Washington, Our Old Friend

Sorry it's been so long since I've last posted! To make up for it this post has tons of photos...

This past weekend we went down to Washington, after nearly 4 months of staying put in Vancouver. It was a great visit. My Grandma and Grandpa Mac moved to a beautiful retirement condo last year and it was high time we saw their new home. Unfortunately I left my camera in Vancouver, so Matthew took photos of Greta with her Great Grandparents using the video (no flash...) Even though she's visited with them a couple of times, Greta still had no photos with them until this visit!
So sweet how they're touching each other's faces!
Greta really enjoyed visiting with her Great Grandparents, and they loved showing her off to all the friends that live in their building. She even got to taste some of Great Grandma Mac's chocolate pie!
She doesn't quite know what to think about Great Grandpa Mac! :-)
We stayed overnight with my Dad and Linda. Since it wasn't raining I thought it would be nice for Greta to wander around in their big backyard. Here is her initial reaction to the wet ground!
Now she's getting into it! I kept running up to her and saying "Boo" and she was cracking up...
With Aunt Jenny.
While Matthew ran some errands and I took a little nap, Dad and Linda played with Greta. She had a great time!
I think this is the first Greta laugh that's been caught on photo! Thanks Linda! I could hear Greta laughing while I was upstairs dozing...it was great. Greta generally doesn't laugh that easily, but when she gets going it's so fun. She loves her panda!
Ha! Ha! Ha!
People have been commenting on how she has so many great faces...here's one of them! I love that crinkle nose face.
Playing with Grandpa Mac.

And below, Grandma Linda and Greta: the purple twins!

After a night with Dad and Linda we went north to Shoreline to stay with our dear friends Curtis, Julia and their sweet daughter Lillian. No pictures from that, though--since I didn't have my camera. Bummer. Also, we stopped by my good friend Natalie's new home in Greenwood and had a little visit with she and her husband Ben. I was reminded that Natalie is the one who gave Greta the book Good Night Moon, which is Greta's absolute favorite! Matthew and I have been a little homesick for Washington lately, and would love be able to see our friends and family there more easily.

Back in Vancouver the other day I took Greta out for a jog in the stroller and topped it off with a romp in the mud at the nearby park. If you look closely in the picture above you can see Greta's first 2 teeth! They both popped out this month. Now she's such a big girl and even has her teeth brushed! I think another tooth's coming soon, cause she's had a couple really hard nights recently.

A similar reaction to the last time she was plopped down in the soggy grass!
We need to get her an all-in-one rainsuit for this type of activity!
Playing with Papa today...look at that hair!
SO BIG!

And here's a video of Greta crawling and standing on her own. Since she'll be walking soon I wanted to catch a good video of her crawling because it's SO CUTE! From behind her little bottom kind of waddles back and forth, and she goes so fast sometimes!

A Taste of Sunshine

This morning the sun was shining as we got ourselves ready to go to brunch at our friends Alex and Trisia's house. Greta is all ready for the outing!
The family I work with has one girl, Jett, who is now 6 years old, and 2 younger boys. They gave Greta a bunch of Jett's old clothes--we really hit the jackpot! Here she is in her new knit pants and pink hat---she looks so pretty in blue and pink, I must say.
Yesterday the sun finally came out after days and days of dark, dreary rain. I wanted to take Greta out for a walk--where she actually walks around with my help, rather than gets carried around in a carrier or stroller. Since the ground was still wet, though, I realized that might pose a problem...until I remembered the hand-me-down shoes another family had given us before Greta was born. I got those little shoes out and put them on her feet! She looked at me a little nervously as I did it, and I realized how crazy it was that this would be the FIRST time she'd ever worn real shoes! She was pretty intrigued with them...especially when she realized they light up!
We just went out front of our building and studied the trees.
This tree got moss on Greta's hands! Fortunately I was able to prevent her from putting it in her mouth.
So much fun!
Standing by the BIG tree on the side of our building. Thanks to Aunt Jenny for this sunshiny little coat :-)

After this outing it was time for Greta to have a nap, and time for me to head off to work for the afternoon. Matthew tried to put her down to sleep, but she was too excited...I think about having had so much fun outside! He said she kept trying to look out the window and was babbling happily on and on and on...he ended up giving up and they went back outside!

Below is a video Matthew took yesterday...more walking! (by the way, the dress you see me wearing in the end is a dress my mom made and sent to me that day, thanks mom!)

A Little Eating and a Little Walking

Greta loves apples. She has loved them since she was about 4 months old. Whenever Matthew or I is eating one she watches us very, very intently in the hope that we will give it to her when we've finished with it. Here she is gumming Matthew's apple yesterday. She fussed when I threw it out after starting to worry that she was getting to the core! Greta is getting much more assertive and vocal about letting us know what's what. In addition, Greta is about to have her first tooth! A bottom tooth has nearly popped in...we just noticed it today. That explains her extra neediness the last few days...

Another thing Greta loves to eat is pears. Here is a video of Greta thoroughly enjoying the slices of pear I gave her at breakfast yesterday. She gets into her own little world and makes tons of noises when she eats them!

The other video is of Greta using her walker today. Tom, Vikki and their baby daughter Anastasia--friends from church who moved back to the UK last summer--gave us this little car that also converts into a walker. Today for the first time Greta walked with it on her own!

Happy New Year and Nine Months!

Today is Greta's 9 month birthday. Happy Birthday Baby Girl!
Greta surprised me by reaching up and playing the piano today...I didn't know she could get up there quite yet.

She had a great day today. The holidays have gotten us all into the habit of sleeping in, and today Greta slept till after 9:30! She woke up very refreshed and ready to play...when Matthew went in to get her she was chatting with her little stuffed dragon. One thing Greta is doing a lot of lately is babbling and waving--she is very talkative and very friendly! She waves often at herself, at her toys (especially this big penguin the nanny I work with gave her for Christmas), and of course at other people. One time, in the middle of nursing her, she stopped for a second, looked up, smiled, and waved at me--then went back to business! It was adorable.
Wow! Lots of pandas!! For Christmas Grandpa Mac and Grandma Linda gave Greta this cute stuffed panda. She already had a plastic panda, and I recently got her a book about pandas from the library...what a theme.

This is Greta's "bitter beer face" as many people have been calling it--she makes this face a lot lately.
Grandpa Paul ordered us a new carrier for Christmas. Here is Greta riding in it on Papa's back. She can be carried on our backs, our sides, or facing us in the front--it's great! She was getting a little big for our old one...

After our final batch of company left on Saturday Matthew and I were feeling the post-holiday blahs--so we took a little drive down to a place called Steveston, about 20 minutes south of us. It's a cute old fishing town by the Fraser River. We walked around and enjoyed our time there--and Greta had a nice snooze in the back pack.
On Christmas and New Year's Day Matthew made turkey pot pies. Here is the beautiful one from New Year's Day. No more meat for me now! (until next Thankgiving...MAYBE)

Greta had her first taste of meat via Matthew's culinary magic (I ground some up for her), what a milestone.
Aunt Jenny with her niece. They got to spend some quality time together over New Years! Jenny even played the piano for Greta and sang her "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"...another milestone :-)
The outfit my mom made Greta for Christmas was adorable, but didn't fit quite right...so in a matter of a couple days she whipped up another one to send with Jenny when she came to visit! Here is Greta in her new dress with matching pants underneath--it is so cute on her.
New Year's Eve in her tutu!
We had round 3 of Christmas with my dad and sister. So many presents!
Greta loves the bows.

Here is a video I took of Greta playing the piano today. Sorry, I couldn't rotate it. Oh, and it's rather poor quality because I took it with my regular camera...we don't know how to get videos from our actual video camera onto the computer yet. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Baby's First Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

We have had many visitors during the last week. Most recently, the 2 days after Christmas, Grandma Judy and Aunt Melissa came over.
I think Greta enjoys being fed by other people, it spices things up for her! Grandma Judy made sure Greta ate up all her food, and Greta didn't even cry when Nana wiped her face at the end (she usually cries when I do it...)
On the go with the new toy from Nana (wearing the beautiful sweater Aunt Melissa made for her). One of the things Judy and Hans got Greta for Christmas is this little "My Garden Friends" set: a soft pail that Greta can put a lady bug, snail, butterfly and bumblebee into. All the critters make a little noise, and she especially loves the laughing ladybug.
For Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Shayne came over. Here is Greta in the new outfit my mom made her for Christmas. You know Greta REALLY REALLY is into you when she eats your face :-)
All ready for Christmas brunch at our house. Greta napped through most of brunch--after a busy morning of opening gifts. We had homemade cinnamon rolls with cheddar and smoked salmon scrambled eggs, as well as sausages. Yummy! Greta had a few tastes of cinnamon roll. She takes after her mama and likes the sweets! Recently she has had tastes of homemade sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies too.
Getting sleepy...
The little Christmas baby with Grandpa Shayne! (oops, this photo is out of order and was taken Christmas Eve...sorry.)
Woohoo!!! Mum Mums in the stocking! Greta's favorite! On Christmas morning she ate a few too many of these...
Greta's stocking. I found this at a thrift store and liked the idea of it living on as Greta's stocking. I personalized it a bit by adding the hearts :-)

Matthew and I don't put the usual items in each other's stockings, instead when December starts we put little notes in one another's stockings and then on Christmas Day it's so fun to read what we've written to each other! When Greta gets a little older we'll do this with her too, but this year it was all about the Mum Mums.

Greta's first Christmas morning...still waking up! She was ready to go at about 7:30, so I lit the candles and turned the Christmas music on before she and Papa came out to the living room. She's taking it all in.
On Christmas Eve Mom and Shayne couldn't help having Greta open most of their presents to her! She loves the bows.
After opening a couple gifts Greta finally seemed to realize what all those OTHER "things" by the tree were...she wanted to open more of them!!
A xylophone from Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Shayne. What fun! Greta loves music. Matthew and I got her a little band set with maracas, cymbals, a triangle, a shaker, and a tambourine. It's going to get even louder here!
What's inside??
This is Greta's reality. All eyes on her!
On Christmas Eve we went to Stanley Park to ride the miniature train. Unfortunately you had to have reservations...so instead we just enjoyed being there with all the lights and Christmas displays. It was probably good we didn't get to go on the train, because it was FREEZING COLD!!!
Papa and Baby.
What a display! I bet next year Greta will LOVE this.
There was a little farm area with animals to look at. Greta seemed to enjoy it. As a matter of fact, today (December 30) we took her to the aquarium for the first time--Greta's face really lit up watching all the different sea creatures, and she had a lot to say about it too--she was very vocal! Sorry we didn't get any pictures...we will next time.
At the restaurant at Stanley Park's Prospect Point on Christmas Eve.
At Prospect Point in Stanley Park--what a view! I love how Greta is looking at me and grabbing my face here :-)
I think Greta likes dogs. Here was a friendly one outside the restaurant. The family I work for has a dog named Whisky--Greta really likes her too! And when we see dogs outside she usually make some kind of excited noise and watches them closely...maybe we'll get one someday?
Matthew set up the tri-pod and took this photo of us last week. This was the first shot! It turned out great!

Greta's first Christmas has been very memorable and eventful. Tomorrow Aunt Jenny and Grandpa Mac come to help us celebrate New Years.

Starting in 2009 my main way of scrap-booking has been this blog, and I sure am grateful for it. At the beginning of last week our computer crashed. We lost everything. If it weren't for this blog we wouldn't have any of our pictures of Greta!!!

Now we have this new computer and we've figured out how to put videos on as well: enjoy!