Six Months Old

Gretchen turned six months old last Friday. We just had our six month check-up. She is healthy as can be weighing in at 17lbs and 14oz and she is 27 1/2 inches long. She is already wearing nine month old clothes. Gretchen has turned very vocal over the last month. She realized if she screams Mommy and Daddy look right away and that has turned into a fun game. She loves to scream at the top of her lungs, she has even lost her voice a few times due to over use. If you could not see her smiling face while she was doing it, you might think we were torturing her. We also think she might be part pirate! She keeps making this growly “arrrr” sound, which of course we crack up at and totally encourage. Nathan and I are going to have to dig into our ancestry to see if she has any pirate genes. We did take some more professional pictures of her. They will not be up on J C Penney’s website for another week. I will put them up on my blog as soon as they are ready.

Well the shirt says it all.

Like Daddy, Like Daughter. I love the expression on her face.

Gretchen you have a little something on your face.

Meal Time

I am not sure about this, but I will try.

Here we go...

I do not like it...

wait this might be OK ...

more please.

The first feeding was a success. We did take a video of her first feeding. It is thirteen minutes long, so I am not sure if we are going to post it or not. She ate the whole bowl and only about a third dribbled down her chin.

Go Cubs Go!

Look how happy Gretchen is that the Cubs clinched the division title. They did it against the Cardinals, which only makes it that much sweeter.

Congrats

Having her hold the signs did not go as smoothly as I had hoped.

My Birthday

Yes my birthday is on one of the worst days possible. I am planning on enjoying myself anyway both today, and this weekend when we go out. I saw this article in The Onion about September 11th birthdays.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27728

German Fest

We went to German Fest this past weekend and had a great time. I really wanted to buy Gretchen a little German Girl Outfit, but they were $90! So, instead we just took some pictures of our little German Girl.

My little Brass Player

I think this little girl is going to be a brass player like her Mommy!

Teacher Salaries

"Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year!"

"It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do -- baby - sit!"

"We can get that for less than minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time."

That would be $19.50 a day. (7:00 AM to 3:30 (or so) PM with just 25 minutes off for lunch).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

NOW...
How many do they teach in a class, 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!! We're not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE...
That's $585.00 x 180 = $105,300 per year.

What about those special teachers and the ones with master's degrees?

Well, we could pay them minimum wage, and just to be fair, round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7.00 x 6 1/2 x 30 children x 180 days = $245,700 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here!

Average teacher salary $50,000/180 days = $277/per day/30 students = $9.23/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student. A very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even try - with your help - to EDUCATE your kids!

WHAT A DEAL...

And the parents don't even have to buy us pizza!

Gretchen and her toys

Gretchen loves her jumparoo and she is almost big enough to touch the ground. Once she grows another inch or two their will be stopping her.

I think she has enough stuffed animals.

Here is Gretchen with her absolute favorite toy. Lucky for us he does not light up or make noise.

Even though this picture is a little fussy, I love her smile. She has always been happy, but lately she has been over the top with smiles and giggles.

Gretchen loves to play with her toes.