Potato, puh-tah-toe

Caution: Do not leave sweet potatoes unattended.

Hi, Mommy!

Sweet potato? What sweet potato? Oh, right - this one. I found it on the table. It sure looked fun!
I think I'll just take a little bite off this end here.

She didn't care for it raw, and she didn't care for it cooked.

Stay tuned for further culinary developments.

Banana Shmanana

How quickly a high can end. We were so thrilled just yesterday about Cassidy eating (!) bananas, but today our excitement has ended. This morning Kurt got her out of her crib to find a rash all over her face, which throughout the day got progressively worse and ended up all down her neck, chest and tummy. Bright red, bumpy splotches. We're pretty sure it's the banana because the one and only other time she had a similar rash was about 6 weeks ago. The night before we had given her some food on her tray to play with - watermelon and bananas. Neither was actually swallowed, but the banana must've at least gotten into her mouth. This time the rash is much worse, I suppose because this time she actually swallowed a bunch of banana pieces. Argh! Frustrating. We'll be moving on to other foods and leaving the banana behind, at least for now. Oh, banana, we hardly knew ye. :)

Happy Girl

We get A LOT of comments about Cassidy when we're out and about. Among the tops are: Is that hair real? That must be a wig! My kids were three and didn't have that much hair! Was she born with that much hair? But one of our favorites is: What a happy girl! Cassidy is a friendly smiler, and certainly gobbles up all the attention and adoration of the general public.

Today was a great day. For the very first time, Cassidy ate real food! Not only ate, but excitedly opened her mouth for more, chewed, and officially swallowed. What finally worked? Bananas, cut up into tiny pieces and delivered to her mouth not on a spoon, but straight from mommy's fingers. We are thrilled! It felt like it may never happen, but a whole new world has opened up for Cassidy. On to more food experimentation!

Bathing Beauty

Cassidy finally loves the big bathtub!

Things I Do While Daddy's Away

Play on daddy and mommy's bed Play with my toys in my crib

Take good naps. Taking care of mommy wears me out!

We miss you, daddy!

Little Miss Liberty

We spent Independence Day with Grandpa and Grandma Jensen in Alden. What a great little town to visit for the day! Cassidy loved spending time down by the beach, playing in the grass and laughing and smiling at all the people. Happy Fourth of July!

Family Fun on the Fourth of July

Fun Times with Grandpa and Grandma Jensen

Grandpa and Grandma Jensen came to visit in their new RV this weekend! Cassidy had so much fun entertaining everyone, playing with the grandparents, and getting more hugs and kisses than we can count! We had lots of fun exploring and just being together. Thanks for visiting, Grandpa and Grandma! Can't wait to see you again!
It's fun to feel Grandpa's beard!

Grandma is a good hugger!
Having lunch at the Terrace Inn in Bayview, near Petoskey.

Clowning around in Grandma's hat!

Thanks for reading me books, Grandma!

Cousins in love

Today we are in Port Huron to celebrate Kayla's 2nd birthday! We almost didn't get to come, but Kurt's work conflict was cancelled, so here we are. It's wonderful to be together! Of course, Kayla was very excited to see Baby Cassidy (or "Beebee CaaCaa", as she says!) and got right to it, playing with her on the floor and giving her plenty of hugs and kisses. Kayla was so helpful, getting out each of Cassidy's toys from her bag, playing with them, and then putting them all back into the bag...then repeating the process, over and over. Cassidy just sat and smiled and played and took it all in. They are just SO cute together - it melts our hearts every time! It's almost impossible to pick the cutest pictures of them because they're all the cutest! Here are some highlights. We are so excited to see these friends grow up together!

Experiments in sleeping

Our little girl is becoming more mobile all the time. We find her in all array of positions in her crib each morning. Today after her nap I found her on her tummy, grabbing and chewing on the crib bumper. How we'd love to see what she does in there when she's alone! We hear lots of leg whapping and movement in general. How much does a video monitor cost?

More family to love

Today we drove down to Traverse City to visit with Aunt Marie, Amy, Granny and Uncle Larry. It was the first time any of them had met Cassidy. Amy especially fell in love with her little cousin, but I think they were all pretty entranced by our pretty pumpkin. She was a little shy at first but warmed right up to all of them. Granny gave Cassidy "Snowball", a white bear that she now loves to play with. What a wonderful day. Sure wish Granny Kay could've been there with us! Oh, and finally the mystery of Cassidy's hair was answered. Granny said that my mom had hair just like that as a baby! So now when people ask where she got all that hair, we can say: from Granny Kay!

Father's Day Weekend

It's Kurt's first Father's Day! On Saturday we walked downtown to see the carnival at East Jordan's Freedom Festival and enjoyed the awesome fireworks over Lake Charlevoix from our back deck at night. Cassidy of course was fast asleep by then, and we were so happy that she didn't wake up - they were loud! Sunday we had a special breakfast for Daddy, took a walk together in the afternoon and had grilled steaks for dinner. Happy Father's Day!

Here are some special daddy/daughter pictures taken on Saturday afternoon.

(Notice the two little bottom teeth!)

I don't know what gets grabbed for more, the sunglasses or the beard!

I'm on a boat!

Friday afternoon we headed to nearby Bay Harbor for the in-water boat show. We had so much fun walking the docks and boarding the amazing boats (daydreaming all the way). Here are Cassidy and daddy in the master bedroom of Cassidy's favorite, a 72-foot yacht. Cassidy loved petting this nice dog.

He was very friendly and even shook hands with Kurt!
We're so grateful for this awesome Baby Bjorn carrier.
We use it all the time and Cassidy is so happy in it!

Little Ladybug

Swinging with Grandpa

What better to do on a lazy early summer day? We'll be getting a lot of use out of the hammock swing this summer. Cassidy loves it, along with the windchimes nearby.