Nothing Exciting

David is trying to get me excited about watching an old Popeye movie that he bought today. Yeah, I'm so not into it, so I'll sit here and make up something to write about Daphne instead.

She's doing a few things right now that totally crack me up. For one, she always has to be grabbing at something. Anything. Her arms are constantly straight out, hands open, searching for something to grab. And then it goes straight to the mouth. Important papers (like her dad's fantasy football paperwork) should not be left within her reach. This just goes to show that her opinion of fantasy football is not too far off from my own. Although I won't go to such lengths as to eat the ranking list that David spent hours and hours preparing.



















But moving on (no bitterness here)...

When little Daphne wants some love and no one is near enough to appease her she scrunches her face up, opens her mouth real wide and gives this pathetic little whimper-like cry. It sound just like "iyiyiyiyiyi!" It makes me laugh every time because it is so fake. I don't pick her up right away hoping she'll keep doing it because it's sooo funny. That sounds so harsh and mean, but what can I say? It really is that funny.

And she's perfecting her stink eye. This is what happened when David told her the truth about Santa Claus:













I do try to take pictures of Daphne smiling, or even looking semi-happy. But I think she's afraid of the camera. She'll be laughing it up, but as soon as I pull out the camera she looks like she's being tortured. So here's my favorite unhappy Daphne picture of the week:

Stopping Traffic & Baby Goats

**I just realized the title sounds like it's saying "Stopping Traffic and Stopping Baby Goats." But that's not right. It's like the sign that makes me laugh: SLOW children at play. To me is says "there are slow children at play", although I know it means "slow down there are children playing." Anyways, stopping traffic is a separate incident from the baby goats. You'll see.


stopping traffic
Fall is almost here! Our favorite season! I have a favorite little store in Gresham that is having a Fall Open House this weekend showcasing their new fall decor. This store is right across the street from one of our favorite coffee houses, so we made a date this morning of visiting both places.

Daphne wore her new hat, and I tell you, she was the center of attention everywhere we went. She was soaking in the groups of people who were stopping to tell her how amazingly cute she is. This is where she was saying, "aw, shucks, I'm so thankful for all my adoring fans."













And this is where she is letting me know she is tired of her boring baby cup full of boring water.













baby goats
Then this afternoon we joined Brooke and Adelle for a trip to a little goat farm not too far from here so that we could visit the baby goats and get some raw milk. I thought Daphne would love the goats because goats are kind of like dogs. I mean, they have 4 legs and they run around, so I thought Daph would see the similarities. She was interested for about 2 minutes and that's it. I was a little disappointed.


























Seriously, how can you not be excited about these little guys?

Still a Flower Child

You may remember this series of pictures that were taken when Daphne was 2 months old:















6 months have passed, many things have changed. Her opinion of the flower headband?




















Pretty much the same.

And This Is Why I Had a Girl

Because a huge flower on the head of a little boy just wouldn't be the same.

Yesterday we met Tate and Meeka for a playdate. Since Meeka is surrounded by boys in her family, it's good that she needs to let out some baby girl steam and buy Daphne something monstrous and pink.




















I had a great time parading her around church this morning.

Speaking of church, for all you who need to know, Daphne's dedication has been postponed. There were some scheduling conflicts with church staff members, so we have to find a new date. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's not my fault...

Pictures of the Day

Mom walks by:



















Dogs walk by:














Cute baby buns:

I Always Knew She Was A Genius

I am proud to say that we are among the wave of parents using sign language with their babies. If you need to tell me how silly I am for following this trend, just be prepared for my wealth of knowledge on the subject. I've got ammunition, baby.

And today I am pretty much certain that Daphne and I had our first conversation. It went something like this:

I filled her up with two bottles plus some carrots and potatoes. It was the amount of food she usually eats in the afternoon, so I cleaned her up so she could move on to playtime. After a few minutes of playing she looked me in the eye and made a very convincing hand motion that looks exactly like the sign for 'milk.' I asked her if she wanted more milk and she got all wiggly with excitement. I scooped her up and she ate almost a full bottle more.

It's true, we were talking.














"Yes mom, I am a genius. That's why I always have this exact same expression on my face."

Daphne in the Ultrasound Room

At one of my final ultrasounds with Daphne before she was born, our doctor noticed her kidneys were filled with fluid and possibly not draining properly. After she was born and in the NICU, she had an ultrasound done to check on her kidney function. It was only after all of this that we learned it's very common for babies at the end of a pregnancy to have this kidney back-up going on. It's just that most pregnancies aren't monitored with ultrasounds every three weeks, so it's not usually seen.

When we applied for life insurance for Daphne she was denied based on a life threatening kidney disease that she apparently suffers from. Our pediatrician let us know that nothing was wrong with Daphne's kidneys, and that someone in the insurance world just doesn't know how to read medical charts.

Today we had a follow up ultrasound to prove that Daphne's kidneys really are OK. They were fine after she was born, and while we don't have the results from today back yet, no one is expecting any problems. But I loved that the person who scheduled the ultrasound with me told me to make sure Daphne's bladder remained full before the appointment. I didn't even know how to respond to that.

Daphne was so good, though! She laid there patiently and played with her toy, holding much more still than she ever did during prenatal ultrasounds. And her bladder was even full. I guess she listens to me more than I thought she did.



















Ultrasound rooms tend to give me heart palpitations, so I'm glad she was able to remain calm and happy.

She also spent some time today drooling on Ellie the cat. Ellie is rather skittish, so to have her sit still enough for Daphne to even notice she's there is pretty rare. Daphne has a new best friend!

Wow!

Today we were outside enjoying the breeze. Daphne was sitting up holding my hand, looking so cute...















When I decided to let go. Just to see what would happen....



















And what do you know! She stayed there! (for maybe 5 seconds, but who's counting?) I know it looks like my arm is holding her up, but I'm serious that it was like a foot behind her. Far, far away, not helping her at all. I love her look of intense concentration. Each time we did this, and after she had toppled over, she would give the hugest grin like she knew she was doing something amazing.

Then Daphne got in some good doggie bonding time. She may look like she's crying, but her face is actually reflecting her great squeals of delight. Lola's face? Not so much with the delight.













And David's favorite:













I'm getting a little concerned about what we're going to do once winter sets in and we're stuck indoors all afternoon. Today Daphne played on her blanket, happy as a clam, for about an hour and a half. This long period of happy playtime only happens when we're outdoors. I'll have to think of some way to make her think we're outside when we're really not.

Sometimes You Just Need to Buy Your Baby Something Frivolous

Which in this case is a pink cowboy hat. Now we have ourselves a little cowgirl baby. Cowbaby? I don't know.















She wasn't in the mood to rustle up some chickens. She did try to boss Brynner around, though.













She needs a little gingham dress to match. I would sew her one, but I don't really have the knack for sewing. Plus my little $2 mending kit from Bi-Mart won't get me very far. And when I say "my" mending kit I really mean "David's" mending kit.

Don't Tell Miss Manners

I heard a tip one time that when you're starting to let your kid try to feed herself, give her food on a plate instead of just all over the high chair tray. Something about they're going to eat on a plate when they're bigger, so you might as well get them used to it right away. I don't know that I really care or have an opinion on that; I mostly just want to use her cute plate. Because while you're teaching your kid about manners, you might as well throw in a lesson or two about accessories and how much they can add to any occasion.

Anyways, Daphne, being the brilliant baby that she is, figured out the best way to get food from plate to mouth.













And was quite interested in looking at the pretty pictures on her plate.













I know she did get enough food into her belly, though, as I am sitting here smelling one of the most foul diapers of the week. Yay for solid foods.

She Can Do What?

I have this problem of underestimating what Daphne can do. For instance, I have her clothes divided by size and boxed into totes, ready to be opened when she reaches that particular size. Newborn - 3months clothing is all packed away into it's box and now she's into the 3-6 month tote. But for the longest time I was thinking, "she's way too small for 3-6 months, I won't get into that box yet." Once I finally did crack that tote open some of the stuff was almost too small because I just didn't expect her to be that big yet.

We've had this darling high chair sitting in one of the guest bedrooms waiting for Daphne to grow into. Of course I've been thinking the chair is so huge, and Daphne appears to be taking her sweet time learning how to sit (which I am not looking forward to telling our community health nurse), so I didn't think we were getting too close to needing it yet. But this afternoon she and I were outside swinging, and the high chair was on the patio where it had been used by a little one during the huge birthday party over the weekend. I figured I would sit Daphne in it just to see what would happen. Well, what do you know? She was thrilled.













I took 97 pictures of her having the best time ever. And then we discovered there was even more fun to be had: sitting in the high chair while gnawing on dried apple rings. Basically little baby heaven.













Ahhh, high chair, where have you been all my life?



















But I don't need to get into the 6-9month tote yet. She's way too small.

Dabney Who?

When Daphne was first born - and even before she was born when we were considering the name Daphne - David had some slight confusion with her name and kept calling her 'Dabney.' Why, you ask? Because of the lovely Dabney State Park, where he has tons of fun playing Frisbee Golf. We went there today for a picnic and mini hike.

Daphne totally enjoyed it, can't you tell?




















No, she was super happy until the end when it was getting close to bedtime. David carried her back to the car on her tummy, where she nestled in to this position:













David mentioned that Dabney would be a cute name for a kid, too. Daphne and Dabney? I don't think so.