Endless Summer - the first Vacation

Ok... so its fall.... and there was no surfing... etc...

Pu had her first real vacation (versus day trips). End of Sept., her Grandmom and Granddad (Memphis folks) came down and passed a couple days in town with us. GREAT to have so many folks to pass the kiddo off to! She got a Pooh bear about the size of her (again, she loves the label on it... labels are much cooler than the stuffed animals themselves). The hubby and i got to visit, play games (LOVE taboo - been about 15 years since i've played it!). You know you're married to an overly educated person when this happens in Taboo: The sand is falling, time is running out - the Dad pulls another card... (for those who don't know, you try to have your partner guess the word without saying the "taboo' words on the list)... he thinks - his neural connections are firing a million times a second - time is running out! he speaks: um..... black and white... um.... line on it... um... a rodent... um.... it stinks..... um..... then BLAMO! time runs out. EEEEE GAWD! The Mum and I just roll our eyes.... Pepe le Pu? HELLO! McFly! Well..... after much laughter - who woulda thunk? Skunks are rodents... their carnivores. Dang botantists hung up on zoology. Awesome game of taboo. Surprised we didn't wake the kiddo with us laughing so hard.

So - after a couple days, we headed to the ocean. Totally awesome vacation - got to spend time boogy boarding, relaxing... oh wait.. this is supposed to be about Pu.

SHE got to relax, hang out... saw the ocean for the first time... a little puzzeled, prefered to watch the waves come and out over feet instead of tackeling the huge picture of a zillion waves. She also got her first (and second and third...) pool experience. Also a fun treat. Turned her into a mad-woman now that we're back and in the tub. spalsh splash spalsh weeeee giggle. Gave her confidence and now she plays more with her purple and pink rubber duckeys than wanting to get lathered up.

She also got a little spoiled (totally my fault). In an effort to keep her from crying at night when she wakes for food, i would swoop her up and see if she wanted to be fed at the first sign of her moving about. Of course, she got the idea quick, and would just fuss around so i'd pick her up. GGGgrrrrrrr. The last night we spend there, she was up (and me, too) at 11:30, 1,4,6 - all thru the night! urgh.

When we got back home, she was a monster the first day or two. 11:30 feeding? Ha! i thought it was 1:30 until i saw the other 1 hiding behind a stuffed animal. Refused to feed her (i'm so mean) at 11:30. After 2 days, she realized she might as well sleep, too. By the 3 or 4th day, she actually slept straight thru from 7:30 pm until 5 the next day!

Anyway, it was an awesome vacation. Will post a picture of her soon.

Yaw, Pitch, Roll

Amazing developments in the world of Pu. After an early week of ARHG!#%^%@#*- ok, so my diet was off, i think that affected her. After debating with the XY when to put the kid to sleep (she was antsy), we gave her more milk and tucked her in. Then got her out again cuz she was wailing. More milk. Well, too much. I guess you CAN tank them up too much. First time i saw baby projectile barf... hardly digested milk, but still gross. specially when it lands on me and the couch (still thankful we have the old collegic holey couch). Pu looked disgusted at the flavor. I don't blame her. Anyway, that night was followed by a no-poop day, and by the third day, after much fussing and the eventual dreaded poop that overwhelmed the innocent diaper, normalicy returned.

Last night, in the pre-bed massage time, she actually grabbed my foot and TURNED HERSELF on to her belly. She has her sides down pat, but the *belly!*. The dad was even there to wittness it!

And, today, more leaps and bounds. While she can get up on her elbows while on the belly, today, she gets her entire chest off the ground and props herself up on her little hands. Does this then plops down in to the *plane* move (hands and feet in air). Of course, when I did this with her, nothin' but giggles. Good times for the unemployed.

Houston - We have Crib!

Ok. Finally. A blog update. What can we say? we've been busy. Summary is below:

July: THE MOVE. Not bad. Took 3 days to travel 1,000 miles with the critter in tow. Pu was a WONDERFUL co-pilot. Two brief crying spells during the entire trip - once i just didn't feed her enough (oops), and the other time we had to wait for an exit to pull off the highway. Anyway, we made it.

August: First couple weeks was unpacking, unpacking, unpacking. The hubby helped out, but had to turn around and start the new job. Then, he was wisked back to where we just moved from for a conference and workshop. Good deal, he got his car and drove back here.

End of August: Shortly before Pu's 6-month birthday, we took the plunge. SOLID FOOD! yes, mushed up bananas. yummm..... A quick look of disgust, followed by inquisitiveness, surprise, then love!

Yes, folks always say that solid foods bring about nasty changes in the kid's . . um. . . diapers. Well, what they didn't mention is aside from the peee-ew change, and color, the never mentioned what bananas look like afterwards. The utter horror during the following day when i thought that somehow, the kid picked up worms. flashbacks from invertebrate zoology flooded my mind - hookworms? roundworms? whipworms? nematophora? wha?!?!? Then, ahhhh yes. . . . banana fibers. little squiggly brown thingies floating in a sea of poo.

Bananas were the week's choice, then i though - veggies. Steamed the heck outta carrots, mushed them up good. Again, it was disgust, furrowed brows, then the, well, ok, i'll give it a try. What a trooper. Well, that meal was my milk, banana and just a FEW little carrot mush - just a WEEEE bit. really. Am i doing this all wrong? The poor kid was grunting the following day and has decided, for the time being, to boycott solids. Will start over with bananas tomorrow.

And, the biggest change - THE CRIB! We were going to start that when we got to the new home, but alas, we had all our mattresses lined up in a row. The Pu was at least sleeping on her own mattresses next to ours. Well, I was on the phone talking with Aunt "J", and, it a brilliant inspirational moment, decided to just crib her. Afterall, she's 6 months old now. I have to stop being lazy and rolling over feeding, and rolling back. I'll take the plunge that most women do and actually *go over* to a crib and drag the kid out.

So, on Sept. 1st, 2005, the Pu woke up in her own crib. Wasn't bad at all.... She still feeds at about 1 or 2 am, then another time around 5 or 6 am. I can deal with that. Her crib is just a couple feet from my side of the bed - i roll out, grab her, jump back in bed, and she eats. I poke her to keep her eating and from falling asleep, then toss her back into the crib when she's had enough.

And, she LOVES her crib. tigers and rhinos and such on the bumper are cool to look at - she actually goes down (sometimes) without a fuss. Night time is a breeze, not a peep from her (usually). She just coo's and plays with her hands and passes out. She has boycotted the pacifier after briefly using it at 2 months old. I just she decided she's to big for that at 3 months - totally uncool thing. or something.

Ok. So, that's the lastest from this end. Hope all is well with everyone out there - will post pictures soon.