Daddy did great in the race!

We had another busy weekend, but I had a really good time. We were planning on going to go to the Washington Freedom game at the Soccerplex on Saturday evening. Well, daddy managed to win us tickets ON the field! He won a trivia contest hosted by the back up keeper, Kati Jo Spisak and we got two free tickets on the field. It was great - they had chairs set up on the side and there was even enough room for me to sit and play with my soccer ball in the grass. It was a whole new perspective on the game.

We had a LONG day on Sunday. Mom got me up at 5 am and we headed down to Leesburg so dad could run the 10K. We got there around 6:30 and found Jay and Molly pretty quickly. Shortly before the race, dad went to warm up and mom and I started walking so we could see him about a mile from the start. We saw dad, Molly and Jay, then walked down a side street to meet back up with them at about mile 5 on their way back. Molly ran the 20K, so she had to go farther before she turned around and came back up the trail. We saw dad and yelled at him and took his picture, but he didn't see us :( After he went by, mom took me up the trail where the runners were. We stayed to the left side and got out of the way of bike riders coming towards us. Then we saw Jay and told him there was only a half mile to go - I think he was happy about that :) Mom and I walked the rest of the way to the finish line and found dad and Jay after they had gotten cold washcloths and some food. We waited for a while, then walked back down to see Molly come across the finish. I'm glad to say that all three of them finished with flying colors :) Now I'm getting excited to "ride" in my first 5K in September! Daddy beat the time he was aiming for and said he was going to take a week off, then start training with the stroller for the 5K. Mom is running in that one, so dad said he'd push me. Should be interesting!





















I fell asleep on the walk back to the car after the race...



After the race, we went back to Jay and Molly's house to get changed and relax a little. I discovered the *best* toy there - a tennis ball!!! Kona didn't really want to play with me, but she was good and shared her toys :) She even gave me a ball to bring home with me! When we left there, we went to the DC United - Real Madrid game at Fed Ex field. We managed to get my stroller and diaper bag in to the stadium (we apparently found the right security guard, unlike poor Ken and Marie who had to fight with guest services), so that made things a little easier. Daddy was really excited to see Real Madrid play, especially since they have picked up some big name players. Mom ended up sitting with me in the concourse for nearly the whole game because it was SO hot. Marie and Arabelle came and sat with us too :) We lost the game, but it was tied at zero at half time, so that's pretty good! It took us almost 2 hours to get out of the parking lot thanks to the useless volunteers directing traffic. Mom said she was going to boycott Fed Ex because of that. I don't blame her - I was much less than thrilled myself.





















This is the aftermath of a very hot and sticky day - check out my hair :) Needless to say, I got dumped in the tub after dinner!

It's almost Friday again!!!

We've had a pretty good week. We ended up not going to Wolftrap last Friday to see Blue Planet. It was supposed to rain and mom had a horrible commute and wasn't in the mood to get back in the car. So we just hung out and I got to go to bed on time which is always a good thing. We got to see Steve and Angela's new house on Saturday and I loved it! But I wanted to play with Coco and she's just not as complacent as Raz is, so mom and Angela tried to keep me away from her. Maybe we can play when I get older and am not so enthusiastic about small creatures that move.

We celebrated dad's birthday with our friends on Saturday night. I got to go to one of dad's favorite places - Pat Troy's Ireland's Own pub. I was only there long enough for dinner, then mom and I came home, but everyone else seemed to have a good time. I understand that dad and Angela got to sing the unicorn song :) Dad's actual birthday was on Sunday and we all had a pretty low key day, which dad said was perfect. I hope so!

Not much else new here, but I am looking forward to the weekend again (are you sensing a theme here?) Dad's running a 10K on Sunday, then we're going to the DC United - Real Madrid game at Fed Ex field. It's supposed to be pretty hot, so we'll have to make sure to pack some ice in a cooler and some wash cloths!

I've been giving mom and dad a hard time at bedtime again, so mom took me out for a walk the other night in hopes that it would tire me out. I got to swing for a little while and had a blast! I even started to understand the motion of swinging - I would lean back and kick my legs out when I was swinging back, then lean forward when I was coming forward - that was a big improvement over the last time I was on the swings. I still fought going to sleep, but at least we got some fresh air. I've been going on "buggy" rides at school and that's been fun too - they can fit 8 kids in it and we walk around out on the playground. I'll have to ask mom to get a picture, because it's pretty cute.





















Bye bye for now!

Officially in Double Digits!

A week late, but that's right - I'm 10 months old now! It seems very hard to believe. This time last year, mom and dad told me they were painting the house and moving in and getting ready for me. Now they are chasing after me, laughing with me, reading to me, and having fun with me every day. What a difference a few months makes.

I am crawling all over the place now and can pull myself up on pretty much anything - the sofa, my toys, a pant leg - you name it and I can stand up on it. I even get so excited some times that I move my hands and forget that I'm not holding on. That's when I usually tumble. I clap my hands all the time now, give high fives, wave, and imitate raspberries really well. I am entirely off of baby food and eat "big people" food on my own now! Shredded cheese is a favorite and much to dad's chagrin, I LOVE broccoli :) Razmatazz has decided that she's had enough of me. Now that I can get to her quickly, she's started to get a little snippy with me. She "bit" at me the other day, but just in a playful way to tell me to go away. So mom and dad have to watch me very closely when she's around! Now that the stairway gates are up, poor Raz can't (or won't) get over them.

We had another fun filled weekend last weekend and have another one coming up this weekend! Grammy and Grampy Clements came to visit me last Friday - I had so much fun showing off all of my new tricks - crawling, standing, making my "scrunchy face", eating real food, chasing after the kitty, the list goes on and on. I blew raspberries at them too. Mom told me that they got stuck in some awful traffic going home, but I hope they had fun while they were here!

Saturday, we went to a birthday party at Arabelle's house. It was her grandpa's 70th birthday and her mom set up the baby pool for us to play in. I had a BLAST, but would not sit down in the water. Now that I'm a "big girl," I'm fine standing - no need to sit! Arabelle was so nice and shared her toys with me. She also though it would be funny to dump a bucket of water on her other grandpa's head while he was teaching her how to blow bubbles in the water.
























Having fun with my friend Arabelle!
























Happy Baby :)




When we left there, we went back to Wolftrap. We had tickets for the symphony performance of John Williams music. The skies were somewhat ominous on the way down, but dad kept checking the weather channel and it said it would be fine. WRONG!!! Right after we got there and got set up, the skies opened up and it POURED! It was so windy and was just a torrential downpour. Luckily I was in my stroller and had a pretty good shelter. Mom propped up the umbrella over the stroller and fed me my dinner while trying to hide under the umbrella to stay dry. My chicken got soggy, but I didn't seem to mind. The rain finally subsided and mom sat at the front of the lawn with me until it started to rain again. When mom tried to duck under the roof, the ushers told her that she had to move, so we ended up hiking back up the hill and hanging out under some shelter for the rest of the show. We couldn't see anything, so it was not ideal, but the music was great anyway! I really enjoyed the music from Indiana Jones - I danced and bounced in mom's arms. We're going back to Wolftrap tomorrow night to see Blue Planet. Hopefully it won't rain this time (although the forecast looks like it's calling for rain)!

School has been fun this week, but I'm ready for another weekend at home with mom and dad!

Not ready for another week!!!

We had another fun weekend and I'm not ready to go back to school tomorrow! Mom and dad took me to the DC United game yesterday. I enjoy the tailgate much more now that I can try to escape from the blanket :) I can even eat most of the tailgate food now, so at least that keeps me occupied for a little while. I've been eating the chicken there for a while now, but mom let me have some cheese ravioli and watermelon this time. Yum yum yum. Arabelle was really nice and shared all of her toys with me and mom got me a new DC United soccer ball at the game. We got to use the third row of seats in the Jeep and dad finally agreed that it was a good idea to buy this car, even if it only gets 15 mpg ;) We were able to fit us, Ken, Marie, Arabelle, all of our chairs, the canopy for shade, a cooler, and all of the toys for Belle and I! We didn't have our camera there, but if someone else happens to have taken photos, we'll gladly post them here!

Mom and dad just signed up for the Screaming Eagles 5K in September, so mom's hoping she has enough time (and motivation) to train for it. We went and bought her new shoes the other night and she says that helps. Dad says he's going to run with me in the stroller - I'm excited I get to go for a ride. Dad is also running a 10K in a few weeks, so wish him luck!!! Mom and I will be there cheering him on.

Today mom and I went shopping and dad took a photography class. I've not been feeling well the past few days and my schedule has been way off the past few days, so we couldn't get much done, but she did manage to get me some cute new clothes :) Dad really enjoyed his class and I was waiting up for him when he got home, even though it was WAY past my bedtime. I just needed some daddy time before I was ready to conk out.

Here are some photos from the past week. I'm getting much better at standing and am the wiggliest baby ever! It takes a ton of energy just to keep up with me :)





















See my pearly whites??? I even let mom brush them twice a day!!!!




















I'm barely holding on - sometimes I let go and stand for a few seconds, then fall down.





















I fell asleep and mom laid me down on my back. I immediately turned over and tried to sleep like this...


Have a good week everyone!

Fun filled weekend!

What a whirlwind of a weekend! On Friday, mom and dad took me to see my first symphony performance at Wolf Trap. It was a show called "Video Games Live" and featured the scores from many of the games that mom and dad played when they were younger. But it was performed by the NSO (National Symphony Orchestra) and had video explanations as they went. I had such a good time and danced my way through the first half. I got a little wiggly and mom made me get in my stroller and she walked me around and I fell asleep for the entire second half!

Saturday, I got to stay with Aunt Angela and Uncle Steve while mom and dad went to see Billy Joel and Elton John play in concert at the Nationals Stadium. I had a lot of fun hanging out with Steve and Angela and mom and dad had fun at the conert. I hear that the concert lasted for 3.5 hours and was really good :)

To add to the fun, I got to meet my Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lee Ann, and my cousins Jennifer and Christine on Sunday! They have been traveling the entire east coast for the past few weeks touring colleges and visiting family and I'm so glad they were able to stop and play with me for a while!

Here are some more recent photos.



















Showing off my teeth - I still have 5 - 3 on the top and 2 on the bottom.























My favorite facial expression. Makes mom and dad laugh every time :)






















I was VERY sleepy when we got home from Wolftrap on Friday night!






















My cousins Jennifer and Christine!






















Aunt Lee Ann!

Happy 4th!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had an enjoyable 4th of July. Dad tells me that this is his favorite holiday (other than maybe Christmas) and I can see why! We went to see the fireworks last night (in suburban VA, not in downtown DC) and I really enjoyed them. I was pretty fussy and wiggly leading up to the big festivities, but once the fireworks started, I stared for about 15 minutes, then just wanted to go to sleep. Mom definitely paid for keeping me up so late, though - I was up SCREAMING from 4-5:30 this morning, then decided to get up for the day at 7, ready to go. We didn't take too many photos yesterday because it was pretty dark by the time we got to where we watched the fireworks, but here are some from earlier in the day.




















I'm about to attack the kitty - she's in serious trouble now that I can crawl! Her ears stick right out there - perfect for me to grab on to!




















Happy as can be now that I can pull myself up on my table!

A fun weekend at Great Grandma Speichers!

Just an FYI - mom put links to the online photo albums on the right hand side of the page...there are a lot more photos there than are actually posted in the blog.

I got to go visit Great Grandma Speicher with mom this past weekend! Dad went to RYLA and Jenny and Kaitlin were visiting Great Grammy, so we decided to go visit for the weekend. I did NOT like the car ride up - especially with mom driving, there was no one to keep me entertained and I screamed for a long time. I hadn't met Jenny or Kaitlin before and we all had such a great time. I just wish they lived closer :( Or that Kaitlin was looking at colleges closer to here because I'd love to have her come babysit me!

Jenny gave me my first "car" - doesn't it look like fun? I love it, although I can't quite push myself on it yet. I can play with the toys on it and sit on it and wave uncontrollably. And guess what??? I'm a crawling fool now! Mom says that she and dad are in trouble now, but I don't understand why! I had crawled a few times before, but now it is consistent and I'm quick to get from one side of the room to the other. I'm also getting very good at waving hi and bye to people and if you blow me a kiss, I sometimes do what could be construed as kissing back. Mom just put away a bunch of my "baby" stuff like my bouncy seat and bassinet - I guess that means I'm growing up.

Here are some of the photos from last weekend.




















My new car!


















Waving to Great Grammy in my new fishy outfit





















Upside down binky doesn't bother me. I've heard that my cousin Beanie was really good at spinning her binky around with her tongue if it was in the wrong way - I get to meet her next week and I'll have to ask her to show me how!





















I love my car and my puppy! And now I can crawl from one to the other...




















Four generations of the Speicher family


I hear that this is a short week since the 4th of July is on Saturday. That means I get to stay home on Friday!!! Happy 4th everyone!