6 MONTHS!

Yes, our little girl is six months old! Last week she completed the half year milestone and we just can't believe it. Time is spinning in baby world. We've watched in awe as she changed each day. Her personality is so strong we wonder what will come next. She says 'mum', whispers a lip-synched 'pa', is sporting two bottom teeth with an upper on the way and is now beginning to eat adult food. First we mash the crap out of it and then we turn her loose with a utensil.

She eats some rice cereal but really prefers things like sweet potato, avocado, banana, beer bottles, watermelon and BLTs (bites, licks and tastes) of everything we eat. She keeps trying to eat all my sailing magazines but I'm still not convinced that is actually "food".

...and here is a gratuitous shot of us having fun in the sun. You remember the sun? It's that thing that came out in the sky on June 6th.

We're both having a great time discovering our daughter and re-discovering ourselves.

First sail

We have been slowly introducing Maggie to some fun things we like to do, and over Memorial Day weekend, we all went sailing on Gracie. We were worried Maggie wouldn't like sailing or she might get seasick or fussy ...

we should have known not to worry.

Lillian and Maggie, exactly who let you two take your life jackets off?

These two couldn't have had a better time.


Our Family

A special thanks to Lance and Christie for an awesome weekend on Gracie and some great pirated photos.

How YOU Doin?

Maggie is growing and learning every day. She is currently 5 months old and her personality is really starting to show and glow. How you ask? Well, she really doesn't care to be on her tummy too much, so she is very skilled at rolling over from her belly to her back (Not so much from her back to her belly - as I said, she doesn't dig it). She is FINALLY drinking milk out of a bottle, which eliminates an extraordinary amount of stress from my life when I leave her for any extended period of time... like more than 2 hours. Before now, she would gag on it, cry and carry on and on and on, until I came to her rescue. Margaret is starting to gain more control of her body, as she was sitting up the other day, very much unassisted; She has much more dexterity with her hands and is grabing and pinching and shoving all sorts of things in her mouth. One of her latest fun feats (no pun intented) is that she finds great pleasure in sucking on her piggy toes. Oh, and her voice. She screams and growls and squeels and talks and hits pitches and tones to be admired. It is just so fun to be this little girls' mother. I LOVE to love love love love everything about her.
Which one do you like? The color or black and white? I couldn't decide, so I figured I'd post them both and get your opinions.

Snuggling with my girl on Easter.

See Ya!

Yes, the Bruins just swept their arch rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 4 games to 0 in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Now it's on to the conference semi-finals where it looks like they might play the NY Rangers. Here's an old time hockey clip of another game when the Bruins played the Rangers:

The Tasmanian Devil going into the stands isn't too surprising, but my favorite part is when Mike Milbury beats a guy with his own shoe. Good stuff.

Florida

Florida!!! It has come to our attention by several of Maggie's fan club members that we havn't posted in over a month. Sorry folks, I guess this is an indicator of what parenting does to your free time. Maggie and I did manage to squeeze a fun trip to Florida in at the end of March to enjoy some warm weather and family fun.

Great photo op with Goofy, the Baptista's and Meme. Everyone is still in good spirits, even after a 40 minute wait in line to meet the Disney characters and me not heeding many warnings about spinning rides, small spaces or getting motion sickness on my first ride of the day (oops).

Typhoon Lagoon! Wicked fun day meeting up with some hometown friends and splashing around in a seriously great water park. Maggie went on her first ride, The Lazy River, and loved every minute of it. Sally fell asleep right before going under a waterfall and had mixed feelings about it.

We went to a very cool beach on the Gulf of Mexico with Grandpappa so Maggie could have ample opportunity to show off her puppy belly in her bikini. We also learned that swim diapers really do work.

Maggie loved her trip to Florida and had a great time with everyone!

The Chair

As Maggie grows older and continues to develop Carey and I are confronted by many controversial issues. We keep asking ourselves: how do we want to punish her when she is bad? While looking for an effective method we figure it's never too early to start, so when Maggie misbehaves we now put her in "THE CHAIR":

She really understands...

Unfortunately, I think she really LIKES IT!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
(foiled again)

Obviously, we'll have to keep on trying...

Reading

We've been spending some of our family 'awake time' reading children's books to Maggie. Carey and I both love to read and consider books to be at the forefront of learning and knowledge.
There are lots of good stories that keep all of us quite entertained. Like this one:

THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL

There was a little girl, and she had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead;

When she was good, she was very, very good,

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

Nice, huh? These books aren't filled with fluff and kittens like I expected. They get right to the action and don't mince words concerning the desired moral. I won't tell you the story of "Teddy's thoughts on alcohol and drugs."

...especially because this shot of our bookcase was taken before I could prep the frame (oops!):

And here are some gratuitous shots of our lovely daughter for all of you since I've been so lax in posting this last week:

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had loads of fun celebrating Valentine's Day (which lasted all weekend) with a playgroup brunch at our friends Tim, Poppy and Colm's house (along with many other little ones and their respective parents) and Mom and Pop's return to the world date night. Gina graciously watched Maggie as Carey and I went out for drinks and dessert in the Old Port's Chocolate Bar. Yummm!!! We hope everyone had an equally fine weekend.

the moby

Here's our newest tool in the arsenal: the Moby wrap. Five yards of Jersey Knit (or similar) fabric cut down the middle lengthwise. We each got one from one piece of fabric. Comfortable and cozy and awesome!
This wrap offers many versatile arrangements. At our disposal are the options to face Maggie in like when Velcro man trampolines into the wall...or face her out like a Baby Bjorn...or kinda sideways like...or many more we'll learn, I'm sure.

Wearing the little one is full of advantages and creates untold depths of trust and bonding. We love all our slings and use them all off and on throughout the day. Maggie loves them, too!

Happy Sunday!

We had a fun filled day today and it started out making new friends at a brunch hosted by Jess and Ruby Taylor....

Then we went for a walk because it was so beautiful outside (you'd think we were going for a walk in Antarctica by the way we dressed Maggie though). Maggie's Aunt Amanda made her the very adorable gnome pompom hat, which you can check out more photos of on soulemama.com in the "baby gnomes" post. Thanks for keeping her warm and cute Amanda!!

After all that, it was time for a family nap. Hope your Sunday was as great as ours!!

playgroup

Our first official playgroup, a spin-off of the birthroots class we have been taking right along. It has been great for Carey to share and receive stories with all the other moms. We can't say enough about the value of these classes, the wide range of knowledge we have been exposed to and the friends we've made.

These kids (I know, I know...a kid is a baby goat. I can't help it) have some pretty cool names: starting at Maggie (center bottom) and going clockwise: Clara, Ethan, Kell, Jackson, Asher, Colm, and Mannix. Missing from the photo is Penelope.

so fast!

Maggie continues to grow in leaps and bounds, pushing nearly 12 pounds now. We are psyched that she is doing so well but already are experiencing the "they grow up so fast" motif so often spoke by seasoned parents. Here are two of our favorite outfits in which the little one no longer fits:

The gnome sweater jacket and, sadly, the I (heart) daddy pajamas.

Of course, now we can start breaking out some of the bigger outfits she CAN fit into. Yay!

Pirates

Here we are taking our little girl to her first professional ice hockey game. The Portland Pirates v. Springfield Falcons. The game was okay but having Maggie in the stands with us was really something special...and we didn't have to explain why they were fighting. The people seated near us were just as interested in her as they were the hockey game. Well, duh!

(photo courtesy of our friend, jesse)

one month!

Yes, Maggie is one month old! We can't believe it. Seriously, where has four weeks gone? She is growing fast, up to 10lbs now, and developing new skills all the time. Here is our newest game: she actually swings and hits the animals dangling in front of her. This will prove itself a valuable skill as she beats off suitors because she is so beautiful.

co-sleeping

Yes, we've graduated Maggie from our bed into the co-sleeper. Well...a little. She starts off in there and eventually worms her way back between us, somehow (?), in the middle of the night.
For those of you interested in it's construction I made it with red oak (sanded but completely unfinished) and 1/2"mdo plywood. The plywood extends over two feet between our mattress and box spring so no legs are required. It didn't take long to construct...about two beers!

Mom's real close and can easily reach over and drag Maggie into bed for feedings or comfort. Everyone is getting better sleep. Maggie's mattress is a warm, soft, washable piece of sheepskin. She thrashes around in her sleep, like her pappa, and really seems to enjoy having her own bed...for short durations, anyway.

Pappa's girls

HI PAPPA!!

Hi everyone!! I just wanted to dedicate this post to Pappa!! Greg has been the one to invent and then diligently update this blog and it has been really fun to see what he comes up with! He has taken some beautiful photographs and written some fantastic posts, and I have enjoyed them as much as all of you! I can't express how amazing Greg has been as a father, so I thought I would take the opportunity with my first blog post to try my best.

It has been nothing but a joy to watch Greg and Maggie form their bond and how impressed I am with the confidence and gentleness in how he interacts with her. The support he has given me throughout this experience of pregnancy, birth and motherhood leaves me smiling at the memories and more in love with him than ever before. Here they are enjoying some quality time watching the Bruins kick butt this year.

It is very clear that Maggie adores her father. She calms right down when she hears his voice or when he picks her up. Her eyes follow his movements and watches him with curiosity as he keeps her entertained by dancing, singing, reading, snuggling, talking and playing with her.

It would be unfair of me not to mention our first daughter, Vittoria.

Here is Pappa sailing his girl Vittoria NO HANDED with his "sheet to tiller" steering arrangement.

Maybe not all of you are aware of Greg's passion for sailing? Let me tell you he takes extreme pride in caring for and sailing Vittoria and it is where we look forward to spending a lot of time as a family. Greg has put some serious time in over the last few years making this boat beautiful and comfortable for us so we can take cruises up the coast of Maine and sometimes wherever the wind blows.

Sailing or girl up into Oven's Mouth, a beautiful and pristine anchorage way off the beaten path up in the Sheepscot River.

Pappa rocks our world!

hey, mom

Wha-choo doin' up there, anyway?

weight gain

This is how we monitor the health of our child: behavior, alert time, temperature, skin color, interest in Bruins hockey, temperament, poops, feeding and weight gain. Maggie is scoring high marks in all categories; here she is on the scales:

She has gained 11 ozs. in just eight days!!! Now weighing in at a respectable 9lbs. 2ozs, she is hard at work forming her McCain jowls and puppy belly. It is amazing to watch the transformation of her body. We see differences in her each day, and we're with her 24/7.

our water girl

I guess it's not a big surprise that a daughter of two raft guides turned sailors would love the water, but this girl LOVES the water! When we bathe her she eats it up like it's the best thing in the world. She settles in, relaxes, smiles (I swear) and has the most pleasant, serene way about her while in the water. Psych!