Off to Texas!

On Thursday, baby and I are traveling to the home turf. Mostly. We're meeting my folks in San Antonio, half-way across the state from my hometown. This will be Bridgette's first plane ride, and we are hoping her ileostomy bag doesn't pressurize in flight. I'm sure I'll post a picture or two from our trip later, so I won't burden you with itinerary details now, but I am really looking forward to seeing friends and family.

Per usual, all other photos and commentary are random. They cover the last two weeks or so.

The biggest news for me is that I successfully defended my master's project and will actually graduate in August. There are a few details to attend before then, but I'm basically finished. The babe was with me (or inside me) almost from day one, all the way to the end. She even attended my defense.

These folks are in my cohort. Steve and I defended on the same day, and Ryan and Kristin were kind enough to support us and attend.

And in continued randomness, here is a photo of the first fruits of the year. We have strawberries up the wazoo, and our cherry tree was most plentiful this season. We're sharing the cherries equally with the birds.

Speaking of fruit, baby eats about 1.5 bananas a sitting now...

Yum! Slinky!

Yay!

Bridgette is not crawling or walking, but she is starting to wiggle out of starting position. Pre-nap, all her toys were in a nice row above her head and she rested in utter verticality. This is how I found her post-nap. Don't knock it. Progress is progress.

In further progress, I promise this wasn't how I set her down on the armchair. Again, I found her reaching (having flipped herself almost onto the floor) for my purse. Which she likes to disembowel, one object at a time.

Father's Day!

Grampa Johnson is a new father too! He rescued and adopted this cute little kitty that would have died without his help.

And last, here is baby getting hit repeatedly in the face by Piper's happy tail. The "abuse" was mutual, but we failed to get footage of baby playing Piper like drum.

Beauty Queen

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Here's the little lady's portrait, as promised, from the Freedom Festival Cutest Baby Contest.


I looked at all the baby photos on-line, and she was the only one without a cherubic smile! Oh man. I think this is infinitely better...

:)

Bridgette's First Word

Jeff and I celebrated 6 years of marriage yesterday!
And baby celebrates 11 months since birth today!


JJ and I started our celebratory weekend by entering Bridgette in the Cutest Baby Contest held at Utah Valley University as a part of the Utah Freedom Festival. She won! Well, not really. But while she was sitting on the judges' table she reached over and took one of the winners' ribbons that was sitting out. So they let her have it. Why leave success to chance when you can create it yourself?

I'd show you a photo of her cuddly self at the contest, but I forgot to put the flash drive in the camera. We got a $10 portrait while there, but it won't be ready to pick up until the 20th. Also, in the portrait, she is scrunching her nose. It's not beauty-contest material; it's much better.

We dropped Bridgette off with Aunt Kelly & Uncle Mark for the rest of the day and went to shoot arrows at an archery range (no compound bows for us! lots of bruises though...) followed by dinner and a movie. Bridgette's bag leaked while we were gone and poor Aunt Kelly had to deal with it. Messy, messy, messy...


Just so you know, I proudly won the archery contest. Please see my somewhat-fine shooting below. Good thing I'm not responsible for protecting any ancient empires. The enemy would have arrows in their kneecaps.

And now the moment for which you've all read this far! Bridgette's first word (on her eleventieth-month birthday none-the-less) was....

Drumroll!

No. Her first word wasn't drumroll. Tonight while Jeff was changing her, she said, "Diaper." She's said it four times now (once prompted with a diaper as visual aid,) so we're convinced it's not a fluke. She has gone on this evening to mimic several more words, including "book" and "pasta." Mmm...

Lion Bonk