Two birthday parties in two different states within three days... We just recently spent the last week in Camden, Maine visiting with family from Chris' side. Our first weekend there we baptised bear at the same church where Chris and I were married. My aunt made the baptismal dress, for bear, which was made from my wedding dress. The little dress looked almost exactly like my dress. It was a very special day for us! Lots of family came via airplane
and car for a good distance just to spend the day with us. It was very special! The following weekend we celebrated bear's first birthday. It was so nice to share it with a good portion of our family especially since we live so far away from everyone!
In between the baptismal and birthday we spent the majority of our Maine vacation hanging out with family. Daddy spent a good portion of the trip fishing and bear spent the majority of it exploring the front porch and giant staircase in Grammy and Grandpa's house. And just as bear's first birthday was approaching, so was her eagerness to eat regular food. Just as we arrived in Camden, bear started dropping her daily count in bottles and chowed down whenever it was time for a meal. Whatever we were eating, bear wanted it, too! The best part, though was the fact that we had a lot less bottles to clean at the end of the day. Most nights in Maine I didn't need to clean bottles which was a nice break from my usual routine of bottle/kitchen clean up.
Bear's mornings in Maine would start off with some cheerios, she would then move on to some oatmeal with blueberries, mostly pulling the blueberries out of the oatmeal to eat and then occasionally chomping down on the surrounding oatmeal. Sometimes we had banana, sometimes we had strawberries, but bear's favorite was certainly blueberries. Grammy K. had frozen Maine blueberries, the perfect size for little fingers and the perfect amount of juice to make bear look like she was digging through the trenches following breakfast, as all the juice ended up squished under her fingernails.
Lunch was whatever mommy was eating, raw veggies from my salad or some side fruit off my plate made bear do her happy dance as she munched away in her high chair. Bear also had some left over Ham from her baptismal lunch which she gobbled up faster than I could cut the little pieces of meat up. On our drive to NY this past Sunday, bear showed off her tofu eating skills, for grandma and grandpa P., polishing off all tofu that I had on my plate.
Dinner was again a repeat of lunch. If I had it, bear wanted it! She is a great eater, I hope this sticks with her as we grow. She also loved mac & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches that she ate along side of her three cousins. The first meal we had with her cousins was fun to watch.
and car for a good distance just to spend the day with us. It was very special! The following weekend we celebrated bear's first birthday. It was so nice to share it with a good portion of our family especially since we live so far away from everyone!In between the baptismal and birthday we spent the majority of our Maine vacation hanging out with family. Daddy spent a good portion of the trip fishing and bear spent the majority of it exploring the front porch and giant staircase in Grammy and Grandpa's house. And just as bear's first birthday was approaching, so was her eagerness to eat regular food. Just as we arrived in Camden, bear started dropping her daily count in bottles and chowed down whenever it was time for a meal. Whatever we were eating, bear wanted it, too! The best part, though was the fact that we had a lot less bottles to clean at the end of the day. Most nights in Maine I didn't need to clean bottles which was a nice break from my usual routine of bottle/kitchen clean up.
Bear's mornings in Maine would start off with some cheerios, she would then move on to some oatmeal with blueberries, mostly pulling the blueberries out of the oatmeal to eat and then occasionally chomping down on the surrounding oatmeal. Sometimes we had banana, sometimes we had strawberries, but bear's favorite was certainly blueberries. Grammy K. had frozen Maine blueberries, the perfect size for little fingers and the perfect amount of juice to make bear look like she was digging through the trenches following breakfast, as all the juice ended up squished under her fingernails.
Lunch was whatever mommy was eating, raw veggies from my salad or some side fruit off my plate made bear do her happy dance as she munched away in her high chair. Bear also had some left over Ham from her baptismal lunch which she gobbled up faster than I could cut the little pieces of meat up. On our drive to NY this past Sunday, bear showed off her tofu eating skills, for grandma and grandpa P., polishing off all tofu that I had on my plate.
Dinner was again a repeat of lunch. If I had it, bear wanted it! She is a great eater, I hope this sticks with her as we grow. She also loved mac & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches that she ate along side of her three cousins. The first meal we had with her cousins was fun to watch.
Picture by S. Kallstrand
Bear tried hard to talk with her cousins (only babble of course) and clearly was excited to be sitting with them. It made me so happy to see that she was eagerly trying to be part of the little kid gang at the table. Her cousin's seemed to be just as excited to have her there, too. I would imagine that she sees herself as a big kid just like them. :)
Our last Friday in town was bear's Maine birthday party. For dinner she shared my veggie burger with me and then dove into her first piece of cake. There was no hesitation for bear what-so-ever, she seemed to already know that the cake would taste great before we could even get a piece on her tray, instinctual I suppose? --After centuries of eating cake, the sweet genes/taste buds have morphed so all babies know to get excited just before the sweet desert is set on their plates... --
Any how, we had a lot of fun! We said goodbye to daddy early Sunday afternoon and took off from Portland with grandma and grandpa P. for the rest of the summer festivities in the North East.
