Rebekah's Shower and Dallas Friends

A few weekends ago, Bekah and I made our first trip on our own! We went to Dallas to help throw a shower for my friend Rebekah and Bekah's future friend, Margaret Gray! I was pretty nervous about making the 3 1/2 hour drive without daddy, but I completely feel like my prayers for safety and smoothness were answered. I had a peace about traveling on my own, and I feel so encouraged that we did it, and if we needed to, we could do it again!

Now, one big reason the trip went so well, is, Bekah had her dollie!

Bekah is officially BFF's with her dollie and I just think it is the cutest thing! Every time she went to a new person during the trip, I handed her over while holding her dollie and she was fine! Anytime she started to whimper in the car, I would fumble around, try to find the dollie, and whala, she was happy again!
Here she is in her sleeper that just happens to match her dollie!

( i just noticed, after downloading all these pics, how often the dollie pops up in these pictures! keep an eye out for her dollie, it's everywhere!)

First stop was to my elementary school that I taught at for 4 years in Dallas, NWHE. I have some dear friends and students and families there that I couldn't WAIT for them to meet Bekah. It was one of those things I had always looked forward to doing, going back to whatever school I was teaching at, to have everyone meet my baby, as I saw so many teachers do during my teaching years. It was so special and I am kicing myself for not catching such a "mommy moment" on film, oh well! It's not like I won't be going back, Bekah had more fun and I loved seeing everyone, I'll get the pics next time!

After visiting at NWHE, we stopped by my friend Julie's house so that they could meet Bekah. Bekah and her son Caleb are "blogger buds" and Bekah couldn't wait to meet him! And just as she thought, he was just as cute and sweet in person!




Bekah enjoyed watching Caleb crawl and I loved catching up with Julie, we wish we could have stayed longer!
Caleb and Julie actually stopped by my place in Austin, the day I delivered Bekah, only none of us knew it! That night I went into labour! I love that these sweet friends were a part of such a priceless day!

( oh no, while formatting, I just accidentally deleted the cutest picture of Caleb and I am not on my own computer to get it from my file! I will have to post it later, sorry Caleb and Julie! So if the spacing is weird on this post, I am sorry, i don't want to mess with it anymore and delete another picture!)
Then, it was off to Bina and Nimesh's to spend the night! Bekah had heard so much about my fun, smart and pretty college roomie, she couldn't wait to meet her as well!

Just like everyone else, Bekah was captivated by her beauty and charm : ).

Bina knew about all things baby and was so wonderful with Bekah! Bina's sweet mother even had to come over and meet Bekah . . .

and look what she brought, some more international couture! : ) A scarf from India!

It is very becomming on her, don't you think? : ) Thanks Bina for all your hospitality!

After Bina's, I headed over to Vaughanie and Ava's to start up the shower decorating for the next day. Party/Shower Planners Amy and Brinley joined us as well. First things first, though, the girls had to play : ).

Bekah, Brinley and Ava- BFF's : )

(here, I believe that Amy is singing the sugar plum fairy number from the nutcracker and look at Bekah's face! Doesn't she know she is going to be a ballarina????)

It was on this day that Amy decided to coin a hilarious nickname for each girl based on their hair:

Brinley was titled "Bill Murray"

Ava got to atleast be a girl, "Kate Gosling" (since her hair sticks up in the back)

and Bekah is what I would say might be one of the ugliest MEN in Hollywood, "Christopher Walkin!"

"I've got a fever, and the prescription is more cowbell!" says Bekah!

Yup, Brinley's mommy is one funny gal, just like Brinley!

Bekah is being quite assertive in this picture, and look how chill Brinley is!

It's like she is still thinking about that Christopher Walkin comment!

Ava showed us her wave on this trip, it was so cool to see her do such an important milestone!

Bekah and I couldn't get enough of our beautiful best friends, Ava and Vaughanie!

I can't believe how blessed we have been to have seen our out of town friends so often since the girls were born, I hope it is a sign of how it will always be for us!

That night, we spent the night with them and got to have bath time together!

It was obviousley soo cute and lots of fun!

The girls in their warm and fuzzy sleepers

They introduced one another to their dollies:

"Bekah, meet____" ( Vaughanie, does she have a name?)

"Nice to meet you ____, this is Dollie"

After the girls went to bed, Vaughanie's super sweet hubby stayed back with our sleeping girls and we drove over to Amy's to start decorating for the shower!
We had alot of fun decorating Amy's pretty house and getting ready to surprise our dear friend Rebekah!

The next morning was the shower! Rebekah is due in January and will be naming her little girl Margaret Gray. Her shower had a little fluer de lis theme to it because Rebekah is from Louisiana and has some great pride in that home state of hers!


Diaper cake that Amy made with Vaughanie and I acting as "assistants"

The yummy food that Amy expertly whipped out so naturally:

The mantel with her initials, baby pics of Rebekah when she was little and then, an old dress of hers when she was little on the right . . .

and a new dress for Margaret Gray on the left! It is smocked and has her initials monogramed on it, two qualities in clothes that Rebekah loves! I ordered this dress from my friend's grandma, just let me know if you are interested in getting her to do some smocking for you, she is my favorite smocker!
You can't tell from the pic very well, but all the hostesses made/gave Rebekah a onesie,

that had corresponding bible verses that went with them. This is the one that I made:

Mary Pat mad this one with buttons, isn't it precious???

Vaughanie made this cute one:

(the bible verse that went with this one ( typed on that tag hanging from the arm) is "Taste and see that the Lord is good," : ) )

The beautiful "mother of two, to be" appreciating all of her monogrammed goodies!

Rebekah with all of her hostesses that love her so much! What a well loved mommy!

While Vaughanie and I were at the shower, Mikey once again watched the girls for us ( thanks Mikey!) but this time, we called in "back up" because the girls would actually be awake during the day time : ). We thought the best team for the job would be Ben and Tana! I wish I would have gotten a pic of this awesome couple, thank you so much for watching my baby girl!

I did get a picture of Bekah with Ava's doggie though, Macy. I am sure Macy helped take care of the girls, so we can say she is part of the "back up!" (Bekah really liked Macy and Macy was WONDERFUL around her, we are so impressed with her baby manners!)

Next stop, the Overstreets! Bekah always has to listen to her mommy gab on the phone with lifelong BFF of hers, she thought it was about time that we actually hung out at that beautiful house of theirs! She LOVED watching Christy's two PRECIOUS little girls, Kate and Kara, she could have stayed all week! ( As I joked with Kameron, Christy's hubby!)
Here we are exchanging Christmas gifts:

Bekah got a Little People Nativity Scene from her two friends, and she loves it!Chirsty has taught me so much about being a Christian wife, friend and now mother, to have recieved such a special gift from her meant alot. I know that these girls will be an important influence on Bekah as was her mother on me : ).

Kate and Kara got some matching flower hats that Bekah made:

Look at the girls, so interested in Christy reading, what a good mommy! It was really fun to live a day in the life of the Overstreets, that family balances everything so well, whether they are learning or playing, they are always having fun. I am always calling Christy for mommy advice, so while I was there, I tried to soak up as much of it while I could, she has done such a wonderful job with these sweet girls!

And then, on the trip, Rebekah and I realized that we wouldn't really get a chance to talk much at her shower and that I needed to stop by on my way out of town so we could see each other's children! Henry was soo sweet to Bekah, letting her play with his toys. And Rebekah and Tom made me the best lunch, tomatoe soup and grilled cheese!

Henry is either making me laugh or smile on his blog, so to see his cute personality in person was special treat! Teehee, look at that animation! And did you know only a few minutes after that, he counted to 5 for me???? He only a year and 8 months!!

Yup, smart, sweet, obviousley handsome, this boy is a catch! : ) And look at them, I think they've got some mutual attraction there!

Even though we could have easily spent so much more time up there, spending more time with the friends we saw and time with those didn't even see, Bekah and I needed to get home to our boys! I was litterally giddy as I drove up to our house, sooo ready to see my hubby again, as it had been from a Thursday to a Sunday! The longest we have been away from daddy! I was so proud of my little traveler and so grateful to have our family back together!

Here she is with her special traveling bag:

Daddy was happy to have us home, and even Charlie I think felt our absence!

I love all you Dallas friends, thanks for having us!

Crawling and Santa, what a week!

Okay, two things I have been thinking about alot lately, Santa and crawling, both happened this week! This has been one of my favorite weeks with my little girl, it's been so exciting! Not to mention that she is "talking" up a storm, but that will be another post!

Santa

Our neighborhood had an annual tree lighting ceremony on Monday and it turns out Santa was there too! It was perfect, we didn't have to pay a single thing and it was right down the street! I wasn't sure what to expect with Bekah since she hasn't been too predictable with meeting new people. The trick I learned in Dallas last weekend was, as long as she is holding her dollie, she may be just fine. So I grabbed her dollie, dressed her in her "Christmas best" and we went on down to our city hall.

Dollie in hand:

Waiting in line:

Once it was our turn, I gave Zack the camera and told him, "Take as many pictures as you can, just click away, fast!" He got this one, no tears yet . .
And this one, no tears here either! The dollie did the trick! Look at her staring up at him! Zack said it's like she is thinking," Wait, are you a doggie? You are furry like one . . ."

I couldn't believe how interested she was in this hairy fellow!

And you know what? Bekah during this whole time, held on tight to her dollie, but Santa held on tight to me! It was weird, I was going to let Bekah sit on his lap and pull away from the pic, but the minute I put her down, he grabbed my elbow, like "Mom you aren't going anywhere!" Maybe she was too young to be held by him? I don't know . . . So there we are, as my friend Mary Pat calls it, a "Mommy and Me Santa pic":

After she met Santa, a newspaper guy asked us for our names, wanting to put us in the city paper! Bekah's first time to be "in print"!

Crawling

And now for the best part of all, her crawling! She has been rocking on all 4's for a few weeks now, and definately did the backwards army crawl too, but I guess after seeing her two friends in Dallas crawling, Caleb and Ava, maybe she got some inspiration, thanks guys!

Here are some snapshots of the big event, look at that sheer determination!
(This was Monday, the day where you couldn't tell if she was crawling or scooting, SOOO close!)



We call it her Elmer Fudd face!
And for the videos:
The first one was taken on Tuesday, the first day she actually crawled, not scooted. I can't tell you how many videos I took that day, but this was the first time she actually crawled on camera, so I decided to post this one : ):

(Sorry about the highly probable annoying "mommy voice", you should just watch it on mute!)


And now, this one is from Friday, when she had a few days of perfecting her crawl under her belt! Plus, I dressed her more appropriately for successful crawling, pants! Those sleepers are tough to crawl in because she always got her legs caught up in the belly part of them.

8 Months Old!

Bekah is 8 months old, 3/4 of a year! This past month of her life, she has had lots of fun with her friends and family that have visited her. In addition to that, she has been growing like a weed! She now weighs 17lbs and is actually ALREADY growing out of her carseat! That's right, just the other day at the doctor's office, everyone there asked me when I was going to get a new carseat! Confused, I said, "Well, when she is 1 year old or 20 lbs, right?" One nurse said, "Her legs are hanging out, you might need to get one sooner!" And then, everywhere I go, people always exclaim at how long she is! I didn't realize that she was really that much longer than normal!

Hmm . . long limbs will be helpful for her ballarina future . . . : )

This time, she wanted her bunny to wear a Santa hat, but then, I guess changed her mind:

The explanation behind the "Von Trap Family esque outfit":

Grandmommy ( aka Grandma Lenore) and Pops picked this PRECIOUS dress up for her in Germany and I just think she looks like an absolute DOLL in it, I love it! So she had to wear it for her 8 month pic!

Here it is, full legnth. It has little reindeer all over the vest too!

She is also standing up in her crib for the first time!

Of course, I helped her a bit, so I could get that picture, but she stayed there for awhile and posed : ).

I just love the poofy sleeves!
Thanks Pops and Grandmommy for adding to my international wardrobe! I have outfits from Canada, Italy, France and now, Germany!


Her hair is slowly coming in, though it is there, it is still spikey in the back. I see it slowly starting to fall and hopefully one day, lay against her head!

What else has Bekah been up to? Well, she is learning how to celebrate Christmas, here she is with her advent calendar that Daddy is helping her eat:

She decorated her first tree:

She was a great help, making sure that the ornaments tasted just right, especially the "baby's first christmas booties" that May May gave her:

And as you saw earlier, I helped her stand up in the crib for that picture op, but she can bring herself to the sitting position in her crib! She was supposed to be taking a nap and I found her playing with her aquarium! Only 2 minutes later, she realized how tired she really was and coudln't figure out how to lay herself back down so she just sat there and cried until I helped her out and laid her back down. That sequence repeated itself about 3 times until I decided nap time was over! It was so sad, she wanted to sleep but couldn't stay down! Thankfully, this episode has not been duplicated because for awhile there I was worried that it was going to effect her napping! Oh and only a day before this, I had lowered her crib, good timing girl!

And the reason why she can pull herself into the sitting position is because of this girl right here, Miss Brinley! When she came and stayed with us, Bekah saw her "sleep sack" and wanted one for herself! So we DUN DUN DUN, didn't use the swaddle blanket one night, used the sack instead and since then, we haven't looked back! Thanks Brinley for the tip!

After a week or two of the "bekah bag" ( a twist off of the "bekah burrito!") and now look at her, swaddless, bagless and happily sleeping on her belly! So, I can actually say ( against the recomendation of most books), I swaddled my child for 7 months, that's right, SEVEN months! Bekah says, "beat that!" : )

Something else we said goodbye to, the swing! We took it apart for the feast, to get more room in the house and thought that it might be a good idea to just keep it up. It was a very sad moment for mommy, and for daddy as well. But the very next day I couldn't help but smile about all the extra room it opened up!

So here is a shout out to the swing AND the swaddle, two things that will forever have a special place in our hearts! See you some time later in the future for baby number 2! : )
Bath time is more fun, now that we play with all of our bath toys. She loves it! Especially when Daddy sings his "rubber ducky" song that sounds JUST like Earnie!

This month we had lots of "scooting" time, getting so much closer to crawling! She is rocking back and forth and it is soo cute!

We got lots of lovin from family. Here she is with my beautiful cousin Kath!

Bekah is so proud of her Aunt Katherine, she just got into the Graduate Business school at UT!

Bekah has been working on her "eye hand coordination" eating puffs like they are going out of style.
Look mom, I did it!

This month she also:

- got her 6th tooth

- cries when daddy leaves!

- is nursing 4-5 times and eating 3 meals a day

- is clicking her teeth and grinding them too! i hear it's normal, but hopefully won't always do this

-still sleeping from about 8:30- 6:30 or 7 : ).

- and as you see, mommy still dresses her up numerous times a day!

More than every before, she has felt like my little buddy, who I take everywhere I go and can actually experience what I experience! She notices things and with her, she just makes everything I do more fun and special. I simply adore my days with her and can't get enough of all of her wonderfullness. I miss her at night and I can't wait to start each new day with my little best friend!

Bekah's First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was very special, mostly because it was Bekah's first Thanksgiving, and also because I got to host 17 of our family members at our own house for the big turkey dinner! This was because Zack was on call that Thursday and Friday and would not be able to leave town as usual and we had hoped that he would be able to stop in between his duties at the hospital and join us for some turkey. Sadly, that didn't actually happen, but we still had the most wonderful time with our fun family who we love so much!

As excited as I was to take on such a special tradition at our very own home, I was a bit nervous too, I wanted it all to be just right, so Sandy and Ed came down a few days early to help me out.

Here we are figuring out the table setting:

We had one table in the front room that sat 11:

While we were on china setting duty, Grandpa was on Bekah duty:

The table in the kitchen would seat 6, giving us a pretty comfy way to seat 17!

One of my favorite things about the whole weekend was, I got to use my china for the first time ever! It's just been hanging out in the boxes that they came in for our wedding, so 6 years later, it was about time to put them to use! Here is the water glass stemwear, the wine glass stemwear, the flatware, bread plate and dinner plate. The napkins were tied in rafia (thanks Amy!) and the cute little name cards were found by Grandma Lenore.

Here is a close up of the oh so cute gravy boat! My china has a silver trim with a "pearl" like trim around the silver.

I went to Hobby Lobby for the table decorations because everything was 80% off!

After the tables were set, I felt so much better. Now on to the turkey! It was a 22 pounder, so we had to handle this one with lots of care, can't let your turkey get warm while working on it before putting in the oven!

And yes, that is me, wearing a shower cap! I was in the middle of cleaning my fans when my mom called me into the kitchen to show me how to get all the fat out. And I am not ashamed to say, that working with the turkey was so much fun! I didn't mind all the umm . . . "fat extraction" : ) and then, the stuffing! Maybe it is the surgeon's wife in me coming out? : )

Even Bekah wanted to join in on the fun of stuffing the turkey : )

Grandpa Ed was a great big help too, showing us how to tie the turkey back up.

Now, I would say that the whole day went as well as I could hope for ( minus the fact that daddy couldn't make it home). The only other glich was Sir Charles' little hunt that he decided to go on Thanksgiving morning! I guess Charlie wanted to contribute to the affair and so, that morning, when I let him out to go potty, what did he come back with, but a DEAD RAT! Yes, my little weiner dog caught him his first rat on Thanksgiving Day! Minus the sheer disgust of that fact, I guess we ought to be proud of this little guy, that is what he is bread to do after all! And so, Grandpa quickly scooped up the rat, wrapped him in a garbage bag and to keep the animals away from it in the garage, put it in a corona box! Charlie got "excommunicated" to his crate before I gave him a mighty good bath and then Thanksgiving festivities were picked up once again!
Here he is, with his "kill":

Despite the Charlie debacle, we still had time to stuff the turkey AND watch the parade!

Here she is learning about Care Bears : ).

With the turkey in the oven, it was now time to get dressed! Once again, we put her smocked Thanksgiving dress on her, had to get our money's worth! Thanks Aunt Kath for her turkey friend : ).

The night before, I had pureed some ground turkey for her, so she could have a Thanksgiving Feast too! Here she is with her sweet potatoes, ground turkey, place card and everything.

Purred turkey is pretty much the grossest thing I have made her so far, but as long as I pair it with sweet potatoes, pears ( yuck!) or apples, she seems good with this extra protein I am giving her!

Bekah actually went down for a nap during the feast, which was both sad and nice. I wanted her around, but it gave me more of a chance to do my hostessing duties : ). Here is the table, wine bottles out, icecubes in glasses, all we need now is for everyone to grab their plates and .. .

say a blessing, read some bible verses and then, head over to the food table to load up!

If Zack had been their, the dessert table would not have stayed this way for long:

The food was yummy, but as it should be, the company was the best part. I just love hanging out with my family! How blessed we are to have family members that really are some of our favorite friends!
Sarah's boyfriend, Adam and Jeff:

Katherine, Rani and Rani's sister, Brittany:

Kath, Rani, Brittany, Me and Sarah

My cousin Ryan was such a big help in the kitchen, making the yummiest bread!

The Burkhart table, Nora, Steve, Adam and Sarah

The May/Frolow/Jones Table

Igor, Pam, Kath, Ryan, Jeff, Rani, Karl, Brittany, Katie, Mom and Dad

Once Bekah woke up, she gots lots of attention from her sweet family

Me and my super duper mommy!

I had the best time learning all things turkey and hostessing from you mom!

I just LOVE having you stay with us!

The girls in the family pic:

Pam, Kath, Me, Bekah, Mom, Rani, Nora and Sarah

Bekah got an early Christmas present from the Frolows, the Efl on the Shelf! I couldn't believe it when I opened it up because I had actually been wanting it for Bekah to use one day! It's the cutest little tradition to start with your kids!The very next day, once the kitchen was clean and the house was back in order, my parents helped me decorate for Christmas! With Zack being on call once again, it was so nice to have help! They are just the best and I love doing projects with them, we make a great team : ).

Here is Ed putting up our very first Christmas lights! Even though Zack was not around for this big occasion, everything was his idea ( the wreaths and garland and color of lights, we had picked it all out one day that Zack had off). Dad did the leg work that Zack just didn't have time for:

Thanks a million grandpa!

And here it is, a trim of lights around the roof, garland on the porth and wreaths under each light! And don't worry all you Christmas Vacation fans, we definately did a drum roll as dad turned on the lights! Then I looked at him and said, "Thanks dad, you taught me everything I know about exterior illumination!" : ) Teehee! Looking at our sweet house with Christmas lights on, that just had all of our loving family over the day before, with a darling baby inside sleeping, my parents by my side, just the thought of it made me want to cry.

I am so thankful for all of our blessing this year!

And to the biggest blessing of all, a healthy little girl that has shown Zack and I God's love unlike ever before, our little Bekah Bumblebee!

Warming Up to Traveling- Our Trip to SA

Last weekend, we headed to SA for my friend Cathy's wedding and to spend a long weekend in SA since we would not be going home for Thanksgiving due to the fact that Zack is on call over the holiday. We haven't traveled in a long time ( by Burkhart standards : ) ) and you couldn't ever say that traveling with Bekah was ever a "cinch", but this time, everything really fell into place! First of all, we couldn't leave until 9pm Wednesday night, which at first, may seem like a bad thing, when really, it's wonderful! She slept the entire way without a single peep!
Sleeping with her daddy, happy vacation daddy!

The next day, Nora and I started our photo shoot, which I can tell you more about later because it is sort of a secret, but here is just a glimpse of the fun we had:

Showing off her new "knee socks."

We also took a few family walks, trying out the new backpack that Bekah got:
And then it was time for the wedding! Congratulations to Cathy and Danny! I just love this picture of Cathy, because of how wonderfully happy she looks!

And here are all of us girls with the beautiful bride. Cassie and Carla (who are both expecting their 2nd in April), me, Cathy, Addie, Paige, Vaughanie and Kristen. ( We missed you Shelby!)

It always feels so good to spend time with my high school besties. I love how we are all still so close and involved in one another's lives. I don't know what I would do without them!

Even Ava got to come to the wedding! Bekah was sad to have missed her friend, but I couldn't let her grandparents pass up a chance to babysit!

Here she is with Adam, Addie's hubby., she really loved him! Just goes to show, no matter the age, us girls love a guy in a uniform!

During daddy's time off, we made sure we hit up the bookstore much to Bekah's approval. She loves Barnes and Noble, just as a good Burkhart should : ).

Checking out our new books that we picked up:

I just had to giggle at how Pops ended up reading a Fancy Nancy book to Bekah, I don't think he had any clue what he was getting himself into, talking about glitter and heels and purses! I was so impressed with the way he read it to her, he often did a "think aloud" as us teachers would call it, showing his kindness and patience with his grandbaby and the subject he was reading!

I really got the feeling that Bekah was thriving all weekend long, thanks to all that special attention from her daddy. It was wonderful to have him around for 5 days straight!

Like I said, traveling was a breeze this trip! : ) We had to get a picture of the hat, she didn't seem to mind one bit that it fell over her eyes, kept the light out, right? : )

The day after the wedding, Cassie, Carla, Paige, Vaughanie and I, with our hubbies decided to get together so those of us who had not met Paige's new baby could, and so that we could all see each other's children. Thank goodness for the blogs, but any moment I can grab to actually hold and play my dear friend's children, I take!

Here I am with Mr. Ray, he is soooo cute and I just loved getting a chance to hold this sweet little boy who I have watched grow in pictures!

Bekah was excited to meet Ray's beautiful mommy, Paige. She was so sweet to Bekah and you can just tell what a great mommy she is!

Bekah couldn't believe the luck, she got to see Ava again AND she got to play with her much cooler and older friend who she also watches on the blog, Izzie! (Carla's little girl)

And as usual, Ava didn't hold back her urge to "bow snatch!" Here she is, at it again!

Only this time, Izzie was there to teach them how to play together and she actually said, "no, no!" when Ava grabbed Bekah's bow! Teehee! I mean, really, y'all, with all that going on, we can actually say that they were "playing together!" That still blows my mind, that Vaughanie, Carla and I, who DANCED together, now have little girls who are playing together!
I really wish I would have gotten a better picture of the 4 kids! There is always next time!

Since we would not be in town for Thanksgiving, we made a point to see the Allens, my dad's sister's side of the family. Here are all the cute cousins:

Teagan playing with rolly pollys:

His sweet little sister, Mackenzie smiling pretty for the camera:

(Bekah often recieves cute hand me downs from this stylish cousin of hers)

Blake sporing his cool hair do that his daddy helped him with:

And Blake's little brother Kolby with his Grandpa Larry. Cute Kolby was showing off his crawling skills to Bekah, trying to help her learn a thing or two.

Bekah loved seeing all those cousins of hers and their mommies, daddies and grandparents, maybe one day if we move back to SA, she will get to see them a whole lot more! They are so much fun and so special to us!

Before we know it, she and Kolby will be running and playing with them, just like they are doing now:

Aunt Robin ( my dad's sister), Luke and his son Kolby:

I wanted to get a cute kid shot on the couch or something, but when I saw that they were all basically in the same area, I grabbed the chance to catch them all together:

Thanks May May and Grandpa for having everyone over! As always, we had wonderful time in SA with all of our dear family and friends. Can't wait to go back for Christmas! This was our best traveling experience yet with Bekah. I had more fun with her and as I have said before, it was just another example of how I am always thinking to myself, everything's better with Bekah!

Bekah's B&B

Us Burkharts have had quite the last few weeks with lots of sweet friends staying with us, it's like the Burkhart Bed and Breakfast around here, and I have simply loved every moment of it!

To start up all the fun last weekend, Bekah and I went to my good friend Charlotte's Sprinkle for her 2nd baby, a baby boy! Bekah was soo excited about finally meeting Charlotte's oldest little girl, Evey, who she had heard so much about. Here they are playing at the shower. Bekah is letting Evey use her new "play phone" that looks alot like her mommy's that she wants to grab and eat all the time : )

Evey got a little baby doll, a baby boy appropriately, a the shower. Already, you can see what a great big sister she will be!

Charlotte opening up presents with the hostess, Cassie:

Bekah requested a pic with her friend to put up on her friend bulletin board. They live all the way up in Virginia, so it sure was wonderful to see these girls:

Isn't she gorgeous?

Price Baby #2 sure is one blessed little boy to be entering such a wonderful family!

And so, after the shower, Vaughanie, Mikey, Ava and Macy ( who drove in for Char's shower) decided to stay the night with us, so our girls could get some much needed girl time! And of course, so their daddies could get in some "jam time" in the "Zacktivities room" and us girls could as always, talk about everything baby/mommy and crafting! Spending time with that sweet Seamans family always leaves us feeling happy and so grateful that they are in our lives : ).

Here is Ava working on starting to crawl, she was sooooo close! Any day now! I am so proud of her! She was showing Bekah a thing or two!

The girls took a moment to "catch up on their reading" and we even found them recommending a title or two to one another, just as their mommies do!

"Ava, I enjoyed the way the author developed the characters in this one, plus, the board book pages are delicious!"

Being serious book lovers, Mikey even took a moment to grace us with his famous "story hour!" It was sooo cute and I just love that we can do things like this together! 5 years ago, we were going to concerts in Dallas, and now, look at us, all sitting around listening to Mikey read a children's book!
Bekah was loving all of Vaughanie's sweetness : )

And I was especially grateful to Vaughanie when she helped me to notice that Bekah got yet another tooth! She got 3 a few weeks ago, but just then, we noticed she got her 4th one up top, making it a total of 6 teeth in all!

Bekah and Ava were showing off their dancing skills, that they got from their Lancer Dancer mommies of course! Lately, when Bekah is happy, she dances, it's so cute!

Even Charlie got to "play host" to his friend Macy! By the end of their stay, they really were having fun together and I think Charlie had gotten over her large "horse like" stature that may have scared his little puny weiner self at first!

Ava really is the sweetest, prettiest thing, always concerned about her friends:

After a little "pep talk" Bekah was trying to feel better. She surely was thinking about how her best friend would have to leave the next day : (.

And so, the next day, before they left, Rob and Sari and Witt ( our good friends from Med school that moved up to Minnesota for residency) were able to come over in time to meet Ava and for Ava to meet Witt!


They enjoyed the typical circle time where everyone grabs a toy, eats it for awhile, then kindly sets it down for their friends to eat next! So funny!
Tearfully, Bekah said goodbye to Ava, but then felt better when she realized that her B&B would instantly be filled up with her good friends, Witt, Sari and Rob, for they would be staying for 3 whole nights with us!

The babies played at the park . . .

and Zacktivities were up and running again, this time with Rob:
And then, guess what happend the next day?? The McAdams' came to stay with us too! Can I just say how much I LOVE having a full house once again?? It was so much fun!

As soon as they got in, we had a nice surprise of Aunt Sarah volunteering to sit for Bekah and Brinley while the "parents" went out to dinner!

Here is Aunt Sarah with the baby monitors, for we made sure they were sleeping before we left her with two babies! It was so wonderful to spend some "grown up" time with our dear friends and we are so grateful to Sarah for letting us do this!

Throughout their stay, the boys did their thing, like hang out on their IPhones, play golf. . .

cook and eat. . . . ( Rob makes the BEST breakfast tacos by the way! I love it, I buy the ingredients and he blesses us with his talent!)

Us girls played with our babies, my new favorite thing to do with my friends:

(Here, Brinley is playing hide and go seek with Bekah.)

Bekah is sharing her new toy with her friends Witt and Brinley.

And playing with your baby always involves a photo shoot of some kind, so here is our attempt to take diaper pics!

First we set up the "youngins" in each corner and when they started grabbing their feet, we thought that the "foot book" would complete the cute pic:

Look at that gorgeous Miss Brinley!

Then we threw Bekah into the mix, where Amy declared that she looked like a conductor of an orchestra! Teehee, she does have music in her genes, who knows!

Witt was so perfectly chill the whole time, I love his personality!

We also went to the park again, where we had to take even more pics of this cute little trio!

Where Bekah was overwhelmed with love for her friend Witt!

Poor little guy, having all these girls around him, dotting over him! Teehee! We are going to have to work on not being so "forward" Bekah!

Bekah swang with her best friend Brinely:

The picture speaks for itself!I just had to steal this pic from Amy's blog of Witt swinging, isn't it adorable???And then, she decided to show Brinley just how much she cares by giving her lots of lovin! Times like these I LOVE how I have one of those camera's that takes pic after pic, I took full advantage, as you can see I just clicked away, it was just so cute!

It's like they are saying, "Hey, where'd your cute bow?"

About to fall over . .

recovering . .

Mary Pat and Evie even came to hang out! Thanks for taking pictures too Mary Pat!

She actually took one of my new favorite pictures of us! We are all looking at the camera, imagine that!

We love our med school friends SOOOO

much and I can't thank God enough for putting them into our lives so we can support one another in all of these exciting times that we share. We sure missed those Louis' and Warminskis though! Oh, and one more thing, we celebrated Amy's birthday and look what happend when it was time to blow out the candles!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that is her HAIR ON FIRE!!!!!! Props to Rob for his amazingly quick reflexes to stiffle that fire with his bare hands!

And can you believe that only 2 days later, my sweet roomies from college Brandi and Megha, came to visit us? The fun never ends! : )
Here we are shopping, something we are all very good at and share a love for : ). We are trying to teach Bekah the ways, but she surprised us in not being a fan of wonderful places like Anthropologie and Banana!

I love Brandi and Megha, they are two of the sweetest and most positive girls! Being with them reminded me how lucky I was to live with them, I hope Bekah finds some sweet roomies like I did when she goes off to UT, I mean, college : ).

And to top it off, my parents were in town that weekend, helping Jeff and Rani move into their beautiful new home! Of course, the Burkhart B&B was full, so they stayed with them : ).

Whew! What a fun whirlwind of a week! Can't wait for our next set of visitors for Thanksgiving!

Happy 7 Month Birthday Bekah!

As if you can really pick a favorite stage, but, if I had to choose, off the top of my head, I would instantly think of this month, her "sitting up/post teething/eating stage!" It's been so much fun to have her sit up and be able to watch her little personality grow in her playing and interacting. I love making food for her and watching her happily gobble it up too! And a little bonus this month , she is sleeping so much better at night now!

weight- 15 lbs 10 oz.She just wiggled all over the place while I was taking the pictures, perfectly showing what a little wiggle worm she is these days!
Just in a matter of seconds, she went from sitting happy and pretty . . .

to wrestling a little bit with her friend the bunny . . .

To trying to hit the "pike" position, she can't decide if she wants to point or flex . . .

To a little bit of tummy time . . .

To a downward facing dog position!

Along with being a wiggle worm who can scoot and spin like the best of them, she was quite social,

meeting her new friend in our play group, sweet Samantha:

to hanging out with her friend Hunter who always does things first and keeps her on her toes:

(he recently "peer pressured" her into eating some puffs, and she loves them! Thanks Hunter!")

She even hosted a fun a play group at our house and she let her older and cooler friends Barrett, Mason and Evie use her new toddler table:

After the kids were done eating, Bekah thought it would be important for the momies to play too, so we crafted! We made onsies, picture boards and bow hangers! She can't wait to join in when she gets older : ).

In the background are my friends Robyn, Emily and Mary Pat)

She had a few "power lunches" with Evie. It made Bekah feel very special to sit in a high chair like Evie : ).

(Here it looks like Evie said something funny and Bekah said, "Oh no you di-in't!)

And I actually got some practice taking care of two kids because we got to babysit sweet Evie quite alot this month! Here they are helping me craft by playing with all the spools of thread, it's like they already know how cool crafting is! I truely loved this time with the two girls, learning from them, loving on them and watching them interact : ).

We went to Storytime at Barnes a Nobles. Don't you like how she picked out the book titled, "When I am Older?" : )

At this particular Storytime ( they have them every Thursday at 11am at a local B&N here in Houston) the kids were told to "dress their best" so naturally, Bekah and Evie, being the daughters of smocking supporters, they had to sport their festive smocking dresses! We made Evie's Aunt Rebekah proud : ).

My friend Addie's very talented granny made this dress for her and I just love it! She looks like a little pilgrim in it! : )

It is so cool how they have this event every week, I hope that she loves reading as much as her mommy and daddy!
We had a photo shoot in the backyard a few days ago, this is how it went:

Bekah immediately started to watch Charlie's every move and made her plan of attack. See, not only does she watch him now and grabs him, but she does the grab and TWIST! Poor Charlie! Of course, I am always there with him to stop her and praise him for basically letting her hurt him! I think as long as I am always there, it will be okay.

"Oh look, my best friend!"
"Come over here Charlie . . oh, okay then, let me help you!"
"No, no, right here Charlie!"
"See, like that!"

"Okay, now smile for the camera!"


She also made friends with her future cousin, Rani's dog Moosey.
Moose better watch out, being a long hair daushchund, there is a lot more hair to grab!

Bekah also learned alot this month, like how to read a book to make yourself feel better!

She was upset in the car, I handed her the book, she, ofcourse "ate" it, didn't really read it, but I love how a book basically made her feel better! She then fell asleep with it, a first of many times to come!
Now that she has successfully pulled herself up to the standing position, with some balancing support from us, she is loving her leapfrog learning table!

She can also do a mighty fine push up, preparing her for those soon to come crawling days!

Here, I had to remove the camera from my face to smile at her to get her to smile, hence the uncentered picture! She still needs my face to look at to smile at the camera.Grandpa and May May came to help us around the house, celebrate my birthday and to go to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Rani's engagement party too.

The beautiful couple- Bekah really had a great time at their party even though the pic suggests otherwise!

Especially since her two wonderful aunties were there to love on her : ).

Lately she has been grabbing my hat and wanting to put the bill in her mouth, every time! I can't wear a hat anymore without being attacked!

She has been trying out the new fall fashions, for example, her baby legs that her friend Alexis gave her, she is loving these! I will have to teach her that she needs to pick and choose from all those shady 80's styles, but for now, she is good!

She has been doing that backwards scooting action lately, it's so funny, she wants to go forwards to grab something ( usually my cell phone!) when in fact, she goes backwards! Teehee, that must be so frusterating, to only get farther away from what you want!

She made my birthday the best birthday yet and helped her daddy pick out pretty roses and cake from the chocolate bar to make my day special : ).

And the food! She loves her food now! Currently, I nurse her 5 times a day, about 3 1/2-4 hours apart and I feed her 3 solid meals.

Usually oatmeal in the morning, a fruit for lunch and a veggie for dinner. I have found that with all veggies, I need to introduce them with a tblsp of oatmeal.

So far, she is loving the oatmeal of course, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, winter squash, zuchini squash and even, puffs! I have had more fun making her food and she appears to have more fun eating it! I so look forward to this time of the day that we share together!

Oh and one more thing, she got THREE teeth up top about 2 weeks ago! As soon as I can get a picture of them, I will post it! But gosh does she look different with 5 little pearls in her mouth! That is why I am so glad that Auntie Sarah took those pictures of her, just as I heard, she really did start to look different with all those teeth and I am just so happy we captured her pre teeth era! Happy 7 month little Bekah Bumblebee!