board books

board books are for teething. right?

little photographer

greta's first attempt at picture taking, with a little help from her papa.

we love warm weather

so it's official, greta loves to be outside. on our second day in austin (wednesday), we took advantage of the incredible weather and spent some time outside. first we went for a long walk with greta in the stroller around town lake. there is a great walking/running path right along the water, and some great bridges to walk across into downtown. after our time at town lake (and a stop at runtex) we headed to zilker park. this is the park where austin city limits music festival is held. tons of open space....perfect to stop and have a snack for both greta and us. greta played on the blanket for a while too.
after zilker we went to uncle billy's brew and que for some local beer and bbq. greta slept for most of our time here, and then woke up to meet daddy's friend chuck and hang out at the bar for another beer. our plan after lunch was to head to a place called creekside lounge in the red river district to hear some music. the description of the place sounded baby friendly...but after driving by we decided the description didn't really fit the bar atmosphere we saw. so we decided to head back to the hotel and hang there for a bit. we headed out for yummy fajitas that night at matt's el rancho. can't wait to head to south congress tomorrow for some day shows!

to our 5 month old first class traveler

greta....you are 5 months old today and we are in the middle of our vacation in austin, texas. as your papa has blogged about, you were FANTASTIC on the car ride down here. you slept, ate, and pretty much played and talked and entertained yourself when you were awake. you play more and more on your own now, and you talk so much. in the mornings when you wake up you play with your feet and talk to yourself until we come in to get you. when you see us come in your arms and legs flail about and you open your mouth and smile so wide. you also have started reaching out now....when we reach out our arms to signal to you that we are going to pick you up you reach your arms out to us. and as far as sleeping goes, girl, you've got it figured out now. (finally). when we got back from chicago we ditched the swaddle blanket and you never looked back. and then with some minor sleep adjustments you are now sleeping through the night. you still are not too fond of naps and cry a bit when it's time for them, but when it's time to sleep at night you talk to yourself for a bit in the crib and then you fall asleep. you don't get up for your nighttime feeding anymore, which is good mostly because it means that mommy is able to sleep through the night too. but i secretly miss that time in the dark and quiet of the night with you. i miss holding you and rocking you while you ate. sometimes i would just hold you for a bit after you fell asleep and look at you.
you are getting so big. you have mastered rolling to the left and have rolled once or twice to the other side. you are able to lean forward on your hands to sit up for a few seconds at a time. you still love to look around, but have started to get a little shy when you are with people other than mommy and papa. sometimes you are so friendly and other times you aren't quite sure.
you have really figured out now that food is for eating and drinks are for drinking. you reach out for our cups and open your mouth at the same time. you are quick to grab toys and anything within your reach. you still love your birdie friend and your monkey guy, but you also now love your whoozit toy. you like to chew on fabric, from burp cloths to bibs to shirts.
you've become more snuggly the past week or so and will rub your eyes when you are tired. you make SO many sounds now and you laugh more too. when we do something funny like say "boo" or blow raspberries, you laugh and then make a face like you are waiting for us to do it again. you still suck and chew on your two fingers but also now suck your thumb especially when you are falling asleep. you also like to scratch on things, like the canopy when you are in your carseat or your bumpers in your crib. we wonder if you like the noise that it makes.
you are getting so big and are changing so much everyday. it is amazing how much has happened in just these 5 short months.....

This one's for Maggie

Hey Magz.... Sha-Sha, you should be here!

Day 3 - First Day in Austin

We made it to Austin! Greta again rocked it out on the ride from Dallas to Austin. Even with a detour that slowed the progress, she slept right through, waking up just as we were getting to the hotel.

After a quick stay in the room, and time to get Greta some lunch, we made our way out... First Greta had to try on her sunglasses... she is in Austin, it's time to get cool!


We then headed off to our favorite Austin Intersection... 6th and Lamar. At this intersection you've got Waterloo Records, Waterloo Ice House, REI, Book People, Whole Foods and Amy's Ice Cream. It's always one of our first stops. We got a quick lunch at Waterloo Ice House:


Then headed to REI to pick up a fleece, and off to Whole Foods... we usually hit up this great grocery to get a few snacks and some lunch items for the week... they have great ready-to-eat meals/sandwiches/soups and the like.... and a great outdoor area, where we stopped and go Greta her mid-afternoon bottle. She's a big fan of being outside in the warm weather... though mom makes sure she's appropriately covered and sunscreened up...


Finally, we hit up the car to drop off the groceries and then went to Waterloo Records (the second coolest music shop in the country.... behind Shake It Records in Cincy of courese)... Greta got a cool kids CD and a Waterloo Onsie... Papa got a couple CDs of his own...

And also exciting was Greta's first stroller ride sans the car seat... Which she thought was really cool as she could see everything... she was talking the entire time we were in Waterloo... pretty sure she was trying to tell everyone "Hey, look at me, I'm in the stroller and NOT in my car seat!"

Dallas - Stop #2

So day two was from Memphis to Dallas... and Greta again rocked it out. It was a 7+ hour trip and she stopped to eat when we hit lunch time, and took 3.5hour naps on either side of that... you can't ask for much more than that.

We took it a bit slower today, instead of trying to do something touristy we just checked into the hotel, get Greta some dinner and then headed out to a fantastic Mexican restaurant in Dallas... Called Ojeda's it's west of Downtown in the Love Airport area. Was delicious and quick... Greta thought it was a fun place to hang too... tomorrow we head for Austin!


Yummy dinner at Ojeda's


This is our emergency toy... She loves it, and will play with it for an hour or more. Has been great for the car.



Time for dessert, and then off to bed... Greta, only another month and you'll get to start eating food... not ice cream, but some rice cereal at least!