The Thrill of a Blanket

We had a great Thanksgiving week with Siri and Curtis and Lucy and Mike.

All of them took great care and interest in Celeste. It was fun to watch them hold her and to watch her interact with them. Peter and I went to the movies twice! It was a crazy feeling to sit in a dark movie theater with the rustle of other adults around us and not think about Celeste. Of course, this spell was broken when we saw this preview.

It turns out that Curtis is an amazing photographer, so we didn't take any pictures. I'll post some of Curtis' photos later.

Instead, I'm posting two videos of Celeste enjoying blankets. They are both pretty delightful, but I have to say that I cringe at the sound of my own voice.

Anyhow, enjoy. I will write more later.

Four Months

This is a photo of Celeste when she was 3 days old. She didn't open her eyes very often and you could still see the stump of the cord that kept us connected while she was growing inside of me. Her body was often curled up as if she was still inside of me. We took this photo on a hot, humid July afternoon a couple of hours after we had brought her home from the hospital. She was propped on a pillow on our kitchen table in our apartment in Pittsburgh. We had 10 days to move and we couldn't believe that we had a baby.

When we left the hospital with our new baby, we were in a complete daze. We knew that everything would be different but we didn't know how. We wanted everything to be perfect for her but we were scared that it wouldn't be. I remember squinting into the bright sun outside of the hospital as I was wheeled to our car in a wheelchair. We struggled with Celeste's car seat and drove slowly, carefully home to our apartment.



Without thinking about it, we've all grown and changed. Life is totally different.

We took Celeste to the doctor for her four month well visit yesterday, and her changes were startling and obvious. She has become a citizen of the world, aware of and interested in the people around her. She cooed and gurgled with the doctor, she smiled and screeched with the nurse, she kicked and squacked on the examination table. She has also grown physically. She shot up into the 95th percentile for height and weight. Her chubby thighs and arms looked impressive in the examination room's clinical lighting.

We have also grown. Taking care of our little Celeste has made us so connected to her and to each other. Peter bounced her and rocked her and got her to giggle. Although I dreaded the shot she was scheduled to receive, I didn't even feel tempted to cry. We have all adjusted ourselves around this amazing little person. Happy four months to Celeste!

Lotsa photos. No writing.

Orangutan baby

I thought I'd post some video footage of Scribble that I shot with our camera.
One's oriented in the wrong direction and I can't fix it.
You must admit that the fuzzy hair combined with the screeching makes her seem an awful lot like a baby monkey.
Enjoy!

Random photos of Scribble

Halloweenies

What a blowout weekend!

Siri came to visit in a rented PT Cruiser. She and Celeste had some good cuddle times. Siri gave Celeste a nice bedtime massage last night...which she sorely needed after her first Halloween. Celeste loved meeting her Aunt Siri, and will love listening to her new "Spin Spider Spin" CD. We're all looking forward to seeing Siri and Curtis in 3 weeks at Thanksgiving.

While the hotdog costume might LOOK cozy, it apparently was no fun to wear. Celeste spent a total of 5 minutes in her first Halloween costume. Her pal Ellie came over dressed as a dalmation.

Grandparents

Faith and Dion visited us for a whole week and got to meet Celeste, or as Topper calls her, "Miss Merry Sunshine." They were incredibly helpful. They made several delicious dinners for us, organized our attic, did countless loads of laundry, and helped us hang ironed curtains. Celeste had fun smiling with her Topper and Opa.

I'm also posting photos of Celeste in her stroller on a walk with me in our neighborhood. It's hard to believe that the leaves were bright green only a week and a half ago. Celeste loves to study the tree branches and leaves as they sway over her stroller.

All washed up

Bathtime with Celeste is so fun. She and her dad are serious about getting clean.

Grandmothers and Pumpkin Patches

On Saturday I drove to New Hope, PA to meet up with my mom and my grandmother. We met at Washington's Crossing park for a gathering of four generations of Lefren females. It was a pleasure to see both my mother and her mother with my baby girl. They were both so understanding when Celeste became cranky. At one point we thought about going out to lunch and circled around touristy, crowded New Hope and then attempted to eat at a pizza place crowded with young soccer players and their families. We finally decided to eat back in the park where we met. The grandmothers had, of course, thought ahead and packed cheese sandwiches in waxed paper, cans of tomato juice, and a big Ball jar of water. Celeste seemed to enjoy the attention and the autumn breezes while being changed on the picnic table.

On Sunday Peter and I went to a local farm with our friends Oswaldo, Diley and their son Matias. We ate hot dogs and pulled pork sandwiches, and tramped through a corn maze and into a pumpkin patch. It's feeling like fall. It is strange and exciting to live so close to functioning farms. I think that Thanksgiving will be delicious here.

BFF's

Here are some photos of Celeste "playing" with Ellie this afternoon.
They didn't seem to notice each other but they did hold hands.

Chubby Chaser

She's 3 months old and she's experiencing a growth spurt. We put Celeste in her footed pajamas and they fit her like stirrup pants now, the legs are too short. She's also becoming quite chubby. Bathing her involves exploring her folds with a washcloth. She even has a roll of fat around her wrist now, it looks as if she has a rubber band around it.

This last weekend we left Celeste with our friends Meghan and Dan who have a baby girl. Peter and I went off to see David Sedaris in downtown Easton. Meghan and Dan put the 2 baby girls on their bed to see if they'd interact. Apparently Celeste and Baby Ellie seemed completely unaware of each other except Celeste kept holding Ellie's hand. We're taking this as proof that she's going to grow up to be an affectionate and true-blue friend.

P.S. In the photos of me and Celeste it looks like we're in a blue sleeping bag together. However fun that sounds, we're not. It's a fabric wrap that I use as a baby carrier. These are fairly common in more populated areas but here in Easton it attracts a good deal of attention. It's a real hit with the "hippy" crowd. I wore it to the grocery store the other day and a woman with long gray french braids and a Beatles t-shirt was like, "Right ON!"