Tuesday, December 29, 2009

to otto, our 7 and a half month old army crawler....


so i missed the 7 month mark, so i thought i should post before you turn 8 months (in just over a week!). so much has happened since you turned 6 months. you got a haircut (and need another one already), you two bottom teeth have come in, and your two front, top teeth are visible through your gums. you have started eating solid foods...so far you have eaten rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, peas, green beans, bananas, and avocado. you enjoyed a biter biscuit at grandma and grandpas, and you like to sit and eat puffs while the rest of us enjoy our meal. it's hard to tell what foods you don't like....you seem to just like eating in general and open your mouth wide for each bite. you definitely don't like getting your face and hands wiped when you are finished,i know that for sure! you have had some formula in addition to breastmilk, much to mama's chagrin. mama and papa are getting ready to go to new orleans for a few days (go cats!)and you are going to have to have some formula along with the millions of bags of frozen milk mama has saved for while we're away. we thought we'd try formula before we left, and you gobbled it right up. thank goodness.
you are army crawling like crazy and have been for the past several weeks. you get up off your belly and rock back and forth, and then right before you start to move you plop back down on your belly. you are quite fast at army crawling! your right leg is in constant motion, always kicking and pushing to get you where you need to go. you also have figured out how to get from a laying down position to sitting, and you are almost pulling up to stand! you like to get up on your knees and then kneel up and just sort of look around. you also like to see what you can get into...you crawl towards any cord, wire, or electrical ANYTHING as soon as you see it in your sights. you also have figured out how to open drawers and like to pull up to look inside.
you are making all sorts of sounds,saying "mama" and making a kissy noise are your current favorites. you also like to make a raspberry sound and a "ffffttt" sound. and you are waving now too, which is hilarious. you stick your arm way up high and move your hand around in circles while wiggling your fingers. you like to pick up toys and wave them around, as if you are showing us what you are playing with.
you like to listen to music and will "dance" by jumping up and down and laughing. you will sit and listen to books but mostly you like to be on the move. we sing you "baa baa black sheep" at nap and bedtime, and you babble like you are singing along. you don't suck your thumb as much anymore, just when we lay you down to sleep and sometimes if you are tired you snuggle on mama and suck your thumb a bit.
you are definitely a mama's boy....when mama is out of sight you play happily, but as soon as you can see me you start whining and start army crawling towards me. if i am in the kitchen, sometimes you will crawl over and bite at my ankles and pants legs. :)
you love your bath and are really able to get some good splashin' going!! you don't like getting out of the bath at all....i think you don't like being cold. you are starting swimming lessons just after you turn 8 months, and i can't wait to see what you think of that!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

rolling on christmas eve



here's that video of greta and her cousin ellie on christmas eve. they are about a year apart in age, and i think it's only going to get more fun the older they get. this particular 'rolling' event was definitely sugar induced....greta had a piece of chocolate cake and then was hand-fed a few cookies by ellie just before the rolling commenced.

Friday, December 25, 2009

christmas at grandma joan's

after spending christmas morning at our house as a family, we headed to my mom's for more celebrating. greta did well even though this was her second straight day without a nap....we enjoyed seeing everyone, eating food (especially pumpkin bread!) and sharing presents. merry christmas everyone!! click on the photo below and then click on 'slideshow' in the top left to see all the photos....


tumblison christmas 2009

trouble.....



otto is mobile now....he has been army crawling for a few weeks. just in time to try to reach the ornaments hanging on the christmas tree. greta did most of the tree decorating, so most of the ornaments are on the front of the tree, near the bottom....perfect for otto. just look at that face!!

happy birthday to Jesus

christmas morning 2009

what a joy it was to spend christmas morning as a family!! i really don't think i've EVER enjoyed christmas this much! after a fun christmas eve at grandma and grandpa hansbauers, we woke up on christmas day to see what santa had brought. greta reminded us to sing happy birthday to baby Jesus, and we checked the advent calendar one last time before opening gifts. we have decided to do three gifts a piece for christmas, following with the christmas story where the wisemen brought three gifts for Jesus. (thanks tricia for the idea!) it felt like just the right about of gifts....the kids were THRILLED at each one, and it gave us time to really enjoy each gift, as well as lots of time to enjoy our time together. click on the photo above to see pictures from our morning....

cleanup on aisle 5....



otto pretty much loves any toy that is intended for greta, including her shopping cart. he loves to play with it, even when it falls on top of him and traps him underneath. he just keeps on playin'. he likes to inspect the wheels and the cart basket too....

Thursday, December 24, 2009

hansbauer christmas

hansbauer christmas 2009

again with the slideshow....you can click on the photo above and then click on slideshow (on the top left) to see all the pictures from our christmas eve celebration at joe's parents. it was so fun to celebrate with grandma and grandpa and the ford cousins.....we had lots of yummy food and greta and otto got so many great gifts. we missed seeing uncle bill....
stay tuned to the blog for a future post of a video of ellie and greta taken after one too many cookies and a big ol' slice of chocolate cake!!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

christmas cards


greta LOVES all the christmas cards that have been coming in the mail. if she is awake when the mail arrives, we open them together. if the mail comes during naptime, i leave the cards on her table and she goes through them when she gets up. she POURS over the photographs, studying the people in the photos and asking over and over who they are, even when she knows the answer. she insisted that the card of "baby addie" sit with her during lunch, and she stood and "talked" to the card of her best buddy ella for about 25 minutes when it arrived. her genuine excitement for the little things is definitely contagious, and definitely what the season is all about....

breakdancing


in the spirit....


i thought it would be fun to have greta make gifts for her gymnastics teacher and a few friends for christmas. i figured it would be good to get her into the spirit of giving gifts....we made muffins together, and we also made candy cane ornaments. greta was very focused and i think she was excited to give the gifts. merry christmas!!

who dey!




Saturday, December 19, 2009

nestheide family christmas

nestheide christmas 2009

click on the picture above to see pictures from my extended family christmas party. it was tons of fun....the kids were up WAY past their bedtime of 7:30 and enjoyed every minute of it. sorry uncle mike about the snuggie....it seemed like a good idea for the gift exchange.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

siblings










here's a cute video of greta and otto. they have been interacting more and more lately....on this particular day they had been cracking each other up (until i got the video camera, of course). check out greta's knock knock joke at the end of the video, which she made up all by herself a few months ago. hilarious.....

where we've been....


wow....we've been slacking on the posts, sorry! the hustle and bustle of the holidays will do that to you. looking back through our photos on our camera, we've got A LOT to catch up on....st nick, bengals games, festival of lights, etc....not to mention that otto is almost crawling!! i guess we've just been busy getting ready for christmas and just spending time with each other.

to see all new posts, you'll need to scroll down through a few old ones....

harmonica




growing up, someone on the buckley side of the family was always playing the harmonica. i have faint memories of my great grandpa playing one....maybe one of these kids will pick it up. greta loves to play it, and she's actually not too bad!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

festival of lights





on monday it was a unseasonably warm day, probably in the mid 50s. so when the temperature dropped to freezing tuesday evening, it only made sense to go to the festival of lights at the zoo! it was SO cold, but otto stayed warm and toasty in his bundle me, and greta didn't seem to mind the cold at all!! the bonus of going in the cold was that it wasn't crowded at all.....and it really was a ton of fun! greta and otto enjoyed the lights and music, seeing the baby jesus in the nativity, and meeting the gingerbread boy and seeing reindeer.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

icing

c is for cookie






greta and papa continued another christmas tradition by making cookies together, just like they did last year. greta enjoyed mixing the dough, and putting the cookies on the cookie sheet. she also was surprisingly good at icing all the cookies....we'll add video of that later!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Sunday, December 6, 2009

dollhouse





otto's favorite toy of late is definitely the dollhouse that greta got for her birthday. here are a few pictures of him "playing" with it. he likes to put the toys in his mouth and move the pieces all around. he's tried a few times to pull up to standing on the dollhouse, but that hasn't ended well.

ol' saint nick



after trimming the tree on saturday, greta and otto woke on sunday to find that st. nick had filled their stockings with some holiday goodies. sweet!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

o christmas tree




we headed all the way to monmouth street in downtown newport to get our christmas tree. there is a little local market (peluso's) that sells christmas trees out of their back lot....not the most festive of locations, but it's a short drive to get there and back and we've found the perfect tree the past few years. greta was very intrigued by the chainsaw they used to cut off the bottom of the tree...she kept repeating "that guy gave it a FRESH CUT" all afternoon. here are some pictures from the tree trimming. otto slept through most of it, but woke up in time to hang his ONE ornament on the tree. greta enjoyed hanging all the ornaments in one bunch right on the front of the tree. we listened to christmas music, had tea and candy canes....it was such a fun time.