cereal photos added

I just posted the pictures I promised on March 19th, when E had her first taste of cereal. You can click on the March archives over on the right, and scroll down.

weekend update

Happy weekend, everyone! E woke up about 5 am today, and David 45 minutes later, because he was going to Fort Bragg today to wear a robot costume for their annual children's festival. I'm glad it's not too hot out today. However, I haven't taken advantage of the good weather yet, other than to open the windows for the cats. E and I had a short nap after she finished breakfast. Then in quick succession she managed to get creamy spit-up smeared in her ear and poop running down her leg, so it was off to a well-needed bath! She played a while after that, had her brunch, and I enjoyed holding her for 30 minutes of her three-hour nap. I got a lot done during her nap and then got sleepy by the time she was waking up -- always happens that way. Now, would you believe this, I've gotten semi-domestic today. I put a crockpot meal on this morning (a frozen one I'd had in there since last year sometime), and now I'm baking brownies. E is getting sleepy again, but good-naturedly so. She's on the living room floor, kicking her legs in the air, chewing her fingers and toys. Since this morning she's been practicing saying "dada" though I don't think she has any meaning for the word yet.

Yesterday David kept E until lunchtime, then brought her by CCL and left her with me so he could get ready for today's gig. E made a lot of people smile around the office, and I got wise this time by limiting her stimulation a little. We'd go round the cubicles and see maybe 3 people, then come back to my office for a while. She even took a 20 minute nap on blankets on the floor, which was pretty good considering how distracted she was. The two of us stayed on at CCL for their quarterly art reception. The art is photographs by local people, mostly nature scenes but some portraits and building details. Very good photos. I pushed Emma around in the stroller while I munched on hors doeuvres. She gnawed on a toy the whole time, occasionally stopping to stare at someone, but she was winding down for the evening. I had a good time chatting to a few people and relaxing.

This week I noticed that Emma no longer gets her arm stuck when rolling over onto her front. The other small change is that now when she gets a bib or blanket over her face she figures out how to move it. She'll either turn her head or grasp at the cloth and pull in various directions until she can see again. Used to be, she'd throw her arms and legs out and hold still in an almost trembling alertness, waiting to make sense of this sudden change in the world (everything's turned to pink flannel!) or for someone to put things back to normal for her. She never seemed to panic about it; she didn't cry. She'd just be very very alert.

can you decipher this?

lkGood morning. ERmma is helpin gme type. She's wearing the cutest pink striped pajamas that she got from herco
\usin mayr Ca
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e, Emma f;ound the return key. She is as intently interested in the keyb orad as s he is in books, /s ge us pressingn onm y hands as welll as hitting keys herselfl. tfffffgfz

kjgeneral updatel]]]]]]] Sorry i haven'tposted all weekk.fd Been havin t=
rou[ble gettubng penougoh sleep 0 buyti[t usually wasn't the baby's fauultwas 'mmmmmmmmn bil\It was me trl;Ying to do too much. ZEmmalweora is 5 AND A HALF MONTHs old now.
She can do all this:
2roll overq withrout gettingq stuckw'
-;'ak;p;[p]
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almost sit on her own
00000000knows how to hold a cup to her mouth
knows how to eat from a spoon though ashe doesn't like the ceraeal
can fling a toy up and down over her head to hear irt rattle
giggle
pick up a pacifier with one finger -- how did she do italics??

we need to go now. Emma hit some keyboard combination that made me lose some edits. She's looking away, bored. more later

our cultural weekend

I don't feel well this morning! But the good news from Nepal is cheering: the king agreed to reestablish Parliament. Emma and I attended a Nepalese New Year celebration this past weekend, hosted by "NCNC" the Nepal Center of North Carolina. The slogan on their welcome banner said "First in Flight, First in Height". My sister and my nephew went with us, and we were invited by a local family who are from Nepal. Jay is in kindergarten. He said he had a very good time. We had a delicious meal (catered by a local Indian restaurant - Nepali food is very similar) and Jay tried all the new foods eagerly, especially the gulab jamun, a super-sweet pastry in a bowl of milk and yogurt. That impressed me. I hope Emma will be as brave with new foods. After dinner there was a cultural program with songs and dances. I only saw a little of that as I had to take Emma out to feed her, and after that it was late enough that both kids were restless. Since we had walked to the place from Helen's house we needed to allow time to get back before dark and get Jay ready for bed. As we walked back Jay said, "I only made one friend." Helen responded, "But at least you made one!" and he said, "Yeah!" It was a child who climbed trees with him for a few minutes while Helen finished her meal outside on a bench and I had taken Emma inside. Jay was very interested in the Nepalese language he heard spoken all around us. I taught him two words on the walk there: Namaste, the greeting, and "naya" or something like that, which is the word for "year" and the only piece of "happy new year" that I remembered! He knew about Mount Everest as the highest mountain in the world and I told him that it's in Nepal. And I told him that the Nepalese flag is not a rectangle, but two triangles together, and he said he'd heard about those kinds of triangle flags before. I'm glad we went even though we couldn't stay very long. I'm going to find a link for you to read about the Nepalese New Year and paste it here. http://www.visitnepal.com/nepal_information/nepal_festivals.php

My friend Rachana said that in Nepal, at Emma's age (5 months) there is a big celebration for a baby's first solid food meal. They invite all their family and friends and make a special rice pudding. Everyone goes up and gives the baby a teensy taste of it. This event occurs around age 5 months for a girl and at 6 months for a boy. I asked Rachana why and she said, "I have no idea! In Nepal everything is different for girl and boy."

Some Easter weekend photos

weekends

Emma stayed up late last night - 10:15. She woke for a little breakfast at 5 and I now have some time to clean the house and gather things for her and my trip to Raleigh this weekend. We're going to visit Aunt Helen's family, Grandma and Grandpa, and "Granny Annie". AND we're going to take in part of the North Carolina Nepalese New Year celebration with our Nepalese friends the Devkotas. David is going to do two Robot gigs today, if they're not rained out. One is in Garner and one is in Mebane. Busy weekend.

When we're not traveling or visiting on a weekend, we spend the time as "down time". We sleep when we feel like it. We read, watch videos sometimes, watch the baby and the cats, wash clothes and bottles and coffee cups, pick up after ourselves, make phone calls to friends and family. David often will remark to E at 5 pm on a Saturday, "you're still in your pajamas." I'll respond, "just like her mother!" I believe that when you work full time, it takes two days just to maintain your energy and your life for the other five days. Ideally. Many people manage with much less "free" time.

I'm going to start another blog sometime, focused on "My Ideal Life". I have some of these ideals pretty well fixed in my head (e.g., vacations should be at least 3 weeks long) and I figure if you articulate your goals, visualize them well, then -- no, I'm not going to say they fall in your lap, but you can at least recognize them when they appear in the general vicinity.

Why Women Can't Sleep

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12334537/site/newsweek/

The cover of this magazine caught my eye. My friend Marie said she told everyone she's on the cover of Newsweek, because the picture so accurately represented her situation.

I feel extremely lucky that E sleeps well - I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, as they say! And I know things may change as she gets older: teething, talking, walking, wanting drinks of water, sneaking out with friends after curfew....

creeping nostalgia

E has been sleeping in her crib and doing fine, so when we came back from our trip to the mountains, David put the portable bassinet up in the attic. (There's not a lot of space in our house - many things go up in the attic.) But when he told me that he did that, I felt a pang of sadness that surprised me. Our baby's only 5 months old but I'm already nostalgic about her earlier ages!

Here she is in the bassinet, which was her first bed at home. I think she was about 1 month old in this first photo. She outgrew that top a while ago! In the bassinet she enjoyed staring at the fabric around the sides there. It depicts children playing outside and on a swing among lots of trees. I remember her "talking" to them and also learning Spanish by reading the large glaring Warnings printed inside one end.

This next photo is a poignant one for me. This was taken Feb 8th, on my first morning back to work. This is how I left her. She was 3 months old.

caught a cold

Our daughter caught her first cold this month. The photo was taken April 7th. She woke up that day with a very snuffly nose. By today the nose is a lot better, but she was spitting up all weekend - I presume from the drainage. She's been in good spirits almost the whole time, and hasn't had a fever. I read that the only way to tell the difference between a cold and allergies is how long it lasts. If symptoms last longer than 1 month, suspect allergies. You treat them the same way anyway.

Grandpa Bud and Grandma Mickey

To my loyal readers in Shawsville, Va: Thanks for a good Easter weekend!

Here are two early photos of E with her paternal grandparents. She enjoyed her weekend in the mountains. I'll write more about it when I get the pictures back.

It's Monday now, back to work. Kaylee the kitten woke me up 45 minutes before the alarm, but the baby is still sleeping. What's up with cats and 4 am? Seems to be something wired into most of them. Ellie May and Nadine were exempt from this 4-am-pestering-you phenomenon, but apparently Kaylee isn't. Here's a picture of Kaylee when she was little.

(don't tell anyone, but...)

Last night was the first time I could imagine NOT wanting to stay home with the baby all the time!

today's lessons: effectively working at home

The part that's harder about working at home is all the housework staring you in the face. I'm never more in the mood for chores than when I have CCL work to do from home.

It would be a good investment of time to tidy up a bit the night before. It also helps to gather everything you'll need into one spot. If you're really on the ball you'll have cleared a space at the so-called dining table where you can sit and work!

I've been working one day a week at home for a couple of months. Some days are better than others, of course. There is a limit to multi-tasking -- did anyone else realize this??? :) Emma has been great about sleeping a lot and entertaining herself until 5 pm, and when David is home he helps entertain her. Beginning in May I will go part-time and have Fridays off, so I won't be trying to work at home as much -- when I'm home I'll really BE home, if you know what I mean.

CCL friends

Emma is introduced to some colleagues

One of the things we're supposed to say in our introductions is "what's new and exciting since your last meeting".... So I had a visual aid for that part!

More photos from Colorado trip

This is Emma at about 6 in the morning, the day we left. We're in the airport waiting to start the first leg of our flight, to Atlanta.










When we get to our hotel room Emma flops down on the king size bed and leafs through the brochure. We're staying at a 5 star resort, The Broadmoor.









The hotel supplied a small crib, which Emma tests out by kicking against the bars.

First plane trip: a great success

The look on E's face here is characteristic of the whole journey -- alert, interested, slightly cautious. She watched me like a hawk, the whole time (except when she was dozing).