Little hike... (Big Reminder)

Owl's Nest Park: Walking down the sledding hill

What a difference a year makes!

I posted these two photos over the weekend, but offer this little post-script on Monday.

As Louie said upon seeing this post...it's pretty crazy to see me up in this tree. This time last year, I was pregnant with Beatrice and just starting to show signs of the trouble that landed me on bedrest. This tree is at the bottom of the big hill that Josie and Louie went sledding down last year. It was their first time sledding and so heartbreaking that I had to miss it. We are worlds away from that time now. It was joyous to walk down this  hill as a family of four! And I can't wait for the first big snow so I can go sledding this year too!

Here's that video from last year - when I recently watched it again - I saw it very differently. Last year, as we were living through the bedrest, it was just the reality. We knew it was really hard on Josie to "lose" me for all those months, but when I saw this video and heard her little voice, her pain became very real to me in a way that I guess it wasn't when we were in survival mode while going through it. Like everything else, looking back and reflecting now - things are more clear. There are *still* times when we look at Sweet Baby Bea and can't believe she is real - even all these months later! I guess this is all just the long way of saying that I feel really, really, really blessed and really, really, really grateful for our life these days. Thanks for sharing it all with us.

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Family (of four) Photos

MON FAVORI !

Without further ado, here are some of my favorite photos from our Family Photo Shoot a couple of weeks ago.  (Technically they are Baby Bea's 6 month photos from our "first year" package with Krysia Photography.) We love being a family of four and happen to think these photos capture that pretty well.

Bea, standing (too soon)

Really Bea?! Chill out on the whole feats of strength thing, k?

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Chicago Preview

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Baby Bea these days

It should come as no surprise that our dear, sweet, darling little Beatrice is growing by leaps and bounds...too quickly.

Here are some recent updates on Baby Bea these days:

 * She has two little teeth - on the bottom. They came at the same time and with relatively little trouble. Lots of chewing, not too much trouble otherwise. Nothing bums out Bea. She's so easy-going.

 * She is doing great with solid foods. She prefers veggies over fruit. She's getting pretty proficient with a sippy cup, and takes a bottle (although only about 2 ounces before she's over it.)

 * She loves mum-mum crackers and "puffs". She's getting very good at picking things up with her fingers, manipulating toys, etc.

* She prefers standing to doing just about anything else. She just figured out how to pull herself up to standing in her crib, meaning it is time (already?) to lower her mattress.

* She absolutely adores her big sister. And the feeling is mutual. These girls are so close, so cuddly and it's so heart-warming to watch.

* She rolls now from back-to-tummy and tummy-to-back. She's not crawling yet, but she does that cute little move on her tummy where she tries to kick her legs like they are somehow going to send her sailing.

* She's getting good at communicating. She reaches out when she wants picked up. She's got this "nnnn, nnn, nnn" that means she's hungry and a longer "ehhhhhh" when she's tired. I can still count all the times I've heard her really cry on just one hand. We have started early signing with her & will be ramping that up in the coming weeks.

* She LOVES music. She kicks her feet, flaps her arms and giggles to her favorite songs.

* Since starting with our nanny Nicole full-time because I had to go back to work, she stopped sleeping through the night. (We were totally spoiled there for several months with a 7-7 sleeper.)  She now wakes at least once a night to nurse, which is honestly a welcomed thing because I miss her.

* Lou & I talk every day about just how sweet and special Beatrice is. Developmentally, this is really the age that we remember Josie becoming "herself" and it's clear that Bea is doing the same thing now too. Her little personality is unfolding and she really is just the sweetest little thing in the whole wide world.

Sometimes, quite often actually, I catch myself looking at Bea and still finding it hard to believe that she's real. On a daily basis, I still say to her "you're here."  It was such a long journey and the pain of it all comes back strongly from time to time. We are coming up on Halloween, which is when I was first put on bedrest with her during the pregnancy. I can remember so clearly how I felt last year at this same time and wondering then if I would have a baby a year later or not. And I do. And she's perfect. And there isn't a single second of the day that I forget what an enormous blessing she is to us.

Real reading, Fake laughing

We are so proud of our big reader! Josie has been sounding out words and using inventive spelling for awhile now, but she recently crossed into reading with increased fluency and comprehension.

Here's a video of Josie reading one of her "Reading Folder" books from school. (And might I mention she is quite proud of this folder!)

Happy 3rd to Lyla!

We had a wonderful trip to Chicago this weekend to celebrate Lyla's THIRD birthday. Lots of photos to come of that soon. And just realized I never posted this video to the blog...

Bluegrass for Babies

Cincinnati has been impressing us lately. Certainly there are other decidedly more-hip cities that spring to mind, but Cincy has been holding it's own lately. I posted a quick bit about the Bluegrass for Babies concert last weekend, and I finally had a chance to update the blog with something more than my cellphone pictures. Bluegrass for Babies - equal parts fundraiser for Children's Hospital, great live bluegrass music, loads of families, kids-activities, yummy (healthy!) food and sunshine. Really, what better way is there to spend a fall evening? As added bonuses - they had a ton of hula hoops just lying around & Josie found her bestie Lucia within five minutes of arriving. Good times. Great memories.

Here's a scan of the scene:



And some snaps of all the fun:

And...they played "Wagon Wheel" (which may or may not have been the result of a certain mom putting in a special request on a certain facebook page):

Seven Months...

...and sweet as pie!

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Thanks Carissa...

...for spending an extra long weekend playing "five schneiders" with us. Love you!!

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Random Photo

Necessary to balance out previous post. (Oh how I miss our sunflowers. We called this one "the king.")

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