Still snot funny

Sometimes life just isn't funny. Sometimes it tiring or frustrating or sad or just a bit dull. The last few days for us have been a combination of exhausting, frustrating, scary and tedious.

Asa is sick.
Still.
Again.
I don't know anymore.

I know I must have said this before, but there is nothing more pathetic and sympathy-inducing than a baby with a fever. The poor little guy is such a trooper but there's no disguising his misery this week. I do think he is very slowly making a comeback but not at the rate we'd all like, and with his first birthday just two days away, time is running short for him to be healthy enough to really enjoy his party.

We've been to the doctor, the ER, we've had a chest xray, snotted through several shirts and bibs, cuddled bunny, teddy, zebra, monkey, lamby ... And all we know is Asa has a cold. Anyway, here are two photos, one of him in snuggle mode and one with his dad at the ER, you've got to admit even when he's sick he's just precious.

caution- living here will make you pregnant

When Jeff and I moved into our neighborhood we completely fell in love with it. Nice quiet streets with young couples walking their dogs, some with children, some without, and some with bulging pregnant bellies. We thought we'd blend right in with them, what with having a dog of our own.

And within two weeks of moving in, we got pregnant. As my belly grew we started to feel like an even better fit in the neighborhood. The belly opened up a whole new world of friends to make. When you're pregnant other pregnant ladies want to chat and compare notes, and the moms want to relive simpler days, when their babies were safely tucked inside where the worst they could do was (relatively) easier to take than the havoc the babies cause once they're out.

Now, just a handful of days shy of Asa's first birthday, I'm finding that newborns, new moms, and expectant first time moms surround me more than ever before. And I'm loving it! The newborns take me back to the days when we were first meeting Asa in person, sleepless and clueless, we fumbled thru the first few weeks and months in a blissful daze. Talking to the new moms I'm reminded of the horrors of breastfeeding, the pain, the leaks, the pumping, the endless cycle of keeping the baby fed and trying desperately to work a meal of your own into the day but also of the sort of adrenaline-induced euphoria that holding your new baby gives you. And then there's the pregnant moms. The excitement and amazement and totally lovable innocence they still have about the whole thing. Hearing the baby's heartbeat, going for the ultrasound, those days are so far in the past for us now, but the excitement is still fresh in my mind when I take a moment to cast back to 2009 ...

The whole circle of life is really incredible. I used to just think of it from a death/birth perspective; as one life begins, another is ending somewhere. The balance of the universe. But now I see it as being a vastly busier circle, like one of those crazy traffic circles that has lots of roads feeding into it ... New lives are starting all the time, joining the hubbub of life with new parents and veteran parents, children and grandparents all zipping around, enjoying the shared thrill of the ride.

Special congrats to all the newly expectant moms, as you already know, it's a great thrill and it only gets better.

Keeping Up

The headline on Yahoo today has a story about how to spot whether your toddler is gifted or not and provided a list of things to look for to confirm that in fact your little one is better than most. The daily digest I receive from babycenter.com had a mom worried that her 11 month old wasn't "advanced enough" because "all" she can do is clap, wave, say momma and dadda and stand on her own. A few of the moms responded with links to websites where you can rundown a checklist to see how your baby fares compared to others. A few other moms posted comments assuring the mom that their kid was doing the same and not to worry, and a very few moms posted comments that indicated borderline disdain for evening trying to judge a baby like that. 

I have to say, I agree with the moms who were annoyed that anyone is even trying to judge whether their baby is "advanced enough". We aren't talking about a mom with a serious concern, like a one year old who cannot hold their head up or roll over, that would be cause for a visit to the pediatrician. It seems more like we are using our children as a way of keeping up with the Jones' and frankly, I find that really sad.

In these times of financial austerity though, where is a parent to turn when they want to beat their neighbors at a game of one-up-manship? When the credit cards are maxed and and hours at work are cut, the answer to showing off and making other people feel inferior can no longer be found in the brand new Toyota Minivan out front or the fancy swing set out back. With knock-off crocks a dime a dozen, you can hardly turn to fashion to brag either. And as babies are growing up and the diaper bags are becoming less crammed with stuff, the designer diaper bag is being left home more and more frequently. How then do we make other parents feel inferior?

With genius babies of course!! Why didn't I think of that? Well I suppose I must not have been much of genius baby myself, otherwise I'm sure the genius would have carried through to adulthood. I mean, obviously if a baby rolls over three weeks ahead of the average, he'll go on to Harvard Law and the Presidency, right? And if the little guy starts walking at 10 months he'll be lightyears ahead of his classmates at the magnet tech high school waiting for him 15 years down the road, right?

Or is it possible that maybe, just maybe, as long as a baby is developing, it's okay to let them do it at their own pace? Could it be that a baby who doesn't walk until 15 months is just as gifted as one who walked at 10 months? Can it be true that having a vocabulary of 3 words at 12 months doesn't make you any dumber than the baby who could say 7 words?

Life is hard enough folks. We know, we're the adults living everyday out in the world with the baggage we've been collecting all these long years. Let's try our best not to saddle our babies with baggage before they've even started pre-school. They'll roll over when they're ready, clap when they're ready, talk when they're ready, feed themselves when they're ready, and before we're ready we'll find they've grown up and we're longing for the days when they took those tentative first steps and stumbled into our arms with that look of pure joy that they felt mirrored back at them from our eyes.

Be proud, over-worried parents, your baby is "advanced enough". Below is a picture of my "advanced enough" baby kickin' it in his new reading chair.

Uma Thurman, you look just like me

The truth is, Uma Thurman is a solid 3 inches taller than me. She's also 8 years older than me and is light years beyond me in glamour, poise and material wealth. However, despite these undeniable truths, I often hear how much I look like her. In fact, I have actually been mistaken for her several times in my life.  I've had groups of people cheer and chant "Uma" when I walked by, I've been offered preferred tables at busy restaurants, I've had people demand to see my ID to prove I'm not Uma Thurman, I've even had to turn down requests for autographs (sorry Uma, I don't know your policy on signing and I've no clue what your signature looks like, maybe I should google these things ...).

I wonder whether anyone has ever mistakenly called her Anna? Probably not, but who knows, in certain circles my reputation certainly proceeds me ...

At any rate, here are two photos, one of her and one of me, see if you can tell which is which ..

In related news, I'd also like to share this photo which may or may not represent both Uma and myself in a bikini, I don't know yet what the fate of my stomach will be, but once again, I sincerely appreciate that not all celebrities go the tummy-tuck route and still manage to look good in their (somewhat jelly belly) skin ...

jelly rolls

I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to my co-worker Adrienne for sharing this photo with me yesterday, it definitely, definitely made me feel a lot less stressed over my new mom-belly.

I have to say that I've always been hard on myself over my body but it's generally insured that I haven't had any serious weight issues, so I deem that it's a good technique for staying slim. However, it's also bad for morale. So this photo is something I may end up printing out and carrying around in my wallet to sneak peaks at before I dive into a plate of wings or something. I mean, if it's good enough for a Hollywood celebrity, it ought to be good for a no-name like me, right?

In other news, I'm fitting in my jeans again, so a week of full-on mental warfare against chocolate, ice cream, cookies and wine is starting to work. I mean, I've indulged, I'm no masochist. A little fat is good for filling in wrinkles anyway, right? So I guess maybe Moose Tracks Frozen Yogurt is my answer to Botox ... It's cheaper and more delicious without any of that paralyzing venom or whatever the Botox magic is.

In conclusion, thank you to Adrienne, Katie Holmes and Jeff who discovered Moose Tracks Fro-Yo, you all are working wonders on my body image, belly-jelly, and taste buds!

Zzz, sleep walking

Babies make me tired. I mean, I love my baby, he's a cute, sweet, funny, drooling little doll, but he wears me out. The good news is, I think we wear him out too.

Yesterday, for Father's Day, we had a few friends over for a cookout. Thinking that a 4pm start time would mean we'd have a well rested baby just up from his afternoon nap, we told everyone we'd be serving up steak by around 5pm. Of course, any and every time we try to plan something Asa likes to remind us who is really in charge by totally breaking with whatever his usual habits are and throwing us a curve ball. Yesterdays curve ball came when he decided to completely skip having an afternoon nap.

He's never done that before. He's certainly taken an early nap, a late nap, an abbreviated nap, an interrupted nap ... but no nap? No way. Until yesterday. He was a champ though, and wasn't really very fussy or anything, until right around 5pm when we were just about ready to serve up dinner. Jeff took over feeding Asa his dinner while I worked out getting food out to the guests and before I knew it, Asa and Jeff had disappeared upstairs for his bedtime. At 5:30pm.

Asa has never gone to bed at 5:30 before. 6pm yes but 5:30? Yikes. Apparently his head was rolling around while Jeff tried to feed him in his lap, the result of his actually falling asleep mid-bite ... So Jeff called it and put him down. We were a bit nervous we'd have a wide awake and well rested baby in the wee hours of the morning but no! Our little dude slept all the way through until his normal wake up time, and in fact, he was sort of roused awake by us opening his bedroom door and going about the morning routine in the house, so that the background noise eventually woke him at about 6:15. It was pretty great.

We all got a solid nights rest and woke up feeling refreshed. Thank goodness Asa learned the family mantra, 'play hard, sleep hard', at such a young age.

And, as an update, he is now walking up to several feet at a time before either purposefully sitting down or just plain face-planting into a crawl to complete his intended route. It's really cool and he's definitely enjoying his emerging bi-pedial tendencies.

Baby Steppin'

Who remembers "What About Bob"? Great movie, right? I mean, who doesn't hate Richard Dreyfuss in that movie and who doesn't love Bill Murray and his "baby steppin' down the hall, baby steppin' into the elevator"? Great stuff right!?

Well, we over in Familyville VA are proud to announce that we've got a little baby stepper ourselves! This morning, while playing with his dad, our little Asa took two deliberate and independent steps on his own! I was right there but somehow missed the first one and just saw the second little step and it was adorable! Jeff had a front row seat for the show which is great and next time we hope to catch Asa's two step on video.

In related news, Asa also has begun walking while holding onto our hands/fingers, which is new. In fact, last night at his cousin's grad party he walked himself clear across the kitchen while gently clasping my index fingers in either hand. I have to say, watching him grow and learn is the most inspiring and joyful things I have ever experienced.

So, I guess soon I'll be shopping for tiny little shoes for the kid, but not yet, no need to rush anything, he's still just as happy crawling around as he is pushing his little car around. And tomorrow he hits the pool so maybe he'll need flippers before sandals!