Kid Overload!

Walter, Lulu, and I went to Jess and Esen's house for the 09 Fall Econ Dept hamburger/hotdog cook-out before school starts on Monday. Almost all of my colleagues were there with their families, so there was a plethora of kids, mostly 4 years old and under. Lulu had a great time, following the other kids around and really wanting to be a "big kid."






Jess and Esen have a little girl, Ella, who is 6 weeks younger than Lulu, so there was someone there her age to play with, too.



Although, I think Lulu *really* enjoyed playing with Ella's older sister, Sophia, even more!



Ella and Sophia have a neat play kitchen that Louisa really enjoyed playing with, too:



Sounds like "Operation Cinderella" is falling into place....

Dort tanzt Lulu!

or "There dances Lulu" for the non-German speaking crowd (also one of my favorite songs from Palast Orchester):



This is new behavior that we noticed yesterday. Apparently someone is learning ALL sorts of stuff at daycare!

News at 11pm...

...I'm happy to report that Lulu actually *slept* at daycare this afternoon. Not much, but hey, from 12:30-1:10pm still counts for something, right?

She was also asleep by the time I got home from my German class at the Turn Verein tonight (~7:55pm). Walter said that she started to get fussy in her bath around 7:30 and then promptly fell asleep when he put her on her changing table after her bath. Apparently, he put her diaper on, got her dressed, and then laid her in her crib and left.

I think the lack of sleep is finally catching up with her...and I hope (fingers crossed) that she's finally adjusting to a new schedule at daycare.

Am I crazy???

I'm thinking about learning how to sew because it seems obscene to me to pay THAT much money for something that tiny (and probably cost BabyGap a whopping 50 cents?). So, Walter and I picked up these patterns and Hellen is going to help me figure out what I'm doing.




And for when I feel really ambitious, this vest/jacket kinda thing looks really precious:


And I've found a place in Sacramento that's got lots of cute fabrics: Meissner Sewing off of the Cap City Freeway. I've driven past there a thousand times (literally) and never realized that they had stuff besides sewing machines. Will have to go take a look next week after payday and see what I can find!

I figure if nothing else, if this whole professor thing doesn't work out, a kids clothing line might be useful!

Ch-ch-ch-changes....

Lulu had her first "longer" day at daycare yesterday. We arrived about 10:30am--just in time for lunch at 11am and then naptime at 12pm. Previously, I have been bringing her in about 1pm, after she wakes up from her morning nap so that she can play all afternoon, enjoy a snack around 3pm and then be ready to go home when I pick her up at 4:30ish.

But, with the semester starting next week, I'll have to be at work for longer hours and an unfortunate side effect is that Lulu will have to be at daycare for longer hours, too. So, to make the transition a smooth(er) one, we're gradually going to daycare earlier and earlier this week so next Monday is less of a shock (to her AND me). It took me three separate trips just to get out of the house yesterday. I had Louisa strapped into her car seat and was about to start the car when I would think, "Oh, I should bring ___!" which required another trip into the house. Hopefully that part gets more routine!

Yesterday's naptime was problematic--I think it's gonna take a while for them to figure out how to get Lulu to sleep AND for Lulu to get used to sleeping there after lunch. So, when I picked her up, she had napped an entire 20 minutes all day long. Yeah. Twenty minutes. This is the toddler who usually naps for a couple of hours in the morning and then another 30-45 minutes in the afternoon. So, needless to say, yesterday afternoon/evening was um, eventful and she was a clingy cuddle-bunny extraordinaire.

And in other news, her appetite continues to improve. Given yesterday's sleeping conditions (or lack thereof), I can't comment too much on her dinner last night, other than to say that she did eat some blueberries mixed with yogurt and some bollywood baby (lentils & carrots) with some white/brown rice and some peas as finger food.

Update.

I'm happy to report that Lulu ate several Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers (funny how I'm lowering my standards just to get her to eat anything), drank lots of water, and even ate half a bowl of cheesy broccoli rice I made her last night for dinner. Keeping my fingers crossed that her appetite continues to grow as she feels better...

Greek Yogurt.

Doggie-Style

We had dinner with friends of ours, Kyle and Tina, and their daughter, Shaya, and their three pugs, Rocco, Mishka, and Psuedo last weekend. Pseudo, the puppy, was really excited to have company and kept trying to show Lulu how much she wanted to play with her. Louisa finally got Pseudo still enough to pet her, but I don't think Pseudo was as thrilled:



The adults had a good visit and the little girls had a great time pushing each other around the kitchen in Shaya's walker (once Pseudo was extricated from it!).

Artsy B&W

I'm happy to report that Lulu ate an entire cube of frozen apricot that I defrosted from the freezer this morning for breakfast, along with about half a cube of frozen papaya. She actually spit out the pacifier when Walter brought the spoon with apricot up from the bowl, so I think her appetite is returning. After she was through eating, I had a little fun with my camera and think that results are pretty cute:



I think you can tell from the last photo that she was tired of the photo shoot!

So far, so good...?

Lulu woke up this morning w/o a massively poopy diaper or sleeping in her own poop or vomit. I think she might be on the mend?

Is it tomorrow yet??

So, this morning Walter and I walk into her nursery to be greeted with yet another display of icky bodily fluids. This time, Lulu had runny poop ALL over her onesie that had leaked out of her diaper during the night and onto her sheets. So, yet another day begins with bathtime! (I'm trying to be light and breezy here b/c I was seriously grossed out, but what choice do you have other than clean it up?)

She's still nursing a LOT and drinking quite a bit of water, which is good since we were worried that all the runny/poopy diapers would make her dehydrated. Still no fever and normal, cheery behavior. The lack of interest in solid foods continues as well. She's even "eh" about bunny grahams which is her favorite treat. When you show her a bunny graham and she doesn't immediately shove it in her mouth, you know that she's not feeling well.

So, it definitely sounds like she's got some sort of stomach bug that hopefully will work its way through her system by the end of the weekend.

Long, hard night

Okay, so I'm backdating this post to yesterday. Suffice to say that yesterday was too um, eventful to have the opportunity to sit down and upload pictures and write out the story. I'm going to write the rest of this as if I was writing it yesterday though, just to warn you.

So, Walter walks into Louisa's room this morning to get her up so I can nurse her and I hear, "I need help!" I walk into the room to see Lulu standing in her crib, her hair matted to her head and a HUGE red mess on her sheets and down the front of her onesie. Apparently, she had vomited sometime last night and then slept in it. Yeah. Pretty nasty stuff. To top it all off, she also had a very nasty, poopy diaper (normally, she just wakes up wet). So, Walter ran some bath water while I worked on the diaper and then together we worked on getting the onesie off her. He stripped the sheets off the bed while I took a bath with Lulu (it was the only way I could see getting close enough to give her hair the thorough washing that it needed). Then, he left for work and I was left with Louisa. These are the pictures I took after her bath to document the experience:





She acted normal yesterday and wasn't running a fever. She was very much the cuddle-bunny though and for the past two days has shown NO interest in solid foods (other than the ones we're eating?). Even previous favorites get pushed away. She has been more interested in nursing though--she nursed for 20 minutes on one side the past two nights (and she hasn't done that since she was an infant?). As to what caused this, I have no idea. We have several potential culprits:

1. She received her MMR and Varicella vaccines last week, so perhaps this is a reaction to them (although she previously hasn't shown any reaction to the vaccines at all, not even a fever).

2. We tried feeding her tofu for the first time last night at dinner, pureed with a black plum and an apple. She was NOT excited by this meal at all. Nor was she excited by the corn or fruit puree that I prepared instead of the tofu smoothie.

3. When she took her bath last night, she slipped in the tub and ingested quite a bit of water. She was coughing and sputtering to the point that Walter put her over his thigh and whacked her back really well. Afterwards though, she didn't appear to be any worse for wear.

4. I took her to get a TB test yesterday (Tues) since her daycare requires all kids older than 1 to have a negative TB test. I don't know why, but I suspect it has something to do with the federal free food program that they participate in.

5. And last but not least, perhaps she picked up a bug at daycare from one of the other kids?

Given potential cause #4, I had to take her to the pediatrician's office that morning anyway to get her TB test read (48-72 hrs), so we had a quick exam by the pediatrician. His bedside manner was HORRIBLE (to the point that I'm thinking of writing a complaint and I try to be really low-key at the ped's office b/c I know that they deal with hyperactive parents all day long). Everyone will be happy to know that she doesn't have TB and he seemed unconcerned about her vomiting. She only vomited once and seemed pretty happy otherwise. He was concerned about the rash on her face and her diaper rash and gave us a prescription for Nystatin because he said it looked like a yeast infection and instructed me to boil all of her pacifiers to prevent re-infecting her face.

I'll boil all the pacifiers, just because it's good hygiene, but I don't think the rash on her face is thrush. It got better as the day went on and I think it has more to do with sleeping in your own stomach acid all night long.



Here's hoping for a good night's sleep and a better tomorrow!

After Lulu was done nursing this morning, I helped her stand on the floor beside my chair for a few seconds. Then, I took my hand away so that she was standing on her own. She stood pretty well for about 3-4 seconds before lowering herself into a squat...while saying, "Uh-oh."

Too cute!

Milestone.

Lulu walked her first real steps this afternoon: not the 2-3 stutter-steps, but full-fledged stumble across the room (~8 feet).

Will try to capture on video and upload it when I get the chance. And, we have to show off for Daddy!

In a related note: does anyone have Bob Vila's cell phone number? :)

Update.

Louisa stood for a full 10-15 seconds this morning in the waiting room of the doctor's office and took a couple of baby steps away from me before falling to her knees.

I think we're going to be practicing some more this afternoon when Daddy gets home!

Standing and other random thoughts

No photographic evidence just yet, but someone is standing better and better nowadays. She stood for a full 5 seconds before squatting down (into what Hellen refers to as the "Korean farmers' squat") this afternoon!

Louisa is adorable as she's holding her daddy's hand and high-stepping it down the hallway to the bathroom to take her bath. Nothing like a potbelly and chubby, wubby thighs to make your heart melt, right?

Thank you, Umau ("Oo-maow") for teaching her "Uh-oh" during your visit last week. It's been the only thing she's said for at least 48 hours now...usually when she's dropping something on purpose. *sigh*

How does Dad feel about being called "Umpoppa" btw? ;)

Pesto, Cherries, and Couscous, oh, my!

Lulu likes pesto! We made a batch last night with our overgrown basil plant from the garden. I stirred in a little into her couscous with some squash and green beans and she loved it! She also likes cheesy broccoli-couscous (who wouldn't?). These pictures are of her eating cherries and mixed grain cereal for breakfast--the pesto was gone too quickly to take any pictures!



So far, she's getting really good at feeding herself finger foods and we're working on the spoon-thing. I have to give credit to my mother for figuring out that she was ready to try feeding herself with her own besteck. It's still very sporadic, but I figure we'll just keep giving her the option, right?

Whoa...

...such a big girl already!



Disclaimer: This photo was taken by Uncle Roland in July and the beer can was empty, but the fact that she's attracted to beer cans just emphasizes her innate Germanic-ness and scares her mother just a little...

First Birthday Party

Louisa celebrated her first birthday party last night. We invited over our close neighbors and Lulu's godparents to eat hamburgers and hotdogs with us. I must confess that I unleashed my Martha Stewart-ness and went a little overboard. I made party hats to match the rest of the decorations and insisted everyone wear them, including the guest of honor:





Afterward, we let Lulu blow out her candle and then "eat" her cake and open presents.



She *loved* her German book that she got from Elisabeth and both Daddy and Uncle Derek had to read it to her:




She was really excited about all of her stuff and the cake definitely gave her a sugar high for a while!! Luckily, she spent some of her energy getting a bath and went to sleep pretty easily after nursing.

Grandpa joined us via Skype for the cake and candle-blowing, but for those of you who were unable to join us yesterday, here are some pictures of the grand event!

CAKE:


PARTY PICTURES:

Walking!

Admittedly with assistance, but with a little more practice, I think taking independent steps isn't far behind!

ArtBeast!

Louisa joined her friends Shaya and Phillip yesterday at a new place that recently opened up in midtown called ArtBeast. It's really cool--they have an open studio where kids (through age 7) can paint, draw, color, mess with clay, beads, fuzzy pipe cleaners, etc. And there's a water/sand play area out in the back, too. They also offer yoga and dance classes in a sunny dance studio upstairs. Best of all for the littlest ones, there's a babyproof play area with stuff for them to climb on, through, around, etc. complete with a gate to keep them in.

So, we had our playdate up there yesterday afternoon and I managed to snag a few cute photos to share with everyone:





The Three Musketeers!


Snacktime!


And someone really enjoyed standing all by herself!

Gnocchi

Lulu enjoyed her first taste of gnocchi this evening at One Speed, the new pizza restaurant we decided to try out. The gnocchi were like little fluffy pillows coated with tasty, tasty basil pesto and Louisa definitely approved! It was kinda funny actually because Walter was trying to also spoon-feed her applesauce and she definitely liked it less than the gnocchi. So, when we tried to feed her a bite, you could see her tasting for the pesto before deciding it was okay to swallow. Too cute! She also liked my orange cherry tomatoes that came with the gnocchi, too. And my pizza crust dipped in the remaining pesto.

Hmmmmm......I'm getting an idea for what to throw in the blender next..... :)

Progress Report

Lulu just "walked" about 10 feet while only holding on to one of my hands. Normally, we balance her in front of us and hold on to each of her hands, but this morning, she walked beside me while holding only one of my hands.

I think walking independently is getting closer!

Artsy Black-and-White

Snot-nosed Punk

Lulu has been fighting a head cold for the past week or so. It's been fun battling her snotty nose and resulted in some interesting sounds/experiences while she's nursed (nothing like being sneezed on while you're bare-chested first thing in the morning!). It's also made feeding her more challenging since it's hard to eat when you can't breathe.

It also means that her snotty, runny nose results in some interesting um, hairstyles in the morning when she wakes up. Apparently her nose runs all night long and dried on her face--ALL over her face!

Don't believe me?

Exhibit A:


Check out THAT eyebrow!

Nekkid!

In my defense, she's never been sunburned, even if she does have a pretty good tan-line going....


I love those chunky thighs!


And those curls!