Tales of an almost 8 month old

This week was pretty full in the life of Rhianwen. She wore her first shoes and head scarf last Sunday. It reminded mommy of a little Heidi. Of course, the shoes are fascinating to Rhianwen when she thinks about her feet...sometimes they stay on sometimes they are only halfway on (she has yet to figure out that there is a strap around her ankles...notice in the picture, she somehow managed to get the shoe off without unstrapping anything at all...our little Houdini).

But where are my goats?
Even though Rhianwen is still only pushing backwards, she manages to get into a bit of trouble now and then. The other day she seemed to be heading out the front door, and she also managed to get to the fireplace set, grab a poker, and get soot all over her hands and feet before mommy could do anything about it. Babyproofing time...sigh.

She also attended her first playgroup! Rhianwen loves being around people. She doesn't necessarily interact on some deep level with her peers. Occasionally, after much soul searching, she will do the comraderic grab at the hair of the baby next to her. Mostly she spends the time on her belly wriggling around and making lots of noise.

Kitchen time is lots of fun now that mommy lets Rhianwen play with wisks, pots, bowls, spatulas, and whatever other contraptions may go in the mouth without harm.

Helping mommy make chocolate cookies.

This week we all adventured out to the community pool where Rhianwen spent much time staring at all of the crazy kids splashing around. At first she was a little hesitant to be held at arm's length, but once she stood on the steps for a bit, she was up for a little swim around the pool and jumping after that.

Water baby.
Lastly, Rhianwen is starting to play with others! She plays catch pretty well, and she tries to talk on the "phone" (perhaps, she has discovered her imagination, but it's hard to tell at this age) with us! It is quite exciting.

An alternate solution to African neck lengthening

We are going to have a crawler on our hands any day now. Rhianwen is busy scooting backwards. She is also rocking on her hands and knees. She even can walk two steps all by herself. I often find myself thinking, "I can't wait until she can move on her own!" whenever she is fussing for me to come get her, but then I think, "Oh, yeah?! Then the real trouble begins!".

This past weekend, we attended Robeson's and Ken's med school graduation at USC. Baby and dad's orange tie made lasting impressions on all there. Baby, because she kept popping in and out of the auditorium depending on her noise level. The tie, because daddy seems to be convinced that if his little toe touches a piece of USC sand, he feels obligated to symbolize the fact that it is a Clemson Tiger that is crushing the aforementioned piece of sand underfoot. We also got to see Heather although we have not pictures to prove it. She is now out of the hospital, and I believe her new babe will soon follow once some sort of levels are in a normal range.

After the graduation we all went back to Rhi's Grandmama's and Grandaddy's in York and enjoyed a relaxing Saturday.
SC Girls.


"Hey, give me that Dr. Uncle Robeson...I know just how to get them to say that word!"

Sunday, we were back in Durham where Rhianwen demanded paper and crayons to make mommy her first Mother's Day card...(a very surreal day to me (mommy)...who on previous mother's days had been handed flowers by church people as a symbol that I would be a mumsee in the future...this tradition always seemed a little odd and premature at the time since you never know if you're going to be a mom until you are one!).

A masterpiece in the making.

It never ceases to amaze mommy the things daddy comes up with to do with those simple toys. One day I'm going to turn around and he will have made Rhianwen a time machine out of a teethy ring, sippy cup, bumbo seat, and swimmy float!

"It's been one of those days at work, hasn't it dad."

How many things can happen in one week?

Rhianwen had her 6 month checkup this past Monday (yes, a little late b/c the move earlier this year messed up the vaccination schedule). She is still HUGE in case anyone doubted it! She was 20 lb. 11 1/3 oz. and 28 1/4 in. long...roughly the size of a 10-11 month old! She handled her vaccinations like a pro, felt kinda rough the next day, and was back to her usual vocal hyper self the next. Oh, and the big lump on her head that keeps growing bigger may be a hemangioma (big lumpy birthmark that may eventually go away after growing to the size of a watermelon). The Dr. said we could just watch it for now. We are enjoying this new spectator sport!

She tried graham crackers for the first time, but we think she still prefers pollen (pine pollen is her favorite thing to chew right now...no, we don't condone this behavior).





She traveled to Conway where she had fun visiting with lots of friends, celebrating mommy's birthday, seeing Great Grandpa and Grandma, chewing on a piece of apple, and tearing the grass to shreds in the back yard.

Having fun at Arron and Jenny's with Ken, Heather, Mike, Dolly, babies Anna and Michael Dean, and big boy Noah...Rhianwen opted out of the picture b/c she wanted to be the photographer.

Great Grandpa loves crooning to Rhianwen.

Rhianwen is preparing for her new movie role: a combined version of Eric Liddell and Victor Borge.

Not only that, but she is scooting backwards though she is totally unaware of it. She just finds that she is under the coffee table as if she was teleported to a very disturbing place where she then proceeds to sound the alarm for mom or dad to rescue her.

Lastly, Heather had her baby girl, Katelyn today! She was 4lb. 4oz. and doing well. Perhaps pictures may follow after this weekend as we are going down to attend USC med school graduation and possibly to drop by the hospital NICU!