My Name Is Now Mom

Check out this awesome Judo grip, TerraDactyl's got! We've been pretty busy lately.  Our weekends have been full of book club meetings, baby showers, hang outs...  But this past weekend was totally unscheduled.  It was great.  We promptly filled the weekend up with all sorts of chores that needed to be done.  :) Like mother, like daughter Yesterday, as DH was getting TerraDactyl ready for bead he noticed that her mouth was all sorts of red.  It's sometimes red when she's been drooling, but it was red on top of her mouth as well, and that is unusual.  It made us nervous because I'd given TerraDactyl the tiniest taste of my strawberry ice cream.  We were worried maybe she was allergic to strawberries.  So rather than putting her to bed, we kept her up for another hour or so just to make sure nothing happened.  The redness went away, so that was a relief.  But we're still not sure if it was eczema exacerbated by saliva or a...

We've been feeding TerraDactyl baby food for the past month.  So far, she hasn't been too pleased with it.  I ask her to say "ahh" and she sucks her bottom lip into her mouth so her mouth is shut tight.  It takes a ton of time and effort just to get a couple scoops of food into her mouth.  And the faces she makes...  They're pretty hilarious.  Unfortunately, Riley has caught on to dinner time.  So while I'm trying to convince TerraDactyl to open her mouth, and keep her hands from flailing around and knocking the spoon out of my hands, Riley is more than happy to try and steal the bite of food.  Dinner time is begging time While TerraDactyl doesn't seem to enjoy her food so far, I do think she's less upset when the baby food is room temperature, as opposed to cold.  I actually got her to eat quite a few peas yesterday.  Of course, we also ended up making quite a mess (which again, Riley was more than happy to help with).  Terr...

TerraDactyl had her seven month birthday the other day!  She's getting so big!  We had a bit of a photo shoot to commemorate.  Seven months old!  This is the picture I'll stick in the baby book. It's always interesting trying to catch TerraDactyl in a good pose.  She's so mobile now, she flips over to her stomach almost immediately.  And if I manage to keep her on her back she does like above and pulls up her dress or something, like the picture below... She does NOT have this giant Buddha belly.  I have no idea how she managed to do this... Wall sockets have become an attraction.  At least, the one right next to where we spend our tummy time is a big draw.  I think it's just because it's the only thing on the big expanse of blank wall.  But TerraDactyl migrates straight to it.  It's pretty interesting watching the bizarre things she does to that transformer.  It used to have a USB cord for charging, but we finall...

I wouldn't exactly say that TerraDactyl is talking yet, but she's definitely working on it.  When she's really, really upset she says "Meh Meh" and she's done that for a while.  In the mornings when we get up, I try to encourage her to make other phonemes (Ma, Da, Ba, La...).  She doesn't usually reply.  Just smileys and gets happy.  But just in the last couple days, TerraDactyl has definitely started saying "Ba".  So that's pretty exciting!  Maybe we'll get some other sounds soon, too.  Tongue strengthening exercises The Baby Bjorn bouncer may be getting replaced as a favorite...  TerraDactyl is getting so active, sometimes I wonder how much longer she'll allow me to use the Baby Bjorn.  She leans over the side and twists around backwards...  I think the main reason she still likes it is that it puts her at the perfect height for Riley to kiss her.  She LOVES Riley. What are you hiding back there?!?! TerraDactyl ...

TerraDactyl continues to investigate how drawers work.  She's really only getting the drawer open a few inches and it closes as soon as she lets go.  It's pretty fun for me to watch though.   It still opens!! My days of watching TV are pretty much over.  We don't want TerraDactyl watching TV, so what we watch has to be after she's asleep.  And I go to bed about an hour after TerraDactyl does, so I want to spend my baby-free time wisely.  However, once TerraDactyl and I are in bed, DH gets to watch TV.  Fortunately, our TV has Bluetooth, so he can listen with his headphones and not risk waking TerraDactyl.  It took us a while to figure that out though.  For the first four months or so, DH was basically watching with the TV nearly muted and the subtitles on.  We felt silly once we finally thought about the headphone option.  Lately, DH has been watching the Netflix original series Atypical.  It's about a family with a...

A while ago I thought I had a bunion.  I went to the doctor for confirmation and to see if there was anything I could do.  The doctor had me take an X-ray and that seemed to indicate it was arthritis associated with gout.  So then the doctor had me take a blood test for confirmation of gout, but all my numbers looked normal.  So she referred me to a podiatrist.   TerraDactyl got to play with DH while I saw the podiatrist Yesterday I had my podiatrist appointment.  He was unconvinced about the Gout diagnosis because the pain seemed to be caused by overuse and gout usually shows up overnight.  More X-rays and...  turns out I have a broken bone!  One of my sesamoid bones is broken.  Doc said it looks like an old break.  Funny thing is...  I literally have NO IDEA when I may have broken it.  Seems like I would have at least have had trouble walking when it first happened.  My first official broken bone (non-st...

TerraDactyl has been exploring the drawer pulls on her dresser the last few days.  Yesterday, she successfully opened a drawer.  I think it might have surprised her a little bit.  The dresser drawers open very easily, so it will still be a while before TerraDactyl is riffling through anything other than diapers. It opens!?!? Occasionally, TerraDactyl manages to time her pee for the 10 seconds when she is diaper free while I'm changing her.  While I was trying to explain this to DH, he came up with a new word for such a case:  urincident.  It cracked me up, but I keep forgetting it and substituting inferior portmanteaus like peecident, or incipee.  The Portland Paul Bunyan.  We actually used to live super close to the statue. Yesterday was a rough day.  I think TerraDactyl's eczema was bothering her, so she was pretty cranky.  I ended up walking around from 2-5pm non-stop because it was the only way to keep her calm-ish....

TerraDactyl is a HUGE fan of her jumper now-a-days TerraDactyl had a play date this weekend.  We met up with a friend and her 18 month old daughter for breakfast.  TerraDactyl was perfect, right up until my breakfast was delivered.  And then she started freaking out.  And only I would do for consolation.  So I got to hold TerraDactyl in one hand and eat breakfast with my left hand while rocking side to side.  I keep getting surprised by what new feat of coordination I'll have to pass while in public.  Like eating waffles with my fork in my left hand.  I imagine I'll be an accomplished left hand eater in a few years, but I'm not yet, and learning while in public is not exactly ideal.  On the bright side, the next time I'm in Europe, I can show off my European-style silverware skills.  Grumpy face After breakfast we all walked to a park not far from my house.  TerraDactyl ended up falling asleep in her Tula carrier while h...

TerraDactyl has been experimenting with her tongue a lot lately TerraDactyl has been making progress toward crawling.  Yesterday she managed to get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth.  It was the first time she's been on her hands and knees and she immediately started rocking.  You can watch her rocking in the video below.  She's trying to get to the stack of diapers that I'm trying to assemble and put away...

The cutest lemon you ever did see Riley doesn't get nearly as much attention as he used to.  We don't exactly ignore him, but he's been bumped well out of the number one affection spot in our household.  Which means he can get creative when seeking attention.  Check out this video for Riley's solution to his lack of scratches...

TerraDactyl has been learning a new game recently:  Fetch.  It goes like this:  TerraDactyl waves a toy around and then throws it.  I pick it up and give it back to her.  She throws it away again.  It's fun for everyone.  Fetch me my toy, mommy! Usually when I grow bored of the game, TerraDactyl starts craning her neck around looking for the toy.  Maybe this is part of her development of object permanence?  I'm not sure if you noticed, but there's a BOW on this shirt!!

Well, Daylight Savings Time ended on Sunday and it's been a real doozy.  I've never been a fan of changing the clock,  but now that I have a baby...  I hate it.  TerraDactyl has woken up at 5am for the past few days and refuses to go back to sleep.  Paired with the less than stellar quality of sleep she's been allowing at night means I've been pretty miserable.  Oregon is trying to end the time changes, but it hinges on Washington and California also abolishing the time changes and California's attempt is hung up in bureaucracy.  I really wish this could be my last daylight savings change.  Family snuggle time with Dad! DH is really good at making TerraDactyl laugh.  He can get her laughing so hard, it's crazy.  I'm not even sure how he does it - if I do the exact same thing I might get a giggle or two, but nothing like he gets.  Here's a video of one of DH's games.  TerraDactyl flies around the house chasing Riley....

We went to the 85th Annual Verboort Sausage and Sauerkraut Festival on Saturday.  DH waited in line for 2 hours to buy 20 lbs of sausage in the morning.  Since it was a community event, DH thought he'd be social and talk with people while waiting in line.  So he left his headphones at home.  However, once in line, no one wanted to talk.  So DH had two hours and nothing to do.  Morning snuggle time! TerraDactyl and I went back to the Sausage Festival with DH later in the day so we could eat there.  We figured we'd go at an "off" time and eat a late lunch.  We bought our dinner tickets at 2pm, but it's so popular that we ended up waiting until 5:30 before our tickets were called.  Fortunately, there was a snack shack to tide us over until our number came up.  There were other things to do there while we waited.  It was a beautiful day, so it was fun to just hang out. Having fun in the sun The dinner itself was good...

Before DH and I had TerraDactyl, Riley was very solicitous of me when I was upset.  If I got scared watching a movie, or stubbed my toe, or made a frustrated noise, Riley would come running to cheer me up with a snuggle.  I loved it.  It made me feel all warm and fuzzy while we snuggled together. Man, I LOVE the funny faces this kid makes! Well, these days, more often than not when I'm frustrated it's because I'm in an awkward position with an angry baby and I'm sleep deprived.  Add to that a dog that desperately wants to cuddle and comfort me, it's a tripping hazard and/or too many babies to deal with all at once (and I've only got the one lap for snuggling).  I'm finding this formerly adorable trait of Riley's much less desirable these days.  Poor pup. TerraDactyl loves licking this piece of plastic.  She homes right in on it whenever it's in range. Fortunately, Riley is taking TerraDactyl's continued presence in stride.  It's...

TerraDactyl's first Halloween was a success!  The weather was very nice, so I thought we'd get more trick or treaters than previous years, but we got basically the same amount.  I think we had 10 this year. TerraDactyl thinking up her Halloween mayhem TerraDactyl only got to meet the first group of trick or treaters and then she had to go to bed.  It took a while for her to get to sleep, so DH got to see the rest of the trick or treaters.  The funniest group was two brothers.  The younger one seemed nervous and just grabbed a random chocolate bar and as they walked away he told his older brother that he wished he'd gotten a Three Musketeer instead.  DH called after him to come back and get a Three Musketeer, but the kid was too shy.  So DH chucked it after him.  lol. Bring on the Trick or Treaters! We also started a new type of lotion today for the eczema study.  Since the other lotion seemed to bother TerraDactyl, I switched he...