Day 11: Another Big Anniversary

Well the 40 year wedding anniversaries are coming fast and furious. Let's all have a big round of applause for Fred & Ruth, who are celebrating 40 years of wedded bliss today!

By my calculations, that is 14,610 days together. 14,610 dinners planned and eaten (just don't make it pot pies, please). 14,610 nights of putting up with one another's snoring. 14,610 days of sharing the bathroom. 14,610 days of deciding whether to let the little annoyances (it's OK, we know there might have been one or two over the years) add up to a big ole stinky meltdown, or whether to keep the love and commitment alive.

And look, they are still smiling!


Of course our other recent big anniversary was Cheryl & Mike, those young whippersnappers. Many congrats to them as well, and I can't resist the opportunity to repost this picture that Dan dug up, because it is about the cutest thing ever.


So, Jeff & Jill, what do you say to a combined 40th anniversary party at the trout club in 2045? Those young whippersnappers Dan & Jenny can wheel us in & wipe the drool off our chins, and regale us of tales from their own 40th, way back when.

Day 10: Toddler Ownership

So Sara's dr. appointment went just fine. She is not going to set any records for growth, but she is plugging along just fine in her little 10 - 25% track.

Our friend and pediatrician, Dr. Jen, informs me that this new found crabbiness is probably not so much about me being a little more impatient than usual, but that I am the proud owner of a TODDLER! Now how did that happen? I am still waiting for delivery of the baby I ordered from Guatemala.

No she is not walking on her own yet, but she is darn close. She spends all day very deliberately, and so far very politely, taking my hands in hers and putting them overhead in 'let's walk' position. Luckily she has taken to carrying around an object of choice (lemur, bug, duck, baseball) as well, which makes it not so hard to do the one handed walk--much easier on the back. She hasn't really noticed that I am barely balancing her half the time--she'll walk as soon as it occurs to her to try.

This video seems old to me now, but here is some couch cruising, for those of you who haven't seen this miraculous achievement yet. Though I was so amazed at Isabel the other night. It made Sara seem like a Neanderthal! Isabel walks around with style, eats with a fork and spoon out of a bowl, says "puh" for "please" when asked. It all seemed impossibly sophisticated, like something Sara might accomplish in 10 or 12 years.



Oh, and yes, Sara likes to suck on the bottom of her shoe, and yes it is digusting. And look how she smiles when I tell her no!

Let us all think good thoughts today that my sister Laura's baby boy will decide it's time to be born. She is ready! Let's go baby boy! Come on out!

Day 9: Running out of material over here

Well I did not use the nap today to comb through video files, so what shall we use for daily blog material?

Yesterday I hired a sitter for four hours. It was really quite delightful! I feel refreshed & renewed. I took the dog to the dog park. Apparently I ran the pads right off her feet, poor thing, so she is mincing around today. She was starting to get a little kooky though so it was needed. Then I sat at Starbucks and read a book. Whooooo! And then, wait, it gets really exciting now...I went home and vacuumed the upstairs & cleaned up a bit. I am tempted to leave that last part out because Mike will chastise me for not doing something more fun with my time off, but it worked for me...the balls of dog hair were taking over and I can't vacuum while she is asleep.

Sara did fine with the sitter. She was a little whimpery about it all, but she's a little whimpery in the afternoon lately anyway. When I got home I picked her up for a while and she gave me huge, hearty back slaps for about 10 minutes straight. I guess that means she missed me. Mike is in for an entire day of back slaps when he gets back.

Well lunch is running out over here (we have a laptop on the kitchen counter, in case ya'll were wondering how I make it to the computer so often). We are off to Sara's 1 yr checkup later today and I am curious to see how much (or if) she has grown. When I look at her now she seems a lot skinnier than when we picked her up, and I am hoping that is just because she is getting taller, not because we are starving her. I swear all I do all day is feed her & clean that tray off, but I think her lap is still getting more of her food than the belly.

Day 8: Birthday Song, Sea Turtles

Well Sara had a pretty good birthday. We weren't celebrating for real, since Dad is off in Costa Rica, but we couldn't just ignore it altogether. We went to the cool bookstore here, the Tattered Cover, because I had a gift card. Sara was not in her usual store mood of being happy just to watch all the people and look at new stuff. She was in a "get me the hell out of this stroller and let me walk around" mood, so I grabbed some books practically at random and bought them (for myself) before we headed off for the children's section. When I got home I realized that three of the four books I'd gotten shared the plot device of a missing daughter. So, pop psychologists, what does THAT say?

Anyway, the children's section was much more appreciated by Sara. We also stopped at the cupcake & cereal place, started by the wife of a coworker, to get a couple of their fabulous cupcakes. Chocolate with cream cheese frosting, and red velvet. mmmm.

Our friends Peter & Kirstin invited us over for a pity dinner...they know I am just muddling through the single mom life over here. They are the friends who just happened to be picking up their own daughter, Isabel, from Guatemala at the same time we were visiting Sara, last July. Isabel is of course, way too cute for words. She is also something like 35 pounds (can't remember exactly when her birthday is, but she is somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2) while Sara is probably 19 or 20 pounds still. Last Friday Sara & I were at the park with Peter & Isabel and someone asked if our girls were twins. Hilarious. While they are both cute little dark haired, dark eyed gals, you'd think the fact that one is about twice as big as the other would have tipped her off to the fact that they are not twins.

Anyway, we sang to Sara. She was quite serious last night. In fact, afternoons thru evening in general have been rather crabby. Yes, it's true, our girl does get crabby. Lately she has been pitching a fit about getting her diaper changed (she would rather look at her Dogzilla book) and going in the carseat (she would rather do something else, I don't know what exactly, drive the car maybe?). She's tired. I'm tired. I've got to figure out that afternoon nap. ... but with a birthday song & a little tickle we finally got a smile out of her. She also enjoyed your songs-by-phone...Cheryl, she tried to lick the phone for yours.



Good god, the only thing worse than hearing myself speak too close to the video camera mike is hearing myself SING too close to the mike. And why oh why did I have to choose to pick up the volume halfway through? It is only a lack of time keeping me from dubbing in someone else's singing.

But Isabel is very cute. Here she is giving some hugs to her parents. She and Sara gave each other a hug too!



But TODAY we are all a bit happier (well I am anyway) because Mike called! Yes, that is the first time he has had phone or internet. He is doing great. They have seen like 75 fabulous birds, 3 kinds of monkeys, sloths, sea turtles, etc, etc. A good group of students too it sounds like. And while they have apparently all been wet for an entire week, our boy is still in good health, which is always nice to hear.

So part of their trip they go help out on some kind of sea turtle preserve. Sea turtle eggs get poached, so now the little buggers are endangered. So the students & Mike & others go patrol at night on the beach, so the turtles can lay their eggs unbothered and unpoached. And if they spot a turtle that hasn't already been registered (they must be tagged or banded or something) they can name it. Well the students found one and they named it Sara because they knew Mike was missing his girl! And they also sang happy birthday to her on the bus yesterday.

So our gal got plenty of songs, and somewhere out there in the ocean, a turtle named Sara is thinking good wishes for the eggs she left behind on the beach.

Day 7: Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Dear Sara -

I suppose every parent says it, but I can't believe you are already one year old! It did go a bit faster for us than most though. A year ago today, we didn't know you existed. But here you were, a bit on the small side.


A year ago today, we were just still hoping that we'd be able to have a wonderful child like you join our family, but we didn't actually get to hear about you until July 4th! And now, you have just been with us for 2 1/2 months. Now that I know you I want all those months we missed back (though of course we are so grateful to Angelica for taking care of you so wonderfully).

Well Sara the last 2 1/2 months have been a joy, as well as a bit exhausting! You won't remember this, but your dad has been gone for almost a week, and isn't home for another 6 days still. I know you miss him too though, because when I showed you his picture today you got a big smile on your face, and pointed at daddy and said "dada" and then you hugged the picture.

In a way it also seems like longer than 2 1/2 months. 2 1/2 months ago you were still a mystery to us, a serious-looking, intimidating mystery, with "HEALTH: GOOD" and a rumor of something wrong with your head. We didn't know what to expect. I guess we expected you to be something like you were at 7 weeks...sort of a formless blob still, maybe a little behind, maybe a little withdrawn. And the first day with us, you weren't too sure what to think. You were missing the only family you'd known pretty badly.


We had no idea that after that first day of sadness, we'd get to see the confident, joyful, outgoing, curious, loving, busy little girl you are, a girl who almost always has a smile on her face. And there is most definitely nothing wrong with your head. I can't help but think of your biological mom, Martha, and how proud she would be if she could see you now. I hope one day we'll get to make sure she knows that she has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, bringing such a wonderful child into the world, and allowing us the gift of being your family.



And all the things you've learned in just 2 1/2 months. First of all, you learned to trust us and love us. Even though we make you sleep all alone in your crib which you also had to learn! In fact you just spent 2 minutes screaming in your crib before falling asleep for a nap, where you used to scream for an hour. You learned to crawl, and get up & down to cruise around on the furniture, and any day now you are going to walk on your own. You learned grandma's "so big" trick, and how to wave, and what "dance" means and that it might just be worthwhile to eat off a spoon after all, because ice cream tastes REALLY GOOD. And it's been a pretty big year for you. You had to say goodbye to two moms already. You've lived in two countries, taken your first international trip to our cold cold land, become a U.S. citizen, met a whole lot of new family members and friends. Seen snow for the first time, learned what a car seat is, got introduced to two different languages, met a dog and cat both named Frankie! And too many other things to list.

We are so proud to be your parents, Sara, and can't wait to see what the next year brings. Happy birthday baby girl.

love, Mom

Day 6: Feeding Time at the Zoo

You can see me feeding Sara like a zoo animal in here. This is the fish face that means "I want to eat that." She loves those little star things you guys introduced her to, Cheryl & Karen. I have to hide them now or she would eat the whole container.

Also, some very nice raspberry blowing.

Day 5: Hugs

We enjoy the fact that Sara now hugs us too, not just the dog anymore. In fact she hugs most everything she likes...toys, garden ornaments, neighbor cats, her shoes. It's that baby hug where they just turn their head to the side & lean into you...no arms. We'll take it. She also give great, hearty "You know I'm not very good at telling you how I feel, son" pats on the back, which are pretty funny.

So today's video catures a few (attempted) hugs. So sweet.



And hooray for naptime. Jill I am very jealous of Alex's 3 hour naps this week! Though I can actually leave the room now, Sara still only naps for about an hour. But an hour is a big improvement over nothing I suppose.

Day 4: Yum, donut

Well it feels like about day 104. I sure hope Mike is looking at a resplendant quetzal right now. We are just here attempting to take a nap. Well Sara is. She did great yesterday, after screaming bloody murder for 20 minutes, she slept all by herself for almost an hour and a half. That is quite impressive!

Frankie-the-dog is driving me a little crazy. Last night she managed to pull the curtains down, and this morning while Sara & I were enjoying the backyard, hugging the ladybug thing, carrying around the tag from the sweet 100s tomato plant, Frankie was in here pulling everything off the counter, so we came inside to yogurt and broken glass everywhere. Yes, I forgot and left the food out. Silly me.

Oooh, new angry noises from upstairs. Usually it is just general screaming, sometimes with "mama" built in. But she is holding a full on angry monologue up there. Go to sleep baby!

Well here is a video of Sara enjoying a donut with a slightly demented air. I don't remember the post-donut nap being any more difficult than any other, so I guess that nap wasn't ruined.

Day 3: Heartbreak

Decided this would be the time for Sara to learn to take a nap alone. It actually worked yesterday! A whole hour to myself! whooo! We'll see about today...there are some pretty unhappy sounds coming from up there.

Here's a little video to break you heart. From the first day we had Sara. Poor sad girl! I had to include a scene from the next day too...couldn't just end there with that sad sad face. She looks so different. We don't see that side of her much anymore.



Oooh, nice, it sounds like she fell asleep. I can zone out in front of HGTV for an hour.

Day 2: Sara loves Frankie

Video attempt #2. Sorry no pics Grandma Greene! Did you see the ones from the splashy pool? There's a link to more down there.

p.s. Sorry comments don't show up right away anymore. I had to turn on moderation becuase weird spam starting coming in.

good gosh

OK we all know American Idol is a big bunch of contrived hooey, and is also of course, quite entertaining...but holy moses they reach a whole new level of excruciating on finale night don't they? Some of the lowlights:

That Mike Myers "Guru" bit. Ugh.

Donna Summer in a bad wig looking like she was going to fall asleep during her own performance. I think they had to have Syesha sing the hard part.

And now the "boys" are murdering a perfectly good 80s pop song by Bryan Adams. Oh look there he is! He looks realllly old. Oooh and he does not sound good.

Oh, now David Cook singing with ZZ Top is kind of awesome. All these little girls in the audience are like, who's ZZ Top? Who's Donna Summer? Who's Seal? Who's Bryan Adams? I hope Paula tells David Cook he's living his truth at the end of this song.

Oh sorry Mike, you are missing Brooke right now. That's what you get for going to Costa Rica. She is singing a nice hippy song with... old guy.. Graham Nash... and no shoes on. But boy, the girl cannot dance! (rewind to the Donna Summer thing).

Now who are these young pups? They are so cute! It is like the Partridge Family. Oh OK, the Jonas Brothers. Well thank god they got someone on the show who has recorded a song in a year starting with a 2.

Now why do they these things where they stick some modern day people into a 30 year old performance? At least Gladys Knight isn't dead (is she?) unlike when they did the Elvis one. This is supposed to by funny and it is not.

Does anyone else think Carrie Underwood is the new Shania Twain? Hello new pop country robot!

George Michael medley...now that's a good choice. George Michael is seriously underrated pop goodness as far as I am concerned. Too bad they are murdering it. Now there's the man himself. Looking pretty old too I'm afraid. And not sounding too good either. Ooh not good at all. Sounds like someone else. Well I'm glad to see Paula is moved by his performance, because that's a pretty hard thing to accomplish.

Good thing I get paid by the word for this blog! Me and Dickens have so much in common.

Holy cow I just fell on the floor! It wasn't Archuleta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 1: Chomp Dance

Or should I start with 12? If I start with Day 1 I guess this is more of a count up.

Jeff, Mike is teaching a class in Costa Rica. It is SO HARD being a professor sometimes. He will be jetting around the country, looking at exotic birds and animals.

While I will be posting Chomp Dance! Mike took the camera with him, ending my vision of taking pictures of my kid in odd costume. So I am finally figuring out how to upload video. So far it took about 4 hours to upload this. Sigh.

When Sara hands us things we (OK, I) tend to put them in my mouth & shake my head back forth & growl like a dog. Charming, I know. So naturally Sara has adopted some of this...though her version is much like her main dance move, the head waggle.

I am posting this in spite of the fact that hearing my own voice -- so nasally! Who am I, David Archuleta? -- right next to the microphone makes me want to run screaming from the room. I'm going to have to learn how to edit the audio next. Lemme know if it works.



Where did Dan go Jenny? I can't imagine having 2 right now!

12 day countdown

In the interest of trying to keep my sanity as I get to experience single parenting over the next twelve...count 'em TWELVE days...Sara and I will be posting to the blog daily. About what, we don't know yet. Perhaps something based on the theme of the 12 Days of Christmas (always such a confusing song...everyone knows there is just ONE big day of Christmas), perhaps based on taking pictures of my child dressed in unusual costume. Then again, we may adopt again some day, so I guess I have to keep it somewhat buttoned up.

So if you have any requests or ideas, oh vast reading public, let us know. Sara & I always appreciate your comments...especially over the next 12 days when it is going to be a little lonely here on Eliot St.

Also, Archuleta is going to win isn't he? Snoooooooore. Why why why does America love listening to his nasally, boring ballads? Some years I have been heartened by America's choices -- apparently we do love 400 pound dudes, and gap tooth chicks who seem like they'd as soon beat you up as sing you a song (you're still my favorite Fantasia)...but I'm afraid this year we are proving that we love to be bored to tears by one treacly ballad after another that all sound exactly the same.

now stop eating your broccoli & go to bed!

Take 2: Sara's already eaten, Mike & I are having some stir fry I made. Sara motors over, makes her fish face fish face fish face. I give her some. General freak out. Jumping up and down, slapping the table, demanding more. The thing is, just about the only soft part of the stir fry (remember, in spite of that toothy smile, girly only has those front teeth still) is the very top of the broccoli. So eventually we have to tear her away from the broccoli to put her to bed. Now who has to tear their child away from BROCCOLI because it's time for bed.

I also want to point out that Mike never jumps up and down with excitement over my stir fry, but I can't think of a way to say it that doesn't come out just like "He never has a second cup at home." So I am skipping that part.

splashy pool

Got one of those blow up pools. Because plastics are forever.

Sara tried it out today. What we learned... she wasn't as miffed by the cold water as I thought she would be, she was miffed by falling down face first in the water (don't worry mom, I picked her up a quarter second later), and it is HILARIOUS when I put plastic animals on my head. Is it just me, or is that laugh perfectly demonic?


more from the splashy pool >

daddy's girl

spinach souffle

A little while ago I picked up this book -- Julia Child, My Life in France. I honestly figured it would be kind of boring, but I couldn't find much else of interest. Both Mike & I read it and it ended up being very entertaining! That Julia Child was a hoot.

It also inspired Mike to get back into his "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" books. Tonight he made a spinach souffle! How very 70s! As well as further evidence (as if you needed any) of how very awesome my hubby is.

Yes, apparently you can just use a Pyrex bowl if you don't have a proper dish.


This is Mike's Iron Chef pose.


Miss Sara had already had her dinner when we sat down to our lovely spinach souffle. Unlike yesterday when she horked down everything in sight, today she wasn't terribly into eating real food. So she was motoring around in her carrito while we enjoyed our fancy souffle. She kept motoring over & making the fish face which means "I want to eat [something]." We didn't really want to get into it, since she was already cleaned up and in her sleeper. Mike tried to trick her with a cookie 'off his plate', but she wasn't being fooled. So I offered her some off a spoon, and she freaked out! She loved it! She kept jumping up & down & fish-facing for more. She must have eaten half of mine. It was pretty darn cute.

flowers on new blueberry plant // no TV

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The no TV rule is strictly enforced in our house.

crawling

Walking is the favorite, but after breakfast we get a good burst of crawling. Sometimes I kind of run away from her because once she pulls herself up to walk it's all over. What a nice mommy!










Oh darn, she just caught me.

sleep chronicles #2

Wow, people are really interested in the sleep situation. People who have lived through it anyway.

So, I have to say, we continue to have a very easy baby. Oh don't get me wrong. When she continues feeding all of her lunch to the dog or swiping it off her tray in every direction it is annoying. Not really 'isn't that cute' annoying, just annoying. But the gal just continues to adapt to her new life, to smile, to make friends of strangers at the mall & generally to keep us awfully busy but smiling.

But back to sleep. Today, nap time: 5 minutes of crying (WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!) followed by one hour of sleeping. Let me say one more time WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! This is great progress!! What seems to have helped? Starting naptime earlier & room darkening curtains. I do still have to stay in the room though (boo) which kind of wrecks it as mom's downtime. Which Mike can attest to...I start sending him "when are you coming home" emails around five when I start to run out of steam.

Today, bedtime: NO crying, 20 minutes of bottle, straight to sleep. Yay. She has been doing GREAT at night. Down within 30 minutes of sticking the bottle in her mouth. Little or no crying. Wakes up once at night. Sleeps til 7:15 if the darn dog doesn't clickety clack down the stairs. So I'd say our little gal is doing pretty darn great. Again, we moved bedtime earlier (it's now 7:30 compared to, oh 8:30 or 9 or whenever), which seems to have helped at lot. And I think she just learned to deal with the whole 'sleep alone in your crib' situation.

In other news, she now crawls FAST & shrieks with glee about it, wants to walk ALL THE TIME but not in the walker (oh my aching back), knows the word "dance" and will throw you a head waggle if you mention it, has busted out some new Elvis dance moves when Mike plays guitar for her, knows it's time to wave when you say "bye bye" and is trying very hard to master finger snapping. That's not an easy one. But she is working on it.

yay spring // Sara's Brewers cap

The oregano is back in full force.


The strawberries are back and already getting flowers.


The peas and lettuces and chives I planted are sprouting.


The "sticks" I planted are blueberry, raspberry and blackberry bushes. I hope in a few years Sara will enjoy picking berries off of them. Right now I am just happy that the sticks have sprouted leaves.


In another week or two we can plant tomatoes and herbs and tomatoes and tomatoes and tomatoes and all that wonderful stuff.

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Mike's cousin Kathy brought Sara her own Milwaukee Brewers ball & bat (squishy ones), t-shirt and cap. She loves them all, but especially her new cap! You can tell she thinks she's really cool in it.

sleep chronicles

Now I understand why everyone always asks "How is she sleeping?" Because when she doesn't she turns into a short tempered zombie. No wait, that's me. Though she does lose some of the sunshine-y personality we all love so much.

Actually she is doing well. We modified our goal downward from "sleep all night in your room alone kid" to "just stay in the crib...we'll visit you as long and as often as you need to get back to sleep, just stay in the crib." You wouldn't think just staying in the crib is that hard...well, I wouldn't have. But my goodness, the crying & screaming & thrashing & pulling herself up on the side of the crib in order to jump up & down in anger. And then she falls down and bangs her head on the crib bars. Soooo...when we only have to endure like 20 minutes of that instead of say, an hour or more, and when she actually FALLS ASLEEP we count it as great success!!! And last she slept for 11 hours straight thru! Whoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! And the huge advantage of the 'stay in the crib' approach (as opposed to falling back asleep on mom's shoulder, mom desperately tries to lay her back down in the crib without waking her, it doesn't work, repeat, repeat, repeat) is that she'll calm down for DAD now too...whereas the shoulder had to be mom only (see 'short tempered zombie' above).

So that is the sleep update. Today we are going on Sara's first trip to Boulder. Gotta get this girl some patchouli!