Saturday, May 22, 2010

BabyBear loves his walker!

We promised in our last post to get up some video of BabyBear in his walker, and who are we to leave you, his adoring audience, hanging? Without further adieu, here is BabyBear on the move!







Go go, BabyBear on wheels!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Guess who's 11 months old?

It's our (not-so-)old friend, BabyBear!

Even three days after his 11-month birthday (and a day early for Aloha Friday), BabyBear was rockin' the Hawaiian styles today while hanging with Fred E. Bear for the photo shoot. (Special thanks to Fred for his cooperation and to Miss Sarah for her help as today's photo assistant.)



So what has BabyBear been up to in the past month? Plenty! For starters, he now very clearly has four teeth -- the center two on top and bottom. We both agree he looks more like a little boy and less like a baby.

I suppose those teeth are helping BabyBear tear through his favorite food: berries! Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, dewberries, berry yogurt, anything berry is devoured. Other favorites: raisins, graham crackers, cheese, and the ever-popular O's. He's also recently discovered the world of fruit -- apples, oranges, peaches, watermelon, etc. -- and loves that, too. Really, I think bananas and taco meat are about the only things he hasn't liked.

The other big thing has been BabyBear's newfound ability for getting around, thanks to the walker Bethany picked up for him. (Yay for coupons!) It only took him a couple of days to get used to it, and he now easily tears around the house (non-carpeted surfaces, anyway), easily executing three-point turns when he gets stuck and gleefully chasing the cat all over the house. (Orbit has been a very good sport, though after a few weeks of this, I think it may be growing old for him.) We'll get some video of that up soon.

We're now less than a month from BabyBear's first birthday, and while there likely won't be any moonbounces, multi-course meals or Swarovski crystal-embellished pacifiers, it will still be a grand affair. Stay tuned!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

BabyBear hits the beach

We had the privilege this weekend of not only spending some quality time with Grandma, but also visiting with some dear friends in Galveston. Tim and Jenn (who we know from our time in Pennsylvania) moved to Galveston a year and a half or so ago to serve and do relief work alongside victims of Hurricane Ike, and it had been too long since we saw them last. Mike, another really good friend from PA, was visiting from the East as well, and we all enjoyed a day of hanging out, dining on some tasty meals, watching the Derby, talking baby stuff (congrats Tim & Jenn on the upcoming arrival of Curly Bean!) and enjoying a bit of Galveston, TX.



For part of the visit, we got to spend some time on Galveston's famed Seawall and give BabyBear his first taste of the beach. He loved it!





(Click here and here to see the above videos if they're not embedded for you.)

It was so fun to spend the day with them and see a bit of Galveston. While we enjoyed our time there, it was a bit humbling to every now and again see reminders of the devastation Ike brought to the island in buildings that have yet to be repaired (check out the Flagship Hotel behind us in the pic below). As someone who went through Hurricane Andrew, this brought back memories, and again impressed upon me how important the work that Tim, Jenn and others have been doing is to the people here.



Lots more pics here from our quick weekend trip. So good to see everyone; thanks, Tim, Jenn and Mike, for a great day!