First steps

Jack took his first steps today in Lake Tahoe!


And a few more later in the day.

A toy store exploded in my house

Oh my.

Oh.

My.

Toys R Us puked in my house. There are toys EVERYWHERE.

Our families were extremely generous this year and Jack has more toys than he could ever possibly need or want.

Push toys. Pull toys. Ride-on toys. Sit down toys. Quiet toys. Loud toys.

We let him open one thing from each house to open and then we left for our ski vacation, so he will be surprised all over again when we get back next week.

Our Christmas was merry and bright. Josh got a Wii. I got some bling.

Hope your holidays were happy. I'll be posting sporadically this week since I'll be snowboarding down the mountain most days. If you're in Tahoe, give a shout out!

Ho ho ho

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Also, a long line for Santa. Oh wait, not a dream. That's why I slept for 45 minutes in the Baby Bjorn.


Mommy! MOMMY! I don't want to sit on this guy's lap!


OK, ONE smile. But I am only smiling at you, Mommy. Not this dude with the beard and the red suit.


But I want a Red Rider BB gun! I won't shoot my eye out, I won't!"

Why, hello there!

There is nothing cuter than a baby waving backwards at himself.

A tooth!

The toothless wonder is no more!

Jack finally has the beginnings of his very first tooth, on the lower middle. It's been 10.5 long months of a gummy smile, but we are ready for this kid to show us some toothy grins.

When I checked yesterday while he was eating breakfast, just about the only time he opens his mouth wide enough without his tongue blocking my view, I could see the gums had opened and there was a tooth emerging.

I probably could have guessed we had tooth, even without seeing it yesterday, as his sleep went all to hell last night and this morning.

We had a screamfest at 2 a.m., which we have not had for weeks, and he slept with us all night. Which means he nursed all night. Which means Mommy did not sleep all night.

Nap time this morning has also gone over with flying colors. So far he's been in there for 50 minutes and he's still. not. asleep. We've been in there once with Tylenol.

Man, this kid can scream.

And we get to do this for all his teeth? Sign me up!

Homecoming queen

I survived my trip to New York.

There were roughly three alcoholic beverages consumed over a six-hour period at my company holiday party, so that clues you in to my state of fun.

Damn you sickness. I shake my fists at you.

However, my computer did not survive the trip to New York.

The nice IT guy who promised me an upgrade actually downgraded me. He removed my VPN software, without which I can't access any of the tools I need to do my work. The computer has to be sent back.

These are good times.

But you know, I strangely couldn't care less. All that matters is that when I walked in the door this afternoon, I was greeted with smiles and waving arms and hugs and kisses from Jack.

Seeing him for the first time and watching him react to hearing my voice and struggling to find where it was coming from and then finally having him lock eyes with me was the most awesome time of the last two days.

He also hadn't seen Josh since Sunday, so their reunion was just as sweet. He was all smiles and air-sucking noises for Daddy, too.

It's good to be home.

If I was a horse, they'd shoot me

I write this from an airplane on my way to New York.

At 8 p.m.

A full 12 hours later than I should have been on a plane to New York.

You might ask yourself, "Self, why is Amy 12 hours late for her flight?"

Well, that would be because I am sick. AGAIN.

I am so sick of being sick. I am sick. Jack is sick. I am sure Josh is on his way to being sick. I imagine if we had been in Bloomington, the cats would be sick. Sick, sick, sick.

Perhaps we should institute a Threat Level system, much like the national security one. If that's the case, we're going to have to be like New York and keep it on Orange permanently.

This most recent plague upon our house began as a lonely germ on a plane home from Puerto Rico last week. Lonely germs like to make their homes on me and Jack. This one took up residence, had his buddies help him move in a couch and pre-paid his security deposit along with first and last month's rent.

By Thursday, I felt like I was getting a cold. Jack was inconsolable but a trip to the doctor revealed no ear infections, just a crappyass cold. By Friday, the day we were having 60 people to our house for a holiday party, I was contemplating parking myself in a steamy shower for an entire night and Jack was coughing pathetically.

Hooray for breastfeeding and its ability to restrict one from taking any cold medication of any kind! It makes having a cold such a pleasant experience. With no ability to decongest myself or quell a hacking cough, sleep was fitful.

By yesterday, Jack was fine and I was ready to make out my will. I drank tea in the afternoon and tried to convince myself I would be A-OK to head out for my work trip early this morning. As I hacked up a lung late Sunday night, I laid my sickie head on the couch next to Josh and announced I could not go.

There was no way I could fly with this congestion, not to mention it would require me actually getting out of bed. So I tried to sleep -- ha! -- and by morning, I did feel infinitely better.

I had told work I would not be coming in the morning, but would see how I felt later in the day. SO THEY GAVE AWAY MY HOTEL ROOM. To a fellow employee who didn't want to stay at a different hotel from everyone else.

So now I am heading to her old hotel room, where I will check in and NOT have the fridge I requested to save the milk I need to feed my child.

Thanks. Smooches. Love you too.

I find all of this out on my way to the airport, that is, after waiting 20 minutes in the rain for a cab. And realizing in the cab on the way to the airport that I forgot my wallet at home.

Oh and we're descending now and I am pretty sure my head seriously might explode from the sinus pressure. This was a very, very bad idea.

UPDATE: I was deaf for 20 minutes before I finally cleared my ears. No joke. I could not hear anything.

Ten months

Dear Jack,

Ten months? TEN MONTHS? How in the heck is my baby 10 months old today?

This past month you have learned to express yourself with great gusto. Daddy finally heard the sweet babbling sound of "DaDa" which has become your new favorite word. You say "HaDa" a million times a day and we're convinced you're saying "Hi Dad" but then again, you could be saying nothing and enjoying the faking us out. There's a lot of consonant sounds going on now -- Bs, Ds, Ws, Rs, Hs and Ms to name a few. You still say "Mama" a lot and I tell Daddy that's because you clearly love me more.

Both Daddy and I try with all our being to get you to walk or stand unassisted. But you don't want any part of that. You will walk holding one of our hands and you barely even need a finger for balance, but when you know we're not holding on to you, you just plop down on your butt and crawl.

Since you've learned to cruise along the furniture and crawl with confidence, you don't have too much interest in walking on your own. You can get just about anywhere with your system, including all the way up the stairs.



Daddy told me a few weeks ago that you learned how to crawl up the first step in the living room and last week, you crawled all the way to the top with Daddy behind you. There is now an ottoman blocking your path to those stairs because we have yet to install a gate for you.

While you've gotten more adventurous with your movements, you have kind of regressed in your eating this past month. You won't eat anything except stage 2 baby food, applesauce, cheerios and veggie booty. You will occasionally tolerate a few bites of lunchmeat turkey or chicken and bread, but you act like you are being stretched on the rack if we dare try stage 3 foods. You like your baby food smooth and the pieces of potato and rice distress you.

Seeing as we don't want to make meals a battle at this stage, I try to hide my frustration. But it was hard to hide it on Thanksgiving when you turned up your nose at very expensive organic turkey, mashed potatoes and just about every other thing we put in front of you. Of course, you sucked down baby food turkey dinner and sweet potatoes like it was going out of style.

I know you will eventually eat table food. But I will probably be prying the baby food jar from your kindergarten-sized hands.



Of course, it wouldn't be a month anniversary without mention of your sleeping habits. And for the first time, I am delighted to say you have made solid progress. Your naps are lengthening out to over an hour twice a day and you now sleep from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., eat, and go back to sleep until 7:30 a.m.

I nurse you to sleep and usually you are asleep when I put you in your crib, but sometimes you fight it and you are still awake. When that happens, we put you down and turn on the magic -- your crib soother. It's a turtle that plays lullabye music and we call it a miracle in this house because it puts you out in a few minutes. You might fuss a little, but you settle right down.

Fuss is the name of the game this month. You cry if you can't play with a toy the way you want to. You scream if we take away the remote or a cell phone. You arch your back and squirm and cry if you don't want to be held and if you do want to be held, you crawl over to us, pitifully crying and pull yourself up on our legs, begging us to hold you. Which of course we do every time.

But it's been a trying month with you trying to exert more independence, but wanting Mommy to hold you 24 hours a day. Daddy will do in a pinch, but Mommy is the one you want. And usually it's endearing, but I have to be honest with you, when you are whining and lunging at me for the 547th time in a single afternoon, there are times Mommy needs a break.



At the end of the month, we took a trip to Puerto Rico just the three of us. Daddy was a little apprehensive about the five-hour plane ride and not having anyone to babysit so we could get some time alone. But it was a great trip all around. You were a trooper on the plane and we kept you mostly entertained. The boobs were a big hit, which always serves as a great distraction. We took you to a rainforest and hiked to a waterfall, we walked around Old Jan Juan and we took in the Bacardi tour. You had a good time in the pool and on the beach. The sand was an exquisit vintage, you showed us, by the amount you shoveled into your mouth.

We should also call it "The Month of the Continued Teething With No Teeth" because again, hands in your mouth and drooling constantly, but not even a bud to show for yourself. Your pediatrician said since both Mommy and Daddy didn't get teeth until 11 months, you will likely follow along the same path.

Your big accomplishment this month was learning how to wave. At first you would open and close your hand and look at it with astonishment. "How do I DO that?" it almost looked like you were thinking. Then you started to get control of it. Now, you wave at us when we're feeding you and we constantly have to stop and wave back.

It's adorable when you wave and talk and give kisses and chase after us. Which is so awesome for both Daddy and I. We love spending time with you playing and cuddling and sometimes just hanging out. We know it won't always be like that, so we are treasuring our time with you now.

Just remember when you're 14 and you want to go out with your friends, there was a time in your life where all you wanted to do was be with us. And I would not give that time away for anything.

Love,
Mommy