Proof positive that our little one is crawling...and Stashu is the one who who pays the price. She is moving a bit slowly in this video...probably wondering why someone hasn't intercepted her Stashu prowling.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
lemon socks
Oh my goodness what a week. I will keep this short and sweet as there isn't much to report. First part of the week was spent fretting over Rhea's runny nose...was it a cold? teething? How was I to know? Should I be giving her something? Then Thursday night her poor little body felt so very warm...I had read in one of my stack of baby books that 9 times out of 10 a mother can tell if her child has a fever just by putting her lips on their forehead..and my lips were telling me it was time to buy the most expensive thermometer on the market so I could get a slightly more accurate and probably unnecessary reading. Bert though we could make do with a $10 new thermometer which confirmed her fever (but had to be put under her arm which she HATED).
The next day I called the pediatrician who gave me a list of homeopathic remedies to give her and the reassurance that I could call back or bring her in should I feel the need. As the day progressed her fever kept getting higher but her mood, though slightly more irritable and tired, remained pretty positive considering. Two more calls to the pediatrician (which gave me a short history on the purpose and benefits of a fever, some more reassurance, and a German fever buster technique provided by Imke) and I had Rhea sporting some lemon socks.
Lemon socks are supposed to soothe and help relive a fever and I'm here to tell you that I do believe they worked. Basically you soak some cotton knee highs in some very cold lemon water then put them on your baby (she didn't like that part) then you cover those with another pair of cotton knee highs and then a pair of wool socks. Once we had that whole contraption together on her legs (again where is the camera!!) she settled right down. It also brought her fever down a whole degree which was enough to help her feel more comfortable while still allowing the fever to do it's thing. And after much fussing with the underarm thermometer the decision was made to go out and get that fancy pants ear thermometer after all. Which came in handy the next day to confirm that Rhea's fever had broken and that mine had just started to rise!
When I said short and sweet I guess I should have been referring to my piece of the sick story...this story begins Saturday afternoon and it ended last night. Basically I got sicker than I have been in recent memory...ending up in bed with only brief viewings of the girl for nursing and shared naps. It was absolutely brutal...and if during one of my fever induced chill sessions someone had suggested ice cold socks...I would have hit them over the head with them. It was really hard on Rhea having me out of commission, she would cry every time she saw me (again...just brutal). We are still feeling the repercussions of those two days...she is very clingy and easily frustrated. Poor little bean.
All this said...I do believe we are on the mend and I'm looking forward to some healthy and active summer days very soon!
The next day I called the pediatrician who gave me a list of homeopathic remedies to give her and the reassurance that I could call back or bring her in should I feel the need. As the day progressed her fever kept getting higher but her mood, though slightly more irritable and tired, remained pretty positive considering. Two more calls to the pediatrician (which gave me a short history on the purpose and benefits of a fever, some more reassurance, and a German fever buster technique provided by Imke) and I had Rhea sporting some lemon socks.
Lemon socks are supposed to soothe and help relive a fever and I'm here to tell you that I do believe they worked. Basically you soak some cotton knee highs in some very cold lemon water then put them on your baby (she didn't like that part) then you cover those with another pair of cotton knee highs and then a pair of wool socks. Once we had that whole contraption together on her legs (again where is the camera!!) she settled right down. It also brought her fever down a whole degree which was enough to help her feel more comfortable while still allowing the fever to do it's thing. And after much fussing with the underarm thermometer the decision was made to go out and get that fancy pants ear thermometer after all. Which came in handy the next day to confirm that Rhea's fever had broken and that mine had just started to rise!
When I said short and sweet I guess I should have been referring to my piece of the sick story...this story begins Saturday afternoon and it ended last night. Basically I got sicker than I have been in recent memory...ending up in bed with only brief viewings of the girl for nursing and shared naps. It was absolutely brutal...and if during one of my fever induced chill sessions someone had suggested ice cold socks...I would have hit them over the head with them. It was really hard on Rhea having me out of commission, she would cry every time she saw me (again...just brutal). We are still feeling the repercussions of those two days...she is very clingy and easily frustrated. Poor little bean.
All this said...I do believe we are on the mend and I'm looking forward to some healthy and active summer days very soon!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Look out cats!
Recording this for posterity...Rhea is officially crawling. She was making her first forward movements earlier in the week and as of Sunday she performed several picture perfect crawls. Monday she found motivation in the cats who were desperately trying to soak up the afternoon sun...she was able to move across the entire room to get to them. Those first "real crawls" were so amazing to watch...she would start out in the typical baby crawl (hands and knees stomach off of the ground)...move herself forward a little way until her arms gave way at which point she would push herself up again and keep on moving. Yesterday she perfected the crawl even more and the time between her arms giving way is stretching out. It is crazy to see her...I was expecting her to go through the "commando" crawling phase but she seems to have skipped that all together (though sometimes when her arms tire out she scootches forward a bit on her stomach trying to get back up on her arms). I wish I had a picture to add to this post but we seemed to have left our camera at a friends house over the weekend (of course right when Rhea starts to REALLY crawl).
This lack of camera may be a blessing in disguise because in the ever pressing mission known as terrorizing the cats...she managed to crawl right into the corner of the side table in the living room. She is now sporting a bruise right under her eye which pains me every time I see it. She was pretty surprised by that sequence of events (not yet knowing that corners hurt and tables tend to be hard and unyielding) and cried with real tears...sometimes looking over her shoulder to squeal menacingly at the table. I know it is just the first of many bumps and bruises we are bound to experience, yet somehow telling myself that does not bring me comfort when I see that blue mark on the cheek of my perfect little baby. I love her determined and adventurous spirit and given the set of parents she was born to...I expect many more scrapes, bruises and scuffles from here on out. I'm just hoping I toughen up a bit and watching her negotiate her relationship with the potentially harmful things out there in the world gets easier as life goes on....
This lack of camera may be a blessing in disguise because in the ever pressing mission known as terrorizing the cats...she managed to crawl right into the corner of the side table in the living room. She is now sporting a bruise right under her eye which pains me every time I see it. She was pretty surprised by that sequence of events (not yet knowing that corners hurt and tables tend to be hard and unyielding) and cried with real tears...sometimes looking over her shoulder to squeal menacingly at the table. I know it is just the first of many bumps and bruises we are bound to experience, yet somehow telling myself that does not bring me comfort when I see that blue mark on the cheek of my perfect little baby. I love her determined and adventurous spirit and given the set of parents she was born to...I expect many more scrapes, bruises and scuffles from here on out. I'm just hoping I toughen up a bit and watching her negotiate her relationship with the potentially harmful things out there in the world gets easier as life goes on....
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Seven Months
Dear Rhea Sue,
You turned seven months old this week...and though I know it is near impossible to record every new thing you have been up to for the past month, I'm going to do my best to hit the highlights. Number one highlight, from my perspective anyway, being your Mama...it really does get better and better every day. I know I touched upon your blossoming personality in my last letter to you but man have you stepped it up a notch...you are one sweet and funny little girl.
This month could best be described as your "increased mobility" month...and with that newfound mobility came a lust for paper products that borders on obsession. Just this morning you were squirming your way past your brightly colored blocks and toys to head straight towards a small piece of paper on the floor (I beat you to it) then my Dwell magazine (again rescued without incident) then the subscription card that fell out of the Dwell magazine as I was taking it to safer and higher ground (You won with that one and managed to get a corner off and ingested before I realized what was going on). Yesterday morning your Papa had gotten up with you bright and early to give me a little more rest and he dozed off for a minute while you were playing together on the floor...by the time he opened his eyes you had managed to eat half of of one of the sweetest thank-you cards I have ever gotten (thanks to your Auntie Josie)...luckily he had woken up before you made it to the other sweetest thank you card ever (and a thanks to your Uncle Hubba). I think the days of being able to take our eyes from you for even a second are gone and the days of baby proofing the house are upon us. A final note on the paper consumption, shared at the risk of going too far with all of this, I even found a piece of paper in your diaper...having gone in one end and come out the other. Your first official food? Definitely paper. I have to try and just breathe with this one...because I watch you like a HAWK...you move at a snails pace...and still always with the paper.
Speaking of food, this was also your first month of solid food...and again you surprised me. Your interest in my food had been growing over the previous month so I expected you to welcome the world of solids with open arms. Yeah...not so much. You remain somewhat unimpressed unless you can eat whatever it is that I happen to be eating...somehow avocado from my burrito tastes better than from your little bowl...and who cares about fruit that has been mashed up in a safe and manageable consistency? Not you...you want the "real fruit" in all it's potential choking glory. Sweet potatoes? Boring. Pasta made with refined flour and covered with acidic tomato sauce? Bring it on! Oh and you are way too savvy to be fooled by me trying to pretend to eat your food and convince you it is actually mine...those lip smacking excited faces are lost on you. You just want the spoon so you can fling whatever pureed delicacy I'm trying to serve you around the room. The faces you make, when I do manage to get some food into you, are priceless...I don't know if I can capture it with words but you make these soft talking noises whenever I feed you something...and your little hands start moving at the end of your wrists in a wriggling open and closing movement. It kills me and I can never tell if you are enjoying the experience or wondering quietly to yourself what exactly it is that your Mama is trying to do to you.
As far as your expanding personality goes I am pleased to report that you are sweet to the core. This has been confirmed by friends (Hai Nhu waxed poetic about your lovely disposition in her latest post), family and even the passing stranger (I take the time to add that so you can know that it isn't just your Mama going on and on about how wonderful you are) The other day we were at the pediatrician's office and I had sat you down in the waiting room to play while I scheduled your next appointment...when I had to run out to the car to retrieve my wallet the receptionist, a lovely woman named Imke, offered to keep an eye you...when I came back you were surrounded by a circle of women who worked in the office who were all just watching you play. One of them asked me what I had done to produce such a sweet and calm baby. I had to tell her it was all you...that you had come into the world with this sweet disposition and the only thing I had done was try to create an environment in which that disposition could thrive (or at the very least wasn't squashed). She told me I was being very humble which made me feel good for a minute but honestly I really do believe you were born this sweet.
You have also increased your cute quotient by leaps and bounds...I think it comes from your increased facial expressions and a growing awareness of cause and effect (as in you act cute and everyone around you melts into a puddle). We have a visitor from Australia right now, Timmy, and he has commented that you should be in Nappy commercials (which is Australian for diapers) because your disposition in so pleasant and you have the added bonus of knowing how to work a camera. Of course your Papa agrees...he keeps trying to get me to submit your picture to the Gerber baby food company.
And as calm and good natured as you are...you are no shrinking violet...you have another side of you that is very physical you possess an intense focus and of late a burning desire to be locomotive. You have reached most physical milestones earlier than other babies I know and will practice your moves all day long. I think today was a turning point in that you moved forward almost as much as you moved backward and you absolutely perfected the task of sitting up from lying on your stomach. I literally can (and do) spend hours watching you.
Rhea I wonder if I will ever be able to capture for you how amazing it is that you are in my world. Lately you have been looking into my eyes with such love and recognition that it honestly takes my breath away. I think of how lucky I am everyday and remind myself to cherish each moment...
I look forward to seeing how you take on the world with your sweet and loving demeanor and determined and persistent drive. I imagine big things ahead for us....
All my love,
Mama
You turned seven months old this week...and though I know it is near impossible to record every new thing you have been up to for the past month, I'm going to do my best to hit the highlights. Number one highlight, from my perspective anyway, being your Mama...it really does get better and better every day. I know I touched upon your blossoming personality in my last letter to you but man have you stepped it up a notch...you are one sweet and funny little girl.
This month could best be described as your "increased mobility" month...and with that newfound mobility came a lust for paper products that borders on obsession. Just this morning you were squirming your way past your brightly colored blocks and toys to head straight towards a small piece of paper on the floor (I beat you to it) then my Dwell magazine (again rescued without incident) then the subscription card that fell out of the Dwell magazine as I was taking it to safer and higher ground (You won with that one and managed to get a corner off and ingested before I realized what was going on). Yesterday morning your Papa had gotten up with you bright and early to give me a little more rest and he dozed off for a minute while you were playing together on the floor...by the time he opened his eyes you had managed to eat half of of one of the sweetest thank-you cards I have ever gotten (thanks to your Auntie Josie)...luckily he had woken up before you made it to the other sweetest thank you card ever (and a thanks to your Uncle Hubba). I think the days of being able to take our eyes from you for even a second are gone and the days of baby proofing the house are upon us. A final note on the paper consumption, shared at the risk of going too far with all of this, I even found a piece of paper in your diaper...having gone in one end and come out the other. Your first official food? Definitely paper. I have to try and just breathe with this one...because I watch you like a HAWK...you move at a snails pace...and still always with the paper.
Speaking of food, this was also your first month of solid food...and again you surprised me. Your interest in my food had been growing over the previous month so I expected you to welcome the world of solids with open arms. Yeah...not so much. You remain somewhat unimpressed unless you can eat whatever it is that I happen to be eating...somehow avocado from my burrito tastes better than from your little bowl...and who cares about fruit that has been mashed up in a safe and manageable consistency? Not you...you want the "real fruit" in all it's potential choking glory. Sweet potatoes? Boring. Pasta made with refined flour and covered with acidic tomato sauce? Bring it on! Oh and you are way too savvy to be fooled by me trying to pretend to eat your food and convince you it is actually mine...those lip smacking excited faces are lost on you. You just want the spoon so you can fling whatever pureed delicacy I'm trying to serve you around the room. The faces you make, when I do manage to get some food into you, are priceless...I don't know if I can capture it with words but you make these soft talking noises whenever I feed you something...and your little hands start moving at the end of your wrists in a wriggling open and closing movement. It kills me and I can never tell if you are enjoying the experience or wondering quietly to yourself what exactly it is that your Mama is trying to do to you.
As far as your expanding personality goes I am pleased to report that you are sweet to the core. This has been confirmed by friends (Hai Nhu waxed poetic about your lovely disposition in her latest post), family and even the passing stranger (I take the time to add that so you can know that it isn't just your Mama going on and on about how wonderful you are) The other day we were at the pediatrician's office and I had sat you down in the waiting room to play while I scheduled your next appointment...when I had to run out to the car to retrieve my wallet the receptionist, a lovely woman named Imke, offered to keep an eye you...when I came back you were surrounded by a circle of women who worked in the office who were all just watching you play. One of them asked me what I had done to produce such a sweet and calm baby. I had to tell her it was all you...that you had come into the world with this sweet disposition and the only thing I had done was try to create an environment in which that disposition could thrive (or at the very least wasn't squashed). She told me I was being very humble which made me feel good for a minute but honestly I really do believe you were born this sweet.
You have also increased your cute quotient by leaps and bounds...I think it comes from your increased facial expressions and a growing awareness of cause and effect (as in you act cute and everyone around you melts into a puddle). We have a visitor from Australia right now, Timmy, and he has commented that you should be in Nappy commercials (which is Australian for diapers) because your disposition in so pleasant and you have the added bonus of knowing how to work a camera. Of course your Papa agrees...he keeps trying to get me to submit your picture to the Gerber baby food company.
And as calm and good natured as you are...you are no shrinking violet...you have another side of you that is very physical you possess an intense focus and of late a burning desire to be locomotive. You have reached most physical milestones earlier than other babies I know and will practice your moves all day long. I think today was a turning point in that you moved forward almost as much as you moved backward and you absolutely perfected the task of sitting up from lying on your stomach. I literally can (and do) spend hours watching you.
Rhea I wonder if I will ever be able to capture for you how amazing it is that you are in my world. Lately you have been looking into my eyes with such love and recognition that it honestly takes my breath away. I think of how lucky I am everyday and remind myself to cherish each moment...
I look forward to seeing how you take on the world with your sweet and loving demeanor and determined and persistent drive. I imagine big things ahead for us....
All my love,
Mama
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
July 4th
What a wonderful day...a welcome break mid week and a special treat having Papa home with us. We enjoyed an amazing day with Catherine and her family, John, Hai Nhu and Evelyn and our Australian visitor Timmy. The day was hot hot hot and though Rhea got off to a bit of a rocky start (she either had a minor cold or was teething) it ended up being a fun filled day of sun, swimming, lazing about and generally just enjoying one another's company.This photo sums up the day beautifully I think...Evelyn and Rhea heady with sweet baby love for each other...Rhea really loves Evelyn (and everything Evelyn does) and I think the feeling is mutual.
These pictures were taken in a tent that Catherine had set up beside the pool...providing a soft place for the babies to crawl around and some much needed respite from the sun...as you can see from this next picture it wasn't just the babies who loved this arrangement.
After a long afternoon of sunning, swimming and snacking...Rhea took a ride in a Mexican baby hammock hung from the rafters in the sun porch...it is a beautiful handwoven hammock that Catherine swung so high I felt butterflies in my stomach...but Rhea loved it.
And as the afternoon was winding down we all sat in the cooler great room of the house and listened to Timmy playing the piano....
By the end of the day we were all hopelessly relaxed and feeling the warm skinned jelly limbed feeling I associate with long summer days. It know this first 4th of July with Evelyn and Rhea will remain a warm memory of these early baby days and our growing families.
Monday, July 2, 2007
giant step for baby kind
Given my lengthy post on Rhea's crawling progress, this video is quite timely. She is right on the edge...but an edge that is much closer than the last edge I thought she was on. I dare say she will be crawling by the end of the week (having learned nothing from my earlier declaration)
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Harvest
A wonderful Sunday afternoon was enjoyed by all harvesting plums from the tree behind Nana and Grandpa's house. This motherhood thing must mess with your head because I'm seriously planning on making plum preserves.
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