1/2 year and pool time

Okay, I'm really annoyed with the formatting of my last few blogs using Windows Live Writer, so I'm hoping with the new Google blog format this will come out better. Here goes.

Brielle's 6 months. (Okay, so I'm still catching up and she's actually 7 months, but at least I'm getting closer.)

Okay, for the record, I’m back at Windows Live Writer since Google blog was not able to upload my video. So until I have more time to figure this out (next year), bear with the horrible spacing of the blog. Anyway, back to the video. Here goes:

So I couldn’t pick just one pic of Brielle’s 6 month session, so I’m trying out the folder feature to see if it works.

		Brielle at 6 months VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Hmmmm, that was interesting.

To finish out the 6 month photo shoot, I tried to videotape Brielle practicing crawling. Of course she did the best stuff off screen, but you can see a little of it here:

While in Chicago, we took Brielle to the pool for her first swim experience. She wasn’t too excited about it actually, but in hindsight, we think it was because the pool was too cold. She is currently taking swim lessons at the Y and loving every minute of it.

Here’s Steve taking her in:

A little at a time

Now her feet

Ahhhh, there we go

Not so sure at first

But warmed up with Mama

Attempted pool family photo #1

#2

And #3, we may not all be looking, but we’re all there

We also attempted a little “water submersion” (we don’t call it dunking at the Y). We were told to blow in her face, then dunk her. It worked in that she didn’t swallow any water, but boy she didn’t like it. At the Y, we are taught to ‘submerge’ her head first, and she does seem to like that much better. (And the water’s warmer)

I’ll leave you with this last video of Brielle playing with her twin. =D

Chicago

Before going to Chicago, we had test out the supplies we were going to need for the trip. Here’s Brielle trying out her sunglasses:Doesn’t she look cool.

Okay, now on to our trip to Chicago. Steve had an opportunity at work to take a class in Chicago, a place we’ve always wanted to visit, so he asked if we should extend the trip and take the family. I said YES!

Brielle got a chance to fly 1st class. A first for her. And although I thought the other first class passengers would surely throw us off the plane as soon as they saw we had a baby with us, the did no such thing and actually seemed to enjoy having her among them. We even got a few compliments on how well she did, after the flight was over of course. ;)

Visiting Chicago also meant we got to visit my friends Jamie and Scott (who we stayed with for the first few nights), and family friends Vanessa and Thomas. I purposely put Brielle in this green jacket because I’ve always loved Jamie’s taste in jackets and wanted to show off Brielle’s taste in clothes. Well low and behold, Jamie’s jacket was almost identical. Look at these two peas in a pod!

I don’t remember why she was zonkered out in the stroller, but I’ve always thought sleeping babies/kids in strollers were hilarious with the crazy kinks in their necks, so I had to catch a picture of Brielle following kinked neck suite.

Here’s the fam finishing the Chicago marathon. No sweat. Notice Brielle yawning. Guess it’s hard to sit in a stroller during a race.

Teo’s in front of the Pritzker Pavilion designed by Frank Gehry, who also designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles and the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Gorgeous work of art.

Here are Steve, Jamie, Scott and Bri and a closer shot of the Pritzker Pavilion.

The Bean! A completely reflective structure where the main goal is the stand somewhere around it, take your picture, and try to locate yourself later. Fun times.

Can you find us?

How about now?

And now?

Brielle preparing for Easter. She had to borrow these ears from her dear friend Friday.

And there’s Friday giving her a kiss.

Ahhhhhhh

While in Chicago, we took one of the Lake Tours of the Chicago River. Here are some of the photos from the tour.

Here is one of the 18 movable bridges you see up and down the river. This one is out of commission so is permanently up in the air. The bridges can be raised in one minute. If you want to learn more about the bridges, they are kind of interesting even for non civil engineers, go here.

This shows the ugly, I mean, famous Sears Tower, I mean Willis tower formerly known as the Sears Tower. Funny thing, Willis rents two floors in the building and as part of the negotiations, required the changing of the building’s name to Willis Tower. But throughout the whole tour, the guide referred to the building as the “former Sears Tower”. Doesn’t seem to me like Willis is doing a good job at changing the buildings name after all.

Bri was evidently  not so interested in the tour.

This story stuck out to me. The other buildings next to this one had some sort of architectural detail that makes them notable (not enough for me to take a picture, but notable non the less), but this architect decided to use the other buildings of the river to decorate his. Get it? Ask me if you don’t.

Here’s the sky line from the mouth of the river.

Here’s Brielle’s reward after such a long day. The crust of a Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago. Mmm mmm good.

She turned 6 months while in Chicago! But this is just a sneak peek to my next blog.

Jamie and I went to the Chicago Zoo. I couldn’t believe how nice of a zoo it was considering it was FREE! Okay, parking was reallllllly expensive, but if you one of the lucky one’s to find street parking, it’s FREE! (We were not lucky). Anyway, here are some pics from the zoo.

Bri with the giraffes.

Bri with the lions. Notice how intently she studies the animals…

Brielle feeling grass on her feet for the first time. She used her toes to grab the grass. Gotta love those long Teodoro toes. ;)

Well that’s it for now. I’m still behind but getting there. Stay tuned next time for more 6 month photos and first time in a pool fun.