six months old

thea started babbling in multi syllables this month - lots of babas, dadas, wawas with a mama or two thrown in for good measure - which is so much fun to hear. she's been making a lot of girly noises lately, squeals and giggles, which are her dad's favorite and pretty much the cutest sounds i've ever heard. she loves to laugh, jump!, swing at the playground, go for long walks in the bjorn and generally is always up for a good time. [that last sentence sounds like it could be from her eHarmony profile.]

i can't believe she's half a year old today [or point five as zack likes to say]. just one of many small milestones but it feels really amazing to see her thriving and growing more and more into her own person each day. it's becoming abundantly clear that said little person has a lot of energy. and likes to move. like ALL THE TIME.

rock it

sorry for the light posting this week. work has been busy and with monday being a holiday everything has been compressed, making for a very hectic four days....

the rock 'n roll marathon is happening here this weekend and since our house is on the race route [after six months, the road construction was finally finished on friday!], we're hosting a breakfast on sunday morning to cheer on all our friends crazy enough to run. good luck heather, julie, jeremy, january and jess!! we'll see you at mile 18! [tasty tidbit, and maybe this is too much information, but marathon day last year marked the final time i had morning sickness. i remember like it was yesterday, running back to the house, booting in the backyard and then rallying for rest of the race. boy i don't miss that feeling.]

my sister asked for more video and since her birthday was this week, i planned to oblige. but i've been trying since yesterday and am not able to upload video, which is extremely frustrating. i'll add it to this post as soon as i can get it to work. sorry!!

twenty four years ago today

i remember like it was yesterday, getting all dressed up, excited beyond belief to meet my new baby sister. i was at a slumber party the night katherine crews was born and we were watching this movie when the phone rang, my dad calling to tell me the news. i remember buying an 'it's a girl' balloon in the gift shop on the way up to my mom's hospital room, thrilled that i was now a big sister.



from that first moment until now, i've loved sharing life with you little katsky. i hope you have the best year yet. i love you!!

happy birthday jimbo!

we won't reveal which year you are celebrating, just that it's KIND OF A BIG DEAL and we'll leave it at that. wishing you a very happy birthday from your west coast family and cheers to a wonderful year ahead!



photo of zack and the birthday boy, 1975.

nanu nanu

thea has two activity centers, one upstairs and one downstairs. the one downstairs has springs and allows her to jump to her little heart's content. this has been a lifesaver in the evenings [thank you grandma!] as we put her in it while we eat dinner and she's able to get all her energy out before bed. [plus the added bonus of remaining upright after she eats generally means less puking, though her maniacal jumping often counteracts this - i'll post a video soon.]

we call the contraption upstairs her "office" because it houses so many gadgets, buttons, widgets and iphone apps. [what is she doing with all those apps??] there's even a mock slot machine; thanks baby einstein for teaching our kid about gambling. i was wondering if five months was too young to take her to a casino but hey, i guess not!

nuggie's office is ground zero for the numerous high-level projects she has underway, most of them top secret. if i had to guess i'd say she's close to finding a cure for the swine flu but i can't be positive about this. she always concentrates extremely intensely when she's working [exhibit A and B below], so much so that her anterior fontanelle begins to pulse.





one might argue that it's a little creepy, though of course i think it's cute. whenever her soft spot starts to move, we tease her and ask her if she's receiving signals from her home planet. beep beep boop. beep beep. boop boop boop. she doesn't find this funny but i think we might be on to something here....

you expect me to eat that?

last week we delved into a whole new world of tastes and textures and i have to say, it's been pretty entertaining for zack and me. we added three different foods to nuggie's main staple of brown rice cereal: avocado, banana and sweet potatoes. i've really been putting my culinary skills to the test and even learned how to steam vegetables! we're all growing and developing here people.

a brief rundown of thea's likes/dislikes thus far:

avocado = total flop. it was met with shivers, gagging and head shaking which is strange since she loved guacamole the few times we let her taste it.

banana = lukewarm. she likes a few bites and then it, too, elicts gags.

sweet potatoes = outlook is sunny. this has been her favorite so far, but not without some prodding. i start by giving her a few bites mixed with cereal and then we progress to eating it solo.

below is video documentation of miss monker's histrionics. notice how she's pretending not to be interested in eating. don't be fooled, when the camera isn't rolling, she quickly resumes her little piggy impersonation.



and some photos that zack took:





update: i have to admit that thea has gotten so much better about eating sweet potatoes since we took this video last week. whatever the reason, hunger or the fact that she's resigned to eating the 10,000 pounds i made and froze, she's gobbling them up now.

make time to see this

the oscar-winning documentary about a girl in india born with a cleft lip is going to be airing on HBO in june. you can view the trailer here.

can't wait to see it!

looks like all his campaigning paid off

zack has been determined to get thea to say dada since the day she was born. in fact, i think he once guaranteed that it would be her first word. awhile back i attempted to launch my own 'mama' campaign but quickly realized i didn't have the strength or determination that he possessed. yesterday we saw the fruits of his labor and it was pretty amazing!

fast forward to 2:03 if you don't want to sit through the entire video.



ps: thea sat unassisted this morning for almost a minute. so exciting and yet it makes me a little sad that my baby is growing up so fast!

hair today, gone tomorrow

sorry for the graphic nature of this post but my hair continues to fall out at an alarming rate. it's been a month now [i remember because it started when i was at my parents' house, around 20 weeks post-partum] and although zack tells me he can't notice a difference, i find this hard to believe. i could probably knit a sweater for every child in india with the hair i've lost.

if this keeps up, thea and i are going to be sporting the same hair style before long: business in the front, party in the back. yah baby.

the first of many, i hope

we had a very lovely day yesterday. zack and thea did such a great job with the festivities, i couldn't have planned a better first mother's day myself :)

i got to sleep in until 6:30 am - my, times have changed when that's considered 'sleeping in' but we all have to be grateful for small things i guess - and then spent a good hour snuggling with our little monkey. [yes, we still have that same damn comforter. it might just be the death of me.]



later in the morning we drove about an hour east of our house and hiked to a waterfall:



the waterfall itself was somewhat anticlimactic but watching thea enjoy the hike made it all worthwhile. she loves being outdoors and exploring life from the bjorn, generally bouncing her legs, flailing her arms and making lots of noise. she gets so excited about whatever we do and is always up for an adventure. i absolutely love this side of her though i'm sure i'll be cursing it at least a million times when she's a teenager.







































after the hike, zack and i went to a yoga class, our first one together since thea was born, while heather babysat [thank you heather, that was such a treat!], and finished the evening with a yummy steak dinner prepared by zack.

i'd like to file a motion to make mother's day once a week. anyone? anyone?

and to all my friends and family who are mothers or became mothers this year, congratulations and i hope you enjoyed your day! being a mom is not the easiest job in the world but i can't think of anything i've ever done that's more fun.

in honor of my mother

i hope that one day thea has as many wonderful memories of moments with me as i have of my mom.

thanks mama mia. i love you!

they call me 'fish hook'

i have at least ten photos of thea with a finger [or three] in her mouth just like this, but here is my favorite:



plus another cute one of the nug with her dada, taken at the same time:

crib recall

i found out yesterday that nuggie's crib has been recalled. so, we're going to take it apart this weekend [zack] and go shopping for another crib [me]. i guess we'll get a voucher for the price of the old crib but, still, what a pain in the neck.

on a side note, i'm eating a sprouted wheat bagel from trader joe's and thinking of my mom this morning.

just the three of us

we were with extended family for so long and then returned back to a busy week of work and catching up on all the little things that i forgot how nice it is to just hang out at home with boo #1 and little boozie.

south beach, fl

our miami trip came and went too fast. in a very full three days, we got to meet little max, hang out with family, eat great food, play a lot of gin, grab a drink with zeus and manuela, watch the red sox beat the yankees THREE TIMES IN A ROW, and even sit in the sun for a few minutes. here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend....

g.ma [or would you spell that jima?] and jimbo:







i love this photo:



beautiful baby max:



thea trying to eat beautiful baby max:





g.g.pa and papa:



three generations of randel [manuel] men:



thea loves her g.ma:



happy belated birthday g.g.ma!





it's nearly impossible to get 11 adults and two infants all looking good at the same time but here's the best [and only] photo i have of the entire group:



our last photo before heading home:



we had such a good time and are incredibly happy that the entire family could be together. thank you carol and jim for making our stay so amazing! let's do it again soon...we miss everyone already!

our wicked awesome trip home

we had so much fun hanging out at home but it went so fast and i'm kicking myself that i didn't take more pictures. i'm especially sad that i didn't get one of thea, scarlett and hayden [plus baby day-to-be] at the brunch :( how did that not happen?! anyway, here are a few photos from our week in newburyport.

thea and big ducky:



my cousin, elizabeth, who made a trip up from virginia to hang with us [e: it was so great to see you!!]:





thea and her cousin, william:





my dad's cousin, frances:



wee william, getting bigger by the day:



aunt katie always provided a human jungle gym for nuggie:



my mama and dada:

it was wonderful to see so many friends and family. thank you for making time to meet our little monkey! and thanks to my parents, katie, john and lucy, as always, for all of your love and help. we MISS you!!

ps: miss puke-adora apologizes for the gallons of spit-up that went all over each of you and everything else in the house!