One Small Step for Bea...

...one giant leap for, well, Bea. 

Happy Halloween!

Bea is buzzing through Halloween this year as, well, a bee!

As cute as she looks in her costume, after putting it on her for three different Halloween events, she is officially protesting against wearing it anymore. Not even for the actual day of Halloween! I guess we reached our quota for stuffing our 15-month old child into a tad too small, hot, puffy suit with a large hood on it (which she really doesn't like). Oh well, at least we got Bea to be a bee one time in her life.

Walking with the Gators

After of crawling into every nook and cranny within our tiny house, and growing weary of her dirty hands and knees and dog hair in her mouth, Bea has been inspired to try a new activity...learning to walk!

For now, she's leaning on her gator pals to help her (to Tubby's dismay...he does not appreciate being chased by the gators). However, each day she is practicing a bit more and for a longer distance. Of course, we are all getting bored with going back and forth between our living room and kitchen in an effort to get some distance within the house. Thankfully there are sidewalks just outside our door, and given the opportunity on a dry day, there is no stopping Bea from pushing her gators down the street.

Karl's just disappointed they don't make little baby lawn mowers...

We are not holding our breath in anticipation of those first hands free steps since Bea has never really been on the fast track when it comes to these things. She seems more interested in hugging her big teddy bear or crawling all over Tubby when he isn't running from her. But you never know...Bea is full of surprises. Any guesses on the day Bea will take her first three steps independently?

The Bea Daze of Summer

Bea has been enjoying summertime in Seattle. The days are nice and long and Bea finds plenty of ways to occupy herself (as shown below). Its a shame summer is coming to an end. Soon the days will be getting a little shorter and the blue skies will be replaced with the Seattle gray and mist. However, we're confident Bea will still find plenty of ways to occupy her days with some indoor activities like learning to walk and starting school.

Waking up late

Hanging with Tubby

Cooking up a late lunch

Chasing bees

Playing in the 'pool'

 

Picnicking in the park

Just staring at the sun

The Many Faces of Bea

We decided to put Bea to work so she can finance our extravagant lifestyle with her cute looks. Check out her portfolio...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday Bea!!!

Its hard to believe that this...

Is now this...

And now only wants this...

 

Happy Birthday Bea!!!!!


You are awesome.

Moving and Grooving

Bea is officially mobile and quite proud of herself, as you can see from the video.

She is really having fun exploring the world mostly seen by feet and paws. It is really a joy to see her discover the numerous types of floor creatures like dirt, old food under stoves, balls of dog hair, bugs, etc. Who knew they could be so fascinating and tasty? Plus, she looks dashing with the dog hair beard she grows each time she goes on an exploration thanks to the lovely combination of chin drool on Bea and Tubby hair on the floor.

We are still working on getting some floor cleaning pads strapped to her knees, belly and hands so she can get some work done around the house. Time to earn your keep little lady...

A Reminder

After two days of dealing with a drooly, snotty, cranky, crying mess of a teething baby, I thought I would remind myself of a sweet moment Bea and I had together on Mother's Day.

On the Move!

 

Any day now Bea will become our new floor cleaner! She's nailing down the army crawl so we anticipate full-on crawling very shortly. 

All we can say is...poor Tubby.

3/4 of a Year Old!

This week marked Bea's 9-month birthday! She celebrated by visiting the doctor for some measurements and shots. Then we took her to the bar afterward for some more shots...

Bea's Stats:

Height: 26.5 inches (17%)

Weight: 17lbs, 3oz (21%)

Head Circumference: 17.01 inches (27%)

Given how much Bea can pack in the food and reach decibels close to 140dB when she cries or squeals, we were surprised to see that she's a little bit of a thing. It must be those Gentner genes.

Too Many or None Needed?

We can't decide if Bea is bored with her toys or just doesn't need toys any longer since she seems rather content to play with (i.e. chew on) mats, rugs, baskets, socks, shoes, and other personal and household items. Perhaps we need to stop investing in 'developmental' toys and start pulling items out of our recycling bin, kitchen cabinets, drawers and toolbox when she wants a new toy. 

And yes, Bea removed all of those toys from the basket to apparently lighten the load so she could lift the basket high enough to untie the bow on the side and, alas, chew on the strings of the cloth lining. She's a genius... 

Bea's Sitting Spots

In her high chair with most of her breakfast all over her face...

In the shopping cart picking out giant diapers at Costco...

In the super fancy swing chatting it up at the park...

On the couch keeping her head warm during the Seattle spring...

In her stroller looking like a mean little boy with pink shoes...

Bea's First St. Patty's Day

 

Bea started early this year and celebrated her first St. Patrick's Day Eve with some of her PEPS buddies - Dobry, Aashni, Sydney, Carson and Meadow (and Maceo and Violet - not pictured). After a few sips of a Guinness, Bea was a mess! She was drooling all over herself, and babbling on and on about who knows what. The next thing we knew she was eating all of the green frosted sugar cookies and mint Hersey's kisses. The evening ended with her passed out face first in the bowl of Lucky Charms. It was shameless...

Perhaps we're seeing a glimpse into Bea's college days...

Medium Rare Please...

Bea is finally ready to dig her two new teeth into a nice steak...and probably some chocolate cake too (vegan of course).

Sittin' Pretty

Bea has been practicing her sitting skills lately.

She's managing to keep herself upright more often than on her side or face.

 So, to celebrate, we let her pick out a new milk flavor...

Bea's 1/2 Year Birthday!

 

It's hard for us to believe that on February 1st, Bea hit the 6-month mark. True to the Gentnull/Mulltner style, we had to celebrate with CAKE!!! Since we didn't have time to make a rice cereal and pureed pea and carrot cake, we went with the Deathcake Royale cupcake (a light, little cupcake made with chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate). As much as Bea wanted to eat her cupcake, we didn't think it would be such a great idea so we reluctantly ate it for her. Instead, she enjoyed chewing on the candle (we're kidding!).

Of course, what follows any major baby age milestone is a trip to the doctor's office for lots of poking, probing, measuring and those o' so fun shots. The result of all those pokes and measurements:

• She's weighing in at 15 lbs, 13.5 oz and is 26 inches long.
• She doesn't have any teeth poking out yet.
• She's healthy.
• She can take shots like a champ...well, a lightweight champ who cries really loud, but not for too long.

The last six months with Bea have been overwhelming and exhausting, yet utterly amazing and wonderful. We're certainly looking forward to what the next six months will bring. She has her sight set on sitting up, crawling and walking, but we're really hoping the first thing on her agenda is sleeping through the night.

Being Bea - 5 Months, 3 Weeks

Just shy of her 6-month birthday,  we are learning many things about being Bea such as:

1. She likes peas (and apparently peas like her face, hands and clothes).
 

2. Drooling, whining and constant chewing are probably signs of teething (not her impersonation of our dog Tubby).

3. She is starting to sport a double chin (despite her inability to actually get food in her mouth).

4. She likes hanging with dad (even when he puts funny hats on her)

5. She is close to sitting up on her own (and will soon be running her own pink smiley-face flower power meetings when she can use the tiny furniture in the Montessori school classroom she visited)

6. She will not be taking ballet lessons...ever (as decided by her parents after a viewing of Black Swan)

7. She had decided after one week that eating twice at night is actually better than only eating once. (awesome.)

Potty Training Already?

Bea had her first unintended lesson in potty training recently and, as demonstrated in this photo, was none to happy with Mom a day after the experience.

It all happened one evening when Bea was super tired and happily went to bed about 6:15pm. Karl was out for the evening and Meghan was looking forward to a quiet evening at home after some long work days and sleepless nights. To Meghan's confusion, Bea woke up about one hour later rather upset. Upon checking in on Bea, Meghan discovered the source of the crying...apparently, a tired Meghan makes for a forgetful Meghan who manages to put her baby to bed WITHOUT a diaper. We guess Bea wasn't quite ready to hold her pee for even an hour and, as one would expect from an almost 6 month old, she soaked herself and the bed.

Oh my...angry baby indeed. Meghan managed to change Bea's jammies and change the bedding while Bea managed to wail and wail and wail. There was no calming an angry Bea!

All in all, Meghan's quiet evening at home and Bea's first potty training experience ended with Bea crying for 1 and 1/2 hours while Meghan tried every soothing strategy in her book of tricks but to no avail. Many tears later, Bea finally went back to sleep at 9:30pm...with a diaper on.

Perhaps we'll try again in about 18 months...