So...did June actually happen??

All right Maggie fans...I have to apologize for not posting before now.  To be honest, I really don't know where the month went!  I feel like it was just the other day that it was the beginning of June!  Annie and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary this year; that also feels like yesterday that we just got married!  Time flies...

Anyway, big updates and lots of photos are the majority of this post.  Maggie started her new daycare this month, and she had a seamless transition.  One of the nicest things, aside from the close proximity to work, is the website photos.  The teachers in Maggie's room have a website for us parents to see all the activities & social interactions that our children have.  There are tons of photos, so I'm just selecting a few, but some are just so darn cute that I will caption them. :)

Umm...this girl is about to touch me.

Hey!  You're touching me!

I like my pig tails!

Do you like Flock of Seagulls?

Is there something on my face?

Sometimes I hold my own bottle...most times I drop it.

I hate to say it again, but this month has flown by.  For this post, I've decided that photos & captions work best, so here are the non-daycare photos:

Maggie has discovered how fun the "jump-up" is.

We caught Maggie on film, or digital record, as the case may be, eating her first meal of rice cereal.  The first couple of times were really messy, but she's definitely caught on since then!

Pretty Annie feeding pretty Maggie.

Maggie says, "This weekend was rough..."

Once Maggie's hand slipped off her head, the way she was holding her head didn't settle very well with us.  So, we improvised!

I'm teaching Maggie a thing or two about window shade installation so she can school the boys later in life. :)

Another tummy time in the bag!

One weekend on our way to visit Annie's Dad's family, we stopped by IKEA.  Maggie fits right in with the display! 

Sunny decided that she would help Maggie figure out the xylophone toy that used to be Annie's. 

"I've figured out the xylophone, but I think I need Uncle Chris's help with the abacus over here."

This was one of my first times feeding Maggie...it took me just as long as it took Maggie to master the spoon!

Fun on Mommy & Daddy's bed in the morning!

Another pretty Annie cameo with Mag-pie! :)

Over Father's Day weekend, my friends Dave & Megan were in town.  Somehow, we didn't get Meg on camera...maybe next time.

Dave & Meg gave Maggie a gift to grow in to: a Chicago Cubs scratch 'n sniff watermelon hat!  Maggie didn't quite know what to think yet.

After coming back from visiting with Dave & Meg, my parents came over.  Dad & I worked on tummy time, which became nap time.  Guess who fell asleep first?  (I'll give you a hint: it wasn't me or Maggie!)  Also, an important event to note is that Maggie has started "talking" with dada & deedee sounds!  I'm not going to take it for her first word until she really starts using it when she is looking at me though.  There's still hope for a "momma" to be her first word for now! :)

Progress: the introduction of squash to Maggie.  A bit messier than rice cereal!

Annie bought Maggie a swimsuit with floaties built in, but I think she still needs to grow in to it.

To anyone who didn't think Maggie and I looked alike, I give you Daddy & Maggie on the couch. :)

Aunt Jilly came to visit this weekend!

"I've got a fever, and the only prescription...is more cowbell!"

And finally, we wrapped up the last weekend of the month with an evening visit from Grandmommy & Grandpa.

Hopefully, I'll be better about posting this coming month.  Until the next update, happy early Independence Day!

- Peter

5 months old tomorrow!

...and still changing by the day!  Since the last time I posted an entry, a few things have happened: we realized that the swaddle bag was ready to part with Maggie, but Maggie wasn't ready to part with the swaddle bag; pink around the eyelids = tired baby; & always, ALWAYS, check the diaper prior to packing her up for daycare in the morning!  

The swaddle bag was temporarily removed from Maggie's sleeping repertoire, but we had a few things happen that made us reinstate it: Maggie was a fussy & tired little girl at daycare; she was flailing at night(which didn't make for a restful night of sleep for her; and, due to the flailing, she was knocking out her pacifier at least 2 times a night, and the only way to get her back to sleep was to nurse her. So, after initially trying to remedy this by increasing her bottle volume, which helped, we finally had to reinstate the use of the swaddle bag. Daddy & Mommy have slept very well ever since. :)

Poor little baby.  No swaddle bag made her so tired that she refused the bedtime feeding and fell asleep on Mommy in the family room.

The next weekend, we propped Maggie in the seated position to play with a hand-me down toy.  Handed down from her Uncle Chris, Aunt Jilly, and me to her!

This is what happens when you try to use the red-eye flash with Mag-pie.  "Too bright Daddy!"

Mag-pie loves the hand-me-down jingle ball.

"Dad, I'm leaning too far to the left...what the heck?"

Later the same morning as the above photos, Maggie settled in for her morning nap. When Daddy is involved, she prefers a hand on her chest. She grabs the hand, and in no time, she's off to dreamland.

After the nap, we got ready for the day and headed to the LSU Alumni Crawfish Boil fundraiser with Annie's family.  I was very tasteful and made sure I wore a VT outfit to show how humble I was to be in the presence of the team that has beaten us time and time again. 

The family at the boil.  Annie took a turn on the camera for this action shot.

We've found that Maggie loves napping in her high chair. :)  These photos are from her Sunday morning nap last week.

Granddad, Maggie, and largest bib in the world posing for a Sunday evening photo.

Last week, I had some fun with Maggie after work.  I'd dance and/or sing while she played the role of audience after we came home from a hard day's work.  She enjoyed it until she shifted her weight and started sliding to one side!

The outdoors are typically the panacea for Maggie's troubles, but, as you can see, nature is no match for a tired baby.

This past weekend, some new Maggie actions strarted happening.  First, she has become aware that her head can rotate more than just left & right.  She's started looking up & down now.  Second, she has become aware that she can rotate at the torso.  This became largely apparent when we were carrying her upright against us, and she wanted to look around the room to look at either Sunny or one of us.  We also broke out Maggie's walker.  Right now, we left it off the casters since she isn't scooting around yet.

Another red-eye reduction photo - too bright!

Saturday, we went over the river and through the woods, literally, to Grandmommy's house (Grandpa was there too.) Grandmommy bought Maggie a fantastic new bathtub....its a BIG DUCK:) She fits perfectly so that she can sit up and enjoy her bathtime.

It was Sunday morning...Maggie was still sleepy but she and Grandpa had to catch up

Maggie wasn't much for breakfast entertainment.  She fell asleep halfway through!

Memorial Day is here, and Maggie is dressed for the occasion.  She didn't wear the hat except for the picture, but she's getting so darn cute!  Anyway, we had some friends over for an impromptu cookout.  And by impromptu, I mean that we only planned it two days in advance.

That's not just the camera catching Maggie's head movement, she's exausted.  She took zero naps today!  We tried to get her to go down, but she fought at every attempt.

Kristine posing with Maggie.

Maggie's expression in this photo seems to say, "What's up Heather?  How's your day going?  Me?  I'm just chillin'."

After a long, hot day, Mag-pie ended with the same routine: bath, nurse, sleep.  A baby's life seems pretty sweet!

Waking up is hard to do - Part Deux

Once again, life has proven to move pretty fast.  And while I try my hardest to make more timely posts, it seems that once every 3 weeks or so is my new posting schedule.  The razzberries that were mentioned in the last post have come and gone.  Maggie still does them occasionally, but she'd rather jibber-jabber with or without her hands in her mouth!  I've also had a realization that weekends should be longer.  Can anyone help in the endeavor to push through state legislation for a 4 day work week?  Thanks in advance. :)

Maggie's spending a little bit of face time with herself.  She likes talking to the lion too!

A couple of weeks ago, we went on our first big road trip with Maggie:  we visited our friends Charlie & Aubrey in Salem, VA.  We had a great time with them at their new home, and we got a tour of the new home town of theirs.  Aside from seeing the great little farmer's market, we also ate at the locally famous Mac & Bob's.  It seems like they are really starting to settle in up there.  Annie & I can't wait until their little one comes later this year!  On the way out, we tried to meet up with Maggie's cousin Benjamin, but we couldn't get in touch with his mommy to come out & play.

Maggie's travel crib: it's definitely harder on the back than her crib at home.

Annie & Maggie are sharing a moment in the early hours(6 AM-ish) of the morning.

This trip also marked the weekend that Maggie decided that she would no longer let us sleep through the night! At first we had thought it was due to being in unfamiliar surroundings, but her habit has continued on an almost nightly basis and is always complimented by a desire to nurse.  Methinks starting to introduce solid foods is just around the corner.  The only nice part is that when she wakes, she doesn't cry.  She just talks/squeals.  It's really cute as an idea, but it's not so cute at 1:30 and 4 in the morning.  Despite this new habit, we are still able to function at work.

One of the nicer things that has happened in the past few weeks is Maggie's greeting in the morning.  Typically, I go in her nursery at about 6 or 6:15 to start the morning ritual.  And on some occasions, she's still waking up when I'm changing her.  But it warms my heart when I come in, and my girl takes one look at me and smiles ear to ear.  I have to say that being a morning baby really helps Annie & I snap out of our non-morning person funk.

One of the many gifts from Aunt Jilly.

I'm an Austin Powers fan, but she started this on her own. Granted, it's the wrong digit, but it definitely looks as though she's plotting to take over the world while her hair is being washed.

Maggie & I sharing some quality time before she goes to bed.  She really is starting to pull up a lot.  She'll be sitting up on her own in no time at all.

Morning-baby extraordinaire!  This was the luckiest photo I've gotten of her, and, considering it was taken on my cell phone, I think it's one of the best photos we have of happy Maggie.

The four month doctor's appointment brought news of a baby that is 92 percentile by weight & 75 percentile by height.  Growth spurt here we come!  The visit also came complete with shots, and a baby that was anything but happy during them.  Poor thing.  I hadn't heard her cry like that since she was a newborn.

Mother's Day weekend was upon us, and on Saturday afternoon, we packed our bags for Grandmommy's & Grandpa's.  We went over the river & through the woods, but we had a nap first.

Sunday morning at Grandmommy's & Grandpa's.  Maggie slept in the 34 year old crib that her Uncle Chris, Daddy, and Aunt Jilly all slept in. 

Maggie took an important phone call while playing with the chime ball that belonged to her Dad & his siblings.  Aunt Jilly and Maggie had a great conversation; Maggie did most of the talking! :)

Action shot of Maggie moving around.

Much to Annie's surprise, Maggie likes duck!

Mother's Day continued at Annie's cousin's place.  Poor Mag-pie had such an exhausting day that she erupted before a quick nap at the familiy get together. 

After a full weekend, Maggie's day ended in the usual fashion: bathtime, nursing, and sawing Z's. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Peter