Larkyn has found her toes...

Over the past couple of weeks Larkyn has really discovered her toes. It started with her bending over while sitting on our lap. Now anytime she is on her back she puts her feet in the air and grabs her toes. Her toes have even made it to her mouth a couple times too! She is quite the flexible little girl and doesn't let her rolls get in the way:)

"Wow, my big toe really is like my mom's!"

"How does that go again? This little piggy went to the market..."

"Thumbs up for Daddy kissing my belly!"

"Look at how flexible I am!"

Starting cereal...

We decided to give cereal a try this week. Though it was fun to start, I'm not quite sure that she is ready for it yet. We are still working on the bottle business and swallowing from something other than what Mama provides! When given the cereal, we got the "bitter beer taste" look and most of it just came drooling right back out. She seemed a little more interested in the spoon than the actual cereal on the spoon! I think we'll give it a rest for a little while and try again in the next month.

"I'm here, wearing my bib, what's going on? What are they going to do?"

"Hmmm..."

"I don't know about this stuff..."

"I'd rather have the spoon!"

A weekend at the cabin...

We spent the weekend at my aunt and uncle's cabin in Stone Lake, Wisconsin. It was a very relaxing weekend filled with great food, company, conversation, and rest! Saturday morning I woke up around 7:00 thinking Larkyn would be up soon and ready to eat so Shea and I could go out for a run. 7:30 rolled around, still sleeping. 8:00...still sleeping! Finally we told Mary and Joe to go out for their bike ride and we would run when they got back. Larkyn woke up at 8:30 a.m. and went back down for a two hour nap at 10:30! When Shea and I returned from our run we saw Mary out on the porch taking notes for her infant study! She had just put Larkyn down for her nap and wanted to record what worked well for helping her settle down. We like to call Mary the "Sleep Doctor" and kept joking that she was the reason for Larkyn's well rested weekend! Other than rest, we spent time down on the beach/dock and watched Mary get up on one ski. We tried going for a boat ride, but unfortunately Larkyn didn't quite fit into the infant life jacket we brought with us! She got to play in the water a bit, relax on the sand, and take a nap in her pack n' play. Overall, it was a great weekend away with very little we HAD to do. It was wonderful to relax and not really do much except enjoy family!

Cooling off with some water from the sippy cup!


Larkyn wasn't too sure what to think about the water. It was a little cold, but after a couple times of being dipped she started kicking and splashing with her feet.

Mama Mueske and Larkyn

Mary's victory...getting up on one ski!

Daddy and Larkyn watching from the shore.

We aren't kidding when we said the "sleep doctor" must have had some influence on Larkyn. We figured out at one point she had slept 17 hours out of 25 hours that we had been there. It didn't matter where she slept...she was out! The pack n' play had a mosquito net, which worked perfect for her outdoor slumber:)

I absolutely love this picture! She is totally posing! Her arm is even wrapped around me!

Did I mention that Larkyn slept a lot this weekend???

While Larkyn was taking her evening nap, Shea and I headed down to the dock to watch the sunset.

We don't capture many photos of just the two of us anymore...

I love this picture too! I think she is starting to realize that Mama is a "scrapbooker" and is beginning to pose! "Say cheese!"

Larkyn and Aunt Mary

We played a "friendly"...okay, "competitive" game of Chinese Checkers. Despite his lack of interest in game playing, Joe decided to whip up on all of us!

Oh, is that Larkyn sleeping again?

Uncle Joe, Aunt Mary, and Larkyn

(I think Larkyn was a little bummed to be leaving)

Mama, Larkyn and Daddy

Yes, Larkyn slept for just over 2 hours on the way home!

Just playin' around...

This week has been pretty low key for us. Not a whole lot going on during the day, so we've had some great opportunities to read and play. Larkyn is back to rolling over again, which is now a game because she is going from back to belly and belly to back! This time she stayed on her belly a little longer to enjoy her color book. She almost looks like she is actually reading the book! Must be a teacher's daughter:)

Larkyn continues to enjoy her exersaucer now that she can reach more of the toys around her.

EVERYTHING goes in her mouth!

"Hey Mom, bet you can't get me!" "Na, Nana boo boo!"

We took down the swing and brought it back to our neighbors who ever so kindly let us borrow it. We didn't want to get too use to having that space open because it was only a matter of time before another baby contraption would occupy the space. So we decided to bring the jumperoo up from the basement and give it a try. By the second time she went in it she had already figured out how to jump and plop down with her feet up. She loves it! (And we've had a blast watching her figure it all out!)

Daddy always likes to mess around with Larkyn! This time he thought it would be fun to put a burp cloth (clean of course) around her head like a little bonnet.

"All this playing around makes me tired! I'm still sleeping on my belly and now I love to sleep with my knees under me and put my bottom in the air! Oh, and my new thing is to roll over onto my back when I wake up in the morning and play for a little bit before letting my mommy and daddy know its time to get up. (I think they really like that:)) "

A visit from our friendly family...

On Sunday, Shea's aunt and uncle Marcia and Les were visiting from Texas. This was the first time they were able to come up to Minnesota and see our house, as well as Larkyn. Aunt Kiki was also back visiting from California. She rode up with Janny and May May to spend the day with us as well. We spent the day chatting, watching Larkyn show off on the floor and in her jumperoo, eating lunch and of course some napping!

Everyone waited and waited for Larkyn to roll over. Unfortunately she wasn't ready to show off in front of a lot of people. She rolled over as soon as everyone went home of course!

Larkyn and Aunt Kiki

Larkyn's favorite thing to eat was Daddy's hand!

May May, Larkyn, Kim, Shea, Marcia, Les, Kiki

"May May, I see that rattle, but I'm still not going to roll over!"

Granny Janny's kisses before leaving.

Larkyn's new thing is to pull her dress or other clothing up over her face and wait for someone to play peek-a-boo with her!

It didn't take too long before Marcia got hooked on the "new" game!

Dinner with friends...

This weekend we had Katie, Mike, Luke and Christian and Ania over for dinner. We had a great time catching up and even got a game of bags in before the rain. It is interesting how much an evening with friends changes when you throw a couple babies into the mix! Luke and Larkyn "played" very well together while we ate dinner and seemed to enjoy sitting out in the garage for a bit as well. Its amazing how intrigued they are about each other. I can tell they are going to be best buds for a long time!

Ania had a great time playing and talking with Larkyn.

Katie, Luke, Ania, and Larkyn

Larkyn, Ania, and Christian

Luke couldn't keep his eyes off of Larkyn! We are going to have to keep an eye on that boy:)

Mike and Shea vs. Christian and Ania

(Mike and Shea ended up winning)

They were only able to get one game in before the rain started coming down!

"Good form Daddy!"