laugh attack

we play games like this most nights before thea goes to bed. everything i've read says you are supposed to spend the time before bed letting your child wind down but we try to squeeze every last drop of energy from our kid as she's got boatloads to spare and i'm afraid of what might happen if it was left to fester inside of her. we always read a few books right before she has her milk and falls asleep but up until those final moments, she's pretty much full steam ahead.

by the way, the glistening on her chest is drool not sweat. eli: i can't say for certain but i'm pretty sure that comes from your side of the family. her dad sported a similar look when we were in college. luckily for me he's managed to get a handle on it in recent years.

eight months old

thea has been two parts fun and one part exhausting this month. i'm constantly trying to stay a step ahead of her, clearing out anything potentially harmful in her path. she started the month crawling a few awkward steps at a time but upon our return from the east coast she was fully coordinated. now when she sets her sights on something she puts her head down and beelines it across the room. i can barely keep up with her!

every month when i sit down to write this post, i think to myself this has been the best month so far, that she's at such a cute stage, that it's not going to get any better than this. yet each month thea becomes more of a little person - doing more, saying more, developing more - and i love each month even more than the last.

nuggie has started to assert some independence which is incredible to witness. when i steady whatever it is she's trying to climb on or pull up on, she politely but firmly removes my hand. "oh, i'm so sorry, am i in your way? pardon me while i prevent you from pulling that bookcase over on yourself. next time i'll just let you bury yourself in books or knock yourself out with one of your dad's heinous decathlon trophies." it makes me laugh now but i imagine that on at least one occasion in the not-too-distant future, it might make me want to strangle her.

thea has tried to put everything and i mean everything in her mouth this month. zack and i have both caught her contorting her body in such a way to get her lips around the stopper attached to the back of the door in her room. it's one of those boing-y doorstops from the 1970s that's coated in probably no less than ten layers of lead paint. we should remove it but when she's not trying to inhale it, it does provide her with endless entertainment.

which brings me to the keys. she loves my keys. she now cries when i take the keys away from her. and so, i believe, we have entered into the [dreaded by some accounts] negotiating phase. "how about you give me those keys so that i can start the car and i'll give you my wallet instead?" the keys keep her still for a few precious moments and make her happy. quite honestly, how can i argue with that smile?







thanks to becky for the chic kimono! it's absolutely adorable and while one might think, "a kimono? that's not very practical," it's actually become one of my favorite pieces of clothing. it's long sleeved yet lightweight which is great for the san diego climate; and it's fitted around the body but allows her legs to be free, both must haves for a baby who is on the move. plus, she looks like a cross between a cute little geisha girl and luke skywalker when she's wearing it. i can't think of a better combo than that!

happy birthday to me

as a lovely present to me and zack on our birthday week, thea reverted back to waking up one time during the night. it's been three nights in a row and she wakes up so inconsolable that i've had no choice but to feed her. we can't figure out whether she's going through a growth spurt and really is starving or perhaps it's her teeth or it could something else entirely. [i feel like we've been saying her teeth are coming in for ages now and there's still no sign that they are going to make an appearance anytime soon.]

while it's definitely a pain in the you-know-what to get up in the middle of the night [especially now that i'm so busy with work], it is a nice reminder of how far we've come. it wasn't so long ago that i thought i'd never have a good night sleep again as i stumbled around in the dark trying to feed, burp, change and comfort our little bundle of joy. so i guess i've gotten spoiled.

this morning someone asked me how old i am now and i had to correct myself as i said 32. this is the first birthday that i haven't been acutely aware of my age and attached significance to the number. it's also the first year that i haven't been totally depressed about getting older [although i'm still not quite ready to retire the 'it's my birthday and i'll cry if i want to' t-shirt i usually wear on this day].

thirty-two will go down as one of the best years of my life. yes, it's my don sweeney year and that alone makes it pretty special. more importantly, it's the year that my first child was born and there's not too much that can top that. the sadness i feel in saying goodbye to the big three two has to do with moving further away from those first moments as a new parent. and oh my god, what an eff-ing amazing experience it was and continues to be. if i may be so fortunate to go through it all again, it may be equally as incredible but it will never be this same experience. i've never fully been ok with the concept of looking forward to something for so long and then, all of a sudden, looking at it in the rear view mirror. and so as i close the chapter on one of the most joyful, stressful, life-altering and memorable years of my life, i'm just trying to take it all in, savor each moment and remember every little detail.

bring it on larry bird.



my first birthday, july 25, 1977.

thirty four

i can't believe my boo turned big poppy ortiz yesterday. or as he prefers, walter payton. i remember when you were turning 21 like it was just yesterday. it's been a crazy, fun, always interesting ride with you and it continues to get better and better. happy birthday my love!!

incommunicado

i'm sorry i've been bad about posting this week. i've been working like crazy to get a new showroom open and something has had to give. unfortunately, it's always these busy periods when i'm crunched for time that annoying things happen. yesterday the battery died in the remote control for my car and i swear to god i think i've forgotten how to unlock a car door with a key. this small inconvenience adds precious minutes onto my endless trips to and from the car, especially when i have a [nearly 18 pound] baby in one arm and all her gear in my hands. then today my phone decided that this would be the perfect time to get stuck in camera mode and unfortunately no other buttons work. i'm currently without a phone which is not good since my cell is also my work and home phone and i'm in the process of trying to coordinate about 10 interviews in the next two days. so, i'm apologizing now for being out of touch and impossible to reach until further notice!

in the meantime, here are a few photos from this past weekend. the nug is in an especially adorable phase right now. we have so much fun just hanging out and playing with her!







i am also posting photos of thea in a beautiful sweater that was made by a family friend. thanks ginny!! it has such lovely detailing and the cutest peter rabbit button in the front. it fits perfectly and should for awhile...i hope so since we are having a heat wave right now and we all have been pretty much hanging out in our diapers.

i like myself, i like myself

i caught thea's favorite activity du jour on video and words can't really do it justice so you'll have to watch. be advised the content is pg-13.

july in mvy

the dawn of a new day

we had such a good time in martha's vineyard with my family and zack's parents. however, the 13-hour trip back to san diego [including a plane, a ferry, a bus and three car rides] wiped us out. thea did really well almost the entire trip until the last five minutes in the car when she completely lost it. by that point it was 11:30p east coast time and she'd been cooped up the entire day. i thought she would go to bed the minute we got inside but she got a second wind. it was most likely the combination of our scrumptiously soft new carpet [which made me giddy too, thank you amy!!] and the fact that she could finally stretch her legs.



i think we all finally fell asleep around midnight and we've been trying to make up for the lost sleep ever since. our waking moments this week have been spent trying to support and protect thea as she attempts to climb anything and everything in her vicinity. we're also trying to baby proof our house, which we thought we had done. now that we have a fully mobile, partially verticle [albeit slightly wobbly] and completely determined child we realize we were woefully unprepared for this new phase. so, i spent $250 at babies r us yesterday buying the latest and greatest in baby safety items but what i think we really need is a helmet and a protective bubble.

____

on a separate note, july 11th marks the anniversary of finding out about nuggie's lip. i remember crying a lot in the days and weeks following the news and zack did a great job of consoling me as best he could, even though he was equally distraught. i remember like it was yesterday when he said, "we'll look back on this a year from now and think we did all that worrying and feeling bad for nothing. it's going to be so minor and not such a big deal."

so now here we are looking in the rear view mirror and he was right. there were hard moments for sure, and i definitely wish i would have worried less before she was born, but i wouldn't trade the experience for anything. i love our beautiful, curious little monkey so much that some days that makes me cry. i guess it's always something, right?

a girl and her grandfather

i'll post more photos from our trip soon [thanks for everything mom and dad!!] but wanted to share this one right away. the big duck looked at thea like this pretty much the entire time we were there and i'm so glad i captured this moment as we were leaving to return home.

father's day at the beach

there haven't been too many nice beach days lately [adios may gray and june gloom!] but father's day happened to be beautiful and i was able to get some great photos [taken june 21].













happy fourth of july everyone!!  love to all.

cosmic girl

i happened to google 'sagittarius baby' the other morning and this is what i found....

Your Cosmic Seeker comes with a cosmic DNA that will always have them seeking. Seeking more knowledge, more understanding and more enlightenment. You'll read in many Astrology books how Sagittarians love to travel and explore and they certainly do. You'll have to make sure your property is fenced with this little guy, but it's their sense of discovery that lies behind it all.

This is a very rich and symbolic sign, full of adventurous tales, epic morals and human triumph. At its core is knowledge. From the moment your Cosmic Seeker is born, they'll be on a life long quest to find answers and they'll want to know the meaning behind everything. Feed this hungry mind with tales of adventure, mystery and fantasy. Any story where there is an epic journey for knowledge, understanding or right over wrong, will appeal to this little guy.

These are happy little souls who, from the moment they are born, seem to sense the 'bigger picture.' They're not too worried about the little things in life and tend to be very calm and content souls. They have a great sense of excitement and when they're little, the night before Christmas, birthdays and special events will be especially tortuous, they simply can't wait. While you're paying the bills, doing the washing, juggling jobs, family and responsibilities, your little Cosmic Seeker is playing out fantasies in their head, wondering what this could mean and that could mean.

Although this is the sign of travel, in my experience Sagittarians actually don't travel any more than any other sign, but I have also observed that they don't need to. It's the spirit of adventure and discovery that is important to them. Follow their interests and no matter what subject is the 'flavor of the day,' encourage it. Get them encyclopedias and have a big map on the wall.

This is one fun little Angel to have in your family and you're going to love them to pieces. They're happy, cheerful and the flame of hope, optimism and the utter joy of discovery burns brightly in their eyes. Keep it aglow and this little cherub will enrich your life beyond belief. Sagittarius is the third and last Fire Sign and those born under this rule are warm, generous and larger than life, they seem to have such a relaxed nature and approach to life that your stress level decreases just being around them.

while i know thea's personality isn't fully developed yet, this fits her to a T [no pun intended]. i feel extremely lucky to have a good-natured sagittarian in our midst. she's a nice balance to the highly sensitive cancer we love so much.