Father's Day

We got to celebrate Joshua's first Father's Day on Sunday. I found a new recipe for citrus coffee cake that I got to bake in our new bundt pan. We enjoyed that for brunch. We had a nice day together and finished everything off with a good dinner and tasty rhubarb pie. It's wonderful to see Joshua grow into his new role as father. He loves Mary, and it's delightful to watch them interact.

One Month

 Mary reached one month on June 10. 

Mary loves to be held and swaddled. She purses her lips often and has a vast range of facial expressions that are endearing, silly, and fun. She has quite the grip if she grabs your finger. She can be loud at times, but is usually content. We love watching her and seeing the new things she does seemingly every day.

First Sleeper

Mary tried a sleeper for the first time. She wasn't a huge fan of it for sleeping, but wore one all the next day to stay warm on a cool, rainy day.

Tummy Time

Mary has started spending time on her tummy. She's not a big fan, but usually tolerates it okay for a little while. Her legs are getting strong and can scoot around her lower half. She can also lift up her head, but can't hold it for long.

Six Years

In the midst of welcoming Mary and recovering from the birth process, Joshua and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We decided to keep things low key for obvious reasons, but enjoyed a great day. Joshua went to a local bakery to pick up some pastries for brunch. There are a lot of good bakeries in Eugene and we haven't explored any of them because we usually just bake at home, so it was a fun opportunity to try something new. He picked an assortment of pastries and they were all tasty.

We also enjoyed a delicious dinner. Joshua grilled steak and I made a green salad with fresh lettuce from the garden. We also had potatoes and a bread from the bakery with olive oil and vinegar. It was a great way to end our celebration. Here's to new adventures to come!

Newborn Photoshoot

I was so grateful for the opportunity to have a newborn photoshoot while my family was here. Heather did a great job taking pictures of Mary and capturing her newborn sweetness. Many thanks to her for allowing us to take advantage of her photographer skills.

Meeting Mary

My family drove up to meet Mary on Tuesday, May 22. They arrived in the evening and we had dinner together at our house. Not surprisingly, I didn't carry my camera around for most of the visit, so almost all of these pictures are from Joshua, Heather, and Michelle.

Everyone was excited to get a turn holding her, and she was pretty happy to get passed around to everyone.

The Nickells and Trevinos were staying at an AirBNB that was close to our house while Mom and Dad stayed with us. We spent a lot of time at the other house because it was considerably larger than ours, but there were also a few outings around town that different groups of people enjoyed. Most of the time Mary and I stayed around the house with whichever people hadn't gone out, but one of the things we all did was enjoy lunch at Tacovore. It was Mary's first actually outing, not counting leaving the hospital or visiting the pediatrician.

The cousins brought Mary a present: a onesie that matched their shirts. Now there are seven cousins in the bunch.

Michelle and I with our babies. Elias and Mary have birthdays that are one day apart. Elias was born on May 11 last year and Mary was born on May 10 this year.

Thursday everyone came back to our house for a Mediterranean barbecue in the backyard. Joshua and Natalie grilled lamb while Mom, Heather, and Michelle made rice, veggies, and other tasty sides.

We finished the evening off with brownies celebrating that Mary was two weeks old.

Of course, we had time for playing games and holding the baby. We also spent a lot of time visiting and eating good food. One thing I particularly enjoyed was talking about birth stories together.

I made sure to get pictures of Mom, Heather, and Michelle with the blankets that each of them made for Mary.

Saturday morning, after a few last snuggles with baby Mary, everyone piled in the van and returned to California. It was fun to see all of them and introduce Mary; we appreciated that they all drove up to see us and the help with cooking and doing chores around the house.

Baby Feet

Kissing Face

Mary continues to delight us with her adorable faces.

This is one of our favorite faces; Mary makes it all the time right now.