This Was The Year That Was

Holy crap, what a ride 2009 has been. I find that when I look back each New Year's Eve, there tends to be a theme to the year that may or may not have been apparent while it was happening. This year's theme? 2009: The Quest For Sleep.

When it began, I was sleeping for none and Rob was sleeping for 3. Two weeks later we were both sleeping on eggshells. In the subsequent months, we came to realize that at some point we would need to sleep more than 3 hours at a time (or total) in the night. So we consulted our team of experts and learned how to Train Our Child How To Sleep. It involved a really awful week of being awakened around 1AM, checking to make sure there was Nothing Actually Wrong, and letting her learn how to get herself back to sleep, all the while checking on her in 2 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 10, then 20, then 40, then (one awful, exhausting night) another 40. The theory is that the baby will figure out that it's OK to go back to sleep. And after a few days, it worked.

So now we gauge how we're all doing by whether or not Ava sleeps through the night. Whenever something is up, she evidently needs our undivided attention, which is most easily accessible between the hours of 1 and 4:30AM. This is when we learn about teeth, fevers, rashes, and various other potential unpleasantries. We find that the helplessness we feel at not knowing what to do about whatever is going on is compounded nicely by not being able to call anyone for help because it's the middle of the night.

Sleep begets sleep, we've found. When she has a good nap during the day, there's better sleep at night for all of us. And that's our year.

Happy New Year from Las Vegas. We won't make it to midnight--Ava's down by 9:00, and we'll wear out long before the tape-delayed ball drops on the west coast. But that's OK. Because a good night's sleep beats the crap out of Ryan Seacrest and the Black-Eyed Peas.

Whoever invents these toys is my hero.

Watch, as Ava amuses herself for six entire minutes.




Awesome.

Earlier tonight, we watched Cinderella together. She danced to the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo song and clapped when it was over.

Oh hey look, on Christmas Eve at my dad's house? She climbed the steps.




Such a big girl!

Christmas Wrap-up (Get it? Christmas? Wrap? That's a joke, son)

So it wasn't too crazy.  I think she's still too young to really lose her mind over Christmas.  We're still at the point where everything is still so we can get pictures of her doing stuff rather than her being aware of what's happening.  But it was awesome.  There was no wistful wishing for what comes next, no drama, nothing that took the focus away from Ava's First Christmas.  It was magical.

We had Christmas Eve with Grams&Gramps, and Ava got her first baby doll (awww...).

And then Christmas Day we were at home.  And we had the perfect Christmas morning.  Seriously.  I was sitting there, watching her surrounded by her new toys...

...in her monkey pajamas, thinking that this? is perfect.

We did learn a few things for next year:

1. Take the stupid presents out of the stupid packaging before you wrap them.  This was OK for her this year, but next year when she KNOWS that it's HER PRESENT, I doubt she'll be very patient about waiting for Mama and Daddy to untwist 17 twisties so as to release each component of a 43 piece set.
2. There is no drive too long to go see a cool Christmas Lights display.  Sometimes the search for a house we've heard about that has amazing lights and music is part of the fun, and it's always worth it.  
   
3. Grams's loaner Christmas tree is pre-lit, and fits perfectly on the table.  Festive?  Check.  Lovely?  Check.  Entirely out of reach from small grabby hands?  CHECK.

So it was wonderful.  And our friends had wonderful Christmases too.  There's a lot of joy in this world right now, and we're very thankful to be a part of it.

Baby's First Christmas

Merry Christmas from Rob, Kristie and Ava!

She had quite a haul, pictures and film will be up shortly.  We're watching Christmas movies and dinner is already in the oven (ribs YUM).  Best. Christmas. Ever.

We have words!

There is much rejoicing, as Ava's first words were not related in any way to the 90 minutes a day we spend in the car together and the morons with whom we share the roads!

Ball.  She said ball.  Actually, she said "baw", but she was pointing at a ball when she said it, so it counts.  Because it's close enough, and she meant what she said.  She was talking about that ball, right there.  So, as you can plainly and unmistakeably see (because you just said "baw" out loud to test weather it qualifies as "ball"), a word was spoken.

We also hear Mama and Dada a lot.  And they're not just random sounds anymore.  When she says them, she looks for us.  When she hears Rob talk from the other room, she says "Dada" and squeals. And it's adorable.

Smartest. baby. ever.

We? Are in trouble.

So today about 10:30, Daycare Lady calls me at work.  It seems Ava got a bit tangled up in a toy bin while she was reaching for The Toy That Was Furthest From Her.  When they attempted to extricate her she kind of, well, lost her mind.  We hadn't seen Hulk Baby for a while.   Things have been pretty uneventful.  We're back on a fairly regular sleep schedule that actually involves everybody getting some sleep.  We were lulled into a false sense of security.  We got cocky.

So today, when the batphone rang, it kind of caught me off guard.

She's OK.  Daycare lady called just to let me know that Something had happened, but there didn't seem to be any lingering effects.  She calmed down after maybe 10 minutes (with the help of a bottle and some Cheerios).  She had her normal nap and lunch and snack.  She was a little edgy for the rest of the day, though.  At pick-up, I picked my first battle: Ava doesn't want the coat? Ava does not have to wear the coat.  All righty then.

In the past 11 months (precisely 11 months, in fact...) I have worried about many things where Ava is concerned.  Today, I worry that my kid is going to handle anger and frustration in much the same way as I do.  That is, she's going to explode like a grenade as her first reaction, and when that passes, and it will pass quickly, she'll be over it, she'll be fine, and everyone around her will be like "what the hell was that?!".  I want to make sure she learns how to handle stuff like that in a way that doesn't alienate everyone and perhaps trigger a semi-negative component to a performance review at her job (don't ask.). 

Or, maybe, she's just a toddler and we just have to suck it up for a few years.  It could also be that.

So 11 months ago, to the minute, I had a contraction.  I didn't know it was a contraction.  I thought it was my dinner settling.  Dinner on January 11, 2009, was In & Out Burger, which I am convinced is what put me into labor.  So at 9:30 PM that night, I stood up and stretched and felt something ODD.  Like I was being stabbed by my burger (double-double with onions).  And then nothing happened for probably an hour.  And then everything happened all at once.

It's been 11 months of astonishment.  We know Ava pretty well now.  But she's changing so quickly that sometimes we don't keep up like we should.  I looked at her the other day, and she's not a chubby little baby anymore.  She's a (still somewhat chubby but less so) little girl.  She's about to take off walking (OMG we are doomed) and one day soon the babbling is going to pause and she's going to say a word and mean what that word means (hopefully it's not something she picked up whilst riding with me...).

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a wonderful time in San Diego with Rob's family. AJ, UK, and BA made sure that Ava's first Thanksgiving was just magical. They even put up a Christmas tree and had a present ready for her (thank-you note is forthcoming...).


Such a fuss! They went all out, as they usually do, and we can't thank them enough for spending so much time with us throughout the week.

I'd also like to give up a shout-out to Hampton Inn for their almost entirely childproof rooms and the fact that the coffee table is the exact length of the distance between the bed and the dresser. We had a little Ava Corral that helped us all keep our sanity :)

We also had a little fun with giggling.



Surprisingly, this was after a Night Of No Sleep and a Day of No Naps. OMG we were exhausted, all of us. I think part of the laughter is just out of delirium.
Friday we went to Birch Aquarium at Scripps in La Jolla. Ava likes watching fish when they're on Discovery Channel, so we figured she'd really be into watching actual fish. She loved it! Even though it was crowded, we had a great time watching her watch everything else.

She got eaten by a shark...

And she giggled quite a bit more...


We have so much to be thankful for. It sounds kind of cliche', but Ava has made our lives amazing. Every day is an adventure that we are thrilled to share with our families and friends. We're SO excited for Christmas, and we're starting to plan a birthday party (shhhh..... don't tell her! It's a surprise!).

'Twas The Month Before Christmas

It's been a little hectic.

To recap, with bullet points...

• It wasn't a tooth; it was roseola. Roseola is a stupid illness.
  
• Her gastronomic repertoire of solid food consists of sausage, pancakes, quesadillas, string cheese, rice, honeydew melon, tilapia, chicken (grilled, baked, fried, and nuggeted), bananas, cheerios, peas, fish sticks (but she's not a gay fish, and if you don't get this, you don't watch South Park), soft tacos, bean burritos, spaghetti & meatballs, ravioli, and just about anything else we can cut up small enough for her to feed to herself
  
• Twenty-one pounds, nine ounces,
• First haircut happened and, no, I didn't save it. It was just a trim of a strand that was hanging in her eyes.
• The crawling is out of control, and she is officially faster than we are.
• She really doesn't like people. If you're not me, Rob, Grams & Gramps after about 20 minutes, or any of the Daycare Ladies, don't get too close.
  

I think that's it.

Last night, we went to the opening night of the Opportunity Village Magical Forest. We figured it wouldn't be too busy (see above RE: don't get too close...) and it wasn't too chilly outside. Grams & Gramps were there too, and I'm so glad they came with us. Ava got her first taste of Christmas. She saw Santa in his sleigh with his reindeer and 4 showgirls in elf suits (hey, it's Vegas, whatever) and her first Christmas tree, 40 feet tall, covered in lights and all twinkly. She saw all the things that make Christmas look like Christmas. And she loved it.

One of the attractions is a train, and we thought she might like it. She likes to look at stuff and at people (as long as they don't get too close...). I think it was a success :)




How cute is that! We had so much fun! Toward the end of the night, she even smiled at people she didn't even know. Her heart grew three sizes that night!


So now our quest is to find any Christmas light display that we can find and show it to her.

Tuesday we're driving to San Diego for Thanksgiving. Ava will have her first turkey and mashed potatoes (we have rubber bibs locked and loaded) and we're looking forward to getting out of town and seeing the folks. Safe travels and Happy Turkey to all!

If This Happens For Every Tooth, I'm Going To Need A Bigger Wine Fridge.

This is going to be a terribly interesting summary of Ava's first fever, which will also serve the purpose of reminding me about what to do when future fevers happen. Blog = baby book.

So Friday morning we got up and Ava was warm. Rob noticed it first. We took her temperature and it was 98.5 under her arm which means her core temperature (I just learned this phrase, thank you Auntie Nurse Amy) was 99.5. She usually runs about 2 degrees cooler, so we knew something was up. She didn't sleep worth a damn last week, so between that and a higher temperature, we figured it was teeth. When her bottom teeth came in over the summer, she ran a little warmer than usual.

At 4:00 Daycare Lady called me at work. We were on deck to take advantage of a delightful thing they occasionally do at Daycare called Parents Night Out, where they host a slumber party and watch movies until 10:30. Their threshold for Calling Parents and Sending Children Home is 101 degrees, and Ava hit it. OMG. So I wrapped up the week, shut stuff down, and picked her up a little early. I walk in, and they all look at me like "There's Little Miss CrankyPants's mom now." Evidently she spent the day glaring at everyone. Parents Night Out (a nice relaxing sushi dinner, in our case) was abruptly cancelled.

Over the course of the weekend, Ava's temperature steadily rose. I got some great advice from the aforementioned Nurse Amy, and another BFF called to give some fantastic info about fevers and Baby Tylenol (a freaking miracle drug...) and between the two of them, we felt pretty confident about what to look for and when to start calling doctors or running to the ER.

Saturday sucked. She just flat didn't feel good. Poor little boopy, she tried to play but quickly realized that she preferred to sit quietly and cuddle. This was alarming. Saturday night she woke up at 3 and the thermometer stopped at 101.9 which adding one for armpit (even simple math at 3AM was very trying--I'm going to put a sticky on the thermometer that says "just add 1"). Had it hit 102 (meaning 103...) that's when you call doctors or run to the ER. But it stayed at 101.9. She didn't have any other symptoms, either. Just a freakishly high Fever Of Unknown Origin (OMG DO NOT LET ME GO ON WEBMD AT 3AM). We could feel the heat radiating from her poor little head. It was awful.

Today she was better. No fever at all since we got up this morning. She just went to bed, and is a nice cool 97.5 (oh just do the freaking math...). So we're all better, and very optimistic about getting some sleep tonight.

Last night (it counts as "last night" rather than "this morning" because I did go back to bed after she went to sleep) I suddenly felt like a mom. As upset, uncomfortable, unhappy, and generally pissed of she was, she held on to me because Mama Makes it Better. There wasn't a lot I could do about the fever, but she didn't care. She couldn't rest in the crib, but she calmed down and was able to fall (and stay) asleep in my lap. She was holding on to me with one hot little hand, and holding on to the binky with the other. Mama and Binky. We're a good team.

She's OK now. I'm still taking her temperature at every diaper change, but she's cool to the touch. And it's weird--suddenly, I can tell if she's got a fever just by putting my hand on her head. I've always wondered How They Do That. And I still don't know. But now I can do that too. Because I'm the mama, and Mama Makes It Better.

Oh and that freaking tooth better be the best goddamn tooth ever to break through a gum when it ever shows up.

R2D2

Ava's favorite uncles Mike and Clay loaned us R2D2 to help us complete her inaugural Halloween costume theme. He is a functioning voice-activated robot droid thingy, and he'll do what you tell him to do if you know what to say. He beeps and pings and rolls forward and back, and when Ava knocks him over he makes this farty sound that cracks Ava up.

:)

Halloween 2009

The Force is strong in this one.


Halloween turned out to be pretty uneventful, which turned out to be OK with us. Our trick-or-treating plans fell through so we went over to Dad&Florence's for pizza and then came home and went to bed. It seems that two of us are too old and one of us is too young to really get into Halloween right now. We'll try again next year.

Ava had her 9 month check up a couple of weeks ago. She's 21 pounds, 27 inches, and is growing just like she should. She's all over the place, so when she's awake, we are generally involved in some sort of surveillance and pursuit. She did get a flu shot, but the H1N1 shot is elusive. I don't know that we'll have the opportunity to get that for her, and I'm not too thrilled about that. I'm a big believer in vaccines, and while I'd be unhappy if I got H1N1 myself, I'd be devastated if she came down with it. We're being super careful about handwashing and basic hygiene--that's generally a good way to avoid getting sick. Daycare sanitizes everything every day in her classroom, and they keep the little kids away from the bigger kids, so we're hoping that helps her stay safe. Ugh. I'll be glad when this flu season is behind us.

She eats what we eat, and I love that. This morning, we all sat down to breakfast and we all had pancakes and sausage. She can feed herself--I think she prefers to, actually. So whatever we're eating, we break it up into little bits and put it on her tray. She takes it from there

The holiday season is officially upon us, I suppose. This year, she's mostly indifferent to anything that doesn't directly happen to her, so anything we do, we do for our benefit and for the purposes of pictures. So we weren't too upset when we ended up being home early last night. We'll be in San Diego for Thanksgiving and home for Christmas. And I think we're going to keep it all as low-key as we can for as long as we can. Next year, all bets are off.

Top Ten Things I Say To Ava Over and Over Every Day

1. Whatcha doing Boopy?
2. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeere's the baby? THERE SHE IS.
3. LALALALALALALALA (repeat ad nauseum)
   
4. Boop boop boop
5. What do you see? Do you see the sky (or cars or people or clouds or trees)
   
6. The Itsy-Bitsy spider went up the water spout...
7. MMMmmmm tasty sock
   
8. Nom nom nom apples!
9. USE YOUR DAMN TURN SIGNAL!!! (actually, this one is not so much to her, per se, but she hears it a lot in the car and there's a good chance it will be her first full sentence)
10. Are you ready to play?

Pumpkin Patches Are Disgusting Places

We went to Gilcrease Orchard yesterday because I was all geeked out about getting a super cute picture of Ava sitting among a bunch of pumpkins and autumn-type stuff. Right. So it's like 85 degrees and 2% humidity so it's all hot and dusty and rather disappointing. And the place was a zoo, both literally and figuratively. Literally, in that they have chickens and turkeys and this poor sad pony with its tail and mane dyed bright orange (envision the Vegas holiday version of a Tijuana Zonkey) that was schlepping ill-mannered children around a pen. Figuratively, in that it was packed with the aforementioned ill-mannered children and their equally ill-mannered parents and they were handling the pumpkins after wiping their noses (and God only knows what else) and eating what passes for autumn-themed food here (what the hell are "pumpkin chips"?). We were in and out in probably 10 minutes, sans picture. Ugh. We may try again but maybe not. It was not fun and I think we've decided that we're not going to kill ourselves just to orchestrate minor holiday pictures.

So what about other holidays? Are we going to do Crying Baby With Santa? Easter Bunny? Are there more holidays with people dressed up who are waiting for me to bring my poor unsuspecting child to them so I can plop her on their laps and hope she doesn't freak out before they get a picture that doesn't end up here?

Jeez.

Our jury is still out on the whole Santa Picture thing. I've always thought that the Easter bunny costumes are scary, so there's really no question of that picture ever happening. But Santa troubles me. I hate to miss out on it entirely, because they can be such amazing pictures. I hear tales of the Perfect Santa at this mall or that and I want to at least try it, and then I watch movies like Bad Santa (OMG this movie kills me...) and A Christmas Story (HO HO HO) and I just don't know.

Holidays are stressful indeed.

The Ava Workout

Quick tempo, maybe 160 beats per minute. GO!

And 1 and 2 and don't forget to breathe and pick her up and move her over and move the toys and check to see if she has a fist full of dog hair and check the dog to make sure she's not pissed or sporting a new bald spot and bend and lift and twist and release and move the cup and get the phone and call them back later and pick her up and move her over and find the remote to turn down the damn TV and change a diaper and make a bottle and set up the high chair (because lord knows we can't leave it set up all the time anymore) and heat some apples and feed and wipe and feed and wipe and put her in her crib with a binky and rest for 90 minutes.

Repeat 3 times, for 2 hours at a time.

We will pay you ONE MEEEEEEEELLION DOLLARS...

...to come over and effectively childproof our house.

Thank you and good day.