Mom, don't watch this

Seriously. You have to be a dedicated and slightly crazy climber to take this route to get to your next climb.

My heart was actually racing watching this. You have been warned.

Ma! Pa! The crops, they're ... slightly damp!

This is Portland. Why on earth would I write about a few drops of rain? Doesn't it rain there all the time? Why no, dear reader, it doesn't. In fact it very rarely rains between July 4 and October 1. Hence, the excitement. A day off from watering. A chance to wear my super cute raincoat and bake some yummy treats.

In grandparent-worthy news:

Sofia was looking at her toy frog on her carseat and very intentionally grabbed for it. Repeatedly. Grabbing everything she sees can't be far away! Look out dog.

And why aren't there photos of either the cute raincoat or her new baby abilities? Because who has a camera when they need one?

The zoo called, they want their hippo back

So it turns out that two dog walks a day can't counteract the sitting-in-a- chair-all-day, oatmeal cookie eating, post baby having body. In trying to look somewhat presentable for a BBQ, I thought I'd throw on a skirt. The ones that were too big a year ago. Now, they gave me that sausage stuffed into a casing look that everyone wants. That's okay though. I realized I would be wearing the BEST "squishy in the middle" accessory possible. Sofia in our new Ergo carrier. I will prattle on about how much I love this carrier some other time.

Thus started Sofia's busy weekend. Many party dresses will be worn. By her. Mine don't fit.

Her first party was a welcome home/Salmon BBQ for a friend who had been on a fishing boat in Alaska. She was charming, of course. Making eyes at everyone when we got there, crashing for a while, and waiting long enough to fuss for me to finish my beer.

  

 

Next in our big party weekend was our friend Sunny's b'day party. Perfect weather, lots of friends I hadn't seen in a long time, and LOTS of little ones running around or being carried. Her parents made YUMMY "garbage can dinner". In a CLEAN garbage can lined with foil went corn, potatoes, onions, sausages and hot dogs. It was de-lish-us!

Birthday girl cutting her cake

 

Birthday girl and party girl!

 

The third event of her busy weekend was a retirement party at church. For this event, she modeled her new outfit that G'ma Wetter made her:

Could she be any pinker? Or cuter??

 

Topped it off with pizza night to celebrate the cool-ish weather.

A fun filled weekend for the littlest one.

Albert Einstein Jr. lives there

This morning on our walk, there was an algebraic equation written on the sidewalk in chalk.

The answer took up 7 sidewalk squares.

I didn't stop to check the math.

It really is the simple things

This morning I had enough time to bundle Sofia on to me and take the dog on the LONG walk, all the way to the park. We haven't been able to go there in three months.

We got to see all the gardens in their bountiful summer lushness, changes in the Neighborhood, new houses for sale, others sold.

As we left the park, I was just overjoyed. The weather was perfect, the sun was out, the temperature perfect with a little morning chill in the air. People were happy, the dog was romping and the baby was asleep, snuggled against me. The most sublime feeling of happiness washed over me. A million dollars couldn't buy more happiness. I was very blessed and hope I can always remember the best things in life are free.

Stay at home baby

At least until October 1!

My return to work schedule was approved, until realignment on October 1. Sofia will be at home with Dad Monday-Wednesday. Mom will work from home Thursday & Friday morning and take those afternoons off as vacation. Saturday's will fall to Mom and Sunday we'll split the work.

No day care for the first (almost) 5 months of her life!

Now, if only Dad could grow lactating devices....

It's now safe to get lost in the woods

Seasha passed her Search and Rescue certification today!!!

Since she joined our family three(?) years ago, the plan has been to train her for Search and Rescue. She loves to play, and "playing" the Search and Rescue game was no exception.

She's probably been ready since last fall, but due to some politics in the group, and then the arrival of Sofia, this is the first time that has worked out for her test. I don't know if she knew it was coming and was nervous, but yesterday she was such a pill! Three plus hours of running through the woods with her Seasha brain hard at work took care of that!

(post test, resting on the deck)

 

Of a possible 100%, she scored a 92%.  Steve scored a perfect 50% on his part. (naturally. I demand perfection;)  Seasha got a few points off for "not ranging"-Steve didn't agree with that.  She got 5 off for getting a little sidetracked a few times and "finding" small woodland creatures. Hey, she's still a dog, what do you expect? She always got back to the task at hand though. Fortunately, she found the "missing" subject and not the bear that had been about 25 feet away from the subject a while earlier!

When she found the missing person and showed Steve where the victim "K" was, Seasha laid down with K.  K often has to play the missing person and we think Seasha is very worried about this woman's ability to be in the woods without a chaperone! "You again? Didn't I just find you last week? Listen lady, this is fun and all, but seriously, I'm worried about you. Most people don't get lost on such a regular basis. In fact, most people try to avoid it."

Now, we just have to wait for someone to get lost and she can put her skills to use saving people. Any volunteers? :)

 

Sofia wanted to celebrate, so she wore her dog print onesie (they're really small, but trust me, those are tiny little pawprints)

The grown-ups celebrated with some yummy Sunday night homemade pizza. Which capped off an exciting return to cooking for Heather. Sofia and I are getting this figured out a little better, and she's starting to entertain herself for longer periods of time. This week we managed to make bread (cheated in the breadmaker), oatmeal-almond chocolate chip cookies, and tried a new recipe to make zucchini "crab" cakes (no actual crab) to accompany finally making the proscuitto, mozzerella and basil stuffed chicken. No more pre-packaged meals for a while!

Vacation get away

(Sofia and her Great Aunt Mary. We think she's even better than great!)

A huge thank you to my wonderful Aunt and Uncle for again "adopting" us and letting us join them and their kids (my fabulous cousins) down in Sun  River. They let our new family of three use the ginormous master suite. There was an abundance of delicious food, wine and cocktails. Great conversation as always with this family. I felt like a horrible houseguest-disappearing for hours to feed the baby, not helping cook, not bringing anything but some cherries. (Sorry Mom. Yes, you did teach me better than that. I did dishes as often as possible, I swear!)

I have promised that next year not only will I be a more engaging conversationalist, I'll do lots of cooking, including our "famous" pizza. And, we'll sleep in the bunk beds. Plus, in a few years, Sofia will be entertaining for her second cousin C, so he won't be stuck being the only kid with all the grown-ups.

While we were there, the pool was a source of entertainment too. I got to swim laps two nights in a row with my cuz and Uncle. That was fantastic. The whole gang went earlier and helped get little C more comfortable in the water. Of course if there's water, I want Sofia in it too. We spent a little time in the kiddie pool, and some time the first day in the big pool. Got to start Olympic training early you know!

 

Hoping we can show you some more photos soon from photographer extraordinaire, and arm candy for my cousin, J.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dinner

That's what Sofia wanted me to have, I'm sure. She made sure I had enough time to make the dough earlier, then took a huge afternoon nap so I could bake a few batches. Then, crashed out HARD on my lap. I didn't really want to wake a sleeping baby, so, here I sat, roaming the far reaches of the interweb and Craig's list stalking to try to find an ergo carrier. She finally woke up with about 15 minutes until her next feeding. Just enough time to wash the bottles, feed the cat, change her diaper. Not enough time to make the proscuitto, basil and mozzerella stuffed chicken I had planned (sorry Steve). But those little temptress cookies called to me. They tried to pass themselves off as health food with the oats and almonds and eggs for heavens sake.
Since that's CLEARLY what my daughter wanted me to eat, who am I to say no? A girl after my own heart.

Pool Party!

It's been warm, so Dutch Baby's Mommy invited anyone who had Friday afternoon available to come over and make use of the pool.

Of course, we were running late because I had taken a few extra minutes while Sofia napped to <gasp!> eat and read the comics! So, her feeding started late, and I was writing an email, and then I kept remembering more things to pack... So instead of an errand and the pool, it was just pool.

It was Sofia's first co-ed pool party, and she went topless! What a tart! Of course I failed to get a picture of her in her cute reusable swim diaper that I finally managed to get at Milagro's and her cute sun bonnet that T found for us. Next time her first bathing suit pics.

The water was on the refreshing side, so I wasn't sure how she'd like it. We got in slowly, and with her on her back. She didn't love that. So, I put her over my shoulder and kept her legs in. That seemed fine. So, we hung out there, bobbing her around with the water up to her waist, and she fell asleep on my shoulder. I guess that qualifies as a successful first pool party!

The hostesses

 

Post swim in our cutest pool party appropriate outfit.

Two Months Old

So, in addition to the "eat, sleep, poop" mode, sometimes she's awake and alert. She loves to smile at the sound of our voices. She can stare at her mobile for a LONG (in baby land) time. Ceiling fans, trees, lights and sometimes the picture rail are also VERY interesting. We find ourselves staring at her as much as she stares at things.

 

Two months also means vaccines. Things are different and much more controversial then when we got them. After researching my options (Thanks Dr. Sears), we'll be spreading them out a little. So instead of 5 or 6, we got two.

I was prepared for the worst, but with lots of tips from other moms, including nursing her while she got the shot and having tylenol ready, we all seem to have survived.

We also got her weighed and measured. She's still working on her future career as a supermodel. 95th% height, 25+% weight. At least her weight is improving, thanks to her occasional willingness to take a bottle. (one of the times she's eating, instead of filling her mouth with it and then spitting the whole mouthful out. Nice trick Sofia)

Maybe her future career can explain why she's rocking the 1900's man's swimming costume in this outfit:

(it was hot out, this seemed like it would be comfy)

At least the hot weather has been good for drying her little clothes. She won't fit them too much longer so we thought it warranted a picture.

 

The over the shoulder look. Her favorite.

The roller coaster parenting day

Today started off uneventful. I wanted to get Sofia's diapers hung out, return a video and get a swim diaper for Sofia. The exciting life I lead. 1 out of 3 ain't bad, right?

The 12:30 feeding went quickly enough that these things all seemed possible. I laid her in her crib and wound up her mobile, which she loves. Went out to the kitchen to make a sandwich, come back to check and she's asleep!! She put herself to sleep in her crib. Doesn't sound like a big deal, except this fact. We usually put her in the crib when we need to wake her up. If she's not crying about being in there, she's wide awake staring at and "talking" to her mobile. I text Steve the news and figure she'll wake up any minute. Nope! Finally I turn on a noise machine hoping it will help her not panic when she wakes up and try and nap too. Of course all the things that could go wrong run through my head, but eventually I fall asleep. A full 40 minutes elapse since she went to sleep before she wakes up yelling. Wow! Maybe there's hope that she won't have to co-sleep until she's 18.

I even still have 30 minutes to get her laundry hung out. However, fate had other plans. I had intended to put her in the Kelty front carrier that Steve's sister handed down. Instead, I nearly swore off carriers.

Sofia's finally big enough that she doesn't get smothered in the carrier. We picked strawberries with it last week and just a few days ago took her on the dog walk in it. Well today, I could not get her situated in it. After a while of fumbling, she starts crying, so I take her out quickly and put her on the changing table and she starts SCREAMING. Which is out of character for her. I get the carrier off and pick her up and she's still screaming bloody murder. At this point I'm convinced I must have broken her leg or something. Maybe I should give her Tylenol. I am such a bad parent. The leg looks funny. Like maybe it's turned in at a funny angle, and it definitely looks like it's bruised. I'm trying to palpate it and see where I should put ice on it. I'm thinking what a horrible trip to the ER this will be and theres's no way I can put her into her car seat with a broken leg. I splash a little cold water on it (not quite ice, but...) I manage to get her into a comfortable cradle hold and go to the rocking chair. She starts settling down, but then she shifts and fusses again. She must be in pain still. Then she settles back down. Within a few minutes, she's asleep. As she sleeps I carefully palpate every part of her legs and hip. Nothing seems to hurt enough to wake her up. There's one little mark that seems to be a scratch, but it doesn't hurt her enough when I touch it to wake her.As I rock her and watch her sleep, I am almost in tears thinking about what I have done, and feeling exactly what all those parents who have had their kid tumble off of things or drop them accidentally must feel like. And happy that she is sleeping peacefully and pain free.

She sleeps a 1/2 hour until her feeding, wakes up, eats, everything is fine. Maybe I have a little drama queen on my hands? There seems to be no lasting effect from whatever it was that set her off.
Wondering if she was mentally scarred for life from this, and still needing to get her diapers hung out, I try again. This time, I lay the carrier wide open in the crib and ever so carefully load her in. She doesn't seem to have any memory of the earlier trauma (whew). I hang out her little diapers, she sleeps some more.
What a day.

Family, pt IV

This week brought us Steve's Mom and her husband Jim.
Despite the airlines best attempt to delay their trip, they fought valiantly to arrive here from Boston.
Oregon subjected them to some decidedly unseasonable heat! In the mid to upper 90's most days and 102 one of the days. (at least it was without much humidity). That just meant it was too hot to do much more than hang out and spend time with Sofia in the comfort of air conditioning. Just what a Grandma wanted!









Nana and Sofia











Jim with Sofia in her pink camo!













Mom does actually hold her kid on occasion.











The whole crew out for a walk.

Reason #9,462,896 why my husband is great

I went to the pool today.

I got to swim 2000 yds.

Thank you ever so much Dear Husband. I am one happy Mommy.