Da Bunny

Annie was da' bunny for her first Halloween. We dressed her up with what we had: bunny hat, puffy mittens, pajamas that happen to have bunnies on them, and of course whiskers and red nose dot using washable markers (safe on your face? sure.) We thought about using a sharpie for the whiskers. After all, the permanent marker would last well into the holidays before re-application. She could be a Christmas bunny too.We took her trick-or-treating with some friends. Here, she's getting the Momma love.
The "trick" was on them...that is, the neighborhood. You see, people thought they were giving candy to Annie. After all, she's the one holding the candy bag (see below), even if it was propped on her bunny mitten.
Fact is, the candy's all mine, including the "regular" sized bag of M&Ms. Forget that "fun" size stuff. I go for the big candy.

We took a break at one house for a leaf dive. It wasn't until I took Annie back out of the leaf pile that the owner of the house told us that there were probably spiders in the pile. Apparently, her and her husband had endured spider bites while raking the yard that week. Thanks for that bit of late info. Fortunately, Annie escaped unbitten.
Here she is with some of her trick-or-treat buddies.
And her chicklet friend.

The Monster Game

So far, Annie's unaware that the monster game is supposed to be scary.

The Fall Lineup

Cooler weather is good because it means hat time.

Here Annie is chillin in the bippity-bo-diddle-dank, while Kara and I threw the softball around in the back yard. And, we managed to avoid hitting Annie with the ball.

Here she's modeling her little-tater-sack-hat with Momma.

Oh yes, she's getting big. She's even holding the bottle on her own now.

Annie says "hey everybody" in Bubblespeak

Moondust

Here's the girl. Sorry, it's a bit off-center.

A good Dad age

27 is here, 26 is gone as of Sept 3. Fortunately, my Birthday was also Labor Day. So Monday morning I enjoyed breakfast at noon with some friends. Nothing cures aging like a 4-egg omelet, 3 pancakes, and company.

Here's Elias trying to get fresh with Annie. He knows she's cute.

But how exactly is it that Annie turned out so cute?

Ah yes, thanks to Mom.

Little Spesh

But Daddy, can I please have the new "Squeeze n' toot" doll?
Well...okay.
Happy dial = 5
Happy dial = 8
Happy dial = 10
There will be no survivors.

Turkey

I spend some time in Istanbul a couple weeks ago. Let me preface by saying, I'm going to spare you 99% of the pictures. And I'm too tired to tell the stories.

Within minutes of arriving in the old city area, I was cornered by a carpet salesman, he took this picture of me with the Aya Sophia in the background. Finally, I was able to convince him that I would need permission from the wife to buy a 4000 dollar rug, thus my escape.Here's the Blue Mosque.
And its courtyard.
Here's the underground cistern.

Here's a view from a palace looking out over the Bosphorous Strait and Golden Horn.

I ended up running into a guy that I met on the plane, and we hung out all day. Here we're enjoying some Turkish coffee.


Night shot of Aya Sophia.

The Grand Bazaar (biggest market in the world).
And of course the lamb attempting to escape the "lamb truck".

I missed the girls.
Here's the little bit.

A Few Pictures at 10 wks

Happy girl
Workin that tummy time
Cuddlers
Hanging out with Elias Chambers, Bachelor #1

2 months - lows, highs, & some tunes

Name your breastfeeding issue - yes, Kara has had it: thrush, mastitis, abscess, allergic reaction to antibiotics, etc. Kara has had maybe one week out of 8 where she's been trouble free. So please pray for her. The consolation for all of this has been an easy baby. Anna has been pretty great. The last two nights she broke 8 hrs for sleeping - YES!

I just took this picture tonight of her with Mom.


We've had a blast with her lately. She's really cuddly and likes hanging out and observing. She smiles the most on the changing table and in the bath. And she already likes piano, I hold her with one hand and play piano with the other. It's a new nightly tradition. She'll sit there for 30 minutes and just listen.

Rounding out her musical experience, Kara and I sing ridiculous songs to her all day long. Some of them are very catchy and will be on available on iTunes shortly, like Kara's song from this morning.

"Good morning, good morning, good moooooorning, it's time to wake 'em up and eat." (repeat 4 or 5 times)

and a couple of mine,

"I win, you win, I am big, you are small" (same goes for this one, repeat a lot)

"And a kiss kiss, and a kiss kiss, Annie's pretty toooo,
like her Ma-ma, like her Ma-ma, and I love both of you"
(Why do you have to say kiss twice? I don't know, but I guess it makes more sense than the 'I win, you win' song).

6+ Weeks

You may have noticed my blog entries are fewer and farther between. In fact, I'm sure some have given up on checking it. This phenomenon is common. It's known as babytakemytimey.

I wanted to share this picture of her from a week ago after she had a bath. I was thrilled to capture this smile.

Big 1 Month

Already! She's getting bigger with Mom's homemade yum juice.

And she’s starting to consciously smile. Momma gets a couple here.



Here's to piano fingers.

Little Sweetal at 2.5 Weeks

And the grunt face

Getting the Hang of It