10 Months Old!

Beatrice celebrated her 10 month birthday by tormenting her Daddy. Taking pictures with Flat Bear is now definitely a two (adult) person job. Poor Daddy was all alone with Princess, as I was still out of town, so...keep that in mind when viewing the photos. He still did a great job. I'm sure had I done it alone the last few would've shown her with Flat Bear duck-taped around her middle.


Normally I give an update on her height and weight, but we don't have a scale and the last time we measured she'd "shrunk" an inch from her 9 month old doctor's office visit height. So my best guess is - she's heavier, but not that much, and she's a little bit taller, but again, not that much. She's grown out of most 9 month clothes and is pushing the limit on some 12-18 month old clothes.

Beatrice is still very much enjoying the little details in everything (see photo above for Ric Rac inspection - this is classic). And she loves all of her books. She particularly likes pulling them off the shelf, turning pages, and then sitting on them. She's "talking" a lot these days too - lots of "Dadadadadadada" and "Aaaiiiiiyyyyyeeeee"-ing going on. Peek-a-Boo is still the best game in the whole world. We can play it over and over and over again. However Beatrice has started taking the lead and now gets tired of the game after one or two hides (versus the 25+ rounds she previously enjoyed). It is funny when you're on the couch and she "sneaks" up on you, because she is squealing with excitement the whole time.

Beatrice also likes playing in her room, especially when she "sneaks" over to her crib and pulls Bunny out. In her room the big attractions are: stuffed animals, Bunny, the creaky sound the door makes when she opens and closes, opens and closes, opens and closes the white cabinet in her room.

And she is MOVING ALL OF THE TIME! Not walking, although every now and then she'll take a few steps together. But we think after all those face-plants, she just got tired of getting hurt, so she is wisely taking things a bit more slowly on the walking front. So she cruises around the furniture and crawls when needed. And still takes a few baby steps when she feels like it and we're there to catch her.

In terms of food, she's eating two real meals a day. Bottles when she wakes up, mid-day, and when she goes to bed. Two meals of baby food and some finger foods in between. Unfortunately we're not trying many foods because she is STILL toothless. Banana bits and Cheerios are favorite "real" foods. And Daddy has made her some homemade baby foods, which she enjoys.


Other than that? Beatrice still enjoys eating her toes from time to time, loves anyone singing to her (even me), and is just a joy to be around.

Queen Bea Returns

Queen Bea is back! That's right, I bought this (ridiculously overpriced by LONDON standards!) t-shirt in multiple sizes. So lots more Queen Bea photos. You may think they are all the same. Oh, but you'd be wrong. So wrong.
There is "I am happily eating this green ring" Bea. And "Uh-oh, I need to remember to balance myself" Bea.

And then there is "Hey, look at me, I'm not falling down" Bea. Along with, "No seriously y'all, this green thing tastes like a donut (or at least what I image a donut would taste like)" Bea.

And finally, the "Really Mom, more pictures?" Bea, and the "Oooooo, is that TV????" Bea.

And my personal favorite - Mommy and Beatrice.

Lots of you have commented how I'm never actually pictured in this blog. Know why? Look at how tired I look. This is after a full night's sleep too. Happy, but tired. That's how I'm going to remember my first year of Beatrice.
This is Zack's favorite picture of us.

But I had to put pictures of us up, because I'm leaving on Wednesday for my first trip away from Beatrice for work. I've been away from her for a single night, when Grandma Elizabeth stayed with Beatrice, so Zack and I could drive up to Oakland, pack up our stuff, and drive back. But that feels different. Very different. So I'm dreading Wednesday afternoon, when I leave for Chicago for 3 nights, 2 1/2 days, and ... no, I haven't actually figured out the number of hours. But it feels like alot. I'm very sad to go. But I will admit, I'm very excited NOT to fly my own personal Wiggle-Worm and to go to bed and sleep until (gasp) 7am!!!


Some final pictures of Beatrice in yet another outfit that doesn't fit her. And a picture showing how I get those good pictures of her...just take forty 'leven and hope one catches. This is especially true when she's moving!

"Speak English, Mick!"

To paraphrase Whoopi Goldberg from Jumpin' Jack Flash (a funny, if super-dated, film from the 80s), "Speak English, Beatrice!"

I say this with all a mother's love. Honestly, I do. I just want to know what she's thinking sometimes. And be able to explain things to her. And have a conversation. Because if she says even half of the kind of bizarre, but incredibly funny/interesting, stuff her Daddy says, she'll be excellent company.

Today we finally finished going through our clothes upstairs. The Goodwill boxes are taking over our garage now. Even my mother would be proud. While we sorted through ski clothes, we got Beatrice to help us. She was in a surly mood all day (I'm guessing due to the mounds of clothes and boxes everywhere again). I also took a picture of her standing in her sweater because Zack kept saying, "Really, she looks like Winston Churchill, don't you think? 'Hi Winston. Come on, stand up Winston.'"

In Daddy's shoes...

Finally...a view of the US...one aisle in a "small" store near our house - everything on this aisle is for Halloween. And 9/10ths is CANDY!

A precipitous drop

I started back at "work" on Tuesday this week. I'm predicting "a precipitous drop" in the number of blog posts in the near future. So all (4) avid readers be forewarned - your emails and calls will no longer spur me into action. Unfortunately now I'll have 42 (part-time!) hours of work every week, but all day with Beatrice on Friday still. It was very hard to leave on Tuesday morning, but I didn't cry the whole way to the office, as some had predicted. This is likely due to the fact that driving to my LA office takes roughly 2 hours when you leave at 6am (and just under 2 home when you leave at 7pm). Luckily I'll only have to commute in that far once a week. 1-2 days a week I'll go to the client site (only one hour each way - easy!) And 1-2 days a week of work from home. My new work/life balance should be interesting. Luckily I have Beatrice and Zack to pull me away from work!

Sarah B, her nanny, took a picture of Beatrice for me when I was gone on Tuesday. Somehow I doubt Bea did this the whole day.... But luckily I had the blog. I probably opened it 7 or 8 (+/- 50) times on Tuesday. Not that I thought it would magically update or anything. I just get a kick out of seeing Beatrice. And seriously, isn't she adorable in pink??

Today we took advantage of living 2 blocks from the beach and walked down to see the islands off the coast. Before now they've been wrapped in a blanket of fog, but I think the cooler weather finally snapped it. So beautiful.

So that's it from me for a while. Well, honestly I'll probably write again this weekend. After all tomorrow is "off work" for me....ha, ha, ha.

Where is she?

Camo Baby - she's stealthy, difficult to see (in Candyland), and sweet as can be first thing in the morning.

Our Prizefighter

Ok, it's nearly impossible to see in pictures, but Beatrice is looking rough these days. This whole sometimes-taking-baby-steps, sometimes-just-lunging-forward is taking its toll on her body. On Saturday Beatrice "timbered" into her little table, while Zack and I watched helplessly 6 feet away. We're just not that fast. So now she has one split lip, a cut on her chin, and some random bruising and scratches on her forehead that happened who knows when. Lovely. It looks like we beat her. Or put her in baby-featherweight fights.

In other news, we had a nice Saturday (I can't talk about Sunday yet - IKEA hell). We went down to State Street to run some errands and ended up having lunch with Laina and Ian, and their dog Mac. And we stopped by the Santa Barbara Sandcastle Building Contest - the fog was in- and got to try out B's new backpack. Next time we'll believe the fog horn when we hear it! The flower below is from our courtyard. For scale, its about the same size as Beatrice's head! When I took this picture, I thought it was the most beautiful sight, and then I turned around and saw Beatrice and Zack playing - and changed my mind.

Finally, this morning I got a picture to prove that Beatrice is actually, finally, getting some hair!