Tres Adorable!

It doesn't get much cuter than this, folks!!!

So stinkin' cute!

And because she's just that cute, Brian made a black and white version too!

:)

For the record, Kate has never really loved pacifiers.  She likes to play with them more than she uses them and if you try to calm her when she is upset with one, it typically makes her more upset...

...She may or may not have a stubborn side like her Mommy.

Doggie Dip and Frosty Paws

When the pool near us closes for the summer, they offer several days of dog days where the pool is available for pooches large and small!  Even though it kind of signifies that we are nearing the end of summer, it's great that Jack has an opportunity to get a little summer pool time in!  Jack is such a water dog and absolutely loves jumping in the pool/water and fetching tennis balls.  I can assure you that he thoroughly enjoyed going home and having a Frosty Paw too - the dog equivalent of an ice cream treat!  He devoured it in less than 5 seconds!  (Though that is not uncommon when it comes to him and food.)


That is one happy pup!
Click to see Jack in action!

Happy Summer, Bones!

Old Friends, New Friends

My dear friend, Brandi, and her sweet daughter, Crystal, came to visit me, Kate, and Brian this past weekend!  Brandi and Crystal are two very, very special girls and hold two very important places in my heart.

I met Brandi my freshman year of college.  She was one year ahead of me, but we both lived in the same suite in Cochrane Hall at Virginia Tech.  We quickly learned that we were both from Maryland and that is where our friendship started.  We had many fun times in college together and when we were both finished with school, we found that we were both in Northern Virginia working and living about 7 minutes away from each other.  It was so nice to live so close to Brandi and her family. 

Brandi and Crystal - circa 2008 - at one of our dinners with
the girls!

Brandi has always been an inspiration to me.  This girl has been through a lot, but she has a way of making it through to the other side, smarter, brighter, and smiling.  She is beautiful, strong, independent, and intelligent, among many other things, and her daughter, Crystal, is just as wonderful!  She is also very smart and intelligent and has such a big heart!  She and Kate were fast friends!  When you get the four of us together we are never short of laughs!  It was no different this weekend!

We hung out, we went to the zoo, we had a picnic at the park, and we had a movie night!  We had so much fun together and it was great to be able to get some one on one time with one of my best friends.  Too often we are running around like crazy trying to fit each other in our schedules when we make a visit to Maryland.  We usually end up with a few hours together but this was an entire weekend of uninterrupted Bran time!

We are so grateful that Brandi and Crystal made the trip out to visit and we are so looking forward to our next rendezvous!


A girls weekend!

Our Social Butterfly

Kate had her 9 month pediatrician appointment today and she did so well!  She's shown a few signs of not wanting to be held by strangers but she didn't seem to mind the nurse or her doctor one bit!

She weighed 20 pounds 6.5 ounces (85th percentile for weight) and was 28 1/4" tall (70th percentile for height).  Kate is growing just as she should be!

Remember the last appointment we were at?  Kate tore the bed paper to shreds??  Well, this appointment she was much more mobile!  I'll tell ya, if you can get two and a half weeks of crawling under your belt you are good to go!  She is quick!

9 month old Kate! (And Mommy.)

Making her way over to the cotton balls and tongue compressors.

The nurse was nice enough to let us play with a tongue
compressor!

And believe me when I say I think it was a highlight of
Kate's day!

Do you want to play with this here tongue compressor, Mama!?

Still at it on our way home.
(Note: we put the compressor playing on hold for the car ride.)

I cannot believe our next appointment with Kate's pediatrician will be for her 12 month check-up!!!  How is that even possible?!

Tres Años

Today marks the three year anniversary of our marriage.  We kept our celebration very simple with a dinner at home this year.  It's incredible how much life changes in three years.

When we celebrated our first anniversary, we took a trip down to Florida and stayed in Orlando.

When we celebrated our second anniversary, we went out to eat at North Star, one of our favorite local spots!  (Also, the date cards never really worked out that well...they are still in my drawer...)

For our third anniversary, dinner at home together with Kate was all we needed.  After all, spending time together with her is something we look forward to most.  With both of us working, we have a limited amount of time with Kate in the evening before she goes to bed.  There's no way either one of us would want to miss out on a single free moment.

Brian - over the last year we had a baby and have grown together as parents as well as individually as a Mommy and a Daddy.  We've seen good days and bad days, long days and short days, hard days and easy days.  No matter the day, there is one very important thing that stays consistent: there's no one that I'd rather have by my side.  You give me inspiration when I least expect it, support when I need it most.  You sometimes know me better than I know myself and I am thankful to have you in my life.  I love you.  Happy third anniversary!

Florida Vacation

For our big family vacation this year, we decided to take a little trip down south to visit two darling friends of ours, Than and Darcy; their son, Jack; and their dog, Alli-Girl in St. Pete Beach, FL!  We stayed with them for a few days and then headed down the coast a bit to Anna Maria Island, FL where we rented a little beach house and enjoyed some much needed sunshine, relaxation, and down time.

We had a fantastic visit all around!  Catching up with the Jones' was for sure our highlight!  Than is Brian's best friend and Darcy is absolutely so much fun to be around, so our times together were priceless!  We heart them so much that we literally could live together under the same roof and not go crazy!  (Yes, we talked about that!)  Plus, Kate and Jack ended up being two little peas in a pod!  We have got to schedule some more vacations with these fine folks - PRONTO!

While we stayed with Than, Darcy, and Jack in St. Pete, we enjoyed some pool time, delicious eats, and great company!  Than and Darcy have an awesome one-level Florida style house with an amazing set up and pool in the backyard!  They did a really good job at convincing us that we should move there!

We stayed at Than and Darcy's for four days and on the fourth day we drove to Tampa to visit a true aquarium.  (Remember how disappointing the Columbus Zoo Aquarium was?!  I just had to get my fix!)  This aquarium more than made up for the Columbus one.  It was great!  There were lots of hands on activities and tons of huge tanks and displays!  I was so happy that Kate got to experience her first true aquarium!  The colors, the fish, the noises all provided excellent stimulation for that growing brain of hers!  It was a great little FL field trip!

After the aquarium stop, we made our way down to Anna Maria Island, FL where we rented a little beach house.  Let me tell you about this little beach town: it is superb!  The people were friendly, the beach wasn't crowded, the house had everything we needed (except a tub), and everything was just so awesome!  We were more than happy with this little excursion for Kate's first real vacation.  Florida vacations are the best!

I know you are dying to see photos and are tired of me talking about how wonderful Florida was, so, without further adieu, enjoy our little Florida vacation below!

Florida Vacation Photos

And, for your viewing pleasure, if you'd rather not click through all 58 photos, check out our little three minute video that compiles it all below:


Florida Vacation from Just Be Productions on Vimeo.

Or - check them both out!

Last, but certainly not least, we want to thank Than, Darcy, Jack, and Alli-Girl for opening up their home and letting us stay with them.  Their hospitality was top notch and we so enjoyed every moment together!  Miss you guys!!

Kate Starts Crawling!!!

So Kate has been SO CLOSE to crawling recently!!  I've tried to have my camera on hand wherever and whenever, just in case she decides today is THE day!  And, as luck would have it, today happened to be THE day!!  KATE STARTED CRAWLING TODAY!!!

And I just so happened to be recording the very first time we witnessed it!

First, Kate decides to be silly, but her Mommy knew that she was almost about to crawl, so she kept on filming!!!

Kate's crawling debut!!!  (A little paper incentive never hurt!)

We are so incredibly proud of you, Kate!!!

Very proud Mama!

We love you!!!

Minus the (and B)

We had to say goodbye to our sweet Bunny last week.  Lop eared bunnies typically have a life span of 8-12 years and Bun was just over 11.5 - definitely a Grandpa Bun in bunny years.  He would've been 12 in November.

Over the last several years you could definitely tell Bun was getting older.  He started to develop cataracts and became less and less active than he was back in his heyday.  Over the last several months he had started getting very weak and lethargic and, more recently, had stopped eating and drinking.  It was only a matter of time.

We took Bun in to the vet, said a sweet Bunny prayer, gave him one last pet, and said our goodbyes.  The vet took him back and we drove home minus our infamous (and B).

Bunny.

Bun entered our worlds during Christmas 2001.  Amy, my sister, wanted a pet, and a Bunny arrived for Christmas!

She must've been very good that year!

Shortly thereafter, in 2003, my family moved to England.  I was in college so I was staying here in the states.  If they took Bun with them he would have to be quarantined for six months.  It was much easier for me to be the temporary adoptive Mother to Bunny-Boo while Amy was in England for three years.

The three years turned into five.  Amy grew, Bun grew, I grew, and Marley entered the picture.

10 week old Marl!

Marley and Amy have a special connection,
even to this day!

James and Marley!
These two wee ones are not so wee anymore!

When my family moved back to Maryland from England, Bun had a special place in my heart, Amy was in high school and very active with sports and extra curricular activities and Marley was enjoying his puppy-hood.

Being a temporary adoptive Mother to Bunny became permanent, so Bun stayed with me.

I have so many Bun stories but there's one in particular that will forever hold a special place in my heart: when Brian first met Bun.

Brian had not had the experience of being around many bunny rabbits.  He was not very comfortable in Bun's presence and he was allergic to him.  For the first year of our relationship, we were doing long distance with Brian in Ohio and me in Virginia.  Every time Brian came to visit he stayed with Bun and me, so did his allergy pills.

One time in particular Bun was out of his cage, which he normally was, and Brian starting walking down the hall to the bathroom to shower.  Bun started following him which made Brian very uneasy.  Brian walked faster until he made it safe and sound in the bathroom and closed the door.  That was, at least, until Brian turned around and found Bun opposite of him, staring, already in the bathroom.  That was when I heard, "E!  Bun is in the bathroom.  Come and get him!" 

Obviously, the fact that a grown man is fearful of a cute wittle bunny wabbit already had me cracking up, so the fact that Brian was literally running away from a five pound Bun that was literally chasing him had me doubled over!  I was no help at all!  Well, not until Brian called for help.  I wiped my tears away, walked into the bathroom and scooped Bun up to allow Brian to shower in peace!

This was one of the many reasons Bun became our ornery sidekick!

Every time I think of that story it makes me laugh!  It is one that even we laugh about together now because Brian and Bun really became good buds!  I wouldn't go as far as to call them best friends, but they both came a long way!

He he!

Bun will be cremated per the vet's normal procedure for pets his size and his ashes will be spread among an organic orchard along a river.  I like to believe that he will forever be in Bunny Heaven, romping around with the other bunnies, eating lots of clover, and lounging in the warm sun!  He was a good Bun.  He was a good friend.  And he will truly be missed.  We heart you, Bunny.

Forever in our hearts.

J-E-L-L-O

I've read that at Kate's age a great learning tool is allowing her to explore her sensory skills.  One way of doing that is to explore different textures.  Feeling is her main mode of beginning to understand the world around her right now, well, feeling and tasting, so whatever she can wrap her tiny fingers around gets a thorough examination and then goes directly into her mouth for a bit of gumming.

We've tried to let Kate explore as much as possible and introduce new textures, even the messy ones, in a safe learning environment.  We've made a rice bin and a bean bin that we let her play in while we 100% supervise because those little buggers can end up in one's mouth just too quickly.  Playing with either inevitably leaves rice and/or beans all over the floor, but we are ok with that.  A quick sweep and we are back to a semi-clean floor again.  (I would say clean, but who are we kidding - with two adults, one child, and one dog, clean is a relative term.)

This afternoon we let Kate have a little Jell-O fun!  She got to squeeze it between her fingers, feel it between her toes, and taste it, and we think she loved it!!

It's wiggly! It's wobbly!

It's slimy and green!

It slips on your belly!

And does not keep you clean!

Our Jell-O melted pretty quickly in the afternoon summer heat, so we followed up our Jell-O fun with some much needed bath fun and some patio spray down fun.  It was well worth the mess!

Our Visit with Granddad

My Dad lives in Germany, so we don't get to see him very often.  As a matter of fact, the last time we saw him was in May of 2011 when we took our Europe Trip.  We miss him a lot and the time just goes way to fast to not be seeing each other more.  Lucky for us, he was in San Diego, CA for a conference this year and made a pit stop on his way back to Germany to stay with us for almost a week and meet his very first Granddaughter!

It took Kate a few days to warm up, but she finally did!

I ♥ this.

We haven't been doing a ton other than hanging out together, enjoying some delicious food (thanks, Dad!), and relaxing.  It has been exceptionally hot so far and Brian and I have still had to work for some of his visit, so we're are enjoying our togetherness more than we are sight seeing.  Jack is most definitely enjoying my Dad's stay here.  As a matter of fact, I think Jack believes that my Dad came to visit him and no one else.  This is exactly how Jack feels when Tom, Brian's stepdad, visits too.

We are going to do our best to not make the next visit two years from now.  It is just too long, and a girl needs to see her Dad (and Granddad) more often than that!  For now, we will enjoy the time we have together in Ohio!