A Biting Tour of Southern California

You know those wine- or cheese-tasting tours you sometimes hear about?  This is kind of like that.

"The germs at Disneyland probably aren't TOO bad," said my sister-in-law one day.  "There aren't THAT many things you have to actually touch." 

What do you think now? :)

Daisy-dear

We have a hard time calling her just "Daisy."  It is nearly always "Daisy-dear," or "Little Daisy," or "Daisykins."  (As I think I've said before, we did consider naming her Marguerite or Margaret and nicknaming to Daisy, but decided we liked it better on its own.)  Maybe as she gets older those long nicknames will die out (I use "Abe" "Seb" and "Ky" more often than their longer names now, as they are easier for yelling across the house) :)

Anyway, here are some smiling (!!) pictures.

And so you can see how tiny she is . . .

Non-thrilled sitter

Daisy is allowing herself, reluctantly, to be talked into sitting up.  She would rather arch her back and straighten out like a ramrod.  But she can sit for a few moments if necessary.

Friday pictures

Here are some recent pictures of the boys.  This is from the Sunday Abe and Seb sang "A Young Boy Prayed" in sacrament meeting.  (They did a great job.  Ky could have sung it too, but he wasn't tall enough to be seen over the pulpit.)  I think, viewed together, these provide a good glimpse of the picture-taking process. :)

My favorite (note Seb's smarmy smile, and Abe and Ky's ramrod-response to "sit up straight!")

Another day: (Ky looks VERY SERIOUS)

And lastly, a rare picture of all four together (Daisy looking relatively pleasant, and Ky reaching up to pat his nicely coiffed hair):

Happy and Halfy

Birthdays to two of the best ones in the world.

We love you!

Two sitters, retro wave, snuggled

Matching facial expressions

Ky's wavy hair

Cute blanket boy, just woke up

Highly suspicious

Daisy in an unguarded moment

Daisy reminds me a lot of Sebastian as a baby.  She has her own little expressions and mannerisms too, but like Sebby, a lot of the time she seems to find our goings-on slightly alarming.  She gets this alert but suspicious expression on her face, like she thinks we might suddenly cross the line from interesting to unacceptable.  She gives us the feeling she might possibly tolerate what we're doing, but she's not going to approve of it.

Seb

Daisy

Polar bears

note footprints in snow (Abe's idea)

Abe had to make a model of an arctic animal for his first-grade class.  We made a polar bear out of things we had on hand (thus, fwuffballs and a toilet paper tube).  Isn't it cute?  Abe could hardly bear (ha!) to part with it when it was time to turn it in.

Of course the other boys wouldn't be satisfied until they had made a bear too.

We were mostly out of white fwuffballs at that point.
"How will we know he's a polar bear if he's not white?" said Sebby (skeptically).  "Because he IS one,"  I said.  "A rainbow polar bear.  We'll just know."

And we do.

Bunny outfit

My sister-in-law gave Daisy this outfit when she was born, and I've been waiting anxiously till she's big enough to wear it.  Doesn't she look tiny and cute?  I love the little bunny hairclip that came with it!

A real looker

I like these pictures because they capture the bright, eager, interested look Daisy always has when you talk to her or play with her.  She smiles and laughs occasionally, but she never dissolves in guffaws the way the boys would when we'd tickle and nibble them as babies.  Instead she just looks at you alertly, like this:

The picture on the left was taken four months ago, in September, and the one on the right is from today.  Although she has gotten more sturdy and more awake and more purposeful and so forth, her appearance really hasn't changed very much, has it?  She is still tiny, she still has those bright little eyes, and she is still quite bald.  And she still loves her Daddy.

(Here she is about 20 minutes after she was born.  Same penetrating look [slightly sleepier].)