Sunday, August 31, 2008

labor day





last year for the labor day party, there were a bunch of us pregnant ladies with bellies out to there....so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to any of us that there might be a few babies at this year's shindig. um....we should've been charging an hourly rate. our living room looked more like a toddler room at your local daycare than a labor day party. i can think of 17 kids off the top of my head who where there. it was bananas!! but super fun! greta enjoyed hanging out with all of her friends (new and old) and sharing her toys. the adults enjoyed fantastic weather, good company, cornhole, poker, marshmellow eating contests, great fireworks, and other exciting happenings. the pictures are of greta modeling her labor day onesie, designed by meredith a whole year ago (almost to the date) from my baby shower. thanks mer for the onesie! and thanks everyone who came and celebrated labor day with us. we love hosting the party, and all those babies and kids just means that there are that many more labor day parties in our future!!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

coney island




here are some pics from our trip to coney island with grandma and grandpa hansbauer, greta's aunt tina and cousins jacob, hannah, cassie, and ellie. they were going as a fun trip before hannah and jacob (and tina, who is a teacher) headed back to school. i thought it would be fun if greta and i tagged along and watched the bigger kids ride rides. i had NO IDEA that there would be rides greta could ride. i was a little nervous at first for her to ride, but she had a blast!! the ride on the little trains with hannah was her first ride....it was super duper hot that day and she rode rides like a champ. i even rode a few rides....although the headache after the bumper cars and the queasy stomach after the viking ship reminded me that i am not a youngster anymore.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

geek week 2008

pictured above: Greta (9 months), Conner (13 months), Robert (9 months)





to celebrate 10 years since graduating from Xavier, several of my friends from college (plus spouses and children) and i decided to take a trip together to commemorate. we headed to Deep Creek Lake in Maryland from August 3-10, where we rented one big ol' house that we all shared. the week was perfect....the house fantastic and there was plenty to do (or not do) around town. it was so great to see everyone and catch up. you can see more pictures at the link below. greta enjoyed playing with robert and conner (and addison), as they chased each other all around the house. she also enjoyed hiking and her first time on the beach. thanks everyone for a fantastic "geek week".


fish are awesome





a week or so ago, greta and i went to the newport aquarium with megan. it was greta's first time there, and she loved it. megan met us at our house and we walked to the levee. greta was super excited to see all of the fish. she was pointing, kicking her legs and squealing!! it was pretty fun. afterwards we hit the starbucks at barnes and noble for some adult treats while greta enjoyed her lunch. she fell asleep on the stroller ride home and even managed to stay asleep through all of the work that the workmen were doing on our dining room wall. i think all of the excitment wore her out! check out the video above of greta's reaction to the aquarium....

Sunday, August 24, 2008

steppin' out

greta took her first official step today. we had some "maybes" at my mom's house and at cassie's birthday party yesterday. but today she took a step towards....wait for it....the washing machine. that's right folks. she stood away from it (without holding on to anything) while i loaded it with clothes. as soon as i closed the lid, she took a step. she had been standing on her own for a few seconds at a time, and then yesterday it seemed like she decided that standing was easy. all day long she was letting go and just standing there. each time it looked like she was going to take off walking. it is crazy insane to see your baby stand upright like that, all on her own. she looks so tall. so independent. so big. geez....might as well buy her a backpack and some #2 pencils and send her off to preschool. or to college. well, maybe we should wait till she's really walking to send her out on her own.

She Also Likes the Black Keys

Feeding Time

Greta doesn't much like to have other people feed her anymore, and prefers to take matters into her own hands.... She's been doing this for a while, but here's a video...






Wednesday, August 20, 2008

hair woes


do you like my headband? i'm growing my bangs out.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

playmates

recently i watched gavin for a for a few hours, and he and greta had a great time together. at first they literally played on opposite sides of the room. but after naps and some food, they realized they could "share" toys.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

to our girl, a bit late

greta your 10 month day has come and gone, and you are quickly approaching being 11 months old. my biggest mommy apology for this letter being late. it's amazing how quickly you are changing, growing, and learning new things....it seems like your 1o month self is quite a baby compared to the 10 and a 1/2 month old girl that you are today.
you have figured out that it is fun, sort of scary, and kind of daring to let go of things and stand all by yourself. i think it sort of sneaks up on you when you do it. one minute you are cruising along, then you stop to clap your hands or wave or something and BAM you are just standing there. as soon as you realize it, you grab quickly for whatever is closest or you plop down to the ground. but man on man, is walking right around the corner.
you love to move, you love love love to dance. you don't discriminate against any types of music, and will dance to anything from hip hop to rap to cheesy commercial themes to mommy singing. sometimes when we sing to you you "sing" along. but your dancing is awesome. you shake your booty like no other baby i've seen. girl, you've got rhythm. or something.
you have also started laughing this big hearty, santa claus like laugh. if mommy is carrying you and papa happens to be walking behind us, you start laughing and jumping up and down and panting....we think you think that he is chasing you. you often think people are chasing you if they happen to walk by you. you usually think this is hysterical and will either crawl right after them, or will laugh and quickly crawl the other way to continue being chased.
you love to read books and seem to like looking at them on your own. you always pick the same ones out of the pile/basket first (baby's colors, pat the bunny, zoo who?, playtime peekaboo). you also love when mommy makes animal noises to go along with the books. you point to things in the books like the ducky or the ball or the baby. you also love to look at pictures of yourself and of your relatives.
you are an all around easygoing girl. you sleep well, you eat well, you play well. sleeping goes well at night and you are still taking two naps during the day. you are eating three meals of food a day and nursing 4 times a day. you are working on feeding yourself with a spoon....you like to turn the spoon upside down in your mouth and whenever food drips onto the tray you like to wipe it off with your fingers. you enjoy feeding yourself finger foods like chicken, tofu cubes, and most any fruit or vegetable. sometimes you get annoyed when we try to spoon feed you ourselves, but distractions are fantastic for getting you to eat. sometimes mommy will take you for a walk at mealtime and park the stroller somewhere busy so you have lots to watch while you dine.
your favorite toy of late is probably the little push toy that lets you push it and walk behind it. you are hilarious with it....you remind me of a little old lady pushing a grocery cart. you will push it all the way across the room, and when you can't turn it around on your own you whine til i come over and face you the other way.
you are busy and will play and entertain yourself so well....although you definitely like to be in the same room as mommy. you are always right under my feet whenever i am making dinner. you seem to be most entertained with your strainer full of baby food lids and plastic water bottles. it's amazing what becomes a toy.
you have 5 teeth now and papa saw a 6th one coming through on top. although, i think this technically happened after august 12th so maybe that is information for next month's letter. you like to use these teeth to gnaw on your bedposts. it looks like you share a room with a little gerbil or something. and you talk nonstop. so much of what you are saying sounds like words. like i swear you said "duck" and "nana" (for banana) the other day. but it's so hard to tell. but you definitely like to talk.
you point at everything now, and when asked, "where's papa?" you will point to him. you can do this for mommy too. you have started to point to noses, eyes, bellies, and toes. you think it's funny to smack mommy's belly when we play this game.
whenever we are out and about, people refer to you as a redhead. your hair has really lightened up and is a beautiful shade of auburn. it's funny to think that if you had been born as a redhead, your name would have been a bit different. but you are our greta josephine, and we love you so much. you are full of energy and life and are just the funniest little thing. thank you for bringing so much joy into our lives.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

we're back....



our most sincere apologies for the lack of blogging. here are some entries of what we've been up to. these pics are from what seems like forever ago. greta and i walked downtown to sawyer point to the concourse fountain to play in the water. it was great fun...it is basically a giant wading pool with lots of spraying water. greta was able to sit in the water and play on her own, which was great for both of us! after we played in the water, we dried off with a snack on yeatman's cove. a very fun day! scroll down for a few more new posts.....

Monday, August 4, 2008

Greta Loves Heartless Bastards

Don't get so offended... it's a local band, and she rocks out when they are on...