At last!

Caught in the act! Geagen breaks into the cheerios in the diaper bag.

Geagen pauses for a moment to pose for picture while committing the theft of cheerios.

Geagen trying her best to look innocent.

Who could it possibly be?

Peekaboo!

Geagen Grace Wood at 15 1/2 months.

Such a pretty girl! And so grown up!

Geagen poses for the camera with her toy windmill.

I'm finally back after 5 1/2 months of not blogging (no I don't have a good excuse) and I have lots to catch all of you up on but I don't have time tonight (I am canning applesauce in the morning at Robin's house) except to tell you that Geagen is walking, RUNNING, singing, reading, has 9 1/2 teeth (another molar should break through any day), eats with a spoon, shakes hands, plays with her shape sorter incessantly, moos (anything large with 4 legs is considered a cow and appropriately mooed at), blows kisses and loves the kitties ("Killty, killty, killty...SPIKE!" - that is a direct quote from Geagen, it is really cute to watch her pet Badgley, Mischka and Spike, she really loves the kitties. She was weighed, measured and even had her H1N1 vaccination toady so her stats are: 26.75 lbs. and 31 7/8" (personally I would just say 27 lbs, and 32" and call it good but you know how accurate those medical people insist on being) I have lots of pictures from earlier this summer and even a video of Geagen's first steps (I think...it happened while I was getting my hair done.) so I will be working on catching up with the old stuff as I blog about all the new and exciting things in the Wood household.

Our Trip to Sunny California!

Geagen and her Uncle John

Geagen is fascinated with Uncle John's sunglasses

We definitely had a whirlwind trip to visit Grammy Ann and Grandpa Dick but we had so much fun while we were there. Grammy Ann and I drove to Grass Valley to meet Uncle John for lunch and a visit. He hadn't seen Geagen since Thanksgiving so it was nice for them to visit. Geagen is now much more exciting than she was at Thanksgiving so I think Uncle John enjoyed her a little more now that she can sit up, eat solid foods and make funny sounds.


Geagen smiles for the camera

Silly girl!

Shopping at Wal-Mart with Great-Aunt Barbara and Grammy Ann

While we were in Oroville we were able to visit Great-Aunt Barbara and also introduce Geagen to a time-honored tradition of lunch at Taco Bell followed by shopping at Wal-Mart. It's true- we do live on the edge! We had fun visiting and hearing all about Great-Aunt Barbara and her family.

Great-Nana Chamberlain gives Geagen kisses

Geagen and Great-Nana Chamberlain share a bonding moment

Geagen and I were able to go to lunch with Great-Nana Chamberlain while we were in town. We went to Charlie's and Great-Nana was amazed at how well Geagen behaved herself during lunch. After lunch we went back to her house for a visit and some pictures together. I'm glad Geagen is able to get to know both of her great-grandmothers.

The Shetland ewe and lamb at Chaffin Family Farms

Grammy Ann, Joshua and Geagen pose for a picture in the pasture at Chaffin Family Farms

Fluff the birthday chicken wears her party hat for the occasion

Grammy Ann and I took Geagen out for a visit at the Albrecht's house (aka: Chaffin Family Farms) and had lots of fun. We visited with Carol and Kurt and also celebrated Fluff and AJ's second birthday with Joshua. Fluff wore a little green crocheted hat that was made especially for this occasion. I must say she looked rather fetching. Joshua took us out into the pasture and showed us his Shetland ewes and their new lambs. They are rather skittish so we had to admire them from afar.

A rare picture of Mommy and Geagen

Geagen loves baby Rorie

Peaches and baby Rorie

It was a lot of fun to catch up with my friend Peaches who drove up from Modesto to visit. She brought her daughter Rorie and it was fun to see our girls together even with the age difference (Rorie is 8 weeks old). Big brother Finn had a cold so he stayed home. It's still weird for me to see people who I grew up with children- Peaches and I have known each other since we 6 months old. She is a wonderful mother who makes it all seem so effortless. Rorie is a little charmer with the sweetest face. She looks so much like her Aunt Katey. She is precious! I'm so glad we were able to meet up and hope to make these visits more regular as our families grow up. I think it's so neat to be able to introduce my daughter to people who've known me all my life and hope she enjoys meeting them too.

Rusty and Geagen are friends at last!

Geagen was terrified of my parent's dog Rusty when she first arrived. He's not at all aggressive but he barks when he gets excited. We don't have a dog and Geagen hasn't really been exposed to dogs because nobody we know has them. Geagen is friends with our cats and wants to pet all kitties but to her a dog might as well be an elephant to her so it took some time for her to get used to Rusty. After a few days she realized that he really was harmless and just wanted to give her kisses. He also hoped that she would scratch his belly but she didn't quite figure it out. Maybe next time Rusty.

Geagen and Grandpa Dick read a book

Geagen and Grandpa Dick were able to bond while we were visiting. Like Uncle John, Grandpa Dick also hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving and was amazed at how much she has grown and changed. He was a little overwhelmed by all the crying- poor Geagen had a rough time adjusting initially and was rather emotional to say the least. She did get accustomed to my parent's house and her surroundings after a few days. Once she settled in it was a little easier for them to play and spend time together.

We've been home a full week now and are catching up on all the excitement (aka: housework) that we missed while we were gone. Jon did an excellent job of being a bachelor and even cleaned the house too. He did lots of work in yard and it really looks nice. I can't wait to see what everything looks like once the yard fills in this summer. It was fun to go and visit but it's even nicer to be home.

Happy Easter!

Geagen is all ready for church in her Easter dress

Geagen demonstrates that she can even crawl in a dress

Geagen is more interested in the grass than taking pictures for Mommy- do I sense a recurring theme here?

Geagen reaches for her Easter basket

Geagen examines her bounty from the Easter Bunny

Oh the joy of posed holiday pictures! I try and remind myself that one day she will see her baby albums and appreciate all of the memories that have been diligently documented on her behalf but right now she's just not that into is so I've learned to take what you get with these photo sessions sometimes. Geagen was a good sport for the outdoor pictures seeing as how she was exhausted from church. Geagen is still too young to truly appreciate Easter and all the joy that the Easter Bunny brings but I enjoyed myself and made sure that she looked her Easter best and was fully accessorized as far as babies go. I think next year that she will need a little Easter purse and hat though. Anyway, the Easter Bunny (you never know if she reads this or not but I don't want to be the one that shatters her dreams) filled her personalized basket and made sure that there were lots of fun things for her to find. She especially liked her bubbles and toothbrushes. We had fun playing with those this afternoon. We had Jon's mom and sister over for Easter dinner and had a nice time as a family. Jon made an excellent North Carolina style mustard glazed ham and we all enjoyed the good food. All in all it was a good day.

Ode to a Guinea Pig

Trigger lounges around in her cage

On this past Friday morning the Wood family mourned a sad loss in their extended furry/feathered family, Trigger the guinea pig passed away peacefully in her cage at the ripe old age of 2 1/2 years. She will be sorely missed by all of us. It is already eerily quiet downstairs (that's a considerable feat when you figure that Mischka's meow alone can wake the dead- no pun intended) without her inevitable squeals of desire whenever anyone rustles a plastic bag- she was quite convinced that these crinkling bags would contain hay- one of her most favorite treats in the whole world. She also brought joy into our world when Grandpa Lancaster was alive and would look forward to a section from his daily orange every morning like clockwork. She was a sweet little creature and we miss her.

9 months old!

Geagen grins at the camera

Geagen tries to crawl away from Woolamina and the photo session

Finally a cute smile for mommy

It's hard to believe that we have managed to keep Geagen alive for 3/4 of a year already. Time sure does fly. Geagen went in for her 9 month check-up today and she officially weighs 23.0 lbs,. and is 29.0" long. She is still a big, tall, healthy girl. Dr. Travis says she is right on track developmentally which means she's supposed to throw fits on daily basis. I guess I can just chalk up the crankiness to teething and plain old development. I also just realized that I forgot to mention that Miss Geagen is the proud possessor of 2 very cute and very sharp teeth (on the bottom). I would post a picture of her cute toothy smile but she won't open her mouth for anything other than food. I'm just glad she still takes 2 naps a day so I last have a passing shot at sanity. We still have lots of fun together and I will be sure and pass on any exciting news (crawling, walking, new teeth) to her adoring public when it happens.

Grandma Ann'sVisit

Grandma and Geagen snuggle on the couch

Grandma Ann feeds Geagen lunch

Grandma Ann brushes Geagen's hair

Grandma Ann plays on the floor with Geagen

So I'm finally bloggin about my mom's visit in February. Yes-I'm aware that it is April now. In fact I just looked at my pictures and realized I only took 1 picture of Geagen in March. Sad I know but life has been busy around here. Even though we are super busy these days our lives are tragically boring. Geagen is desparately trying to crawl and hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. She keeps getting her legs stuck under here and then she freaks out. She can get around but it's mostly a mixture of the army crawl and scooting on her butt. It's funny to watch but it gets her a few places- thankfully not any long distances. She is also learing how to feed herself which makes things interesting. She loves Cheerios (just like her Mommy and Grandpa Dick- it's in her blood) and picking things up from her high chair tray. Jon has been busy helping fence our pasture in order to put a cow in it. Soon we will have a Black Angus heifer living in it and hopefully a calf in the spring if all goes according to plan. Jon has also been planning and planting our vegetable garden as well. I promise pictures when there are more exciting things to look at. During spring break Jon and I were able to get away for a night in Boise sans baby. We went to the Anniversary Inn which is a bed and breakfast with themed rooms. We chose the "Sultan's Palace" that had life-size elephants coming through the walls. Other than that, Geagen and I are looking forward to our upcoming visit to California in a few weeks and I'm sure Jon is looking forward to the peace and quiet.

Back to Grandma Ann's visit. It was fun to visit with her and for her to get to know Geagen better. They hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving and Geagen wasn't a whole lot of fun back then. She was kind of a lump- but a cute lump nonetheless. Geagen showed her all of her tricks- eating solid foods, rolling over, sitting up, etc. and Grandma Ann was thrilled. We also did some shopping because Geagen didn't have enough clothes (okay we just needed an excuse to go to Target and they have super cute baby clothes) and some super cute summer clothes that I can't wait for her to wear. Since Jon was gone for most of that week it was just nice to relax and not have to worry about anything boring like ironing or making lunches. We're glad Grandma Ann was able to come and are looking forward to her visit when she comes here with Grandpa Dick for Mother's Day weekend.

Badgley loves Geagen

Badgley headbutts Geagen

Badgley is very interested in Geagen

Badgley lets Geagen gently pet him

Badgley waits patiently for Geagen to lose interest in the shelves

My sweet little 11 1/2 year cat Badgley has finally decided that this noisy stinky creature that we call a baby really isn't so bad after all. At first Badgley was terrified of Geagen and afraid that she might hurt him. When you're only 9 pounds or so a baby can do a lot of damage so he was probably smart to stay away. Mischka originally thought that the baby was the cat's meow and couldn't get enough of Geagen scratching her back for her. Then Geagen decided that this was so much fun that she would screech with delight while petting Mischka and Mischka decided to head for the hills. The cutest part all of this is that this has been all Badgley's idea. I'm very surprised that he has been brave enough to lay upside down on the floor while waiting for Geagen to notice him. Now that Geagen has made such a good friend in Badgley and he is willing to stick around when I'm holding her now she has become obsessed with Badgley's tail. So far she has been unsuccessful in her attempts. Badgley is grateful for this.