Snow Camp (Belated)

Sorry this has taken so long to get up.  Paul was sick for a little while and we have all been busy with work stuff.  Well, I guess not Lotty.  Maybe she should have updated the blog.


We went to our church snow camp back in February.  Basically, it is a time to go up to the church camp, which has cabins and a lodge and most of the amenities of home, and hang out and enjoy the snow.  This was our first one with Lotty.  She looks adorable in her pink snowsuit.  This was also her first time riding around in the backpack, which worked pretty well.

Here are some other pictures of the snow that turned out pretty nicely:

Tastes like beagle

Lotty really enjoys spending time with the pets.  We don't know if she has a favorite between the cat or the dog at this point; the main thing is that they are furry.  Paul got a few pics of Lotty playing with Max the other day.  So far, Max isn't thrilled with having his ears pulled or is eyes gouged, but he is pretty tolerant.

Squeals

Lotty squeals when having fun:

Squeals from Paul Brown on Vimeo.

Cold, Sunny Start to the Year

Our year here in Seattle has started off cold by our standards.  But in a way, it hasn't felt as cold because it has been dry and clear.  New Year's day, we all bundled up and walked along part of the Burke Gilman Trail that Paul had seen the day before on a bike ride and thought was rather interesting.  Ice had formed at one point and then it looks like the water level had receded, leaving the ice hanging from the brush.  All of these pictures are from that walk except for the close-up of the heavy frost on the small leaves, which is from our front yard.

Lucky Lotty's Long Lashes

Lotty may have gotten her beautiful brown eyes from her mother, but she also got her father's long lashes:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Tooth

It has been a fun Christmastime with all of us at home. Lotty has gotten used to having Daddy around and perhaps Mama has too. Monday will come as a bit of a shock for us all.  The big news during this time is that we can feel Lotty's first tooth.  Sorry, no pictures of that.  We first felt it on Wednesday, the 29th.  It has bothered her a bit and she feels it all the time with her fingers and tongue.

Lotty has continued to try new solid foods, including carrots, pears (cooked up at home) and prunes! She has also started eat rice rusks (shown in picture below). She isn't always the neatest eater, but she is getting the hang of it, and Max enjoys looking from crumbs and finishing leftovers.

Waiting for crumbs

Of course, Lotty sometimes wonders what it is that we are giving her!  So far about her favorite thing to spread on her face is carrots, though I think it is prunes with rice cereal in the picture below (right).  

 

For Christmas, Auntie Marie & Nick gave Lotty a giant kangaroo with a baby in her pouch.  The baby has been named Foster.  No definitive name has emerged for Foster's mother.

Auntie Kathryn helped Lotty open some presents on Christmas evening.  Kathryn is Lotty's part-time nanny, so they know each other really well.  This was a mobile of the world with people from all over.  It was from Oma and Grandpa Derksen and came from the Ten Thousand Villages store here in Seattle.

Thanksgiving, food and more Lotty play

It looks like we missed posting in November all together.  It isn't like it is an especially short month, but it has been a busy one.  Elizabeth had two concerts in conjunction with the release of her second solo CD.  You can find it here.  There was also a trip down to California for a week around Thanksgiving.  Grammy and Grandpa Brown had not seen Lotty since she was a few weeks old, so it was good for all of them to get re-acquainted.  It is a Mendocino County Law that you have to take pictures of the ocean while there.  Here are a couple that Paul took:

 

While on the trip, Lotty rolled over for the first time.  She did it a total of three times and hasn't done it since.  So for now, she remains basically immobile.


We started feeding Lotty "solid" food on Saturday.  Her first food was rice cereal thinned with breast milk.  She was a bit unsure of what to do that first meal, but it went better today.  She didn't seem to have any adverse reaction to the rice, so that is good.

Just today, Lotty started playing with the toys on the Baby Einstein play center that she got from Grammy and Grandpa Brown.  She was first fascinated by the bongo playing lion (who wouldn't be) and then started playing with the flexible necked giraffe.  I think she will find it more fun when her feet actually touch the bottom.  For now, though, she can just hang out in it with a little supervision.