Monday, October 5, 2009

Here I am!

My mother-in-law Sue follows our blog religiously…she’s in England and this is the best way for us to share with her (and everyone else) what is going on in our world and Lucy’s……sadly, we've dropped the ball for the past month…so Sue, along with a few other people, have asked if we’ve aborted the blog…we really haven’t…we’re just struggling with our time management skills….

When we do think of writing, one of us looks at the other and says “I’ll think I’ll blog tonight” and we jump up all excited, settle down in front of the computer….and I end up playing that tile game and Sean ends up looking at 3-D stuff. And all these great ideas run through our heads but actually getting them down seems to be a challenge…..so don’t hold your breath for the great American novel penned by yours truly – best you’ll get from me is a novella,…well, maybe a short story….ok, an epic poem…maybe just a poem…probably a haiku….

So, I’m shamed into writing – well, not shamed but encouraged to write knowing that a few people miss it.

Lucy news first:

When I last wrote, Lucy had just mastered rolling over, doing crunches, holding her bottle and figuring out how to pull the binky out and put it back in her mouth with no assistance (as long as its within arm’s reach) She has also figured out how to fling the binky out of her mouth and across the room.

She can’t quite sit up without tipping over yet but her head is pretty small so I think any day now, she’ll be able to balance just fine.

Lucy had also started eating cereal – she was okay with the rice, hated the oatmeal and loves the barley. Gave her green beans the other night (store bought not homemade….shit; I blew that mission before it even started!) Verdict is still out on the green beans….as most people do, she turned her nose up at something new…curled her lips and spat it out a couple times. She even managed a couple dry heaves and some serious eye rolling and head thrashing. She moaned a few times, gave one outright wail and yet continued to eat. Second attempt, I mixed the green beans with a bit of barley and she seemed to be more accepting of it. Her Dad in the meantime stood behind me with the video camera making faces and laughing his ass off…..and when she saw him laughing, she broke out in a grin which resulted in green beans oozing down her face which made me laugh which made her laugh more which meant more green beans came out….but who cares, it was fun and green beans clean up pretty easily.

Lucy started at a new day care today – Puddle Duck Day School. She and I went on Friday to meet the staff, drop off her stuff and to make sure we knew where to go what to do this morning. Staff is great (Mary Beth and Colleen will be her primary caregivers), they have awesome toys and Lucy, based on initial observation, is by far the cutest kid there. Cora may give her a run for her money in the cuteness department but I think Lucy can come out on top…..as long as her ears stop growing.

When I picked her up, they told me that she had a great day….and that all the kids liked her. They also confirmed what we have been telling everyone all along…Lucy is an easy baby. Mary Beth said she get a lot of parents who say that but that Lucy actually is an easy baby…I said its day one, giver her time! Of course I am kidding because truly, she is an easy baby…and I complain about everything so you know she really is as easy as I say.

Sean will now do the drop off (I’ll miss my mornings with her….she usually sings on the way to day care and it is such a pleasant little sound – she sings for ten minutes and then falls asleep….that’s right, our baby sings herself to sleep….) and I’ll do the pick up (before, I was doing both as the day care was near my office)

Lucy is, as all babies do, constantly changing and evolving. Yesterday, I was looking at some videos Sean took of her during her first month (including the one right after she was born) She was so small and what a head full of black hair she had! Though she was 21” and 8.7lbs at birth, she really was quite small….now, she’s almost 18 lbs, no idea how long she she’s long like her Dad and her hair has thinned out (again, like her Dad) and is strawberry blond! She has such a personality now – she’s pretty easy going…as long as you smile at her, she’ll smile back. And when she has a crying jag, which is not all that often, they last for 30 minutes (20 minutes of hard core crying and screaming, 10 minutes of whimpering, pouting, and burying her face in your neck)

She sleeps through the night; has been for a long time now….every once in a great while, she wakes to the point where we have to get up with her for an extended period of time but otherwise, she sleeps through the night (8/8:30-6am). We will sometimes get up because she is making all kinds of noise…but she usually does not need anything, we just plop the binky in her mouth the quiet her down because she’s keeping us awake. Her two new favorite things to so in her sleep: talk and creak like a door.

The talking in her sleep: We’ll hear her in there chattering away, go in expecting to find her lying there wide awake waiting for one of us to retrieve the binky that is no longer in her reach, but she is sound asleep…eyes closed, binky in hand just talking away. It always sounds like she is on the verge of laughing –and what’s more amusing is that sometimes, she talks faster and her pitch goes up, sometimes she pauses as if giving the person she’s talking to a chance to respond….and sometimes, she sounds like she’s singing…but she always sounds like she is enjoying herself.

The creaking is a new thing: She makes this funny sound in her throat that I could not quite place until Sean declared she sounds like one of those Halloween CDs that people play to scare the little trick or treaters….and yes, it is that creaky door sound. Oddly, she can do it for extended periods of time and not even have to stop to take a breath.

A couple weekends ago, we took Lucy to the Aquarium with my friend Melissa and her two nephews Birdie pretty much slept the whole time but has two new friends in Nathan and Jack. Nathan is 5 and LOVES Lucy…and liked to tell us throughout the day that “Lucy likes me, she looks like she likes me” I think he was right because every time he stuck his face in hers, she smiled, laughed and grabbed his nose. He taught me a song to sing to her and I’m not kidding when I tell you, it is her new favorite song and makes her laugh every time one of us sings it: I am a little mouse, squeak squeak (and you have to squeak like a mouse), I live in your house, squeak squeak, I like to eat cheese, squeak squeak, feta cheddar, mozzarella, feta, cheddar, mozzarella, feta, cheddar, mozzarellaaaaaaaa!!!)

We bought her this kooky exersaucer thing because she likes the one at Day Care and got to sit in one at Nathan’s birthday party so we decided we should have one at the house…plus, I think we were feeling a bit guilty because we realized we really did not buy a lot of “stuff/toys” for Lucy when she was born….nor have we purchased anything in the past five months (unless you count these plastic link things for $5 that she seems to love) Really, all she has is a bouncy chairt and a play mat…both of which Noni gave her…and another play mat that my cousin gave her. And she has a bunch of assorted rattles and little plastic toys..but she does not really have any stuff if you know what I mean.

Anyway, it started out that I thought we should go to a Yard Sale to buy the Exersaucer as they are so expensive ($80-$130) and I figured we could find one at a Yard Sale. I don’t know what makes me think I have the patience for yard sales (and craft fairs while we’re on the topic) but I always think I can go to a yard sale and find some great deal or bargain…and it never works! I just get pissed off at all the people pushing, shoving, haggling and really just being downright rude. But Sean relented and agreed he would take me to the Yard Sale at Winchester High School (it was all baby stuff) so off Lucy, Sean and I go.

Now I always thought that Asian women were the worst drivers; I have now decided that Mother’s with strollers are the worst drivers. They will run your ass down…even if you too are pushing a stroller. Sometimes I wonder if they really have baby in there or they’re just pushing an empty stroller to get to where they want to be quicker. When I’m pushing Birdie, well, she’s precious cargo – I won’t even tip the stroller up over the curb, I’ll walk an extra mile to find that little ramp thing they have….but not mother with strollers…especially mothers at a yard sale with strollers…I’m telling you they will run your ass down then kick your carcass off to the side..Hell, they’d just run over you if they thought they could without slowing themselves down.

Long story short, no exersaucer at yard sale and we lasted less than 10 minutes.

So we ended up at Babies R Us, picked out the one we liked ($120) found it on Amazon for $86, had gift certificates for $50 and ended up paying $36. So we order it and it set to be delivered Tuesday.

We get home Tuesday and there it is on the front stoop – Sean was so excited….he could not wait to get Birdie in it! Little did we know it would take him three hours and 12 AAA batteries to put it all together……. I went out with my sister Mikel that night for dinner (next blog, I’ll tell you about my drive home and the creepy guy in the drug store when I stopped to pick up the 12 AAA batteries) Anyway, I get home and Sean has this contraption all put together –and it is really cool looking. The next night, we’re so excited to put her in it…Sean lowers her down into the seat, and Lucy starts screaming! She cried and cried and cried…..stuck her bottom lip out so much you could have rested your drink on it! She hated it!

The next day at day care, when I arrive to pick her up, she’s sitting in the day care exersaucer with a huge grin on her face….laughing and playing…having a grand old time. So we try the exersaucer at home again….and again, she screamed and yelled and cried! And spent a lot of time beating on the puppy dog that is attached to the front. She hit the puppy dog, bit it, grabbed his ears and twisted them (the ears) as hard as she could. So we took the puppy dog off thinking that would help, she cried harder.......we retired the exersacuer to the other room.

Poor Sean was so disappointed; he wanted Lucy to like the exersaucer so much.

Well, good news, we tried the exersaucer again over this past weekend and she loved it. We kept the puppy dog off and she sat in it for quite awhile and was as content as she could be. Yesterday, we put the puppy dog back on and she appears to be okay with him for now….

Lucy has skipped over 6mos clothes and gone straight to 9mos clothes…I tried to put a 6 month romper on her the other day (it has feet) and she is too long for it! Not too fat, but too long….and she has a little hoodie sweatshirt that is 6mos but the sleeves are too short…looks like a ¾ sleeve hoodie…thank goodness my mom had the insight to buy us a couple outfits when Lucy was born (and in subsequent visits to Noni) that are 9 mos because those sustained us until the big shopping trip a couple weekends ago to the Carter Store…where Lucy got decked out in fall fashions.

So that’s the latest Lucy news – she is still as cute and cuddly as ever and her personality evolves each and every day. We sing a lot to her which she seems to enjoy…though the smiles when I sing could really be masking her mocking me….

Sometimes, I look at her and can’t believe she is ours….
Other times I look at her and can’t wait to see who she will become….
Most of the time, I just look at her, smile, say a prayer and thank God for letting me be her Mom…

Now on to us:
Still no news on the house front – we’re getting frustrated and a bit nervous as our landlord is getting ready to rent our place November 1….his feeling is that he’s waited long enough and he needs to rent now if he’s going to get it filled before the holiday/winter season. So needless to say, our stress levels are high, our nerves are shot and we’re not really sure what we can do. So we freaked out for a bit Sunday and then came to the conclusion that whatever will be will be – so come November 1, we will no longer be living at our current domicile…but we’re not sure where we’ll be….hopefully in a new house….

And would you believe that is all I have to report on us…..because Lucy is our world…although I think my next blog will be about my drive home from dropping Mikel off and about this book I read that totally disappointed me…….

Maria, the Mum