For My Mother

In an attempt to get my mother to be able to read the blog, rather than just look at the pictures, I have increased the font size.  How's this mom???? 

Love you....

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Don! (Yes, I know I'm behind in my blogs....)

First, Reka and I picked out cards.

About Rebekah's card:  Don always teases me about me being the person in charge.  

Her card says,

"Dad, here's something for you to wear on Father's Day -" 

(Inside the card was....)

Sticker says, "I AM THE BOSS!"

Small print says: you can return it to mom tomorrow.

The reasons behind the Three Musketeers, 1) Don likes the candy, 2) It was the first candy bar I sent to Don, 3) there's three of us - so we're like the Three Musketeers! (That was Reka's suggestion....)  :D

We went to church and had a good meeting.  Don takes Reka the 2nd hour while I teach a sunday school class.  I came out of the class to find this: daughter finally found sleep in the comfort of daddy's arms.

Reka WillaMay does love her daddy.  She smiles very big whenever she sees him.  Don blames this on whatever he's wearing, "it's the shirt..." "it's my glasses..."  "it's the hat..."  etc, and so on.  But he's not fooling anyone.  She loves the sight of him.  She loves to walk him outside in the morning and see him off to work.  She loves and smiles so big if she is still awake when he comes home.  She loves to touch his face.  She loves it when he lightly touches her nose saying, "beep beep - ba deep beep beep..." etc.  She does love that hat of his, but I know it's because it reminds her of him.  She loves to "fist bump" and "fist bump with explosion" with him.  She even loves to watch cars go by, which I am sure she does out of love and respect to her father's inherently Indiana love of cars and speed.  

Can't wait for many more father's days to come.

Photo Shoot

Okay, smile pretty....

Ah, she is taking another... smile must of been too much... try something a little more subdued....

She is taking another..?  What do you want from me woman!? 

Oranges

At Reka WillaMay's 6 month checkup the doctor suggested giving her little tastes of food.  Yay for real food!  

I thank my friend Michelle Croft for introducing me to this little contraption.  Wish I knew what it was actually called... Mesh Feeder...? You put the food in the mesh bag and the baby can chew on it and get the juice out of it.  Mmmm.... JUICE.  

One of my favorite times of day is when we share an orange together.  She didn't know what to make of the thing at first.  After chewing on the handle she gradually found the mesh bag part and she looked at me with her eyes open wide.  Yes, this was certainly different.

Now I peel the orange with her watching in great anticipation.  It's one of those simple pleasures.  Who would have thought I would love something so simple as enjoying an orange together.

7th Month

6 Months Old

(26 weeks)

19 pounds 2 ounces (95 percentile), 27 inches long (90 percentile).  

27 weeks

28 

29

30

Ah, my little Reka WillaMay is growing up.  She seems like less of a baby and more of a little girl. 

I love to see the light in her eyes when she recognizes a word, a face, a toy, etc. 

She was fussy the other day.  Couldn't figure out what she wanted.  "You sleepy...?" She still fussed.  "You hungry...?"  She still fussed.  "You want your blanket...?" She still fussed.  "You want some squash...?"  She looked directly at me and smiled ear to ear.  Baby loves her squash.

I have caught her several times looking at things trying to figure them out.  I still smile when I see her staring in wonder at her little hand, opening and closing her fingers.  

In an attempt to encourage crawling, I put her toys just out of her reach.  Since we are in an apartment I have her sitting on a blanket rather then just the carpet.  Instead of crawling like I had hoped, she has now successfully taught herself how to pull on the blanket in such a way that the out of reach toys move towards her.  Well, at least she is developing great problem solving skills. 

When I hold her and sing little songs to her she will sometimes look at my face - make eye contact and smile very big.  I love that! 

She loves to watch dogs.  She can watch them for hours!  She also loves to see flags fly in the wind.  Can't wait to introduce her to her first kite!

She laughs now.  The first time she laughed was an interesting situation.  Don had a work friend over for pizza and a race.  I was getting Reka in the bath tub.  The pizza comes and Don yells from the living room, "we probably won't wait for you..." I was just getting my voice back after being very sick so I weakly said, "you're fine." Apparently he didn't hear me for he then said, "well, we could wait for you...." I, after a week or so of being frustrated that no one could hear me, trying to get Reka in the bath, and tired from a long day of motherhood, yelled (in my scratchy voice) "JUST EAT THE PIZZA!"  Reka WillaMay looked at me and her eyes got really big.  I could tell I startled her.  She was trying to decide whether to laugh or cry.  So I tried to turn it into a fun startle.  I made my face as silly as I could and said in a loud scratchy voice, "EAT THE PIZZA" looking directly at her.  She laughed!  I said it again and she laughed more.  After 7 or 8 times I call for Don.  He comes in and sees her belly laughing.  It was great!  

As the last paragraph shows, my little WillaMay is very in tune to my moods.  I find I must watch myself at every move.  If I cry, she does.  If I laugh, she does.  A little mini-me.  I'm scared and flattered all at the same time.  It's a tall order for a short little lady like me. 

Random Pictures

Mmm.... good bug....

Mama's aim is getting better

Yes, I am this cute in reality

My favorite toy

Bath time with mama

Put the camera down and feed me woman!

First tupperware party