weeeeeeeee!

After driving past a park at least two times a day, we finally took little Mary Beth to experience the swing. I was a bit nervous about it, because she's not exactly the biggest baby and I knew she wouldn't fit. So on a BEAUTIFUL day, we grabbed a spare blanket to stuff behind her, and headed out.

And what can I say... she LOVED it! She was having a particularly fussy weekend (too many "binding" new solid foods = unhappy baby) and this was definitely a highlight. Hadn't seen her smile this much in a long time.
Looks like we're definitely going to have to get a swing for the backyard at the new house...

hee hee i stole the computer!

dear all,
it's me mary beth. hijacked the computer. again. auntie kim swooshed into town and showered me with hugs and kisses. and i wore the snoopy and woodstock presents she gave me and i finally grew into. they took a bunch of pictures of me. uncy matt makes me laugh in them. here they are.
-mb

hmmmm...

Just in case any of you receive strange e-mails in the middle of the night...

happy 7 months!

Dear Mary Beth,

Seven months? Really?! Wow. Time flies. Soon you'll be asking Dad for the car keys. OK, maybe not "soon," but eventually. Right now you've taken to the wonderful world of sitting up on your own. And you LOVE it. In the evenings we put you on your new blanket (thanks Anne and Alex!) and you sit and play with your toys. And you roll over, smile and giggle. This has really happened in the last few weeks, and you love practicing it.

You've discovered your high-pitched scream -- oh goodie for us. It came when you discovered Orbit, and for some reason you feel the need to show off this new-found talent at all hours. But you do it with a smile, so it's hard to get upset. With that smile, you could probably get away with armed robbery.

You still do tummy time, going  back and forth between "flying" and your yoga pose. And we can tell that you want to start using your knees and legs. All that can mean is crawling. And then we're SCREWED.

Even better, you like to attack our faces with hugs and kisses. There are some pictures below of your latest attack on your dad. Priceless.

We love you, Baby Love!

Love,

Mom and Dad

the world's most patient cat

So, it's been a crazy last few weeks here at the Francisco home... we've all been sick, had doctor's appointments, a trip to Minnesota and more. I have many photos to post, but first just had to post this one from our trip up north for a surprise party. They were all surprised by how damn cute she is becoming!

And now...Auntie Kim complained that the last Mary Beth vs. Orbit video was too short. Well, the world's most patient cat came back to taunt Mary Beth. And we can't stop laughing...

happy baby!

In the last week or so, Mary Beth has REALLY begun to smile and giggle a lot. She's also squealing, like she does in that video with Orbit. That is slightly annoying. But the smiles aren't. And she loves when I do "pushups" in the air with her -- making her come back down for a kiss! Since she's 15 pounds now, I can only do about 10 at a time. For those of you wondering how a busy mom can keep in shape, there's your answer! There's a video--we'll post it later.

Grandma Lil came to stay for a bit, and here's some photos with her. Mary Beth LOVES her Grandma!

poor little kitty

Mary Beth is practicing sitting up on her own.

And Orbit decided to come get some love from us. Little did he know what he was in for...

wooooooah big sweetie!

Mary Beth had her 6 month appointment today. You know what that means! SHOTS!  Boo, hiss. She had 2 vaccines and a flu shot - which both her mommy and daddy need to have. And you all know how much I just love getting shots. Anyway, she did her normal, expected, blood-curdling scream as the shots were happening. But then when we picked her up, she stopped crying and screaming completely. She must have gotten that one from Bob...

So here's her stats, for those of you keeping score at home:  15 pounds (46th percentile), 26 inches tall (77th percentile) and 16.5 inches head circumference (47th percentile). I'm still absolutely amazed every day when I see her and realize how much she has grown from that 5.9 pound munchkin. When I was nursing her last night/this morning (hey, it was 2 am!), I couldn't help but compare to how LITTLE she was in my arms back then! This growing up thing is going to kill me...

i don't think she gets this whole eating thing...

Day Two of sweet potatoes. I don't think she likes them very much. I think they may be too thick for her, even when we add water or breast milk. But I think we need to teach her to cover her mouth when she sneezes...

half a year?!?!

Dear Mary Beth,

Six months?! Really? You're a whole half of a year old today. Six months ago today I terrorized some poor nurse who had the unfortunate job of giving me an i.v. and holding me in place when they gave me a spinal. Poor girl didn't know what she was getting herself into... Then before we knew it, Dr. Jeff was holding you and introducing you to the world. And our lives haven't been the same since.

You REALLY like to roll over now. In fact, I have to be careful with you when we're getting you ready for a bath. You tend to roll over off the bathmat and towards the toilet... Although you love the swing at daycare, you tend not to be a big fan of the one here at home. Not sure what that's all about, but you will tolerate it if you're watching Baby Einstein -- which I call Baby Crack. You're developing into more and more of a character each day. You love when I pretend to bite your tummy, and giggle and smile whenever your Dad lifts you up and down.

Drives to see Auntie Kim in San Antonio are not as much fun since you won't sleep for the entire drive anymore, but the new portable DVD player for Baby Einstein makes it a little better. And even after crying during the drive, you still gave Auntie Kim and Uncle Matt a big hug. In fact, you rolled across the couch to snuggle up next to Matt to watch football! We drove down there to make an appearance at the draft for your Grandpa Phil's Fantasy Football League. Your grandpa would have absolutely LOVED to see you there wearing your TOUCHDOWN onesie. And when you grabbed and hugged Carol -- well, I know your grandpa told you to do that. It made her smile on a day when we all needed that!

I kept promising you that I'd finally get you baptised, and I hope I don't jinx this but we now have it planned (again!) for the weekend of November 7-8. YEA!!! It's also Alumni Weekend, so we'll be going down to Trinity Saturday morning to meet the soccer team. Your mommy is supposed to play in the game. We'll see if that happens. If it does, you may have to help Daddy massage out my sore muscles...

Thank you for being such a cutie! We love you, Baby Love!

Love,
Mom and Dad

yummy.

hi all. it's mary beth. but mom's typing this for me seeing as how my fingers are too small. oh, and i can't read or write.

but i am getting bigger and get to have other food. rice cereal. but it's still made with mommy's milk, so i like it! and since i seem to "squirm" (whatever that is) in my pink chair, mommy and daddy took me to babies r us to get my high chair! it's pretty and matches my car seat and my pack n play. i am a bit small in it though...

here's my first night of having rice cereal in my new BIG GIRL chair!

love, mary beth

storms

One of these days, Mary Beth is going to come running into our room, jump under the covers and wimper during the HUGE thunderstorms that make the entire house shake.

But since she's only 5 months, Orbit the Wondercat (and scaredycat) is doing it for her!

Instead, Mary Beth did this. For 11 1/2 hours. Seriously.

slacker mom

Funny how that title keeps showing up... Anyway, I've been told that I'm slacking and not posting enough photos. SO... here are some photos of the nursery, now that I got around to hanging the shelves for the animals, and other items. Also, the CUTEST photo of Mary Beth at daycare during her "Wear Your PJs to School" day, shown above. Seriously, she couldn't be any more adorable.

Shelves for all the animals. Note the Tigger doll I gave Mom in the 80s, the space shuttle and Woodstock from Kim, Bear and Longhorn from Rob, angel from Geimps, and coyotes.

Dresser/changing table with her angels watching over her (Grandma Mary and Grandpa Phil).

Framed "scrapbook" from my cousin Anne and the hotpink board displaying Mary Beth's "Crazy Sock Award" from daycare. Couldn't be prouder.

happy 5 months!!

Dear Mary Beth,

Today you turn 5 months old. It's unfathomable to me that you were born 5 months ago! It seems like just yesterday that we drove really, really carefully from the hospital back home. And dressed you in a St. Patrick's Day outfit and saw your skinny arms and legs. Now your Dad says you look like a relative of the Michelin Man!

You've started sleeping for HOURS in your crib now. Thank goodness. Occasionally you'll still wake up throughout the night, but for the most part you'll sleep anywhere from 5 to 10 hours straight! Sometimes we even need to wake you up in the morning so we can take you to daycare. You're the belle of the ball at daycare--they love you. True, you can be fussy sometimes, but you're just needy and want to be held. But they all like your cute outfits. And you won the Crazy Sock contest for the entire center!

We had a few options for your sign this month. One was "...and I like to wear pj's with feet." You've really taken a liking to them (finally!) and when we went to the outlet mall last weekend, your Dad picked out more for you to wear when you grow! You'll be the best dressed 6 month old! But you really do love bath time. You splash around and get us all wet and squeal in happiness. It's so cute!!

You're sleeping right now... keep it up!

We love you, Baby Love!

Love, Mom and Dad

only my child

Go ahead, Rob. Let the comments begin...

i'm a big kid now...

After a very busy weekend schedule of riding quietly to San Antonio, having dinner at a steakhouse, shopping with her Auntie Kim, and meeting her mom's cousin Kelly, Mary Beth then proceeded to cry and scream for an entire hour and a half of the return drive home. Yes. Hour and a half. It was more, but we stopped 2 times, making the 4 1/2 hour drive really 6 hours. But the last 2 hours included her screaming for 90 minutes STRAIGHT. It was enough to drive her parently LOONEY. Once again I'll use the same four words: she's lucky she's cute.

Anyway, when we were staying at Kim's place, Mary Beth actually fell asleep on her own. I about fell over when I saw that. It never happens. In fact, she was on the bed, chillin on the towel after a diaper change. So I literally wrapped myself around her and slept with her on the bed. There was NO way I was going to move her.

That got me and Bob thinking... so last night we put her down for a late nap in her crib. She hardly ever naps in there. She was out for 1 1/2 hours. Fed her again and put her back in the crib. She actually went to sleep on her own, IN HER OWN ROOM! :-) It really is an awesome room, but she's just used to sleeping in ours, 3 feet from her mommy. Hooked up the monitor and went to bed ourselves in a quiet room. It was eerie, actually. She woke up hungry at 2:30, so I fed her again and put her back in the crib. She fidgeted for a while, but quite honestly I wasn't about to stay up with her again. Monitors are fantastic things -- worth every sweet penny we spent on it. I woke up at 5 and she was asleep. Ahhh. She liked it so much, we literally had to wake her up at 8:30!

So what do we do to celebrate this milestone in Mary Beth's life? Well, we take her to get shots, of course. :-( Poor little girl. Didn't even see it coming. Oh well. Won't be the last time. So here are her four month stats, for those of you keeping track:

• weight: 13 pounds, 50th percentile


• height: 25.3 inches, 92nd percentile -- I KNOW! HOW'D THAT HAPPEN???


• head: 15.8 inches, 35th percentile

Not too shabby for the girl who at one week old was in the 10th percentile for weight and 72nd for height. She was given the green light to try rice cereal at night, and later some stage one food. Food? Sniff! My baby's growing up!

happy 4 months!

Dear Mary Beth,

We're a day late in posting this, but yesterday we celebrated your 4 month birthday. Wow. Can't believe it has already been 4 months! Looking back, it feels like just yesterday... and it feels like a lifetime. We look at photos of you when we first brought you home and just can't believe how tiny you were! You're now 12.5 pounds, and growing every day! Next week you'll have your 4 months shots -- so I'm apologizing in advance for that.

You're having fun at daycare - though we were nervous about leaving you there. You tend to get, um, vocal when you are tired or hungry. But you're making friends there. Another baby, 7-month old Elizabeth and you seem to get along like best friends. They even put you two in the excer-saucers facing each other because you "talk" to each other. So cute.

You're talking more than ever. It's adorable because you look like you're concentrating SO much to tell us something. And we have no idea what you're saying, except that you're cute when you do it. It's probably what you're thinking when you hear us. Somehow like the teacher on the Peanuts comics. Oh, you don't know what/who that is. Don't worry, with Auntie Kim in your life, you'll know ALL about Peanuts.

Speaking of, hopefully we'll be heading down to San Antonio this weekend so you can visit Auntie Kim. She's going through Mary Beth withdrawals. Besides, we need to celebrate your Auntie and Mommy's birthday,

And once again I have to post that one day in your lifetime we'll get you baptized. We thought we had it all finalized (AGAIN) but didn't take vacation schedules into account. Don't worry -- there's a lake about a mile from the house. We may just take you out there and do it ourselves. But don't let Uncle Rob take you anywhere near a lake. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll tell you that story one day.

So, as the photo shows above, you're 4 months old today and you like to smile. Whenever the camera is on, it takes a little more coaxing to have you smile. And you certainly don't know how to hold a sign. But you'll get there.

We love you, Baby Love!

Love, Mom and Dad

marybeth the movie star

Well, not a real movie. But close enough.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Annual Engelman Camping Trip/Family Reunion up in Minnesota. But seeing as how we were just there in May for Papa's funeral and that I just started a new job 2 weeks ago, well, we're not going. I'm highly disappointed, as I made it the last 2 years and it's quite fun! Next year, I promise!

Anyway, for all the peeps up there, especially my aunts and uncles, I put together a video/slideshow of the munchkin and sent it to them to watch at the campground. Yes, it's that kind of campground with running water, toilets and showers. Gross showers, but showers none the less. And an outlet for the hairdryer. Majorly important!!

But I can't just keep the show to those who are up in Minnesota for the reunion. So I've posted it here for all. It's about 6 minutes, but worth every second. She's is so damn cute, if I do say so myself.

all at her expense...

So, Mary Beth's Auntie Kim said she almost pees in her pants whenever she sees her in the jumper/saucer toy where she can't reach the ground. In Kim's defense, it is pretty damn funny.

So Bob and I decided to try it again and see if she has grown any. OK. Really it was to just make ourselves laugh again. She really does seem to like it, even if we have to manually move the toy around to make it seem like she's doing all the work.

Still hilarious. You be the judge. There's hoto of the little one not being able to touch the floor in her jumper/saucer toy. I have to admit, it is pretty damn funny. So Bob and I even video this time...

and sorry... can't rotate this one!!!

bratty brat brat

I wrote Marybeth a new jingle today:

Some people tell me I'm really cute
When I smile, coo, burp and toot,
But when I refuse to take a nap
I turn into a real big brat.

And of course she's already made the video for it: