Grrrrrrrrowl!!

Here is a clip of one of Phoebe's "new things" as of late- Grandpa Dunlap calls this her "tiger growl," and I'd say that's a pretty acurate assessment of what's going on here! She just seems to be testing out the limits of her vocal chords- she doesn't seem to be mad or anything...just growling! Maybe she's trying to imitate Tigger...who knows... :)

Hold Your Horses, Grandpa!

For those of you IMPATIENT grandparents out there- ahem, ahem, wouldn't want to name names or anything- here are some photos from the last week or so. We were out of town over Memorial Day weekend, so internet access was restricted- but we are back in business now!! So in addition to showing off her wild-woman hair do in that first photo, Phoebe was helping Daddy study for Products Safety and Liability- fascinating! Next in line here is the Pheebs practicing whatever-you-call-the-move-before-crawling...you know, the one where you flip over, growl, rock around, slam your face into the carpet, and scream for help? Yeah, that one. Next we have Phoebe passed out on the floor after an especially exciting part of Winnie the Pooh...and yes, she is wearing boys' pajamas...just wanted to see what it will be like when we have a little boy version of the Pheebs around... next is a shot of her in her first summer outfit down in Golconda- she had a blast showing off for all of her admiring fans...and finally there is a photo I snapped about five minutes ago, just because she looked so doggone cute laying on that masterfully made new playmat quilt... :) So there you go, there's your Phoebe fix, and we'll be back on track now that we're back online!!

Mommy's First Quilt

I got in in my head that I wanted to make Phoebe a quilt...even though I could barely sew a button onto pants...so I asked my Aunt Jenny and cousin Mandy to help me make this quilt for Phoebe while I was up in La Porte a couple weeks ago. They are great teachers, and I LOVE the quilt- it has a lot of character! :) Since, my folks got me a new sewing machine for my first Mother's Day, and I have been obsessing over fabrics ever since! I have made another small quilt to cover Phoebe while she's in her carrier, and am currently making a little lovie blanket for a girlfriend whose baby shower is coming up, and I have a bunch more material for future quilting projects! Yay!

Phoebe's Best Friend

Um, have I mentioned that Phoebe likes Winnie the Pooh? Now she likes to chew on Pooh's nose while watching him on TV...can anyone say obsessed, but totally cute?? :)

Going...nowhere

Phoebe's been trying so hard to go places, but she can't quite make it. She flips right over onto her belly now, and pushes up on her elbows, and kicks her feet, and rocks back and forth on her big belly...but that's about as far as she gets. Sometimes she flips back over on her own and amuses herself on her back, but sometimes we still need to rescue her when she gets frustrated. She has also discovered her feet and toes, and likes to hold onto them like a little monkey while she watches Winnie the Pooh.

First Night in the Crib! Agghh!

Well, we did it! Last night was Phoebe's first night...gulp...alone...sniff...in her crib...aaaggghhh! This was the first time she hasn't been within arm's length of me during the night since she was born! I was so nervous: what if her pacifier fell out? Who would reach over in a sleepy haze and shove it back in? What if she woke up scared and cried? Who would reach over in a sleepy haze and hold her hand? What if she coughed or sneezed or farted- who would hear her and peek over the side of the crib and check to make sure everything was ok? The video monitor IS awesome, but if only there was a teleporter attached...pause to cry and ask Matt a hundred times if everything would be ok...and cry some more...it acutally went really well, from Phoebe's perspective: I put her down at about 11:30, ran back to our bedroom, propped myself up on the pillows into a semi-sitting position so that my eyeballs were only a few inches away from the video monitor, cranked up the volume so I could hear each breath, and stared...and stared...and stared...until I somehow drifted off. She woke up and cried a little at 1:30, at which point I bolted out of bed, scooped up the pacifier, and had it back in her mouth in about 1.5 seconds...cry it out- ha! I hovered around the door to her room, wringning my hands, secretly hoping just a little bit that she would wake up again crying so I could have a good excuse to scoop her up and hold her and keep her safe...but she rolled over and went back to sleep. Hmph. So I went back to staring at the monitor until I drifted off to dreams of me smuggling Phoebe around in a bookbag to hide her from antique theifs...go figure...she woke up again crying at about 4:00, and I put Flash Gordon to shame on the way to her room. Paci fell out, Mommy- I'm on it, Baby Pie! She continued to fuss and thrash around a bit, so I sat down in the nursing chair to wring my hands and worry about whether I would be a bad mom if I just grabbed her and snuck her back into the pack 'n play next to our bed...when Matt woke up and saw her there in the morning, I could pretend that it was some sort of manifestation of her mutant powers, that in fact she flew back in to our room during the night, that I knew nothing about it...sounded beleiveable...and BAM! I woke up at 6:30 in the chair to crying baby! I FELL ASLEEP in her time of need? What a schmuck! Oh wait- it's just time to eat! Whew- close call- I probably almost traumatized her for life there. She had her bottle and went right back to sleep, while I slunk dejectedly back to bed to cuddle up in an upright position next to the monitor...seems that she did just fine in her crib...without me. She didn't wake up any more in there than she would have if she were right next to me...I should be happy about this, right? So why do I feel rejected? :( Oh well- little Baby Pie is growing up. Sniff, sniff.

Green Beans Are Gross!

We started a new food yesterday: green beans! Yuck! We wanted to start her on a vegetable so she didn't develop a sweet tooth with all the delicious rice cereal and applesauce she's been chowing down on lately, and it was a tie between green beans and sweet potatoes. Matt's vote went with the green beans, since he likes the grown up version of those and detests sweet potatoes. I figured we'd might as well go for the gusto and try the green beans too- I figured that if she'll eat these, she'll eat anything! (I tried them- they really are pretty gross!) The video pretty much sums up her reaction to this strong-smelling, foul-looking vegetable puree. But then again, she was traumatized by rice cereal the first time she tried that too, and now we can't shovel it down fast enough! We're going to have a little green bean- rice cereal snack each afternoon this week...if nothing else, we'll learn that she isn't allergic, and move on to one of the more tasty Gerber 1st Phase foods next week. Now...eat your vegetables!!

A Slight Winnie the Pooh Obsession

Oh, bother! Funnily enough, the one thing that Matt said he did not want around before Phoebe was even born was Winnie the Pooh...and that is the one thing that she really seems to like at this age! It's hilarious- I can put any other cartoon on TV, and she'll lose interest within about 5 minutes. But when I put in her Winnie the Pooh DVD, she could watch it for days! The Pooh DVD is always right next to the TV too- it will always calm her down if she is cranky...especially handy for those times when she drinks all of her bottle and goes into a rage that there isn't a cheeseburger on the side too- walk her over to watch Pooh when you're burping her, and the savage beast is calmed. In the pictures here, I had laid her down long ways on the blanket to roll around on the floor and watch Pooh, and the next time I looked at her, she had repositioned herself for better viewing- it's too funny! At the exciting parts, she kicks her feet and makes noises and rolls back and forth- it's like the Pooh characters are motivating her to roll over and start crawling towards the hundred acre woods! She now has Pooh blankets, Pooh clothes, Pooh tennis shoes (thanks to Grammy Dunlap), and my folks have equipped their house with coordinating Pooh baby furniture: Pooh high chair, Pooh swing, and Pooh pack 'n play! Sorry, Matt: Pooh is here to stay! Silly old bear!

Tummy Time's Tough Sometimes!

This is a short clip of Phoebe's new tummy time techniques- she's been grunting and growling with the effort of getting onto her tummy, and with the frustration of not being able to go anywhere- it's tough to get that big belly off the floor!

Avid Reader

Hooray- we have another avid reader in the family! Phoebe's Great-Aunt Jacqie gave her a soft Tagies book called Sweet Dreams on our trip to La Porte- this is the first one of Phoebe's fabric books that she has taken a great interest in (besides just for chewing purposes). Ahh, proud parents...we can see it already: she'll be reading The Illiad in no time at all... :)