A few more animal pics from our trip

Turkey

Painted turtles

Black bear

Mallards, Cate, and Mommy

Moose (nice antlers!)

A day for teeth... bears, deer, and Cate?!?!

We enjoyed a really nice day today after several days of lousy weather. It's really been kind of a lousy summer, weather-wise, but today was rain-free. We decided to head over to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray. It's run by the Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and houses many Maine critters that, for various reasons, cannot live in the wild anymore. After spending a nice afternoon there, we returned home, and I discovered that Cate's two bottom teeth have come in!! Well, they're not really "in," but when I rubbed my finger along her bottom gum (as I've been doing daily for weeks), I felt something sharp. Upon closer examination, sure enough, both bottom teeth have just erupted through the gum. All I can say now is, thank goodness I'm pretty much wrapping up breast feeding! :)

Anyways, here are some pictures of our trip to the Wildlife Park....

We were feeding the deer corn, so this one came right over for a visit.

Cate was really interested in the bears and squealed with delight when they came over to the fence to eat their bear treats, which we bought for a quarter. Here, she is looking at them quite intently!

This nice big bull moose was toward the back of his pen but came over to see us. Well, really, he walked over to us, took a big poop, turned around, and walked away. So much for hospitality!

Creeping & crawling

Cate's moving around a lot these days- rolling, wiggling, creeping (I guess that's what it's called)- but today we witnessed something new. She's been really good at getting her front end up, but she just hasn't seemed to figure out the back end. Then today she suddenly tucked her legs way up under her belly and stuck her butt in the air. It was so cute b/c she'd get the butt up and her face would be squished on the floor, then the butt would go down and she'd lift up on her arms. She'd just keep teeter-tottering back and forth. But once she figured out how to tuck in those legs and push, she was hooked. It was her entertainment for the day (for us too!). Check it out!

Cate goes backpacking

Mom and Dad arrived from Ohio this past Saturday for their three week Maine stay. They spent a few nights with us and then headed up to their cabin yesterday. On Sunday, we took a short hike on a newly discovered trail in Georgetown (over the bridge from Bath to Woolwich and two islands down), and Cate got to try out a backpack carrier we borrowed from our neighbors. She did really well and seemed to enjoy herself, and it was definitely more comfortable than the Bjorn (for me at least). She's just getting too heavy for that! After our hike, we went on down to Five Islands and got an ice cream cone and watched all the action in the harbor. It was a really nice day, and the place was hopping.



Great-grandma Sprague sent up this new stuffed dog for Cate, and Cate seems to have taken right to it. I snuck in and snapped this picture of her while she was sleeping and got the other when she woke up. She's always so happy first thing in the morning.



Cate checking out Grandpa's mustache- so fascinating!!! (She's never seen her daddy grow anything like that!) hee hee!!



I call this "The Lion and the Lamb," and they have finally learned to lay down together. Of course, Ellie is probably thinking, "If I don't look at her, she doesn't exist....big old mongrel." And Zoe is probably thinking, "I wish she'd play with me." But the fact that they're this close shows how far they've come!

Cate tries veggies!

Above, just because she's cute...




Two nights ago, we started Cate on veggies. I decided to go with peas first, b/c I figured if she would eat smooshed peas, she'd probably eat any veggie. Don't get me wrong, I actually like peas, but baby food peas just don't look or smell all that appetizing. Though she gave us some strange looks when the peas went in her mouth, she ate them. That's the above video- I'm not sure if you'll be able to see her facial expressions! Last night I did not mix the peas and rice cereal together but rather served them side by side. That seemed to be a little better and wasn't quite as gross.

Also, we are starting to substitute formula bottles in for nursing sessions. Well, we've only done one substitution so far (the late afternoon/dinner feeding), and I'm about to substitute another (lunch). Once again, Cate took right to the formula without any complaints or objections. She's even let me feed her the bottle, which I've heard some babies won't take from their nursing moms, so I'm happy for that.

Cate dressed for the British Open

So really the first day of the Open just happened to coincide with the arrival of this hat in the mail (along with a cute skirt) from Great Aunt Chris and Great Aunt Tish. Rick was overcome with emotion and ran off mumbling something about how it's just like Sergio Garcia's, and next thing I knew, Cate was dressed like Paula Creamer. Ok, I'll confess I went and got the shoes and put them on her. Thank you, aunts, for making Rick's, ahem, Cate's day!

Cate turns 6 months old!

Cate turned 6 months old today, and she had her 6th month checkup on the day. She weighed in at 15 lb. 1 oz. and was 24 3/4 in. long. Both of those measurements put her b/t the 25-50th percentile. Her head circumference is still in the 90th percentile! :) Otherwise, she got a great report from the pediatrician, who also added that she is beyond her age in strength and development. Yay!

This picture cracks me up. I believe the caption should read, "What? You want a piece of me?"

A weekend at camp

This weekend we headed up to camp for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a beautiful day, and we decided to have a campfire after dinner and make s'mores. Cate looks like she'd like a bite, eh? :) Cate also tried her first swim in the lake. Well, technically, Rick took her and just slightly dipped her toes in and she immediately started screaming. Now, I know the water's cold, but really, it did seem a bit much. haha I guess we'll put off swimming for a while!



While we were down having our fire, a loon was hanging out near shore. I took these couple of pictures of him.



Sunday afternoon we went over to Madison to visit our friends Mike and Marcia who just bought a house there. They have three young children, and Marcia brought out the Bumbo seat for Cate while we were visiting. Cate enjoyed it so much, she loaned it to us, since their kids have outgrown it.

Cate tickles the ivories

Back to our Ohio trip.... Cate thoroughly enjoyed trying out Gramma's piano. We have joked since she was born that she has the hands of a pianist, and after watching this video, I'm sure you'll agree she is on her way to greatness. :)

Cate in Boothbay Harbor (aka Hah-bah)

Today, our first day back in Maine, was a beautiful day, so we drove down to Boothbay Harbor. We walked around, went into some of the shops, and got an ice cream cone. Below we are catching some shade and a nice cool breeze in the library park. Above, we're on the public landing.