Happy Birthday Pearl!

Today is Pearly's 1st birthday. I can't believe she is already 1 year old! It has been a wonderful and difficult year. Even after 6 years of freedom I have never regretted having a baby, well atleast while I was in my right mind.

I have really loved every stage she has gone through- even the fussy stage because I still thought she was so cute. My favorite stage has always been the one she was currently in. Like now for example, I swear she is cuter than ever before. She is crawling like crazy, pulling herself up on things, making the funniest words/vocalizations, laughing at strange things, eating paper, and the list could go on and on.

Today I sat her on my lap and told her the story about the day she was born while she intently stared at the toys she wanted to play with. We went for a walk and I let her play in a big sand feature in the park. Her cute, new outfit that I had just put on her became covered in sand but she loved to run her fingers through it and made adorable cooing noises. My favorite noises she makes lately have been, "Ooi" and "ohyeah." We didn't really do anything special today because we already sort of celebrated her birthday with Bryan's family last Sunday while in California. She got a chance to destroy a cake and rub it all over herself. Here is the proof:

-Nat

Pearly and the vacuum

Pearl's nemesis in life is loud noises. Anything that is potentially startling can make her cover her ears and cry, even down to unrolling duct tape or shaking out a garbage bag. This being said, she really hates the vacuum. She has begun to start crying when she even sees it. Today the vacuuming adventure went something like this: The vacuum comes out. Pearl cries and starts to crawl for mom. Mom puts Pearl in a high chair to protect her from herself. Pearl continues to cry. Mom starts the vacuum and begins to work on the floor. The sound of the vacuum is the only thing mom hears, so she thinks that maybe Pearl is finally settling down. She turns around and looks at Pearl who is red faced and violently screaming, but the vacuum noise is covering her voice. Mom sighs and finishes the job. She turns off the vacuum and proceeds to rescue Pearl who is shaking and desperately reaching for mom. Pearl is now even more suspect of the vacuum. Mom tries to warm her up to it by getting Pearl near it but she refuses to touch it and scrambles to stay close to mom. Pearl wont take her eyes off of the vacuum as mom carries her around the room, expecting it to start up again any second.

Pearl Can Crawl!

This is Pearl's 2nd ever crawl. The first happened earlier the same morning. But the time she did the 2nd we had the camera ready.

Bryan

I'm Back...

I am a new woman now. Done with three years of schooling and an internship, I am now living it large at home. It feels really, really good to be done. I feel like I've accomplished something that has been very hard and therefore get lots of satisfaction out of it. As busy as I was before, I have absolutely no desire to become busy again. I'm finally secure with my stay-at-home hood. I had a hard time staying at home all day when Pearl first came because I felt like I had to do so many things each day in order to justify staying home and tried so hard to be productive. I also felt like I had to make sure Bryan knew I wasn't just lazing around all day while he worked. Then came the internship, fraught with extreme pressure and productivity for 6 whole months. I think I got so much done in those 6 months that I don't feel like I need to be productive ever again. Like I said, I am now secure with doing nothing- well, if you call taking care of a baby "doing nothing" than you are not a parent yet. Anyway, it's nice. Pearl and I sat on the grass yesterday and she sang her little songs to the plants and shredded the leaves. I worked on the computer while she ate a dead bee on the floor. I read her books while she drooled on the pages. We went grocery shopping and she told me what she thought about all the products I was buying and made sure they were durable by hitting them together. She is a fun little companion. As long as she's not teething.
-Nat

For Betty - Pearly Laughing Video

Aunty Betty loves to see Pearl laugh. So, here is a little compilation.

-Bryan