Recent Visits

We spent the last weekend with Grandpa Paul in Bellingham. Since Greta's birthday is coming up, Grandpa Paul bought her a few new toys: here she is with one of her new balls. We did a lot of driving and eating out on our visit, but Greta was a champion and weathered it all well. On our last day we visited Fairhaven, near Bellingham. A nice grassy spot was just what we needed to let Greta stretch out her walking legs and use her new ball! Greta walks all the time now, and favors it over crawling. She is often on the move. No big crashes yet--she falls back on her bum from time to time, but gets right back up without a fuss.
A toy store is a perfect companion to the park. We spent a LOT of time in this toy store (possibly to the annoyance of the people working there...as we didn't even buy anything!...) Grandpa Paul showed Greta all the best toys, and she especially enjoyed watching him spin the tops.
Trying out some instruments.
Reading books with Grandpa. Greta LOVES Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Having fun with Grandpa! Lots of reading and playing together--it was a great visit!
Grandpa Paul blew up a whole bunch of balloons for Greta, and she had tons of fun playing with them. (He got some good shots of her with the balloons--later I will post them!)
The hotel we stayed at had a swimming pool, so we went for a swim. Here she is in her new swimming suit.
Lately Greta has been scared of having showers or baths, but she wasn't afraid of the swimming pool!
A few days ago my friend Jean and her son Oliver came over for a visit. Jean and I were in the same prenatal group, and Oliver was born a few days before Greta (much to my frustration at the time--he was due AFTER Greta!) Oliver has big blue eyes and the longest eyelashes I've ever seen!!! Greta shared her toys as best she could, and the two of them seemed to enjoy playing with the soccer ball together.
Do you see how badly she wants to snatch those glasses?
Papa time!!!
This was my sister's baby doll from when she was little. Recently, when my mom was over for a visit a week or so ago, she showed Greta how she hugs this baby doll. Greta was very interested in impressing Nanny Kathy (it's official, she doesn't want to be called GRANNY Kathy! that would've been fun for me...) and Greta went on to hug and rock the baby over and over again, looking at Nanny Kathy for a reaction! Now Greta gives baby doll lots of love every day :-) Here she is hugging and patting baby.
Coincidentally, I get the same kind of hug-pat a couple times a day, which I LOVE. Sometimes I even get kisses!
Having fun with Nanny Kathy.
This coming weekend we will see Nana Judy when we celebrate Matthew and Greta's birthdays, and then the next weekend we'll see more family for Greta's 1st birthday party! What a busy spring!

New developments for Greta: she loves cause and effect now. She is constantly dropping things--on purpose--and saying "Uh oh"--she especially does this at mealtimes. It's funny, though, because she seems to know what foods NOT to drop! If we give her a piece of cookie, or something especially yummy, she will not drop it...even if she's never even tried it before--she somehow senses it is going to be good before even tasting it!

For those of you who are wondering...I DID get the teaching job at the college. What a relief! I will start the day after Greta's birthday. I am very glad, I will be home every day by 2pm to play with my little toddler waddler baby girl!