March 23, 2005

Serena finally seems to be feeling a bit better. She's had some kind of bug for the last few days. I noticed she had a temperature the other night because when she kicked my stomach while she was nursing (which she likes to do - really fun), her foot was on fire! We took her temperature with one of those quack ear thermometers and got a 102.2 then a 97.9 reading. Really useful.

It's nice to see her back to her usual playful self. Actually, it was surprising how much she would still play and laugh, even while it was clear she wasn't feeling well.

High-five, Daddy!

Coming to get the camera

March 20, 2005

With Papa at 6:30am. Don't they look sprightly for such an unreasonable hour? Ugh.

Do you ever wonder how nicknames evolve? We sure have a lot of nicknames for Serena. Just a sampling: Moon Pie, Monkey Pie, Baby Girl, Serena Sue, Sue Pie, Serena Pie (do you see a pie theme here? Hmm.), Pie (there it is again), Sue, Moon Face, Munchkie, Angel Pie (again!), Butterfly, Pecan, Chunk-a-Munk, Monkey... Her Grandma calls her C-C. Don't you wonder, why those names and not others? What inspires the names? Does Serena really remind us of pie (or is it just that I think about pie a lot)? I'm pretty sure I don't really think she looks or acts like a monkey... just something to ponder.

March 19, 2005

Fancy tricks

Dean, Maya and Brian came over this morning for breakfast. Serena and Dean play near each other, if not really together quite yet. Dean gets around like crazy! He's about three weeks younger than Serena. (Look at Serena's hands... she likes to point. Funny girl.)

March 17, 2005

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Serena just clapped for the first time yesterday! Replication is still sporatic and in quick stints so a photo opportunity has not presented. Coming soon.

I just realized two nights ago that Serena doesn't actually need me to be in the bath with her anymore. Many of you are probably saying that we didn't have to be in there to begin with, but staying out always felt much more difficult than getting in (it hurts your back, it's hard to play with the toys and hold her, etc.) Plus, it was fun to take a bath with her. Sometimes, though, I just didn't quite feel like getting all wet then having to dry myself and her in a frenzy so neither of us was cold for too long. So, a couple of nights ago, I just sat on the edge of the tub, with my feet in, and let her play around in there. Turns out, she can just sit up, reach, and even crawl around in there quite adeptly. Hmm. I guess it makes sense since she's been sitting up nice and strong for a long time. Daddy still gets in with her when he does bath. He hates to miss anything.

Serena loves to drink water. Loves it. She doesn't like it when I try to put juice-water in her sippy cup. She has a fancy hold she does when she takes her first water drinks. It's her happy-hold.

Can you see her third tooth there on the right?

She loves to wave. She stops nursing to watch herself wave. She wakes up from her nap waving. She loves to see her hand wave toward her, especially, but she also does a whole arm wave.

March 14, 2005

No question, this weekend Serena began really really crawling - forward. It's a cute crawl. It's mostly a normal, as-you'd-expect crawl, though every so often she gets off her knees and does a sort of downward dog move.

March 13, 2005

Nine and a half months

Serena has now been living outside of my body for longer than she was inside. It's a strange-feeling milestone.

We went to Red Bluff (California) this weekend to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday and Christmas (yea, we have a separate Christmas with some of my family a few months after Christmas every year - it's actually a really fun, no-pressure celebration, without all the holiday-time frenzy.)

Jim and Serena's cousin, Ryan, show their HeMan moves because the water is about 45 degrees (or whatever would be really cold.)

I don't remember what has Jenn and Miles so thoughtful here... This is one of very few moments where Miles isn't in motion. He's just amazing, that little guy. He tears around on such steady feet! Jenn did some Red Bluff shopping and found this super-chic straw cowboy hat at a major bargain price - an advantage of a cow-town.

March 10, 2005

The latest fun spot in the house is the tupperware cupboard.

March 9, 2005

Ask Serena for a kiss and she'll (sometimes, when she feels like it) turn toward you with a wide open mouth and slam her face into yours. It's pretty cute. She also pulls up my shirt when I say "Where's Mama's belly button?" and sticks at least on finger up Daddy's nose when we say, "Where's daddy's nose?" (she grips the whole bulb part, but always gets a good, painful finger lodged in there somehow.)

March 8, 2005

I was working in the office today and Serena was sitting outside the door, where she often plays. I looked away for twenty seconds or so and she was gone! I rush out the door and she is sitting LITERALLY on the edge of the top stair. Guess it's time for a baby gate! I still don't even know how she got there so fast!

We have begun feeding Scout a BARF (biologically appropriate raw food) diet. Dinnertime has never been so exciting to her!

March 5, 2005

We went downtown and had pizza and hung out with our friends Dave and Tamantha and their two little girls, Sequoia (4) and Aurora (2). There were some street drummers playing on the sidewalk and Sequoia picked up one of those harache type shaking instrumunts and danced around. It was awesome! What happens as we grow up to that abandoned freedom to sing and dance we feel as kids?

March 4, 2004

We went to a dinner event at our UU fellowship tonight. A man in our congregation is sitting three tables away and waves at Serena. She waves back. They repeat this five or so times. She just waves and waves, smiling and laughing with him. Then she had half the dining room waving with her. So, apparently, she waves now. In fact, she's a master waver.

I made the New York Cheesecake recipe from The Joy of Cooking to bring to the meeting. It was really really delicious. I recommend you make it, if you're inclined.

We've been so busy looking for new teeth on the top of Serena's mouth that we failed to notice she has a third tooth on the bottom! Jim just discovered it today (and it's clearly been making it's way in for a while!)

March 3, 2005

Serena plays peek-a-boo. She pulls the sheet on the bed over her head then I say, "Where's Serena? Where's See-ree-na?" and she pulls the sheet down, to which I shout "peek-a-boo!" The funniest part is she'll do it ten times in a row and never even crack a smile.

March 2, 2005

In crawling position. She rocks back and forth and scoots backward into a sitting position. She's taking a while to rev up to a full crawl, thoughtful and calculated like her daddy, but she's about to get there. It's so fun to watch her moves evolve every day.

Serena can catch a ball! And she even sort of passes it back! We were amazed. It started with Jim tossing her this little soft wire type ball. It seemed like she was catching it, but it was hard to tell if her fingers weren't just getting caught in the holes. Then we tried it with her basketball, and voila! She catches it effortlessly and very reliably. Jim is trying to keep his enthusiasm and excitement in check.

I'm pretty sure she is learning to wave "bye-bye", too, but I need more reliable replication to confirm this. I'll keep you posted.

Naps are longer lately, a fun and useful development. She seems to have evolved from the three nap routine into two naps, one at 9am (45 minutes to an hour) and one at around 12:30 or 1pm (around 1.5 hours.) I think it's really fascinating how it is so common among babies to take the 9am and 1pm nap that they have it published in many books. How can it be that all these very unique and individual little babies have this built in sleep similarity? Or, am I just programmed along with so many other parents and I happen to offer her sleep at those same times... hmmm.

March 1, 2005

Some days she loves solid food, some days she will having nothing to do with it. Today, she wondered how she had gone this long without having enjoyed asparagus. She thought it was fabulous!

Happily satiated after yoBaby yogurt and very very soft finger food size carrots, celery and potatoes (thanks for another excellent tip, Deb!)

February 28, 2005

I am simulatneously shocked, excited and a bit heavy-hearted to report that Serena is nine months old today. It's amazing how I can be so excited to see her grow, watch her explore, experiment and master new kills, learn who she is... and at the same time want so desperately to somehow keep her at the place she is right this second forever.

February 26, 2005

It was a gorgeous day today so we walked to Drake Park. Serena has less and less patience for being in her stroller now that she's getting into the strong legs/almost crawling thing.

While she had great fun on my shoulders, the smile on my face misrepresents the fun I had with this experiment - OW! You should have seen my hairdo after she got through with me!

February 19, 2005

Serena ate avocado and shredded monterey jack cheese this morning. Her diet now consists of: breastmilk, Purely O's cereal, sourdough bread crust, frozen mini-bagels, cheddar and monterey jack cheese, teething biscuits, banana and avocado and teeny carrot pieces, and water. None of it (except breastmilk) is consumed in significant quantities.

The frustration mounts for Serena as she begins to scooch-crawl - backward. She sees the item she wants, she stretches toward it, she gets up on her arms and pushes... away from the item. If she's feeling persistent, she'll roll side to side and occasionally get some traction on one of her feet to make her way to the item. Crawling coming soon.

By request, here are some house pictures.

Front view of house. (Landscaping to follow this year...)

From the corner with the detached garage.

Upstairs bath vanity area.

Guest bedroom, aka The Yellow Room. Look inviting? It's anxiously awaiting YOUR visit!

Upstairs landing area. Immediately to the right is the guest bedroom and to the left is a U-turn into the office. Unfortunately, it's an overcast day so the lighting isn't great in this picture. The skylight just above the stairs brings beautiful sunshine to this area on nice days.

This is the downstairs powder bath. This used to be our only bathroom, and had a tiny shower in the corner.

This is the master bedroom, looking out onto the deck and into the back yard. Again, lots of excellent light, which we love! Seems like we might have posted this before - sorry for the rerun if we did.

February 17, 2005

We went snow tubing today at Mt. Bachelor. It was unbelievably fun. This is the only digital shot I got, though it's kind of boring. You get the idea, though. Wendi was going crazy - she loved it so much. She was even going down solo by the end of the day. Katie was digging the lift operator guy. Kehau got tossed off her tube half way down the run once, but was very casual and cool about it. She got right back on for another run, just like a real cowgirl would. Jim and Dennis were getting extreme sport about it at the end, taking the tube all the way up the landing ramp and back down for extra thrill. Even Serena got a little tubing in (no, not down the hill, of course!)

February 16, 2005

Last day of swim class. I sat out so Serena and Daddy could concentrate for final class day (sometimes I get chatty and don't concentrate well then have to ask, "Sorry, what are we supposed to be doing now?"). Wendi came to class to root them on.

Totally trippy - this woman came as a visitor to last class and brought her nine month old baby. She lets the baby go in the water and the baby totally frog paddles all by herself under the water! It was so crazy!

February 15, 2005

Another beautiful crystal clear day here in Bend so we took the Coulters up to Mt. Bachelor to frolic in the snow. We found this amazing clearing, it must be a huge meadow when there's no snow. The snow was very fluffy.

Serena's favorite was a comfy snooze hooked onto Daddy's back.

Wendi's favorite was pummeling me blind-side into the two foot powder. And throwing snow balls at everyone.

Katie got some serious snow-bunny gear while here in Bend, making for excellent extreme snow activities, like this fancy dance she unexpectedly busted out for the camera. Also, check out that backdrop view - that's Broken Top on the left!

Columbia Outlet had a big sale. How cool do they all look?

Today was a particularly excellent food day. Papa took us all to The Original Pancake House for breakfast, where they have the best pancakes anywhere. Then Kehau made ribs (Dennis and Jim BBQ'd 'em), her famous shrimp pasta salad and broccoli. It was awesome. Especially since I wouldn't know how to cook a rib if my life depended on it.

February 14, 2005

My sister, Kehau, and her husband Dennis and Serena's two cousins Katie and Wendi arrived today. We're having so much fun already.

Serena loves Wendi's face.

Auntie K, Katie and Wendi came to swim class with us. Now they can't stop singing, "Goodbye Katie (Serena, Wendi, etc.), Goodbye Katie (Serena, Wendi, etc.), Goodbye (Serena, Wendi, etc.), We're glad you came to swim!"

Papa came over and brought us all fun Valentine's treats.

February 13, 2005

Sunday parenting

(yes, he actually fell asleep there - just like that)

February 11, 2005

Remember how I was wondering if Serena was teething a few weeks ago? Well, NOW I know what teething looks/sounds like! Our serene little girl hasn't been so serene the last few days... ugh. It's just awful. She'll just start crying - really, really crying. She grabs at her mouth and cries. She sleeps for a half hour, then wakes up and cries. A couple of days ago, I had to carry her all the way back on a 1.5 hour walk, while pushing her stroller and hanging on to Scout (who isn't the best leash dog when there are squirrels around, like right now) - and she was crying the whole way. But, wow, those Hylands Teething Tablets are amazing! Almost every time I have given her them she has fallen asleep within about three minutes. Crazy homeopathic magic.

If you've been reading (as oppsed to just looking at the pictures, Tina), you know that Serena hasn't taken much to eating food. I don't know why I am so bothered by this, the doctor says not to worry until she's a year. Anyway, this morning I put some of those organic "o" shaped cereal pieces on her high chair tray - and she loved 'em! She just kept picking them up and putting them in her mouth, like she'd one it a thousand times before. I'm thinking what she doesn't like is to be fed - she wants to feed herself.

See, perfect aim.

Okay, not always perfect aim.

So happy with herself.

February 8, 2005

Eight months and eleven days

"Blaaaaahhhh!"

Strong Legs!!

(no words for this one...)

February 7, 2005

Serena has taken to making a sort of kissing sound, but with more of a B base in it - only, it doesn't seem to be kiss-related. For example, she started doing it repeatedly while riding the baby surfboard in swimming class tonight.

Often after we get out of bed in the morning, I will set Serena up in the living room on a blanket and surround her with some of her favorite toys while I do some morning stuff. Since she's not really mobile yet, I only have to worry about what's within a few feet of her. This morning, after starting the water to make my coffee, I looked over to see what she was up to and all I could see were her sweet little baby toes! She had rolled her way all the way to her toy basket across the room (it's a small area - but still!) and was dilligently grunting her way toward a tag that hangs on the handle of the basket. I have the feeling I'm going to have to kick up my attention-paying a notch.

I had the craziest Amazon.com experience. My dad bought us a jogger stroller, which we had on our Amazon registry, back before Serena was born. At the time I hadn't noticed (because I wasn't anywhere near using it yet) that they forgot to include the rain cover and backpack that was supposed to come with it. I have been using the stroller regularly to walk and run with Serena. The rain season arriving reminded me that we never got the rain cover. I wrote to Amazon asking them to send me a rain cover. After a few very general, standardized emails from Amazon in resonse to my request, I get this final email that says something about being very sorry for the error and they will "reship" my item in two days. About a week later, I receive a whole new stroller, with a rain cover and backpack! At first I thought they made an error, then I realized that the new model of the stroller is so different from the model I have that the rain cover wouldn't fit on the old one. So, now we have TWO jogger strollers, for the price of one! And this second one is way way better than the first! Isn't that wierd - cool?!

Jim is in the midst of yet another turnover of employees. He's working like crazy. Send some positive energy his way, if you have a bit to spare.

February 4, 2005

A night in the life of Serena (and, consequently, her mom and dad):

Bedtime is between 6:30 and 7:30pm, depending on whether she took a late afternoon nap. Regardless, about one hour before bedtime, we take a bath. Either Jim or I will begin running the bath, at which point Serena gets very excited. She kicks and flails her arms and legs once we undress her on the mat next to the bathtub. We get into the bathtub with her. First we take care of business (washing), then we introduce toys one at a time with significant fanfare - "And NOOOWWW, arriving on the scene, is POIPA!" Serena kicks and flails toward the toy and "captures" it. After all toys are introduced, she just plays around and chews on each toy. She is also fascinated and interested in the jets in the tub (which are not running, of course.) Each toy is then individually captured again and put away for the night - "Good night, Poipa. See you laay-ter. Seee you tomaaarrow."

After bath, we usually read between zero and four books in the glider chair in the dimmed living room. Sometimes Serena is really into it and we have a fun reading session. Many times she is already pretty tired and we can tell that even trying to read a book will just annoy her.

I always nurse Serena to sleep, mostly because I want to maximize the period between when we put her down and when she first wakes up. I walk around the bedroom nursing her then, if she's still fidgeting around, I continue walking once she's finished eating. And I bounce her. Or I swing her. I sing "There are many pretty trees all around the world (you get really creative on trees after a while - chocolate trees, butterfly trees, Scout trees.) Or I don't sing and I just say "shh, shh, shh" over and over. She goes to sleep in between ten and twenty minutes, usually around fifteen minutes. I lay her in her co-sleeper next to our bed.

Then, FREEDOM! This time of the day is so precious to me. Jim and I chat, we make dinner, we do projects, we might occasionally watch TV (except there is NEVER anything good on - except Monday nights when Bachelorette is on (I KNOW!))

Serena wakes up one or two times before we get into bed. If Jim is home, he goes in and pats her or walks her around for a few minutes. She usually goes back to sleep nicely. We go to bed between 11pm and midnight. (We know that's way too late. We just love the quiet time, it's hard to give it up!)

Serena usually wakes as we get into bed so I bring her into our bed and nurse her. We all fall asleep. Serena wakes up between 2 and 3am to nurse. It's usually relatively uneventful and she and I nurse/cuddle and fall asleep. Sometimes, she is fidgety and can't seem to get comfortable. Then, it's really frustrating. If after eating she still fusses around and won't settle, Jim will take her and walk her around or pat her on his chest. Eventually she'll go to sleep, but it's often a frustrating process. The next wake up is usually around 5 or 5:30 am. Again, I will nurse her, but more often, after eating, she will fuss around. It's almost as though she is actually starting her waking up process. I find this unacceptable, so I just keep trying to pat her and settle her (lay her on my chest, move her from one side to the other, beg her) and eventually she must fall asleep - or I just do.

Serena wakes around 7am for real. I fade in and out of consciousness from 7am to 8am, handing her toys from the "morning toy basket" we keep by the bed (they are quiet-ish toys.) Jim does the same, starting around 7:30 or 8am. We nurse a bit then read some books before leaping into another day.

Whew! Yea, way gone are the days of long, deep, dreamy nights. And sometimes in the middle of the night when I am so tired and Serena is just flailing around for no apparent reason, I wonder if we have chosen the right path with the co-sleeping thing. But then I'll open my eyes and see Serena sleeping peacefully curled toward my body, and I'll feel her sweet vanilla milkshake breath on my arm, and her warm little body is within six inches of mine. Ten minutes later I open my eyes again because she is pulling on my hair and staring at me. I see her big giant grin underneath her pacis, and I know, without question, that I wouldn't miss this for anything. I have never known anything that feels quite as blissful as waking up with this little girl. I'll smile, in spite of my incredible fatigue, and think, "I'll just nap when she takes her morning nap." Of course, I don't. Too much I want to get done while she sleeps.

January 28, 2005

Eight Months!

No matter how cool the toys we buy, nothing compares to technology. Especially the straps on technological devices. As I write, Serena is playing happily with the strap on Jim's Garmin.

Other things Serena likes at eight months: practicing new sounds, especially different kinds of laughs and giggles and these new, interesting grunty noises, her Smile Baby Face board book she got from her doctor, her pacis (yep - I think it's going to be a keeper for a looong time), putting anything in her mouth - especially paper and random little items from the floor (we really have to stay on top of this!), swimming, baths, the soft baby washcloths we use for her baths - especially their tag and sucking on the wet washcloth, people singing and clapping, anyone "oohing" and "aahing" over her.

Things Serena doesn't dig much at eight months: sleeping in, the vacuum running when we're not holding her, when we leave the room - even for a second, any kind of baby food (She did eat a bunch of banana mush from my banana while we were out the other day, to my great surprise. Then I learned the hard way about the whole black banana stain on clothes thing - how does a person know this ahead of time?!), falling asleep on her own, being kept from the computer keyboard when she's on my lap in the office.

January 27, 2005

Grant hung out at our house while his mom and dad, Lydia and Andy, went out to dinner to celebrate Andy's birthday. It was an interesting experience having two babies to hang out with for the evening. It went really well, actually. They liked watching and playing with toys next to each other. Jim and I were both there, sitting right next to them the whole time, of course. Here's my question, though - How does one person, say the person who stays home and cares for multiple kids, put one kid to sleep while the other is awake? How do you ensure the awake one stays safe and have a quiet place to put the sleepy one to bed?

January 26, 2005

Serena and I were running some errands today. She was sitting in her car seat, chewing on her slipper (that's ner new car-seat-thing, taking off her slipper and chewing on it.) Suddenly, she started laughing. Belly laughing! I kept watching her in the mirror, trying to figure out what was so funny. She was just looking out the window at the rock ledge along the river. There was a park and some people walking with their dog, but really, nothing you'd think was funny. Then she started adding this "hhnnyaaa" at the end of each laugh - you know how you might do that if you laugh hard then take in a breath with your upper chest area constricted? It was like that. Then she'd laugh harder. So, I started laughing. Then she'd laugh more. And pretty soon, we're both totally cracking up as we drive along and no one has really said or done anything! It was fabulous. She's just a laughy baby.

Serena's sleep patterns are evening out somewhat. She's taking good naps mostly and on a pretty good pattern. However, we still have a very restless, fidgety night about every three or four nights, where she might be up every hour fussing around and nothing will satisfy her. Or, she'll be up for like an hour - just up and awake. Those nights are really, really a bummer. So are the next mornings.

January 24, 2005

Serena had her first swim lesson today. She's been to the pool quite a few times now, so the water wasn't any surprise. She seems to really love being in the water and splashing around. For her swim lesson, we did Old McDonald had a pond - with a splash splash here... and kick kick there..., and we sang the Hokey Pokey with floating in and out and splashing in and out and ear in and ear out... She likes the splashing and kicking but the jury is still way out on the floating on her back and the ear-in, ear-out thing.

This is the Humpty Dumpty game. You say the Humpty Dumpty rhyme then count 1-2-3 and bring the babies into the water. It's something about training them to only get in when you say so, but I'm still trying to figure the connection. I think it's just preparing them for future swim training. It's cute, nonetheless, to see all the babies lined up on the wall. That's Grant and Lydia next to Jim and Serena. They're our regular hang out buddies all week - we go to the library, swimming and on walks together a lot.

January 23, 2004

Serena cracks up at certain, random words. She likes the word purple (really - I'm not just saying that because it's MY favorite color), and... well, I can't think of the others now, but the common thread seems to be hard "b" and "p" sounds. The more of those, the funnier the word. Also, she was cracking up in Costco today because I was singing "bump ba da bum ba bumpa ba dada duh". She laughed so loudly that everyone that saw us started laughing, too (kinda like the "ha, ha" game on the Brady Bunch, remember that?) It was really great.

January 22, 2005

Seven and three-quarter months

We're becoming afraid that Serena is going to walk before she crawls. She still won't hang out on her stomach long enough to get on her knees and rock or any of the other pre-crawling moves. Yet, at the library last Wednesday, she grabbed onto the activity center box and started to lift herself right into a standing position! Maya was there with her son, Dean, and she exclaimed, "Check it out! She's trying to stand!" I've got to figure out a way to curb this development - no walking yet, my little Pecan!

Wednesdays are Baby Steps day at the library. It's a 15 minute program where the Children's librarian leads songs and reads books for kids from 0-18 months. When I first went I thought I'd be one of just a few moms and babies there. Unbelievable, there had to be fifteen babies with their moms and a few dads there! The songs are really cool, too. For example, the first one we sing goes: "Willoughby, Wallaby, Woo - the dog sat on you. Willoughby, Wallaby wee - the dog sat on me. Willoughby, Wallaby, (fill in child's first name, but replace the first part with a "w" so, Werena for Serena) Werena - the dog sat on Serena". Then we go around to all the kids and sing their names in the song. The librarian uses a big, floppy stuffed dog to sing along with, named Penelope. It's great. The kids even go up to Penelope afterward to pet her, like a celebrity! (Serena's not really into Penelope that much, yet - she just likes to smile and stare at everyone singing.) The librarian, Paige, also reads a few children's books according to a particular theme for the day. It's cool because then we also have good book borrowing ideas.

I did go to the kickboxing class and made it through about forty minutes of the class. The young woman who was taking care of the kids said Serena just sat there and stared at the other kids and played with a few toys the whole time. After the novely wore off, I think she just realized, "Hey, where's my mom?!" and started crying. I got a great workout in those forty minutes! In a way, it wasn't awful to have to cut out a bit early - it was a hard class.

Serena's favorite noise now is the raspberry. You know how you put your tongue between your lips and blow out and it makes that "pbpblllt" sound... she loves that. So, we do that a lot around here right now.

This looks deceptively like Serena might crawl. However, she's just leaning over really far (isn't it amazing how kids can literally fold in half with virtually no strain?) to reach the fringe on the carpet. It's always interesting to me to see what thing in her environment will get her attention. It's amazing how focused she gets once she decides she wants it.

January 17, 2005

Our friend Debbie, in Los Angeles, is clearly a wily veteran of the Parenting Challenges. She's given us a zillion really excellent tips for teething. Some of the hi-lights are: a cold rag to chew on, the bottom of a beer bottle (or soda or whatever), a frozen Trader Joe's mini bagel, and a carrot. I've tried all but the cold rag (frankly, I forgot about that one until I just wrote that) and Serena seems to dig them all! (Sometimes, if I don't have a cold beer handy (hee hee, yea right) I use the bottom of a salad dressing bottle. Works good.) Here's her "What's Up Doc?" shot:

We have been duly warned, of course, that as she gets more teeth, some of these can be choking hazards, so don't be alarmed. We'll back off the biteable ones as the need arises. The bummer is, if it's food, she's just not interested for very long. So, for example, this carrot was simply shims in Scout's teeth within a few minutes of this picture. Scout, clever little canine, has realized that parking at the side of the high chair has high payoff. As a result, Serena is now discovering how fun in is to lean over the side of her high chair with her snack-du-jour for Scout to chomp.

We just realized that Serena knows who we all are! One day I said, "Serena!", trying to get her attention. And she looked right at me from what she was doing! So I tried again when she was onto something else and it worked again! Then, I said, "Serena, where's Daddy?" and she looked right at Jim! Then, Jim said, "Where's Mama?" and she looked right at me! Then, I said, "Where's Scout?" and she looked right at Scout and smiled!!! We were stunned! I wonder how long she's known. So, now it's my favorite game. I think she's getting bored with it already.

We've taken Serena to the Juniper Swim Center twice now. The first time Serena and I went with my friend Lydia and her seven month old son, Grant. Today Jim got to go with us. She totally loves the water. Her eyes get really big and she just spends the whole 45 minutes or so looking around in wonder at all the pool toys, the sparkly water, and kids and parents in the water. It's great because the Juniper Center has a special time for just kids under six years old and their parents.It's a very shallow pool, very tame and we can chat with other parents and kids. The water is the temperature of a bath. She's so zonked after, she practically falls asleep on the way out of the pool. We forgot our camera today. We'll take pictures next time. You have GOT to see the sweet little bathing suit her daddy surprised us with for her to swim in!

Tomorrow, I am going to try the Kickboxing class at the Juniper Center and I think I'll leave Serena in the Child Care Center. It looks totally clean, they seem very attentive, nice and into kids and it should be just fine... right?!! Yea, I'm a bit nervous. We've never left Serena with anyone other than family (and even then, it's been only a few times.) I'll be literally two doors down, though, and they can come get me if she gets sad or I can come visit... right?!

January 12, 2005

Sometimes I am just struck by how lucky I feel to live here in Bend. I really love the change of seasons. I love the warm, bright Summer and the cool, crisp, clear sometimes windy Fall. (I don't really want to talk much about the wet, long Spring.) And I so love this snow. It's just so beautiful. And now it's so much more fun because I have discovered cross-country skiing! I've never gotten into downhill skiing that much. I like it once or twice a year, maybe, and just for a few hours. I'm much more into the hot toddy (okay, hot chocolate right now) in the lodge thing. I'm really just not much of a sensation seeker, ya know? And that whole whizzing down the slopes thing feels a bit trepidous to me, frankly. Anyway, in comes cross-country skiing and I'm no longer only a fair weather outdoors person!

Picture this: It is a shadowy winter day. Snow is landing on your eyelashes. The only brightness in the landscape comes from the pristine white snow that blankets the ground. It is silent - the kind of silence only possible when there is substantial snowcover. On one side of your path, there is winding river, partially frozen yet still committed to its purpose downstream. Your other side is hugged by larger than life charcoal grey mountains, with white snow sifted into the crevices. There is an unspoken agreement among all of the people you pass that this is sacred territory, and hushed voices are used for shared greetings. All you hear is your breath (in my case, quite loudly, I must add) and the swish, swish of your skis on the snow. You look to your right, and there are the three loves of your life, in their own peaceful commune with this amazing experience. Doesn't that sound blissful? It is!

It's so cool, because we can take Serena. We rented this handy thing called a pulk. It's like an enclosed sled in which we strapped her car seat. Then, Jim just attached these poles that come off the front of it around his waist and off we went! Serena fell asleep instantly. (Jim did not - as you can imagine. I'm not sure if his lugging her along behind him was as blissful as my swish, swishing...)

Here's Serena in the pulk (and her very warm new fluffy snow outfit.)

Not really trying to crawl yet, she works hard to get to her pacis. The fact that she really dislikes being on her tummy is testimony to the lengths she'll go to get that pacis.

We just discovered that Serena can hold a bottle with both hands and feed herself (it's water - that's all she drinks besides breastmilk.)

Another new thing Serena is into is whining. She whines quite a bit now. I'm thinking it may be because she has increased interest in getting to things but has virtually no mobility. Regardless, as you can imagine, it's not our favorite new trick.

January 5, 2005

Serena had her six month doctor's appointment today (we're a month behind - shocking!) Dr. Bailie loves Serena (I think she really digs kids in general, which is nice since she's a pediatrician and all.) It's cool how much time she'll spend with us. We ask lots of questions and she just hangs out and answers them and gives us tips and things to notice at this stage of development. This time we were pretty curious about the solid food thing. We have introduced some solid food options, just for exploration, and Serena has literally no interest in any of them. We've tried apples, sweet potatoes, bananas, sweet peas, and pears. She tightens her lips and turns her head when we approach with the spoon. We've tried all the choo-choo train sounds, "WOW, this is so YUMMY" (while eating a bite) and many other crazy sounds and behaviors. The most we get is a tight-lipped grin. I'm afraid she may have her daddy's eating habits; all he would eat as a kid is double cheeseburgers and pizza. She's gonna need some more teeth here soon.

She certainly seems to have her daddy's general physique so far. She's 75th percentile for height at 26.5 inches and 40th percentile for weight at 15 pounds and 3 ounces. I have these haunting images of Serena looking down at me when I am talking to her when she's 14 years old. Ugh.

If you ask us on any given day we could have polar opposite feelings about self-employment. Days like today, however, when we have random, unexpected and spontaneous moments for family portraits, we'll tell you that it's really great.

Our latest parenting challenge is Serena's sleep. Since we got home from California, Serena has been waking up every 1-2 hours during the night and fussing around until we literally get out of our warm bed and walk her around back to sleep. Since she sleeps with us, I used to be able to just nurse her back to sleep and neither of us really woke up. For some reason, that's not cutting it anymore. The doctor says we're probably going to have to be willing to let her cry it out if we don't want to have to walk her around. We don't see that as a viable option. The whole baby and sleep thing is an amazing challenge. Have you seen the number of books available on this topic?!

January 3, 2005

Happy New Year!!

We had a very nice, low key ringing-in-of-the-new-year. We made a yummy filet mignon dinner (thanks to Grauntie Jeanne and Gruncle Nicky, c/o Omaha Steaks - Merry Christmas to us.) At 9:30pm, as we are finishing up our dinner, Jim says, "I don't think we're going to make it." We were both so tired that midnight felt like light years away. So, we had a giant piece of award-winning O'Leary Kahlua Cream Pie (slap a bit of flavoring into mounds of real whipped cream and flop it into a flaky crust and you can bet it'll win some awards!) and watched You've Got Mail on TBS. Suddenly (and gratefully) it was 11:40 and we were still awake! We decided that it was essential that we ring in the new year with Serena, what with it being her first New Year celebration and all (yea, you experienced parents can see where this is going...). At 11:58, we sneak into the bedroom and each get on one side of Serena in our bed. As it turns midnight, we both lean over and gently kiss Serena on the head, while simultaneously snuggling into our own spaces, ready for a rapid and blissful night's sleep. And... yep, you guessed it - Serena woke up and was up until almost 2am! Which means so was I. Jim, bless his heart, fell asleep at 12:10am and didn't flinch during the whole two hour fuss-fest.

Luckily the only plan for our first day of 2005 was to watch the movie Elf (now every time I ride an escalator I'm gonna start cracking up) and have cinnamon-raisin french toast and sausage for breakfast. Lovely day that was.

We've had a plethora of fun days lately (as I imagine many of you have, given the holiday season has just passed.)

We had a nice pre-Christmas Christmas morning at home on the 21st before we flew of for a wonderful, fun, very busy visit to California. I'll let the pictures guide the update over the last week and a half.

Our pre-Christmas Christmas at home was quiet and fun. It was also truncated because Serena's nose was so stopped up we decided it made us too nervous to put her on an airplane without having the doctor check her out. So, we had to pull together fast and get to the doctor before leaving for the airport at 1:30pm. (As you may have guessed, we weren't quite all packed for our trip when we decided we needed to go to the Dr., great planners that we are.) In spite of all the frenzy and bustle and a very stuffed nose, Serena was chipper and in good spirits all through our Christmas celebration.

Isn't this cool?! My Gramma, Serena's Oma, sent her this "Cookies for Santa" plate so she can put out cookies every year for Santa to eat. I love it! I had almost forgotten about that whole fun thing!

Scout had fun opening her stocking.

Serena got her first toothbrush, for her sweet and only two front bottom teeth. She really likes it (in the package and out.)

Now we're in California, on the 23rd. My sister, Angie, has started a Christmas cookie baking day with all the kids. (Kyle loves cookies - don't let him fool you) This is the second year. It was so fun. We even had a contest where each of the four kids participating got to enter a decorated cookie into a contest (Wendi insisted we needed to have a contest). Amazingly, there were four categories and one cookie was chosen for each of the categories: funnest, most creative, most unexpected, and prettiest. It was hilarious, when Wendi and Samantha tied for prettiest and funnest, they screamed and hugged just like they do on awards shows!

Here's the cookie baking bunch.

Miles turned One Year Old on December 23rd! I can't believe he's been here a whole year! Another cool thing is that he had my favorite cake (toasted almond) for his birthday. I think he had something like three separate birthday parties. He's certainly worth lots of celebrating!

Uncle Aaron read Cajun Night Before Christmas to the kids. If you've never read it, you must. In fact, be sure you have a copy - it's great to read at Christmas parties and the like.

Usually we go to Auntie Jan and Uncle Steve's for Christmas Eve, but we had a change of plans this year and that event happened on the 26th. So, the kids hung out with us at Papa's house and we built (mostly they built) this gingerbread train. Funny, this picture doesn't do it justice at all. It was pretty cool. They did a nice job, which you can't tell here. Look how proud they all look!

Christmas morning at Papa's was nice and quiet. Serena opened her special gift from her Daddy. It was a basketball! Clever. He's got big plans for our 90th percentile stretch girl. See, she loves it. Chewy.

G'day, Mate! Christmas hats.

Jim's not going to love that I put this in here - but doesn't he look soo handsome in his new hat?!

Sweet smiles all around.

Can you believe how much these guys look alike? Try describing one of them and see if you just aren't automatically also describing the other. Try it. You'd think they were brothers! (Aaron is Matt's uncle - and, if you can believe it, there isn't even a genetic connection.)

Serena got so many hugs and cuddles from her cousins. Here Madison snuggles her so sweetly.

Can you see that she's getting more hair?

I love this facial expression.

We have this very fun singing tradition at Auntie Jan and Uncle Steve's for Christmas Eve (which happened on the 26th this year.) Our cousins are extraordinarily musically talented - Marc has played the piano for us for many years. In recent years, Nick and Greg have both joined with guitars. Then we all mess it up by signing along - hee hee, just kidding. It's really lovely. (photo courtesy of Auntie Jan's online photo album - thanks AJ!)

We spent a few days after Christmas, before we took off for home, at JAM's (Jenn, Aaron & Miles) with my brother Greg and nephew Ryan. We rode Muni to downtown SF. It was Serena, Miles and Ryan's very first Muni ride - and we even went underground. Ryan particularly loved it! It was very cool. It makes me wonder why we didn't ride muni on all of our trips around SF - it's soo convenient!

Miles thinks riding Muni is #1!

When we got to downtown there was a string of about six cable cars ready to go so we decided to get in line and ride one to our ultimate destination - the cable car museum. We were right at the turn around spot for the cable car rwhere Powell ends at Market, so it was particularly exciting. We got to watch them manually spin the cable car 180 degrees on the wood platform in the street. Then, we only rode two blocks and stopped for a while because a cable car ahead had some hoodlum person messing with things and they knocked it out of commission (or something like that - actually I didn't really understand what the cable car driver was saying, but that's what I took from it.) We got to our final destination at 5:05pm. The museum closed at 5pm. It was okay because we had decided in the cable car line that riding the cable car was more important than making it to the museum.

A funny thing happened in line. There was a family behind us with a boy about seven years old. Suddenly, no one knows how, that boy and Ryan began an enthusiastic discussion in a totally unidentified bird-like language. It was kind of like "caw cow gow" sort of thing. Quite high pitched, but very friendly. They even had seemingly appropriate facial expressions and gestures. The conversation seemed to escalate to some kind of peak, then Ryan walked away, satisfied.

This is the booty dance that arose at JAM's house.

Miles 1, Serena 7 months, Ryan almost 5.

Clara, our friends Dirk and Carolla's little girl, is almost three months older than Serena. She was showing off her excellent standing skills. Don't they have similar (and cute!) ears?

One last random thing I noticed while we were in California. Serena's arm is exactly as long as the distance between my pinky tip and my thumb tip if I make the "shaka" sign. Isn't that kinda wacky? Funny thing is, it's much bigger than it used to be - and I can't fathom that someday it'll be the same length (okay likely longer, actually) as mine.