a graduation party

We celebrated my brother Michael Seth's high school graduation last Sunday with a cookout at our house. It was a lovely day with beautiful weather and family fun. Congratulations to my little bro!

libby's latest accessories

For Christmas this year, Santa got Libby some really cute hair clips and now that she's actually getting enough hair to need them, we realized that most are still a little big for her.
I checked with Santa on where he got them and they're from this great little site on etsy* called mia et gigi. It's a mom who makes all of them by hand. I emailed her and asked her to make a few smaller custom clips for Libby and here's what she came up with.
Needless to say, Libby is very excited.


*If you haven't heard of it before, etsy.com is a great little website that's basically an online craft show with some really cool hand made stuff. Check it out!

summer sweetie

This morning we went out to get Libby's nine month photos taken!
We started out with a sleepy girl who didn't quite know what was going on. But after a few quick tears, she turned it around and did a great job.
Then we were reviewing our choices and the power went out in only half of the studio. Lucky for us, it was the other half so we were able to continue choosing our pictures (never an easy task). By the time we left the power was back on, so we went over for breakfast at IHOP and a quick trip to the Carter's Store (big sale this weekend, we got some steals!!!) and were able to pick up our pictures right on time.
Then we headed over for our friend Melissa's daughter Sydney's first birthday party. Libby was clapping and screaming as we sang Happy Birthday. She also took a few notes since she'll be center stage in just a few months.
Here were our top picks from the photo shoot. If you'd like any of them, just let us know. As usual, we got tons of pictures, especially wallets. Don't bother trying to print these lower resolution versions. Trust me, we have plenty to go around!

Sun-Bathing Beauty

Standing Tall

Big Floppy Hat

Happy Clapper (see my tooth?)

Stick Out My Tongue

Cutie Crawler

libby update

Libby is changing daily, it seems, so I thought I'd share a few of her recent milestones and preferences.

She's pulling up to a standing position by grabbing onto lots of different things now—her crib, the sofa, her toy organizer, her music table, the dog's collar. She's also still really into waving, and she loves clapping. Now all you have to say is, "Yay," and she smiles and claps her little hands together. Yesterday, we were sitting on the front porch, waiting for Daddy to come home from his second business trip in the past two weeks. When his car pulled up and she registered that he was inside, she let out a really loud squeal, and started clapping and saying, "Dadadada." It was so incredibly sweet. I don't think "Dada" could ever ask for a better welcome home.

She's also (finally!) eating off a spoon willingly. As I hoped, it just clicked one day when I was feeding her pureed spinach, and she's been opening up for bites ever since. She really likes to feed herself, too, so I've been trying to give her more finger foods, including small pieces of banana, cantalope, even waffles. This has made my life so much easier and was a wonderful Mother's Day surprise.

Libby is also developing some clear opinions about what she likes and dislikes. She likes toilets, dog food bowls, Casey, waving, clapping and biting me with that sharp little tooth when she's done nursing. She dislikes having her diaper changed, taking medicine, having her nose sucked out or wiped and being confined.

Grandma Whitman is down for a visit with Libby today, so hopefully Libby isn't giving her any trouble. Kevin and I are supposed to go on a date tonight while she watches Libby—the first time we'll have gone out alone since our anniversary in September, so I'm crossing my fingers that they have a good day together and that bedtime goes off without a hitch!

a lovely weekend

Kevin and Libby did a great job of making sure I had a wonderful first Mother's Day weekend. The weather was unexpectedly beautiful on Saturday, so we went to the zoo (we bought a season pass this year). We also got take-out from two of my favorite places for dinner Saturday and Sunday night—sushi from Mt. Adams Fish House and burritos from The Comet. I even got homemade Belgian waffles on Sunday. And the three of us just spent lots of time together.

They also gave me the perfect gifties: the video Kevin posted here; a framed chocolate brown silhouette of Libby on a pink background; a new robe (you'll notice I'm always wearing one around the house in photos); and a children's book called "Someday" that's so sweet it makes me cry (even in the middle of Target, where I first read it).

Monday, Michael Seth, Katie and I took my mom to lunch. It was nice for just us "kids" to get together with her.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend. Thanks, my loves!

happy mother's day!

To all our moms out there, birth moms and those who have played a "motherly" role in our lives, we love you and appreciate everything you do for us.



In honor of her first Mother's Day, Libby & I put together a little video for Sarah with a look back at her first year of motherhood.

Happy Mother's Day.

lunch lady

Libby and I were upstairs sorting some of her memorabilia yesterday and I put her standard issue hospital hat on her head. My how her noggin has grown! The hat now looks more like a hair net, so I started calling her Lunch Lady. She also has a knack for crawling along with toys dragging underneath her, for which I call her Street Sweeper. By the way, you can see her little tooth if you click on the close-up.

cover girl?

With much urging from my mother, we've entered Libby into a few baby magazine photo contests. Don't worry, we have no intention of getting her on Toddlers & Tiaras, but we think she's pretty cute so we thought we'd give it a shot.
Click here to go to her page on Parents Magazine's site. You can take a look at the photos we entered and even rate them and add comments.
We also entered her for a contest at Parenting Magazine.
The "cover" above is just a fun feature they have on the Parents website, not the real thing. At least not yet -- we'll see!

a stand-up girl

Libby pulled up to a standing position on her own twice this morning! Once when I left the crib rail down and left the room for one minute (lesson learned for Mommy). And again at Katie's using the Bumbo seat (lesson probably not learned for Libby). Unfortunately, the Bumbo isn't very stable, so she toppled over right away, but didn't get hurt. Then we started clapping and saying, "Yay Libby," and she put her hands together like she was clapping too. So cute!