in her swing

i was playing around with the color set function on my camera this afternoon and i got this great shot of thea with one of her many frogs:

four months old

poopy poopy everywhere

here's a quick video that i took last tuesday, march 17. this was just before thea's first night in her crib, sleeping in her own room. zack had calendared the big event for sunday night but there was a major poop incident that prevented such a move according to schedule.

our changing table is next to the crib and unfortunately during an early morning diaper change, thea was positioned butt-to-crib and [i think you know where i'm going with this...] let's just say she fired a warning shot across the bow then followed it up with a parting shot through the crib slats, completely soiling her white bumper [what was i thinking??] and sheets in one fell swoop. i'll spare you the details by saying it was truly a sight to wake up to. as previously mentioned, carol was an all-star cleaning up the bedding and taught me about the [truly miraculous] stain-removing powers of bleach.

the transition to the crib was definitely harder for me. i had all these thoughts of 'she's growing up so fast! she's already leaving us!' but thea didn't seem to mind the change nor care about leaving our room. in fact, she LOVES the mobile above her new digs, as you'll see, and it actually keeps her entertained if/when she wakes up before dawn. so that's been an added bonus.

she sleeps really well in her crib during the day, [almost too well...zack and i are at odds over whether her three-hour morning naps are healthy] but she's still waking up once, sometimes twice in the night. which leaves us feeling less than bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when we need to work in the morning. hopefully we'll get a handle on the nighttime sleeping soon.

other than that, i can't complain.



sorry for the dark, grainy nature of the video. i need to work on my lighting.

me and thee

our family grows bigger!

william saunders mendelson made his entrance into the world early this morning. he's a peanut weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 18.5 inches long. congratulations lucy and john!



we can't wait to meet him!!!

this meeting is now in session

we had so much fun hanging out with zack's mom over the last few days. thea loves her grandma/nanny/carolsie [name still pending] very much and they were thick as thieves, picking up right where they left off in january. carol was such a big help with shopping, advice, cooking, cleaning poop stains [more on that later...] and babysitting. zack and i even got to go to a movie! we saw slumdog millionaire [our first movie since nuggie's arrival!] which we both liked a lot.

carol generously bought thea a bunch of fun new toys while she was here, including the bumbo chair pictured below. thea clearly loves being the main attraction when she's sitting in it. in fact, the minute we put her in the chair she immediately called a meeting to order. she had many agenda items to discuss with us.

here she is making her opening remarks:



...sharing her thoughts on the stimulus package:



...and campaigning for more variety in her diet:



we're working on it kid.

mia and big ducky's visit

here are a few photos taken while my parents were here. in case you're wondering about the title of this post, these are the names that they would like thea to call them. i couldn't be happier with their choices!

my dad was the first one to teach thea do a pull up last week. she grabbed onto his fingers and tensed her neck trying to lift herself up. he helped her pull up to a seated position and she was clearly very proud of herself. now it's all she wants to do. zack woke up this morning and she had her hands on the side of her moses basket trying to sit up on her own. we're in trouble. have i said this already?

a busy week

there's a lot going on right now in the randel/mendelson household so i'm sorry for the light posting this week!

- my parents left yesterday after a really fun [but really quick] week. i was, once again, so sad to see them go. we had such a good time and they got to know little thee again. she has changed so much since they left in early january which i didn't quite realize since i see her everyday. my mom called nuggie a 'wild woman' on more than one occasion and it's the perfect description for her when she gets her little legs moving and runs her mouth endlessly. we're in trouble.

- i started back to work on monday with mixed emotions. i was given a project that needs to be completed by march 30th, so there's no time to dilly dally, which is probably for the best.

- we went to LA today for another follow-up appointment at children's hospital. our next visit is in six weeks. driving up to LA and back for a 30 minute appointment is super annoying but thea continues to be great on the trips. she sleeps both ways and as long as we let her play and stretch her legs for a bit before and after we see the doctor, she's a happy camper.

- zack's mom arrives tomorrow! we can't wait to see her and are hoping maybe she can help us with some much needed sleep training. [thea slept from 8:30p to 4:15a and then 5:15a to 8:15a last night. not bad but we're trying to eliminate the 4a wake up call and also move her into her own room. if anyone has thoughts on 'cry-it-out' vs. 'no-cry' sleep solutions, i'd love to hear them!] as well, check out carol's most recent column in the westport news when you have a minute. thea is famous!



p.s. we got our first real laughs today! zack was holding thea this morning and zerberting her neck and they just kept rolling out of her mouth. i got a few on the changing table tonight. it's so fun to hear those sweet, joyful sounds!

we hope everyone is happy and healthy! xox

forty years!

dear mom and dad: i hope you have a wonderful day. thank you for getting married; for being such loving, supportive, patient and happy parents; for being my most trusted advisors; for being two of my best friends in the whole world. i love you both and am so glad that we get to spend today [and this week] together.



...and thank you for babysitting last night :)

also, a happy birthday wish to thea's uncle eli! we can't wait to see you next month.

the spit up assassin

i've started calling thea 'the spit up assassin' as she has little regard for anything that might be in her path. she routinely takes out her clothes, our clothes, bib after bib, clean sheets on our freshly made bed, anything and everything, with wreckless abandon. i've never done so much laundry in my life! she's a heedless messer as her grandfather would say [maybe she takes after her aunt katie?], but we love her anyway.

here's just a [very small] sampling of her work. art, really.

three months old