To You and Yours

Merry Christmas from All of Us!

In this season of Advent, we are thankful for the many gifts given; the greatest gift of all in Jesus. And for our own baby, Britta, full of delight, wonder, and life.

WANTED

Click the PLAY button on the applet and enjoy the soundtrack for this blog post.



There is a price to pay for being cute. That is one of the immutable truths of life. These two desperados are wanted for taking hearts hostage. They are considered to be mostly harmless, though the short stocky one has got a mean scowl when in a bad mood. Beware, the little 'un also has been suspected of carrying around high explosives in 'er pants.

Britta's first solids

Have you ever wondered what causes a child to sit in the dirt and put handful upon handful of dust and grit into their mouth? It's because their first meal of solid food, namely Organic Rice Cereal *Great Taste!*, has got the same texture and flavour as your standard mud pie. I made the exact face Britta made when I tested a dollop on my finger to see if the temperature was alright.
Yes, Britta was in for a real treat, with her first solids on Monday. She was at first quite taken aback when we tried to feed her from a spoon. She soon got the hang of it, and by Tuesday was holding on to her bowl with both hands and tipping it to see inside. On reflection, that may have been to see how much gruel she would have to slurp before her ol' dad would declare her, "Allllllllllll done!"

Pumpkin stuffing

Do you know what is more fun than carving a pumpkin? STUFFING a pumpkin, with a BABY! That's right, you take one rolly-polly little girl and conceal her cute chub in a bright orange shell. She endures with mild temperament; writing everything down in her young memory to be recalled on Halloween 2060, when she will return the favour to her 80-year old parents, drooling lips and all. Awwwww, how cute!

What do colours taste like?

Forget, "What is the meaning of life?" and "What is wisdom and how does one acquire it?" and other conundrums pondered by Aristotle and other great thinkers. Britta has one driving enquiry, a hunger for knowledge that cannot be abated, a thirst for deeper meaning that cannot be slaked... WHAT DO COLOURS TASTE LIKE!?!!?

For minutes upon minutes she pondered this riddle and devised a series of scientific experiments. Witness the greatness of intellect in motion, and be humbled as you remember that you too once faced this question before giving up answer-less.

100% Cute

Do you know Britta Bean, Britta Bean, Britta Bean?

Do you know Britta Bean…who lives in Vista Village? (sung to the tune of “Do You Know the Muffin Man”, a favourite song of ours). While I don’t know the Muffin Man, I do know Britta Bean, and she’s one hundred percent CUTE! She’s such a joyous distraction that we neglect to update our blog.

What’s new in Britta-ville?

Well…she’s a rolie polie fourteen pounds now and four months old! She’s got muffin top on her legs; not to be cause for concern. We all agree that chub is necessary for babies to fall into the cuteness category.

Britta just may have teeth on their way b/c she’s all about drooling her way through the day. She’s discovered her thumbs! Now, rather than shoving her entire fist into her mouth, she delicately sucks on her thumb and finds it to be most enjoyable. Also…she’s discovered her voice! We have lovely conversations at change-time and at 3 am when she’s voicing her hunger.

Britta slept an entire nine hours through the night just last week; JOY! Now if only we could convince her to do it again; much like rolling over. Britta is on a “rolling over strike”; been there, done that. She doesn’t see the need to do it again, even if Mom and Dad assist and encourage!

Lip smacking fun

Britta has taken to showing her displeasure by loudly smacking her lips. "I'm hungry NOW, Mommy and Daddy!" As I write this, I can hear the sounds of sucking coming from her crib. She is learning to self-sooth (we hope), though I fear we spoil her when it comes to putting her to bed, because she rides around with one of us until she is almost comatose.

Britta is smiling much more as well. Kristine and I had a go at making her giggle for the pocketcam.

This is how I roll!

Britta has changed so much in the last two weeks. Well, I have had to change Britta so much in the last two weeks...

She is phenomenal. She has started to smile more and giggle on occasion. Her laugh is a sharp inhale that sounds like -yeeeaaahhhh-. Don't let the pictures fool you, she does smile, just never while wearing a hat. I'm surprised she tolerate the frequent costume changes; she is destined to be a fashionista.

She rolled over for the first time on Thursday, and to prove it was intentional, she did it again. She held her head up really high and when she'd attained a healthy bob, she would let her head lean to one side and let it act as a counterweight to help pull her over. That's using your head, my dear!

Enjoy the photos and short video.

Hot dog roast

There are too many pictures of Britta worthy of this blog! She is cute 98.3 % percent of the time.

Yesterday, we took Britta to Bower Ponds for a campfire and sausage sizzle. The weather was balmy and even the mosquitos gave us a break. Britta has been under the weather with her first ever cold so she took it easy and watched as Daddy built a fire and roasted some smokies.

Britta's Baptism

We are dedicated to raising Britta up to know Jesus, and the first step was to have her baptized. It was a wonderful occasion! We asked Kevin and Nicole to be her sponsors and my parents and Kristine's family were present as well.

Alice brought a family heirloom dress which had been made in Europe long ago. It was the same dress which Kristine had been baptized in.

After church the entire group came over to our house for a summertime lunch of salads and sandwiches with some very festive desserts. And how did Britta react? Well, she just slept.

Britta Bean or Butterbean?

Britta Bean has emerged as one of Britta's many nicknames. I think it's cute. I think she's cute.

She is also a whopping 9 lbs 5 oz at Kristine's last visit to the doctor. That means that she has gained 52 oz. in 38 days. Not bad at all! I was wondering why those newborn diapers were feeling snug.

Keep growing little bean!

Professional photos

It's time to wind up the way-back-wheel and give it a spin to three weeks ago. Yes, back to when Britta was a stark two week old infant. Ah bliss, she slept more, fussed less, didn't wear cloth diapers that give her the shape of a Teletubby...

But the cloth diapers are a story and picture for another day. Though we take many photos, we felt that Britta's soul was still too intact, so we hired JET photography to steal a slice with a bigger, badder camera. Jennica was wonderful with Britta and managed to do the entire shoot while Britta slept off the influences of a dose of milk.