First playdate with Gabe

Audrey and I went to visit my friend, Merritt, and her 3 year old son, Gabe, today. Gabe was fascinated with Audrey. He loves babies. He kept giving her the sweetest hugs and stared at her the entire time we were there. We had a very nice visit.

3 months old!

The many faces of Audrey

These next pictures were all taken within just a couple minutes. It amazes me how her expression changes so quickly. You'll also see that she's learning to wiggle out of her straight jacket.

She's really starting to enjoy this toy. When she kicks the pad at the end it lights up and music plays.

1st playdate with the Chambers

Yippee! House arrest is over! Our pediatrician advised us to stay away from young children until Audrey was 3 months old because it's pretty serious if a baby that young gets sick, even with a common cold. A fever of 100.4 means a trip to the children's hospital at that age. We decided to have her 3 month birthday a few days early and visit the Chambers today. I've had cabin fever ever since Chris went back to work after his paternity leave. I'm so used to being around people. As much as I love being with Audrey I miss spending time with people who can actually talk back (although she just started to coo and it's adorable!). It really hit me how much I needed to reconnect with the world when I found that going to the post office and standing in a long line was exciting for me. How sad is that! I think I need a big "L" stamped on my forehead.

Today we visited my close friend Christy, her husband Eric, and their kids Molly (age 3) and Owen (almost 2). I've watched her kids grow up, so I've really missed this time away from them. Molly understood that I was having a baby. When I was pregnant she used to look into my belly button to "see" her. She also used to yell at her through my belly button. She would tell her to "Hurry up and come out and play!". Christy was the photographer for the pictures below, so there aren't any shots of her. I'll get her next time!

Our former student, Pegah, also came by to visit with the kids. Whenever she's home from college she tries to see us and it's always much appreciated. Unfortunately, Audrey slept through her visit, so we'll get her next time too.

Here's Molly on her best behavior with the new baby.

Audrey took an immediate liking to Eric.

Eric, Owen, Molly, and Audrey. Eric is playing the role of the protective father to make sure nobody bops her on the head.

Molly was very gentle with Audrey. She loved stroking her cheek and the top of her head.

Now Molly's the protective one!

The kids finally got to open their Christmas presents from us.

Here's Owen playing with his new wooden nesting dolls that look like tree frogs. The kids would come to my house every few weeks while I was pregnant and too exhausted to go anywhere. Although I already had a bunch of toys that they could play with, they always ran straight to my nesting dolls. It always shocked me how they remembered playing with them and knew exactly where I kept them, even though there were put away and out of sight. I hope they like these just as much.

Molly did really well with this wooden alphabet puzzle that forms a butterfly. She already knows the ABCs. She'll have this puzzle mastered in no time.

When Audrey got tired and cranky the kids went to watch some TV in Molly's room. The two of them are practically inseparable. Too bad Grandma Dora was trying to take a nap :-)

Molly reconnected with her old swing and Owen pushed her.

Audrey was glued to her first Dora the Explorer cartoon. If I'm not careful it looks like she might be a TV addict like her mom!

Molly did a great job holding Audrey. She was very sweet with her.

Thankfully, Owen shared his crib with Audrey. She slept for 6 of the 9 hours we were there. She rarely sleeps that much during the day, so it was a surprise. For almost another entire hour she lay awake staring at their mobile. She was absolutely fascinated by it.

We had a really nice visit. Obviously, Audrey's too young to get much out of a playdate, but Molly and Owen seemed to really enjoy seeing her. It still surprises me how much toddlers love to see babies. Every time we go to a store we come across at least one toddler that points and shouts "Mommy, look! A baby!". I'm always nervous about going to new places with Audrey and trying new things, but going to Christy's house was great. She had the crib, changing table, wipes, baby monitor (with video- ooh, la, la!), and she doesn't mind hearing a baby fuss. Oh, and she clips nails like a pro. I also know that when I go to her place there will always be dinner on the table so I go hungry! I'm sure we will be regular visitors and I look forward seeing our kids grow up together. Christy has always been a good friend to me and has been my "go to" person throughout pregnancy and beyond. Although we have now both left our jobs teaching to take on this new job of motherhood, I think hanging out during the day while our husbands are at work might start to feel a bit like our old summer vacations...we'll just have to replace movie theaters with trips to the park. The mall shall remain non-negociable. Speaking of...I need get over there and buy some new shoes. Pre-pregnancy I wore a shoe size 8-8.5. Now I'm a 9 and none of my shoes fit! We better have another "playdate" ASAP because it's getting cold and the crocs aren't cutting it anymore!

What is *that*?

If you've been to Audrey's room before, you may have noticed Audrey's daruma doll.



These are traditional Japanese dolls used for making wishes. The dolls first come with both eyes white. As you make a wish, you color in the left eye. When the wish comes true, you color in the right eye. The dolls are said to be in the likeness of the famous monk Bodhidharma, who meditated so much that his arms and legs fell off. I got a pink daruma because my wish was for a healthy baby girl. Here's the 'after' photo with both eyes colored.

Notice the likeness!

I bought my Daruma from J-list, a small mail-order company based in Isesaki, Japan; about two hours from Tokyo. J-list was founded by an American who moved to Japan, married a Japanese woman, and started a family there. Their website has all sorts of interesting Japanese goods, and the owner has a blog on general life there; it's pretty interesting. (Note that some of the things J-list sells are adult-oriented. I've linked to the PG version of the site above (adult items filtered out), but still be warned).

From what I'm told Daruma are supposed to be colored in (if the wish comes true) or burned ceremoniously (if the wish doesn't) at the close of the year, otherwise one risks bringing misfortune upon oneself from offended kami (Japanese gods). I missed the deadline this year, but hopefully the kami will give a bit of slack to a baka gaijin.

For more on Daruma, see this article at Mrs. Lin's Kitchen.

Chris's New Year's Break

Thursday (New Year's Day) is a company holiday at my job, so I took Friday off too and had a four-day weekend. Of course, I planned on spending these four days playing on the computer and drinking copious amounts of diet coke. Unbeknownst to me, but knownst to Amber, things would unfold differently. Instead, I got two days of computer and coke, and two days of hard labor. Below are some pictures of the fruits of my labor (and/or abuse).

I put up curtains in the loft. Amber picked out nifty blue ones.


Here's a detail on the curtain rod--notice the finials are monkey heads. That was my creative contribution. The clock was a Christmas gift I got for Amber.


In the nursery, we picked up a cubicle organizer from Closet Maid that I assembled. The drawers are from Babies R' Us. The memo board Amber got from Grandma Wood for Christmas is hung above that. You can barely recognize it because Amber filled it so full of pictures. To the left I hung some jacket hooks above the hamper. These have little pink jewels on the end.

Happy New Year!

We've always been party poopers on New Year's. We normally get in our PJ's and go on our front porch at midnight with a glass of wine for me and a diet coke for Chris. Chris wraps his arms around me because I'm cold and we have my favorite afghan wrapped around the both of us. We watch the fireworks with pleasure while we simultaneously curse the idiots in the neighborhood that set them because they are endangering our property. Don't they know they could start a fire?

But today we reached new heights. Chris is changing groups at work after the new year so he worked 13 hours today trying to wrap up loose ends and move his junk to another floor. He has a lot of junk. Remember the miniature statue of Stonehenge he got for Christmas? It's a bunch of stuff like that plus an adorable and endless array of photos of his little nibblet. Needless to say, he was exhausted when he got home and went to bed early...but not before dressing up Audrey and taking festive pictures of her. I worked on the blog and hung out with my girl. At midnight she had just finished nursing and dozed off in my lap. I guess that's not a bad way to ring in the new year after all. Still...I think I had better go and get that glass of wine. Some traditions just shouldn't be broken.

I've got you, my pretty!

Why are you doing this to me !?!

Fine, I give.

What! There's more? I already gave you a cute picture.

Stop it! You're starting to scare me!
I guess I can't fight it anymore. Time to work what my mama gave me!

My 2009 Resolution
I've never really made one before. If anyone ever asked me I would just make up some garbage like most people do knowing good and well that I wasn't really going to do it. Now that I have this child that I wanted so badly I find that everything is about her. Duh, you know. You are in the process of reading a blog entirely devoted to the kid. By the way, I know that half her pictures probably look alike to you, but I think they're all so cute that I can't narrow them down. Thus, the endless number of photos of Audrey sitting, Audrey laying, Audrey being held. Just wait until she can actually do stuff. Oh boy! Moving on...my resolution is to continue loving her and my husband throughout this year and all the ones that follow. Life is short and we won't have each other forever. 2008 was a very special year for both Chris and me. I don't want to forget how that year brought the two of us even closer together and I don't want to ever take either one of them for granted. People settle into the daily grind and too easily forget how much they loved someone when that love was new.