Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
More of the same, a little different
So I'm a little at a loss for what I should say tonight. Health is beginning (?) to be such a bore. Aside from the couple of months or so between Z's b-day and mid-March, there always seems to be something wrong. I'm frustrated. I'm at a loss. And mostly, I'm sick of my baby being sick.
Zoe's Rosiola seems to have passed; the rash cleared out early Wednesday. Just to make way for...wait for it...a touch of croup. The seal-barking cough presented itself Wednesday morning and since then, her snottiness has crept up, along with another bit of fever. Her bugs have been so tough, mean and fast to come lately that they all seem to be running together.
I keep hearing about this mythical health she's supposed to achieve when she's oh, three years old. How getting sick real young isn't so bad because babies rebound so quickly and by the time they get into school they have immunities of steel.
But I want a healthy baby, and I want her now!
And technically, we're lucky. She's not *really* sick and Dave and I both have understanding and supportive employers. Thank goodness for that since we've both taken at least some time for what seems like all but 6 or 8 of the weeks since I've been back at work full time. But she's such a good baby. So sweet and generally really easy. I just feel it's owed to her somehow, some reliable stints of health.
Ok. Enough. On to happier topics.
Some updates, perhaps?
Z's been doing lots more pointed communication (well, pointing while communicating, but specific communication's what I'm talking about) when she wants or is interested in something. She's always shown interest, but now it seems like she's really asking and talking about or examining something when she points to it.
Speaking of pointing, for a good handful of weeks now, she's also been having fun pointing out body parts and is starting to recognize others' body parts. Watch out or you might find your nose picked!
She's also been very lovey. Out of the blue you'll hear the little lip-smacking noises of her air kisses. She loves it when you 'kiss' back. If you're lucky, you can catch a nice, big, wide-open kiss on the lips. Now, I've never been one for wet kisses, but these are yummy!
She's also quite affectionate with her kitties
and to her new baby doll from Nana and Pepere :)
Zoe's Rosiola seems to have passed; the rash cleared out early Wednesday. Just to make way for...wait for it...a touch of croup. The seal-barking cough presented itself Wednesday morning and since then, her snottiness has crept up, along with another bit of fever. Her bugs have been so tough, mean and fast to come lately that they all seem to be running together.
I keep hearing about this mythical health she's supposed to achieve when she's oh, three years old. How getting sick real young isn't so bad because babies rebound so quickly and by the time they get into school they have immunities of steel.
But I want a healthy baby, and I want her now!
And technically, we're lucky. She's not *really* sick and Dave and I both have understanding and supportive employers. Thank goodness for that since we've both taken at least some time for what seems like all but 6 or 8 of the weeks since I've been back at work full time. But she's such a good baby. So sweet and generally really easy. I just feel it's owed to her somehow, some reliable stints of health.
Ok. Enough. On to happier topics.
Some updates, perhaps?
Z's been doing lots more pointed communication (well, pointing while communicating, but specific communication's what I'm talking about) when she wants or is interested in something. She's always shown interest, but now it seems like she's really asking and talking about or examining something when she points to it.
Speaking of pointing, for a good handful of weeks now, she's also been having fun pointing out body parts and is starting to recognize others' body parts. Watch out or you might find your nose picked!
She's also been very lovey. Out of the blue you'll hear the little lip-smacking noises of her air kisses. She loves it when you 'kiss' back. If you're lucky, you can catch a nice, big, wide-open kiss on the lips. Now, I've never been one for wet kisses, but these are yummy!
She's also quite affectionate with her kitties
and to her new baby doll from Nana and Pepere :)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
What I like (love) about you
I won't go into the ugly details of it, but Zo was a very sick little girl last night. (She's on the mend now.) I was holding off posting this until I could upload some pix to go with my comments, but since I'm feeling extra lovey about her now, I wanted to get this up....
So I'm going to copy-cat my darling sis-in-law, Amy, and drum up my own accounting of the things that make me cherish being Zoe's mom. Warning: this is likely to be super-sweet and sentimental and non-moms may not relate, but Zoe's growing so fast that I have to get these things down before they fade from memory!
* Her laugh. Zoe has a fantastic sense of humor and when she laughs it literally comes from her toes.
* I love how she throws her tiny little arms up around her huge baby head when she's in a giggle fit or getting tickled.
* I ache with love just thinking about her round cheeks and the softness of her chin. It brings me back to some sweet times in the nursing chair.
* I love how she wiggles her feet and toes when she's content or really interested in something. It reminds me of the ankle stretches my mom used to do before aerobic dancing.
* I love being the recipient of her mealtime lectures. She's so adamant and expressive. What a captivating 'speaker'!
* I cherish the look she gives us when we arrive to pick her up from daycare. It's as if she's been 'working' busily for hours and appreciates the happy end to her day.
* I will never forget how joyful it feels to carry Zoe in my arms on the walk to the car as she giggles and cheers at the site of her daddy walking behind us.
* I love love love how much Zoe loves her daddy.
* I love how she pats herself on the chest when she coughs and then cracks her cute little grin as if to say, "Ah. That's better."
* I love her march-like crawl. That girl moves like she means business sometimes!
* It's so fun to see her peeking into rooms as she approaches a doorway, displaying a little of her nosiness she's inherited from me!
* I love how she sort of shivers into a slouch after you pull off her clothes - as if she's a little shy to be naked.
* I simply adore her Kewpie doll grin. Who told her to make that quintessentially baby expression?
* Those post-bath curls!!
* It's fantastic to frantically hurry into a quiet room only to find her absorbed in her books.
* I melt when she touches my hair and nuzzles in to my kisses on her cheeks and eyes and mouth as I hold her in the dark, just before putting her down to sleep at night.
* I love that she's my daughter. I am so immensely proud of her and can't believe the great fortune I have in being able to call her mine.
So I'm going to copy-cat my darling sis-in-law, Amy, and drum up my own accounting of the things that make me cherish being Zoe's mom. Warning: this is likely to be super-sweet and sentimental and non-moms may not relate, but Zoe's growing so fast that I have to get these things down before they fade from memory!
* Her laugh. Zoe has a fantastic sense of humor and when she laughs it literally comes from her toes.
* I love how she throws her tiny little arms up around her huge baby head when she's in a giggle fit or getting tickled.
* I ache with love just thinking about her round cheeks and the softness of her chin. It brings me back to some sweet times in the nursing chair.
* I love how she wiggles her feet and toes when she's content or really interested in something. It reminds me of the ankle stretches my mom used to do before aerobic dancing.
* I love being the recipient of her mealtime lectures. She's so adamant and expressive. What a captivating 'speaker'!
* I cherish the look she gives us when we arrive to pick her up from daycare. It's as if she's been 'working' busily for hours and appreciates the happy end to her day.
* I will never forget how joyful it feels to carry Zoe in my arms on the walk to the car as she giggles and cheers at the site of her daddy walking behind us.
* I love love love how much Zoe loves her daddy.
* I love how she pats herself on the chest when she coughs and then cracks her cute little grin as if to say, "Ah. That's better."
* I love her march-like crawl. That girl moves like she means business sometimes!
* It's so fun to see her peeking into rooms as she approaches a doorway, displaying a little of her nosiness she's inherited from me!
* I love how she sort of shivers into a slouch after you pull off her clothes - as if she's a little shy to be naked.
* I simply adore her Kewpie doll grin. Who told her to make that quintessentially baby expression?
* Those post-bath curls!!
* It's fantastic to frantically hurry into a quiet room only to find her absorbed in her books.
* I melt when she touches my hair and nuzzles in to my kisses on her cheeks and eyes and mouth as I hold her in the dark, just before putting her down to sleep at night.
* I love that she's my daughter. I am so immensely proud of her and can't believe the great fortune I have in being able to call her mine.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Sweet girl
Good things come to those who wait. Or maybe in my case, to those who complain?
Bug has been much more snuggly in the weeks since her last (mystery!) illness. More snuggly in the sense that I used to have to steal hugs when I'd pick her up or when I was holding her on my lap and now she actually reaches out to me and pulls me in for a hug. OH MY GOSH THANK YOU! Thank you, thank you, baby!
And I'd just been saying how Zoe really isn't a snuggler. Not that she really is now, but the fact that she's looking for hugs is like night and day to me. I'm no longer jealous (in a nice way) of the friends who talk about their sweet, snuggly girls and look longingly at my busy, bustling one. Zoe's *always* been a sweetie. She has a fantastic sense of humor and a great disposition, but this mom has been starving for the little tiny baby who used to sit nestled in my arms for hours on end for like the past 8 months!
So it seems we've struck some balance. Yay for that!
Speaking of balance, Zoe struck her first pose on her own toes the other day (3/6) - in the middle of the room! It didn't last long and I haven't seen her do it since, but man, that was cool! She also maybe might have sort of almost perhaps taken her first (mom- and dad-witnessed) step! It was last Sunday, after she came home from her overnight with Nana and Pepere. So cool.
Now, we're not kidding ourselves that we'll be able to see all the important 'firsts' - especially since we're not with her every minute of every day. We're just going to concern ourselves with the firsts that we witness. In other words, we've told daycare (and anyone else out there who gets to spend quality time with the bug) that we DON'T WANT TO KNOW IF SHE'S DONE ANY NEW GREAT THINGS IN YOUR PRESENCE! We're prefer to be blissfully ignorant! ;)
Besides, it's less about measuring her stats on the important milestones than it is about the importance of recognizing her gains when we see them.
A few pix from the past week:
Yum! Spag & Meatball!
Striking a pose in her cute duds
Giggly girl
Party pants!
What's in the box??
Helping mom sort the junk mail
Bug has been much more snuggly in the weeks since her last (mystery!) illness. More snuggly in the sense that I used to have to steal hugs when I'd pick her up or when I was holding her on my lap and now she actually reaches out to me and pulls me in for a hug. OH MY GOSH THANK YOU! Thank you, thank you, baby!
And I'd just been saying how Zoe really isn't a snuggler. Not that she really is now, but the fact that she's looking for hugs is like night and day to me. I'm no longer jealous (in a nice way) of the friends who talk about their sweet, snuggly girls and look longingly at my busy, bustling one. Zoe's *always* been a sweetie. She has a fantastic sense of humor and a great disposition, but this mom has been starving for the little tiny baby who used to sit nestled in my arms for hours on end for like the past 8 months!
So it seems we've struck some balance. Yay for that!
Speaking of balance, Zoe struck her first pose on her own toes the other day (3/6) - in the middle of the room! It didn't last long and I haven't seen her do it since, but man, that was cool! She also maybe might have sort of almost perhaps taken her first (mom- and dad-witnessed) step! It was last Sunday, after she came home from her overnight with Nana and Pepere. So cool.
Now, we're not kidding ourselves that we'll be able to see all the important 'firsts' - especially since we're not with her every minute of every day. We're just going to concern ourselves with the firsts that we witness. In other words, we've told daycare (and anyone else out there who gets to spend quality time with the bug) that we DON'T WANT TO KNOW IF SHE'S DONE ANY NEW GREAT THINGS IN YOUR PRESENCE! We're prefer to be blissfully ignorant! ;)
Besides, it's less about measuring her stats on the important milestones than it is about the importance of recognizing her gains when we see them.
A few pix from the past week:
Yum! Spag & Meatball!
Striking a pose in her cute duds
Giggly girl
Party pants!
What's in the box??
Helping mom sort the junk mail
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
I'll have what she's having
So it's come to this: Zoe simply, almost exclusively, rejects (new) food if it hasn't come off my plate.
To signal her desire to eat, she does this hilarious birdie mouth thing as if she's trying to show me her teeth (kind of like she's doing in this pic from her b-day bash) or rather trying to get me to show her my teeth.
Case in point: She couldn't get enough of the broccoli rabe from Sunday night's meal and was really pretty interested in the asparagus from Monday's meal. Tonight, she was all over the shrimp from my *spicy* gumbo! Whatever gets the good stuff in, kiddo! The salmon went over pretty well the other day, too and I know, just know, that she would have sunk her teeth into my tasty cheeseburger last night if I'd let her (but dad said it was too rare for her consumption).
So, the big lesson learned here is that WE'RE NOT KEEPING UP with Zoe's maturing palate!
Zoe wants new, gosh darnit, and readily forthcoming food. So, I call out to all you moms out there - send us your baby-friendly dinner recipes! (I promise to share what gets gathered, or you can just leave 'em as a comment on this here old blog for you to hunt and gather, yourselves.)
In exchange, here's a couple of Zoe's recently cast-aside baby menu items, a la Dave:
Home ground chicken sausage with spinach and onions
3/4 lb raw, skinned, boneless chicken breast, cubed
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 small apple, peeled and grated
2 tbsp fresh bread crumbs
salt & pepper, to taste
flour for coating
vegetable oil for frying
*sage and garlic to taste
*1/4-1/2 C chopped spinach
Put chicken in food processor w/onion, parsley, apple, and bread crumbs. Chop for a few seconds, then season the mixture lightly. Form mixture into 4 sausages, each about 5 inches long. Coat w/ flour. Saute sausage in oil for about 15 minutes, turning occasionally, or until browned on all sides and cooked through. Dave said he made a quadruple batch - seems more worth the work to do it that way
Zoe's friend, Lucy, apparently loves these!
Otherwise, and still, things are going great, chez St. Alonzo.
Zoe's uncle Chris and auntie Erin came for dinner and to hang with 'Miss Zoe' Friday night. Zoe got her shy on, but slowly warmed to chatting with Erin. To quote Chris, babies love Erin and I can agree it's true. Zoe reserved some REALLY cute side glances for Chris. No, no pix, but it was all a hoot with her Cupie Doll grin. Too funny.
Zoe had her first (and quite successful, so I hear) overnight (gulp, sob, weep!) with her Nana and Pepere this past weekend.
Girls doing lunch
*Thinking* about making that first step, but saving it for mom & dad ;)
Pretty girls
Keepin' 'em on their toes
Sweetness
Super sweetness
Dave and I had fun and sexy plans to do some work on our bathroom and utility room floors. Nothing says 'hey, the kid's away, let's play' like tearing the toilet out of it's socket, turning off the water and not washing your hands all day long! ;)
We got the bathroom 90% done (the project would be done if it hadn't culminated in a re-do on the bath faucet fixtures and a spackle-patch on the wall near the shower) and the utility room floor looks great. Kudos to Dave who did the majority of the hard work.
We're chiseling our way down the remaining house projects list in preps for us finding a house and needing to hop onto the market. There have been a couple of interesting finds, but nothing's stuck (either we opted to not take our chances and remove 14 trees or the sellers opted to not take our contingent offer - what can you do?) This, like parenthood and pregnancy before it, has been a supreme exercise of my patience skills. Dave still says he loves me before drifting off to sleep at night, so I guess that means I'm not failing miserably :S
Some more vid for the rabid fans: I finally got around to taping Dave and Zoe doing their bedtime routine at the changing table. Honestly, this is typical. Is this baby girl smitten with her Daddy, or what?
To signal her desire to eat, she does this hilarious birdie mouth thing as if she's trying to show me her teeth (kind of like she's doing in this pic from her b-day bash) or rather trying to get me to show her my teeth.
Case in point: She couldn't get enough of the broccoli rabe from Sunday night's meal and was really pretty interested in the asparagus from Monday's meal. Tonight, she was all over the shrimp from my *spicy* gumbo! Whatever gets the good stuff in, kiddo! The salmon went over pretty well the other day, too and I know, just know, that she would have sunk her teeth into my tasty cheeseburger last night if I'd let her (but dad said it was too rare for her consumption).
So, the big lesson learned here is that WE'RE NOT KEEPING UP with Zoe's maturing palate!
Zoe wants new, gosh darnit, and readily forthcoming food. So, I call out to all you moms out there - send us your baby-friendly dinner recipes! (I promise to share what gets gathered, or you can just leave 'em as a comment on this here old blog for you to hunt and gather, yourselves.)
In exchange, here's a couple of Zoe's recently cast-aside baby menu items, a la Dave:
Home ground chicken sausage with spinach and onions
3/4 lb raw, skinned, boneless chicken breast, cubed
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 small apple, peeled and grated
2 tbsp fresh bread crumbs
salt & pepper, to taste
flour for coating
vegetable oil for frying
*sage and garlic to taste
*1/4-1/2 C chopped spinach
Put chicken in food processor w/onion, parsley, apple, and bread crumbs. Chop for a few seconds, then season the mixture lightly. Form mixture into 4 sausages, each about 5 inches long. Coat w/ flour. Saute sausage in oil for about 15 minutes, turning occasionally, or until browned on all sides and cooked through. Dave said he made a quadruple batch - seems more worth the work to do it that way
Zoe's friend, Lucy, apparently loves these!
Otherwise, and still, things are going great, chez St. Alonzo.
Zoe's uncle Chris and auntie Erin came for dinner and to hang with 'Miss Zoe' Friday night. Zoe got her shy on, but slowly warmed to chatting with Erin. To quote Chris, babies love Erin and I can agree it's true. Zoe reserved some REALLY cute side glances for Chris. No, no pix, but it was all a hoot with her Cupie Doll grin. Too funny.
Zoe had her first (and quite successful, so I hear) overnight (gulp, sob, weep!) with her Nana and Pepere this past weekend.
Girls doing lunch
*Thinking* about making that first step, but saving it for mom & dad ;)
Pretty girls
Keepin' 'em on their toes
Sweetness
Super sweetness
Dave and I had fun and sexy plans to do some work on our bathroom and utility room floors. Nothing says 'hey, the kid's away, let's play' like tearing the toilet out of it's socket, turning off the water and not washing your hands all day long! ;)
We got the bathroom 90% done (the project would be done if it hadn't culminated in a re-do on the bath faucet fixtures and a spackle-patch on the wall near the shower) and the utility room floor looks great. Kudos to Dave who did the majority of the hard work.
We're chiseling our way down the remaining house projects list in preps for us finding a house and needing to hop onto the market. There have been a couple of interesting finds, but nothing's stuck (either we opted to not take our chances and remove 14 trees or the sellers opted to not take our contingent offer - what can you do?) This, like parenthood and pregnancy before it, has been a supreme exercise of my patience skills. Dave still says he loves me before drifting off to sleep at night, so I guess that means I'm not failing miserably :S
Some more vid for the rabid fans: I finally got around to taping Dave and Zoe doing their bedtime routine at the changing table. Honestly, this is typical. Is this baby girl smitten with her Daddy, or what?
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