Happy New Year

and Silent Night.

Still can't talk. It's really not such a bad thing I've found. If I need to, I can get up close and whisper so I've only had to resort to writing notes once when we went out to dinner last night at the Village Squire (if you're in McHenry, I've got to take you here) and I wanted Cap to request Hello by Lionel Richie for the guitar dude to play (he didn't). I can also mime pretty well. For "Addie Spit Up" I do my tongue hanging out and then make a motion like I'm zippering up a parka. It works. Addie doesn't seem to mind a mute mother as she still gets lots of smiles and cuddles.

Mom kindly babysat this afternoon while Cap and I snuck off to see a movie - SUCH a luxury! We tried to get into Casino Royale but it was sold out and ended up at Blood Diamond. Amazing movie. It reminded me again why I have a pink sapphire engagement ring. Right now Addie is napping, we're sipping champagne, and Mom is preparing a homemade vegetarian Japanese Shabu-shabu feast. Lucky us! I'm not sure we'll make it to midnight but that's fine by me. It's 2007 somewhere anyway.

Some New Year's Resolutions:

Take a few risks and stop being a baby. I have a real one now.
Remember everyday what a blessing it is to have a healthy, beautiful daughter.
Reach out to my family and friends more often.
Continue to blog. It's good for my soul.
Stop buying so much stuff. On Sale isn't a license to buy.
And if you feel like dressing like a synchronized swimmer in the middle of winter while reading the business section - you go girl!

Happy New Year every one!

Christmas Tales

The Addie Clan is still here in the farmland of McHenry County, Illinois enjoying the last few days of our visit. We've been her a full week with my Mom and then celebrated Christmas Part 2 with the Detroit P+Q's in Chicago, so I don't even know where to pick up. Cap definitely has shaved his dashing mustache and my bangs have gone back to their usual straight and lackluster existence. Some folks get dressed up for Halloween, but the LA P+Q's take it as a challenge for Christmas.

If Addie was writing this, she would regale us with tales of her first Christmas complete with new toys (all battery free thank goodness), clothes, books and her first Savings Bond. Of course there were many many kisses from lots of family members as she showed off her full crawling skills and how she can now pull herself up (goodbye beautiful crib bumper). When she isn't motoring around on hands and knees, she got to go in taxis, trains, planes and automobiles and of course her stroller. She has been to a bevy of restaurants representing her already global sensibilities including Chinese, Greek, French and Japanese. While she wants to sample the eclectic cuisine, she has had to be content with her rice cereal, the ever delicious Enfamil A.R. Lipil for Babies Who Spit Up Frequently and trying to grab everything off the table from chopsticks, to beer bottles and little plates for soy sauce. We have learned that you can't have enough extra spoons on the table since she seems to much prefer them (along with cell phones and remote controls) to any of her baby-appropriate toys.


But since Addie isn't the author, I get to toss in that this Mama has been one sick lady which wasn't what I had imagined Addie's first Christmas to involve. I got the stomach flu last Friday which doesn't take much imagination to understand what that meant. I remember at one point Addie screaming her lungs out, the phone ringing and me, barfing up a fake Tylenol gel cap thinking, "This is not good, not good at all."

That subsided, we all hopped on a plane Christmas Eve (and Addie's 7 month birthday) and then I catch the flu - the regular flu. I was up enough to open presents Christmas morning but the rest of the day I spent wrapped up in blankets asleep on the couch while Cap played the role of single parent. I managed to be upright long enough to eat my second installment of turkey for the year before passing out again.

Feeling less feverish the next day, we headed into Chicago to spend 3 fun nights with my Dad, Nanci and Drew in the Windy City. I felt better enough at one point to guzzle a martini on the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower. Since then however, I have lost my voice, communicating in barely audible whispers but enjoying being restful back at Mom's and of course her homemade cookies. This might be a good opportunity to implement some baby sign language.

Perhaps its my mute state that has made me so long winded in writing so let's just stop here. Despite my ill-health, it was a wonderful Christmas filled with all the right stuff - Grandparents, an angelic little girl with a big smile, and my super-hubby.

Check out more photos of our Christmas adventures here.

Seasons Greetings!

need we say more?

She's Got Fever

Fevah! Fevah! Fevah! Fevah!

Friday afternoon.
Baby is hot.
Take Temp. 101.0
Call Cap. "Addie has a fever."
Call Pediatrician (our old one from Santa Monica because new one is OUT. long angry story involving insurance swindling but let's not go into it now). No other symptoms. Advise to take Baby Tylenol or Motrin.
Administer Tylenol (okay I'm cheap and it's actually generic Acetaminophen from Target)
Napping
Crying
100.2
Acetaminophen
Playing
99.9
Napping
Acetaminophen
Lots of crying
100.2
Realization we won't be going to my office holiday party. Cancel Babysitter.
Carry crying baby around house for hours
100.3
Acetaminophen
Sleeping at night. Waking frequently. More drugs
Saturday Morning. 100.2
Acetaminophen
Napping/Crying/Playing
Carry baby around the house (this time in her sling. getting smarter here)
101.0 CRAP!
Acetaminophen
Research meningitis on Internet. Rule it out - no stiff neck.
Napping
Acetaminophen
Bedtime. Sleeps through the night!
Sunday morning: no fever and a happy baby returns!

Roll tape!

material girl.9

It recently dawned on me that Addie's first Christmas is the opportunity to start holiday traditions of our own. I'm nutto for Christmas; it's by far my favorite holiday. I love the christmas lights in people's homes, the carols (except when blasted from every store speaker), the christmas tree (even if ours is silver), myriad ornaments collected over generations (including the real seal fur star that Uncle Brother gave us made by Eskimos in Alaska), the stockings hung by the fire with care (Addie will have 3 by the time Santa arrives), the Christmas cards, and the often overlooked Advent calendar counting down the 24 days before Christmas. This is a tradition that I loved as a child, and one that I will continue with Addie.

I bought our German Advent calendar from an antique store in Richmond, Illinois when Addie and I were visiting my Mom in October. I am definitely drawn to the traditional with ornate scenes of old-fashioned holiday cheer.
I picked the Christmas Train one out because I was entranced by the cheery (yet creepy) dolls ('creepy' and 'doll' are redundant) who are so excited to see Old Saint Nick driving not a sleigh but a train into their idyllic, snowy, German village. My favorite window from the 11th shows Santa changing the tire on a Model T that belongs to 2 young angels. How delightful and bizarre!

In Pottery Barn they now sell gigantic advent calendar wall hangings that you can stick presents in the pocket. I don't need my advent calendar to have gifts or even chocolates behind the 24 doors. To me, the humble advent calendar, made of paper and a gentle sprinkling of silver glitter, is a reminder that joy and the excitement of the new and unknown can come in the simpliest form.

Kibble Nibble Avoided

Addie wandered into the kitchen and came dangerously close to Didi's turkey and giblets meal. It's really a matter of when, not if.

Admit it. You ate cat/dog food once when you were little, right?
An LA Fireman was just awarded $2.7 million in damages for unknowingly eating dog food as part of a hazing ritual at the ole firehouse. I could say a lot about this story, but I'd just get annoyed.

But back to me. As far as I can recall, I don't think I actually did eat pet food ever and we had plenty of cats(6) and later on several dogs (4) plus an assortment of pet mice. Check out the ingredients in mouse kibble: fortified mix of vegetables, high fiber hay, healthful whole grains, and fruit. balanced Omega-3 and Omega-6 Polyunsaturated fatty acids aid in development of shiny coats. powerful antioxidants boost immune systems to fight disease. loaded with essential fiber." This could very well be the ingredient list of my pre-natal vitamins.

Ah-Choo!

or is it A-Choo, or Ahchoo, or Achoo, or . . . ?

Firsts

Look who can sit up! Addie has actually been able to sit up for about a month or maybe 2 - I can't remember and it depends on the definition. She's been practicing though and now she can sit up for several minutes and entertain herself trying to pick up leaves on the grass. Last night, however, was the first time she got herself into a sitting position all by herself. Bam! One moment on her tummy, the next she's sitting up!

I've been having trouble since Addie was born identifying her "Firsts." Her first smile, rolling over, sitting up, and even crawling I haven't really felt confident about locking in an exact date. If we count crawling as Forward Movement then Addie has been able to crawl for several weeks although she isn't yet moving hands and legs in opposite directions. She can maneuver herself to any object she desires but it is more of a commando crawl where she pulls herself forward dragging her lower body behind her. Another technique she employs I like to call the inchworm. She sort of sticks her butt up in the air (think downward facing dog position in yoga) and then slides forward. She can now get up on all fours like a true crawler but hasn't been able to get her legs in motion - any day though! She's the only kid in her daycare class that can move about. One of the triplets is becoming more mobile but when there is one toy in the middle and two babies, Addie gets there first. She pretty much has the run of the place and all the choice toys. Queen Addie of Daycare.

material girl.8

Is someone at Dwell Baby reading my mind? No longer an oxymoron, the perfect baby linens are now in a modern cowgirl print. Yeeee-haaaawwww!

Of course, I still love Addie's Pink Palace, but perhaps a hooded terrycloth towel in the cowgirl rose print would make a lovely and complementary addition to Addie's House of Style. Santa, are you listening? Addie's been an awfully good girl this year.

Write Your Own Caption

This photo Cap snapped on Sunday is just screaming for a caption, but I couldn't come up with anything humorous myself. I'm heading out to Seattle back on Wednesday so have fun with this while I'm gone!

Cap's gonna kick it off with: "Spare a dollar for a Grateful Dead ticket?"

Can you think of a good one?

Mmmmmm gruel

By golly, I think she likes it!

Addie was gobbling up her organic (what else?!) rice cereal this morning when she, for the first time ever, had what is technically referred to as solid food although it definitely seems more like watery swill. About 10 seconds into the video I exclaim, "Yay! That's food!" Be warned, it's disturbingly loud and shrill. I guess I also didn't think it necessary to wipe her face at any point resulting in Addie resembling Uncle Sam or Colonel Sanders by the end of the meal.



Babies can start rice cereal anytime between 4-6 months according to our pediatrician. Here Addie is 6 months, 2 weeks and we are finally serving up the gruel. With a history of food allergies on Cap's side of the family and the desire not to have stinkier poo, we've been pushing this off for, well, 2 months. She's been ready for a long time though but then I insisted her first taste of cereal needed to be captured on film and that required daytime on a weekend to get enough light to take a decent video. What kind of a parent am I that makes decisions based on light conditions?

Addie will practice on the rice cereal for maybe a month and then we can start introducing orange foods. I don't know if that is what the baby books recommend, but our pediatrician was very specific that we should do only orange foods next. I'm just imagining what that poop is going to look like. Ew.

Portrait of a Girl and her Cat