3 months old!

Happy Birthday Beatrice! You're definitely bigger than Flat Bear now.

Last week Beatrice weighed 13.5lbs and had grown to 25 inches tall (my little 2 footer!). She's also is super active these days - to which the pictures below can attest. Capturing her in a "still" moment is nearly impossible as her arms and legs are usually going, going, going. Her new favorite is blowing raspberries all day. Between the spit bubbles and sounds, she's in heaven with her new trick.

I've also noticed a new flirting tendency - as long as someone is holding her, she'll look out at another adult and wait for them to smile at her. Then once they smile she'll go crazy with smiles, moving her arms and legs, making happy noises, and then drop her eyes and then look back up quickly to make sure the person is still looking at her and then she'll do it all again. Ridiculously cute.

As is her outerwear these days - her Aubergine cap from Ayyana and her little red jacket from Amy, Alexis and Adrien. She gets such attention in them. We went for a walk the other day in the small park by our house and people wanted to stop the stroller and look in. (Looks like spring doesn't it? Don't be fooled! This is London in February.) Still, we had a nice time. See our turret in the last picture (up on the right - all the way at the end)?

Daddy Stylin'

Poor Beatrice, see what happens when Daddy dresses you?

We did have a bit of excitement today - we had a new tub installed! Zack had a fabulous time explaining all of the bizarre English plumbing to Beatrice and cleaning up after the builders (from 10 years ago). Or perhaps the roll of masking tape was structural? Along with the cigarette butts...

Beatrice also had fun in the afternoon with her new babysitter Alex. Now we just need to get the bottle feeding working again!

On Friday Beatrice had fun playing with Sofia again. They are 6 days apart. This time they looked at each other! (for a few seconds) So cute.

And one of my favorites...sleeping girl

Slightly biased?

Now I realize I'm her mother, which probably makes me slightly biased, but seriously...is Beatrice not the cutest baby ever?!?

She's so much more active these days. She smiles at everyone who smiles at her (after a 3 second processing delay). She is starting to laugh - I've heard her a couple of times. She is awake and looking around constantly. Loves to eat her hand. Seriously. And drooling is a must-do. Whenever she sees me she smiles and opens her mouth as wide as she can...you know, just in case a nipple should happen to fall in! She wants to eat constantly - which could explain why she's 13.5 lbs already.

Oh what legs...I love those rolls.

Beatrice is also starting to hold on to things - my hair, your arm when you're holding her, her rattles, everything she can get her little hands on. Still seems to be favoring the left one... In this picture she's hanging on to Daniel, my colleague from work who had to put up with me (us) on a project during 8 of the 9 months of Beatrice's ... confinement.

So is she perfect? No. Thank God. But the more time I spend with her I realize how lucky Zack and I are to have her. And how badly baby spit-up stinks.

Long Weekend

We spent the long weekend having fun with Karen. Unfortunately it all ended to soon, and we drove her to the airport Monday morning. Such a superstar, Aunt Karen came in for just the weekend. Rockstar that she is. And see how we kept her entertained?? (this photo was taken at 9pm!) I loved the picture of Bea getting ready to ride in the car to the airport - this look is her classic "this-is-new-so-I'm-going-to-scowl-at-it-before-I-smile-at-it" face.

The rest of Monday we spent lazily enough. Zack tried to teach Beatrice to nap with him, rather than just on him. And I taught her how to vaccuum. She taught us how to take a real nap (practice, practice, practice).


Finally a weekend with Beatrice really really made us want some Neopolitan ice cream...especially after seeing her in her new (3-6month old) outfit!

Aunt Karen arrived!

Aunt Karen arrived in London on Friday - hooray! Beatrice was very excited to meet her.

We spent the hours before she arrived staring at one of Beatrice's new favorite things to look at - the clock. I've been having nightmares recently that she can tell time - in my dream she runs out and tells me the time and then Zack asks her what time it would be if it were twenty minutes earlier and she answers him correctly (keep in mind I'm dreaming she is still only 2.5 months old, talking, walking and standing in the backyard at Benvenue - scary). Anyway, she does LOVE this clock, so I've been looking at it alot recently too. At least I picked it out.

So what have we been doing with Auntie Karen? Lots of wine on Friday night. An early morning wake-up. Early enough to see all the King's Guard horses tromping up the High Street. Lots of talking and cooing. And spit-up. We also went for a nice long walk through the park and Primrose Hill. Ended the day with a shopping trip to Panzer's where everyone thought her eggplant hat was the cutest thing ever! The grocers wanted to sell the "Petite Aubergine".


What else is going on in the world of Beatrice? Or "The Beatrice", as Daddy calls her. Well...Zack is convinced she is going to start crawling in a few more weeks. (Good grief I hope not). She has learned to sit in a bowl (see photo). And she likes her Animal Sounds book - owls best, just like her cousin Eleanor. Beatrice has also finally found a use for those pockets on all of her newborn clothing! And she has started picking out her own outfits. Ok, not really, but I'm pretty sure this is something she'd go for - at least at this age!

We're having fun - can you tell??

Bane of my existence

First set of stairs - we get to leave the stroller at the top of these

Next...almost to the front door

Then the last set of internal stairs...

At least now there is Beatrice at the top. Much better than being pregnant!