April News

I am way behind in posting about what passes for "news" in our house, so here's the latest of our comings and goings...

First of all, we had a great Easter weekend with a visit from Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Kevin. Sonia had literally doubled in size since the last time they saw her, so it was great that they were able to make the trek from Oregon. Sonia was all smiles (quite a change since Christmas), and even managed to be unphased by yet another incident of the smoke detector going off (this occurs 90% of the time we cook anything on the stove). She especially enjoyed showing off her Jumperoo skills and developed a fondness for the newspaper (seldom read in our house when no one is visiting, but apparently quite tasty according to Sonia who now lunges for anything paper and puts it into her mouth).

That same weekend, we also received a lovely quilt for Sonia that my cousin Julie made (a feat that astonished Sameer, who seemed to not realize that it was actually possible to make a quilt by hand). Sonia has logged a lot of tummy time on the quilt and is also using it to practice her latest party trick: sitting up by herself. While obviously virtually every baby since the dawn of time has mastered this skill, we still managed to be inappropriately proud of her that she can now do this (albeit occasionally followed by a face splat).

Sonia's other latest development is that she seems to have entered the teething stage in earnest. Seldom a minute passes that she doesn't have something in her mouth, and when she stops I think it's just to take a break to let all of the accumulated drool flow down onto her shirt. I was checking every morning to see if a tooth had emerged until Krista helpfully informed me that this can, in fact, take months. Lovely. Did I mention that it has made her noticeably crankier (not to mention wetter from all of the drool)? She has also discovered a bit of free will, mostly focused on expressing the fact that she doesn't want to play with all of her toys when your toys (phones, blackberries, laptops, etc.) are so close and so much more interesting. This would be cute, but combine it with the teething, it makes for a very wet remote control.

In other news, we made another offer on a house and lost again. We bid over asking, but were outbid by two other people. It was a very cute house, but I didn't even bother to get my heart set on it since at this point I will be shocked if we ever successfully buy a house. We also started to interview nannies, but that is too long of a saga to even start in on, so suffice it to say we haven't hired anyone yet.

Oh, and did I mention that we leave for Hawaii tomorrow? Whose idea was that? Still, no complaints that we are "too busy" getting ready for our vacation.

Anyway, that's about it. Click here for more photos from the last month!

Sonia 1, Mobile 0

Neither Sameer nor I are morning people. If there were no clocks and no jobs (and no baby), I would be a night owl (go to bed late, get up late) and Sameer would just be an around-the-clock sleeper (go to bed early, get up late). So we are really struggling with the concept that we now have a morning person living in our house who has decided that we should all get up really, really early. She feels strongly this should be 5-something (and, occasionally, even 4-something), whereas we feel equally strongly it should be at least 6-something. Even 6-something seems like a pretty big compromise, but there is no chance of doing any better than that.

So, this morning was the latest contest in our battle of wills over when we are "allowing" Sonia to get up. Sonia decided she was wide awake at 5:30 or so (after briefly waking up earlier, but actually going back to sleep at that time). I got up to try to have our usual "too early" conversation to discover that Sameer was already up with her. (Apparently, the decongestant he took caused him to wake up very, very early. In unrelated news, I will soon be lacing his food with this at every meal.) Sonia had already turned herself completely around in the crib and was now lying under the mobile. So, I turned it on for her (as I do most mornings) and we all went back to bed. Pretty soon Sameer says, "What's that clicking noise coming from her room?" and I jump up because I recognize that it is the sound of the mobile motor trying in vain to move the little animals around. (To appreciate this story, you have to visualize that Sonia has this really big mobile that has successfully mesmerized her for many months.) Sure enough, she has managed to grab onto one of the animals on the mobile and has pulled the entire contraption down on top of her. I had worried that she would be scared, but instead she was quite happy -- like a big game hunter who had finally bagged the prey she had been quietly stalking for 5 months. I guess this explains why the mobile's suggested age guidelines were 0-5 months.

So, needless to say, no more mobile. And, since the entire family was now wide awake, she succeeded in getting us to get her up and feed her at 5-something. Not a bad morning for her.

Jumping for joy

[Just another brief post since I am busy uploading videos tonight...]

I admit it, we are a retailer's dream. If someone mentions something to us that Sonia might enjoy, odds are we go out and buy it. (The exception, of course, being incredibly over-priced strollers, which even I can't convince myself we need.) The latest addition to our growing repetoire of baby stuff is the "Jumperoo" -- which, as the name would suggest, is made so babies can jump around. At first, the point of the Jumperoo was completely lost on Sonia who just sat in it like her Exersaucer. But, all of a sudden, this Sunday she figured it out and has been happily jumping ever since. (Note: the cutting board beneath her is our improvised solution to the fact that she is still a bit short for even the lowest setting.)



At this point, between this, the Exersaucer, and the swing, our living room looks like our interior decorator was Fisher Price.

The Great Escape

Last weekend Krista, Molly, and I finally motivated to go away for a weekend in Napa while our respective husbands watched the kids (actually, it was Molly who came up with the idea and Krista who motivated to make all of the reservations, so thanks to them for arranging everything). In short, it was awesome. Even though it was only one night, it really felt like a big break (which, of course, is not to say it wasn't way too short, because of course it was). I think in the first hour after we got in the car to drive up there I didn't take a breath because that would have meant I had to stop talking. In hindsight, I'm not sure I let Molly or Krista get a word in edgewise. Needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on. There is nothing better than sitting around, drinking wine, and catching up with old friends who know you way too well. Sameer very kindly watched Sonia all weekend (with some help from Dada during a visit to Tracy). And Sonia didn't seem to miss me much even though it was the first time I had spent a night away from her. In fact, according to Sameer she chose the occassion for her first laugh ("Ha ha! Mommy's gone!"), a feat she then refused to repeat once I got back.

But, just today when now Sameer is out of town, she is trying her hand at laughing again. Or, really, as the video indicates it's more just smiling with sound effects. Definitely no belly laughs yet, but still manages to crack us up. Apologies for the camera work...hard to hold the baby, tickle her, and film all at the same time. :-)



Click here for more photos from March.