Potty update

Well, as is expected around these parts, life got in the way with potty learning. Plus, school was not super enthusiastic about the whole idea and that coupled with our own hectic few months led to us backing off. She still used the potty quite a bit and often wore big girl panties on the weekends, but we didn't keep pushing school to try it much during the day. 

However, she's been sporadically asking to go during the last few weeks and even "took" herself (walked to the potties, pulled down her pants, and took off her diaper and went!) when they were busy helping another kid. So, on Tuesday night at a parent/board meeting, her teacher said that we might give it a try! She had been dry all day for 2 days in diapers. So, on Wednesday morning I dropped her off at school wearing big girl underwear and with a bag full of extra panties and pants (for the inevitable accidents). Surprise! Only one accident on Wednesday! 

So, I dropped her off this morning in her big girl underwear as well and am crossing my fingers that things will go well. She seems so proud of herself when she uses the potty (plus she gets to demand books at home while sitting on the potty and that's always a plus for her).

We unfortunately have a busy weekend already planned so we're also hoping that this doesn't derail the potty adventure too much. It's our 6th anniversary (and I actually did do the math for that. I tend to forget how long it's been!). So, we're headed out to Knoxville (no, not Tennessee) for a beer and music festival with some friends. The Froglette's coming as well and we booked a hotel room for the night so we don't have to drive home at the end. So, now we need to pack a million pairs of panties, a potty, diapers, and a few dozen pairs of pants along with all of our normal supplies for a little trip. It'll be good to get away for a little while and enjoy each other. 

Happy 15th months!

Whoops, so we neglected the blog here for a few (many) months. Sorry about that! Life just got in the way and we were busy playing and singing and running around like maniacs. But, blogging is back!


Today is the little girl's 15th month birthday. I can't believe how big she is! Check it out!

It seems like just the other day she was nestled in her little plastic box at the hospital.

Not only does she have a smile and an evily little grin, but she also has a rapidly expanding vocabulary. She can say "more" [mo], "mama" [mama] and "dada" [dada'], "no" [no] (which is often nononono in rapid succession). She also uses "whoof" [w^f] for dogs. Her passive vocabulary is vast (by this I mean that she clearly comprehends much more than she produces). When we get her from school each night, we ask her to sit down outside her classroom door so that we can change her shoes. She happily* follows directions and will go find her boots and try mightily to get them on her feet. 

The chickadee also has 6 (6!) teeth now. The first four are fully through but the last two on the top are still struggling to fully descend.**

She got to jump in puddles for the first time last week as we had a spell of weather in the 50s and 60s so the ice and snow melted. Apparently puddle jumping is an innate behavior because she just knew exactly what to do when confronted with a puddle! Splash! She's also been begging for rides in the stroller. When she sees it she starts trying to climb up in it to go out! I think she's has cabin fever too. She's also a fan of dancing and will nod her head (a headbanger in training?) and do cute little gyrations to the music. She just started spinning in circles too - so maybe she's a fan of hippie dance?

Things have been a bit better for Cole recently as well. The pinching and other painful behavior is mostly gone. Now she tries to hug him (which, granted, does often end up in a body slam to the floor, but, well, she tries) and kiss him. She likes to rest her head on his belly which he tolerates for much longer than one would expect. She still worships him and we can't get over how excited she is by his existence. 

We have some adventures coming up soon. We head to southern CA in 10 days for a quick vacation/wedding of a friend. We're hoping to take Froglette to  the ocean and the zoo. And then it's spring break (we're staying here but hoping to play hooky a bit and go have fun as a family) and then we're heading to Chicago so I can present at a conference. Busy busy!

*Okay, so not so happily recently. We seem to be having a grouchy streak. Sigh.

** We think that these teeth may be the cause of some of the grouchiness. We hope. Or maybe it's other new teeth?

The baby and cat series

So Cole has been excellent with the baby, mostly by being indifferent to her presence. He hasn't licked her yet, nor is he interested in snuggling up against her in her bassinet. But, he does get jealous when she sleeps on our chests - as that location used to be reserved for him alone.

Cole getting close

Who's bigger?

Mom with cat and baby

Cole trying to fit - no room!

We of course keep an eye out, in case he decides that he's tired of this little creature, but he's given us no evidence that he dislikes her at all, not even responding when she grabs a tuft of his fur (accidentally, he was in arms reach when she flailed about and managed to grasp something).

4 weeks!

Today is four weeks since little Froglette was born. We were even up this morning at 2 am (although not celebrating her birth!). It's been an amazing four weeks and I'm overwhelmed by how much she has grown and changed in just four weeks.

She started out at just 6 pounds 12 ounces, but now is clearly over 8 pounds (she was 8 at her doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago). She not only weighs more, but her little body has filled out. She doesn't look as lean and skinny now. Mom bought some newborn sized clothes while we were in the hospital (she was just too small for the 0-3 month clothes) and now they are all very tight. Once we get settled into the new place today and tomorrow, we'll start transitioning her into the 0-3 clothes. She'll have many more options for clothes too, so that means less laundry! Hopefully I'll be able to start wearing some of my old clothes too - so less laundry for me too!

Her voice has changed as well - she's added some new sounds to her happy repertoire. She's not cooing yet (see here for a description of verbal stages in babies) but she is making little squeaks and chirps. Peter says that she almost sounds like a video game! Her cries have changed as well. They're a little less "small" sounding. I know, what does that mean? I had no idea that I would be able to hear the differences in cries - but apparently that comes with parenthood.

So, what have we been up to for the last month? Well, Froglette has figured out how to nurse (she's a pro) and we've spent roughly 9/10 of every waking hour breastfeeding. She's also an excellent pooper - none of this 5 poopy diapers a day that the breastfeeding book recommends. She's so good that we might go through 15 diapers a day - at least. Froglette is also an excellent burper and farter. Sometimes I think I'm living with a frat boy or truck driver - these noises are so loud you can hear her across the room! Froglette also seems to be getting some control over her eyes - they generally track in the same direction these days (they started out kinda wandering independently of each other). She's also expanded her facial expressions - she's smiling more (not in the poopy way - but also not a sincere happy face- I think she's just figuring out how to move her face in a smile). She's also able to make these wonderful little bird faces when she's hungry - you can almost hear her going "cheep, cheep feed me".

Froglette has spent the last four weeks mostly at home, but she's made a few trips out into the world. Of course, she has slept through most of the outside forays, which has been good for us! She got to take a few walks when we first got home and before the snow started falling. Unfortunately, the weather has turned pretty cold so no more walks in the stroller any time soon.

Today, for her four week "birthday", we will be moving into our new home. This will be the fifth place that Froglette has slept in since her birth. We just couldn't move back to the old place, and we found a great duplex to call our own. Pictures coming soon as we get settled in. It's been rough, moving a few weeks postpartum, but it'll be worth it in the end. The new place has more room and a yard - and Froglette will get her own room when we move her out of our room in a few months.

That's the news around here. I hear some little grunting noises, so I think I'm being summonded!

.

The weather outside is frightful

written Tuesday, Dec 8th

So, little Froglet and I are snowed in. I sent the Moms back to their B and B after lunch today so that I didn't have to worry about them driving in the snow. We're forecasted to get somewhere between 8 and 17 inches of snow tonight! It's been snowing now since the morning - but we're nice and toasty inside. All I'm missing is a cup of cocoa!

Well, and all of my own furnishings and comforts of home. Because, well, we're stuck in temporary housing. We haven't spent the night in our own house since the Friday after Thanksgiving and it looks like we'll never sleep there again.

Most of the way through our Thanksgiving dinner (which MomK and Sissy were here for), our carbon monoxide detector went off. We followed the procedures and called security and the fire department. They found high readings in the apartment and aired it out for a while. Then, on Friday they brought us a new stove (as they thought it was something with the stove) and a new carbon monoxide detector. Then, on Saturday, the carbon monoxide detector went off again! This time, I really freaked out. Froglet and I went out to the car to keep warm and away from the gas. Then PEter brought out the cat, and Sis went back on forth getting us blankets and the diaper bag. Eventually, we decided to take Froglet to the ER to get her checked out.

We were seen quickly at the ER - helps to live in a quiet town - but it was a traumatic experience. They needed to take her blood to test her CO levels, but they were unable to get a vein in her arm. Eventually they had to get the blood from her heel, one drop at a time. It was terrible watching them hold her down as she screamed. The ER doc decided to give her oxygen as a precaution since there's little research about safe CO levels for infants. Sis did a bunch of research from her cell phone in the room and also coordinated with Mom to get us a place to spend the night - since I was NOT going back to that house again. Peter and Sis managed to get Froglet and I safely ensconced in the B and B and then went back to the house for provisions and to drop Cole off at the Veterinary Hospital for his overnight stay.

so, now we're in temp housing. The university has been trying to figure out the cause of the CO levels, with little success. We aren't willing to move back without an identified cause of the problem - so that we could have some reassurance that it won't reoccur. And thus, we've been camping out for 10 days now. Hopefully we'll have a resolution soon.

Grandmama

Grandmama died last Saturday. With all of the events of Froglet's birth and our current living fiasco (more updates on that in a few days), we've barely had time to process her death.

My grandma was 93. She lived a full life and always talked about how lucky she was to have wonderful children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We always told her it was her "fault" - she must have done something right to end up with a great family!

Grandma was the matriarch of the family and held us tightly together. I hope that we can remain close without her presence to tie us together.

Little Froglet will never get to meet her great grandma - but Grandmama got to meet her. The last time I visited in August, I held Grandmama's hand to my belly and watched her face light up as Froglet kicked her hard! So, we'll get to tell Froglet the story of how she kicked her great-grandma and how excited she was to hear about Froglet's impending arrival. Of course we'll have tons of other stories to tell about great-grandma - picking blueberries and huckleberries at her house, making hotcakes, and working in the garden, and how much fun stacking wood can be.

Happy Birthday

So today's the day when the entire nation celebrates PEter's birthday (at least this is what he tells me)!

Happy Birthday PEter, and Happy 4th of July to all of you. Enjoy some fireworks for us.

Stephen Hawking and my dad

With the news today that Stephen Hawking, the great physist, has been hospitalized, I had an immediate recollection of my experience listening to Stephen Hawking speak.

I was a fairly nerdy young teen/girl... prone to fantasy and wild escapism. I think my dad, an engineer by both profession and personality, often wondered what to do with me and how we were to connect. My Christmas present from my dad one year, a special present just from him to me, was a pair of tickets to see Stephen Hawking downtown. I remember that the tickets were in an envelope on the tree rather than wrapped as a traditional present.

We went off to see the lecture, and it was so cool. I was there with my dad and he didn't know much about this topic (advanced physics and black holes) either. We were both learning something new. I was one of few women (and likely the only girl) in the audience. I remember being mesmerized by the talk, by Stephen Hawking's voice (computer synthesized) and the fact that he took questions and laboriously typed out answers during an intermission between the talk and the Q and A period. I remember an assistant changing the overhead transparencies he used to demonstrate different aspects (remember overhead transparencies!).

After the talk, we went to a diner with some of dad's friends and had pie and ice cream and talked. I remember these men talking with me as if I was a full member of the discussion, rather than a kid. It was so great taking part in this conversation and talking with this grown ups about this exciting talk. 

I didn't get much mileage out of this at school, attending a science talk not being a particularly "cool" thing to do. But I remember this fondly. I feel so fortunate to have had a dad so interested in spending special time with me.

I cherish these special times I was able to have with my dad. I hope that Stephen Hawking can safely recover and return to giving his great talks, writing his books, and inspiring new teens. 

A break

We're off to the Left Coast tomorrow for a few days of break and "rest" (aka running around crazy-like to see friends and family and eat good food).


Someone isn't too happy about our trip.

This is assuming that we can actually get out of the Midwest. We acquired 1.5 inches of snow in a few hours today.

It's cold and blustery out (although 20 degrees warmer than the other day). Let's hope that our flights all leave as planned. We're looking forward to seeing you all very soon.

Happy Fourth!

And happy special day to a special someone.

-wifey

Yay!!!

Welcome to the world Howie!!!

The C word

It strikes again. A classmate of mine just found out that her cancer has metastasized. She's been in remission for the last few years but hasn't been feeling well for a month now. It's never a good time to find out, but it's been particularly harsh for her to not be able to finish out the semester. Chemo starts in a few weeks. We don't know the prognosis yet, but it's not looking good. This is a very rare cancer, and the fact that it has metastasized is very bad.

We're working on a plan to help - groceries, company, dinner.... but we can't help with the bills. The rough part about being a grad student (or really just a person in the US) is that health insurance is dependent on employment. We get fairly inexpensive insurance here. But what happens if she can't take classes and TA in the fall? Her insurance will expire in August. If she can't comeback, it will be because she's too sick. This means she'll need the insurance (chemo and cancer not being a particularly inexpensive disease). So she's also facing a terrible catch22. We talked about this a lot after Dad died. Illness is most expensive for those who can least afford it. Why we can as a nation afford billion (trillion? I don't even know) war and weapons but not health care?

Farm U is reminding me a bit of CityU right now. People have banded together and are acting like family, rather than the "system". We have quickly shifted into discussions about who will do what, and are trying to help and support each other. And interesting wrinkle is the cross-cultural nature of our department. I spent a while today talking with my officemate (from China) about the appropriate responses to finding out that she has cancer. Officemate was surprised that she knew- telling me that people with cancer in China never know, because their families don't tell them. This way, everyone is "happy". We talked for awhile about what it meant for the diagnosis and prognosis to be known. We talked about what types of support and comfort could be given. Although I A NOT GRATEFUL for me previous experiences with cancer (and PLEASE do NOT tell me anything like that), I know that I can rely a little bit on them, and be a better friend because of them. I know that I can avoid saying the unhelpful things- and instead offer a hug, a tissue, and a shoulder to cry on. I won't tell her it's going to be better. I won't tell her that it's part of the "plan". I don't know if she believes this or not. But I can offer her friendship right now.

So, tonight I'm sitting here, ostensibly writing a paper, and thinking about her. She's not writing her papers, as she can't focus with the dose of oxycodone she's on. We'll be babysitting her pet for a while, and doing what we can to make sure she's not alone.

And, for now, I'm feeling very sad. Very scared. And, honestly, pretty pissed off. Damn cancer. She's my age.

Happy Spring!!!

(note that this post was originally composed on Monday 3/24, see the post above this one for an update)

Although we still have forecasts of more snow in our future spring has arrived. The robins are out in force, pulling worms and antagonizing the little "chickadees" (I'm not sure exactly what the little ones are). As I went to bed last night, it was gently snowing and this morning we woke to a white Easter Sunday. But even so, the grass is beginning to turn green and there's a promise of spring everywhere.

Mom came to visit over part of this last week (my spring break) and got to see some sunshine mixed with her snow. By the time she left, she was tired of hearing me describe the weather as "balmy"! It was in the high 40s and 50s most days.

While Mom was here, we took a road trip out east and explored a new part of the state. Note that the more of you who visit, the more excuses I'll have to leave my desk and see something new! I'll let Mom speak for herself, but I thought it was a very interesting and pleasant road trip.

We drove out to the Mississippi River and wound our way up the Old River Road. We were both quite surprised to see icebergs floating in the river in Davenport. Slightly north, in the quaint town of Le Claire, we tried to go view one of the locks. Evidently, many (most?) of the locks are now closed to visitors (perhaps a result of 9-11) but we entertained ourselves watching the river and the ice.
That is, until we noticed the GIANT bald eagle perched right above our heads. Seriously folks- this bird was enormous! We then explored a little path and found more evidence of the giant birds- these little fish were scattered all over- even in the trees.

Apparently, we had happened upon a huge bald eagle migratory area, albeit 2 months late. One of these years I'm definitely bundling up and heading out in January to see hundreds of bald eagles.

We wandered our way north even more, driving through small towns, visiting antique stores (but not buying anything!), and talking all the way. We decided Saturday morning that we were going to go as far as Dubuque and made a reservation in a B&B for the night. The proprietress encouraged us to arrive by 5 as to not miss the main event: the St. Patrick's Day parade down Main Street.

The B&B was in a lovely old mansion built by a lead baron (or was it lumber?). The town of Dubuque is very historic and used to lay claim to the highest number of millionaires per capita in the nation. It's also a very scenic viewpoint of the Mississippi River. We got in at 4:30, enough time to get the tour of the B&B, enjoy a glass of wine, and wander out onto the wraparound deck before the parade started. And what a parade it was! It is the epitome of the small town parade, with a few cars, the vans for the local radio stations, some people throwing candy, and a group of people and their dogs all walking in it. Everyone had on green, of course. And there were two St Pats on rollerblades!

After the parade, drained from the excitement, we had to contemplate dinner. We discussed going to this place- due to the family connection.

However, we decided that modern Iowan food was more our style and ended up in a lovely little bistro. We even shared warm bread pudding for dessert. Yum!

I must confess here that the prime reason for picking this B&B was the fact that it had two house cats on the premises. In fact, we even requested one of the cat's favorite rooms. Well, little Cindy did indeed decide to spend part of the night with us, curled up beneath the comforter at the foot of the bed.

She was quite happy there until my phone rang at almost 2am to warn me of a gunman on campus (several hundred miles away). This turned out to be okay. Mom and I slept fitfully after that harsh awakening. We were rewarded in the morning with unbelievable omelettes: brie and pears. It sounded beyond weird to me, but turned out to be fantastic.

We spent the morning exploring the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium . It's an amazing place that even has a touching pool! Woo hoo! We were amazed by the fact that that the Mississippi River is frozen over .
In fact, there were even fish frozen into the water . I wonder why they couldn't escape to deeper waters.

So, all in all, we had an exciting fantastic trip though Eastern Iowa. Come visit and we'll take you somewhere cool too!

Merry Belated Christmas

I just wanted to share this pic from Christmas that my mother or sister took of little 1900 with Santa Claus: