First parsnip harvest!

I'm so excited I can grow them! Did you know? All you have to do is sprinkle some seeds, be patient, and kabam! Parsnips!

This is how we do it

I start on the knees, like this...

Then I pull up and stand!

I'm just showing off here - one hand, Ma!

Zoo and Ehli Family Reunion

What is that you say? The zoo and the Ehli family reunion were probably quite similar to each other? Why, you must know my family!
(Just joking, family!)

Marie squealed and waved to the baby snow leopards.

With Grandma (and still waving)

Our little family

Chasing Mingus

Everyone together! Amazing! I love this family of ours.
Happy 66th Anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa!

Marie's first camping trip

The men, each with their choice of weapon: gun, dog, baby.

Today's harvest

From the backyard...

Greens harvest: mustard Greens, blue scotch kale, chard, and a few peas

Herb harvest: black stemmed mint, greek oregano, sage, and lemon thyme

Alleged Evidence for the Naysayers

Strong documentation implying that perhaps Marie isn't the most beautiful baby in the world every minute of the day.

Can you identify any of the foods?

Cyclin'

Look what we can do now!  And maybe if we keep doing it, we can go longer than a mile without Mama getting pooped!  I think a combination of 20 pounds of extra weight on the bike with not having biked in over a year made for a tough ride. Well, the downhill was super fun. The uphill, however, was excruciating. Too bad we live in Seattle and it's all either uphill or downhill.

Joel starts summer classes tomorrow so this will be Marie's and my main mode of transportation for a while. I better get in shape quick if I ever want to do anything!

What we have here.

What we have here is a beautiful 8 month old baby with one tooth.

 

Marie is delighted with swinging, and squeals and laughs at whoever is pushing her.

She is very interested in solid food, and loves avocado, broccoli and bananas. She will drink anything out of a cup - so much fun! That includes water, kefir, sauerkraut juice, the water I defrosted her peas in - really anything, I think. And Joel declared yesterday we should not let her drink lettuce soup anymore because it comes out looking exactly like it went in.

Marie loves baths and swimming. She finished her first course of swim lessons. She loves to kick and splash in the water and doesn't mind water getting in her face at all. She can go under the water and hold her breath the whole time.

She loves being on the ground, and can get pretty much anywhere she wants to go. Which is inevitably directly to the nearest power cord, or tiny piece of old stale food that fell on the floor.

On Father's Day, we planted a Staghorn Sumac tree for Marie. The tree is now growing with the help of Marie's trusty old placenta, which was buried beneath the tree.  The tree will have beautiful colors in the fall, right around the time Marie was born.

And what we have here is a case of sibling envy. I do believe it is the classic case of the older child wanting to be the baby again, don't you agree?

Latest happenings

Great Grandpa! And Great Grandma looking on.

 On Mother's Day weekend - she is about 6 1/2 months here.

 Four generations of mothering and mothered - Ruth Elizabeth, Randi Marie, Heather Elizabeth, and Marie Iona. I love the family connections of names. It is a reminder of the deeper connections we all have to each other.

 Campfire jam. The stinkin' video wouldn't load.

This here is the cutest baby in the world. Trust me - you have it on good authority.

I'm in love with this girl

This girl loves exploring grass and flowers! Also apparently has a taste for gravel - we were at the garden plot and I had left her on the blanket for two seconds to fill the watering can. When I got back she had a mouth and face full of gravel and was going for more. She was pretty angry with me for ruining her fun.

Marie's first solid food - sweet potatoes. She was confused and skeptical. She has since had avocado and banana (and that gravel), and wavers between accepting solid food and loudly declining.

Day out at Gasworks Park with a wonderful group of friends!

You can see some of the gasworks behind her here. Read some history here.

Look at my beautiful blue eyes!

This girl is now sitting up on her own, with occasional but harmless topples. She is slowly growing more hair, but no teeth yet. She loves rolling all over the place and has no interest in learning to crawl, although she loves to stand (with help).  Her laughing spells are unexpected and despite our focused efforts, come on when we are not trying. Whereupon we continue doing whatever we were doing until we hurt with the repetition. We covet those sweet laughs.

Six months!

Marie is halfway to her first birthday! Her first day felt like the first day of my life in such a new way. And indeed, we have been transformed by having this precious creature in our life. She is such a sweet girl, delighted by animals, entranced by hair - on the head or the chin, content with her feet as her only toy, happiest of all in the arms of someone who loves her.

Interview

Marie has been expressing her opinion on a variety of matters lately and it seemed like a good idea to write it down for posterity. Here are the results of a recent interview.

Favorite nursery rhyme: Baa Baa Black Sheep
Favorite band: Abba
Favorite song: Barbara Ann (The Beach Boys' cover version)
Favorite broadcast journalist: "Babwa" (Barbara Walters)
Favorite period haircut: the bob
Favorite classic film: The Blob
Favorite Russian legend: Baba Yaga
Favorite Middle Eastern food: baba ganoush
Favorite current US president: Barack "Obaba"

We feel that despite her tender years Marie is showing discriminating taste. We are hoping to encourage these open-minded tendencies and further broaden her horizons by introducing her in the near future to the Dada movement and Lady Gaga. We still haven't figured out who introduced her to Abba, however, as we never listen to them.

Marie's First Easter

Marie mixed up the solemnity of Good Friday with the joyfulness of Easter. No smiles at picture time!
Meeting the Easter bunny, Abigail. So fluffy! So fun to grab the fur!
Grandma and Grandpa got Marie an Easter basket!

...And... the Cutest Person in a Hairnet EVER Award goes to....

Marie!!She rocked it better than anyone else! We took Joel's parents on a Theo Chocolate Factory tour the other day. It was wonderful... besides eating lots of chocolate, it's interesting to see the process of making chocolate. They really focus on the reasons they are organic and fair trade, and by the end I am pretty sure I'm not the only one who pledges to herself to stop buying chocolate that isn't fair trade. They are the first organic fair-trade chocolate makers in the US, and they are here in Seattle! We will take each of you there when you visit us.

They also made Joel wear 2 (!!) beard-nets this time, because one just doesn't cover it all!

she's on a roll*

Marie finally learned how to roll over today! Once she realized she could do it, she proceeded to continue rolling over for the next twenty minutes. And since she can only turn from back to belly, she would cry and yell once she was on her belly. We'd flip her over again, and then, repeat. Over and over.. fun game, huh guys?

I am sure you have all seen babies roll over. So, in lieu of that video, I will instead post a photo to pull out on Marie's first dates:And one of her beautiful kissable face at sleepy peace (click on this one to see those gorgeous lashes close up):
In other news, I got a garden plot in the new Community Garden! Yay! We'll have access to them mid-April (they have to build the raised beds first). So I can start some seeds now and hope they grow. Any suggestions to heat seeds from below without buying anything?

*I apologize. That's the best pun I could come up with, and Joel isn't home.

Our habit

Many mornings a week, right around the time the baby starts to show she's ready for her first nap, I bundle us up, put her in the carrier, tie on my walkin' shoes, and head out. We walk to Twin Ponds Park, just a few blocks away from home. Once we enter the park, our walk is through the Trail of Cedars, between the two ponds full of ducks, around the soccer field, over the bridge where we hear all sorts of birds we don't know how to identify, through the 'Future Community Garden'* space, around the always-empty tennis court, all over the arboretum, and then back around one of the ponds and back through the Trail of Cedars, to back home. The baby is usually asleep by the "between the two ponds" part, and stays asleep until we reach our door, and my rhythmic walking stops.

Setting out, it is clear we are not out of the urban jungle yet, if you spy the graffiti. Baby Marie's hat is one that was made for one of my brothers when they were a baby - anyone know who knit it? I suspect Grandma Berwold.

Baby woke up earlier than usual this day, and took in some of the return walk.

*I will know Thursday if I get a spot in the Community Garden. I hope so!