A Springing Good Time...

I've been totally remiss about posting lately; I am not sure how it is that an entire week has slipped by with nary a word about Hallie, but there you have it. This doesn't mean that nothing is happening in our lives; actually, it's quite the opposite.

First, we have begun to have a real spring---meaning that it's gone from cold to hot really quickly. The tomatos, basil, oregano, thyme, lavender, and mint are planted, and I take Hallie on brief tours of our exceptionally small brick back yard on a daily basis (where she gets to smell all the herbs and pick leaves off of the plants). Here is the garden this past weekend:





Since I had to work last weekend, I was unable to accompany Sharon and Hallie on their big trip to Grammy's house in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. They hung out, played a lot with the cousins, and went on a massive shopping spree (as if the girl didn't already have a groaning closet!). Among the recent purchases were a bathing suit for Princess Hallie and lovely new sandals. Hallie adores the latter, as you can see from the following pictures:



And, of course, it helps that sandals are delicious.




YUM!


In addition to her ever expanding role as a consumer, Hallie had several other neat experiences this week.

Most significantly, she had her six-month NICU followup at the Pennsylvania Hospital ICN. She picked up toys and passed them from one hand to another, sat like a champ, rolled over from stomach to back (she didn't go in reverse, though she had been known to do so at home; she must have heard them say something about this because flipping from back to stomach is her new passion and if anything she is more fluid of a back-to-stomach flipper than vice versa). In essence, she did everything they expected and then some and everyone was pleased with her development so far. We are very far from being out of the woods, but we do take deep breaths with each passing milestone met.

And speaking of milestones, Hallie has also begun to pull herself up into the sitting position on her own and today began to get up on her knees and rock. Crawling is likely just around the corner. Then no one is safe. But everyone is happy.

Given all of this, we've needed to get rid of the mobile in Hallie's crib. We are sad to see it go because it has been such a faithful companion. Hallie loves the Sound and Motion mobile, but lately her interactions with it have been a bit on the aggressive side:



She has pulled off various of the plushy animals and balls attached to the mobile and we decided (based on the sage advice of grammy) that we are better off putting the mobile away now rather than risk Hallie entangling herself in it.

Hallie is also pretty aggressive with her absolute favorite toy, a Bert finger puppet bought for her by her Auntie Neystice. She loves to maul Bert, eat Bert, and earlier today she suspended Bert from his toes (or the puppet equivalent thereof) from her crib bumper (breathable, naturally). I don't have a picture of the great hanging, but I do have a few that generally capture Hallie's relationship with Bert:





Who'd have thought such an innocent little girl cold be so forceful with her toys. This look says it all:




Today, Hallie was just plain cute.



Because tomorrow is our WalkAmerica Walk (let's hear it for Team Hallie and Olivia---we've already raised more than $4000), both grandmothers are in town. Hallie spent the morning playing with us on the big bed, she took a very long (four hour) nap, woke up, played with Grammy and Bubbe , went to the park, swung on swings and then hung out with her pals Karina and Ethan. It's so cute to see how Karina and Hallie light up when one of them enters the other's space, and today Hallie even kissed Karina hello. Ethan was a bit jealous so he insisted that Hallie kiss him goodbye. They are great friends and we feel blessed to have these three little kids grow up together. Even though Hallie is not in this shot, this is a great picture of Ethan and Karina descending the slide in our neighborhood park the other evening: