a very full week

We are still at Grandma’s (our visit being extended by a few days due to the arrival of a new cousin!**), and it’s been one of those “milestone” weeks. She had one in February where all of a sudden she was crawling and climbing and so forth.

This week, it’s been about talking, and walking and everything in between–we’ve got ‘ba ba”, “woof woof”, “quack quack”, “da da”, “ma ma”, and “uh oh”. She’s fluent in Baby-ese–she reads along to books and narrates her activities with the cutest little sounds. Sometimes, she cracks herself up! She’s also starting doing the sign for “more”, which is handy in the high chair.

She’s also started going to sleep rather calmly–rather than letting me soothe her to almost sleeping, she wriggles of out my arms, reaching for the pack and play and lays down quietly with bunny and blanket (instead of trying to climb out). She’s also taking formula out of a sippy cup during meals instead of a ba. And REALLY leading games of peek-a-boo. And boogie-ing down the stairs (safely) like nobody’s business. The walking is also really coming along–5-10 steps at a time when she’s into it, and definitely cruising along with more determination and confidence than before.

Ok, I found my blog…..but now where is my baby????

**L’s sister gave birth to our new nephew, James Robert on July 5th. He’s a big boy (8lbs 15 oz, 21 inches long). Now M has 2 younger cousins on that side of the family, and 5 older…and it’s evenly split, 4 boys, 4 girls. We are going to Chicago to visit on Saturday, “on our way” home. They are so little and scrunchy for such a short time!!!

New Tricks

My new trick: Comment verification/notification. Thanks to the spam about getting a college degree, I’ve sent comments to be such that I’ll have to approve every one via email before it’s posted. I HATE SPAM, especially on MY BLOG. It’s supposed to be all about me, and the Babe and everything WE deem important.

The Babe’s new trick: Climbing into the tub with stealth like grace. As I sit here typing, she was crawling back and forth between our room and our master bath. I turned to see where she was…and she was in the tub. Trying to eat her body wash. I don’t know how she did it, but she didn’t fall in–she was pleased as punch to be there! You can go ahead and cast your votes now for me to be “Mother of the Year” if you wish.

A Looong Night’s Journey into the Day

Last night was “A NIGHT”. A NIGHT–meaning that there was little sleeping and much comforting. A NIGHT where the Babe was suddenly feverish at bedtime, and just needed Mom or Dad to hold her while she tried to sleep. A NIGHT where Children’s Tylenol didn’t really do much. A NIGHT where all the teeting med. in the world wasn’t enough. A NIGHT where all you can do is hold her close and drift to sleep as she does, only to be startled awake when she starts. A NIGHT where you’re glad she’s on a floor bed so that Dad can sleep (he hung in there til midnight) and you can tend to her in semi-comfort, while conteplating how early to call your boss in the morning. A NIGHT where I wondered what I would do if I was a surgeon with a 6:30am procedure scheduled, or a police person or nurse or EMT headed into a 12 hour shift. A NIGHT where I’m glad I’m replaceable at work. A NIGHT where we both finally slept in peace from 3 am – 6:30am.

Now she’s down for her second nap of the day, I think the fever is gone, and she’s MUCH better. I know that school would have been a disaester for a us both this morning, so I made the right call (at 6:45 or so). Is it teeth (I dreamt during my morning nap that she was getting 3 sets of molars)? Is a delayed reaction to the Hep B dose she got Thursday? Is a little spring virus? Does it really matter??