Love at first sight

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Originally uploaded by samspade21

What an exciting day! Abby got to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa McCulley as well as her Great Uncle Rawley and Aunt Sandy. Abby and I flew down to AZ for Memorial Day weekend to visit our family. She did great on her first flight. She was the center of attention, getting to meet all of her cousins and see all of her grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles. My sister, Heather, was so nice to open up her house to not only Abby and I but Brian's family as well. It was a really special occasion for everyone to play with Abby.

Grandpa McCulley sang silly songs to Abby who was just smiling at the joy that he exudes all the time. She sweetly gave Grandma lots of hugs and smiles too. Proud Grandma and Grandpa McFarlane were beaming with love for their first grandchild. It was a neat day.

We'll be going back next week to my good friend Judy's graduation from Naturopathic Medical school. I'm excited for the trip! We'll be staying with Grandma and Grandpa McFarlane. They are planning to babysit Abby while I go to the graduation and are busily preparing for the task.

-Diana

Great Grandma and Grandpa Steele

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Originally uploaded by samspade21

A little on the late side, but life with a new baby is just that. Great Grandma and Grandpa Steele visited us in April (2 and a half months ago)! They made a great trip out of it, by first going to Alaska to see my cousins Sarah, Nate, and their families. They they stayed with us for nearly a week, and it was just wonderful.

Grandpa found new friends in Libby and Bilbo and was a wonderful dog walker. Grandma just ate Abby up, teaching her a new trick - how to blow raspberries (which Abby has performed dutifully every since). It was a special time filled with wonderful memories.

We were really lucky and had my Uncle Steve and Aunt JIll come down to stay for a couple of days too. It was so fun! We took the bus downtown to walk around at Pike Place Market, where we bought a delicious dinner to make at home that evening.

I'll always remember what a special trip that was. We are so thankful that they were able to come stay and that Abby got such good quality time with her grandma ;)

PEPS Moms Group

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Originally uploaded by samspade21

This is a picture of most of the members of my PEPS group (Program for Early Parenting Support) - a non-profit org here in Seattle that hooks up new parents. From L to R is Christing (Gunnar), Jill (Tatum), me (Abby), Kailey (Aleah), Anne (Rosalie), Heather (Owain), Thao (Tyler), and Rachel (Charlotte). Missing that day were Kristin, Cari, and Teresa.

In addition to my fabulously supportive and close knit prenatal centering group, these ladies and their babies have become an important part of my life. Whether it be sharing stories and struggles over email or cracking and/or crying about the new challenges in our lives with these wonderful babies, we are so supportive of each other. We've put together a great mix of just moms dates (happy hour, movies, etc), whole family potlucks, and baby play dates. Daily I can expect to find emails back and forth asking and giving advice about raising our children.

Our lives are not only blessed with the most amazing little daughter ever but a whole new group of great friends.

-Diana

Abby's first food

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Originally uploaded by samspade21

Believe it or not it became quite apparent that Abby was ready for food recently. She began showing all the signs....sitting by herself, acting quite hungry for more breast milk, and showing keen interest in food (ie, attentively watching mommy and daddy eat). She certainly met the weight criteria, weighing in at just over 17 pounds at her 4 month visit (babies need to have doubled their weight or weigh at least 13 pounds, I think). Anyway, the day came sooner that I was expecting for plopping Abby in the chair and trying out some food.

Which food first? Well, most in our culture start with rice cereal, which is fine, but Brian and Abby went to a class called "First Foods" taught by a well renowned RN researcher here at UW named Ann Keppler. She's become pretty well known around the area for her infant development research and teaches lots of classes to new parents. We learned there were lots of options for first foods including avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, meat, you name it.

We bought a mini food processor and I set off making ice cube trays full of food for Abby. I have lots of stored breast milk, so I had all the supplies I needed to make food thin enough for Abby to start on.

On the first evening, we gathered the bib, spoon (same and Brian used when he was a baby), bowl, washcloth, and the camera and mashed up an avocado, mixed to a thin liquid with my milk.

The picture tells it better than I, but the Abbster was NOT a fan of the green concoction. I don't know if it was the avocado or just the newness of the situation, but after some shuttering and slight gags on Abby's part we were done with the first trial.

We are trying foods 3 nights in a row before introducing new foods. So far, in addition to avocado, we've tried peaches, bananas, sweet potatoe, and carrots. Her absolute favorite is the sweet potatoes - she gobbles that up!

It's a fun time for Abby and for us. We are proud of our little daughter, growing up so fast in front of our eyes.

-Diana

PS - Libby and Bilbo are patiently awaiting the introduction of Cherrios to Abby's plate so that they can help her with any that go flying off her tray.