Ha!

We've caged the little beastie!

We finally had to break down and buy some gates. Marea's free will was taking her straight to the kitty, kitty food, wine rack, front door, bathrooms, and many other 'off limits' places, so we decided it was time to give her a safe confined space to roam. This has diffused the frustration that comes along with her reaching a desired destination only to get pulled away and put back in front of a boring array of toys. She really doesn't seem to mind, and it's really saved us some frustration as well! She has free roam of both the living rooms which are completely baby safe, except when Homer enters her domain. She's still madly in love with him and goes straight for him when he's in her space. It's also nice that Homer has a safe place now too! We call it the kitty viewing area.





We're having more of that awesome spring weather so Marea and I have been hitting the beach for long walks and sand play. I really love relaxing with her at the beach.


Swimming lessons are going great...she's doing so well! She can go underwater without swallowing water! It's impressive. I love the fact that she's not scared of the water. She was destined to love water-just like her parents, she's got salt in her veins.

The bottom two teeth are really starting to poke through now and are easily visible. They don't seem to be bothering her at all.


Overall, things are great. We're just cruising along.

Tooth!

We have a tooth! Marea's bottom left tooth poked through this weekend. The right one is coming up next, it's right there just waiting for the middle of the night to cut through. The poor girl has had a rough few weeks. She's been a bit fussy and not sleeping very well, and I had a feeling that her teeth were coming through. Finally-teeth are here! Only twenty-some more to go!

I estimate that I lost approximately 18 hours of sleep over these bottom two teeth. I'm pretty sure that the pain has been keeping her up at night. With some help from Gary, we pulled through and although she's still having a hard time sleeping, I'M getting a bit more sleep. Days are rough when mommy is cranky.

And here's the little miss....(no pics of the teeth yet, she's hiding them pretty well)

I'M SOOOO EXCITED ABOUT SUMMER!!!

I don't think i've been this excited for summer since I was a kid. I know it's not for a few months but we're getting a taste of it here now. Marea and I went to the beach today and it was a perfect 70 degrees and no wind. She LOVED it. She loves sitting in the sand, grabbing at it, wiggling her toes and she even loved the water. I would dip her toes in and then pull her up and she would laugh.

She is the perfect beach buddy.

Hello Again!

We've had a busy few weeks! We took an unexpected trip to Long Beach (goodbye Mary Ann), followed by a visit from Auntie Sam and Uncle Robbie to celebrate Gary's birthday, followed by about two weeks with a cold. Marea and I were stuck indoors getting her well, but it didn't really slow her down much at all. She's really getting around these days, getting into everything. The house is pretty well childproofed and I try to let her explore as much as possible on her own. She's still absolutely head over heels for Homer. I don't think she'll ever tire of seeing him. And she loves pulling herself up to stand on everything, but the railings are her favorite by far. She's getting strong.
We started swimming lessons, and she is doing great! Daddy is her pool buddy. During the second lesson she was putting her face in the water and it didn't bother her at all. She's a natural. She'll be swimming this summer.
She's eating a wide varity of foods these days, and she never voluntarily misses a meal. We started finger foods this week, and as soon as she gets the hang of getting the food from her fingers into her mouth (istead of her fist) I know she's going to love it.



And to top it all off, she's getting cuter by the second.






The weather is nice, the baby is well, so this week we're getting out to enjoy our last few months in Santa Cruz.