P-A-D: Day 105, Roll Over

Thursday, July 26 at around noon: here is the girl immediately after rolling over for the first time. Doesn't she seem pleased with herself? And it was no accident either - she did it 3 more times back to back. Time to rethink the swaddling at night!

Here's a video of roll-over #2...

P-A-D: Day 104, I'm Too Big for My Onesie!

Many weeks ago I sang a little song to Kai when I was getting her dressed, "I'm too squirmy for my onesie", to the tune of a certain 90's song by a bald French weight-lifting male model. Today I didn't sing the song, but I thought about it upon seeing her busting out of the seams of this Onesie. It seems only last week I retired the Preemie Onesies out of her wardrobe, and now the Newborn ones look like they've reached their limit. *sniff*

P-A-D: Day 103, Gaming with Baby

Do not be fooled by the title of this post, there is no dungeon master (other than Kai), no orcs to be slain (maybe a demon...?), nor any mission to accomplish (other than the game itself). No, this is about Kai's favorite new game: Keep the Bottle in the Baby's Mouth. I think she probably calls it "Frustrate Mommy and Daddy to Tears". Seriously, she's been doing this almost every feeding for two weeks now: shaking her head and otherwise making it impossible to either put the bottle in her mouth or keep it there. The worst is when she cries and you think she's in pain for some reason. I have been searching for signs of a tooth since Monday, but nothing. So, the frustration continues, with no real way for us to increase our odds of winning. We each have tried various techniques. Eric's favorite is to change position - from this one he can at least hold her arms so she can't shove the bottle away. My stand-by technique is to spend my time imagining swaddling her before every meal and convincing myself this does not make me a bad mommy for wanting to do it so badly...

P-A-D: Day 102, French Schoolgirl

The morning of Monday July 23 was a little chilly, so I put Kai in knee-highs, cute little shoes, and a little hoodie. I thought the end result looked a bit like a French schoolgirl uniform, although not so much in this picture. Each day I seem to have different criteria for how I pic that day's photo: composition, cuteness, expression, lighting... In the end I have to remind myself that it doesn't matter how imperfect it is, just pic the one I like the best. I chose today's because of her expression.

Her hair is really looking red here, isn't it? Yesterday I was thinking it was looking very strawberry blonde. She just gets cuter and cuter!

P-A-D: Day 101, Peninsula Hopping

Here's Eric showing Kai some real live art. Sometimes when she is very upset and inconsolable, Eric will take her over to the refrigerator to show her all the colorful things posted there. He calls it The Museum. It usually does wonders. Here she is, responding beautifully to all the amazing colors!

So the above was taken at Jordini's Subs, where we had an amazing meal. Port Townsend was at the end of of our whirlwind trip to visit the Peninsulas on Sunday, July 22. We startedin Kingston, since last week for the umpteenth time I drove through there and thought to myself that I should stop and visit for once. So on Sunday the three of us took the ferry to Kingston, starting out our trip by strolling by the shops. Turns out there really isn't much to do in Kingston other than eat. Well, you can buy yarn, or catch a ferry, and... you can look at the water! That's it. Here's Eric checking out the view with Kai. I have a special gift for taking pictures of people mid-sentence...

Then it was off to the historic hamlet of Port Gamble. Everything is adorable! The independent film Zombies of Mass Destruction was filmed here, but for some reason they didn't take advantage of many of the historical buildings. I think they used the church though. And here is proof that Eric is just as good as I am at taking pictures of people with their jaws wagging...

So finally there was Port Townsend, where we had lunch, did some window shopping, looked longingly at the beach buried by high tide and rain, and ran into a baby demon deer.

Super Fish Baby

OK, so technically I'm posting because I wanted an excuse to post another picture for today. Please meet Super Fish Baby. Her cape really makes the outfit complete.

Now that that's out of the way, here's some filler: random thoughts on my journey to Port Orchard this last Thursday.

› I really should stop in Kingston and actually nose around the shops and marina some time, instead of just driving through. It's always very pretty, day or night - at sunset especially.

› Never detour through Bremerton on your way to Port Orchard during mid-afternoon. I can't believe I forgot about Ship Yard Traffic.

› Waitresses really do love babies.

› My baby loves strangers. Her inner-demon only comes out when she thinks there is no one else around.

› You can never bring too much milk for baby on a road trip. I always told myself that if I happen to run out, I could just go to any grocery store and buy more. This did not take into account that you would realize you had not brought enough milk when the baby started screaming in her car seat when you are at least 10-20 minutes away from your destination, minimum. You will have to then detour to a grocery store, lug the screaming baby around the unfamiliar aisles looking for formula, hoping they have pre-made bottles because it would be a whole lot more work to figure out how to clean your dirty bottles in the grocery store parking lot after which you would then still have to prepare the a bottle. Anyway, once you have formula in hand, you have to find someplace to feed the baby. Do you have time to just stay in the grocery store parking lot, or are you trying to make it to a ferry? So you press on to the ferry, hoping to feed her in line there. Except the ferry starts loading before you can even unbuckle your seat belt. So you have to wait to get loaded on the ferry. And hope you can park in such a way that you can actually get your car doors open so you can either sit in back with baby or take her out. Did I mention she's been crying and crying for food for the better part of a half hour now and you've got a splitting headache? Oh yah, bring extra formula ladies. Always bring extra formula.

› Singing your favorite love song to your baby may warm your heart, but it doesn't prevent the inevitable meltdown when you have to still put her down and buckle her in to the carseat because the ferry is docking. No pretty song can make up for the fact that she has been in that damn carrier all day and she now hates it and you and wants the entire world to know it.

› How do single-arm amputees use car carriers for their babies exactly? Unlocking the handle and removing it from the base are both motions that require two hands. I have two hands and I find this "feature" amazingly frustrating.

› Frustrated with lugging around my giant diaper bag, I condensed the diapering essentials into a much smaller, cuter travel case. But I still need to bring milk with me everywhere, so there's another case. I have another little insulated case for a bottle of warm water to warm the milk. Then there is the travel Boppy, a definite necessity with my thumb tendonitis. So I bought a "Mommy Hook", a giant caribener, to keep them all hooked to each other to I don't need to juggle a bunch of straps. All of this then gets hooked onto my messenger bag purse. And I'm suddenly a pack mule lugging around a string of unwieldy separate small bags that clunk into everything and no matter what I do, the lot just does not sit right on my shoulder so it's constantly smacking me too. I am officially an idiot.

P-A-D: Days 94 - 100, Third Week of July

Day 94: July 15, Mommy Has A Wicked Fever

Oy. I had forgotten how very much fevers can suck.

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Day 95: July 16, Giggle Girl

The girl had a nice day with Grandma while I spent most of my time in bed sleeping off the last of the fever. I did manage to capture one of her silent giggle-grins, something I've been attempting for quite awhile. Her shoulders come up, her eyes squint, she gets a big thin-lipped grin, and there's a wiggle that could only be cuter if she had a little tail. One of these days I'll have to see about getting video.

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Day 96: July 17, Red Elephant

Nothing much happened today since I was recovering from my fever. I believe this Onesie is inherited from cousin JR. Those cute little pants I found at Gymboree for 99¢ - you can't beat that!

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Day 97: July 18, Koala Baby Organic

Babies R Us has a clothing line, Koala Baby Organic, that makes the cutest clothes. Complaints: it's more expensive, I can't always find what I want in her size, they don't sell the brand on their website as far as I can tell. This particular print I am very much in love with, so at their recent 50% off of all Clearance baby clothes sale, I bought every single scrap I could find. My hope is to use it all to make a peasant skirt for her. You know, once I re-learn to use a sewing machine. And buy a sewing machine. The likelihood that I learn/buy/get comfortable with a sewing machine in time to make her something she can actually wear before I need more fabric than I have: slim to none. Hmmm... I was thinking patchwork anyway, so I can make up the difference with another fabric. Right?

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Day 98: July 19, Mixed Feelings About Tummy Time

I couldn't limit this to just one image because looking at these together tells the perfect story of where the girl is with Tummy Time lately: first she's upset, then she's cooing at some toy. She's practically schizophrenic about it. Actually, I'm surprised she's smiling while lifting her head, because that's the part she hates the most - she hates the effort. I think she's inherited her mother's allergy to exercise. I can already hear the whining and complaining about PE we will be in store for...

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Day 99: July 20, Tracksuit from Grandma

Visiting Grandma Thursday, she asked if the girl could fit into this track suit outfit yet. I'm glad she did - I might have forgotten it hanging in the closet while she outgrew it! It is absolutely adorable, with a white teddy bear bundled for cold weather on one side, and a little penguin with a sled and some hearts on the other. She refused to move her arm from blocking the bear's face though. :( That angelic look on her face made it all worth it!

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Day 100: July 21, Resting On Her Laurels

I looked over at her asleep on Daddy's chest, and it looked like she had a floral crown on her head. Have I used the word adorable enough in this blog?

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P-A-D: Days 87 - 93, Second Week of July

Day 87: July 8, Good Morning Sunday

No, she's not hung over from Saturday night, she just thinks it's still Saturday night! I realized it was just after midnight and I might as well get a picture now before I forgot.

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Day 88: July 9, missed it

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Day 89: July 10, Tongue At Rest

She was looking seriously adorable with her tongue just hanging out. No way to do it proper justice with any camera apparently...

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Day 90: July 11, Smell My Finger

Another Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel shot, but with a cat thrown in for good measure.

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Day 91: July 12, She's Just That Quick

Another missed shot. *sigh* But it's not my fault! I was waiting for the Grandparents to arrive for a nice group shot, but when they finally got here they were running late and very flustered. In the end they only had time to ask for directions, get in a quick cuddle, and get thrown-up on. Ha ha! Grandpa had her for about 2 minutes, handed her to Grandma, and about 10 seconds later: bleck. all over Grandma's outfit for their dinner outing. That girl has amazing timing! Unlike me, as I missed the shot and any other photo opportunities of the day. *sigh again*

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Day 92: July 13, Three Months Old!

It was an exciting birthday with no less than 4 wardrobe changes! Mommy wanted to see what she looked like in her 3 Mo. clothes, and she cooperated by messing up outfit one, the day cooperated by heating up so I had to change her out of her feetie-pajamas, this cute peasant dress lasted most of the day luckily, and then of course at night we swaddle her for bed. Aside from the fashion show, there was the display nature put on: lots of thunder all day, some enough to shake the house, and a few flashes of lightning too. But probably most exciting of all was a visit from the Carters. Cousin JR Carter was so excited with the family portrait time that Kai magnanimously allowed him to sit in for a shot or two.

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Day 93: July 14, Quiet Saturday Afternoon with Phone

The title says it all, doesn't it? Actually, after so much fussiness and repositioning and refusing to eat, Daddy is allowed a few moments of phone time once the girl finally settles down, right?

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P-A-D: Days 80 - 86, First Week of July

Day 80: July 1, Turtle Time!

Does my girl have the best turtle collection or what?

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Day 81: July 2, missed it

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Day 82: July 3, Girl in a Towel Redux

I keep meaning to photograph our girl in the bath, and there is never any time. I finally get some good pictures of her, and the best one is this gorgeous shot of her after bath time is over. Oh well, I'm sure there are still a million more opportunities to come!

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Day 83: July 4, Happy Birthday America

A special dress for a special girl on a special day. Happy 4th!

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Day 84: July 5, High Five

Not quite a high five, but she'll figure it out...

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Day 85: July 6, missed it

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Day 86: July 7, Quiet Saturday Afternoon

A perfect, unguarded moment with daddy and baby.

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P-A-D: Days 62 - 79, End of June

Day 72: June 23, Raise Your Hand

This is her favorite sleep pose.

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Day 73: June 24, missed it

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Day 74: June 25, Girl in a Towel

So many spit-ups, we finally just wrapped her up in a towel to wait it out until she was finished. Here she is, sleeping it off.

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Day 75: June 26, New Gym!

She loves these birdies just as much as the animals on her swing. Thank you Fisher Price!

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Day 76: June 27, A-a-a-a-y-y-y

Wait, she knows who the Fonz is already?!

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Day 77: June 28, Look at my pretty- Yawn!

Wearing a new dress for Mommy's photo shoot is exhausting!

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Day 78: June 29, 11 Weeks Old

Just look at those eyes. Wow.

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Day 79: June 30, First Trip to the Mall

She was so considerate, sleeping at the restaurant until we were done with our meal. Her reward: lunch in the lounge!

P-A-D: Days 62 - 71, Mid-June

Day 62: June 13, Two Months Old!

Here she is, all decked out in her pretty Two-Months Birthday Dress. Happy Birthday, Kiddo!

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Day 63: June 14, missed it

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Day 64: June 15, 9 Weeks Old

At some point I have to stop keeping track of her age by weeks, because it just gets confusing for her to constantly be having anniversary days that just get wider and wider apart. Until then... here she is with her favorite buddies: Lion and Girl-in-the-Mirror.

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Day 65: June 16, Pink Lady

Today did not go as planned. We all had a rotten day. :( At least the girl looked cute for a few moments in her new pink sweater.

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Day 66: June 17, Another Side-by-Side Pic

Back on May 2, I snapped a picture of Eric with Kai and Nikka in almost this same exact pose. Once again, it's easy to see just how much she's grown.

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Day 67: June 18, Impromptu Full (almost) Family Photo

Fiona did not get the memo about picture day... But everyone else is here! Some of us are even looking at the camera...

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Day 68: June 19, Grasping

She held her first toy today! OK, so we had to put it into her hand. Which meant first prying her hand open because the moment you touch her hand she closes it into a fist. But that meant that once the rattle was in her hand, it didn't go anywhere for quite awhile!

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Day 69: June 20, missed it

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Day 70: June 21, What I See...

In those first few days of life, I often wished to myself that I had a way to photograph the girl exactly the way I saw her through my eyes. Today it occurred to me that I could at least attempt something close to this using my remote switch. Many bad angles later, I finally got something close enough to call it a day. There's just no better way to see her than when you're gazing down at her in your arms.

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Day 71: June 22, 10 Weeks Old

Asleep on the couch. If only she was always this calm...