Home Alone

This winter has  been quiet, weather-wise. (I am not complaining, although I do find it some what worrisome.) We finally got some snow overnight, so I thought it would be a good time to introduce Clare to the fluffy white stuff.  Also: I wanted her to wear her adorable snowsuit at least once.

Edited to add: The hat Clare is wearing in this picture came from Japan - and Ben wore it when he was a little boy.

Ben has been at a conference in Las Vegas this week. I was apprehensive about being on my own with Clare. Ben and I split pick up/drop off duties at daycare, and he usually does all the dishes. Also, Ben always gives Clare her bath! Can you believe I have never bathed my daughter? I figured by the end of the week I would be buried in chores and extremely exhausted. I have to say, though, this week went a lot more smoothly than I expected. Except for the cat waking me up EVERY MORNING AND THEN PUKING AND POOPING ALL OVER THE HOUSE. Have I mentioned that I HATE THIS CAT? This morning it was 3 A.M. UGH.

Ahem.

On Monday, I had a stomachache. It was pretty bad, and I concocted an entire story where I woke in the middle of the night with a raging cash of appendicitis (thanks Web M.D.!) and had to call an ambulance, and where would Clare sit in the ambulance? And were would she go while I was in surgery? Would Ben fly back from Las Vegas? And what if I couldn't get to the phone to call an ambulance? What if I passed out? What would happen to Clare?

None of this happened.  We are fine.

On Tuesday, we web chatted with Ben. It took Clare about 10 minutes to figure out that it was her Daddy in the computer. As soon as she realized it, she lunged for the monitor, trying to get to him. It was pretty cute.

Also: I gave Clare TWO baths this week.  During the first one, I managed to pour water right into her mouth. She only coughed for a few minutes. Mommy of the Year over here!

Ben comes back today. I will be glad to see him. I need someone here to keep me out of my head. And to keep Clare clean.

Valentine's Day

Normally, I kind of roll my eyes about Valentine’s Day. My friend Meghann and I used to call it “Black Friday” (and we didn’t mean that in a shopping kind of way) when we were in high school.  Without thinking, I even wore black to work on Tuesday. Maybe I subconsciously reverted back to my high school self for a minute there. God forbid! However, my lack of enthusiasm for the holiday didn’t stop me from stuffing my face at the Valentine’s potluck at work, or from being thrilled with the Valentine’s-themed craft Clare brought home from daycare.

It's a magnet! I tried to rotate it, but it is not working for some reason. All well, you get the idea.

Also, Ben made me cupcakes. That man knows the way to my heart. Thanks for the sugar, my dear, and for all you do. I hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day. Or, if you are not one to celebrate, I hope you had fun ignoring it and watching the season premiere of Cougar Town. (Yes, I love that show. What is not to love about a group of people sitting around drinking wine and doing silly things?)

Yum!

Eight Months

Clare was not very cooperative during this photo shoot. This is the best we got.

"Are you teething, too?"

 This has been a big month for Clare: sitting up, army crawling, eating more and more, and a trip to Florida. She is also getting her eighth (!) tooth. I keep hoping we'll get a break from the teething, but they have been coming in one right after another. On the crawling: she hasn't figured out how to lift her belly off the ground, but she can make it from the living room to the kitchen with no problem, she just drags her belly along the floor.

She has not been as picky about food as she was at first, but some days she is less interested in food than others. I guess she didn't inherit her mother's need to plan her entire day around her meals. (Or, if I am with my mom and sister, to plan the next meal while we are finishing the current one. That might explain why I have been slow to lose the baby weight. ANYWAY.) I still worry that she is not getting the right amount of nutrients, but she probably is. What would I do without something to worry about?

When we were in Florida, her eczema got really bad, poor girl. I am not sure if it was the sun screen or what. I've read that people with a history of allergies in their family (yes, me...and plenty of them) are more likely to have babies with eczema and other problems. I hope this is all she has to deal with allergy-wise, but we'll see.

She is "talking" more and more everyday - I keep waiting for an actual word to come out of her mouth. I just hope it isn't one she hears while Mommy is driving the car.

This last month has been so fun - what a great stage. All of the joy Clare gets out of just about everything is so wonderful. She is so cute and sweet right now, when she can't run away or talk back. I am trying to soak up as much of it as I can.

80 Degrees and Sunny

For the last week we were with Ben's parents in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. The weather! Oh, the weather was lovely. It was 80 and sunny almost every day. We flew down last Saturday - and for the week prior to the trip I was worrying about how Clare would do on the plane. She did fine, of course. I got some very helpful advice from some of my more well-traveled friends (basically, nurse on take off and landing). Worked like a charm! It also helped that she had a captive audience - plenty of people to charm in the seats around us.

We spent the week sitting on the beach, bird watching, zipping around in a pontoon boat (we saw dolphins!), and eating Key Lime Pie for dessert every night. I got to spend an afternoon by myself at the pool reading, swimming, and staring at palm trees and a clear blue sky. Ben and I had a much-needed date night on Friday - I had delicious fajitas and an even more delicious mojito. Clare was thrilled to spend time with her grandparents and not wear pants.

Dipping her feet in the ocean. It was a bit cold, and she was not thrilled.

In the back bay on the pontoon boat.

With Grandma Mary Theresa. She hated wearing the life jacket, but enjoyed her dolphin toy.

Having fun playing with Grandpa Steve at the condo.

My dear friend Chelsea was in Fort Myers Beach with her two boys while we were there. We haven't seen each other in awhile, so it was great to be able to hang out. One night, we went to dinner at the (ocean view!) condo she was renting. We drank wine on her porch after the kids went to bed. Things are slightly different now from the first time Chelsea and I were on the beach together. (Mazatlan, Mexico, Spring Break 1999. I am sure you can imagine.) On that trip, we spent a lot of time discussing boys and doing our hair and make-up in preparation for a wild night out. This time, we spent a lot of time discussing poop. Our kids', not our own. Just to be clear. Also - we were done for the night by 9.

Clare getting to know her friends Gavin and Parker.

One last thing to mention for posterity. I had the best reuben sandwich I have ever had on Sanibel Island at a restaurant called the Happy Heron. Oh my gosh, it was so good. (I am a big fan of the reuben.) And, Clare sat in a high chair at a restaurant for the first time. It was at just the right height for her to lean over and put her mouth on the table. Gross? Yes. I am sure there are worse things she could put in her mouth, though. This is not really how I intended to end this post, but there you go. I'll just include one more picture.

The whole family at the beach.

Sitting Up

A few weeks ago, I was worrying (shocking, I know) that Clare wasn't sitting up yet. Even though the books I'd read said she was in the normal range for the milestones she was supposed to have reached, I started obsessing over it.

I emailed my friend and professional sounding board, A. She told me her son wasn't sitting yet at Clare's age, and at the time, she was worried, too. Since her son is a wonderful and smart little boy, I felt a lot better.

Then, I read Amalah's post on Thursday. Her son is just a few days older than Clare. She was concerned about the fact that her son wasn't sitting up, and even asked an occupational therapist about it. The specialist was concerned. Of course, this sent me into a full-fledged panic. Even though I know! You are not supposed to compare babies! All babies develop at different speeds! First borns are sometimes slower to do things than second and third children. I get it. I still panicked.

I decided to sit Clare on her little bottom to see what would happen. Just to try it out.

She sat there on her own staring back at me like, "Yeah, what? I can do this. I just choose not to, camera/milk lady."

So ONCE AGAIN I was worrying about nothing. And now I can record another milestone in her baby book. January 13, 2012. Clare sat up by herself for the first time. After being coerced.

 (She still can't pull herself into a sitting position from the ground, but I figure that will come soon enough. If is she just reclined in her car seat or on my lap, she can sit up.)

Spit-up

We started the new year with a sick baby. On the 1st, she had a temperature of 102, a rash, and just wasn’t her cheery self, so we took her to Urgent Care. Luckily, it was just a cold, but it was still hard to see her so down and out.* (And, of course, Ben and I both had the cold a few days later.) I stayed home from work with her on Tuesday and Wednesday (one of my normal days off anyway.) We were snuggling together in the arm chair when Clare started coughing. Hard. She had just eaten, so pretty soon everything in her stomach was on me. It was not pretty. As soon as she was done hacking up a lung, she fell asleep. And I let her lay there. For two hours. While I was covered in spit up. I just couldn’t bear to wake her. (Please note, she was not lying in her own vomit. That had projected itself far enough up my arm and down my leg that she had a perfectly clean spot on which to rest her head.) She needed sleep so badly. Had you told me a year ago that I would sit in my daughter’s puke while she slept, I wouldn’t have believed you. The list of things I wouldn’t have believed is getting long.

Before I had kids, I never understood it when friends with kids cancelled at the last minute, or simply failed to make plans altogether. I mean, I understood, but I didn’t really understand. Until you have kids, you just don’t know how hard it is to get out the door some days. Impossible, even. I wish I could go back to my pre-baby self and say, “Enjoy it! What you have now will not last. Drink more wine!”

I do not say any of this to complain. I would not change my situation for anything, spit-up or no spit-up. It is just interesting, how fast life changes. How much it has changed in the span of just 7 months.

We did get to see some friends over New Year’s weekend, which was wonderful. One couple and their almost 3-year-old son recently relocated to Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi! Can you imagine? If we did that, this blog would be so much more interesting! We also got to see another couple and their almost 3-year-old son – we hadn’t seen these friends in nearly two years. I hope another two years doesn’t go by before we see them again. And, I got to see my dear Lillie girls, who I see more often than every two years, but not nearly often enough.  I always feel so happy and refreshed after a good gab session with those girls. (And full – but there is no such thing as too much cheese.)

So, one of my resolutions for 2012 is this: spend more time with friends, no matter how hard it is to get out the door.

Also. I got an iPhone after Ben's phone was stolen. Which only means one thing. Instagram! (Ben is using my old phone. He is not phone-less. I was eligible for an upgrade, so I got the new phone. Just thought I should explain that.)

*Edit to add: We ended up taking her to the doctor yesterday, and she has an ear infection. Her first one! Hopefully she will not get too many more. Also. I did not have to wear a jacket. In January. In Wisconsin. It felt great. Of course, today we are back to winter.

Seven Months

Weight: 17.5 pounds

Teeth: 5, with another two coming in.

Likes: Milk! Mommy’s hair. Anything Daddy does. Performing for a crowd. Sweet potatoes. Saying “da-da-da-da” and then growling (there is no Dana, only Zuul). Rolling anywhere and everywhere (time to babyproof!). Monkey Katie, Mr. Owl, Dolly, and Turnover Cat II. The cat. Daycare, especially her favorite teachers Jonelle and Sandy. Her adoring fans: Grandma Jo, T.R., Grandma Mary Theresa, Grandpa Steve, Aunts Katie and Andri, Uncles Robby, Andrew and Andy. Aunt Andri’s hair and glasses. Baths. Bouncing. This Little Piggy and Peek-a-boo games. Eating books. (I am hoping this will turn into “reading books” someday soon.) Her Jumperoo. (When she first saw it she tried to dive out of my arms in her haste to get to it.)

Dislikes: Sleeping when there are people other than Mommy and Daddy around (which is why she was awake to ring in the new year with us!) Having her face wiped off or washed. Apples. Not being the center of attention. Being put in her car seat at the end of the day. Mommy with a towel on her head after a shower. Socks, and sometimes she will not tolerate pants, either. She is strictly a pants-optional kind of girl.

Just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2012. Mom and Dad are enjoying the Champagne of Beers. Happy New Year, all!