Friends of Mine

In Illinois, I visited with three of my best and oldest friends: Bonnie, Stephanie, and Suzanne.  Suzanne came to see me in March (see earlier posts) and I hadn’t see Bonnie and Steph since Christmas time.  Right after I left Illinois in January to return to work, Bonnie had a baby girl.  I just know that Lyla and Geneva will grow up being great friends and we have many fun things planned for them.

Here are some pictures and video:

Me, Steph, and Suzanne

 

Bonnie, Geneva, Me, and Lyla

 

Steph got Geneva this outfit.

Greg had fun playing with Lyla, who is crawling!

Steph, Geneva, Bonnie, Lyla, Me, Suzanne

 

Lyla checks out Geneva, who was swaddled b/c she was fussy.

So much Better!

While we were on our cross-country trip, I was able to steal a few hours with some good friends from St. Louis and do one of my favorite things: go to a Better Than Ezra concert!  Pam, Leslie, and I used to frequently go to BTE concerts in the St. Louis area.  With a new drummer (sad b/c I loved Travis), the guys from New Orleans are promoting their new album.  Check them out here at www.betterthanezra.com

It was an awesome night and so great to see a band that I’ve followed (though less religiously lately b/c they rarely come to Texas) for the past 8 years.

Here we are before the show- Three happy girls/two happy mamas (Pam, in pink, has twin girls who are almost 2).

Stay tuned…

More to come about our travels to Illinois and visiting with family and friends :)

Smith Family

We also visited with Greg’s grandfather, uncle, and aunt in/near Pittsburgh.  It was great visiting with them and so nice of Uncle Chuck to let us stay with him.  Here are pictures of Geneva with her great-grandfather and of us as a group.

This is Greg and his grandfather standing in front of the high school where gpa Smith attended (and literally walked 2+ miles across town and uphill to get to).

Williamsport, PA

Greg’s Nana and two uncles live in Williamsport, PA, which is a gathering place for his relatives in other parts of the state.  It was so special for Geneva to spend time with her great-grandmother (Nana), Nonna (Greg’s mom), and all of Greg’s aunts/uncles, and cousins.

In fact, Greg’s uncle Frank graciously hosted a Welcoming/Summer Party for Geneva, family, and many friends.  Geneva was held and cooed over by many family members and friends, including her great-great uncles.  It was a very special and memorable day which included a band, a whole roasted pig, lots of delicious food and desserts, and many smiles.  What a terrific day: THANK YOU Uncle Frank, Nana, Nonna, and everyone else who made it happen.

Here are some pictures from that day, plus a few others with the Pellegrino crew:

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Moo Cow

As we drove through State College, PA, we stopped at Penn State to indulge in delicious ice cream from The Berkey Creamery.  As part of their Food Science program, the ice cream is produced and sold on sight from milk largely obtained from their own herd of cows.  The ice cream was extremely tasty and Ben and Jerry are alums of their correspondence course in the finer points of ice cream making.

Anyone who has breastfed will understand my feelings of relatedness to these dairy cows.

 

(AsPromised)Texas Road Trip

From July 16- August 4, Greg, Geneva, and I were travelling like Rand McNally.  We started off on a 5 hour road trip to Fredericksburg, Texas where we visited a winery, the herb garden and got to have dinner with Tracy.                This is Greg and Geneva not loving the cold bottle.  Little drama-mama acts like she’s being fed poison when her milk is chilled.

How was your summer?

How was your summer?
R: Terrific: the best I've ever had.

What did you do?
R: Had a baby, became a mom, and began to experience love and joy like no other.

Anything else?
R: Walked a 100+ miles, hosted all of our parents at our house, took a few Texas road trips, and travelled to Pennsylvania and Illinois so Geneva could meet all of her great grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, and many of her cousins.

I think it is only once that I'll have answers like these to the standard back-to-school questions.

So, my summer was obviously amazing and I hope that everyone reading this has also had good times with friends, family, and the great outdoors.

(Seriously, I promise to post pictures Saturday) :)

3 Month Update

Geneva is now three months old and oh, how she has grown and changed! She is very alert much of the time, smiles constantly, and gibber jabbers all the time. She still prefers faces and being talked to, but she is beginning to appreciate toys as well. She shakes a rattle and pulls things to her mouth. She looks when someone talks to her. She gets up on her elbows for "tummy time" and has rolled from tummy to back unassisted two times. She still enjoys being swaddled and instantly calms when her favorite blanket it tucked around her (thank you cousin Alison!). Geneva sleeps from about 10pm to 4:30 or 5 at one stretch and she fully wears three or 3-6 month clothes now.

And one of the bigger things.. She began going to day care yesterday. She was braver than mommy and she seems to be content there.

Please forgive me for the lack of pictures but we just got back from our trip and Greg has the computer that I use for uploading and editing pictures. I promise to start posting highlights from our trip this weekend :)

We’re BACK!!

..And so tired we’re silly.  Three weeks, two (far away) states, all of our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and most of our cousins.  Geneva rode on 6 different airplanes, logged several hours in the car, and basically proved herself to be super baby!  Over the 3 weeks I took over 300 pictures but here are just two for all of you faithful blog readers.

So.. Hang in there and keep checking back because there is much much more to come :)