Pics from the last week or so

At the zoo with mom and Grandma - doing my Superbaby pose

I'm sure I can get this in my mouth

I can hold on to my toys now

Three months old!

Vivi's "tricks" as of 3 months old-

As of this morning Vivi seems to be able to intentionally roll from her tummy to her back. She did it 5 times in a row - every time I put her on her stomach. Is this the end of tummy time?

She slept 11 hours last night, waking up only once.

She's so full of smiles they just spill out.  :) She smiles predictably when we wiggle her legs, blow on her butterfly mobile so that the butterflies flutter, and when people talk at her.

She's trying to make babbling noises and has sort of laughed a couple times (and one real laugh in her sleep).

She's grabbing her toys (and my hair) and putting things in her mouth.

Another set of 12 - see how I've grown

12 photos from birth to now - roughly one a week.

12 Weeks

12 picture for 12 weeks.
12 facial expressions - all seen during the 5 minutes I was taking pictures of her. 

11 weeks

Smiling for the camera

More smiles

Playing with my toys

Ohhh.. who's that cute baby in the mirror?

Babies at the zoo

We have a local organization that brings together parents of babies born around the same time. Yesterday we met at the zoo. Vivi and I are in the center of the front row. Vivi was more interested in the other babies (all born in January or February) than she was in the animals at the zoo.

We did get to see the new baby giraffe, Daniel. He was born two weeks before Vivi. No one at the zoo knew the giraffe was pregnant until they woke up one morning to discover four giraffes where there had been three. It's hard to believe a mother giraffe can conceal a 6ft tall baby giraffe inside her, but apparently giraffes never show - they'd get attacked in the wild if they did.

Just a few pictures

Just pictures from hanging out at the house this morning.

May Day

We went to a local nature preserve with some friends this afternoon. They brought an old radio flyer wagon - great for photos. As we walked back to our cars along the cliffs, we saw a whale right off the coast.

10 Weeks

How could I choose just one of these photos?

A basket of "carrots" - our contribution to Easter dinner. 

  The making of the egg salad carrots - or what we did with all the hard boiled eggs.

Step 1. Cut crescent roll dough into six strips. Roll each strip into a long log.
Step 2. Wrap log around something shaped like a cone that you can put in the oven. We used silicon cupcake cups folded and clipped together to be roughly conical.
Step 3: Brush dough with orange food coloring mixed with a little egg.
Step 4: Bake.
Step 5: Fill shell with egg salad and stick a few carrot tops in the egg salad.

 

We borrowed Vivi's Easter basket to transport them. She didn't seem to mind.

And one last photo of a very cool egg discovered when making the egg salad. 

The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny visited our local park today...

...and yesterday Vivi participated in her first Easter egg dying party.

In other happenings, my colleague gave birth to Owen this week. Next to Owen, Vivi looks so grown up. Now who's the big kid?

 

9 Weeks Old

2 months old

At 2 months old, Vivi's got her own little personality. She loves Scout (toy dog), her butterfly mobile, staring at picture frames or any wall with contrast, bath time, walks in her stroller, her play mat (especially the whale), sticking out her tongue, lying in the sunshine, and music. Things she doesn't like - getting her diaper changed, getting put into her car seat, getting dressed, hats, and bedtime.

8 weeks old

Vivi is 8 weeks old.

 

 To celebrate her 8-week birthday, she got her first shots :(

Proud Daddy

This photo is a bit old (almost 2 months old now!) but I hadn't seen it until this weekend - my dad took it the morning after Vivi was born. We're all in San Diego this weekend for Lyle's bike show.

California Poppies

The California poppies are in full bloom. We went up to take some photos of Vivi in the poppies but she slept the entire time we were there. So we have the one picture of Vivi with her eyes partially open and some other pictures of just flowers.

The work of play

Vivi is beginning to play. Maybe she's been playing all along, but she is starting to do things that I recognize as play. She lays on her mat, stares intently at her dangling stuffed animals and then bats at the animals (usually the whale or the zebra). Her grunting makes me think this is hard work for her. When she hits one, she moves her arms and legs around excitedly and squeals (the happiest sound she knows how to make) so loudly that Lyle hears her in the garage with the door closed.

She started doing this yesterday (see video in yesterday's post) and could hit the animals only some of the time. But her efforts yesterday were clearly worthwhile. This morning, I put her down on her mat in a less than optimal position for hitting the whale (I thought maybe she'd like to hit something new - silly me). She was able to wriggle her way to a better angle and hit the whale with nearly every hit. She even made it spin around several times. She then moved on to batting at the plastic keys which don't move as much as the whale but make a different sound - a new game. Her happy squealing has also gotten considerably louder and more distinguished from her unhappy noises just since yesterday.

It's amazing to see how she learns every day.

Talk to the animals

Vivi is increasingly becoming interested in her toys. Here she is playing with and "talking to" (squealing at) her toys - she's especially fond of the whale and zebra. She's been doing this pretty much non-stop since she woke up at 5am this morning (3 hours ago).

A look inside Vivi's mouth

Vivi's pacifier allows a look inside her mouth as she sucks. Not the most flattering angle, but entertaining nevertheless. As a bonus you can hear her "squeaky door" imitation.