Now that the weather is warm, we've been letting Sasha squirm around in the buff on a towel for awhile before her evening bath. She loves to stand with our help and is really pretty good at supporting herself.

Last week marked the first that Sasha really started using her hands effectively. She can raise objects to her mouth and when her hands are empty, she often stuffs her fists in her mouth or studies them with great concentration.

This weekend 5 of my GC friends came into town to join Mandy Yoder and myselft for out annual weekend get-together. This time though there were 5 babies too--all 13 months and younger. Here they are lined up from oldest to youngest. It was pretty wild--especially the night that we women went out alone for dinner and 3 of our husbands were left in charge of the babies. Everyone survived!

We went up to Northern Indiana 2 weekends ago to visit family (great-grandma Gingerich above). Phil interviewed for a job with a neurosurgery group in South Bend as a possible back-up if our first choice of Santa Fe does not work out. Hopefully we can announce for sure where we will be moving to in a few weeks.

It was a bonus to get to see Joe, Teresa, and big cousin Jake Smucker who were also in town.

Playing at Parkside Elementary School playground in Goshen, Phil's old stomping grounds.

This is Sasha's official U.S. passport picture. Does she look innocent enough to get back into the country after our trip to Nicaragua this summer?

Going swinging at the park is now the highlight of every day for her. Until we had her, we never appreciated how nice it is to have a park 2 blocks away.

Phil showing off. Sasha jealous.

We broke down and got one of those huge plastic exer-saucer things. It pretty much fills our tiny living room, but she loves it--at tleast for a few minutes before her head gets tired and she ends up just laying her noggin down and sucking her fist. We are attempting to sell our house now so this will be one more thing to stash in the closet along with the bouncy seat, swing, etc. each time someone comes over to look at the place. We are literally bursting out of our 2 bedroom condo.

Sasha tentatively enjoyed her first ride in a swing yesterday. She looks so tiny hanging there and there is a big blanket stuffed in the back so she doesn't flop around so much. We enjoyed having my parents here for a few days during my mom's spring break. Sasha, my mom, and I took the bus to Chicago for an afternoon for shopping and eating out. The weekend before Sasha had her first plane ride out to New Mexico as we continue our process of figuring out where we will be next year. She is a very good traveler so far thankfully.

Now that the weather is warmer in Indy, Sasha has enjoyed more walks to the park right by our house in her Maclaren stroller.

Phil's childhood neighbor in Goshen made her the stained-glass name to hang in her bedroom window.

Fun with a rattle for the first time.