my how they've grown!

here's a picture of greta, gavin, and ella hanging out at gavin and stacy's house on friday. thought i'd add a picture of the three of them from superbowl sunday (february 2008) so you could see how much they've all changed in four and a half months. i think it's safe to say that greta's cheeks no longer look like they are packed full of nuts. what a sweet girl with sweet playmates!! we love gavin and ella (and their parents).

Apple TV

Not sure if it's Apple TV that Greta likes, or just the music and giant pictures of herself... but she'll stand there for quite a while looking, laughing and waving when she sees a picture of herself. Greta is Greta's biggest fan...

Crawling? Who needs that?

Greta just figured out how to crawl with her belly off the ground on 6/14. Not 10 days later, and she's already over that, and is now much more interested in pulling herself up on whatever she can find. Tv Stands, Couches, Ottoman's, Dressers, Crib, etc, etc... She even takes steps when you hold her hands now... Not sure if that means walking is right around the corner, or still months and months off, but she sure does look like she's ready to put one foot down after the other.

Hannah's B-day

Hannah is 6 (how'd that happen), and Greta and her buddy, Ellie hung out and played with the 'scraps'.... you know, the empty boxes, and the wrapping paper. Ellie is almost 1 year older than Greta, I think they'll get along just fine for the next few decades...

Holy Crap... Did you see the size of this bear?

Yum... Crackers

Crackers sure are tasty... but most importantly she can feed them to herself... she's very quickly becoming 'grumpy' about having food fed to her...


Am I allowed to have this?

Mobile Baby

How excited is Greta to be able to get around at full crawling speed?



Here it is in all its belly off the ground glory:

She Loves Yo Gabba Gabba

And if you don't know what it is, check it out: http://www.yogabbagabba.com/



Any kids show that has live performances by the Shins is okay in my book.

father's day

a belated father's day wish for my papa....

even though mommy is super late blogging this, i just wanted to wish you a happy father's day. you are the best papa i could ever ask for. i love when you take me on walks and to the bagel shop. i love when you let me play with your phone and your computer. i think the songs you make up and sing to me are the best songs ever. i like to hang out with you and dance and play games and look at books. i especially like when you feed me. thanks for being my papa.

love greta.....

father's day craft

so greta did her first craft this past week. she and ella got together (along with janet and me) and made a craft for their dads for father's day. we stripped them down to their diapers and did handprints and footprints in paint. pretty fun. not as messy as it sounds. clearly at this stage in their lives it was more for our enjoyment than the babies. but the final craft turned out supercute, and i think joe loved it. i took the prints and cut them out and framed them around a picture of joe and greta together. normally i'm not too crafty, but i have to say it was fun. plus, who doesn't love seeing naked babies??!! they were so cute sitting together at the table, except for when greta tried to poke ella's eye out. anyway, happy father's day!!

crawling!

greta crawled today. and i mean belly off the floor, on her hands and knees, full on crawling. too bad joe and i were busy doing Paint the Town and weren't there to see it! greta had her first sleepover at grandma joan and grandpa bill's on friday night and then spent the day there while joe and i were busy painting. the day was a great day for everyone....at Paint the Town, the exteriors of 47 homes were painted in Covington. at grandma's, greta achieved a major milestone!! she also went for a walk, ate some big girl applesauce, and played in the pool with her cousins roman and shamus. luckily, greta was able to crawl on command for me that night and for joe the next morning to show us what she can do! and now she's crawling like crazy, with an occasional lazy moment where she plops onto her belly for the army crawl.

New Pool

How you like my new pool? It's European you know... tops optional!

Attack!

to our 8 month old baby with a bag full o' tricks

greta you are 8 months old today. you are 2/3rds of the way to being ONE YEAR OLD. i have to close my eyes tight to picture you as a teeny tiny baby, especially because you are such a big girl. this past month so much has happened for you, and you have learned to do so many things. you are now crawling....well, army crawling. but crawling nonetheless. you pull with your arms and push with your feet and move wherever you need to go. it's pretty amazing how far you can get. you also are pulling up to stand. your papa and i have both found you standing in your crib. and just today i left the bottom drawer of your dresser open and you used it to pull up on. all of this moving...it seems like you are in constant motion!
you have also learned many new things with your hands as well. if we say, "how big is greta?" you clasp your hands together and raise them above your head, to which we reply, "SO big!" sometimes you do this motion over and over again, maybe just to see how many times mommy and papa can say, "SO big!" in unison. you also have started banging toys together and have clapped once or twice. you are waving now, which is one of the things that makes you look so grown up. the waving started a week or two ago. papa was leaving for work and waved to you. in response, you lifted your whole arm up and then slammed it down. you did this the next day and now you are all about the wave. sometimes it's a whole arm wave, sometimes you wave your hand, sometimes you wiggle your fingers. but you will wave at anyone (not often on demand, though). the funniest is when you wave to yourself, wiggling your little fingers at your face while studying them very seriously.
you also are turning pages in books (if you can sit still long enough to look at them) and have mastered feeding yourself puffs, cheerios, and other bits of food.
you will give kisses, open mouth and slobbery, and mommy and papa both love asking you for kisses. most times you give them away for free but sometimes you turn your head or push our faces away. you also give your reflection kisses in the mirror, and you will kiss bear, monkey guy, and the chubby little girl in your ABC book.
since last month you have tried new foods, including applesauce, bananas, pears, peaches, plums, prunes, yellow squash, and zucchini. you also have had a bite of a nectarine and a piece of a strawberry, and i think you favor fruits over veggies. i think carrots are still your favorite, though, and you get pretty mad when you have to eat peas.
lately you like to crawl over to the tv stand and "play" with all the dvd cases. you also like to pick up the edges of the area rug and play with that for a while. you have been playing with balls a lot lately, and also love to play with the tiny ducky that your friend ella gave you. you are looking at books more and like your new touch and feel book as well as the ABC book that has big pages and pictures.
bath time is still so fun for you! you try to stand up in the tub a lot which makes mommy nervous. changing your diaper is not so fun anymore, as you roll over every chance you get.
you and papa have been hanging out a lot in the evenings while mommy is at school, and you go on walks and play and read books. he has you on a tight schedule, with a bedtime of 7:52. you are noticing when we leave a room and sometimes you get sad until we peek our head back in to show you we are still there. and sometimes you get shy around other people, but that shyness is usually trumped by your curiosity.
you are still babbling like crazy, and laugh so often. you laugh when we tickle you. or when papa tosses you in the air. or when papa holds you and mommy runs around him. and you think mommy's hair is the funniest thing, and like to pull it and laugh when mommy shakes her head and her hair moves all around. speaking of hair, the last time that your papa shaved his head you looked at him funny and wanted to touch his head.
so many things in one short month. greta, you are not only our true love, but you are so much fun to be around. we can see the wonder in your face and your eyes truly sparkle. every morning when your papa goes in to get you i lay in bed and think about how thankful i am for this day with you.

Greta's First Trip to Findlay (and Second Sunday on Main)

Greta made her first trip to Findlay Market .... it was a big day for her. It was tons of fun, but really hot...

and she had a strawberry for the first time while she was there

Her friend Gavin made his first trip as well...

she topped it off by heading down to Second Sunday on Main (street market in Over-the-Rhine)

do you like my carrot mustache?

changing clothes

gettin' curious

here's greta, looking guilty as ever as she attempts to either change the channel or pop in a DVD.

family reunion

this past saturday we headed to shandon, ohio for the hansbauer family reunion. it was lots of fun...perfect weather and lots of family members to meet and hang out with. here is greta playing in the ball pit at the reunion, and having a pensive moment in the balls with bear. it was a great day!!