Getting Ready for Sunshine

All ready for summer in her new hat.

Easter Celebrations

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

My two favorite church services are the Easter vigil and Easter morning. They just can't be beat. Mary was a bit tired for the vigil since it started around the time she's normally getting ready for bed, but she made it through the whole thing, and she seemed to really like the service Sunday morning with all the extra music and festivities.

After church, we enjoyed blintzes with blackberry compote and sausage for brunch.

Mary discovered some goodies in the Easter basket, which she seemed to like. She also wore shoes for the first time; she wasn't so sure about that part.

Some of our friends from church invited us to join them and their son and his wife for Easter dinner. That was lovely. Mary even got to hunt for Easter eggs. 

I wasn't sure if she would look for eggs when there were so many other new things to check out, but she caught on quickly.

We returned home in time for a late nap and some relaxing play before a light dinner and bedtime.

Just Standing Around

Mary has mastered the art of standing up. She's been able to get up on her feet occasionally for awhile, but in the past week or so has really perfected the skill. Now she regularly pops up on all kinds of things. Thankfully, she's also getting pretty good at getting back down.

This, of course, led to another round of baby proofing.

Palm Sunday

Mary kicked off Holy Week in style with her first palm procession.

Eleven Months

Mary is now eleven months old!

She loves music, clapping, and drumming and still wiggles when she’s happy.  

One of her favorite things is watching Daddy grind coffee. If she hears him pouring coffee beans in the grinder, she makes a beeline for the kitchen and gets excited.

She likes making up games with people. For example, recently we made up a game where she handed me an object and I balanced it on her head. Then we would laugh when it fell off. Some of the things we tried were nesting cups (including two or three at a time stacked on top of each other), wash cloths, and plastic bowls.

She also likes getting pushed over on the bed and having her feet tickled by Daddy’s beard. These things make her laugh all the time.

She’s seeming more and more like a toddler and less and less like a baby.

It’s crazy that this is the last “month” milestone. I mean, it feels like she’s been around for almost a year, and she has changed enough in that time for at least five or six years! But it’s still hard to believe that sweet baby Mary is almost a year old.

Sleeping Baby

This is Mary's favorite way to sleep lately. She gets her legs tucked up under her and her bottom in the air.

Bath Time

Who can resist a baby in a bathtub?

Hanging Out

Afternoon play time with Dad.

Cool Kid

Planting Onions

Mary and I planted onions on Saturday. It was fun to have a little helper in the garden again.

She wasn't too sure about it at first and just took everything in for a few minutes, but then she started crawling around the garden and sampled some dirt.

We've been having beautiful spring weather this week; it was great to be outside to enjoy it and exciting to do some planting.

Ten Months

Mary turned ten months on the tenth!

She’s our little explorer and loves checking out the world around her.

She regularly pulls up to knees, and occasionally makes it all the way up to her feet. She also learned how to balance on her knees and sometimes sits that way. 

She loves playing games and has started initiating them. Most commonly, she covers her face while on the changing table until I ask, “where’s Mary?” Then she pops out with a huge grin.  

Mary likes sharing objects by passing them back and forth.

She still loves books, both pulling them off the shelf and looking at them.

Her favorite toy right now is her music player.  

She brings many moments of joy to our days.