Beautiful Baby

Marcella Reese Garber, 24 Weeks

Strollin'

Marcella is almost big enough to cruise without her carseat. This evening we "tested" her Jeep stroller without the carseat to see if she is big enough to stroll without it, and she's fits..well sorta. With the outside temperature so high this summer, I'll try anything to keep her out of her carseat when possible; they just don't breathe, at all! I did tighten all the safety straps to their smallest size to make her fit. Marci appeared to like looking out. This is a great thing!

Decorative Grass or Bottle Drying Rack?

A lame post one might say but for you mommas I just had to share. I love my bottle drying rack. It's cute, holds a TON, and is very reasonably priced! I've seen it online at Babies R' Us and I know Target carries it too. This was a shower gift in package full of goodies from my family and has proven to be a wonderful! See how much you can cram onto it? It's great! My mom said she even saw it being used as a serving table for o'horderves on one of the morning new channels; how's crazy is that!

Froggin'

Marcella will be six months officially in four days, and she SO wants to crawl. Marci has been using a combination of scooting, pulling, rolling, kicking, and back-arching for a few weeks now to get around, but yesterday she finally pulled her knees in and sat back like a frog waiting to hop. JD and I both watched as she leaped forward into her first face plant, but there were no tears; rather, a look of "did I do that" took over her face! All too soon we realize she will learn to coordinate her arm and leg movements together. Time to baby proof the house. This is a quick picture I snapped using my cell phone this evening. She's is growing up way too fast! It's amazing how much a tiny baby can grow, change, and develop in a short 25 weeks. The miracle of life still continues to amaze us each day.

Squash, Carrots, Peas, Apples, Bananas, Peaches and Cereal

Since the first part of June, we have slowly been introducing baby food to Marci. Depending on her hunger level she can be a really good eater at times. She has gotten used to the word "open" which means open your mouth because the spoon is coming in! We started with squash then moved onto apples, sweet potatoes, sweet peas, peaches, and now bananas. If she had her way she'd only eat bananas for every meal, and I don't blame her. They are very sweet. She absolutely detests peas; if you're not careful she'll spit them right back at you! She'll also do this if you're trying to feed her and she's no longer hungry. Meal time is a fun but interesting adventure. At 25 weeks her daily meals consist of oatmeal cereal and a fruit in the morning, fruit and veggie for lunch, and fruit and veggie for dinner. I am still pumpin' away for her and she consumes most all of a day's supply, which is roughly 25ounces or so. To us she seems to be good eater, but don't let this fool you. She is very petite and still wearing some 3 month onesies.

This picture was taken by Aunt Arianne in the cabin at Grand Lake. No, it has not been digitally altered; her eyes are really that blue.

July 4th

Over the 4th of July weekend we made our first long road trip to Colorado to visit Uncle Josh, Aunt Lauren and Aunt Arianne. We spent Friday night in Denver and headed up to Grand Lake Saturday morning. Rather than taking the interstate we took Trail Ridge Road through the Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to Grand Lake. It was a beautiful drive topped with snow capped mountains and a HUGE heard of elk. This was our first time on Trail Ridge Road and for those of you who have traveled it you know what I mean when I say it was breath taking, literally! We had a great family weekend and even learn Marci will be welcoming her first Burger Cousin on Christmas Day! To close out the holiday weekend I celebrated my last "twenty" birthday. I couldn't have asked for a better day. We started the morning with a F16 fly over by Josh's guard unit, took a hike to Adam's Falls, had a delicious birthday cake, a memorable game of "I'm going on a picnic," and a glorious fireworks show. We've never seen fireworks like the one's in Grand Lake.
Here are a few snapshots of the weekend courtesy of Aunt Arianne. I have yet to get my downloaded off of our camera but will soon!

In training

Dirt

On June 12, Marci helped me plant some new flowers around the house while in her baby carrier. While dangling from my chest, I knew she had gotten a hold of some of the plants, but what I didn't realize was that she was eating the dirt. I snapped this picture after I started cleaning her up!

20 Weeks

On Saturday, June 18 we took our first trip to Sears for a few quick snap shots of our baby girl...who isn't so much of a baby these days! Marcella has started to scoot and crawl! Overall, we are very pleased with the photos and the cost of them too. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!