Happy Birthday Leeloo!!

well.. yesterday. Her birthday didn't pass unnoticed but there wasn't a spare second to write up a Happy Birthday post for her yesterday. Considering that she can't read and doesn't use the computer very often, I don't think the belated nature of this post will bother her greatly.

 

Happy 7th Birthday Leeloo Kitty! We love you and can't even imagine what the past 7 years would have been like without you! You're an amazing furbaby!

Milestones

I wrote this a few weeks ago while we were without internet and I entirely forgot to actually post it.

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My kitchen is completely clean for the first time since our things arrived and Jessa is still asleep. The internet isn’t getting connected until Wednesday, so there’s nothing to distract me. Time to write!

This is less of a – what’s going on in our world post and more of an information dump. J As a new parent meeting lots of other new parents I can say, with complete authority, that one thing we love to talk about are milestones. We know that we shouldn’t compare our child to another, the same way we know that children all develop at their own pace. Just because your little one isn’t walking by 15 months doesn’t mean they won’t grow up to be an Olympic athlete. However, this does not stop us from throwing dates around like hot commodities. Picture moms on the stock exchange floor… (I exaggerate. J) So far all the moms I’ve met seem to have their Mommy pride in good check!

That said… I love to know when other babies hit their milestones. I just want to know what the general curve is, where mine is on it and what those other moms whose babies play concert piano are doing! ;)

So here it is, in black and white: Jessica’s First Year

Born: 6:06pm GMT February 18^th, 2010 (11 hours and 17 minutes after the first twinge) Here’s the full birth story as recounted by Daddy for those that are interested. Construction Complete

Stats: Weight- 8lbs, Length- 49cm, Head- 35.5cm

First lifted her head: By 3 weeks

Started grabbing things: at 6 weeks

First smile: Between 4 and 5 weeks

First laugh: 18 weeks – chuckling, 19 weeks – proper laughter

First unassisted roll over: 14 weeks

First able to sit up alone: 5 ½ months

First tooth – almost 6 months

First crawled on her knees: 27 weeks (6 months 3 days)

First stood unaided: 7 ½ months

First pointed: 9 months 2 days

First clapped: 9 months 10 days

First waved: 9 months 10 days (it was a busy month for you!)

First steps unaided: 10 months 10 days
* Proper walking: 10 months 17 days
* Confidant walking: 11 months

Baby See - Baby Do #2

The manicurist.

This afternoon, Jessa and I were sitting on the sofa. Well, less sitting and more clambering (her, not me). After much stretching and climbing she managed to reach the nail clippers I'd stashed on the end table. I spend a lot of time taking them away from her. I'm honesty not sure how she keeps finding them. When I want them it seems to take me at least 15 minutes to find a pair. Before I can reach her, she's brought her foot up to her face (gotta love that baby flexibility) and she's tapping her toes with the nail clippers. Okay come on folks, time for a collective aaw. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!

Random ramblings

Oh bah. I hate it when that happens. Walking home from class today I knew there was something I wanted to write about. I get home, feed the bear, get the bear down for a nap, feed myself, open computer... draw complete blank. Delightful. It was interesting too. I'm sure of it.

In other, less interesting news. My brain is frazzled (nothing new there.) A few minutes ago I was in the kitchen making lunch. I got a glass out and filled it with tea. I reheated last night's dinner and then got a glass out and filled it with sparkling water. I let that sink in for a second... Yes. 2 glasses, 2 drinks. Either I was really thirsty or my subconscious knew I shouldn't be drinking tea after my free, post class, Starbucks indulgence.

*Starbucks tangent* mmmm free Starbucks... I filled in one of those on the recipet surveys the other day and was rewarded with a free tall drink, which the staff instore said was just silly and that I could have any size I wanted. Of course I went for a large.. or a venti as they call it. When it's free why wouldn't you?

Side note (or should that be side question)?: Do you actually call the drinks at Starbucks - Tall, Grande and Venti? I can't seem to make myself do it. Besides forgetting which each one corresponds to unless I'm staring at the menu, I feel like a complete gob saying it. Like it's some private Starbucks joke and that somewhere Baldwin, Siegl, and Bowker (the founders- look you learned something!) are giggling every time someone says it.

And since I haven't actually remembered what I signed in to write about like I'd hoped I would. I'll leave you at that.

Thursday.

Day 2. Coffee failure again. However, now I know it's not my fault or the fault of the sparkling new machine. It's the coffee. A quick inspection of the label tells me that I've purchased "Simply Smooth - A Breakfast Blend" obviously smooth is code for tinted water. I have it under good authority that Dunkin Donuts does good coffee and Harris Teeter had a sale on it this week so I was all set to get some, but of course an E-Vic sale really means... 'get there on day one or they're completely sold out.' So here I sit with subpar coffee. (Yes I hear you. You said "well leave the house and go buy something else. You live in the center of everything." right? Okay, I'm going! Well after her nap that is.)

Just to share, last night I had a dream that I had strapped a cushion to my beloved daughter's butt (and not just any cushion but a £58 sheepskin/wool cushion Mark and I bought on the Isle of Skye for our 7th anniversary 7 years is wool) and that as I watched her walk out of the room I was fervently hoping that she didn't pee on it. Not removing it and replacing with an actual diaper, not following her, but just hoping... Obviously my subconscious has had about all it can take of baby destruction. We're no longer in the furnished rental so that's a large chunk of stress reduction but there's still carpets to pee on and our actual stuff to destroy.

*sigh* and although you didn't notice I was gone just there, I was. The Bear must have known I was talking about her because she decided to try and gnaw on the cedar chest my great uncle made for me out of the tree my mother had a tire swing on when she was little... a room full of toys and she wants the priceless heirlooms. Typical.

Everything is sticky.

From Jessica MacKenzie

What a day! and it's not even noon yet.

Jessica decided we needed to get up early, 7:00am instead of the more reasonable 8:30... I gracefully accept defeat, get up and make coffee. Coffee is terrible. I don't know what I did wrong, whether it was my fault or the pots'. But that was some seriously weak coffee... like tinted water. Too apathetic to make a new pot.

Get ready for Stroller Strides. Light rain outside? No biggie. Attach rain-shield to pram, dig out Mark's waterproof jacket. I'm good to go. What is this? Jessica is asleep! Good for some. I decide to let her sleep which was a wise decision since it started pouring shortly afterwards. A little rain I can handle.. exercising in a downpour? That's asking a bit much. (She does not sleep long, about 20 minutes to be exact.)

Shrug it off, I'll meet the moms for coffee in Starbucks after class. Afterall, coffee at home was a failure. Check email, install new app on phone. What was the child doing during this? Spreading yoghurt across the entire apartment. She wasn't quiet, I thought I was fine. I thought wrong. So instead of enjoying Starbucks and adult conversation, I scrub carpets.

The washing machine is going at full-tilt and I'm pretty sure the Bear is hiding puffed corn like the easter bunny, but at least the internet is hooked up again, right? ;)

Baby See - Baby Do! #1

I know I'm way behind. There's a ton of things I'd like to post, not the least of which is an accounting of Jessica's first birthday, but that will have to wait until I have both the inspiration and the time. For now I'd like to introduce a new segment I like to call "Baby See - Baby Do!"

Those of you with kids will totally understand those moments of "oh my gosh! What is she doing? How did she learn that!!" Example: Jessica dipping her fries. These moments are starting to come faster and more frequently so I wanted to have a standard, simple blog intro for them so I could just pop one up without a lot of exposition first.

March 1oth instalment of Baby See - Baby Do!

"Jessica gets a phone call."

This was the second time she did it. The first was about an hour earlier and I was absolutely gobsmacked. It was so adorable! She even held the phone in front of her and started tapping on the phone like she was sending a text at one point!