Snapshots from Today

Don't look at ME! I had NOTHING to do with that mess all over your kitchen floor!

Spitting is fun!

What?

Whassup?

New Kiddie Pool

We're getting our first real heat wave of the summer this week! It's actually pretty nice since last week was pretty chilly! On Saturday, Jordan went with Serena & I to Walmart and he got this kiddie pool for our 'kids.' It's a big hit with both Macy and Serena!

Serena took a break from splashing to chase her pink bumpy ball

Church Picnic Day!

Serena & I after a fun but tiring afternoon at the church picnic

Fast Asleep

Sometimes I wake up before Serena, but usually she wakes me up. When she wakes up first, she wakes Jordan and I up by crawling on us (her goal is usually to reach the center spindle top on our headboard). On the somewhat rare occasion that I wake up before her, she is usually sleeping all sprawled out with her mouth hanging open (see picture below). She's pretty funny, though, because when she does wake up she is WIDE AWAKE. There's no 'in between' stage for her. One minute, she looks like that picture below. The next minute she has rolled over and is crawling toward me saying 'ba-ba-ba-ba.'

Always Busy

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Serena is getting pretty good at walking with her walker!

Bathtime and a New Tooth

Yesterday, Jordan was playing on the floor with Serena. Suddenly he said he thought Serena had a tooth on top! I was like, Really!? 'Cause I'd been watching for them to start coming in, but hadn't seen anything. He was pretty certain, and told me where to look. Sure enough, there was a little sliver of white. I stuck my finger in there and could definitely feel it; apparently she was working on cutting it last week and we didn't even know it! She was a bit fussy and clingy last weekend, but I just chalked it up to all our running around with family and not getting regular naps. Though it did kind of concern me that a couple times she cried and cried when I would try to put her down for a nap, which wasn't like her at all. I'm so glad to know she had a good reason! The funny part is that it is not one of the front middle teeth; it's the one to the right of the middle teeth! She's going to look like a jack o' lantern! Haha! :D

All those adorable smiles? They were for Daddy!

Hanging with Daddy

The Busy Little Rugrat

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Serena had fun at Daddy's baseball game!

A Trip to Walmart

Can you believe she's big enough to sit up in the cart now?! It shocks me every time I put her in there!

At the Park

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

One of my favorite things is watching Serena fall asleep, and today I finally captured it on camera! I decided to transition it into a montage of my collection of pictures of Serena sleeping. Hope you enjoy it!

Don't Take Your T-Shirt Too Seriously!

"I don't have to be good. I'm cute!"

Toilet Paper Caper

Mama needs to start remembering to shut (and latch!!) the bathroom door!

She was playing oh-so-quietly and was so happy to see me and show me what she had found!

Look at the little imp!!

This is why Jordan & I have nicknamed her 'rug-rat'! She's just as happy as can be as she explores on all fours!

Munchkin-Face

Mother's Day

It is an indescribable delight to be a mommy to my little Serena!

Last Mother's Day Serena was still a little bean inside me! I was 29 1/2 weeks pregnant. Among other things, Serena was busy growing her beautiful long eyelashes!

Happy mama with her happy baby

We had a very nice Mother's Day! Serena was kind enough to sleep till 8:15, and then she happily played in our bed (crawling all over us!) for about 45 minutes, so we could lay there and enjoy a lazy start to the day! ;) We went to the mall mid-afternoon and shopped for some things we needed together while Serena took a nap in her stroller. Around 4 we went to Cheesecake Factory and had a delicious meal together. Serena sat like such a big girl in the highchair and chewed on a piece of bread. It was so fun! Afterwards, we walked around the mall a bit more and then got a text from Jordan's friend Ross that he was driving through Des Moines! Yay! So we ran home and I made strawberry shortcakes for us to enjoy while we visited with Ross for a bit! Serena thought Ross was pretty great, but Macy took a little time to warm up to him since he came in before Jordan did! Haha! After Ross left, we played with Serena for a while and then went for a night walk. It was a great day! I didn't do a bit of work. You should have seen the kitchen when we went to bed! Yikes! :P And toys were strewn everywhere in the living room and dining room! Heehee! :D It was worth it, though, just to relax and enjoy the day with Jordan and Serena! (And Macy...I had to add that for Jordan, haha!) ;)

Today

Grandma & I made Serena some magnet toys to play with! She loves them!

Just look at that face in the bottom picture! "Oh, did you think I was going for the computer cord?"

Jordan is always the popular one

Photo attempt with Daddy

Tulip Time 2010

My Grandma is here visiting us this weekend, so today we took a little excursion down to Pella for their 75th annual Tulip Time. We had a lot of fun!!! I have pictures which I'm planning to put on The Horaks when I get a chance!

Examining the pretty pink tulip

An update on food: Serena tried Cheerios for the first time today and likes them a lot! I think she ate about 10 of them over the course of the day! She also gummed up a chunk of plain bagel (didn't really end up eating much of it, though; but it did provide some entertainment for her!). Then this evening, Jordan fed her a couple chunks of fresh pineapple. She made HILARIOUS faces at first, but kept going back for another taste! We were cracking up, but apparently she liked the pineapple a lot because she ate two whole chunks of it (with Jordan's help, of course; don't worry, we are being careful about foods she could choke on)!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

We gave Serena some 'real food' for the first time this morning in the form of half of a banana and just let her play with it. I'm not really sure that any of it actually found its way into her belly, but she definitely was intrigued by the experience! I did try giving her some small pieces to see if she'd eat them, but she usually ended up pushing them out with her tongue after gumming them for a while. This afternoon we tried again, and I think she swallowed one or two pieces. Basically, it's all fun and games at this stage, I think! :D Her expressions are priceless, though!

On the Move

Serena has probably doubled her total distance traveled independently over the last 24 hours! She's ON THE MOVE, folks!

Playing with the Carseat

For some reason, Serena thinks it is great fun to play with her carseat...when she is NOT in it!

Bright Eyes

Munchkin

Our Papoose At Squaw Creek

Serena is 9 months old now! We weighed her at Grandpa & Grandma's and she's 18 pounds!

It was a pretty day, so we took a walk at Squaw Creek Park

Yummy Baby Feet

Serena loves Caroline...and apparently Caroline's feet

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

Long, yes; but SO worth it! In the first half, Serena plays 'fetch' with Macy; in the second half, she 'chases' Macy. Lots of baby laughs!!

I Never Knew a Laundry Basket Could Be So Fun...

Talking on the Phone

Serena enjoying a game of peek-a-boo

Serena has a purple phone that came with the toy Grammie got her for Christmas. Ever since the first day, that phone has been the first thing that she grabs for on that toy, even though there are lots of buttons and shapes and even piano keys on there! Just for fun, a while back I started going through this little routine with the phone where I would pick it up and say "Hello?" and then act like it was for Serena and put it up to her ear and repeat the "Hello?" for her. Well, today, she started trying to 'talk' to the phone when I put it up to her ear. It sounded to me like she was trying to say "Hello?" so I got out the camera and took a video. It's pretty funny!

And here's a short video of Peek-a-Boo. (Please disregard Macy's howling...for some reason she thinks she has to do that when we play Peek-a-Boo!) ;)

Who Needs a Grip?

Serena doesn't need a grip! She can stand up just using the wall for balance. As you can imagine, this is very handy for examining small spots and bumps on the wall.

Busy at work studying a tiny bump on the wall

Funny little monkey

Serena Bambina

Our little monkey...with the remote!

Plotting what to get into next

Lemons

Serena loves lemons! Sucking on a lemon kept her happy this evening while we were out to eat with some friends. :)

I Need Julie

I need Julie here today to help me think of a title for this post! ;)

"Um, Dad, here's your Blackberry. Did you need it or can I just play with it for a little bit?"

Gotta love those baby legs!!!

I wanted to mention a couple of other things Serena is up to these days. The first thing is her tongue. She has started sticking it out and curling it up whenever she's doing something that takes a lot of effort or concentration. The only reason that this bears mentioning is that Jordan does the same thing! Heehee! :D The other thing is that Serena found a new game to play with Macy today. Serena has an empty water bottle that she loves to play with and it just so happens that Macy always wants to play with it as well (I think Macy's is a left-over fascination from when she was a puppy and we used to let her play with them). So, Serena will stand at the coffee table or couch with her water bottle and looking straight at Macy she will wave her arms around until she manages to sort-of-drop-sort-of-throw the water bottle to the ground. Then Macy will rush over and pick it up, which Serena thinks is uproariously funny. Jordan makes Macy give the bottle to him and then he gives it to Serena, who looks straight at Macy and repeats the whole process. It's SO funny and cute to watch!!!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

FINALLY! Serena is starting to crawl on all fours!!! She still tends to drop to her belly if she has far to go or if she wants to get there really quickly, since she's still a little slow crawling on all fours. I'm sure that will phase out soon, though!

The first half of today's video is from a few days ago when Serena was laughing at Macy. She loves Macy! It's so funny to watch the dynamic between them. Serena thinks it's really fun to play 'give and take' with Macy. She waves a toy in front of Macy's face (often Macy's own toy, haha!) until Macy gently takes it. Then, Serena watches Macy with it for a moment and then takes it back. So far, Macy is a very sweet and gentle participant in this game, if not a little confused by it. Anyway, I guess I need to get that on video because it's kinda hard to explain in writing.

Also on today's video is a bit of Serena's crawling!!! :)

Another Tooth's A-Comin'!

I can see a little 'blister' on Serena's gum right next to her lone tooth, which tells me that lone tooth will soon have a companion! In spite of the fact that she is obviously teething and still struggling with her cold symptoms (though they seem to be getting better, thankfully!), she still had plenty of smiles today!

Guessing Game

Let's play a little game! Guess what Serena's doing in this picture!

Can I Play with That?

Serena LOVES Jordan's computer and his Blackberry. Seriously. She LIGHTS UP when she sees them and works her way over to them as fast as her chubby little self can go!

I loved how these shots caught the progression of Serena's delight at actually REACHING the computer before someone stopped her, and then her determination as Jordan tried to hold her off. And then, of course, there's Macy....

Another Sick Day

Serena Is Sick :(

Poor Serena caught her second cold! Boohoo! Last night was really rough, and today I can tell she's feeling pretty miserable. She does not normally cuddle AT ALL, but today there were several times when she put her head on my shoulder and just rested. I wore her in my Moby quite a bit this afternoon, and she was so content to just hang out there. Awwwe. She's definitely missing some of her normal sparkle. Although, we did see a glimpse of it this evening. Macy was feeling very rambunctious and kept running in circles around the coffee table, and Serena thought it was SO funny! I did get it on video...maybe material for Thursday? ;) For today's shot, I thought I'd try to get a picture of her rubbing at her nose/eyes, which she does constantly when she's sick. I ended up with this one, and I just HAD to post it because her expression is SO funny!

There's Something in My Mouth!

As Serena's tooth gets taller, she likes to put her finger in her mouth to feel it!

AT LEAST Thirty-Second Thursday

I went through all those pictures I took of Serena on Tuesday and published the ones that I liked the most over at my Facebook profile. Click on this link to look at them, even if you don't have a Facebook account!

And now for today's video! A couple days ago, I woke up and Serena was laying there clapping her hands and very fascinated with the phenomenon. It was really cute! Since then, clapping is the new thing! I also got some good giggles out of her today (sorry about the crazy camera action!), and I got her telling us a couple stories (the first time telling us about her ball and then second time 'reading' a book).