Lucky 7 (Photo Bonanza)

G hit 7 months earlier this week. She's a very happy baby and is amazing us every day with her new skills. Although she's not crawling she is, for all intensive purposes, mobile. She can scoot herself around in a circle when she's sitting, and when she's on her tummy she can push herself backwards and rotate around to go after the object of her desire. She has solids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and bottles for snacks in between. Moving to that feeding schedule was surprisingly easy - ahh, the little things make me happy. She is working on her fine motor skills and learning to do the pincer grab to feed herself. If only Ralphie was the kind of dog who was food-motivated, he would know that the area around her chair is now a gold mine. She's also developed a true little baby laugh which is so cute we could melt.

This week was also my first week at the new job. I feel like I've been there for a year - in a good way. The people are extremely nice (no more drama!) and I've been really impressed at the sophisticated level at which each department works. As I told my fellow managers yesterday, the good news is that I haven't seen anything that can't be fixed in marketing. My new boss said yesterday that he thought I had done more in four days than my two predecessors had done in the last two years. Yay! I have to also mention that I have the best husband ever for helping me make this important decision for our family. I'm sure the fact that he desperately wants to buy a motorcycle had nothing to do with it.

On to the Squishie shots! Yesterday was a glimpse into a hot summer day, so we did some pics outside.

Any stylish Squish knows the undergarments must match the dress


Who's that walking by? I shall welcome them by chewing on my blanket


Hair courtesy of a well timed wind gust


Her 80's look


Hey dada


I am a giant baby and I will eat you


Nooooooooot sure that watermelon is the best thing I've tasted


Juicy, yes, but still not convinced


Oh yeah, give me a Cheerio any day


Kicking up her heels


Get my good side, mom


Intruder! I shall eat you.





Seriously, could not be more sick of the camera


Go Knights!


That looks delicious, hand it over

Things We Did This Weekend

Saturday was the most incredible day. Sunny, mid-70's, perfect. Today was your average 30-degree Wisconsin swing though, so I'm glad we took advantage of the good weather. What better way to cure what ails you than some sunshine?

Saving a little lunch on her collar for later


Ralphie is more interesting to look at than the camera


Hey, gimmie that


Stopping to smell the flowers (notice the near perfect fourth position, thankyouverymuch)


Ralphie's new summer crop


Matt looking wackadoo


Helping mom prep dinners for this week


Food, glorious food...

Toodles, MSO

Last Friday was my last day at the MSO. The only weird thing about leaving after 7 seasons is how totally normal it felt. Seriously, like I was leaving any other day except with more hugs. My colleagues threw me a great little party and my department chipped in for a digital photo frame for me to take to the new gig. Very sweet. There were a couple of surprises too...former colleagues Eric and Stephen (Eric was the development vp while Stephen was the marketing vp. They are the quintessential odd couple) made special guest appearances. While certainly that alone would have been very nice, what makes it even more surprising is that Eric lives in Fond du Lac and Stephen lives in St. Louis! He had driven to IL the night before and into MKE Friday morning. I was officially surprised.

So after I bid a fond farewell to my awesome office and fantastic view, Stephen followed me to the house to meet G. She took to him right away.

Proof that Brewers and Cardinals fans can get along

It was great to catch up with Stephen and introduce him to our girl. I feel incredibly lucky to have the kind of friends who drive 7 hours for a cup of punch at a work goodbye party!

In other Squishy news, we managed to keep the Amoxicillin out of the fridge for almost 7 months but the plague that hit our house last week landed her with the one-two punch of two ear infections. Big thanks to Grandpa Karl for coming over to watch the patient while I went to the office.

Tomorrow: day 1 at The House. Although I'm arriving in a Honda instead of a Harley, I shall walk in armed with four dozen donuts and a smile. Point for the new girl!

First Easter

Our little family had a fun first Easter with Genevieve. It was a really nice day here which was good, because then I could stuff her in her cute pink dress with a clear conscience. G must have been extra excited to try to catch the Easter Bunny because she was up at 5 bells that morning (the bunny does not approve). We went to church (you read that right) and G could not have been better behaved. Afterward we stopped in to local fave Alterra for some breakfast and then headed out on a family stroll. But first Matt had to take care of some business.

Ralphie's version of an egg hunt

Hi mommy


Is this the Easter Bunny?

OMG, does my baby have cankles?





For the record, these are all sans Matt as he had a nasty case of pink eye and refused to have his photo taken...


...unless his eyes were shielded. G seems shocked that he has shades too.

That afternoon we headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Maio's for Easter dinner and also to celebrate Uncle Steve's birthday (which is officially today, tax day). G was treated to a basket full of goodies, ranging from the fun (a great new book, and a heavy-duty plastic bib. How did the Bunny know??) to the practical (sunscreen and a newsletter from Dr. Andrew Weil). She got tons of attention from grandma & grandpa and helped cook dinner too. She also got her first taste of cake and ice cream which was a BIG hit. That's my girl.

Alas today we are all a bit more rough for the wear...G has another icky cold and I've definitely felt better, but Matt's got it the worst with a fever and other fun symptoms. The wee one has napped for a total of about 20 minutes today (I even tried my trump card - the long walk outside - which was totally denied) and hopefully this is as bad as it gets...it would be pretty shady of me to call in sick on my last day in the office at the MSO. Funny, but shady.

I Wear My Sunglasses...

It's a bright, sunny spring day here, so we took Ralphie for a walk at lunch. Squishie told me she wanted to wear her shades, so off we went:

Visits!

Good god, the last two weeks have been absolute madness. I know there are several blog visitors out there who are not pleased with me taking so long between posts. Rest assured you cyber stalkers, there will be nary an excuse for my delays between postings when I start my new, part-time job in a couple of weeks. Oh yes, that's right: it's sayoonara (spelling: courtesy Wikipedia) MSO, hello Harley-Davidson. Well, House of Harley-Davidson actually, one of the largest dealerships in the world. Check them out here (although don't get too attached to the current web site - updating it tops my to-do list). I'll be their new marketing manager starting April 20. Thanks to all of those out there who helped me make the decision (you know who you are). It's going to be weird leaving the MSO...after all, it was my first job out of school. But it's very much time and I look good in orange so it all worked out.

Meanwhile, we have been able to spend time with lots of our friends lately. I think everyone is so sick of being cooped up we're forcing ourselves to go out and see other people. Two Saturdays ago my dear friend Kathleen came up from Chicago. Last time Kathleen was here I went into labor. No such adventures this time; just a wonderful visit with a little trip to World Market and a chance for her to meet the Squish. Interestingly, Kathleen has her master's degree in linguistics (not the official title but you get the idea) and explained to me the science behind why babies say "dada" so much earlier than "mama". It all made perfect sense but doesn't actually make me feel that much better. Blast!

Squishie turned off the lights at World Market

Last Saturday we had our friends Dan and Erin over for dinner. Erin is about 25 weeks along with their first baby. She's one of those totally cute pregnant women, who's just tiny with this wee round thing - absolutely adorable. They got to see first-hand what the average night is like with a 6 month old, from the diapers to the tub and everything in between. G was putting on quite a show at dinner time, acting like what I was feeding her was poison. What a gem.

Then on Sunday we headed over to our friends Jen & Brian's place for brunch (I know, how popular are we??). They of course have little Ford, who's not so little anymore. At 20 months old not only can Ford recite the alphabet and his numbers, he can identify them. It was shocking! But even a Boy Wonder can be lured in by the power of a good horsie ride:

Giddie up!


Check it out mom!


Something over here is a little ripe


H is for hiking up your pants

The cutest part though was when I asked Ford where the G was. He found it and I asked him where Baby G was. He took the letter over and gave it to her - totally adorable.

Looking fierce again - this time with her prized initial

And to top it all off, I witnessed an actual miracle in the house. After mere years of putzing around, Matt finally finished his bar. Woo hoo! I regret that I did not chronicle the assembly of the top, as it included borrowing Melissa's scrap booking tools and several consecutive weekends of him asking me, "Hey, can we go to Michael's this weekend?". Uh, yikes. But regardless it's now complete. Thanks to Shawn for letting us borrow his fantastic idea of using Brewers cards for the top:

Man Room manliness


Strategically placed can of High Life: check


Inspires you to drink, doesn't it?

Speaking of Shawn and the Brewers, the home opener is this Friday. I am very excited for baseball season to start again, although it would be great to not answer the door to find Shawn sans pants after the opener this year. Just saying.