Milestones and a dead coyote.

Mary seems to be doing lots of new things - basically within the past week.

Before this she was kinda swim crawling - slowly. Well, Jeff has been practicing with her - he jingles his belt out in front of her and tries to get her to grab it and pulls it away from her - and now she still is doing that army/swim crawl but she is pretty darn fast at it! (I'll try to post some of the video of her practicing with Jeff. BTW, Jeff helped her to start sitting up too.)

She also had her first juice box last Friday at Panera Bread (my sister Jennifer and I walked there for our morning walk and ate breadfast. It was to die for good btw). . .
and her first ride in a shopping cart this week.
I hadn't been planning for her to ride in the cart - but I got so tired holding her whilst at Hobby Lobby - and a cart was right there in an isle - that I gave in. I didn't even sterilize it first! *Gasp* But I did clean her hands once we were out to the car. I still prefer to hold her in my (I mean Beckie's) Moby wrap. But this was okay for just this once until she is a little more stable and until I can protect her from the germs of the cart better.

She is also super interested in using her own hands to eat. All along I've let her hold her own spoon. But she wants to pick up things from the tray. So we've been doing small bits of banana or watermelon. I even let her gnaw on a few apple slices - closely observing her of course - so she doesn't choke. Check out the teeth marks! I bet it feels really nice on her gums.
I've resisted giving her anything raw (besides banana and avacado) at this age because I'm not sure when you are really supposed to start that and I wanted to wait to talk to her doctor this month. But she did fine and didn't have any adverse reactions. It is funny to watch her with the watermelon. She will really suck on a piece and then spit it out.

Also, I caught her sitting up in her crib this week (she can sit up on her own if I place her sitting up. But this is the first time I think she really did it from a laying down position)and pulling on the bumper pads. So Jeff and I need to lower the crib ASAP.

Our Fourth was pretty quiet. Went to a family cookout and Toy Story 3 (so good!!!) the day before. We didn't even go see the fireworks - but it was pouring rain and I heard it was canceled anyway . . .

Here are some pics from the 4th . . .



We gave my Dad his Father's Day gift/birthday present . . . a snazzy microphone to attach to his video camera . . .

A nice picture of my Mom . . .

Cat and her piano student/friend/person of interest

And here is a picture of a dead coyote I found on the path of our walk today. Creepy! I had to walk past it and it was REALLY hard. On my way back, I decided to go a different way.