Lovin' Samson and Messy Eatin'!

Rebekah and Samson, our wily and incredibly skittish boxer, are truly learning to value one another- mutual licking is not uncommon. Rebekah plays on the floor and Sam negotiates around her- not once has he hurt her. In fact, he delights in curling up beside her for some much-needed love and attention. Often, he rolls up in between us on the floor, as if to remind me he is family, too. Rebekah ADORES him!



I love these b/c they're so characteristic of them! Sam chose this spot- directly around her and has tucked his paws- not for her protection of her but for his own sanity- she likes to grab them! Plus, you also see her little motor-boat legs kicking wildly in the air- classic Rebe!

Rebekah starts off clean, I promise!

...but ineviatbly, we end up on this predicament! (it's sweet potatoes and mango- lots of orange- not my best menu planning, I suppose...)

Rebekah just had her 6-month appointment- she was past due by about 2 weeks, but who's counting? She is still a peanut and only weighs 15 1/2 pounds, placing her in the 45% , but is a whopping 28 in long, placing her off the charts again! Her wee little head (thanks, Josh!) is still in the 5th %- I guess I owe a thanks to her for that in that my delivery was so easy! The doctor was amazed at how flexible Rebekah is! I truly thought all babies were like that, but she confirmed that Rebeklah is abnormally so- once again thanks to Josh's gene pool! He could do the middle splits (no, he didn't practice gymnastics or anything!) easily in high school and is still extremely limber. Makes me ache thinking about it!

Anyway, Rebekah is sitting better every day and loving it! She has gotten extremely good at feeding herself stars- Cheerio-like things tha dissolve in your mouth so as not to be a choking hazard- she went from raking at them and not knowing they were even in her hand to individually picking them up and transferring them to her mouth- very coordinated- still a genius, I must say- I attribute that to her dad, also...the only thing I claim is her temper and impatience! :)

Choosing which ones to go after is a lot harder than you might think...especially when there's one on your shoulder! (see 2 down)


Gettin' 'em in her mouth- yes, Dad, that's her left hand! She favors it while eating, but her right while playing...?




One of my favorite things about Rebe- she LOVES tags- there's no way I cut them off- it's her favorite part of any toy. In fact, anything that's not supposed to be a toy is grand to her! For example, something we can't live w/o is empty water bottles! She also has her own measuring cups and spoons and loves my spatula while in the high





This was the other day- she loves to sleep with her tiny blanket over her face...I had no idea she would pull her hat onto her face in order to sleep in the car! (notice the water bottle)

A Deer on Our Street!

Josh, Rebekah, and I were eating breakfast when we noticed a deer passing by our house in the new layer of snow! Couldn't believe it!

This is literally across the street from us!



Our little snow bunny- we got 4 or so more inches of snow, so we couldn't resist playing a bit!

Check out the lower lip- I think we might have quite a pouter on our hands!


All is well, though!

Our Fuzzy Little Ducky...aka Time with dad

Josh and I spend our time with Rebekah very differently...for example, I spend a lot of time feeding her, holding her, changing her, dressing her up, and posing her for girly pic's, while Josh discovers new things to put in Rebekah's hands and mouth...



Ummm...I was eating a duck and now it's gone...


Story time with the greatest dad ever (excepting mine, of course!).

Rebekah prefers to lie next to us during story time so she can alternate between rapt attention on the unfolding plot line and returning her reader's rapt attention on her!


Seriously, how cute is she? This was yesterday- she barely took any naps at all, so I was expecting a surly attitude, but this is what we got all evening- and tons of gigles at dinner!


A little suspicious glint in her eye, if you ask me...

We dedicate these to the Mortons, who so graciously loaned us Elizabeth's cute outfits...

(not sure what I did that made this so tiny!)


In other news, if you'd like to know why we are shopping for a minivan (and thus negating any cool factor that may have lingered), see Josh's Tuesday blog post for a pretty crazy tale...firsttheology.blogspot.com (it's linked to my blog on the right).

First Snow!!!

We got 4-6 inches of snow last night and today- so pretty! Fortunately, they sand the roads pretty quickly, so it's not so bad once you get off our street.

This is Rebekah's snow outfit- I wasn't sure how she'd feel about the snow, but I should have known that the bulky clothing would be worth her delighted smiles! Can't wait until she can sled!


This was her first outdoor swing experience- we videoed it- she loved it!!

First Squash and Sitting...

Rebekah had her first butternut squash last week...


The long-awaited sitting shots!

This sitting pose inevitably leads to...


My aunt Korrin passed on this jumpy thing for the doorway- since Rebekah is 6 months old today(!), we decided to try it this week- she loved it!


Wow- she LOVES her dad!


Rebekah kickin' it at the mall in the Gap... (notice the wayward foot out of the confines of the stroller- classic Rebekah)...

Back Home...

We are obviously back home here in cold Iowa...we are just now starting to feel colder weather, altho it's not bad because the days are still in the 30's and it's beautiful! The negative temp's and cold winds on dreary days are when I'll need your prayers!

So, Rebekah has started bananas and butternut squash- still taking everything I put in her mouth, altho I realized that she wasn't getting as much of my milk b/c I was feeding her solids first, so we switched the order and the result is that she is eating fewer solids at breakfast, but the same at other times...hmmm...anyway, she is a great eater and getting better at holding the sippy cup (water). No teeth or anything, but she is sitting!! I am not at a point where I can leave her sitting all by herself w/o a protective barrier just so I can snag a pic or I'd have pics...next blog, I promise! Josh and I will work on it together! Other news, she is still getting over a cold- maybe her 3rd or so and has quite a runny nose. She has risen to the challenge of getting her nose sucked in that she doesn't scream in agony every time...what is it with moms so determined in picking their kids' noses?

Here are some good ones I thought you'd enjoy...

Josh gets home at 5:15 or so and he plays with Rebekah while I cook dinner (he gave me awesome knives and cookware for Christmas and his sister, Sarah, gave me a Rachael Ray cookbook, so I am loving cooking even more!). We have been having our first "family" dinners since we got home in that we all eat at the table together. Rebekah is still in shock that she's doesn't get her food shovelled in her mouth as quickly, but I think she'll survive. (fun side note- Rebekah LOVES getting her mouth wiped b/c she delights in licking the paper towel as it swipes by...)

We're still trying to figure her out and how to avoid 5pm fussiness- as you can see, Josh is the master!


Josh also bathes Rebekah while I do dishes (that's the way I like it b/c he gets more time with her, and honestly would I have thought to put a washcloth on her head or make her sit in a tub the day she learned to sit?!)

This was at the grocery store- I couldn't resist! Truly is there a cuter girl in the world? (the answer is no!)