Happy Halloween

I absolutely love this time of the year. What's not to love about crisp air, brightly colored leaves and little kids and adults in costumes everywhere? It's kind of funny, because I'm really not the playful type, but there's something about the excusable excuse of Halloween that makes it alright and fun to me.

So, bug got to wear her first costume this year: she was a lady bug! And a very cute one, at that:



She certainly didn't seem to mind her outfit, either - at least it didn't stop her from moving about and being a goof.




Today being Wednesday, I was due to work from home, but since 1) we *had* to get Zoe out and about to show off her costume and 2) it's been too long since folks at work had seen her, I decided to take her to my office Halloween lunch in the U-district.

I dare say she was the hit of the party! The crowd definitely appreciated our coming and we heard lots of compliments about her sunny disposition.

However, this Zoe is a bit like her mom perhaps, because she certainly certainly took her "kiddo hangin' with the adults" job seriously ;)

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Phew. We pulled it off. Zoe was a big girl and kept the secret about Nana's birthday surprise: a visit from uncle Greg, auntie Amy and cousins Nick & Timothy! Needless to say, it was a festive and busy weekend.

Fortunately. Because last Friday was my last day of vacation that I had to spend at home with Zoe and I sort of welcomed the distraction. We really had a great day. It was crisp and sunny, clear and blue - perfect Seattle fall. Zoe slept in a bit and fed really well. She did forego a good morning nap, but was still in great spirits when we left mid-morning to grab some deluxe Salumi sandwiches for daddy and his friends at work. She joined in the luncheon, feasting on her morning banana smash. Even Dave's boss, Jeff, a father of a three year-old and another to come, commented about what pleasant company Zoe always is. Auntie Becky enjoyed her too:



She enjoyed it so much that she crashed on the ride home:



All in all, the day was too quick - just as the weeks of Fridays off were too quick and my maternity leave before that. Honestly, there are times when ten minutes feels like an eternity - like when we're trying to keep her up just a few minutes longer before putting her to bed or when she's in tears because we're trying to wipe her nose again. But the weeks and months that have passed since her birth feel so fleeting - like that amount of time almost couldn't have passed because I didn't spend it consciously enough. And I will never have it back. Zoe will never again be so tiny and so much in need of me - which really is a good thing - that she's growing into a happy and smart and independent child. But wow. Did I make enough of the time? Time will tell.



Back to the lighter news: my brother and sister-in-law also arrived on Friday. The rouse of my parents' going to the airport to pick up family friends, the Rousseaus, worked beautifully. According to all reports, my mom was baffled to see the St. Sidell's coming out of the gate. Yay! She was also surprised to hear the knock on the front door later that evening to find my aunt Madeleine and uncle Bob had traveled up from San Diego for the festivities, as well. The more, the merrier.



So, the next morning, Dave, Zoe and I packed up the car full with with food (burgers, piri-piri chicken and lamb kebabs), picked up uncle Chris and hit the road for Nana's house.

It really was great to not only reunite the baby cousins with each other (they'd first met in Maine back in September), but to have my mom and dad there to revel in it. After all, they had a little to do with our all being there ;)



It was great, too, to see auntie Erin and uncle Chris exercise their parenting muscles:



Nick was quite the sport being the big boy at Nana's house.



All those cheeks!



Lots of love to go around:



And, some unrelated but recent shots of Zoe practicing her new tricks with dad:

Ever changing ways

I guess that sums it up: Zoe is constantly changing. As soon as we think we are sinking into normal we discover that it's just a fleeting occurrence.

For instance: as recently reported, Zoe went on a boob strike. Within a matter of mere hours, she had all but bid farewell to the boob. And then, after a few days of that, almost as quickly, she went on a solids strike. One day she couldn't get enough breakfast, lunch or dinner and the next she was on a boob-a-thon and it was pursed-lips-and-head-shaking-city at the high chair. Despite earlier reports, we hadn't quite made our way out of the woods yet. Fortunately though, now, we slowly seem to be making our way out of it. Seems that by eliminating one meal from the repertoire (lunch), she come to the dinner table good and hungry. However, anything lumpy or with detectable texture other than smooth, and the lips clamp shut. Crazy? yes. But have you ever seen a baby gag out of disgust? While it's kind of funny, it's pretty frustrating when you're already an hour into dinner. So, in the end, Zoe wants her food when and how she wants it and as much of it as she can swallow (literally). Just point the way, bug, just point the way.


During this latest food strike, we've also been reminded of the importance of a good dinner before bedtime. Without it, we've been getting some pretty early wake-up calls. Ouch. Also/however, in the past couple of nights, despite a rather large dinner, she's been resisting being put down for bedtime - I mean resisting with big tears and everything....all because she's apparently still hungry and despite the red eyes, not tired enough to settle down. The other night we let her play off some energy until about 9pm! This has been quite perplexing because I've been nursing her before putting her down until she pushes off. We then read her story while she snuggles with her bear and acts very ready for bed. Apparently it's all a rouse.

Tonight though, she seems to have been well-fed enough to crash during her bedtime feeding and I haven't heard a peep from her since putting her in her crib. Yay!

On the lighter side, seemingly hand-in-hand with the new sleeping and eating patterns, she's been making some real strides on her mobility front. She's absolutely too fast and busy rolling and commando-crawling along to be left alone anymore. The TV room is pretty well baby-proofed, but while we're still in these early discovery days, we're not leaving much to chance.



These shots don't quite show it, but she's really working on sitting up, too. She leans over to her side and kicks out her legs while leaning on her elbow to prop herself up. She's just got to figure out how to get from her elbow to her hand and to bend her knees for leverage and I think she's got it. Very cool.

And, with a bit of staging assistance from mom or dad, she's able to pull herself to her feet from her knees to get to things on top of the ottoman (the couches are still a little tall for her). Awesome! She's pretty strong on her feet, although balance-wise, she's still got a ways to go. Check it out:

Our nine month old

Friday marked Zoe's nine month milestone and she did it with some official business. After a bit of shopping with mom (mom and dad needed a few tops, Zoe some toys more appropriate for her maturity), she had her nine month dr's appointment. We're happy to report that the Dr. had little to comment about...which for him means that she's doing great. Of course, he opened by asking us if we had any complaints and I laughed, suggesting that had he asked a week earlier he might have gotten a different answer, but no, things are great. After last weekend's apparent boob strike, Zoe has gone in almost the complete opposite direction. It seems that now her favorite nourishment is a good breastfeed. And, our little power eater has developed a bit of an attitude toward the spoon. Now, dinner time lasts quite a bit longer since she literally refuses to take new bites while she's got anything of her last bite left in her mouth. Which, with finely chopped chicken on the menu can mean long pauses between each bite. At first, we were completely baffled because it seemed like she'd traded one kind of feeding strike for another, but we soon started picking up on the fact that with a chug of water and a good pause to help her get the bites down she's ready for more. Whatever, kiddo. Whatever. :)

But really, who can complain? She's still a hoot and we're still in love. I guess we'll keep her ;)




Oh, back to the Dr's office: she weighed in at nearly 19lbs (50%) and measured nearly 29" (75%) and her head's still huge @ 46 cm (75%) which is too bad because she's already retired a couple of really cute cold weather hats!

Saturday started out cool and foggy and had the makings of a nice mellow day. The sun came out when I took Zoe to Central Market to pick up our free pumpkin (I can't resist pumpkins - had she not been with me, I would have come home with many!) and I took the opportunity to snap some shots of her looking sweet in a sea of orange. Don't you think the world needs more pumpkins?



Sunday was a beautiful fall day - clear and bright - and when Nana and Pepere called to see if they could come up to take bug to the park, we thought that sounded lovely. So, up they came and off they went, taking Zoe to the swings and slides at the community center at the end of our street. Dave had some time to watch his football in peace while I took a quick jaunt into town to pick up some more yarn for my knitting project.

I love the fall when the days grow shorter and the air a bit cooler. And life right now is moving so fast and yet so slow and easy at the same time. I mean, never before has my world felt so small and so new at the same time. Kind of like our little nine month old.

Tooth! Crud! Strike!

Yep. Three odd words that together perfectly describe our weekend.

Tooth: As last reported, we've been thinking Zoe has been teething...and found that we might be right - her top right front tooth seems on the verge of making its appearance. The tell-tale hardness just below the gum is there, and with it came some otherwise unexplained !fussiness! Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Oh, and she started to bite me every (single!) time she nursed. Seems, though, that her new-found understanding of 'no' left a lasting impression on the whole nursing experience and by Thursday evening, she really wasn't into nursing....at all.

Crud: Either in conjunction with her teething, or related to something daycare-born, bug brought home a bug that she was fending off last week. There were a few times she seemed to be a little warm, but otherwise, aside from the nursing fussiness, she seemed fine. I, however, went to bed Wednesday night with a knowing ache in the back of my throat and woke to a full blown case of the crud. Too bad I was scheduled to conduct a training and then present to the Seattle School District with my boss....so off to work I went. However, best intentions had to be cast aside when I spiked a fever mid-morning....so off to bed I went.

Strike: I can only assume that the nasty convergence of teething, being yelled at for biting (well, not really yelled at, but drama is heightened with the little ones) and our shared cold were what what contributed to Zoe's boycotting nursing almost all together and my subsequently waning milk supply. Every feed turned into a battle in which I'd try to coerce Zoe to feed, would finally get her on, and then fail to let down because of all the stress. I couldn't even get a letdown by pumping. Come Sunday afternoon, I was beside myself with the fear that nursing was over and done with for Zoe and I only 9 months into it. I was upset, Zoe was confused and Dave was at a total loss.

Fortunately, although I was pretty tired and not sure I was up to it, we had committed to babysitting our friends' daughter, Lucy so that they could have some grown-up time last night. After a bit of catch-up-chit-chat, I confessed to Danika (Lucy's mom) what was going on. Danika, bless her heart, said "Oh, she's on strike. Don't give up. I've heard of some babies working through it." So matter-of-factly, but so RIGHT! Instantly, my whole outlook changed. So, later that evening Zoe and I went on to have a beautiful (beautiful!) feed. Mind you I prepped by pumping to a let down before going in to her, but still! I was elated and RELIEVED. This morning we had another beautiful (beautiful!) feed to put us on the right foot for the rest of the day. I went on to pump a bunch of milk while at work (something that has been increasingly harder and harder to do) and came home to a very happy baby.

Tonight's bed time was a little rocky, but after a tiny struggle over the feed, she was nursed to enough satisfaction to go down and crash. I'm certainly satisfied.

I guess I just can't believe just how stressful it is when things change so rapidly and with frustrating reason (ie, colds, teething and biting) and not at all because you're ready. Oh I know this is only foreshadowing of the rest of my life as a mother - that there will always be outside, and sometimes unidentifiable inside forces at work on the peace and happiness of my family, but this is all so new and I'm just getting a handle on it.

What's crazy, too, about this whole weekend, is how emotional it was. How happy and hard. Like when Lucy was here last night, she was pretty upset about being put down by near strangers in a strange place, but seemed to get some consolation in my holding her. While I was trying to soothe her, I realized just how different every single baby really is and just how well I do know my own. It actually helped keep me calm with Lucy to simultaneously realize that with all the hard spots in this growing up and rearing business, moms and dads and their babies really are made for each other.

Boycotting a nap Saturday morning



Blowing raspberries with dad (note the spittle spatter on dad's shirt and glasses ;)



Entertaining Anasatasia at dinner on Saturday...


and Lucy Waddell at dinner on Sunday

Our baby is back!

No, she didn't really go anywhere, but it certainly seemed like she had for a while there. What with all the waking up at 3am crying about being wet, poopy and/or HUNGRY. We had a good two week stretch where we thought we'd lost our little sleeper forever! Needless to say, we were in mourning. However! I'll run the risk of jinxing us here, it seems that Zoe has returned to her sleepy ways. Not only is she going down without a fight (ok, maybe with one chirp, two MAX), but she's feeding great at my bedtime feed (yeah, still doing those because they seem to work!) and now sleeping the whole night through. In fact, it's Wednesday, which means that I worked from home and that Zoe could catch up on her own sleep... she slept until 8:30, napped from 10:30-12:30 and then went back down 2:30-4pm!

All of this feels so sweetly reminiscent of Zo's early days, so life is good :)

And I guess all of that hopefully explains my latest drought in postings here....I know there are many a mom out there who would argue that even with the recent glut of sleeplessness, we've had and continue to have it pretty darned easy. We know. But man we've been tired. Fatigue can be relative, you know ;)

In other Zoe news...there's well, no real news. She's still growing like a weed (we weeded out a few more outfits this weekend), still eating fantastically (even inhaling the Brussels sprouts dad prepared for her, although she doesn't yet seem to love the tofu) and still teething, we think. The top set of her front teeth are taking their sweet time making an appearance, but seem imminent. She's certainly working on something there because she bit me three times this morning! OUCH. Maybe the third time was a charm, though - she finally didn't smile at my 'No!' (actually, she broke my heart with some serious tears, but you know, sharing a little bit of the pain seems fair to me!)

No news either on the crawling front, although she's certainly mobile with her rolling and scooting along on her back. And, she's happily at the stage where she's able to fend for herself in the sitting position well enough to hang out on the floor with the other kiddos at daycare. Which means that lots more development has to be right around the corner...

Oh! But I shouldn't fail to mention that she's now a pro at turning on and off the lights when we pause at a switch and let her - with one little finger no less. That, and she's started clapping (so cute!) and waving. Also, she's doing this funny little tongue clicking thing...sounds just like the clicking noises her daycare folks make when they coo at her. She loves them, Pete, especially, so I guess it was only a matter of time before she started absorbing that environment. Oh the big personality this little girl has!

This past weekend, Nana and Pepere graciously came up for a babysitting visit so that I could go get my haircut and so Dave and I could have a belated anniversary dinner out among grown-ups (at Ponti's - yum!). They stayed the night so that we could also bang out a bunch of house projects, too. Yahoo for that. So, the decking is done and we're nearly done with the painting (just the bathroom ceiling and minor trim touch-ups are left!). The rest of the to-dos can pretty much wait for when we're actually going on the market (curtains, windows, floors). Yes, that was me you heard letting out a giant sigh of relief :) I just can't sit on projects for long - they get at me!

Strangely enough, I don't have any pictures from Nana and Pepere's visit, nor many from the past few weeks (I might blame it on our missing battery charger, but that would be very lame). Don't know why really. The last few weeks are really a blur.

So, here are a few from last night and today. Hopefully with the return to sleep-filled nights, we'll get back behind the camera.




Note the venue/activity contradiction here - she loves to hang in the jumper and jump on the lap....whatever!

And our little crack-up: