Sittin' around town

Miss M can officially sit up on her own. She has been getting better over the past week or so but we decided that as of Friday she can actually sit. She sat for about 30 minutes on her own that day so we feel like the skill has been acquired. There is still the occasional topple over, but they are fairly rare. She usually catches herself leaning and pulls back up into a sit.

And the photographic evidence...

Aquarium visit

We took Mabel to the Seattle Aquarium last weekend. She was more interested in the kids running around than the fish, but we aimed her in the right direction and took some pictures. The brighter the tank, the longer she'd stare.

Mabel and her Jumperoo

For Christmas, Mabel got a jumper as a gift. We actually set it up before Christmas and had her in it, but she didn't do much. She couldn't get to the ground and just sat back for a few minutes before getting totally overstimulated.
Now she is just about on the ground and is interacting with all the doodads on it.

Workin' for a Livin'

Prior to "the incident" I did meet with my boss to figure out what my work life is going to look like once I start back. Good news! I am going to be going into the office on Mondays for a normal day of work - 8 to 10 hours, whatever I want. Then the remainder of my 20 hour week will be worked from home. I am thinking that I'll just do a 10 hour day Monday and a 10 hour day at home on Tuesday while M is with the nanny.

Overall, much less commuting than I expected and much nicer schedule!

Worst day of my life

Now for the mama's side of the story....

Oh. My. Christ. Worst. Day. Ever.

So, I'm getting ready to leave my office after a couple of meetings. I put M in her car seat. Usually (and never again) I throw my car keys into the driver seat while I'm doing this because I have had a few episodes where I drop my keys in the diaper bag then spend 10 minutes trying to find them while M screams. As I was doing this I was chatting with a coworker and not paying tons of attention. My coworker has the same car I do so when I accidentally hit my lock button on my key fob I must have thought the beeping was her locking/unlocking her car. As soon as I closed the rear door I realized what happened. Insert stomach dropping here.

I said "I locked the keys in the car." I told my coworker (Kellie) to go in and call someone, anyone, while I waited with the car. She went inside and rallied the troops. I called 911 and someone from the office was already on the phone with them. Too bad cops don't come for a baby locked in a car unless the baby is in immediate danger. M was sitting in her seat happily munching on Sophie. Not so much danger.

I started calling AAA but every time I dialed I got "call failed." Not AT&T's finest hour in my mind. I dialed about 10 times and it never when through. At this point my coworkers were coming out of the building. They had called the direct line to the cops and told them there is a prosecutor (we aren't afraid to drop that in times of need) with a baby locked in a car. Two cops were at my side in about 2 minutes.

M was still happily munching on Sophie.

The cops tried to use the slim jim to open the car, but they don't carry the kind needed for my car. They were super nice and both tried for about 10 minutes. At that point M started to cry. Insert sad mama here.

As the cops were trying I tried AAA again and got through. The woman who answered was very nice but all I wanted to scream was "HURRY!" and not tell her my f'n make and model of car. "I'm the crying mother standing in a lot with two cop cars and 10 other people. You'll see me." A tow truck arrived in about 3 minutes and he opened the car in about 1 minute. I grabbed my poor sobbing child and ran her into the office to feed and soothe her. M was fine and I'm pretty sure she never realized there was a major issue.

I am very thankful that I was at work when this happened. Everyone was great and I was very glad to have cops around that knew me. There were plenty of CPS jokes flying around and the cops thought it was amusing when I started swearing at the passenger in the tow truck driver's truck who was smiling at me as I cried.

Those were the longest 18 minutes of my life and they turned this into the worst day of my life. I really sat and thought about all the bad days I have had and this was hands down the worst. I know I'll find the humor in this day soon enough, but I'm not there yet.

And yes, I almost did break open the window with a trash can.

Life follows art

Kate did not have the best day.

She and Mabel went over to Kitsap to have lunch with Kate's boss and to discuss the job she'd be returning to in a few weeks. And at some point Kate tried re-enact the following clip, adding the challenge of playing both adult roles:



Unfortunately, our car does not have remote unlock. Anyhow, everyone is fine, Kate being the most shaken. AAA was able to get the car open and all is well. On to tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Brett

Today we celebrated Brett's 33rd birthday. Mabel got him a rather large purple unicorn mylar balloon. It seems to be a hit with everyone except Ama. She's kinda freaked out by it.

[The unicorn, now named Alphonz, has moved to Brett's office for all to enjoy.]


We spent the day doing Brett-approved activities. We went to a furniture store, went to the grocery, had Thai food for lunch and are home lounging for the rest of the day. I fear that our holiday season was so busy that we traumatized Brett and he now has a holiday phobia - including birthdays. His only request was to do nothing today. He got his wish!

Happy 33rd birthday!!!!!

Update from the mama

I haven't posted the mama update in a while so I'm going to try to get as much in as I can while Brett tries to bounce the baby to sleep.

The most obvious topic to discuss is the illness. M is still coughing, but she seems to be getting a little better (knock on wood.) The amount of goop that has been pouring from her eyes is decreasing which is a good sign. She is still coughing...

Pause for mama to try to get baby to sleep.

I'm back (over 24 hours later.)

So...M is still coughing but she's not getting worse which is all we can ask for. She is still sleeping well despite the illness, so that makes mama happy.

M is full of new tricks these days. She has just learned to shriek. She is very, very good at it. When she first started doing it we thought it was a precursor to a meltdown. Turns out she just likes to yell. It's really pretty funny. I'm sure it won't be so funny when she is 4 and we are at a restaurant, but we have to live in the moment.

Still no rolling over back to front, but she is getting really good at sitting up. She will sit and reach for things and is able to pull herself back up most of the time. Sometimes that big melon weighs her down and she topples over, but not too often. I think her cotton diaper base helps her because it is big and provides her more stability than a disposable diaper would.

As of today I have less than a month of maternity leave left. I am excited to go back and have normal adult contact that doesn't involve discussions about sleep or poop. But I'm still going to cry and be miserable when the time comes. I'm already sad about it.

Signing out from mama land!

5 months old!

Sickness aside, Mabel is 5 months old so we had to celebrate the rainy Seattle winter with 5 of her stuffed friends (who she can't infect):



Health-wise, she is still working on things. Sleeping well at least.

Something completely different.

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion .... I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.”
   - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Well...it makes me laugh at least.

Opposite of ideal

Kate took Mabel in to the doctor this morning, her third consecutive Monday visit, and this one was the jackpot.

Croup - check.
Respiratory syncytial virus - check.
Viral pneumonia - check.

Not the news we were hoping for. She is coughing and dealing with the fluid in her lungs pretty well. After a sleepless night Friday, the rest of the weekend had good nights and naps. Through it all Mabel has been mostly smiles and playing, another good sign.

Hoping for continued improvement.

A riddle

I think this is probably the first riddle I've ever tried to write. Lack of sleep might help explain why it stinks so badly.

Q: What barks like a seal and smiles like a baby?

A: Mabel


Mabel has croup. Or if it isn't croup, it should be. It was a long night, especially for Kate. After trying to steam the baby in the bathroom, Kate tried Mabel in her room and then upstairs in ours, back to her room again and finally ending the "night" in our room. Our vaporizer and other tricks didn't do much but make the rooms a little damp. And all through it Mabel was a wheezing snotty mess with a horrible cough. Smiling but sick.

Poor baby. Poor mom.

More tooth!

Mabel now has two teeth.

She has also had a little water out of a sippy cup as we try to distract her from solid food. Just about a month left, assuming she doesn't grab some and shovel it into her mouth first.

No rollovers from back to front yet but she is increasingly comfortable sitting up...and then folding over and trying to eat her feet.

Slacking on pictures after the December onslaught. Did confirm that we're able to now do Skype HD with one set of grandparents, so at least they've had a high-quality fix. Will catch up with the others this weekend.

Late December Pics

General XMas pics:


Visiting the Kitchen/Springs:


Visiting Jess:


Visiting the Mendelsohns:


Visiting Cleveland Aunts, Uncles, and cousins:


And for even more pics, here ya' go.