Ok, bear with me

I think I figured out how to embed video from Flickr onto my blog... So I'm going to try and upload this little video of Roxanne "reading" and spinning around in circles. There are more videos on Flickr, but I just thought it would be fun to put one on the blog!

Long long long week

I don't know what is going on, but this week has been draaaaaggggging. It hasn't been bad, just long. So I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. We have a busy weekend planned, but I promise to take lots of photos. Should be some good photo opportunities... And I won't tell you all about everything until after we've done it, just to avoid repeating myself. The month of October is going to be busy from start to finish. And we're going to the beach! October 24 through the 26. My birthday is the 27th, so it's a nice present. I'm going to be a quarter of a century old. Yikes.

Oh, and as a side note, last weekend I went to the Sunday in the Park Festival at Oakland Cemetery with Roxanne and my friend Ariel. It was a lovely day (although a little too hot for me) and we had a great time walking around. The photos of the cemetery are on Flickr, and a friend sent me a link to the Access Atlanta website, where apparently we made it into the photo album for the event. There are only a few photos, but if you click here and go to the site, we're in the third photo in the series. I know it's not terribly exciting, but I feel sort of famous. Also, there are photos on Flickr from Ben's first birthday party. There was a jumpy castle, and Roxanne LOVED it.

Anyways, I decided I wanted to mention a few things about Roxanne and her newfound toddler ways. There are a few things that she has started doing that really seem so old to me. Here are a few:

*When nursing, Roxanne likes to jam her finger in my lip and try to pull my teeth out. Even when I purse my lips together as tightly as possible, she still manages to get her little sausage finger in there and scratch my gums. Strange as it may sound, it's extremely painful. But it shows the dexterity she has in her fingers. She's even capable of picking up tiny crumbs that fall from her pants to the floor after lunchtime and cramming them into her mouth before I have a chance to get them. Gross. But impressive.
*She doesn't fall as often anymore. She still hits her head a fair amount, but she's really getting good at deflecting the occasional body slam from playmates. Sometimes during the day Ben likes to slide down into her and put his head in her lap. She used to just fall right down, but now she wobbles a little and then braces herself, squinting her eyes a little like she is expecting a blow. Then she lowers her head and puts her forehead on his forehead and they both laugh hysterically. It's insanely cute.
*She wants to be in the mix. If I set her down in the playroom at work and then walk to the kitchen, she crawls in after me. Or if I put the baby gate up to keep her in there, I can hear her banging on the bars like a jail bird. When I sit on the couch in the play room while the babies play, she comes over periodically and pulls up on the cushion and looks at me over the edge. She still is only pulling up to her knees most of the time, although she has pulled to standing a few times. We're working on walking, but I think she's so heavy that it's tough. She takes a few steps while I hold her arms, but they are really wobbly and she likes to slip in a few hip sways and bounces, like she's just "gotta dance."
*She "reads" a lot. She loves to play with books. And just this week, she'll pick one up and look down at it and just babble away. Justin and I consider it "reading," since it really does seem like that is what she is mimicking. She's making all kinds of new sounds now, and she sounds like she is forming complete sentences, albeit in some kind of weird alien baby tongue. I'm getting pretty good at duplicating though, so ask me in person and I'll try to recreate a little for you.
*On that same note, she often starts babbling when she first wakes up. She usually has crazy hair, since she seems to sweat on her head any time she sleeps, and there's something incredibly comical about watching her open her eyes with that startled baby face babies make when they first wake up combined with Don King hair and this stream of babble that sounds indignant and earnest.

Alright. Enough for now. I'm sure you guys aren't quite as excited about these minute details as me, but like my sister says, it's important to document.

Roxanne has a new second cousin!

My aunt and uncle had their baby on Friday. Patrick "Tucker" Toms is absolutely handsome, and our family is just floored to finally have a boy join the ranks! Of course when we went for a visit on Saturday morning, Justin and I left the camera in the car, but I promise he's adorable. And he's big! He was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20.5 inches long. His sisters are apparently very excited that they have a baby to take care of. He's very quiet and peaceful. Sigh. I remember when Roxanne was like that.

As I speak, she is pouring juice on her high chair tray, screaming her head off, and smeared in broccoli pieces (wearing no top of course). She's had a tough day. She got hit in the face during a baby altercation (she was an innocent bystander, although that's not normally the case) and she's got some pretty mean looking red bumps on her little cheek and left eye.

A few of my favorite things

I just have to list some of my favorite things about Roxanne right now. As cheesy as it sounds, she's changing every day, and I don't want to lose track of any of it. So here goes. And I'm just warning you, some of this will probably be offensively sentimental.

*Her weird little Woody Woodpecker giggle. It's recently become a very common sound that she makes, and it's just one of those sounds that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. She used to make it at random times, especially when she was concentrating really hard on something, but now she does it as laughter. Serious laughter.
*Her squawks. She does these throughout the day. They make me think of that Whitman poem, when he talks about sounding his "barbaric yawp" off the rooftops. Roxanne has a lovely "barbaric yawp." In fact, she sort of embodies "Song of Myself." She feels such fierce and undiluted happiness when she's playing. If you really think about how unfettered her little baby mind is, it could move you to tears to watch her chew on a book.
*Her round little tummy. It's really getting to be a Buddha belly, and it's delicious to watch her pat it. I love to blow on it while I change her and see her tense up and laugh. She's also ticklish on her neck. That's a fun spot to snuffle in and she just howls with glee. Adorable.
*Her newfound skills in mobility. She is such a good and sturdy little thing. Sometimes during the day she sees Ben coming towards her with a toy, and she squints her eyes closed and braces herself. So even if he knocks her over she just readjusts and keeps busy. But now she can get back up and follow him if he has something she is interested in. She might end up a bully if we're not careful.
*Her face when I brush her hair in the glider during our nighttime routine. I usually do it when I'm singing to her, and she gets so still and wide-eyed, looking up at me with this funny face, trying to stay awake but so relaxed and sleepy. After a minute or two, she reaches up for the brush and tries to get it into her mouth, but while I'm still able to brush her hair, it's such a nice serene moment. Her hair is very very blond, almost gold, and it gets shiny and silky when you brush it.
*Her snorting. She scrunches her face up and does this airy snorty laugh when she's really excited. It usually also includes Tigger-like bouncing. Sometimes hand and arm waving, too. It's a full-body reaction.
*The way she vocalizes when she's eating something really yummy. Sometimes I give her frozen whole wheat mini bagels to chew on, and she absolutely loves it. While she gnaws on it, she goes "Mmmmaaaammmaaaammmmm aaaaammmmmm..." You get the idea.

OK, that's enough for now. Too much more and I'll start getting choked up. But I needed to get some of that out of my system.

Screaming Monster Baby

Roxanne is going through a difficult few days. In my perception, babies seem to go through little phases of baby puberty where they are just totally fussy and unhappy. The worst part of all for Roxanne is the high chair. I am really getting frustrated with that. She doesn't seem to be able to stay in the high chair long enough to eat a full meal before she's having a meltdown and arching her back and banging her head on the back of her seat. During lunch while I'm at work, I just basically let her have her tantrums. Usually by the end of the meal, she's had at least three or four. I typically give her something to try and curb it, like a sippy cup, which amuses her for a few minutes as she sucks water out and then spits it out (loudly), or a baby spoon, which she chews on furiously. Both of these usually get thrown on the floor several times over and these days Roxanne says "uh-oh" as they go overboard.

I'm thinking that one of the drawbacks of us sort of skipping over baby food is that I'm not sure she's really getting a lot of food at mealtimes. Sometimes I think she is fussing because she's hungry and can't get full fast enough. Or she's just stubborn. Or both. On Sunday night I made a big batch of mashed potatoes just for Roxanne, and we basically stripped her down and plopped a heap of them on her tray. I want her to get some practice with feeding herself with a spoon, and the potatoes are perfect. She's pretty good so far, but she definitely makes a BIG mess.

Spending all of my time with Roxanne is really wonderful, but it does allow me to see how frustrating she can be from time to time. Which obviously is normal. But it's funny how the rose-colored glasses come off fairly quickly once you get to spend more than three waking hours a day with your baby. It's so much more than that though. Even when I'm frustrated with her, I still have so much gratitude that I'm getting to watch her throw a fit. Isn't that the cheesiest and most cliche thing you've ever heard? Sue me.

I've also been able to exercise a lot more lately, taking Ben and Roxanne on 30-45 minute walks at least four days a week. I also started Weight Watchers on Monday, which is not super fun, but seems to be working. I definitely feel better already. I'm eating more vegetables than I ever have before. And I actually like them! Just in time, too, since Roxanne is crawling more and more and I want to keep up with her. She also pulled to standing on Ben's new fire truck on Monday and even took a couple of shaky steps as she pushed it along the floor. She's going to be leaving for college before I know it.

Sniffles

We're sick. The whole house. We're not dying or anything, but we've all got the sniffles and scratchy throats and body aches and general ickyness. Hopefully it will wrap up soon. I'm sure it will. Even though it stinks to get sick, I'm definitely relieved to report that this is the first time since I started my new job that we've been sick. Before, Roxanne pretty much had a permanent runny nose and we were all getting sick every week or two. Just another reason that I love my new job.

Roxanne has been extra fussy lately, but only because of her little runny nose. And she still goes through lots of parts of the day where she is happy and happier and bouces all over the place. She crawled a few more times today, but only a few steps at a time. She was going for her Rhino, which is the toy we chose to keep in her crib. But don't worry, we put it up against her leg in the crib so that she feels a warm body near her, and we're very careful to keep it away from her face. It was a recommendation in the sleep book I got. I was just reading about how babies at her age start latching onto specific toys and lovies, and Roxanne is definitely doing that these days. Specifically, she loves the rhino (it's a Sandra Boynton rhino, and it's really soft and snuggly. She is obssessed with her orange and yellow squeaky starfish bath toy. She carries it around after her bath and we can't get it from her until she falls asleep. I tried to take it from her the other night by handing her a stuffed animal, and instead she ended up keeping both. She's really getting into her demanding phase, where she pitches a fit when she can't get something, but only when she's really sleepy. Otherwise she just sort of growls. She loves plastic water bottles more than anything else. That's usually what sets her off. She can't stand it when we have a water bottle and don't give it to her. Who needs toys?

9 Month Doctor Visit

Today is Roxanne's 9 month birthday. She went to the pediatrician with Justin for her check up. Everything went well, and she only had 2 shots and a toe poke (they were checking some blood levels I think). They gave her the first of her flu shots, and we have to go back in a month for the second one. I need to get Justin and I a flu shot. Ick. Anyways, here's her new stats:

*Height: 29 and 3/4 inches, 95%
*Weight: 21 pounds 9 ounces, 90%
*Head Circumference: 17 and 1/4 inches, 50%

In reading the little handout they give us at each of her appointments, she's a little behind in some areas. Obviously, she's only sort of crawling, although today she was pushing herself backwards all over Ben's room. As you can see above, she's really good at getting into the crawling position. It also says she should be able to pull up to standing, and Roxanne only pulls up to her knees. And she definitely can't cruise on furniture. If I pull her to standing and let her hold herself up on a piece of furniture, she's fine and loves to bang on the surface of the object she's leaning on, but she doesn't take steps yet. Of course, I'm not worried at all, especially since Roxanne only turned 9 months old today. And because she's obviously a healthy and happy little baby, and the timelines just don't mean that much to me. But I am trying to make more of an effort to play with her in ways that might help her development, and instead of handing her toys, I try to let her go get them herself. She might fuss a little, but she's good at ending up with the prize. And she's definitely on par with talking. I was just telling Justin that it's funny to listen to her on the baby monitor these days, because often, she wakes up and chats in her sleep, rather than her usual crying. It sounds so funny. She says "mama," "dada" and "hi" but not always in a meaningful way. Sometimes it's just chatting. Her favorite thing to do is blow rasberries. She does this ALL THE TIME. She likes to wave to people, and she's very very friendly. She's really a fun baby to be around. And I'm only a little biased.