It's true, folks. Patrick & I are both a year older now. With a kid & a tight budget, our birthdays were a bit more low-key this year (and, you know us, we're accustomed to ritzy celebrations at luxury locations). But besides simply aging, 'our' days still came with joy in indulging in many of our favorite things, like medium-rare steak, corned beef, chocolate (in various forms), Jelly Bellies, donuts, ice cream (in various forms), movies...and most importantly, in the presence of each other, and Vianne Rose (our best gift of all this year!), and family & friends (those near and those present "in spirit").
This week, we started to focus on sitting up - or at least trying to! So far, Vianne can sit for a couple seconds unassisted, and for quite awhile with the help of the boppy. She's also trying out many of her 6 months clothes and I'm trying to pack up her 3 months clothes (Nobody warned me how agonizing this is! To think, she will never be that size again! :::sob:::).
She continued to enjoy her belly/chest whacking and when Grandpa came to visit on Monday, they beat their bellies together! It was very entertaining for all present!
After the success with the sweet potatoes, we decided to add a bit of color to her diet: Avocado! It was so fancy, she put her pearls on for the occasion...
We weren't expecting to still be wearing summer clothes on October 17th - but with another hot day, we're sure glad to have cute outfits such as this in six month size (thanks, Kendra!).
Thursday was Daddy's 38th birthday so we took some photos just for him...
...and then with him!
"Wow, Dad! Look at those presents!!"
Playing with Granma & Grandpa on Saturday (Daddy's family birthday party)
Love bug!
A rare family shot!
Vianne perfected the art of the back-to-belly flip this week; up 'til now, it had been only an occasional occurrence. She also is starting to move all over the place - not crawling, sort of scooting, but with the distance she covers, she might as well be crawling! Since she kept running into the playmat poles & getting frustrated, this week the playmat became simply a floor mat; although, she gets a great deal of pleasure at getting herself entirely off the mat & quilt, and hanging out on the carpet.
This week Vianne turned six months old! To celebrate, we added a new solid food to the great delight of her palate: sweet potatoes! (Thanks to the Magic Bullet we got as a wedding gift and the helpful website www.wholesomebabyfood.com, it's super easy - not to mention way cheaper than buying pre-made jars - to make our own baby food!) And Vianne had no complaints - she seemed to quite enjoy the experience!
On Friday, we had some special visitors to the house - Vianne's buddies Joel & Jesse with their Mama, Rachelle.
Joel (left), Jesse (right) - sweet boys & growing up so fast!!
Since I moved to California, Patrick's been talking about the San Dimas Rodeo - and now that we're San Dimans...San Dimasites...San Dimasians...er...residents of San Dimas, we decided it was high time we git ourselves there ;-).
Vianne wore her boots for the occasion...
We met up with friends Heidi, Rhonda, and Christi, and settled into our grandstand seats. It was a perfect sunny, but not too hot, day, which required creating shade for the little one...
...and in all the excitement, she promptly fell asleep :-).
The opening act
First, the bucking broncos...
Ack!
...and then calf roping...
This was Heidi's first time meeting Vianne :-)
Christi & Heidi getting to know Vianne
There were some hijinks with the rodeo clown...
...and barrel racing...
...and bull riding (the last event of the day).
This crazy bull was trying to esape the pen!
"Dad, let's do this again next year when I can see better!"
We all had a great time & hope to make it a yearly tradition as long as we're 'round these parts.
