To Boston and Back.

So, I know I have been gone for quite a while, so I thank you for your patience!  But, I have been busy.  In any event, there is a lot to catch you up on....

First, in the most exciting news...I got my passport!  Woohoo!  Now I am ready to jet set in style!  Although I have to say, I am not loving my passport photo anymore -- I look such like a ... baby!!  I've grown so much since that photo was taken, it's amazing!!  Oh well, I guess I just have to live with it for the next 5 years until I can get a new one.  

Next, mommy and daddy took me to Boston to visit grandma Paula and grandpa Aubrey, where I also got to meet great aunts Gretchen and Lisa, great uncles Scott and Steve, great grandma Ruth, and my cousins Carter and Tyler and Jay.  There were so many people to meet, and I was so sleepy, that it was all a blur!  Hopefully I will have more time to get to know everyone at Thanksgiving!  I can't wait for turkey (so I hear)!!!  I don't know what it is all about, but mommy seems to be super excited about the Thanksgiving meal so hopefully it will live up to expectations!  Anyhow, I did well on the drive up with mommy (I slept pretty much the whole way and was very peaceful), but I did not like the drive back!  Maybe it was the car -- on the way up mommy snagged us a Cadillac SRX SUV, which was a fancy and great ride, but on the way back, daddy got us a Mercury Grand Marquis (!!!) which looked like it was from the 1980s!!!!!  And as if that wasn't bad enough to ride for 5 hours in a total boat, the car had New Jersey plates!!!  As if!  Anyhow, I sincerely hope that we will do better next time on the way back from Boston at Thanksgiving. 

Caught in the act!  

In other news, I am now quite mobile when I am in my crib.  I like to spin around (like a turtle on its back) and sometimes have ended up 180 degrees from how I was initially placed in the crib (see left)!!  Mommy and daddy just laugh at me, but they don't understand how frustrating it is not to be able to just get wherever I want to!!  But, just they wait!!!  

Also, I have gotten quite good at grabbing things that I see.  I often now sit on the couch or in my bouncy chair and mommy will put Olivia the Owl in front of me, and I will just grab and squish her crinkly wings while babbling to myself.  It's so much fun!!!

How I was found this morning by mommy.  Uh oh.  Time for bumpers, pronto!!!  

Adventures in Westchester.

Can you spot me in the nice house??

This past weekend, mommy and daddy took me with them to house hunt in Westchester.  I behaved extremely well, if I may say so myself (also, daddy said so, so there!!)!!  I still don't really like my carseat, and didn't really get to get all my usual naps in with all of the ins and outs and being carried around all of the houses, but I didn't fuss too much in the end.  I think I will like it in the country -- I hear from mommy that it is very quiet there!!!  I don't know what quiet is yet (since all I have known is the NICU and our currently very noisy apartment with sirens and trucks going by 24-7), but I think it will suit me.

Me, first time facing outwards in the babybjorn.  I got
all sorts of coos and adoring looks from passersby, and
a nice lady on the platform offered to take a photo of
mommy and me (when she saw mommy trying
to take a photo on her own....not very successfully).

Also, here are some other big firsts and milestones that have happened since my last post:  (1) I had my first real laugh with sound (not just squealing or squeaking, but an actual laugh) on Monday, hooray!!, but I haven't done it again since; (2) I can now sometimes grab things that I see (so far I have done with mostly with Mr. Bear, the pink stuffed bear that grandma Hong gave me, who I always try to put in my mouth, unsuccessfully though, because Mr. Bear is quite big); (3) I can now go face forward in the babybjorn when mommy and I go out, and I have learned to nap while facing outwards; and (4) I have now officially switched to the big girl stroller (no more bassinet for me -- that thing is for babies!!!!!), so yay for me!!

Me, snug as a bug in a rug in my carseat on Sunday,
on the way home from Westchester.  

Me, in my big girl stroller!

New friends!

Yay, visitors!!  I am getting patted on the head by my new
friend, Potter in this picture!!  She is 1 1/2 months
older than me, so she is my big sister!!
And yes, I am the only one not paying attention
in this photo!! 

It has been an exciting weekend for me so far because we have had a lot of visitors!  Some of mommies friends from law school were in town and I got to meet them!  It would have been more fun, except that mommy kept trying to make me go to sleep when the visitors were around, when I just wanted to hang out with everyone!  Wasn't I the main attraction anyway??!!  Geesh!  So the whole time, mommy was trying to put me to sleep, but I fought hard!!  Finally, mommy just gave up and let me join the party.  I had a great time, even though I looked like a zombie-baby since I was so sleepy!!  But, as I am always trying to tell mommy (except she seems to have trouble understanding me, as she always just repeats back what I say with a silly smile on her face...she's pretty much a lost cause at this point), sleeping is for the birds!!

Yes, the blanket is stuffed in my mouth, as per my usual.

Also, new milestones for me include:  (1) falling asleep in the bouncy chair that auntie Jaya bought me for the first time (of course it was my babysitter who succeeded in doing this for the first time -- she is great at putting me to sleep!!  much better than mommy and daddy, who are just tyros!!); and (2) picking up my pacifier with my hands from out of my mouth and then trying to suck it again (except usually I will have turned it around in my hands so I can't seem to get anything to suck since it will be backwards...I'll be working on this....).  Yay, me!!

Quiet, please.  I'm concentrating on tummy time!!   

This is my old man face, with my forehead furrowed.  Heh.