Our little graduate!

I (Sandi) am making a guest post on the blog.

Amber celebrated her first graduation today from the new moms' (and babies') group. 

We've attended the group through St. Vincent Hospital since late October. Amber was 10 or 11 weeks old when we started. The group technically spans birth through 6 months but the facilitator Mary is flexible with the graduation date.

I've really valued the weekly Thurs afternoon sessions to voice questions and learn from other moms.  For the first month and a half Amber slept in my arms the entire two hours each week.  Contrast that to today where she was playing and rolling around on her blanket and only wanted to be in my arms for her bottle.

They provide a cap and gown for each little graduate to snap a picture. This is the biggest smile we could get out of Amber. We decided that she was taking the graduation to heart and marking it as an important milestone in her life, hence the reserved demeanor.

I'm hoping that continuing with the playgroup will keep us social and give both Amber and I some new friends! We already walk each Wednesday with a few of the moms.

I'll do it myself!

Easter Dress

Easter Eggs

Since we live in Oregon, we have to dye our eggs with natural food products. It was kind of a fun science experiment. We're not sure how well Amber will like it because it required leaving the eggs in the dye over night. We have a couple years to figure it out...

Yellow (top right) - turmeric
red (4) in the center - beet
upper light one - berry tea (blah)
concrete colored at lower right - grape juice
light orange on the left - red onion

Happy Birthday Day Scott

Sunday was Scott's birthday (schedules being what they were, we celebrated Thursday evening).  Fortunately for us, it was OSU's Spring Break so we were able to host the party.  It was a lot of fun and Amber was in rare form singing to Scott all through out dinner.

Happy Birthday!

Sandi't Half-Birthday

For the last several weeks we've been asking Amber to sleep in until 7:00 (preferably 7:30) in the morning.  She doesn't listen and wakes up around 6:00.  We totally understand that many parents would love their babies to sleep 8 hours, but we really want Amber to sleep more than 10 hours at night.

At 6:45 this morning Amber still hadn't made any noise. 

Me: "Sandi, it must be your birthday."
Sandi: "If it was my birthday, I would still be asleep."
Me: "Then it must be your half-birthday."
Sandi: "What day is it?
Me: "The 24th."
Sandi: "It is my half-birthday."

Sure enough, March 24th is Sandi's half-birthday. 

About 6:50, Amber woke up to wish mommy a happy half-birthday.

I love you!

Growing Bigger

My family

leaning to the left...

leaning to the right...

close enough

What are you, anyway?

7-Months old

Amber turned 7 months old in March.  It is fun to watch her develop and change so rapidly.  Every day seems like it brings a new surprise.   

 Her tummy time is so much better.  She even rolls from her back to her front and her front to her back.  She kind of scooches back a little, so it won't be long before we need to get a rug for the family room and a gate to keep her in the family room.

Do my diapers make my bum look big?

Amber and Grandma

First Food

With Amber turning 7 months, the next logical step is real food!

Amber eagerly looking forward to her first solid food

The menu: apple slices and avocado chunks.

 

She loves it!

  

We were surprised at her dexterity.  She actually put food into her mouth and gnawed on it.  We can't wait to feed her something more interesting like spaghetti or something that requires us to hose her down after the meal. 

New toys

Amber got two new toys in the mail Friday afternoon: a teething ring and a really cool rattle.  

Amber wanted to show off her new rattle.

Trip to Bend

Every year we try to visit Scott in school.  It's always good to see him. That he's in Bend is a bonus.

We were wondering how to go on vacation with Amber and enjoy ourselves. The fear of her screaming in the middle of the night kept us away from hotels so we looked into cabins. We found a great little cabin near Sunriver.

 

Our hope was to snowshoe around the area, but that didn't work out.

Amber all bundled up for the snow

The cabin was cozy in a cabin-sort of way.  It was rustic and comfortable and fit our needs pretty well.  The bummer was Amber was all congested with a cold so she didn't sleep all that well.  She didn't have her own room so we didn't sleep all that well either.  We felt really sorry for her coughing, sneezing and wheezing. 

We had a great time hanging out with Scott.  He met us at the Old Mill District for coffee and a walk along the Deschutes River.  Later that evening we went out for amazing burgers.  He'll be there this summer so we might be able to see him in the summer too.

Happy Valentines Day!

 

For Valentines Day, we wanted to celebrate our blissful marriage.  Amber wanted to celebrate her half-birthday.  We did both!

 

Amber got all dressed up and joined us (on the table) for dinner.  She even helped Daddy pick out the tulips for Mommy.  

 

Happy 6-months, little girl!

Happy Valentines Day, Babe!