Little Jeeper

One day in Madison we went to the local children's museum. Not a huge place, but lots of fun toys, and Teresa got to practice her driving. 

Jester!

We went to Madison, WI last week for a little work/vacation trip. It was rather cold (down to 15F as a high one day). Fortunately, Teresa had a nice warm fleecy jester suit. Doesn't she look cozy! 

Teresa has really been taking care of her newfound mobility... recently she's been pushing the kitchen chairs around. Simply walking around them is too boring, but she doesn't seem to quite have the confidence to walk around everywhere she wants to. Then, this evening, dad was 'watching' her while playing guitar and looked up... and she was on top of the kiddie picnic table!After looking like she wants to climb everything in sight, she appears to have finally found something accessible to her.

Walking!

Well, so much for thinking about walking... This morning Teresa was again walking on momma's fingers and momma put her down a few steps away. Teresa got so excited that she forgot that she didn't really know how to walk yet and walked to momma, falling into her hands! OK, it was only three steps, but this evening Teresa really went at it. She walked at least 6 steps to daddy, and was obviously stable the whole way.

In actuality, it was very similar to the way she started crawling... she looked at us for a while with an expression like "I can never crawl that far"... And then in a very short time went from crawling 6 inches to crawling across the room.

Not bad for a 9 1/2 month old!

A step!

This morning Teresa took a step!!

She had gotten to a stand at my legs as I was making breakfast. I stepped away hoping to distract her with tupperware so I could finish prep. She stood there watching me and considering what to do. Then she lifted her left foot and stepped forward. And then sat down.

I called Dad who dashed in but her morning performance was over, no more steps while Dad was home...we'll see what the rest of today brings.

Teresa and I had our usual Friday hike with other Moms and babes. This was a great adventure! Well, all hikes are adventures, but generally we follow a trip report we find posted online (as well as use a map) so we know generally what to expect. Not yesterday. We had the trip report and were following where it said to go, but then reached a point where it was unclear if we were to parallel Eagle Creek or cross Eagle Creek. We picked crossing which as it turned out was not the right way. nonetheless we were still hiking and it was gorgeous. We eventually reached a trail junction that, while again was not signposted well, it actually had a map board so we could see where we were. We saw we could backtrack a smidge and get back on route, or loop around another way. We conferred and chose to loop. The trail took us down the back side of the mountain we'd just climbed, down to a river... sans bridge! So we mamas removed shoes and socks and waded across the knee deep water. All babies made it across nice a dry. We trekked about a mile and then crossed the same river back again. And then climbed up up up the mountain again, eventually reaching the top and the "overlook" that was the turn around spot of the orginally proposed hike. All down hill now back to our cars where we shared a wonderful picnic lunch and lolled about the blanket while the kids climbed, rolled, and explored.

We moms were all pleased with our river fording, but wonder if we'll ever get more moms to join us once word gets out that we're not sedate trail moms ;-)

After playing, there's nothing quite like curling up in the shadow of a pumpkin!

Teresa also got to go on a little train ride!

Teresa went to the pumpkin farm today! Note that her hair is exactly the same color as the overpriced pumpkins!

So yesterday Teresa and I spirited up to Aunty teensy's to deliver som clothes for Alli and 2-bit as well as the carseat and swing that big girl Teresa has outgrown. On the drive up Teresa was playing with her blue key from Good Uncle Jim that plays sounds. She kept whizzing through the sounds until it played "the wheels on the bus" tune at which point hse listened carefully to the verse her Mommy would sing. The key would stop playing and Teresa would again press it again and again until the right tune came on... looks like there is decent hope that she DID get her Daddys musical ear!

Teresa has started playing peek-a-boo with us - I mean that she initiates the game! and she thinks she is the funniest little thing to ever walk the earth when she plays. Of course she is pretty dang funny!! Yesterday I was sitting at the computer working and she was playing in the dining room. I heard her crawling through the kitchen and then get quiet. Well, sometimes she decides to just sit and play with her fascinating hands so I left her be for a moment. Then I heard a quick EEE! I truned around and saw this little cherub faced girl standing tall, with a look of complete amusement, peering around the refrigerator at me! She laughed!!! and played peek-a-boo for a while before crawling to me to get hugs.

Then while we were eating dinner and she was playign int he family room she decided Dad needed some giggles. She crawled over to the table and positioned her self to peek at him. She peek acouple times with little giggles. She started laughing so hard and had such fun laughing that she forgot to play pee-a-boo and just stood there laughing! darling darling girl.

And Teresa got to work on her bouldering moves!

Keriann and Teresa chewing some books!

Keriann and Teresa readong some books.

Teresa got to play in the sand!

We went up to Sea Ranch with Bethany and Keriann... Here we are frolicking at the mouth of the Gualala River.

Here's Teresa in her new swing... showing off her new tooth. (OK, you can't see it.. its the upper left incisor.)

Teresa is closing in on nine months old and has just been doing all sorts of fun things... Including getting sick for the first time, along with momma and daddy! Fortunately, she and momma only had a fever for about a day. This picture is from last week when the mommies went to the Monterey aquarium... of course Teresa's real favorite was the otters with all the running water!

Standing..... By herself!

Recently, Teresa's big thing is that she has been pulling herself up to standing and holding onto things. Occasionally she get's this glassy look in her eyes as she looks across the room at something that she wants to get to, almost as if she could just run across the room to get it at any moment. Well.....

This evening Teresa was standing and holding onto her play-stool (a Fisher-Price widget that she can hold onto and bat and it makes noises and such), with Daddy playing guitar and Mommy working on the computer. We were both watching her out of the corner of our eyes, when she let go.... and stood... for... like... five... seconds!

Yes, for those of you who are counting, that's less than two weeks since she was just rocking back and forth on her hands and knees... Next week we plan to have her staked out on a 5.10c

Welcome home... During our trip, Teresa began crawling and pulling herself up to standing: Probably the influence of getting to see her cousins wandering around! Anyway, we decided that when we got back we would start solid foods. So, here you go... Nectarines!

Teresa with Great-Grandma, Cousin Megan, and Great-Aunt Jane.

Next we stopped to see Mom's family in Ohio. Here is Teresa with her Great-Grandma Ruth.

Then we went to see Niagara Falls! Did I mention that Teresa likes water?

In New York, Teresa met up with her cousins Ben, Sara, and Taylor... What a bunch!

We also went whale watching... Teresa liked the splashing bow wave! We saw lots of puffins and briefly saw a minke whale too!

Teresa got to stick her feet in the water... It was a little cold!

The top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP.

We just got back from a whirlwind tour of the east coast... It wasn't quite the trip from hell, but perhaps the trip from heck. Don't get me wrong... It was alot of fun to see so many people, it's just easier when they all come to see you. :) The brief summary: Maine Wedding to Acadia NP to New York to Ohio to Pennsylvania. On the trip out, Teresa practiced her flute position with a pair of chopsticks.

Oh My!!

Fourth of July

Last night we went to visit a bunch of old friends in Berkeley and didn't get home until after midnight. Teresa, having gone to bed at 8 o'clock thought nothing of being awake at 5 AM, at which point mom kicked dad and told him to go play with his daughter...

So, Teresa bounced and cooed and slurped and drooled and eventually went back to sleep around 7:30, by which time daddy at made a fair amount of progress on "So Long, and thanks for all the Fish", which made him feel less uneasy about the surrealities of parenthood.

Above all: DON'T PANIC .

OK, here's a blast from the past... I finally got around to uploading a bunch of pictures that Matt had taken at the hospital. Still as cute as ever!

WEEEEeeee!

And did I mention that the 'Michael Jordan' has become the 'Gene Simmons'?

The past week has been a whirlwind.. Teresa has been teething (on the top and the bottom?), feeling comfortable sitting without support, and as you can see here, she's started thinking about crawling. I think it's time to start babyproofing!!!

Isn't she cute???

For father's day Teresa made daddy a hot plate!

Today was father's day. We had a little barbeque with the family, and Teresa got to play with her cousin Allison!

We also did a little bit of off-roading in order to get to the climbing area. Teresa didn't really like getting jostled around too much. In order to make it up to her, we let her drive around the gas station parking lot on the way back.

On Memorial Day we went on our annual climbing trip in Southern California.. Teresa got to try out her new backpack!

The Michael Jordan

Teresa's newest thing: her toungue.. she stick it out and wiggles it around, almost like a snake tasting the air. I call it her 'Michael Jordan' look. Of course, given how fast she seems to start one behavior, only to get bored and move onto something else more exciting, it's only a matter of time before she starts doing something else.

We have a big girl who sleeps in her very own cradle in her very own room and sleeps for up to 6.5 hours at a stretch. We're working on even longer.

Teresa made her Daddy's technical magazine look like a mouse made a nest... a few licks of slobber and scratches with the fingers while Mom fixed lunch and blink we have a mouse named Teresa. I'd much rather she devour books by READING them than by EATING them.

We have a little inch worm on our hands, erh, floor. The little miss rolls onto her tummy, sees something she wants and magically inches her way towards it.

she's discovered her bottom lip and sucks on itnow. She can do a silly looking all-upper-lip grin.

where have we been? Teresa's been busy keeping us busy!

Last night Dad showed off Teresa's latest trick... she loves to bang her feet into the ground when laying on her back. You know, kicking her feet, enjoying being alive. well, she can also propel herself in this manner. So after Teresa showed Dad how she could do this on the carpet, Dad put her down on the wood floors and WOW could she scoot! Forget about "babysafing" the house when she crawls, I need to scoot-safe the house now!!

Her other new trick - I first noticed on Sunday, Teresa has learned she has a lower lip and has started sucking on it. very cute. She has a new darling smile that is all upper lip.

She loves her little doggy stuffed animal that goes woofwoofwoof when his string is pulled. He is also really soft and Teresa has noticed things have different textures.

We bought her a fancy hiking backpack and took her climbing on Saturday. She loved being perched up high above Daddy's head. Hopefully she will like it with mommy too - mom has been hiking weekly with some other moms and babes, so far we've tried a sling and Snugli, next hike maybe we'll take the huge new backpack.

Dad has his PhD graduation ceremony this weekend so Gramma and Gramp are flying out to visit very briefly. It will be nice to see all the grandparents together again. Teresa has a fancy new dress that GramMary bought for her, especially to where to Dad's graduation!

Hopefully Dad will post pictures of some of these events soon!

Our little girl is 4 months old today!We went to her docs appt where Doc Pitts was pleasedto learn she's grabbing objects and smiling andlaughing and sleeping and growing.Teresa is in the 50th % for head (16.25) and length(24.25) and 25th for weight (12#10oz). All good news.She got another set of vaccinations today and wasn'ttoo happy with that, but Dad was along and whisked heraway. She quickly quieted outside with Dad while Idealt with administrative details. Dad is now off to work. We will have a quiet day andhope to keep the sad too-many-shots tears away.

Teresa's going to be a big cousin!

Yes Mother's day was a big day for Mom and Aunt Teensy - even more so since next year Christina will be a Mom of two! Yes, Teresa will get a new little cousin in November, what excitement there will be at Keller Christmas with three grandchildren!!

We had three Moms and Babes on the hike as well as one little spunky doggie. After getting gear and babes situated, Alis, Sia, and I hit the trail about 11AM. The trail followed the stream, heading up, with a few small foot bridges crossing the gully. Hailey and Seth peacefully enjoyed the trek, Teresa fussed and complained. After moving Teresa from a back carry to a sling carry, Teresa quieted slightly.

The Moms trekked onwards and upwards. The trail was shaded, mainly by madrone and bay. We stopped occasionally for a breather and to enjoy the stream, but with the ascent and falling water, conversation level was light. Upon reaching Contour Trail, the going got easierand we could converse, identify native plants, and hear Teresa's fussiness more easily. After parallelling the stream for a while, the trail turned away into manzanita.

We chose this spot for a lunch break, moms and babes. Teresa announced the reason for her fussiness by doing one of those charming diaper blowouts! We never get blowouts, I mean 99.99% of the time no problems, so the delicate little lady decides to really let one fly when we're on a hike? without facilities? Without a fresh cover (we cloth diaper)? Without a change of clothes? (all those were back at the car) Argh! So, keeping in mind the prevalance of poison oak, I somehow managed to change her super-poopy diaper with her balanced on my lap. Teresa fit snugly into one of Hailey's diapers (little point to putting a fresh cloth on with the poopy cover!) and then had to proceed the rest of the hike in only the diaper as her outfit was POOPED. Maybe we'll use 'sposies on hikes.

But back to the hike! We continued on our way spotting wildflowers in bloom and pretty groves of trees. We reached the final junction about 1/2 mile from the cars and briefly considered a spur trip as we were enjoying our day, but the shade cover was a little less and with the fair maiden in only a diaper, it seemed prudent to get her back to clothing and waylay any sunburn.

So ~2.5 hours after we started up, we were back down. Happy, a little sweaty, and pleased with our adventure. It was agreed this was a great hike - we'll do it again sometime; it's nice to have a almost 100% shaded hiking trail.

Hands and Feet!

For several weeks, Teresa has been really interested in her hands... she holds then in front of her face and moves them around and explores them and sucks on them, etc... Recently she has made two big developmental steps... First of all, she's started using her hands to bring things to her mouth and suck on them. It's quite impressive to se her suddenly start using those hands for something. Yesterday she was in her play gym and grabbed a hold of a rattle that was hanging above her, and started yanking on it to get it to her mouth, only the chain of baby 'biners wasn't long enough... That's pretty purposeful. I want it!

Then later in the day she was in the swing and I realized she was leaning forward in order to look at her feet... She was basically doing with her feet what she'd been doing with her hands for weeks... clapping them together, rubbing them around and just exploring. it was so neat to watch her be so involved. Yup, our baby is discovering the world!

Back home... It's Tummy Time!

Teresa and Nana.

Teresa with great-great-aunt Ruth.

We all went swimming... here is Teresa showing off her first bikini... She lasted about 5 minutes before she started shivering.. the water was a little cold!

Teresa with the tulips...

Mom and GiGi at the World War II memorial in Washington D.C.

Last weekend, we went back east to visit dad's family... Here is Teresa with GiGi.

Blowing bubbles with dad.

Pondering the world.

Teresa and cousin Allison got together, just before Allison started standing....

Gramp got to feed Teresa.

We went into the hills and found a banana slug!

And with Gramp and Grandma!

And with Auntie Dawn.

OK... here are a bunch of new pictures.... First, Dad's family came for easter. Here is Teresa with Auntie Andrea.

Who is having more fun???

We're tired!!!

Teresa continues to grow.. bigger and bigger and bigger!
This week she has really started to clue into the fact that she can use her hands to interact with the world. She's started batting her playgym animals and taking more of an interest in grabbing things.

Last week, Grandma, Gramp, Aunt Andrea and Aunt Dawn cam out for a few days... mom stayed through the weekend. Dad had planned to get the pictures up this weekend, but he was a bit under the weather. :( At least daddy doesn't have chicken pox (like some friends of ours).

On a brighter note, tonight mommy really blitzed daddy in scrabble... approaching the magical 500 point barrier. When daddy went out, mommy had 462 points and a 22 point word in her hand... Sigh, I think all those baby hormones are finally coming back to haunt daddy! :)