Glorious

This weekend was, in a word, glorious. It was sunny and warm, so warm that I actually was walking around in shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops and wishing for lazy summer days.

Aliza was feeling better on Saturday, but we decided to lay low at home to give her one more day to recuperate. Her Grams and Gramps visited and we had a lovely picnic outside- the first of many I am sure:

Actually, this picnic motivated us to finally buy some patio furniture. We're hoping it will arrive before Aliza's first birthday so we can use it , but even if it doesn't, we are looking forward to spending many summer nights eating outside together. Speaking of first birthday, we did take a trip to Party City to pick out her party supplies, marveling the whole time that our little baby girl will be 1 in just three weeks....

Aliza took a nice long nap on Saturday afternoon (all that sunshine and fresh air!) which gave me the opportunity to do some much needed yard work. Our yard is a bit daunting, but I began to tackle two small areas, weeding and hoeing and envisioning the plants I wanted to plant. It was hot and sweaty work, but oddly satisfying to see the wheelbarrow fill with weeds and the flowers that were beginning to peek through get cleared off of winter's debris.

Sunday Russ decided to start my day with breakfast in bed, which was a lovely surprise and a super fun treat. Next, Aliza and I went to church with Nonna and Grosspapa and then returned home to take yet another long walk around the neighborhood- our third of the weekend. Before Aliza was born I used to look at the families walking around and wonder what it would be like to be pushing my own baby.....well, it is even more fun than I anticipated, especially lately as Aliza reaches and points and chats with me while we walk. During her afternoon nap I managed to scrub down the kitchen, do some laundry and run a bunch of errands (including buying the plants for the areas I cleared out!), leaving me feeling tired, but rather satisfied. Then we headed over to celebrate cousin Juliette's 6th birthday. Cosette and Juliette were, as always, excited to see Aliza. This picture was taken last weekend, but I think they stayed this close to her all night long Sunday too:

It was, as I said, a glorious weekend....filled with productive errands, long walks in the sun, playing outside and a baby girl who is, happily, feeling much better!

Hand, foot and mouth....

My poor little love has her first big illness; hand, foot and mouth disease. It started with a loss of appetite (for her), and a little bit more fussiness than usual. I attributed both to teething, especially since she was drooling a ton and putting everything in her mouth. When the symptoms continued I decided to call the doctor, just to be sure, and was told that it could be teething or it could be an ear infection so just monitor her.
She developed a low grade fever and continued to be fussy. Then she started to get a rash and was actually wanting to crawl into her crib to sleep. That's when her Gram S. took her to the doctor to discover that she was well and truly sick.
I'm home with her today and she is most definitely not herself.

Being home with her, my sick baby girl, makes me think of what my mom would do for us when we were sick. We got to stay in their bedroom (because it had a T.V. and a REALLY cozy, large, papasan chair) or on the couch downstairs if we wanted. And we got to watch T.V. or movies. All Day. My mom would give us a little bell to ring if we needed her so we wouldn't have to shout, although I don't think we ever used the bell because she kept our glass filled with juice or ginger ale and she checked on us constantly. Not that I liked being sick, but it sure did feel just a little bit special.

Now, I can't do all of these things for Aliza since she is only 11 months old, but she has stayed in her jammies all day. And I have made some yummy foods to try to entice her to eat (her Nonna even came over and made her yummy meatballs and soup). We did spend some time on the couch together too....and I've spent the whole day worrying about her. I want to make her feel better and I know that, other than giving her Tylenol and as much liquid as I can and as many snuggly hugs as she wants, there isn't much I can do. I'm sure she's uncomfortable, maybe even sore, but this virus has to just run its course.
This feeling of helplessness seriously sucks. And I can't help but wonder, is this what it's like? Is this motherhood? Wanting to protect your little love from anything that can harm her, but knowing that you really can't protect her from the world? I'm being a little melodramatic, I know, but it is her first big illness and I am a new mom.

And I just want her to be happy again.

Dinner time

Everything I know about how to raise Aliza I learned from my parents.....One of the things that we have been doing with her, that I grew up doing was having family meals. I remember, before her arrival, I told Russ that we would have to stop eating dinner in front of the T.V. (as was our custom) and start actually eating at the table when Aliza was around. He agreed immediately because even then we loved the idea of family meals around the table.

Now that we are actually doing it, it is even better than we imagined.....Aliza takes awhile to eat (she feeds herself after all) so she is often sitting in her high chair while I am finishing up dinner. I talk to her while I cook and tell her everything I'm doing. Sometimes she talks back to me, sometimes she just focuses on her eating. Usually she reaches a point where she is ready for some company and, if I've timed things well, it is about the time that we are ready to eat with her. Interestingly, she always eats more when we are sitting down eating with her. She also talks more. I like to ask her about her day and share with her the things I know she did. Russ and I talk too, to each other I mean.....

This time is becoming so special to me. In fact, I find myself turning into my dad; he would always grumble a little when the phone rang in the middle of dinner, and sometimes even refuse to answer it saying, "It's dinner time, who is calling at this hour?" Now, if we are eating and the phone rings, I often tell Russ not to answer it (although he usually does anyways) and the other day I caught myself saying, "it's dinner, who is calling?" I laughed to myself.....because I get it now.

Play time

Aliza has been growing in leaps and bounds as far as I can tell. Or maybe not growing so much as learning new things.....

Last week she figured out how to crawl forward. I knew this day would come and I knew that when it did we would remember with sweet fondness the days when she sat in one place. Happily, we now sit next to her and scootch along the floor beside her so that when she decides to crawl to the couch, or her table toy, or her toy bin and pull herself up, we can be there to make sure she doesn't come crashing down. She's always rather proud of herself when she manages to accomplish this:

We've had some fun experiencing some new things together lately. I made a sandbox out of some cornmeal and a baking pan (I read about it online and decided I'd get her ready for her beach house visits). Aliza didn't quite know what to do with the "sand" at first but eventually dove in and even tasted a bit. Hopefully she won't do that with real sand!

She's also been quite chatty lately. Her new favorite word is "Dag-gum", with the emphasis on the gum part. We have no idea what that means, and have spent many minutes questioning her as to what she is talking about, but so far she's choosing not to enlighten us. So for now, we smile when she says it, and sometimes repeat it back for her. She has also said cat--or rather AT, more than once, and always when our cat, Linus, is near (which is quite often).

She's been eating a ton lately and I've had some fun trying out some new food combinations for her. She's now had french toast for breakfast- minus the butter and the syrup of course. Like her daddy though, she prefers eggs and toast:

The poor thing STILL doesn't have teeth, although I'm convinced her runny nose of the past several days is evidence that teeth are sure to appear any day now. I suspect the gummy grins we love so much will be a thing of the past soon enough! She's been making her "sniffy face" quite a bit lately though and I finally captured it mid-sniff:

All of this excitment often tires her out, although she'll never admit it until moments before nap time or bed time.....unless she falls asleep before we even make it upstairs:

Happy Easter!

To you and yours.....with love and smiles and hugs!

If aliens ever land on earth, I know who should talk to them....

Overheard in my classroom:

C: Ninja mouse's head is wearing off.

Me: What???

C: Ninja mouse's head, it's wearing off....

Another student: I think he said that he likes nut crunchers.....

Me: (Laughing) I don't think that's what he said! C, what are you talking about???

C: Ninja mouse! (Holding up a pencil with a purple eraser top that he has colored in with a marker.) It's wearing off! (Pointing to the top of the eraser that is worn down from so much erasing.)

Me: So, let me get this straight, you've nicknamed your eraser Ninja Mouse and it's wearing out?

C: Yes!

Me: (Still laughing, because, really, I love third graders) Why don't you get a new one?

C: OK!