Happy Birthday Cecily

We had a special night out to celebrate Cecily's birthday last night. Dalia stayed out til after 8! She didn't melt down on the way home and she slept great last night. Ah, thank you summer! Here are a few fun shots from the night. If you can't tell, it was HOT!!!!

Firsts

So, it was 100 degrees yesterday here in the other Rose City. We were excited to have a good excuse for a kiddy pool (and Dalia's great new bathing suit). Boy did she love the pool. The cold water made her gasp and squeal with delight and the great waterfall feature is getting her geared up for camp. We have a billion pictures (here are a couple), but the video sums it up.

BTW, we weren't going to post anything specific about it, but you'll notice in these next few posts some stuff on her face. Well, Dalia fell out of her stroller onto the pavement a couple of days ago. She is fine, but bruised and scraped up pretty bad. Mom and Dad are also a little bruised on the inside from the whole thing. Arnica does work wonders!!! it's gonna take some time for that nose to heal but the bump on her head is doing great.

Swingin' with Dad

Dalia often goes on the swings with Mom at Westmoreland park, but it was a special day to get to go with Daddy and bring the camera along. It's too bad she didn't like the indoor swing this much when she was first born.

(not-so) busy summer days

Here are a few shots from our time without Daddy this past week. We had a great time with each other and with friends, but boy are we glad he's coming home today!!! She learned to say three words very distinctly this week: Mama (of course, right, often in a pained whiney sound), DA-DEE and bye bye with waving - no s@#t folks! She's so great. I'm so proud.

Incidentally, Dalia is teething like crazy, including getting her first fever :(. If I had a receptacle to catch all the drool (and snot) I think I could water the garden. EEuuuwwwww....maybe we'll actually get a tooth out of all of this.
Along with the CDs (see below), Dalia loves the records and everything - including her daddy's lamp from Uncle Stan - in "the no zone".
She got this great doggy on a string from Uncle Jim and Aunt Ali, which she fixated on the eyes and movement so much that she started to think it was real. At one point I moved it with my foot and she got so scared she ran away. Eventually she started "petting" it - banging on it really - like she does any real cat or dog that will get close enough to let her.
oh, the favorite cd rack

lunch on the waterfront with Linda where we discovered (the counselors that we are, that Dalia is "securely attached" to Mama and please to roam free in the grass, looking back occasionally to wave and smile.
Archer and his lovely mama reading and chewing on Dalia's favorite flower before an excellent dinner of mexican pulled pork (dalia ate peas and carrots).
just us hanging out in the ergo, cleaning up around the house. She chewed on this donut key chain for an hour - I think it's too small for her to be chewing on but look at how content she was. This was our fever day.

Happy Birthday Robin

We love you!

I forgot...

my camera today, so I snaked this photo of Violet and Dalia in Violet's backyard from her blog. We finally got to play with the girls today after many months of just knowing each other via cyberspace. Can't wait to visit again. Violet eats banana pancakes! Poor Dalia had to settle for mom's boob for an afternoon snack. She kept checking out Violet's goodies. It won't be long now, Violet, before we can happily share with you. Thanks, too for sharing your kick ass toys with us. It seemed that Dalia was more interested in them and in crawling around their giant living room (compared to any room in our house) than in playing with V. Oh, well. Next time they'll be running around, hu? Let's not wait that long...

for Daddy

So, Dalia's Daddy is in Alaska right now and we thought we'd post something to help him feel closer. Matt and Amy loaned us this great toy when we were over Monday (yes, we took them something to eat and no, we didn't expect to get this rad toy). Dalia loves it. Apparently you are NOT supposed to use it in an operating vehicle, but I just read the warning today so it is now inside the house instead of in the car where she couldn't get enough of it. We don't have many toys that make noise other than rattles and squeezy sounds so this pretty much rocked almost as much as the stereo for Dalia.

Today

A couple of wonderful things happened today. The first is that Dalia slept until 10am. Go figure. Here she is just after waking up. Of course, neither Mom or Dad could sleep as long as she did, but it was a welcome relief to have her sleeping. Anyone who is a parent knows the feeling of sweet satisfaction that comes from your sleeping baby. Especially when they are cute when they wake up. (Not shown here - Dalia was the posterchild for SIDS this morning with her face smashed into the mattress and pillows and down comforter surrounding her).


The second and most wonderful part of today was meeting Owen Thomas, Matt and Amy's new little guy. He's just about perfect. We are so glad that he is here and happy and healthy. He's lucky to have such rockin' parents and we can't wait for him and Dalia to grow together. I cannot believe that Dalia was actually smaller than Owen when she was born. Time flies.

father's day

Well, of course we celebrated Father's Day with Pops at Grammy's house. Thank god for fathers! Mark is just about the most amazing dad ever, Dalia tells me. Honestly, folks, it's pretty wonderful to watch him raise our little girl. I'm a lucky Mama. And a lucky daughter that Pops is around to share Dalia with.

sippy cup

nuf said

Japanese Gardens with Grammy

Grammy, Dalia and Mom jumped the gun on the great weather and headed over to the Japanese Gardens for a girl's day out. We had a blast. Dalia loved the waterfalls and the rock garden (and getting her picture taken).

Uncle John

Dalia's great Uncle John was in town for a show and came by to visit. So good to play with him! See you soon.

Almost 9 months

Dalia had her 8 month check up last week. She is actually almost 9 months old (ALREADY!). We are so pleased to say that her new found mobility has made her about the happiest baby you ever met. She almost never fusses anymore, except when tired. She can wave (and loves to do so), is starting to identify objects and animals in books by pointing, LOVES dogs and cats, is in the very early stages of saying things Mom and Dad can understand : meow-meow (meh meh) kitty cat (keeeka), daddy (de de), ball (ba - could mean anything I guess), button (te te), elephant (len) - she does all of this while looking at the object, which is how we know all of this. I'm sure many of you think we're nutso parents who are projecting, but she really does say these things daily. She can also give mom rasberries on her chin. She is in the beginning stages of cruising now (god help us) and can cross-crawl like the cutest bear in the forest. When she crawls, she makes the most hilarious sounds.

This week marked the turning point for sleep, it seems, though I'm probably jinxing it by sending this out in cyberspace. Last night she only woke up twice, which for those of you who know that she's been waking 4-8 times a night for the past three months, know it was an amazing gift for mom and dad to sleep for five hours straight!

She now eats like the rest of us only messier (though still enjoys mommy's num nums throughout the day and night). We started giving her her own food on her high chair tray this week and had the most leisurely dinner of our new lives as parents. Photo included (menu was O's and avocado).

Dalia weighs 18 pounds, 12 ounces and is 27 inches long. With all her activity (she does not stop moving ever), she is beginning to thin out a bit, though we are happy to say she is still a chunky little monkey.