Gilly-Bean's Papa

It doesn't take much to set off a celebration for our children... In this case Gilly-beans 1st half-birthday was reason enough to put on the party hats and have some fun!

Linds made Pate's party hat for his 1st half b-day which you can see below... and of course she made Gilly-bean's too :) A tradition is born...

There's this great little park that we frequent... And my sweet little girl loves to swing!

I chose the 1st pic because you can see how tiny she is compared to the swing, plus her grin says she's havin' fun... And the 2nd because of the way the sunlight is catching her gorgeous eyes!

She's got a great grin, and her little laugh is perfect! She scrunches her nose just like her mom :) it's beautiful.

My wife is a wonderful "mommy", and I am so thankful for her!

Watching my daughter's eyes light up when she sees Linds has been a great gift...

Looking at this picture I can't help but dream of the deep relationship and rich memories that my girls will share in the years ahead.

My little girl is growing up way to fast...

Her favorite events these days:
1. Chillin' in mommy's lap/arms
2. Anything to do with her brother - her eyes light up when she sees him
3. Rolling over
4. The "inch worm" manuver
5. Peek-a-boo
6. Tickle time with me

I know it's been a long time... All I can say is that there was a reason that I didn't have a blog until pate was 18 months old... A good friend warned me before gilly-bean was born that the difference in work-load between 1 child and 2 was not the expected 2x but more like 4x the work... Couple that with a hectic month at the office and you get no new posts... I should point out that most of that work, with regard to the kids, rests squarely on the shoulders of Linds... My "work" in that arena is generally more "fun"... The point is, if I have to choose between seeing my kids and posting about them... I'll choose spending time with them, everytime!

It's good to be with my babies :)

She's smiling! A lot! Usually it's in the morning... For me it's captivating. In this particular shot I just missed the full blown grin, what you see here is the tail end of one... I'm sure I'll catch the best of one soon!



Now I know I'm partial and all - but I gotta say my daughter is beautiful!



I'm not afraid to tell you - I'm afraid. Any other fathers out there relate? I know it's early, but I feel like I need to be working on a game plan for fending off potential "boy friends"

Basically, this rocks! There is nothing better than snuggle time with the fam.



You know, ya really can't beat the sweetness of moments like these...



This last one was taken on one of our first outings... Linds just had to get out and shop (at Calico Corners)... "Cabin Fever" and all that... And I stayed in the car with the kids... I'm not going to lie to you - I'll take this over shopping anyday!

So these were taken about two weeks apart...



And again, I just want to brag on Linds, because (and this will come as a big suprise) she made the cover for gilly-beans car seat...



Now I don't know about other parents of 0 to 3 month olds... but when we're not holding our little girl, there's a real good chance she's in the car seat... I don't know if it's the angle or what, but I've found she spits up a lot less when she's in it? That's not to say the cover hasn't been thrown into the wash a few times... I really don't remember Pate losing his lunch as often as she does.

Anyway she's amazingly cute! And I just wanted you to see that.

These two photos were literally taken just seconds apart...


















Demonstrating that Gilly-bean can go from angry to content in no time flat...

Now if I could just figure out what I did to upset her in the first place, maybe we could head this thing off at the pass... Oh wait, maybe it was the incessant flash of the camera? But why would that bother her? Hmm.