Time for the Beach - Miami Day 2

Greta's first time at the beach was tons of fun.  It took her a little while to get acclimated, but eventually she was off and making new friends... just like she does everywhere else.  

What an awesome way to spend New Year's Eve.

Click below for more photos of Greta at the beach!  

Ft. Lauderdale Beach

Greta at the Beach

First time at a "beach" beach. She's been to beach at lakes but this is her first time at an ocean beach. It took her a minute but now she likes the sand. It should only take her about four hours to get the sand out of the bucket. One small handful at a time. What a great way to spend new years eve!

Going to Miami - Day 1

Greta's first time on an airplane.  Pretty exciting, and amazingly it went very well.  I think 2.5 hours is about her limit for a plane ride, but she did awesome.  A little breakfast, a little reading of magazine's and such... and a little Yo Gabba Gabba kept her in check.  

I'm not sure Greta was fully catching on to the escape routes.  

Miami

How'd I get here. Must have been that jet plane

safe travels

headed out early tomorrow for miami and UC's orange bowl game. wish us luck for greta's first airplane ride. here she is, trying on the headphones that will enable her to watch/listen to videos on the plane. sadly, we are hoping that 'yo gabba gabba' and a backpack full of books will buy us a little bit of calm during the flight. also, be sure to check back through older posts for all of our christmas celebrations.

tumblison family christmas

later on christmas day, we headed up to my mom's house for brunch and the last of our christmas festivities. greta enjoyed hanging out with her cousins roman, shamus, and marissa, and playing peekaboo with her aunt jeneen. she also must have been starving, because she was the very last person at the table, still eating after everyone else had finished!! merry christmas!!!

christmas morning

christmas morning was a relaxing morning at home, just the three (and a half) of us. greta woke a little early, but probably more from trying to take her pjs off (see other post) than from the anticipation of presents. we were able to eat breakfast BEFORE gifts, and joe and i talked about how this might be the last year that happens. greta opened a few gifts and enjoyed trying to figure out how to sit on her new chairs by herself. check out the slideshow below for all the pics.

Christmas Morning

All I want for Christmas is a travel seat

Greta and shamus got lots of cool gifts, but it was the old travel seat they liked the best

Escape Artist

Christmas morning Greta is preparing for her escape and practicing losing her jail suit. No wonder we heard her get up and then it was quiet in her room for 20 minutes.

Hansbauer Christmas

we spent christmas eve at joe's parents house, where greta got to open presents with her cousins ellie, cassie, hannah, and jacob. greta's favorite gift was a box of plastic bugs. check out the slideshow of pictures below and the video of greta with the bugs....when watching the video, notice all the chaos and noise going on around greta, and how she is completely engrossed in the bugs. you can even hear me say her name a few times with no reaction. this went on for about 25 minutes until we finally convinced her to open a present.

hansbauer christmas

Merry Christmas - a box of bugs

Who knew all we needed was a cardboard box and plastic bugs?

Greta wants to be wrapped up for Christmas.

christmas cookies

after we got greta on a sugar high with her donut, we decided to make christmas cookies. joe makes cookies every year, and was determined this year to make a cookie that greta could eat. he found a product called ener-G that is an egg replacer for recipes calling for egg. (fyi....you cannot scramble this product. we tried.) we were able to make the same recipe joe always makes, but we just used the egg replacer and a few other substitute ingredients. the cookies tasted just as good and it was fun to be able to share them with greta. i think joe and i are both thinking ahead a bit and don't want greta to feel left out or singled out on days like christmas if everyone is eating something yummy like a cookie and she can't eat it. she obviously had no idea this year. but when her cousins offered her a cookie, it was nice to be able to get one that she COULD eat and let them enjoy their goodies together.

time to make the donuts

greta and i headed to the natural foods store to pick up some ingredients to make christmas cookies (more on that in another post). while we were there, we picked up a egg-free, dairy-free donut. essentially, a donut that greta can eat!! even though she looks perplexed in this picture, the donut was a hit. joe was afraid to try it, but i tried it and it tasted just like a regular donut (i swear).

do you like my paper hat?

rocking horse video

here is greta, proving my toy theory wrong.

cheap thrills

again, does santa really need to bring toys for christmas? greta played with this bag of pens for quite a while at my family christmas. put the pens in. dump the pens out. repeat. i might have to wrap this up and put it under the tree.

nestheide family christmas

after we took greta downtown on saturday, we had my family's christmas party later that evening. it's always a ton of fun. lots of food, lots of beer, lots of haggling over gifts in the 'white elephant' gift exchange. it's always loud and rowdy, and i think greta had a great time. here are some pictures from the evening.

here is greta, the true "present" in it all. aww shucks. actually, in this photo she is placing the bow on her head and then saying "aaachooo!" while tossing the bow across the room.

here are greta and robby, busily filling out postcards to send to uncle john. greta and robby are about 2 months apart in age, and were hilarious all night. aware of each other, but never really acknowledging the other's presence.

greta and papa unwrapping her gift from great grandma katie. thanks grandma!

greta shares a quiet moment during the gift exchange with aunt boo to read a christmas book.

and lastly, here is greta road testing my gift from the gift exchange. this is her latest fascination....climbing!! climbing into things, climbing on top of things, etc.

greta had a ton of fun with all the nestheides at christmas, and is looking forward to celebrating with the rest of her family in the days to come. i can only imagine what NEXT YEAR will be like!! (i think we said the same thing last year!)

holidays downtown

we took greta downtown on saturday morning to check out all the holiday sights. first we stopped at fountain square to check out the christmas tree. then we headed to duke energy to see the train display. greta was actually pretty interested in the trains and watching them move around the tracks. she was also interested in all the kids that were there.

next we headed to the carew tower and the hilton netherland to see the gingerbread displays. they always create really amazing buildings (like great american ballpark) out of gingerbread and icing. here is greta making her "funny face" while looking at the display. we then stopped for a snack at brueggers before heading over to macy's to check out santa. no intent of getting a pic with santa, especially after we saw the number of people in line. and especially after i heard a mom threaten her son that "absolutely no transformers are coming to your house this christmas if you don't smile with santa!". lovely. that's the christmas spirit. greta got a glimpse of santa and then we headed home. where she played with her newest "toy"....my medal from the flying pig relay. does santa even need to bring toys, anyway??

just in time for christmas

so it is only taking about 5 days for mail to reach my brother in iraq!! this means that you still have time to send him a christmas card. or an ornament for his tree. or some other christmas gift, like a pound of your favorite coffee, 6 geese-a-laying, or a partridge in a pear tree. on second thought, the geese and the partridge might not make it through customs. stick with a card....

353rd Transportation Company
ATTN: SSG Buckley, John 5605
COB Q West Base Complex Iraq
APO AE 09351

blowing bubbles

tonight in the tub, greta demonstrated her new skill of blowing bubbles. all those swimming lessons and all she needed was a tiny tub full of water to figure it out...check out the videos to see her in action.

self portrait

coloring

i thought it would be fun to color postcards for greta's uncle john....greta thought this would be fun too. for about 15 seconds. then she decided it would be more fun to simultaneously chew on the crayons and look at mommy to see what the reaction would be.

dancing

here's a short video of greta dancing.

to our 14 month old montessori girl

maybe it's my montessori training that's putting me at a bit of a bias, but i swear you are such a 'practical life' girl. practical life, or everyday living, is that area of the montessori classroom that children just love. there are all sorts of works to do that involve activities that children mostly see adults do, but never get to do themselves. things like dishwashing, plant watering, and silver polishing, just to name a few. i think you are going to love this area of the classroom.....already you love to help mommy do laundry. you move your clothes in and out of the washer with efficiency. and you lately have taken to doing what we call "cleaning". you will take a cloth out of the drawer and go around the house wiping things with it. you will wipe the stairs, the rug, your toys.....and then when we ask you if you are "cleaning", you just smile as if to say, "duh" and continue dusting.
besides your love of all things cleaning, you also are smitten with playing peekaboo. you especially like to do so with the previously mentioned cloth, as well as the playscarf from your music class. you like to just sit calmly hidden underneath the fabric while mommy and papa verbally search for you, and then you appear and start laughing and shrieking. and then it begins again.
you like to run now as well as walk, and you also like to march and stomp your feet. you also think it's funny to roll across the floor, as well as to lay on the floor and then whine and pretend that you can't get up. mostly you do this because you have figured out that when mommy or papa come to "help" you up, a tickling session ensues. which you LOVE. not only do you like to be tickled, but you love to make a "tickle tickle" sound and pretend to tickle other people. lately you have liked to have your back and belly tickled softly, and you will sit SO still for this.
let's see....just today at grandma joans you said the words, "apple" and "tea" for the first time, and you also say "uh oh" and "bed." you are working on saying "yes". well, we are working on teaching you how to say yes, since you have become so proficient in saying no. you also think saying "aaaachoo!" is hilarious, and when you see yourself in a mirror or see a picture of yourself, you say, "ta" for greta.
books continue to be some of your favorite things, and you love to read your christmas peekaboo book and the pat the christmas bunny book. lately you like for mommy to make towers with your blocks or nesting cups so that you can knock them down.
you are still sleeping well at night but your naps are sort of hit or miss. we think this means that you are in a transition from two naps to one, but only time will tell. one of your molars has cut through, and we can feel and see the other three beneath your gums.
and you continue to amaze us with things that you understand, such as knowing to point to the tree when we say Christmas or being able to show us where your neck is. actually, you are just pretty amazing in general. i swear i don't know what we did for entertainment before you were born, because we could sit and watch you for DAYS. plus, you are already helping mommy out with the cleaning. let's just hope it's a while before you learn to say "allowance".

peekaboo fun

so we can't figure out how to turn this video so that it isn't sideways, but trust me....it's worth it. here's greta playing peekaboo with me. so turn your head and watch!! you won't be sorry. i particular love how she is "peeking" out at me the whole time.....this went on for about 20 minutes. enjoy....

fat pants

so yesterday i had an observation at Xavier. a few times each semester, i have to get dressed up in decent looking clothes, put a little makeup on, and go out to observe Montessori interns do their student teaching and give feedback. so...yesterday. i'm up early. i'm showered. i get dressed in the last remaining pair of "regular" pants that still fit. i had a button extender (awesome!), but it broke. anyway, so i'm in my nice pants (and other clothes, of course) fixing greta oatmeal for breakfast....can you see where this is going??!!
the oatmeal is a little hot so i go to stick the bowl in the freezer for a minute and whoops. i miss the freezer shelf, down falls the bowl of oatmeal. the bowl lands on the floor and the oatmeal lands all down the front of my pants. MY LAST PAIR OF DRESS PANTS THAT FIT. awesome.
now....you are probably thinking, "quit your whining. slap on some maternity pants and off you go". that would be easy to do, if i HAD any maternity dress pants. but seriously, i'm a stay at home mom. and because my last pregnancy was mainly in the spring and summer, i own 2 pair of maternity jeans, 1 pair of maternity cargo pants, and a whole bunch of sweats.
so sweatpants it was. luckily, being pregnant affords many niceties.....like people see your belly and "ooh" and "aah" and don't notice that you have your lounge pants on in public. but it was either that or smell like maple brown sugar all day.....

ponytails are all the rage

It's a..........................Boy

We had our ultrasound today for baby #2.  And after official review, it is in fact a boy!  See picture of the little guy below.  First pic is the confirmation, and the second is the profile view with his fist in the air.

    

trim the tree

today was the day....we got our christmas tree! and although this was greta's second christmas, she was definitely more involved in the process than last year. she kept saying, "tree, tree" while we were picking it out. she thought it was pretty funny that we had a tree in the car and she kept pointing and laughing while joe carried the tree in. we were curious how it was going to go to have a one year old under foot while setting the tree up, but she sort of just went about her regular business at first. she would come over occasionally to feel the branches or point at the lights. and she was very interested in the bin of ornaments. i'm curious how she'll be with the tree tomorrow. before she went to bed tonight, she tried to chew on both an ornament and a branch. but we'll chalk that up to teething.


here's greta, helping her papa get the tree all set up.










then greta decided that mommy and papa could do all the hard work while she read a few christmas books to get in the holiday spirit.











here's greta, hanging her first ornament on the tree. well...we hung it together and then she got mad and i took it back off so that she could carry it around the house.