Busy Belle: Birthday, Barney and Blueberries

We've been busy! The last month has flown by.

Our little Belle turned one in early August, so we decided to throw a party for her.

It was quite an affair. Friends and family came from all over to help us celebrate. Lanie even had a baby sized cake specially made for her. She is now the proud owner of more creepy, talking animals than she knows what to do with.



The morning line up on PBS has become a staple in our house. Classics like Sesame Street and Clifford are great ways to introduce the little one to colors, shapes and letters.

There is one show, however, that we disagree on greatly. Every attempt has been made to keep Barney out of the picture, because he's awful.


He clearly has sinister motives, and he's not to be trusted. When he comes on, the T.V. goes off. Period.

Last week, though, we accidentally tuned in just in time to catch a sickeningly cheerful version of Yankee Doodle Dandy bastardized to extoll the virtues of oral hygiene. As I began to dry heave and frantically search for the remote, I looked over to see that Lanie was absolutely enthralled. In the name of love, I decided to give the purple menace a minute to redeem himself. The on-screen action quickly shifted to a group of young children playing hopscotch while Barney and his somehow even more disturbing half-bother BJ jumped up and down with glee. I didn't even realize I had drifted into a dinosaur murder fantasy until my daughter's clapping and laughing snapped me out of it. We're hoping this doesn't become a problem.

On a more pleasant note, Lanie continues to be a fantastic eater. Her high-chair has become a second home.

Realizing that she is going through a crucial stage of physical development, we never pass up the chance to offer her food, and she rarely turns us down. She still only has two teeth, though, so most of her food needs to be cut into smaller-than-throat sized pieces. Last week I diligently quartered about 20 blueberries for her afternoon snack and then watched in horror as she jammed the 80 tiny sections into her mouth in three massive fistfulls. I can't believe more babies aren't Darwin Award winners. We're doing our best to keep her off the list. So far, so good.

Dance Fever

From the time she learned to stand, Lanie has been unable to stop herselself from dancing when she hears music. Eveything from Coltrane to the obnoxious ditties on the radio seem to make her move.

Here she can be seen composing some music on the keyboard before activating the built in demo song. It's almost as if she only has a second or two to brace herself before she is completely overtaken by the funk. It's amazing that our brains are born knowing how to groove, but take several years to gain the control necessary not to poop ourselves. I'm in awe.

The oppresive heat has kept us largely indoors for the past couple of weeks, but we did find time recently to take a swim.

It's hard to believe that our little beauty is almost one! She continues to get better every day, and life without her is a distant memory. We're very proud of the progress she makes on a daily basis. We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Not a baby, not yet a toddler...

It's hard to know for sure when it happened, but Lanie has cast off the shackles of gravity and babyhood and become a little girl. The change seemed to come overnight.

She whines, laughs and plays like a real human. She has a favorite toy (a ragdoll with a delicious smelling head), a favorite food (banana, which she greedily stuffs into her face several times a day), and a newly developed, "what are you going to do about it?" look that can normally be seen after a big drink of dog water or the introduction of a choking hazard into the mouth .

Bathtime. If you miss it now, don't worry, there will be a second screening on her 16th birthday.

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Lanie's ultra dextrous fingers are now strong enough to open just about anything that opens. Make-up cases, cell phones, musical instruments, eyelids, questing-hounds, devil-cats and many others have suffered her wrath to varying degrees. I personally find that I no longer even mentally register a face-claw unless it draws blood. It often does.

Here is a portion of a nap. The flowing hair is reminiscent of Easy Rider era Jack Nicholson. So handsome.

Baby Steps...

We have a walker! Ms. Beautiful has been growing more confident in her balance over the last couple of weeks, and yesterday took her first few steps toward greatness.

Allison and Aunt Robin can be heard in the background cheering her on.

We are all very excited to see what additional hijinx and near-death situations she will be able to get herself into now.

When we're not checking milestones off of our list months ahead of time, we like to spend time relaxing. Trips to the park, pool and Magic House have highlighted the Summer so far.

This week, we went to the park for a ride on the swing.

For babies, it seems that every day is an endless series of suicide missions. Lanie spends most of her free time rabidly pursuing different situations that would almost certainly result in her demise were there not older humans/hounds close by. Her ever increasing mobility makes keeping her safe a constant challenge. As quickly as one can thwart an attempt to eat a big rock she found somewhere, she is off to splash in the dog bowl. Kids really do love that water.


Between these missions, however, she is fun to have around. If there is something within her reach that looks like anything, she wants it. Thankfully, it seems that the urge to put everything directly into her mouth has subsided a bit. It is still there, but it looks like the eyes have kicked in as the dominant sense. A non-medically trained and biased well-wisher recently declared that she has 20/5 vision, or better. Or better.



Two tiny teeth are finally starting to poke through her bottom gum. It is nice to finally have some visual proof of tooth, as every fuss or fret since four months old has been attributed to teething. It's great to see her moving forward, but at 10 months old it already can make one nostalgic for the times when she couldn't draw blood with a simple nose-chomp.





Lanie has also developed quite an interest in politics. Here she is doing her best Lee Harvey Oswald. We're so proud.

Lanie is huge

Lanie is huge. The other night she tried to wear some button-up pjs that fit fine not three weeks ago. She barely got the top part over her giant head, and the legs could only hang over her diaper like a popped inner tube.

When she was born, her foot was exactly the size of a father's thumb. Now it is noticeably longer.

She is super dexterous and often sticks one or more fingers into your: eye, nose, mouth or worse, and clenches as hard as possible. This often draws a small amount of blood. The consequences of screaming out in pain and hurling the baby are too dear, so one must only laugh. This might be how being into S&M gets started. I hope not.

If she continues to develop at this rate, she will surely be able to crush us all with her dumb strength and sheer size in weeks.


Here she is diving head first off of the bed. She also seems to be into Radiohead, which is a great sign.

Thanks for your interest.

F.Y.I.-This web-log is under new management. Please stay tuned.

Long Time

Sorry for the delay between posts!!!! Life has gotten busy! Lanie is and has been officially mobile for about 2 months, which creates tons of fun and challenges. Here she is showing off her fancy pants with her Cardinals cheer outfit on opening day.
Lanie has also been getting spoiled by Grandma Bowers taking lots of walks in one of her three fancy strollers. (Yes, you need to have three strollers, they all serve different purposes) Isn't she so cute?!

Lanie has been getting lots of daddy time and has really enjoyed hanging out with Geoff.

She is officaly 9 months old. We are still waiting on teeth, but her hair has filled in. She can even sport a little pony tail. She weighed in at 16 lbs 15 oz (20%) and 27 inches (50%) at her check up yesterday. Everything else is going great. We are enjoying being back in St. Louis and have gotten to catch up with our family and friends. We do miss our friends back in Oregon and will hopfully visit there one day. Oh last exciting note!!! Lanie will be serving as a flower girl in Ocotober 2011 in my sister's wedding!!! Congratulaitons Jen and John, I am alson honored to be a part of the big day.

Lanie is growing before our eyes. Here is Lanie showing off her baby gang signs and her sitting up ability. Lanie has also been spending time working on her music. Geoff is showing her how to play the piano, real lessons will start when she gets in kindergarten.

A creative way to keep Lanie contained! She has started pulling up and standing, so no more laundry basket time.

Her eyes are still blue at 7 months, so we will see if they stay. Eveything else is going great in STL. Lanie has started to crawl and at last check was 15lbs 12 oz. Still no teeth, but the way she drools, they should be coming in any day now.

My mini-me

This is just a quick post, but I have to share this picture of my mini-me and I. Geoff got me this hot pink sweat suit years ago for a Christmas present. I have always liked it, but its one of those kind of outfits you can't wear too much b/c its very recognizable. When Lanie was about 2 months old, I was a Target as saw the same sweat suit in mini size!!! I bought it in 6 month size and have been waiting for months until she would be big enough to fit into it. Well the time has come! I imagine I will be wearing my pink sweat suit a little more these days just so we can match!

We're baaaack!

The family has made it back to the LOU! Lanie is growing before our eyes. Here she is in her high chair reading a book.

She has also become a rolling machine! We put her on her back, and within seconds she rolls over to her belly. She has also become an accomplished sitter - pictures to come soon.

It's a little colder here in STL than Oregon, so Lanie has to get used to wearing hats, so far, so good.

Larry also is happy to be back in St. Louis. Here he is meeting his new cousin Olive. They are already BFFs:) Nothing else to report. We miss the nature views of Oregon, but seeing our family everyday is the best view in the world.