Month 8

Dear Sophie,

Today you are eight months old. Eight months is a whole lot of months. This month you hit several milestones. First, you started crawling. You were very hesitant at first, and would screw up your face and make grunting noises because moving your arms forward was just so hard. But now, it's like you've been crawling forever and I have to run just to keep up with you.

You are still a little picky with your food, and are still eschewing the green stuff. But we started giving you the baby food 'meals', and you have developed a tolerance for sweet potato and turkey, and have found a new love in blueberries. You would still rather subsist on Puffs alone, however.

You are still not crazy about the super-nice pricey stroller that you dad and I purchased for you, but for some reason you absolutely adore riding in grocery carts. You're so high up! And there are so many things to see! And groceries are so colorful! And so many people to stare at until they get uncomfortable!

We need to have a serious conversation about the biting thing. It used to be so cute when you would gum my fingers and my chin. But now, now, you have teeth. Lots of them. And it's no longer cute, because it hurts. So if by the time you read these, I only have 9 fingers and a chunk taken out of my face, you will know who's to blame regardless of the crazy story about the rabid werewolves breaking into the house and attacking me.

Love,

Mama

She works hard for the money.

And now we know who REALLY does all the work around here.

We should probably move that mattress down.

Moving Forward.

She figured it out.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes. And ankles.

Last week, while playing basketball, your father tore his Achilles tendon. He was in an extraordinary amount of pain, and went straight to the emergency room. Yesterday, he went into the Virginia Hospital Center to have it reattached surgically. The operation was outpatient, but took about two hours. This morning, he's still in unbearable pain, despite the meds.

On the upside, you commandeered the Get Well balloon, and entertained everyone in the waiting room for hours.

Why I'm not crazy.

I just have to explain this. Because people keep asking why I do certain things the way I do. Because I've always been somewhat neurotic, just a tad OCD, maybe a touch bipolar, but everyone agrees just a bit off.
www.sids.org
www.sids-network.org
and finally, if the making-me-crazy information doesn't make you a believer:
http://badladies.blogspot.com/2009/01/little-beaner-rest-in-peace.html

I do not have a bumper in your crib. I run a humidifier next to your crib every single night. You do not have loose blankets, or stuffed animals, or any toys in your crib. Your jammies fit you exactly- actually, they may be slightly on the small side. I know that there is so much more knowledge than there was when I was a baby, and there will be so much more when you have babies, and I pray that someday somebody, somewhere, finds a cause or a reason or a prevention or something. We do what we know to do. I can't ignore any information that 'may help' because the 'may help' has this exraordinary meaning, where if I did it probably wouldn't matter but if I didn't... the chances of the 'I didn't'... even if it's 0.0001%, is just much too much too great, becuase the consequences are so very dire.
We all do the best we know how, and that's all we can do. And right now, at this moment, this is the best we know, and I'm doing it.

Pot[holder]head.

It's times like these when I wonder how on earth I got my kicks and giggles some other way.

RAAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!!!

Encore.

Back by popular demand, and the continual questions as to if all the cool kids are really doing it, and if all the cool kids were to jump off of a bridge would we allow that also, and we say SURE, as long as there's a bungee cord involved, but for right now, YES, all the cool kids ARE really doing it.

All the cool kids also got pet penguins for Christmas. Mama's still working on that one.

Also, if someone knows how to get video from a JVC Enverio onto the blog you won't have to watch videos from my phone any more. Comments are OPEN.

Facial expressions are genetic.

Happy New Year!!!

River Update - the bionic dog

I've noticed that this blog gets quite a bit of traffic headed not to the baby pages, but to the dog pages. And I thought I'd just post an update.

In '07, our dog River had her first TPLO surgery. That's right, I said first. She was running around the dog park, not even excessive running or jumping or whatever, no falling, nothing to indicate she had injured herself. We noticed some slight limping on her rear leg, with a strange clicking noise whenever she would walk around. After about a week, we realized she was getting a tiny bit worse every day, and took her to the vet. The clicking was essentially her patella (kneecap) clacking against her tibia.

She had the surgery, and we spent a lot of money at a holistic vet doing doggy therapy in the hopes that she would have a speedy recovery. A fast recovery is essential after a TPLO surgery. Due to the fact that after the surgery, a dog places nearly all of her weight constantly on the opposite leg, once a TPLO is done on the first leg there is a 60% chance she will need a TPLO on the other leg as well.

In January '08, almost a year after we noticed the symptoms the first time, River got off her leash during a walk and ran. We caught her right away, but not before the damage was done. This time, the limping was more severe, and the clacking louder. This time, she seemed to be in constant pain, instead of the intermittent limping we witnessed the first time around. We knew right away what had happened. We took her straight to the surgical vet (the Hope Center), bypassing our own vet completely. And $3K later, River had another TPLO surgery.

This time, we decided not to do the rehab. At that point, it was cost prohibitive for us, and we did not really feel that it had made that much of a difference. Watching her heal the second time nearly as quickly and as well as she had the first time, I do not regret forgoing the rehab.

We are coming up on January '09. River runs and plays and jumps, but she's not going through a metal detector anytime soon. She does not show any outward signs of being any different from our other dog.

She is no longer in pain, and for that I am eternally thankful.

We were blessed with the ability to afford such expensive care for our pet, but still needed help. We used Care First - a program that is essentially a credit card that can be used only for medical reasons at selected health care providers, which included the Hope Center. We were able to use the 3 month, no interest plan, and were able to budget the payments to have it paid off in time.

Her very first komodo dragon.

Month 7

Dear Sophie,

Today you are seven months old. You are growing up so very quickly, sometimes it scares me. You are more interactive every day, grabbing at everything in sight. Your coordination has improved vastly, and you grab hold of hair, necklaces, keys, purse straps, pretty much anything and everything. And it all goes in your mouth. Including your sign.

You are getting better with food. You will eat most of the vegetable purees, especially the 'orange' ones, like squash, carrots and -your favorite- sweet potatoes. You also love puffs, little crunchy things made by Gerber that dissolve in your mouth. I put them in front of you, on your highchair tray. And you reach out with those tiny little fat fingers and grab them by wee little handfuls, and bring them to your mouth. And then - who knows? Some end up in your mouth. Others get stuck to your chin, to your cheeks, or on the underside of your hands. I even found one behind your ear the other day. And most of them fall on the floor, where Janka, in a state of puff-induced bliss, sits waiting to gobble every wayward puff before it hits the ground.

Your relationship with River and Janka was truly unexpected, and is wonderful. River is more sedate, and gives you passing kisses as she walks by your exersaucer. You open your mouth in a wide smile, because, well, you love getting doggy kisses. Janka is constantly excited, and is our little troublemaker who runs insanely all over the house in endless circles, making little clacking noises on the wood floor with her nails. And you sit and watch this nutjob of a dog, running all over the place with a squeaky toy half hanging out of her mouth, and I swear this is the funniest thing you will ever see. Your father and I try all day to make you laugh, your huge belly laugh that echoes throughout the entire house, with hit-or-miss success. That dog, however, makes you screech with laughter, just by being her crazy self.

We moved into the new house this month, right before Christmas. Your room is much bigger, and you don't have share it with the computer anymore. None of your things are on the wall yet, but I'm sure we'll get around to hanging stuff really soon. But for now we go up and down stairs all the time, and your room has carpet so you roll around on the floor. You're not crawling yet, but you get on your hands and knees and rock, and I'm sure you'll figure it out really soon.

We had the whole family over for Christmas. Your Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Ashley came all the way from Illinois to stay with us for about a week. Your Grandpa and Ashley hadn't seen you since you were a teeny tiny baby, and marvelled at how much you'd grown. We also had your Abuelita, Abuelito, your Great-Grandmother, Tia Monica, and your cousins from Maryland over to celebrate and exchange gifts. You got lots and lots of loving from everyone.

You now have six teeth, and you are a chewing, teething monster. At a couple of resteraunts, you have gnawed on tables. Tables! One evening we went out to the Cheesecake Factory, where they have granite table tops, and you bent all the way down to give it a taste. But granite is really, really hard, and you hurt your mouth. And, my dear, that's why we don't chew on tables. Besides the fact that we're not a family of beavers. Who probably still wouldn't chew on granite.

Your favorite sounds to make are 'Yissssh' and 'Yeeeah', so we ask you questions, like 'Is your mommy always right?' and you say 'Yeeeah' and this is how I know you're really really smart.

Oh- and for the record, teeth and nipples are a pretty bad combination. We'll leave that topic for another day.

I love coming home from work. I look forward to that moment when I see you again, after a long day at the office, to your huge smile. Yesterday, when I held you right after coming home, you pushed your nose against mine in an Eskimo kiss, as if to say, 'hi! Welcome home, and I missed you.'

I missed you too, baby.

Love,

Mama

Sleeping...

Just wanted everyone to know, we like the new carseat just fine. Well, after she's all tuckered out from the screaming.

And yes, we also like hats.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Merry Christmas!

She has teefess. Six whole teefess.

The better to bite you with, my dear.

Rubber sharky, you're the one.

Always havin' so much fun.

Table service.

Um, hi? I ordered my Ugly Doll with a side of Squeaky Echinodermata Ophiothela, NOT Squeaky Echinodermata Asteroidia. Idiot.

Joyriding.

Does your father know what you are doing?

time: (n.) a limited period or interval, as between two successive events.