Guess Who's One?!!

Well, we're shocked, but our baby is a year old!  That's the big news for this post.  We've had a great summer, with lots of fun outdoors, but the biggest event was Greta's Pink Lemonade Birthday Party earlier this month.

We were so lucky to have most of our family here to celebrate and the we could not have asked for a more perfect day.  We had everyone over to our home for a backyard party, which included some yummy food from Newfangled Eats (thanks, Uncle Scoty!) and a fun lemonade bar...not to mention CAKE!  So, we learned Greta loves cake...and frosting.  She had such a good time opening all of her presents and loves playing with her toys and reading her new books.  Thank you to everyone for all the lovely gifts and for making the trip up here.  It really means so much to all of us that you came all this way.  We hope you enjoyed your visit and look forward to seeing you soon!!

Last weekend we went apple picking, where Greta enjoyed her first whole apple.  Surely she would have eaten the core if we had let her.  Since this week has flown by, we'll probably be having some home-made apple pie tomorrow!

Orchard Hill Farm

Wiped out after apple picking

This morning we met the photographer that shot Greta's newborn photos at a farm nearby for her one-year pictures.  We've already gotten a sneak peek and can't wait to see the rest.  Greta had a great time at the farm and it was a perfect sunny morning.

A whole year!

Here are  few more photos from the summer!

Grandpa & G walking

Meeting a rooster at Smiling Hill Farm

Lovely day on the Eastern Promenade

Sebago Lake

Checking out squash at the farmer's market

Hanging out at the farmer's market

Pulling out the 12-month clothes!

Thinking wistfully about her team...

Visits from Grandmas & Grandpas!

We've had some exciting weeks around here!  The last weekend in July, Grandma Meg, Grandpa Jeff and Great Grandma Lucy came to visit.  They arrived on Friday and were nice enough to stay with Greta (she didn't notice, of course, because she slept through the whole thing...yay!), so that we could go out to dinner - Bar Lola did not disappoint!  Saturday morning we reconvened to get ready for a day downtown.  And something verrrry exciting happened...Greta crawled for the first time! Her first real, hands-n-knees crawl...and she just went along like nothing new was happening.  "Pshaa, this?  I could do this the whole time...I just didn't want to."  She also amused everyone constantly with her non-stop clapping - literally everything she did resulted in her stopping, clapping, and staring you down until you clapped along with her.  This girl loves to celebrate.  And, of course, we all clap right along, so who's in charge here?

G and Grandpa Jeff relaxing.

We had some lovely meals, as usual - brunch at Local 188, followed by dinner at The Porthole.  Sunday we went to breakfast at The Good Table and took a drive through Cape Elizabeth...it was pretty rainy, so we didn't do much walking around, but did stop at Bug Light Park to admire the Portland Breakwater Light.  We ended Sunday with dinner at Buck's Naked BBQ, which was delicious as expected (even though they ran out of ribs---what??!)

Last weekend, Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Marty came to visit!  Saturday we walked downtown and headed straight to The Little Tap House for brunch - it was really good - someone even enjoyed an omelet with a cheeseburger inside.  It's important to note that Greta had the waiter, waitress and bartender clapping for her.  We walked around for awhile and hung out at the little park over by the international ferry terminal, where Greta got to pull lots of grass out of the ground and attempt to eat it.  From there, it was time for wine - we tried out the new wine bar downtown, MJ's.  We headed back home and had a BBQ at the house for dinner.

Mmmm, grass...

Sunday we went to Smiling Hill Farm to use our LivingSocial deal, which included tokens to feed the animals at the petting zoo.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day, so it was a lot of fun to just walk around and check out the crazy animals they have there.  Greta wasn't nearly as amused as we had hoped, but I think she had a good time.  She especially enjoyed the John Deer-a-saurus, which is a crazy ride-on dinosaur made from old John Deere tractor parts.  We can definitely see her loving this place when she is a little older.  Especially the homemade ice cream, which we all tried...yum.  We headed to the Lobster Shack at Two Lights afterward for lunch.  As usual, the wait to order was quite long, but with the great weather and the amazing view, it wasn't so bad.  And we lucked out with perfect timing because it started to pour shortly after we got back in the car.  We headed home afterward where Greta tried her hand at assisted walking and pulling up on anything she could get her hands on, giggling at herself the whole time.  She really is just so funny and has the best sense of humor (maybe we're biased.)  After she went to bed, it cleared up just in time for another at-home BBQ.  After dinner, Grandma and Grandpa stayed with Greta for us, so we could go grab a drink at Zapoteca  :)

Well, needless to say, we had a blast with our visitors these last couple of weekends!  We can't wait to see you all again next month for the big PAR-TAY!!

These motion pictures are hysterical.

Since last weekend, Greta has continued to experiment with standing up next to anything and everything...she loves dancing and doing the fancy one-handed hold on.  She's still getting the hang of sitting back down and will gingerly try to touch the floor while still holding onto whatever she was standing against and can't quite get there, so sometimes she gets a little frustrated, but she's getting better everyday.  It's really amazing how quickly she has picked on all of this.  We even broke down and got a gate for one doorway in the living room.  Baby-proofing is in full swing!  Here are just a few more random pictures because we just can't get enough (and admittedly did a terrible job of documenting our time with our visitors).

Daddy and G at the Sea Dogs game.

You have a little something riiiight here...

Who's back there?

Falling a little behind...

Well, look at that!  It's July 21!  So much has gone on since our last post on May 5 that we don't even know where to begin...

We'll go with a quick recap of the highlights and get some super cute photos up and hopefully fall back into a regular posting routine :)

Shortly after our last post, Grandma Jeanne and Aunt Les came to visit Laura and Greta, while Andy enjoyed some sunshine in Disney World for a work event.  We had a great time here - the weather was lovely, we took lots of long walks downtown, ate some lobster rolls and woke up with Greta at the crack of dawn each morning (for some reason, she decided 5:30 was the right time to say good morning.)

Aunt Les, Grandma Jeanne & G at The Good Egg Cafe

Enjoying a lovely day at the playground!

Mmm...East Ender for lunch

We celebrated our first Mother's Day together on May 12.  The sun was shining and we headed downtown for lunch at the Old Port Sea Grill, followed by a drive down to Hampton Beach.

Mother's Day gift from Grandma Jeanne

A big first for Greta happened on May 20th when Laura started a new temporary job and she headed to daycare!  We were nervous about the transition, but we found a place that we absolutely love and Greta  really enjoys being with the other kids.

First week at daycare, learning how to play some sweet tunes

Memorial Day weekend, we took the trek up to Walton, NY to visit the Foster's!  It has been quite some time since we last made it up there and it was so great to get to hang out with everyone :)  We think these two might make perfect college roomies, don't you agree?

Greta and Martie hanging out

For Father's Day, we took a weekend trip to visit Scott and Stephanie and the gang in Amherst, NH, and had so much fun.  Greta got to take her first dip in the hot tub, which she loved (and she got to show off her new baby bikini...thanks Stephanie!).  We had plenty of mimosas, visited the beautiful winery and got to spend quality time with some of our favorite people.  On Father's Day, we all drove into Portsmouth to tour Red Hook Brewery...yum!

Keegan and Greta at the winery, an appropriate outing for the kiddos

Laura and Greta lounging in the hot tub

At the end of June, we had a visit from Grandma Meg and Grandpa Jeff.  Greta was the lucky recipient of a new baby pool, which she was able to test out while they were here...she LOVES the water!  We also went out for some delicious meals and did some tasting at a few different breweries, plus we went to the Museum of Art and finally made it the Maine Historical Society Museum.

G and Grandma Meg at the Portland Museum of Art

Enjoying an evening in the yard

The Greta's first 4th of July was spent with some good friends at our annual backyard BBQ.  The weather was great (unlike last year's fireworks rain out) and, though G was asleep long before the big show, we realized we had a perfect view from the sidewalk in front of our house!


The weekend after, Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Marty came to see us.  As seems to be the pattern with our visitors, we hit up downtown for plenty of good food and local beers.  We were lucky to have yet another batch of great weather, so we were able to walk around quite a bit and even went for a boat tour around Casco Bay.

Tasting at Shipyard with Grandma and Grandpa

Relaxing on Casco Bay

July 8 marked Laura's first day at her new job!  We were so happy to know Greta was already settled in at daycare, which happens to be right down the road from her office, making mornings a little less rushed.  Good stuff all around :)

First ferry ride to Peak's Island

In other general Greta news, she has become quite mobile in the last couple of weeks.  She has been sitting up like a champ for months, but wasn't super interested in getting around or rolling over much.  Suddenly, she is rolling in every direction, going from laying on her back, to sitting, to getting on her tummy...and she seems poised to crawl any minute.  She does an awesome sort of belly flop move that gets her where she needs to and has been moving backwards for quite some time (just hasn't figured out that she can technically backwards-crawl her way anywhere if she just turned herself around.)  She is getting her two top front teeth - they've been coming in for a while - and she is still eating like a champ. She'll eat pretty much anything you give her to try, which is awesome!  She's getting into eating more finger foods and loves drinking out of a straw, which is one of the cutest things we've ever seen.

Hanging with Daddy

First trip to the beach!

Baby toes in the ocean

Overall, we are having a great time with our baby bug.  Every week she seems to show a little more personality and we are surprised to find we are having even more fun with her!  She loves to be out and about and loves to engage with other people.  We feel so lucky to have a child who goes with the flow of whatever we decide to do - we wish we had more time to spend with her during the week, so when the weekend comes, we try to get in as much fun time as possible :)

Just being cute

Vintage Greta...

So, I was feeling kind of like a slacker waiting until Greta was six months to start her blog, so I'm hoping to sprinkle in some flashback posts, with pictures of our little bug in the first half of her first year.  Here goes...

9.26.12: Happy birthday, Greta Jeanne!

Brand new.

Snug as a bug.

Her favorite pose early on.

Spring is here!

Wow, so we're a little behind on our posts, but it's probably because we've finally been able to enjoy some beautiful spring weather!

Two weeks ago, Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit!

Excitedly awaiting
Grandma & Grandpa's arrival

Mmm...mashed potatoes...

We had a great time with them and were able to walk downtown both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday when they arrived, Grandpa put in a ceiling fan for Greta, just in time for the nice weather - she loves watching it spin.  Then we walked down to have dinner at Old Port Sea Grill.  Greta tried mashed potatoes for the first time - yum!  Sunday, Andy came back home from New York, so waited for his flight to land and then we all went to brunch at the Front Room and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around.  We came home just in time for Greta to get ready for bed and then we ordered in some pizza.  Overall, a nice, relaxing weekend...thanks for coming to visit with us!

Portland Head Light

This past weekend, the three of us went over to Fort Williams park to see the Portland Head Light and go for a walk around the grounds.  Greta seemed to love just being outside people-watching - she has a bit of a staring problem, though no one has seemed to mind yet - must be her charm :)

Whoops...wrong end!

Loving apples!

We have had some adventures in baby food, too.  She has added peas and yogurt to her repertoire and we've been doing a lot more blending of foods together, which she enjoys.  She has yet to turn away a spoon!  And as we speak, I'm making up some batches of new foods for her to try this week - a veggie stock we can add to other foods, carrots, roasted butternut squash, and a spring veggie risotto with zucchini, asparagus and peas!  I may try to turn some of the butternut squash into a soup with apple and cinnamon or ginger.  She also just got a new mesh feeder, which is sort of like a ring pop for food she can't quite chew yet (still no teeth, though the bottom two seem pretty close!) and she had an apple wedge this morning that made her pretty happy.

Other than that, she has been getting to sit in her fair share of grocery carts lately and loves looking around and getting attention from anyone who will give it to her :)  She's doing great with sitting up and really has no issues hanging out in there, which makes shopping much easier.