Must Be Santa

Juliet got some secret baby intel that Mr. Claus was in the neighborhood, so we all went to see him as a family. Luckily one of his elves had a Polaroid Camera and took our picture to capture the moment. We had a great time!

In her room..

I couldn't resist - here are a few from last night showing a close-up, her room (changing table and giraffe), and her stack of books..

 
 
 

Snug on a Snowy Afternoon

Because you can't really see Ms. Juliet's face in the pictures in the earlier post, here's one from a few minutes ago - her napping and swinging. The Christmas tree is lit, the snow is piling up outside - a perfect December Saturday afternoon.

Juliet's First Snow.. and First Trip to the Library

We woke up this morning to the snow falling - the first of season here in D.C. They were big wet flakes and the air was fairly warm so we bundled Juliet up and took a quick walk to the library.

The children's section of the Mount Pleasant library is truly amazing! It covers the entire top floor and has two reading nooks with floor to ceiling murals done by Aurelius Battaglia, one of the story artists for Disney's Pinocchio and Dumbo. There are some great photos and more information here:

http://www.animationarchive.org/labels/mural.html

We picked up a good selection of board books and there are plenty more where those came from. Ah, the library..

Daddy's Blanket

Juliet has so many blankets, but she's fallen in love with her Daddy's Winnie the Pooh blanket. We're lucky she's a really good sleeper so far.

So alert..

Here are a few pictures from earlier this week just to show how much more alert and awake (and beautiful) she's getting!

Thanksgiving dinner... and a tree

D.C. was cool and foggy for Thanksgiving today, but we watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade and made a delicious dinner. Dylan's "Christmas in the Heart" got a few spins and then, after lunch, we took a walk around the neighborhood and then came home and started decorating for Christmas - a perfect, relaxing, wonderful day.

Meeting Grandma

Nancy came in on Tuesday night and we put Juliet on the bus and headed over to her hotel. They were both glowing!

Day 26: Morning Reading Time!

After breakfast Juliet was especially awake this morning so we got out her four books and Karen read to her. She particularly likes books with mirrors in them.. And then, just because she's adorable, a picture of her sleeping..

Day 24: Theodore Roosevelt Island

And on Sunday our big trip out was to the wonderful TR Island - after a few maneuvers we finally found the parking lot and took a walk. We were hoping for a bit more wildlife, but managed to see some ducks and some deer.. and had lunch on the Memorial in the late-fall sun. It was in the mid-50's but very comfortable in the sun. Juliet slept most of the way and didn't wake up until we pulled back up to the apartment.

Day 23: Back to the Zoo..

So on Saturday we put Juliet in the sling and took a quick walk in Rock Creek Park that ended with a quick tour of the Tiger cage at the zoo..

Day 22: Jim and Sara come to town!

So on Friday afternoon Jim and Sara rolled in from Ohio and met Juliet for the first time (well, Skype aside):







And we even managed our first family portrait.




She's staying awake for longer and longer periods of time - her blue eyes soaking in everything.

Mirror, Mirror..

A few more pictures from last night and this morning. It's somewhat cliche, but really true - she's getting so much stronger and bigger every day!

This morning, after a change of clothes into the brown stripe shirt that just makes her look so photogenic, I put the mirror in her bassinet:

A Bath and a Swing

Yesterday morning Karen gave Juliet her second bath ever:




Then this morning a ride in the rocking swing that Patty brought over! It seems to work..

Newspapers and Fingers..

Looking through some pictures that haven't gone up anywhere else, I thought I'd add them here. The paper reading picture is from last Thursday, the finger picture from Saturday afternoon.

Day 17: A Trip to the Zoo..

It was a balmy 70 degrees here this afternoon and so we decided to take Juliet on a walk to the Zoo:



It was just a perfect day! The Tigers were out of their cage:





And we turned the corner and saw the lion on top of the hill in his cage:



And our favorite "baby" elephant, Kandula, was outside too: