Noisy Girl

She's been babbling a lot lately, and we've been able to get her to giggle a few more times. I was in the kitchen the other day and thought Maeli was asleep. I went back to check on her and she was talking away to Pooh and Eeyore. She's so funny.

Why Don't They Just Make Clothes the Color of Poop?

First Week of School

We made it through the first week. Jeremy is taking 4 classes : Multi-variable calculus, Evolutionary Computation, Computer Graphics, Gene Genealogies and Coalescent Theory (I can't even spell most of those classes). All his classes are in the afternoon, so he and Maeli work on homework in the mornings together while I'm at work. We're counting down the weeks to graduation, but its a little early in the semester to know how things are going to go. So far, so good.

Maeli's Day Out

Since schoold starts on Monday, we had a few errands to do today. We had to go to Moscow to get Jeremy's books, and we decided to go to the Farmer's Market.
We found this guy who does Chinese Calligraphy and we got him to do "Maeli" for us. He actually did several copies because "it is 'beautiful' I must write it beautiful." The one we were going to just buy had an ugly frame, so he said we could switch frames, but them the mat had faded a little bit in the sun, so he redid the whole thing for us. I feel bad that Jeremy haggled him down to $15 when he worked so hard on it. But Jeremy had a fun time speaking to him.
This isn't what we brought home, but the Chinese symbol looks something like this. This says "beauty" which is the "Mae" part of Maeli.

The Giggles

Our sweet Baby has learned how to giggle. The first time was dancing on the table to "Shakin' a baby now." I've only been able to really crack her up once since then, but I had the camera ready.



Grandma and Grandpa Brame brought Wendy over to visit. We were so happy to have them here. Now Maeli only has one more Aunt to meet (Your turn to visit Melinda!). While they were over we finally got to go see the Grizzly Bears that WSU is researching. We've had trouble getting over there when they're out, but it was pretty cool to be so close. And the babies played on a tire swing, but those pictures were too dark.


Maeli and Grandpa Pat had lost of fun together. They watched tv.

And they had some very meaningful conversations.
Grandma Terry got some snuggles in and got to give Maeli a bottle.
Auntie Wendy was a great and willing babysitter so Jeremy and I could go to work at the same time (and be home together in the evening.) We decided we really liked having family close enough to leave the baby with for a few hours....I hope someday we have that situation all the time.
So all the sudden Maeli is too big for 0-3 month clothes. And going through things I did find stuff that she never wore, everyone warned me that would be the case, but I didn't believe it. This is one of her big girl dresses. This one is from Aunt Brandi, and she got a lot of compliments on it
Our little Maeli loves to be naked.
And hates to get dressed.
Until you tell her she looks cute, and then she's fine.
My friend Jeniel made us a bunch of bows, we put one on her the other day for church. She looked pretty cute, as you can see. I'm so glad we took this picture right when she got dressed, because in the middle of sacrament she pooped all over herself and Jeremy and spent the rest of the time in just a onesie.
She really loves Grandpa.

First Time Out

So Jeremy and I went on a date...without the baby. This was the first time we left her with someone who isn't family (and even then Auntie Sheila watched her in the hotel room while I was swimming downstairs, I'm not sure that counts as "leaving"). My friend Amy has been wanting to watch Maeli for weeks as she's having a baby girl next month and wanted her 18 month old son to see another baby, and her 11 year old son to play with a girl baby.

Our three hours went like this....drop the baby off at 6. Meet Jeremy at the movie theater, buy tickets ($2 each, you gotta love the Thursday deal night) to see Die Hard 3 (we've been wanting to see it because of the whole McLain thing). Got such a deal on the movie that we got popcorn and pop! Enjoyed the movie...basic Bruce Willis saves the day while destroying half the city...much like the other 2 Die Hards, but it was good. Then my husband treated me to ice cream at Baskin Robbins...chocolate mousse...delicious. Then off to pick the baby up at 9:00.

Her three hours (according to Amy) went like this...Cry for 2 hours, poop 4 times, refuse to eat anything. Avoid getting smacked (only happened once, and not a big deal) by the 18 month old. Go out side, look at the world while crying on the porch. Fall asleep half an hour before mom and dad pick her up. Wake up while Amy is telling mom and dad about the evening and smile at my mom like she's the best thing I've ever seen! Snuggle and drool on her neck. Go home, eat a ton, change into jammies, and go to sleep.

We should do this more often!

Check Up

I was going to use the swing as a background to show how much Maeli has grown, but they recalled it because babies were getting trapped. So I’ll have to use her Daddy. From Birth to Two months:

Sorry, I can't get that second one to flip, but here's a cute one of the two of them this morning.

She weighed in today at 12 lbs 9 oz (92nd percentile). Like a true women she tried to reduce her weight as much as possible by going potty twice in the Dr’s office. She’s 22 1/2” long (65th percentile). Looks like she’s going to be “sturdy” like her mama.



She’s getting close to rolling over from back to front and prefers sleeping on her side. She’s starting to figure out her little world. She likes playing with this toy, and played so hard she fell asleep the other day. She’s just getting so big so fast, we’re already talking about another one (but not too soon!)






School starts on the 20th so we’re trying to cram in the chores and fun that we haven’t done yet this summer. We’re going to try to take the baby camping in the next few weekends. I think one night and two parents we might be able to swing it. This will be Jeremy’s last semester of undergrad…yeah! We’re still not sure about what grad school program to do…Move to Seattle and be done sooner…stay in Pullman for longer but cheaper…it’s a hard decision.

Maeli and I had a great time in Tri-Cities, you can read all about it on Sheila’s Blog.
It seems like Jeremy has a great time on the hike. I haven’t got to see the pictures yet, but he said they saw some “beautiful country.” He wore new boots and his feet took quite the beating. He asked Dr. Hall about his toe that has turned black and blue…Dr. Hall told him the exact same thing that I told him, but Jeremy feels better hearing it from a professional. :0)