Vacation!

We went on a vacation to the Outer Banks this past week, and it was a great escape!  Jody and Ed have a super generous friend that allows them to use her beach house for one week each summer, and they invited us to come along.  Grammer and Pops came too!

Pudgy and Proud!

We were rather nervous about such a long car ride with Maggie, so we broke up the trip into 2 days on the way there.  We got up at 3am and started our trip while she slept for several hours.  It was rough, but effective!  She was a super champ and ended up sleeping most of the trip.  I think she only whined a couple times when it was close to feeding time, otherwise she was an angel!

We left on Monday and drove to Erin and Dan's place in Maryland.  We relaxed, ate pizza and watched the hockey game (sorry Dan).  Maggie is excited to meet her new little friend (Dan and Jamie have already betrothed Maggie...) in September!  It was great to catch up with them for a little while.  Tuesday we finished our trip to NC, and got there around dinner time.

Playing on the grass at Erin and Dan's

We wasted no time getting Maggie into the swimming pool!  She was a little nervous at first, but seemed to enjoy it after a little while.  She pretty much wanted to drink pool water the whole time!

Little whimpers for the first few minutes...

Living it up!

mmm, chlorine

We tried out the beach and ocean the next day, which Maggie wasn't as fond of... still had a great time though!

Clinging to Daddy for dear life... ocean was too scary!

LOVED the sand... difficult to keep out
of her mouth!

Loved her toes even more!

Is there anything better than napping to
the sound of the ocean?

I love my cousin!

Future rock star?

Namaste

In keeping with tradition, Pops gave his granddaughter her first "pops"-icle, strawberry flavored.  She was a happy baby :)

I don't know how I feel about this...

...yes I do!

Give me more!

We celebrated Grammer's birthday, watched movies, played games and just relaxed at the beach house until it was time to leave Saturday morning.  

Grammer and Pops

The Polon trio

Our trio

Maggie loves a good breeze

Posing on the bridge

Captivated by Uncle Ed

Look at me standing!

Poolside with Aunt Jody

Snuggles with cousin Alex

Singing the Rabine birthday song with Grammer

I love my hubby

I beat you to it, Mama!

Can't get enough of these toes!

We again left insanely early to take advantage of Maggie's sleep schedule.  We were originally planning to get a hotel in Pittsburgh and finish the drive on Sunday, but Maggie was such a trooper that we decided to push through to home!  She got rather annoyed for the last hour of the trip, but was an awesome passenger otherwise!  3am - 7pm... long day, but not too shabby.  Then we gave her a bath, and she pooped all over the floor... just what we needed after a long day in the car :)  

Lots of firsts for Maggie this week - first pool, first ocean, first sand, first popsicle, 5 new states!

Maggie has unfortunately learned to scream... it's actually pretty cute (most of the time).  She is very high-pitched.  She loves when we play shadow with her, attempting to repeat all of her sounds.  She hasn't tried to copy us, I figure that's a ways off yet.  Maggie went from supporting herself on her legs for a few seconds to about a minute or so (with us holding her torso for balance).  She's laughing a lot more than before, and is way more interactive!

Get Your Hair Did

Well, I decided Maggie was looking a little shabby with her mullet, so we took her for her first haircut on Tuesday.  She was an angel the entire time, it was rather anti-climactic.  It looks a lot fuller now, though the pictures don't really do it justice.  It's short, but pretty cute!

Check out my new doo!

We love looking in the mirror!

Can we go home now?

Seriously, let's go.  I want my bottle.

Maggie is now rolling all the time, it just happened out of the blue!  She also continues to vocalize more each day.

Daddy and I took Mommy out to lunch today!

Maggie is starting to realize her power to make noise.  She loves banging things, even if it's just banging her stomach with her hand!

We had her 6 month photos taken this week, which didn't go exactly as planned.  She decided to be more thoughtful than bubbly, and then feel asleep before I could change her into another outfit!  Oh well, she was still pretty cute.  I have so many fun headbands that I wanted to put on her, but her hair always ends up sticking out everywhere.  Here's my attempts to try some on the night before:

Stop, I don't have any makeup on!

Um, I don't think this is where it goes...

Edible headband?  If only...

I miss my girl, I feel like I never get enough time with her.  I love putting her to bed each night.  We put on her shoes and her PJs, and then we walk upstairs and I rock her for 5 minutes or so until she's borderline asleep.  She always seems to know that it's time to settle down, and she just stares at me and touches my face.  It's our special time, and I look forward to it every day.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us, so I'm going to bed!  

Father's Day Weekend

This one's for you, Daddy

We had a very busy weekend, hence the late update!  Maggie had quite a busy week, I think she was out of the house at some party/function/appointment every day since Wednesday!

Lost my shirt playing poker

We went to the orthopedist on Thursday to check out her feet.  The doctor says everything looks good, and it’s time to order the next shoe size for her.  She will have to wear the braces 16 hours each day until she’s two… this really bummed me out, I thought she would get to wear them only at night soon (she’ll do that from ages 2 to 4).  It will be easier once she has a standard nap schedule, then we can plan to put the braces on for sleeping only and keep them off for playtime.  The whole clubfoot thing hasn’t been a huge difficulty, but I just hate restricting her for so many hours each day.

We had a few friends over Saturday for a barbecue.  Maggie stayed up way past her bedtime, so we fed her an extra bottle and put her to bed assuming we’d get to sleep in for once!   Nope!  She woke up almost every hour and still wanted to get up at her normal time Sunday morning.  Lesson learned – do not mess with the kid’s schedule.

Playing Touch-the-Face

The Reeds gave Maggie her new favorite toy - a slinky!

Sunday was Father’s Day, and a rather sleep-deprived daddy celebrated with his daughter.  It was a very busy day – we started with church in the morning, then headed to my parents for a yummy lunch, then over to Jamie’s parents for a delicious dinner.  Jamie went to a movie with the family while I took Maggie home to eat and bathe.  She slept like a rock, and so did Mommy – thank goodness!  I took some pictures at Grammer and Pops', but ran out of time at Grandma and Grandpa's!

Hanging with Daddy

Cousin Luke showing off his daredevil skills

Note - that is a plant in the background,
not Maggie's hair

Happy Father's Day, Pops!

This is especially for Aunt Jody

Sleeping in possibly the most uncomfortable
position ever!

Maggie is still loving her veggies – we’ve done carrots, sweet potato, squash and peas so far.  We’ll try green beans next, and then introduce some of the fruits.  Pops is going to give her the first popsicle soon, in keeping with family tradition.

Probably a little too young still...

Maggie’s making a lot more noise now, and her volume has gone up.  Yesterday we heard a couple “Ba ba” noises when she was crying, so I think we might get a few syllables soon.  Currently, she seems to communicate only with “ahs”.  I was warming up to sing at church yesterday, and she really seems to like all the silly syllable warm-ups I do. 

I can't stand the paparazzi

So I will eat my sunglasses in protest!

Maggie (probably like most babies) seems to enjoy instruments a lot.  If I sit her behind me and play the piano, every time I look over my shoulder she’s just staring calmly.  Uncle Justin played her a song on the ukulele yesterday, and she had the same reaction.  

She also really likes our TV remote: