Teeth, Toys, and Tomorrow

Jane showing off her new tooth at 6 months old

Big news! Jane cut her first tooth yesterday, and she did it amazingly well. I have to say, our daughter is wonderful. She isn't drooling, but she is chewing on EVERYTHING. She is sleeping and eating well, and other than being a bit more clingy than usual, she's handling turning into a carnivore pretty well. It'll be fun when she starts to use her teeth to explore all the amazing food that is out there to eat, like chicken nuggets and strawberries (my personal favorites).

Now that Jane is sitting up and able to reach and grab for things, I have to be careful where I set her down at and what I set down near her. Before I know it, she has a paper bag and is waving and smashing it around, pleasantly entertained with her new found object. My first instinct is to swap it out with a baby toy that is much more suited for her, like the colorful rings. But hey, she isn't eating the bag and it seems harmless enough. That bag was waved, smashed, crinkled, slobbered on, and played with for half an hour straight.

Jane's first Easter

Cheapest toy ever. Why do we even spend money on toys for her? She seems content with paper bags, clumps of string (knotted and short enough to be safe), Tupperware cups, ribbon, beach balls, mason jar rings, and laundry baskets. Oh and the closet mirror, can't forget the mirror. That is by far her favorite toy because that's where the other little girl lives that she plays with. Note to self, I need to socialize my daughter with more kids than just her reflection.

On to tomorrow, well not really tomorrow, but more like next month. When we moved to the Bay Area, we were quick to find an apartment that met our needs. Now that we've been in the area for a few months, we've had a chance to get to know what we want in a place and that our current apartment isn't meeting all of our needs. Today I received word that an apartment we looked at has become available for May and you know what that means, we're moving again! Much to Dan's demise, I'm making him move one last time this year. Hopefully this apartment will be amazing enough to keep us there for the next few years until life decides to change again with either a baby, a job change, or who knows what.

Until next time!

It's March!

A weekend visit to Point Reyes North Beach on a warm January Saturday

It seems that as a stay at home mom, each day moves in slow motion as you're changing diapers and rocking a baby to sleep. But then all of a sudden three months have gone by in a blink and my head is left spinning. Christmas and New Years are long behind us, Jane is somehow not a wee baby anymore, and Dan and I are Californians. What? No. What?

First things first. Jane.

She's 5 months old, has almost figured out this whole sitting up thing, and her teeth are making her quite uncomfortable. The teething has resulted in fevers, vomiting, and overall crankiness. We persevere thru each day and make sure she has plenty of toys to chew on.

Jane 4 months old on her playmat

Having Jane has changed our lives in ways we can't even describe and I'm sure in ways that we aren't fully aware of yet. I guess having something so helpless, tiny, and fully dependent on you changes your perspective a bit. Becoming a mother has changed me, inside and out. When I make eye contact with Jane and smile at her, seeing her smile back then kick her legs and flap her arms in excitement makes my heart melt. Holding her and nursing her to sleep is something that I wouldn't give up for the world. Watching Dan carry her around in the carrier and pretending she's driving the "daddy bot" makes me laugh. I can't wait for the tickle monster attacks and jumping on furniture to stay out of the lava.

 

Jane 5 months, sitting up!

On Saturday Dan turned 31! To celebrate this special day, we had planned on spending the day at the gym playing around with tires, yolks, and stones then having a nice relaxing day at home ending with a dinner of steak and mashed potatoes and of course, birthday cake. However, Jane's first birthday gift to her dad was a fever of 103 and some sever fussiness. All the plans were thrown out the door at 4 am and we ended up spending the day rocking, cuddling, and bathing our little girl and eating leftovers. I think a redo is in order for this weekend.

On our way to Zion, we stopped in Utah

 Our first view of Zion NP

In the middle of May, Dan and I were ready to get on the road and go for and adventure, because we're adventurers. Plus, we wanted to get out of the Portland rain in search of some Utah sunshine. Last year, we spent a week in South Eastern Utah in Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park and had to skip Zion National Park. So we decided that we would spend a week in Zion this year. It did help that my close friend Jenny Eberline just so happens to be a park ranger at Zion.

We took off early in on Monday morning and made our way through the Oregon rain, the Idaho dust storms that were similar to driving in a white out, then into the great state of Utah in hopes of sunshine and beautiful weather. Well, it wasn't raining at least, but it wasn't sunny.

Our first night was spent camping in the northern end of the Salt Lake City area at a campground on Salt Lake. It was a gorgeous site with a creek running through it. We crashed after spending 18 or so hours in the car and adjusted to sleeping on the ground.

The second day of our road trip adventures only had us on the road for about an hour. We were lucky enough to spend the day with our good friend Scott who had just arrived back in the states from a six month internship in India. After grabbing a bite to eat in Provo, we headed to the theater and watched Thor. Awesomely fun movie by the way.

We spent Tuesday night at a campground on Utah Lake and were able to walk out on the pier and see all the city lights of Salt Lake City. We woke up to clouds on the mountain peaks and snow had fallen to about 4,000 feet.

Wednesday, we headed for Zion National Park!