A Few of Her Favorite Things

What's on Shannon's list of favorites these days?

--Giggling...especially at the goofy things Mommy and Daddy come up with

--Being tickled

--Playing with that other baby in the mirror....

--Watching Sadie (who is more than happy to be RIGHT in Shannon's line of sight and glad for the attention!)

--Playing the oh-so-cleverly-named game of "sit up, lay down"

--Daddy

--Reading books...

--Pulling Mommy's hair (ouch!)

--Kicking and reaching for toys on her activity mat

--School! We're 3 1/2 weeks in and so far all is going well. Her teachers have made us so comfortable with taking her there. We are SO lucky to have found a good place.

The Baptism Gown

One of the best parts of Shannon's baptism was that her baptism gown was made especially for her by Mommy's Mommy's Mommy (aka Grandma Rose).

Grandma Rose is an amazing seamstress and Shannon has already been lucky enough to have some handmade things from her. You might remember the beautiful blanket she was wrapped in in her birth announcement... Grandma Rose. Or the cute striped bedding/curtains in her nursery... Grandma Rose. So when it came time to outfit Shannon for her baptism, it was only natural that we turned to... Grandma Rose.

Not only was the gown handmade, it's also special because it was made from part of my wedding dress. And it is made from the same pattern that Grandma Rose used to sew my baptism gown. Which was made from fabric from my mom's wedding dress. This is one special garment!

Last Sunday was a chaotic day and we missed getting some close-ups of the holy girl. So we did a little photo session today. Definitely got some winners!

Trick or Treat!

We had fun taking our little penguin out trick or treating last night. The weather was perfect so we made it all around our neighborhood to show little Chilly Willy off. (I don't remember this cartoon at all but Chris does a rousing rendition of the show's theme song.)

She got to see her buds, Andrew (3 weeks!)

and Kaelyn (oh, so much more wordly at 5 months).

(5 bonus points if you know who Shawn is dressed up as... look closely, the answer is not a Viking.)

"All tuckered out" :)

Baptism

We welcomed Shannon into the Catholic Church over the weekend. We were so blessed to have family and friends from near and far come to be part of her baptism. Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike are her godparents. (Lucky girl!)

It turned out to be a l-o-n-g ceremony, but Shannon was a trooper. (And a cat-napper.)




She made very funny faces when the water was poured over her head and thought the oil used to annoint her tasted pretty good (she wanted to suck on Deacon Ray's finger!).

Afterwards, we came back to our house for lunch...

... and cake!

Thank you to everyone for sharing this special day with us, especially those who did a lot of traveling in a weekend!

PS. I owe you all another post soon with some close-ups of our holy little girl in her beautiful baptism gown made for her by her Great-Grandma Rose.

Three Months Old

Here's our cheery girl at three months old. She has really gotten fun recently. She is a smiley baby, especially in the morning when she has just woken up and especially when you coo and tell her just how adorable she is. She is absolutely smitten with Daddy and gives him the biggest grins.

She's started "talking" and is a pretty convincing conversationalist. (I would love to meet this En-gee seems to be quite fond of.) Sometimes she'll muster up a great 2 or 3 syllable streak and then start to laugh. Clearly, she has inherited Mom's trait of thinking that she is hilarious.

She's able to hold onto things now for short periods of time. Her links, pink ball (Thanks, Brette!), pieces of fabric (Thanks, Grammy!), Mommy's hair and measuring spoons are favorites to grab these days.

I had some fun playing around with some recent shots. I love that she's got different "moods" to capture now. Enjoy the black and whites!

Encantada

What could delight a little girl this much?

Her super-amazing, magical mobile.

One day last week I set her in her crib and turned it on for her. I expected it would entertain her for a few minutes while I got something from downstairs. I came back up to find her laughing and staring and just plain old being amazed by it.

(This one is blurry because she was dancing when I snapped it.)

Down the Shore

We're on vacation!

Deciding to take advantage of warm fall weather, great off-season rates and only one work schedule to take time off from, we whisked ourselves away to the beach. Or in true east coast jargon, "down the shore."

The weather has been beautiful and we've just been hanging out. Lots of stroller treks on the boardwalk and Baby Bjorn walks on the beach.

Best part so far...Shannon got to dip her toes in the ocean!

Since it's the off-season, dogs are allowed on the beach. Believe it or not, Spike has been the brave one who has happily ventured out into the waves with Chris.

Sadie needed a bit more, umm, "encouragement" to get out there with the boys.

Good thing we practically have this place to ourselves! :)