a girl and her dog

Today we spent a couple hours at Eagles Nest with Greta's friend, Cora, and her mom, Ari. Both girls had a great time. I tried to keep Greta awake in the car ride home by signing songs and talking really loud but I just couldn't keep her awake. She fell asleep a few minutes from our house. Sometimes, it's hard to get her to nap after a car nap but I was able to get her back in her crib and she slept for another 2 hours. She had a busy day!

I took a few pictures of Greta and Sofie playing in the backyard this weekend. Greta is so gentle with Sofie and I think Sofie loves her just as much as Chad or I. They have really turned out to be best buddies. Greta loves to tell Sofie to "sit" and even uses a hand signal like we do with Sofie. I think Sofie is starting to listen to Greta more than us because she always gets extra treats from Greta.

I don't know what I'd do without either one of my 2 "kids."

family walk

After dinner tonight, we went for a family walk around the neighborhood. Sofie is a dirt magnet and I didn't want to give her a bath when we got home so poor Sofie had to wear her boots on our walk. I don't think Sofie minded though because her favorite thing in the whole world is to go on walks. We even have to spell it (which I think she has that figured out too) because she gets so excited when she hears the word. While I was getting Sofie's boots on I hear Greta busting out in a giggle fit outside. I go out there and she was laughing at her dad throwing snowballs. Hmmm... hilarious. I caught the end of her laughing but it sure was funny to watch. Sometimes the oddest things tickle her funny bone.

Greta took a turn walking her puppy.

It was a beautiful night. I'm so excited for spring!

blowing kisses

We've had another great week and Greta continues to surprise us with a new "trick" every day. In our baby class this morning, we were having parenting discussion time and Chad mentioned that he feels like Greta is changing so much and he notices it everytime he comes home from work and she's doing something different. This week Greta started blowing kisses. I was leaving the house Wednesday evening and Greta usually stands at the gate and watches me leave, or sometimes cries :( On Wednesday, I blew kisses to her and tried to get her to do the same. Then the next night I was leaving again and she crawled up to the gate like she always does but started blowing me kisses. It was so cute that she remembered from the night before. Greta's also been really interested in Sofie and has been bringing Sofie her toys and trying to get Sofie to grab it and play tug-of-war. Sofie's not too interested in playing with Greta and will usually just ignore her. The few times Sofie does grab the toy and Greta has the other end, Greta erupts in a fit of giggles. It's so cute. It's funny how Greta knows which toys are Sofie's.

On Wednesday, we went to music class at the library and then came home for a quick nap before Greta's friend, Elle, came over. They play so well together.

Greta always has to have a baby under one arm.

Another wonderful week with our little girl!

puppy playtime

Here's a video I took on Sunday of Greta playing with Sofie.

ready steady go!

I captured on video the end of Greta's giggle fit last night. She was laughing hysterically before I started videotaping but toned it down a bit once I pulled out the camera. Go figure. Chad was playing ball with Sofie and he would say "ready, steady, go" before he'd throw the ball and Greta thought it was hilarious.

first time eating

We gave Greta rice cereal for the first time this morning. I was going to hold off until 6 months to start any food but she is still not sleeping through the night and wakes up every 4 hours starving. Hopefully, once she gets this eating thing down the food will help sustain her so she doesn't have to get up so often. The odd thing is, she's not starving during the day. She rarely finishes a 5 oz bottle and will often only drink about 3.5-4 ounces. She usually only wants to drink a bottle every 3-4 hours and if we try to feed her when she's not hungry she gets really mad. She's kind of a fussy eater.

Getting ready for daddy to feed her for the first time.

"What is this stuff?"

Look who made an appearance.

"Greta, I better taste that for you."

"More please."

I think Greta's first attempt at eating was a success. Some of the cereal actually made it into her tummy and she seemed to get the hang of eating off a spoon. I think we'll try cereal the next few days and see how that goes and then maybe move on to avocados. I found a neat website that has lots of great feeding tips, recipes, etc. http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ I think I'll make a trip to the farmer's market this weekend. I'm going to make her food myself and I want to buy organic or at least get food from the farmer's market for her. We made Bijou's food and pureed it every day for a year so I think we should have no problem doing the same for Greta.

Here's a video of Greta eating for the first time.

the back-up plan

Greta and I went to another matinee again this Tuesday with our friends Heidi, Mike, and Caden. We saw the movie The Back-up Plan with Jennifer Lopez. It was good movie but these types of romantic comedies are usually right up my alley.

Clearly, you can see Greta enjoyed herself.

Chillin' in her swing


Bijou loving on Greta
Sofie wanted to get a little Greta love too

Bijou trying to console Greta

one month old

8 days old

Greta just hanging out on a blanket while Sofie continues to try and check her out. At one point, Sofie almost sneezes on Greta.

prepaing for baby

When trying to decide on bedding for our baby's nursery, I wanted the room to be bright and colorful. I fell in love with the Cocalo Couture Delilah bedding and especially loved the damask print. I had been scouring craigslist and found a glider and ottoman someone was selling for $10. When I saw it I knew it needed a lot of TLC but I was up for the challenge. I wanted a glider with a red fabric to match the baby's room so I wanted to try my hand on recovering an old glider. The glider I bought had a white finish so I had Chad paint the wood black to match the espresso furniture in the nursery.

Before

Carol and I spent all day recovering the old cushions.

Sofie helped too. She was in charge of flattening out the cushions after we stuffed them.
She took her job very seriously.

Carol and Bill (and Sofie) with the finished product
Chad and Sofie putting the crib together

Bijou testing out the papasan chair

Chad setting up the pack-n-play

The crib bedding

Sofie's chair

Sofie loves to lay under the crib

Waiting for their new sister