My favorite Polar Bear!

Although our neighbor offered up a pea-pod costume for Julia, Charles was convinced that she needed to be a polar bear - his Bowdoin college mascot.  I let him know that if that's the case, she will have to be a Messiah College falcon next year (but I don't think that will be as cute...) So, we sprung for this adorable costume that worked quite well.  It's so warm and comfortable that I actually put it on her last week when she got her 4 month shots.  Nothing helps you recover from the misery of shots like sporting all of that great polar bear fuzz!

Our neighborhood hosts an adorable parade for the kids that starts at the top of our circle and makes a little half loop.  Our friends Shana, Jared, and Clara and also Mark, Jess and Luke joined us for the festivities, which was an adorable mess of animals that ranged from a giraffe to a puppy.  This time last year I was aware of this parade, but I'd never seen it because it typically occured during the week.  There have been many moments in the last 4 months that we have looked at eachother with the "MY, how our lives have changed!" look.  This was one of them...never would I have thought that something like this could be such fun.  It is so neat to see all of these kids that Julia will be growing up with!  We love our neighborhood!  And we love our friends!

At one point during the party, Julia grabbed a doughnut from Charles' hand and we just watched her to see what she would do with it...

 *I should preface this with the fact that we have been debating what to do about starting rice cereal and solids.  The Dr. gave use the go ahead, but also said that she would give us cues when she is ready.  I like the idea of breastfeeding as long as I can and Julia seems to have no problem with that, so we have decided to wait another month or 2.*

So Julia takes a little crumb, puts it in her mouth, and gnaws at it with great delight.  The "new mom" in me sort of gasped, but she was just fine.  A few minutes later, I find Julia licking the bottle of Pumpkin Ale that Charles is drinking.  Lovely!  I believe that she gets her love of pumpkins from all of the pumpkin pancakes that I ate when I found out I was pregnant!  Anyway, we had a great time and Julia was exhausted when it was all over.  We came home and had some great friends over in the evening.  On these full days I anticipate that Julia is not going to handle it well and will eventually have a breakdown, but she always surprises me.  She did amazingly well last night.  We put her to bed a little bit late because of the time change and she slept a full 9 1/2 hours.  Gosh this child is amazing! 

Earlier this week we also had some great times - my Gram drove up to DE from FL and sprung for another 5 hours to drive to Massachusetts with my mom.  We had a wonderful few days that included a trip to Yankee Candle, some good food in Northampton, and having a bakefest/dance night in my kitchen.  This picture captures 4 generations of women on my mom's side.  It's pretty amazing!