Christmas and Sickness...oh my!

So, you know that old saying about the best laid plans? That was our Christmas. Poor Love Bug has been sick for over a week now with a nasty virus. It's her first such illness and one thing is clear, she doesn't take it well! Mom and Dad wound up getting it too and we're all still trying to get better. Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit with family short but had to do what was best for our little one. When you're sick, there's no place like home. Thank goodness Love Bug won't remember this Christmas. I'm going to post a pic or two but they're not the greatest given the circumstances. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Holiday Season and Another Family Member?

So we've recently taken in a female Jack Russell in need of a home. She's 2 years old, housebroken, smart, energetic, sweet and absolutely terrified of D. It's as though he's Freddy Kreuger. We don't know why but she won't even be on the same floor of the house. This is not good. We keep hoping she'll come around. According to the Dog Whisperer, D is supposed to ignore her and act aloof and she'll come to him. Yeah, no dice. She's glued to me and warming up to Love Bug. Keep your fingers crossed that this works out! On a more positive note, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving, which we hosted at our house. It was a lovely day and so nice not to have to drive. But, we're looking forward to heading home for Christmas and spending some time with our families.

Happy Halloween

So this was Love Bug's second Halloween but considering she was only a few weeks old the first time around this year was a bigger deal. As anyone who knows me knows, Halloween is my favorite time of year and I want Love Bug to enjoy it too. This year since she's still pretty young we skipped a big public outing and opted for dressing up, camping out on our front porch and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Love Bug was a purple butterfly--that's a bug of sorts so I thought it was fitting. She got a giggle when she saw herself in the mirror but after about half an hour of wearing a somewhat itchy velcro chin strap she began to not find the get-up quite so funny. Then she discovered she had wings and wanted to eat them. Somehow I don't think that's something real butterflies do. Oh well, we'll think of something better next year.

Ahh...Vacation...

So we finally took a much needed vacation. We went to Hawaii and it was beautiful, serene, scenic and yet it was missing something...Love Bug!!! Although I do think parents should take breaks, and they deserve it, we missed her terribly! I only cried for half the trip, which I think is pretty good considering. Luckily, Love Bug had a great time with Mom-mom and her Aunt J. She even had a little buddy while we were away, my sister's Jack Russell. We received precious video of her chasing the dog and laughing hysterically. Funny, a post that was supposed to be about our vacation still winds up being about our girl.

Pumpkin Patch and Hanging Out at Home

So we took Love Bug to the Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. She seemed to enjoy looking at the animals, going on the hayride, picking out pumpkins and pulling hair. Yes, I said pulling hair. As Mama was kneeling next to her trying to point out some sheep, Love Bug managed to get a handful of hair from the little girl next to her. Luckily, Dada was there to intervene before the unsuspecting little girl lost a chunk of hair. *Sigh*, gotta keep an eye on her.

There are also a couple of photos of Love Bug playing at home. They're a bit out of order, Mama is not too good with this blogging thing.

We're very lucky to have such a sweet, outdoor-loving girl. She keeps us laughing (and hopping) all the time. She recently started singing with Dada when he gets her up in the morning. It's their special time together and gives Mama a chance to get a cup of coffee and come alive. Love Bug not only likes to sing but she feels the music too and tries to dance. I think she has Dada's sense of rhythm. I'll try to take a video, but it's very spontaneous and she doesn't perform on command so stayed tuned...

Welcome Fall...

Wow, where has the time gone? Love Bug's first summer has come to an end and fall has arrived. We've been pretty busy these past couple of months. We've had family visit and have gone home to see loved ones as well. We've celebrated Love Bug's first birthday with a couple of parties and we've welcomed a new baby cousin into the family. She's as cute as can be and we're sure she and Love Bug will be fast friends.

It's hard to believe that our little girl is already one year old. She's still our little string bean, 31 inches long and a little under 20 pounds. I don't know how it's possible given the amount of food she shovels in her mouth each day, ravioli being her new favorite. One thing we know she doesn't like is birthday cake--how is that possible?

I'm posting some photos from the past several weeks, capturing a little bit of what we've been up to. Stay tuned for some fun Halloween pictures!

Love to all.

Summer Fun

Here are a few of our favorite pictures taken this summer while hanging out at the pool, at home and bath time--one of Love Bug's favorite activities. Like father, like daughter. ;-)

Work, work, work...

Hi All,

Sorry it's been so long since we posted anything new. We've been enjoying our summer and working on some new skills. Love Bug is trying so very hard to crawl. She's currently mastering the army crawl and we're attaching a video.

In addition to working on crawling Love Bug is also in the process of cutting 4 teeth! Poor girl. That has made for some interesting days and nights. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they pop through soon!

Love to all!

First Word?

So Lovebug started stringing her consonants together Friday night. Of course, right after her nine month check-up! She had just gone to bed and we turned on the video monitor to check on her. It sounded like there was a little Asian lady in her room. Check out the video, it's short but you'll get the point.

Where'd that darn puff go??

Love Bug is working on her pincer grasp and self-feeding skills. Sometimes this goes well, like this morning she managed to get the puff into her mouth and then proceeded to clap for herself. Other times it's not so easy and her target eludes her. Either way, it's so cute to watch!

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful...

Our little darling's hair is always in her eyes. Until it grows long enough to hang loosely, we're trying this creative way to keep it out of her face--not to mention how much it amuses us.

Mema and Papa Visit

We had a great time with Mema and Papa last weekend. I showed off my new sitting skills for them. I'm a little pro now! My major mode of transportation is still rolling all over the place but I also have an inchworm move and a backwards commando crawl. I can get my little hiney in the air and pull my knees up under me. I'm going to figure out this crawling thing yet! I'm starting to sprinkle some d's, g's, and b's into my vocabulary, but much to Mommy's dismay, no m's just yet. I enjoy teasing her!

Bedhead

We went in to get Keira up from her nap and found this little street urchin instead...

Self-feeding??

This would've gone well if she could've figured out which end of the spoon to use, but it was a good first try!

Dad's Attempt at Pigtails

Angry Face

Daddy says that I have Mommy's temper...

Family Visit

Hi Everyone,

Mom-mom and Aunt Jenn came to visit me this weekend and we had a great time. They played with me, fed me and kissed and hugged me lots. I had a good time and wanted to share some pictures from our visit.

Love to all!

Biter Biscuit

Teething

Hi All,

Our little Love Bug is teething again. Wow, it's quite a special time in our household. Lots of inconsolable crying. But, enough about Mommy.

Yesterday I was desperate and decided that in the midst of another torrant of tears it was time to take drastic measures. So off to the grocery store we went and picked up some teething biscuits. Hallelujah! How have I not thought of this before? Love Bug loved the biscuit and it kept her, and Mommy, tear-free for quite some time. She happily gnawed away and made quite a mess but it was worth every second!

Daddy's Little Girl

Happy Father's Day Daddy!! I Love You!

Maiden Post - Happy Father's Day!

Hi All,

I've decided to create this blog for our families and friends, as a way to keep in touch and up to date on the events in our lives. Life can get hectic and we don't always send pictures, videos, make calls or visits as much as we'd like. So, this should help bring our family a little closer to your's.

I'm also getting this blog up and running as a gift to my husband for Father's Day. He's such a good daddy and is so proud of our girl. What better way to brag about her!

Recently our girl has been working on sitting up, standing while holding on to something and just today she managed to pick up and navigate 3 puffs to her mouth! She was so pleased with herself.

That's all for now, please check back in again soon!

M