, and the hair dryer) but if mommy laughs about it you will laugh too.
you are still sleeping well over night and lately have been taking 3 naps a day at about an hour each. when we lay you down now you IMMEDIATELY roll over onto your belly. sometimes you also fall asleep on your side, which makes mommy and papa laugh because you look like such a big girl when you do it. you still play with the bars of your crib and scratch at the sheets but you don't get your legs stuck in the bars much anymore.
when we play in your room you LOVE playing in front of the mirror, especially now that we moved it so you can see the whole mirror. you like to play with your bear stuffed animal and sometimes you lay your head on the bear like you are snuggling. you like looking at the touch and feel books and playing with the ring stacker. just today i swear you were trying to put the rings back on by yourself.
you smile when mommy sings baa baa black sheep to you and you crack up at papa's "jammy shake shake" song that he sings when you get your pajamas on.
you have started to want to be held standing and will lock your knees when we try to sit you down. you are SO curious about everything, always looking around checking things out. it's tough to nurse you anymore because you want to know what else is going on. you love watching people, especially other kids like your buckley and ford cousins and the other babies at your swimming lessons.
you love getting things like the remote control and mommy's wallet, and seem to enjoy chewing on your shoes while you ride in the car.
you are blowing raspberries like crazy and seem to think it's funny to blow them on mommy and papa's faces. you also are doing lots of babbling and shrieking, and seem to think it's funny when we shriek back at you.
your hair has been cut and your two teeth have come in and it makes you look like such a big girl. but you're still our snuggle bunny, and will sometimes lay your head on my shoulder and let me rub your back for a little while. you know your name and will look when we say "greta", even though we probably confuse you by calling you "buddha", "boo boo" and "bootie". you are an amazing little firecracker of a girl who doesn't miss much and we love love LOVE you. for always.

Happy Mother's Day

From Greta....

greta and friends at grandma and grandpa's

moving around

we have yet to capture it on film yet, but greta is getting more and more mobile everyday. she continues to roll like crazy, but has also started pushing and pulling herself around on the floor. she will be sitting up and then will lean forward so that she is on her hands and knees. she then will either push herself with her feet/legs or pull herself in a sort of army crawl. she also sort of rocks back and forth while she is resting on all fours. she hasn't yet figured out to get both her arms and legs working at the same time. i think that would be considered crawling, and then we're in real trouble.

pears

i was having a pear today and greta was eyeing it. i gave her a taste and then decided to put a few slices in this little mesh feeder thingy. she went to town!! sucking on it, slurping on it...it was hilarious. and super messy. she was a sticky mess of pear juice. but it was fun and it was her first time with a "solid" food. she seems to be teething again pretty intensely, so i think it probably felt good on her gums as well.

Swim Lessons

here are some pics from greta's swim lesson this week. this was her third lesson, and joe went with us this time to take pictures and to see greta in the pool. at the beginning of the class the instructor has the parent blow bubbles so that the child can see (and eventually copy) this skill. the first two weeks i was blowing bubbles while greta looked around at other kids and at whatever. this week i noticed that she was watching me and laughing when i was blowing bubbles. i guess that's the first step. the pictures are of us swimming to the side and holding on to the side. we also do some floating and kicking. in the video you can see greta "jumping" in and her underwater swim that they do at the end of the class. overall i think she enjoys her time in the pool. at least in the one photo she looks pretty happy about it.

homemade

so i decided to try making baby food for greta. and let's just put it out there that i am not great in the kitchen, nor do i like trying new things. however, making baby food is SUPER easy. steam the food, puree it up, and presto.....baby food. the only trick is getting the lumps out, which i think greta and i both discovered when she tried the butternut squash food i made. you can see her reaction (spitting, gagging, etc) in the video. i think it's the texture she doesn't like, because she had some store-bought squash at grandma's house and did okay with that. the next food she tried that i had made was peas, which she tried today. and she liked them. ate them up. no spitting or gagging whatsoever. it's so fun to try new foods and see her reaction. and i must say there something very satifsying about making food for your baby. although i think her favorite food so far is probably the carrots, which were store-bought. but wait til she tries my applesauce!!