Family Treat Night 2012

We have decided to skip celebrating that one holiday that happens at the end of October, with one possible exception depending on how you view it.  One event we look forward to each year is "Family Treat Night" at Baylor.  For two hours, they invite the kids and grandkids of Baylor Faculty and Staff to visit a dorm in costume and interact with/get candy from the students.  As a student, I loved participating in this event and missed it when I didn't live in the dorms anymore.  LittleBear loves seeing students on campus and this is the only chance he gets to go inside a dorm, so we make an exception.  Plus, it's just fun. 

Admittedly, LittleBear has very little knowledge of TV, movies or what is on.  He likes Sesame Street (we have one DVD), Boz (I think we have four DVDs) and the only movies he has ever seen all the way through, Toy Story (specifically, Toy Story 2).  Since LadyBear took a little longer to join us than I thought she would I found I had a bit of extra time on my hands, so I decided to make costumes for the kids.  My mom did an amazing job growing up of making our costumes each year (THANK YOU SO MUCH, MOM!) and I really appreciated (even more so now) the time and effort she poured into them.  It was a bit tricky as I had no idea what size LadyBear would be and I needed to go with costumes that were fast, not too complicated and mostly used materials I already had on hand to keep costs down.  (Thank goodness for felt, my new favorite fabric.  You don't have to hem it and it's super durable!)  All that combined with LittleBear's interests and we came up with Sheriff Woody and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl. 

It turns out it was a good choice because when we asked LittleBear who he might like to dress up as, he said Buzz or Woody.  He was so excited when he found out I was working on a Woody costume for him and a Jessie costume for Little Sister!

My favorite little Sheriff!

Our little cowgirl

We got the chance to go through Ruth Collins Hall (all six floors!) where the residents of each floor decorated according to the theme of a different Disney movie.   LittleBear was so happy to discover there was a Toy Story floor.  A group of gals even had the theme to Woody's Roundup playing, which is a song that LittleBear really enjoys (he walked up and said "It's the Rootinest, Tootinest song!").  He stopped a while and danced with them (see below), which was really cute.  Apparently, the gals even thought so because they were pulling out their phones to snap a picture just like I was with my camera.  It really was cute!

Woody's Roundup Dance Party

We strolled through the halls and often heard exclamations from parents, kids and students of "It's Woody!"  Then "Aw, look at the baby! She's Jessie!" when I followed with LadyBear in her stroller. 

Choosing a piece of candy from a student on the Monster's Inc floor

LittleBear commented "That was SO fun!" as we were leaving so I am certain we will be doing this again next year.

As an aside, we don't let LittleBear have ALL the candy he gets on one of these evenings (especially from six floors)!  We weed out the things he just can't eat (jawbreakers, tootsie rolls, taffy, and peanut related candies), then Jeff and I have a "Candy Draft" after LittleBear goes to bed to go through those weeded out items.  Whatever is not chosen is pitched.

Big Brother got smiles :)

And we were also treated to a yodel from the Yodeling Cowgirl herself...

Pumpkin Patch 2012

We joined some friends this evening in visiting a "pumpkin patch." (I use quotes because it was really just a bunch of pumpkins in the yard of a church, but hey, that works for us!) LittleBear had fun running around and checking out all the pumpkins; LadyBear just looked and looked around. Enjoy the pics!

The Many Facial Expressions of LadyBear!

LadyBear has reached the six week mark and with it came what I am calling "On Purpose" smiles, meaning those smiles that show us she is happy.  We all LOVE to see her smile.  So far, Daddy gets the most smiles by far, followed by LittleBear and then there's me in last place.  *SIGH*

She had a baby well check this morning and weighed in at 11 lbs, 8 oz, so it looks like our bathroom scale might not have been as off as we thought!  Hooray for LadyBear!  She's also 22.5 inches long and doing fine health-wise.  

I pulled out the camera yesterday to try and capture her gorgeous smile that lights up a room and didn't catch one, but I did get some other facial expressions which I thought were cute and might help to show how expressive she is at home.  Clearly photography is NOT one of my talents...(by the way, I'm ok with that...Thankfully, I've got talented friends that help me document my family from time to time in much better quality pictures :) )

the closest thing I got to a smile...

seriously Mom, we're doing this photo shoot thing again?!

We love our little girl!!!

LadyBear Strolls Baylor's Campus

In our last post, we told you we are Baylor Proud.  Well, we thought it was time to introduce LadyBear to Baylor's beautiful campus.  She had met the bears already, but hadn't seen much else.

The weather was lovely and the flowers smelled SO good!! 

 We definitely enjoyed our little walk around the older part of campus...

We are Baylor Proud!

Just like her brother, LadyBear is quickly picking up on the fact that our family is, yes, Baylor Proud!  :)

We're still a little slow getting stuff to the blog; these pictures were taken right about her one-month birthday by our friend Robbie. Thanks, Robbie! Below are a few favorites; click here to see the entire gallery.

 

Thanks again, Robbie!

Fun & Random: Music!

Today, as we were playing together with a rainmaker toy that we have, LittleBear and I got to talking about different sounds, particularly the sound of the rain falling.

Somehow from there we got to talking about how we can make fun sounds with our voices and hands.  In an attempt to help, I showed him this video that Jeff found a while back that shows a pretty impressive acapella performance.  I think we all enjoyed it (LadyBear in particular)!

Guess Who's One Month Old Today? LadyBear!!!

WOW. We can't believe it's already been a month since LadyBear arrived and came to live with us "on the outside."  It really doesn't feel like it has been that long. She truly is a joy and a pleasure to have in the family. Earlier today, LittleBear came up to me unprompted, totally on his own, and said, "Mommy, I like my little sister." Oh, may that still be true in four years and beyond!!

According to our bathroom scale (which cannot possibly be right), LadyBear now weighs 11 pounds (?!) and is 21 inches long. She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and 21 inches long when last checked two and a half weeks ago.  She's out of newborn clothes (with the exception of two pairs of pants) and into 0-3 months, which thankfully we have a good supply of (thank you everyone!).  She eats like a champ and sleeps pretty well at night.  We've been swaddling her at night (which she doesn't seem to mind), just to differentiate between days and nights, and we think that helps, though we haven't been brave enough to try and let her sleep at night without the swaddle (she does nap without it).

She loves to hear her big brother's voice and will try to find him whenever she hears him.  He takes excellent care of her and is an amazing big brother.  She likes to eat, snuggle and spend time on her playmat.  In true girly fashion, she also seems to enjoy baths.  All in all, she is a pretty contented baby and really only fusses when she is hungry, needs her diaper changed or her tummy is not feeling well...all understandable.

Here is a recent video of her in action (sporting her favorite lei onesie for her Auntie and Uncle in Hawaii):

Tummy Time for LadyBear

One thing we learned early on about LadyBear is that she is physically a strong little girl.  The nurses at the hospital even remarked about this immediately after she was born as they were trying to get her footprint.  She's holding her head up like a pro and looking around with very little wobbliness.  Way to go, LadyBear!  Here she is in action!