Books, books, books

...and more books! We did some major unpacking this weekend.

It was a fun project, unpacking books we hadn't seen in years, even with our little helper helping. [Side note: if Zack ever wants to recreate his undergraduate or graduate education - he can - he has all the books and NOTES from his classes. And I thought I was a packrat.] It's all attached to the wall, so we won't need to worry too much about being squashed by books in an earthquake. Oh, good. Luckily Zack is both engineer and my own personal super-hot builder/carpenter. Even Beatrice has her own bookshelf (bottom two shelves only).


We also took the opportunity this weekend to finish Beatrice's room. Virtual tour below:

I think Beatrice is enjoying her new room. She certainly likes all of the toys!

Pictured above is Bunny. For those of you who haven't met Bunny yet, he (or she, we're not sure yet) is what Beatrice cuddles with when she goes to sleep. We have 3 of them (shhhhh!). I love this little thing, mainly because Beatrice loves it and usually when she gets a hold of him starts sucking her thumb and wants to go to sleep immediately. So the other day when Beatrice, Sarah B and I were out walking and Beatrice dropped Bunny out of her stroller (she was asleep), I forced marched us back the 8 blocks we'd just walked to find Bunny. We were on State St, which in Santa Barbara is basically Main Street with tons of shopping, tourists, and people walking. I was on a mission - we were going to find Bunny. Finally, after about 6 blocks, I saw a little boy in a stroller nuzzling up to something...it was Bunny! I could just see an ear. I'm embarrassed to say it, but I turned into one of "THOSE" mothers. I cut off his escape by blocking with Beatrice's stroller. I politely said, "Oh, look there is Bunny. Thank you so much for finding my daughter's Bunny - we dropped it a few minutes ago and were looking for it." Then I basically snatched Bunny out of this little boys hands. After that we walked a bit further and Sarah B turned to me and said, "Wow, how did you even see Bunny?" I got Momma-radar. Frightening.

In (somewhat) less frightening news, Beatrice is officially standing. All the time. Alone. She'll pull up on something and then let go and just stand there. Or I can put her down and she'll stand up for a minute and then grab on to my leg (Daddy's leg hair is another favorite). No walking yet, though don't tell her I said that, because she certainly thinks she's walking. She'll insist on being "walked" with only one hand being held, which makes for drunken sailor impersonations at best, or bruised cheekbones at worst (remember, we have tile floors).

We had to stop her from trying to go up the stairs this weekend. I'm thinking about getting some big socks and then duct taping her ankles together. It might give me another week at least...until she learns how to use scissors, that is.

All in all, a very good weekend. Beatrice is having fun getting into everything. And we took some time off from unpacking on Saturday and even went down to the beach. And then back up all 270 steps. With a squirming Beatrice. Who needs Stairmaster? And on Sunday Zack and I escaped and went on a date - to breakfast at the Brown Pelican. The food was as appetizing as the name suggests, but the walk there and back...wow, breathtaking. Down we walked through the local park, and back up we walked/waded/climbed along the beach and then hiked up the steps. The whole time we kept saying, "Wow, this isn't vacation."