Hit The Road, Jack!

So we went to San Diego last weekend. We left on Friday after work, and we'd had two nights of not-great sleep. I had some real anxiety about leaving town. I knew we'd be OK, but when we were almost to Barstow and the sun was going down, I felt completely out of my element. But the drive wasn't bad--Ava slept most of the way and we were going against traffic so it was pretty easy on all of us.

A video summary of the trip:



Saturday morning we went to Coronado and had lunch at the Del. It was a little rainy, but we did get to walk outside. They had an art exhibit on their courtyard--Dr. Seuss characters cast in bronze. Ava experienced her first Green Eggs and Ham :)


We went to the Padres game, and it was great until the Padres scored a couple of runs. We were sitting in the outfield bleachers, so when 40,000 people cheered, they were yelling directly at us.


We stayed until the top of the fourth. Ava had a good time until the screaming (she yelled right back at all those people...).

Sunday we had a great, relaxing day. We met one of my friends and her family for brunch at Wings & Things (YUM--beer & wings !) and then we went to Aunt Janice's for a Father's Day barbeque with Rob's family.

Monday, we had our Griswold moment. The San Diego County Fair is going on, and Rob really wanted to take us. I've never been to a big fair, but I know they have food so I'm a big fan of such things. We were pretty excited. So we plan our day around it, and we head towards the fairgrounds and there's no traffic. Cool! And we turn into the parking lot and it's nearly empty! Cool! We can park right up front!


And then we realize that maybe it's a little too empty. And then we see the sign:


They were closed. Sadly, there was no moose out front to tell us the news; we had to figure it out on our own. I thought it was pretty funny--Rob? Not so much.

So we went up the road to the beach, and I introduced Ava to the ocean.


She loved it. She likes to watch things that move (like the ceiling fan and the television) so this was a lot of fun!


It was a great trip! We have decided that we need to allow more time after we get back in order to recover--we drove back to town on Tuesday, and that was a really long day. We got home about 6:00 and we were all just exhausted. So there's our lesson.

Next weekend we're going up to Utah to see Grams & Gramps at the cabin. I spent a lot of time there when I was growing up, and while I didn't always love it up there (picture it: I'm 14 and all of my friends are having fun with each other all summer and I get to spend 3 month with no electricity and no phone and nobody to talk to except for my sister) I now see the value of having a place to go that's far enough away to be a vacation but close enough to be an easy run for a weekend.

Just a Fly-by

We had a great time in San Diego--more on that later when there's time to sort thru pics and video. We actually did have a Griswold moment :).

Daycare Lady just emailed me this picture of Ava that she took yesterday.


I KNOW. If there's anything more precious in this world than this child, I can't imagine what it could be.

The Swing Gets a Reprieve

Seriously, I was about to consign the damn thing. It's a perfectly good swing, but we don't have the space to just hang on to stuff that we aren't using. Ava has hated it almost without exception since the first time she was in it. So it lives in her closet and we have to climb around it to get to the stuff that lives behind it and it's a pain and I had just about had it. HAD IT.

This morning, however, it redeemed itself.




Ava had not yet had a nap this morning. On a normal day, she would have had 2 by now--one on the way to daycare, and one after her second bottle. But today? Nope. Usually when she's awake, she's happy. But today? Nope. It was kind of a long morning. In a moment of desperation, I pulled the swing out of the closet and put her in it, which she hates because it has a 5-point harness (I guess in case another swing gets up under her bumper and flips her over?) and so that was an extra burst of unhappiness. But then she got into it. She spent a good 30 minutes in the swing, much of it asleep, before she woke up, scored a fresh diaper and a bottle and then immediately went right back to sleep. She is currently sound asleep in her crib and all is right with the world.

The swing shall remain in our Repertoire of Desperate Acts In Times Of Shrieking, at least until she exceeds the weight limit.

Today is Rob's birthday. We're keeping it pretty low-key. We had a special dinner last night (Roberto's Taco Shop, featured frequently in the local Health Department weekly report of repeat offenders). We'll have family dinner and dessert today--Dad & Florence will come over, officially to celebrate the birthday but they're not fooling anybody and we all know that they really just want to see Ava all dressed up.

Next weekend is our first Big Road Trip. We're going to San Diego and I am SO EXCITED. I haven't been out of the city limits since freaking LABOR DAY and as fabulous as Fabulous Las Vegas is, I'm dying to leave it behind for a few days. We're driving down Friday after work and will be back on Tuesday. We're a little antsy about a 6 hour (with stops--anyone who knows me knows I could make it in 4 if it were just me...) road trip with a baby. I'm hoping it will be fantastic like when the Brady Bunch went to Hawaii (without the freaky cursed tiki thing that caused Greg to lose the surfing contest) and not a comedy of errors like the Griswolds. We'll see. If we land somewhere between Bradys and Griswolds, I'll be happy. We've got a lot planned--Ava's going to meet Great Aunt Janice and Uncle Ken, and she'll go to her first baseball game (I hear it's free hat night, so everybody wins even if the Padres don't), and we'll go to the beach and I think there will be quite a bit of aimlessly futzing around San Diego with no plan at all. Awesome.

Where's That Doggie?

Be sure to catch the action at the end. No animals were harmed in the filming of this picture.



Have a good weekend.

So what's Ava like, really?

Really? She's happy. She's a happy girl. She likes to look out windows and see the world and what people are doing. She doesn't sleep in the car as much as she used to, because she likes to look outside and talk to me and babble while we drive. She's a lot like this:




All the time.

She likes to sit up. She reaches for the things that look interesting to her, and she ignores the things that don't. She likes people and she looks them in the eye and she holds her gaze until somebody smiles (somebody always does) and then she smiles back with her whole face and the world lights up.

She's starting to laugh. Not full on baby giggles, but we're close. She has a very tickly belly, and when we tickle her she grunts and smiles and every now and then a little bubbly giggle comes out for just a moment.

She's growing so quickly. Clothes are sized by weight, and she's in the 3-6 month size, but she'll likely be out of them before she's 6 months old. She has tiny hands and feet--size 1 shoes are too big so she just doesn't wear shoes (much like the how the British Royals keep their heirs barefoot until they walk--we're just like them, only fewer tiaras are involved in our daily operations).

Ava has been in daycare for almost 8 weeks, and we made the right choice about them. Oh, they're wonderful. They take such good care of her. She has little friends and they smile when they see each other each morning. She's learning baby sign language--just the basics, no Unbearable Lightness of Being in our futures, but at some point before she talks, she may be able to tell us if she wants more of something (what if she wants less? I don't know. Hmm.). There are a few other signs that they said she'll learn and naturally I forgot what they are so hopefully they'll do a tutorial for parents. If not, please look for a video where she's gesturing madly and rolling her eyes at how her parents already don't understand her.

Rob and I are doing all right. Both our jobs occasionally (frequently...) tend to suck our souls so we're very happy about Ava's tendency to sleep through the night (YAY!) almost every night (still 11PM until 6:30AM God bless her) and her willingness to have a regular feeding schedule around which we can plan our own meals. We're unbelievably happy and lucky and not terribly tired and we try to stay in the moment while anxiously anticipating what's next.

How I Met Your Father

Dear Ava,

Today is your father's and my third wedding anniversary. I thought I'd tell you how we got started.

In 2003, I was working at UNLV at the front counter of admissions. It was my first job at the university, and I was glad to have it even though it sucked my soul every single day. The lady who sat next to me became a good friend, and I got to know her husband over time as well. They seemed nice (more on that later...).

One day, the lady said "My husband's company has a softball team, and they play every Friday night at the fields at the corner of Warm Springs & Eastern in Henderson. There's a guy he works with who seems really nice and I think you'd like him." This was in March. I remember this, because I couldn't go that week because I had concert tickets--Beastie Boys at House of Blues. I went with Jay&Tina, back when they were just Jay and Tina. I couldn't go the next week because it was your Aunt Katie's 30th birthday and a group of us went to a spa in Scottsdale for the weekend to celebrate.

So I had two very important reasons for not meeting your father until April 18.

But when I did go, I saw him. I remember it--he had nice legs. Still does. After the game, everybody went to a bar down the way for beers and wings. He sat on the end, and I was on his left. We talked a little. I don't think he knew it was a set-up necessarily. You know, just in case. When a girl introduces a girlfriend to a potential boyfriend, it's a good idea not to let him know that he's on the spot. We'll talk about this more when you're older.



Anyway, he left before I did. I gave one of his co-workers my number. That was Friday. He called within a couple of days. Our first date was to the Chicago Brewing Company on Fort Apache, and then we came back to my place and watched National Lampoon's Vacation. Seriously. That's what we did. That's how it all started.

Love,
Mama

Four Months Old

This was Ava's first picture, taken just over a year ago. My, how she's grown.

In spite of some really really long days and nights, we're always surprised to look at the calendar and realize that Ava's been with us for such a short time. Some quick stats, as of last week's well-check and vaccination extravaganza:

• 23 inches long, from a debut size of 19-1/2 inches
• 14 pounds 13 ounces, up from 7 pounds 8 ounces
• Important milestones include sitting up with minimal assistance, smiling, reaching for stuff and then holding on to it, almost rolling over, the discovery of her feet and the subsequent kicking of everything within a surprisingly large radius
• Establishment and implementation of a regular eating/sleeping schedule, which includes sleeping most nights from, get this, 10:30 or 11:00 PM until AFTER SIX AM. I'll say that again: Ava sleeps nearly eight hours at a time, and she does it at night, almost every night.

We take absolutely no credit for that last one. In talking to our Friends Who Have Kids, we've learned that this is quite unusual and we should expect some sort of retribution later on, perhaps when she learns to drive or becomes a Raiders fan (RAIDERS SUCK!). Right now? Yeah, she's asleep in her bouncy chair. Most nights, we wake her up for her last bottle between 9 and 11 and then she goes back to sleep, either in somebody's lap in the rocking chair, or on her own in her crib. We hit Baby Lotto with this kid, and we know it.

There's not a lot else going on. We're planning a trip to San Diego next month, and that will be our first family road trip. I'm estimating what four days worth of infant gear will look like, and what will be a good idea to pack (like the bouncy chair--yea or nay?) or overkill (play mat? boppy pillow?). I generally overpack as it is (for example, last year I went to NYC and Washington DC for just over a week for a conference and had an entire suitcase of just shoes...) so the car is likely to be loaded down pretty significantly. But we're looking forward to getting out of town--the last time I was away for more than an afternoon was Labor Day weekend. I'm needing a change of scenery, for sure.

This week is our anniversary. Three years, on Wednesday. We'll go out to dinner, and we'll have Ava with us. We generally keep it pretty low-key; usually just lunch at the golf course where we got married. We'll probably get up there in the next week or so. Last year on May 20, we had known I was pregnant for about 2 weeks, and I don't think we had told anybody yet (I may be wrong--it's kind of a blur). There was this undercurrent of excitement about the coming months. But really, we had no idea what we were in for. It's been amazing. And the next few months are going to fly by even more quickly than the last four have. We'll take as many pictures and videos as we can, because there is already stuff that she no longer does that I'm so glad we have a record of (like the nightly kicking before sleep no longer happens). It really does go so fast. We make a point of stopping and looking around because we don't want to miss it.

And now a word from our sponsors...

OK right over there ---> is a button that is my entry to win a super cute quilt, and if anyone clicks on it they can enter as well.

Seriously, how marvelous is that quilt!? Love it!

It's a day just for mothers. And that means me.

It's been a wonderful day. I'm blessed, and that's really all there is to it.

Ava's big gift to me was lots of sleep this weekend. Between her reasonable midnight-to-five sleep schedule, and Rob's willingness to take care of that first early bottle, I slept until almost 9 both days. Booyah.

And then this morning, I got up to open cards from one supercute daughter and one awesome husband. Evidently Ava also snuck out and procured a gorgeous azalea plant and a gift card to Dead Poet Books, a fantastic used/vintage bookstore that I drool over every time I drive past.

Here is evidence of her early morning subterfuge:




I'll teach her later about destroying all photographic evidence.

We went to breakfast at our neighborhood Jewish deli and it was really nice. I really like this place. As an added bonus in honor of the day, mothers received a free piece of breakfast cake. NOM NOM NOM DELICIOUS CAKE. That's one of the percs of being a grown-up: I can have cake for breakfast and ain't nobody gonna stop me.

I've decided that becoming a mom has been like joining a cult. In a good way, of course. But all of a sudden, the other cult members start conversations with me about Ava (how old is she, does she sleep, etc), about our family (is she our first, our last, our everything?), about my pregnancy (a week overdue? Goodness! I'm a trooper!) and stuff like that. I first noticed it at the pediatrician's office, when we were all sitting there with our infants discussing poop and breastmilk. It happens a lot. Today's cult meeting took place at breakfast, when the mom at the table next to us struck up a conversation involving her daughter (probably 2-1/2?) and how neat it is to have a first Mother's Day. And then our daughters met (well, hers met ours while ours slept peacefully...) and for just a few minutes, we were all part of the great Circle of Life.

After breakfast we visited Dad & Florence and had a lovely visit, dominated of course by Ava's babbly charm. Seriously, the kid chatters like a parrot and it's the sweetest sound I know. We've been getting the occasional giggle out of her as well, usually by taking advantage of her tickly belly. She freezes up when we turn on the video camera, but I'll get a shot of it eventually.

I'm so glad to be rediscovering holidays (even unofficial ones like Mother's Day, which, let's face it, was created and is promoted in order to sell greeting cards) that I've ignored for years. Rob and I have embarked upon this parenting thing with a clean slate--we're not going to carry over family drama and let any of it cast a shadow over Ava's future memories. As far as we're concerned, we're batting a thousand for joyous holidays.

We have a new feature over to the right --->. It's Ava's Playlist, which is going to be how I keep track of what we sing to her before she goes to sleep at night. Rob and I both know about a bajillion songs between the two of us, but we don't always remember the words at crunch time. So far, these are the ones that we knew off the top of our heads. We'll add more as time goes by.

Happy Mother's Day to my fellow cult-members, past, present and future.

Blah Blah Blah Pictures

Enough about me. Take a look at Ava!

Ava got to meet more grandparents this week! Doug and Toni came up for a quick visit.




Ava's first NFL draft. Everyone wore team colors :).



One of my good friends was pregnant at the same time I was. Darius was born 10 days before Ava (oh, I was so jealous for 10 days...) and here is where they finally met. Oh, the cute!



I keep trying to catch one of Ava's Big Smiles. I never time it right but I get some cute almost-smiles in the process. Here are a couple. If you look closely, you can see her little topknot (I need to get her in front of a lighter background). She's got this lock of hair right on top of her head that just won't lay flat. Ever.




I can't believe it's already May. It's going by so quickly. She's growing and is becoming this little person and we're so amazed by her every day. Her teachers at daycare just love her--she's low maintenance and happy most of the time. She's starting to reach for things that are in front of her (evidently a Very Significant Milestone) and recently became aware of the dog (who has been glaring at her for almost 4 months now--jealous much?).

Lazy Sunday starts.....NOW!

We Do The Best We Can With What We Have

I have time to blog at work (shhhhhh don't tell my boss) but I have pictures and video at home. I've been trying to somehow coordinate the two, but it's just not happening. I'll get pictures up later this week. Or next week, because it's already Thursday. Crap. I'm almost out of week.

I honestly thought I knew what it was to be busy. I had no idea. There's no way to predict just how much stuff would need to be crammed into a 24-hour period. My going back to work has really caused us to take a hard look at what is actually important--what really truly honestly needs to happen. The initial guilt of putting a Very Small Baby into full-time daycare was soon overshadowed by an overwhelming need to re-evaluate everything I do in the time spent away from her. One day, as I was looking at the picture I have of her on my desk, I just felt so sad. I didn't feel like what I was doing (probably playing Bejeweled on Facebook or reading Perez Hilton) was worthy of filling the time. I missed her so much, and in order make the time away from her count, I realized that I better damn well do my job the best way I know how.

It was like a lightning bolt. Because the reality of our situation is that we both work. Being sad about having to work and pissing away the time does not change that. Ava is not in daycare so as to allow me to watch the TV shows that I miss because I need to get some sleep.

My job is not my dream job--I'm not actually sure what my dream job would be. But I do like what I do. It's interesting. I meet so many fascinating people and I learn about different cultures and places. There is a lot of bureaucratic BS to cull through, but I like the part of my job that requires me to figure stuff out and break it down in a way that people who don't speak much English can figure out. Before, I came to work, I did my job, and went home and got on with my life.

It's different now. I'm on committees (well, one committee, but I've only been back a month; there are more committees forthcoming, I'm sure). I return phone calls (ugh, I hate voicemail) promptly. I take a more active role in the daily operations of my office and I actually contributed to the birthday fund instead of quietly avoiding the collection requests and tactfully refusing cake (most of the time...). I don't know if anybody has noticed, but I feel better for doing it. It makes the time spent away from that precious girl go faster, and I feel better about why I'm not with her all day every day.

It's after 5 now. I'm off to go pick her up and get a big squirmy gummy-grinned hug before we embark on the schlep home. Incidentally, the schlep home is less of an ordeal because of a carpool lane with a 2-person requirement--and a baby in a carseat? Totally counts as a second person.

And now, a musical interlude...

No Ava no cry
No Ava no cry

I say I remember when we used to sleep
Every time the sun went down
Sometimes we’d stay up and watch some Jon Stewart
And sometimes we’d read magazines
Good sleep we have oh good sleep we have had
Along the way
Say in this great future called life, we want for you to sleep
So dry your tears, I say

No Ava no cry
No Ava no cry
Here little baby, don’t shed no tears (clap clap)
No Ava no cry

I say I remember sleeping very late
And feeling very rested
And then we’d go to brunch because we were too late for breakfast
And sometimes see a movie
Now we’re up so late, driving you around
Streetlights burning through the night
Then we mix one more bottle and some Gripe Water, well I mean it
Of which will help you sleep, yeah!
Our feet is your only carriage
And so we’ve got to push on through
But while we’re up

Everything’s gonna be all right
Everything’s gonna be all right
Everything’s gonna be all right
Everything’s gonna be all right

No Ava no cry
No Ava no cry
Here, little sister, don’t shed no tears (clap clap)
No Ava no cry

Happy Easter!

And 10 minutes later...

Ava 1, RSV 0

Ava is a Tough Little Panda.

We saw Very Wise Doctor this morning, and got good news! Ava is cleared to go back to Daycare! VWD said that the fact that she tested positive for what can be a pretty serious condition but didn't ever really get sick is quite unusual. It never hit her lungs or affected her breathing, she never got a fever. She most likely would have been OK at Daycare this week (only after they douse the whole place in Purell, of course...).

She's with Gramps & Grams today. Daycare can wait one more day.

There Is A Level Of Hell Called "Logistics"

I’ve noticed that everything we do now has many steps. A simple trip to Target has become a Big Deal that must happen at a certain time (between feedings), with the proper equipment (stroller? just the carrier? list of items sorted by store geography?) and in the proper chronology (before groceries? after library? on my way home or on Rob’s). As someone who is generally aware of details even on a bad day, sometimes I just get worn out by the logistics.

A new variable is “who do we need to tell”? We like to keep people in the Loop (hence the blog) but Ava has created a significant level of interest in our doings. Our Loop has gotten large. Active players in our current Ava Is Too Sick For Daycare Loop (more on that in a minute) include both of our employers, the lead teacher at Daycare, Very Wise Doctor, Dad & Florence, a network of concerned aunties who are generous with both help and wisdom, and my assistant. Coordinating all of these players has given me wrinkly lines between my eyebrows, let me tell you.

Yes, Ava is sick. Booooo. She has what has been confirmed to be a mild case of RSV. Don’t panic. Really. While RSV can be something scary and awful involving hospitalization, Ava’s is manifesting itself much like a medium-strength cold. No temperature or wheezing, some coughing and congestion. Her appetite is good, wet and poopy diapers are coming at us steadily (such things are very important, much like the wetness/dryness of a dog’s nose to determine illness. Who knew?). She’s a bit crabby (sore throat maybe?) but that could just be because she’s my kid and crabby is a dominant gene. Whatever. Most of the time she’s squirmy and smiley and isn’t slowed down by being sick.

I took her to see Very Wise Doctor on Friday, and he tested her for RSV because he heard the cough and had a hunch. She was at Daycare yesterday (yikes, sorry to inflict Typhoid Ava on 4 other unsuspecting babies…) but is out for the rest of the week. Rob is home with her today. She’s back at VWD tomorrow morning, and unless she’s cleared to go back to Daycare, she’ll be crashing with Gramps & Grams for the rest of the week. I called Daycare to let them know. That was a fun conversation:

Me (out loud): Hi, this is Ava’s mom. She won’t be in this week, as we’ve confirmed that she has RSV.
Me (in my head): Listen you people she has been at your facility for TWO WEEKS and she has freaking RSV?! What the hell are you people doing over there? Do I get a refund for this week or is that part of the screw-you fee I get to pay for not being a stay-at-home-mom?
Lead Teacher (out loud): Oh no! Thank you so much for telling us! We hope she’s OK!
Lead Teacher (in her head): Holy crap I hope this lady doesn’t think she caught it here even though her kid’s been here only two weeks oh jeez she caught it here.
Me (out loud): What do we need to do to clear her to come back?
Me (in my head): Crap I hope she didn’t pass it along.
LT (out loud): A note from her doctor is all we need. Poor baby!
LT (in her head): Crap I hope she doesn’t call the licensing board because this stuff happens whenever you get babies in a room together. At least she called and told us though. Best. Mom. Ever! (I’m paraphrasing here)

Yeah. So she’s fine. Ava will get some quality time with my dad, which I’ll help her recover from when she’s older (KIDDING, DAD!). Seriously, we’re so lucky that they are willing, able, and available to take care of her for a few days while she gets better. And, from what I understand, she’ll most likely be back to normal within a week. We’ll keep you posted.