Under and Around

I see you...do you see me?
Greta loves her lamby! It has a little rattle in it, which keeps her intrigued. I held it a few feet in front of her to see if she'd crawl to it.
Can you see little fuzzy lamby? Greta is looking at it intently. She got herself closer to it, but then somehow moved herself BACKWARDS. In the end I just gave it to her! She needed it in her mouth.
There she is with lamby again! I left her in her room for just a couple minutes and came back to discover she had rolled herself under her dresser.
Peek-a-boo! (No, I did not put her there...)
Under the couch--what fun!
Hmmmmm....carpet.
Greta decided she needed to read about what to expect in her first year of life...she found all she needed to know about it in the book I keep under the coffee table.
Mama, I just need to read ahead. And then eat the book, of course.
The other morning Greta rolled herself to this spot under the plant. She stayed here quietly observing and thinking for at least 2o minutes, perfectly content! A good spot I guess.
So serious!
Greta likes the silver base of this foot stool.
She often checks to see if I'm watching her! I think she likes to show off her tricks. And I love to see them!
I love this picture of Greta and Papa. They have been having a great time together on the afternoons I go to work without her. She hasn't needed to nurse while I've been gone (so far)! Matthew keeps her full by giving her a good helping of cereal, and entertained with stories and outings, and he makes sure she gets a good rest while I'm gone too. When I return home she looks at me SO happily--as if to say "I'd forgotten about you--but it's SO NICE to see you again!!!" It makes my day.

On the Move

Climbing on Papa, and smudging his glasses!
Here's Greta moving around in her room. Do you see the determination in that face? She wants to get places! She now gets on all fours and rocks--preparing to propel herself--she's almost officially crawling. We need to baby proof our home!
Greta got herself over to this little side table in her room and decided to take most of the books off of it!
She rolled herself from the middle of the room to underneath her crib in no time. We are noticing she likes to roll herself under things. Don't worry, we'll get some cord covers on that outlet soon.
Stories with Papa! I tried to get a good photo of this, but as soon as she saw me with the camera she got distracted. She had been intently following this story Matthew was reading her when I came home from my jog--it was so cute to see them together like that.

Greta is so focused and really pays attention to things. Last week I took her to a parent/infant group all about the library. There was a librarian there doing a demonstration about books for babies and Greta paid such careful attention! The librarian and the other facilitator kept commenting on how she was really watching and following everything so carefully.

Starting tomorrow Greta and Matthew will get some extra one on one time together as I am going back to work 10 hours a week. I will be doing lessons with the children I used to work with, Tues-Fri in the afternoons. Fortunately I can bring Greta with me half the time--and then the other 5 hours of the week she will stay with her Papa. It should be a great time for the two of them...provided Greta can handle 3 hours without nursing!!! I'm a little anxious about that, but I'm sure we will all adjust eventually.

We have been busy lately! Greta had her first swimming lesson last week. She did really well, even though the water made her chilly. She even went under water a couple times! Also, we went down to Washington for a couple days to visit Grandpa Paul--he was in Seattle for some job training. Greta also got to see her Grandma Linda and Grandpa Dan, as we all stayed at their house for one night. It was nice to visit and give Greta some bonding time with her grandparents. She is so loved by so many people! And rightly so :-)

I Love My Little Family

Oops, I meant to post this photo with the other set of pictures our neighbor took (see next post!) but made a mistake. I blame it on Blogger. It is not very user-friendly. I have to post all my photos in backwards order and if I make a mistake often have to start all over...which takes so much effort for me at the end of a long day. And our computer takes awhile uploading the photos...so there.

But I love this photo and could not leave it out.

Bottoms Up!

She is working on crawling, that's for sure. It's a little hard to tell in this photo, but her bum is up in the air and she is trying to push herself forward! We can no longer leave her unattended in a room for very long, because before we know it she gets herself all the way across it. Just the other day I left her in her bedroom while I did some things in the kitchen--soon I heard a strange rustling sound, so I went to check on her. Greta had rolled and scooted herself quite a ways over to the garbage can in her room and was touching the plastic of the bag overflowing from the top! So I moved the garbage can over and she proceeded to roll and scoot herself even more--all the way to the doorway! This was a first. At bedtimes she often gets distracted with practicing to crawl and has trouble settling down. She's gotta do it!!!
This photo was taken at the end of a lovely day we had--at the park nearby having a picnic dinner.
Yikes! Matthew insisted I snap this photo we took downtown today. Greta was very curious about this mannequin!
Vancouver has gotten even better: just a couple weeks ago the Canada Line opened. Now we can catch a 5 minute bus ride from our house, connect with the Canada Line (it's like a subway--it goes from the airport all the way to the waterfront downtown), and get downtown in about another 5-10 minutes. It is so super great! We've ridden it several times already and Greta seems to enjoy all the people watching that goes along with it. Now that it's easier for us to get downtown, we'll make more treks there and enjoy the city even better than before. Greta likes hustle and bustle :-)
These next few photos were taken a couple weeks ago by our neighbor. She does photography on the side and offered to come do a photo shoot for us. There are some really great photos!
So serious.
Matthew wasn't feeling well that day...so no Greta and Papa photos were taken...sorry!! I'm sure she will come back and do some more photos again, though. Stay tuned.

5 Months Already!

Today Greta turned 5 months old! Time is sure flying by, just like everyone said it would. Greta is getting ready to crawl. My prediction is that by 6 months she will be proficiently scooting or crawling around! To celebrate her birthday she and I went to Kitsilano Beach. Matthew left for a wedding out of town today, so Greta and I are on our own the next couple of days. We miss Matthew!! However, we had a good time at the beach. She was very vocal lying on the beach blanket, and spent a lot of time putting her bottom up in the air and scooting forward. I went crazy taking pictures today, but unfortunately didn't capture the beach very well. Trust me, it was beautiful there. Afterward Greta was very tired, so I carried her in the sling and walked us all the way home---over 40 blocks and up hill most of the way! I wanted her to get a good nap and I knew that if she stayed in the sling she would sleep, and then be pleasant for the rest of the day--it worked out. Back at home we read some stories, did some dancing and some chores, she played in her exer-saucer and sucked on her toes, and now she's cozily tucked away in bed for the night. She went to bed really easily. I only had to go in once to give her back her buckiwada (that's what we call her pacifier---my sister called her pacifier a buckiwada when she was a baby and we just had to revive it!) Whenever it's bedtime for Greta I'm relieved I get a break, but I do miss her a lot!
Greta is a very active baby. She loves her jolly jumper! Lately she has not only been spinning and bouncing around in it, but has also been doing BIG jumps and has quite the dance moves in it if we turn the right music on. She seems to be very in tune with music--I'm looking forward to taking her to music and dance classes when she gets a little older.
WOOHOO!!!
I mixed a little pear juice in with her rice cereal this morning. She ate it all up, but in the end was more interested in putting her bib in her mouth. When she finds something she wants in her mouth she works with determination to make it so!! Watch out for your fingers, she will SNATCH them from you if you don't pay attention!
She already wants to help feed herself!
Greta loves to touch our faces. It is one of my favorite things, and probably Matthew's too. Here is Greta sitting on Papa--playing with his face. She likes to smudge up his glasses :-)
What a little sweetie!
Last weekend we went to the pool down the street. Summer is almost over and we realized we needed to take advantage of its last few days. Matthew and I swished her around in the pool, and we had her stand in it and get splashed by the fountains--it was great fun. She's a little tentative in the water (and rightly so), but seems to enjoy it. I think I'll take her for her first swim lessons soon. I guess my mom took me to swim lessons when I was about 3 months old and I swam to her!
Baby Greta we love you so!

Too Cute!

Here she is ready for her rice cereal!
Making raspberry noises...often we do it back and forth to each other. It's adorable!!
For a couple weeks Greta absolutely gobbled up all her rice cereal in the mornings. But the past few days she hasn't been too interested in it. She seems to like the routine of helping me get it ready (well, accompanying me and watching me intently as I do it...), getting in her special chair and getting her bib on--but then once I give her the cereal she makes a face like "yuck, this stuff is weird, blah!" Oh well. She doesn't actually need the cereal, it's just to help her get ready for when she will need solids. Plus it's fun to put her in a bib--we have a wide assortment of them! This one her Aunt Melissa made.
Last weekend my Dad and Linda came up for a visit. We went to Stanley Park. It was Greta's first time there and it was such a beautiful day for the special event! We walked a bit around the seawall and along the beach, and then her Grandma and Grandpa MacD took us all to the Teahouse for a lovely dinner. Unfortunately Matthew was out of town at the time getting ready to preach in Tacoma, so we did miss him. When Greta is a little older we can't wait to get a special bike seat or trailer to put her in so we can go for a family ride around the park! Vancouver is such a great city, and it's wonderful for having a baby in--there's so much to do here.

Family, Friends and Five Generations

A couple weeks ago we visited Spokane, where I have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins from my mom's side of the family. Here is a photo of Greta with her two "first cousins once removed" (my cousins) Mary and David. On this day Greta had the much anticipated 5 Generations Photo taken, and she was treated like quite the celebrity at my Great Grandmother's home! Everyone had cameras, and many, many photos were taken. Unfortunately my camera decided to act up that day, so I didn't actually get any photos...good thing all that paparazzi was there to back me up.
Here are Greta and her Great Grandpa Ronnie. He was so sweet with her and took her out on his deck to admire the flowers every morning. Maybe in a few years he'll let us use the much loved fire pit in his backyard again. We used to have hot dog and marshmallow roasts on it when I was growing up, and I would love for Greta to experience all that fun.
Five Generations: Great Great Grandmother Margaret (Nanny, as we all call her), Great Grandpa Ronnie, Grandma Kathy, Mama Megan, and Baby Greta. It was so beautiful to see Nanny and Greta together. My mom said that when we arrived at Nanny's house she perked right up--she was so excited to meet Greta! She kept saying that Greta was very smart :-) Greta loved gnawing on 98 year old Nanny's knobbly knuckles. We would love for Greta to meet her other Great Great Grandmother, Granny Pearl--on Matthew's side of the family. She will be 100 this year! But she lives in Detroit...a bit far away for us.
Last weekend we visited Tacoma and Seattle. Our good friends Curtis and Julia hosted us at their home in Seattle for a lovely dinner, a reunion with old friends, and a lovely breakfast the next morning. They are great cooks and we always appreciate the scrumptious food they prepare for us! Here is Greta with Lillian--their daughter--who is a little over a year old now. Even though Lillian is so much bigger than Greta she was very gentle and careful with her. She shared her toys and loved grabbing onto Greta's baby feet! These little gals are sure to be great pals in the years ahead.
Every Wednesday a group of new moms and their babies gets together near my neighborhood. I met them at a parent/infant class at the community centre. Sometimes we meet in a park, or a coffee shop, or someone's house--it is always fun for the babies and mamas to socialize. Yesterday we met at Michelle's home and played in the wading pool. Here is Greta with two of her friends: Jesika and Tai. She is one of the youngest babies and can't sit up on her own yet like some of the others. Good thing there was a special seat for her! She loves the water. After this outing Greta was very tired. As soon as I started walking us home she fell asleep! What a busy day we had!

In Tacoma we stayed with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Hans. They gave Greta many new toys that had been donated by another one of Greta's "first cousins once removed"--Amy. She has 4 kids, none of whom are babies anymore, and very thoughtfully mailed many toys to Grandma Judy's house for Greta. We kept half of them there, for when we visit, and took the other half home. Grandma Judy spent a lot of time playing with Greta and taking her outside to see her beautiful yard. Too bad we didn't get any pictures of them together! But here is a photo of Greta with her Aunt Melissa at Jamjuree Restaraunt in Seattle. Grandma Judy took us all out to dinner and ice cream one night--it was a lovely evening. Greta even had a couple licks of ice cream...but then was up most of the night because Mama just HAD to have fudge on her ice cream...Greta's body doesn't like it when Mama eats chocolate. Oops. Sometimes I conveniently ignore that and then pay for it later! Greta, someday you will LOVE chocolate, I'm sure of it.