It's a bird!

It's a plane!

It's our GIRL!!!

Zoo friends!

Our favorite stop was the gorillas.  There's a new baby there and she is quite adorable!  She was hardly bigger than Chiara and had some sweet baby-like mannerisms. 

Coco would like to rephrase the above statement.  "The gorillas were mommy's favorite stop.  I was way more interested in my morning snooze."

We went to the zoo with friends...

ZOO FOOD!  PEAS?

All the critters we saw at the zoo...

Chiara's World Tour Begins...

With Ben away in Chicago, Chiara and I decided to take a little trip of our own. So, we just up and left the country! Chiara LOVED our trip and looks forward to more time spent up in the "Great North Country"! The photos show some highlights...

It was colder than Siberia there too! So, we bundled up! Actually, it warmed up and was beautiful the day we drove back to the US.

The Smid home was our foreign destination. Trav was there all 4 days and Coco enjoyed all the attention he gave her and always rewarded him with big grins!!

Auntie Diane was just the BEST!! She loved on little Coco and got lots of lovin' in return!

Chiara made her first visit to Tim Hortons and well... the photo says it all!

Ty and Chiara say, "Ahhhh."

OK! The greatest new discovery while in Canada was "Joe" at the Super Store! $2 bargains everywhere! Check out her blog in 6 months.... all Chiara's wardrobe will be Joe!


Note: her hair is getting redder!

Bye to Canada for now, but it won't be long and I'll be back!

First Father's Day!

Daddy showing off his baby girl, all dressed up!

The day turned out to be quite lovely, so we went over to Discovery Park and walked down to the lighthouse.  After spending a couple hours around the park, we drove to Rieke's where Joel grilled up some nice shrimp and steaks.  Daniel and Talinn were visiting from Ohio and were able to join us.  It was a scrumptious feast with fantastic company!

2 Months, Baby!

She smiles now, loves to wiggle her tongue and is able to track very slow moving objects!  She giggles when we tickle her, she loves to blow raspberries and she can now pull mommy's hair!!

For the Meiers!!

For all of you who know Grandpa Henry...

... check out that hair!  Looks like Grandpa just got up from his nap!  :)

First Bottle!

Chiara had her first bottle!  Ben had the honors.  As you can see by her look, she understood something was different this time around.

Colder than Siberia!!!

Ben recently pointed out an article in the paper that read "Colder than Siberia"! Seattle had been 59 degrees the previous day and it had measured warmer in Siberia at 61 degrees. Sadly, we are tired of the cold and rain, which has forced us indoors many times when we'd like to play outside! Below, Chiara is bundled in a sweater for a walk in between rain showers.


A favorite activity is to visit Joy and Caleb. Caleb recently got to hold Chiara for the first time! He was so sweet with her!


Below, he tries out a unique holding technique after Joy mentioned being careful with her head. He is going to make a GREAT older brother to his little sister arriving in October.


Another activity we've grown to love is play time (which seems to occur most often on the changing table)! We received this wonderful mirror from friends a few weeks back and Chiara loves it! She coos, chuckles and smiles at herself. It's fun for me to sit behind it and talk to her through the mirror as she loves to "talk" back to me!

Hot Pink, Baby!

Last week, I ordered a few cloth diapers to see what I think of them. Today I tried this particular brand on her and as I was changing her diaper, I noted the onesie that Coco was wearing. I had to take a photo!

"Does this Diaper make my Butt look big?"

Mommy! Oh bother!

As Coco comes up on her 2 month anniversary of birth, I find myself wanting to remember every detail about the last months. I realize that eventually, many of those memories will fade. But, when I think of it, I try to snap a photo or shoot a little video so that we can remember all the fun we've had thus far.

Last night, after a VERY fussy baby went to bed at 1 am, she awoke at 4:30 once again and was hungry. So, we went through our feeding routine and I finally went to tuck her into her crib for a few more hours sleep. However as I was tucking her into her "CoCo Box", I couldn't remember if we had any pictures of her in this little bed. See, the CoCo Box is where she has spent much of her sleeping hours (when not being held by adorers) these first few months. We've moved it all over the house and she snuggles right into it. She is sadly outgrowing it quickly as she is getting too wide and hardly fits between the cushions. SO, as only a sleep deprived Mama would do, I found myself turning on lights at 5 am and looking for the camera. I risked (very quietly) waking my sleeping gal in order to take some photos of her in The CoCo Box.

CRAZY? Perhaps. But I think, "What an accomplished mommy I am! I've captured a memory that may have otherwise faded!" :)

The CoCo Box!

The weather has been lousy, so we've been mostly stuck indoors.  So Chiara and I participated in our first (of many) "rainy-day activity".  We played dress-up!

I even got her to smile, but had to sacrifice composition in order to get a grin!

Not being a "bow gal" myself, I wasn't sure what side the bow should go on.  However, we did decide that she looked rather goofy with it right in the center of her head, so mom had to move it to the side!  :)

I  took only these few photos of our dress up session as I didn't think to do it with the previous outfits and had no desire to go back and refit everything.  But, now I know what fits her!  :)

Fussy-fits!

Yes, Chiara has joined her peers and has begun to fuss and fuss every eve for no apparent reason...at least none that we can determine.  Generally, she is SO tired but cannot (or will not) be lulled into sleep.  As new parents, we have tried about everything and we have discovered that some things DO work!!!  Unfortunately, nothing works twice!  :)  Below, Ben demonstrates one of his creative attempts...

... sadly, her eyes remain open!  :)

Despite fussiness, we are still getting out of the house!  We were able to go to friend's for a BBQ and got to meet "Superman" in person!  Look at him fly!!!

We also got to play with Nora and her beautiful dolly at the BBQ!  Fun times with friends!