tour dates announced!

just booked flights. we'll be coming to a city near you this spring....

boston: april 15-22
miami: april 23-27

in other travel news, both sets of grandparents are making another west coast swing before the arrival of more grandchildren in late march [maulsby/mendelson] and early april [randel/manuel]. my parents will be here march 4-11 and zack's parents are coming out the following week, dates still tbd. we can't wait!!

pre-op

i'll write about the surgery and our whole experience when i have more time but i wanted to post this photo of thea in her hospital gown. it's possibly one of my favorite photos of her and the last picture i took before her cleft lip was repaired. she and her dad were all business that morning and it's as if she's thinking "let's just get this over with." if she had an idea of what was going to happen, she may have felt differently.

thea looks so much like zack to me in this photo. it's the first time i've seen such a resemblance...the expression, especially, is so zack.

happy birthday johnny

i love you!



i posted this photo of me and john because it's one of my favorites. as i was writing this, i realized that i'm the same age in this photo that thea is now. september 1976, 32 1/2 years ago. wow, how quickly time flies!

my funny valentine

we met with a potential nanny on saturday morning. thea, in typical fashion, pooped through her clothes about two minutes before the woman arrived at our house. i quickly threw on another outfit and we went downstairs to meet her. we chatted for awhile, i asked lots of questions and both zack and i got a really good feeling about her. zack's favorite part of the interview was her response to his question about what time she's available to start in the mornings: "my husband gets up for work at 5:30 so i'm up at 5am to make his breakfast, lunch and all his snacks for the day." i could just see the wheels turning in zack's head. dream on, buddy.

anyway, the woman took thea in her arms and was playing with her when she looked up and said to me: "her clothes are too small! don't you have anything bigger for her to wear?" yeah, i know, thanks for pointing it out. the kid is growing like a weed and the outfit she was wearing is sized for three months and yes, she is too long for it now. i'm a terrible mother, sue me.

so, you'll all be happy to know that thea is now wearing 3-6 month clothes. however, one of my favorite three month outfits is the one pictured below [white with hearts]. so i risked being an inadequate mom and possibly stunting her growth to put her in it one last time for these valentine's day photos:

dada. loooves. thea!

and thea loves her dada. in honor of valentine's day, i thought i'd post some of my favorite zack and thea photos:

the dreaded t.t.

let's just say tummy time has not been going well. i think it's a combination of thea not liking it [or at least that's my projection] and so me not wanting to make her miserable. she gets very frustrated and angry when she's on her stomach. however, i received one of those weekly emails last saturday saying that babies her age should be able to spend 15-20 on their bellies. what a joke...thea won't last two minutes on a good day before becoming hysterical!

so, to make a long story short, we stepped up the t.t. every day this week and, lo and behold, she has made some progress!

last week:





today she stayed on her tummy for about 4 minutes and was even feeling generous enough to let me snap a few photos:









and then the meltdown:



don't hold your breath for the 15-20 minutes. i'll report back when it happens.

brown-eyed girl?

yesterday i noticed a change in thea's eyes. they've been a dark grey since she was born but they are distinctly different now and it looks like they will be some shade of brown or green. my eyes didn't turn green until i was close to 14 so it will probably be awhile before hers settle into their true hue but they are on their way! and they are big as saucers most of the day, taking it all in. she's fascinated with both the plants and the buddha mask hanging in our living room, constantly staring and smiling at them.

date for surgery

thea's surgery is confirmed. it will be the morning of wednesday, february 18. anyone want to come to san diego to help take care of a wounded monkey?