Flipper!

We finally caught our little flipper on video. Enjoy!

Ginger's first birthday party...

...as an attendee, of course! Today she and I went over to our friend Kendall's house to celebrate her stepson Jared's 4th birthday. Since it was Ginger's first children's birthday party, we had to wear a special dress for the occasion. In all actuality, we have too many dresses and too little time- this is a 3-6 month dress, and with the long sleeves in summer, I didn't know if we'd have another opportunity to wear it (it was pretty cloudy today).

Anyhow, Ginger and Ryen got to play together while some of the other kids dared going in the pool (it was heated, luckily!) Ryen is already crawling and pulling herself to standing position on the couch, coffee table, ottoman, etc. and it's just amazing to see what we have in store for us in 3 more months! I'll add the pics that Jaime took of the girls together, but here are a few that Paul took before we left to the party (though we added a bow for good measure after these shots were taken). I also added a few from after the party, when the dress came off and comfty pants went on- a girl after my own heart. :)

4 month vaccinations

You wouldn't know Ginger is my daughter by the way she takes her shots- she is a CHAMP! Today we went in for her 4 month vaccinations (late again, but this time I had an appointment that was rescheduled by the doctor) and it went well. Ginger is now 26 inches long/tall, weighs in at 14.1 lbs, which is good progress. She didn't make a peep the entire visit(other than a few chuckles while we were waiting for the nurse to come in). At the end of the visit is when they give the shots, I held her hands and watched her face, and it was amazing. On the first shot, I didn't even know it was given because Ginger didn't even notice it! On the second shot, she whimpered for a few seconds, shed maybe two tears, and was over it. She was back to smiling in no time.

I don't have problems taking shots now, but boy when I was a kid I remember throwing fits when I had to take a shot! Let's hope this ambivalence continues- I would be so lucky! Here she is waiting for doc to come see us...

Ginger, grafitti'ed...

Well, not really, but there is a fun website my friend Kymberli emailed me about that allows you to upload pics and choose from a variety of fun backgrounds like this one. Check out www.photofunia.com, it's kind of addicting!

Test Drive!

Still no food yet, we've decided to wait until at least 5 1/2 months to introduce solids (if she maintains her patience, we'll see). With only 4 weeks to go, we thought it might be a good idea to get Ginger used to the idea of her high chair. So we took our first test drive tonight. She seemed to like it! It is so crazy that for 9 months, while I was pregnant, it felt like almost every night while sitting at the table for dinner, we'd say to each other "can you believe one day our little munchkin will be sitting right here in her high chair!?!?" Well, that day is here!

The little things...

What a cliche to say "she is growing up so fast", but it is true. She isn't even 5 months old yet, and still every day I find something new compared to the day before...

*Ginger sure knows how to turn it on. When it's just Mommy and Daddy, she is extremely vocal and rarely is she not humming, laughing, screeching, and just playing with her voice in general. We call her our future American Idol, because it will almost appear that she is singing at times. Up and down the musical scale with her vocals, no words yet of course, but seriously this girl is a talker! Sometimes people don't believe me because when she has visitors, she's so entrenched in the new person that she's not as talkative, but when its just our little family, watch out!

*She is easy to please. A lot of people have made mention so far that she is a very mellow baby. She smiles and laughs pretty easily, especially for Mommy and Daddy. But she doesn't mind being handed over to friends and family to be held and visit, most of the time just kinda staring at you and occasionally cracking a smile.

*One of the best moments is when she wakes up from sleeping in her crib, she'll fuss and cry and as soon as she sees mommy pop my head over the crib, she smiles and laughs and giggles and is clearly happy to see me. I love that moment.

*She's a daddy's girl through and through. Don't get me wrong- we have a blast every day together but when Dad gets home and picks her up in his arms, she squeals and smiles and couldn't be happier. Watching that, neither can I.

*She's starting to realize that Woody is her doggie and he just cracks her up. He follows us around a lot, and with her up on my shoulder, him following me behind, he gives her lots of giggles and squeals too. Every morning for her feeding, she makes sure he is sitting in front of our big chair, and of course he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

*One of her favorite places to visit is Paul's garage. There is so much to look at out there that it's about the only place we go where she is silent. She just stares and stares- it's like eye candy to her.

*She's a 100% mommy's milk baby, which I feel so, so, so lucky about. And I do mean luck, because I know a lot of my friends who for one reason or another were unable to strictly breastfeed. We've worked hard and have been committed, but we didn't run into ANY obstacles like the books or others have had. I attribute part of that to pure luck.

*She's a sleeper- i just knocked on my wood desk because I don't want to jinx this, but she's been sleeping really well since about 8weeks, without a drop of formula or any food so far. I have to go almost EVERY morning, at 7:45am to wake her up for the day. And her bedtime is usually between 8-8:30pm! This girl likes to sleep- she sleeps at the top of the range of hours typical for her age. She's like her mama AND her papa on that one.

*Even though she is a sleeper, she now is beginning to resist certain moments of our routine. She knows when we walk to her nursery and turn the fan on and draw the curtains, it's nap time and sometimes she still wants to play, so she'll let me know she's not happy about it. Once asleep, she's out, but she's starting to fight naps a little bit and I can tell this child will not be timid growing up. We don't believe in the cry it out method while she's still this young, so mommy does a lot of rocking, soft humming, and pacing back and forth in her nursery. And I wouldn't give it up for anything. That's why I became a mom, right?

There is a lot more to document, but I'll leave that for another day. Until then, here's a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure. By the way, she's found her feet, and thinks they're great. I think she was a bit behind the curve on that one- but it was cute to see the moment that she realized for the first time that she could actually reach them.

She's flipping! I can't seem to capture it on video, but trust me I'll keep trying.



Loving her feet...

More feet time...

She is a bubble blower, that's for sure...

This girl loves her aquarium!


our little family...


did i mention she's having fun with her toes?!?!

Signing Training

I was chatting with my friend Marie the other day, who has an 18 month old named Mia. She told me about a DVD that was instrumental for her daughter, before she could speak, but when she needed to communicate. The DVD is called "Baby Signing Time" and apparently, it has won a ton of awards and is very well known. She couldn't say enough good things about it, and convinced me to pick up a copy to see if Ginger would respond. She started showing the DVD to Mia around 5 months, and within just a month or two Mia was using the signs quite well to communicate things like "food, drink, milk, more, dog, diaper, potty," and many more.

I recieived the DVD from Amazon the night before I left for my trip, but the topic was brought up again while I was on the plane coming home. There was a 3 or 4 year old little boy who was having an absolute FIT, and his mother seemed to care less. She let him throw his tantrums, and was completely ambivalant. It was annoying to say the least. While waiting for our baggage, another mom was talking with her, and encouraged her to think about teaching him to sign (the mom said he wasn't speaking yet, which is a whole other topic. Teach your children, people!! You should be able to teach a child basic words by the age of 4!!!)

Anyhow, after seeing that craziness, I came home and popped the DVD in tonight and watched it with Ginger. It was actually pretty catchy- they have real babies signing, along with a lady singing the songs. Ginger laughed a few times at a funny frog cartoon that pops up in between songs, and she watched the babies pretty intently. Marie mentioned that the 30 min DVD might not hold her complete attention the first time through, but it did for Ginger. She loved it! I can't wait to see if this sign language training really works for her. We'll see.

For my Dad!

Well, my Dad emailed me the other day and said "we need more new pics of Ginger on your blog!" So these are for you, Dad! (He likes to update his screensaver with Ginger's newest picture, he's such a good Opa!)

I've been introducing books to Ginger recently, as my mom's friend Marge is a teacher/professor/reading specialist and says that in order for kids to really enjoy reading, they should be immersed early, before 6 months of age. So I found some fun soft books with texture, rhyme, and fun images for her to enjoy. She loves them! We have a great library for her from my two baby showers, on both occasions instead of bringing cards attached to gifts, the attendees were asked to bring their favorite book. I can't wait to start reading those books to Ginger too!

My first night away...

At 6:25am on Thursday morning, I flew to Seacaucus, New Jersey for interview #4 and #5, which are the final interviews for a new position I'm working towards. Because the flight was over 8 hours (including a stop and layover) and return flight was the next day, Friday, I decided (after WAY too much thought) that it would be best to leave Ginger at home. I didn't want her to have to spend 16 hours on a plane within a 48 hour period, and with germs, swine flu, and everything else, it just made sense. Our good friend Kari watched Ginger all day Thursday, and then Paul came home after work and took over Thursday night, and all day Friday. It was his first chance to be the primary caregiver for that long too- and he was a champ. I love him so much!

While I was driving to the airport at around 5am, I did lose it briefly in the car. In the few days prior to me leaving, I really tried not to stop and think about the fact that I wasn't going to be able to see, feed, kiss, or sing to Ginger like we do every day.

The worst part of the experience was using my breastpump. I had to bring ice packs and a cooler to keep what I did pump, and each time through security I had to pull it all out and declare it. That wasn't too bad- but the most challenging aspect is finding the time and place to pump. On the way out, I attempted to pump at my seat on the plane, with my "hooter hider" covering me, but even with the hippie mom and grandma next to me, I was still too paranoid and the let-down wouldn't occur. So I waited until we got to Houston, and went into the handicap stall in the public restroom and pumped. I can imagine the women coming in and out and wondering what the "whoosh, whoosh" sound was coming from the stall. My phrase I repeated to myself all weekend was "I'll never see these people again, I'll never see these people again".

Once at the hotel, pumping wasn't a problem, but again on my way home- what a nightmare. My first flight was delayed, but not enough for me to be able to pump again before we left, and then I was on the plane and didn't want to sit in the lavoratory and have people knocking on the door, waiting in line for 15 minutes. So I figured I'd just wait until I got to Atlanta and use the public bathroom again. Wrong- because our flight was delayed, by the time we actually got to the airport, my other flight was already boarding. The 5 HOUR flight, mind you. So, I had no choice- I had to pump on the plane. I jumped on to find that I was seated next to two military men- no WAY I was trying to pump sitting next to them. The captain of the flight came over the loud speaker to annouce that while we were technically leaving on time, we were in a line of about 25 planes to take off, and were being held for a brief weather issue. I thought I would seize the opportunity- and asked the flight attendant if I could use the bathroom. She said sure- I grabbed my bag and ran in, set everything up, began pumping for maybe 30 seconds, and then hear the captain say "prepare for departure". I dashed to put everything away, spilling breastmilk on the floor, throwing everything in my bag as fast as I could, and I hear a knock on the door and the flight attendant says "ma'am we're just waiting on you in order to take off. Can you please take your seat?" Talk about stressful!

So I returned, embarrassed to see all the passengers staring at me, and slumped back into my seat. Once we took off, I ended up waiting about 20 minutes and then just returned to the bathroom and did it, and it was fine, but gosh it's stressful and something I really never, EVER thought about before having a child. I'm sure other women have been in this situation (in fact I know they have, as I spent a lot of time googling and researching tips and tricks before I left).

Anyhoo, the interviews went fabulous, I feel very strongly that this is the job that I have been waiting for, and hope that it works out. It was tough leaving my baby, luckily only overnight, but the good news is she is still alive (lol), had fun with Miss Kari and Daddy, and was thrilled to see me when she woke up in the early morning. And I was thrilled to see her too.

Our first memorial day as a family...

We had the BEST time celebrating Memorial Day this year. We invited our friends Kari and Josh over, with their adorable kids Emme and Jarrod, for a pool party and bbq. Kari is going to be be Ginger's nanny as soon as I accept a new job, and I couldn't be happier. Ginger adores Kari, and it seems the feeling is mutual :) Emme, Kari's daughter, will most likely end up as Ginger's babysitter when they both get a little bit older- than means a date night for mom and dad once in a while, with a trusted sitter at home!

Here are some pics from the holiday- we celebrated with an entire bottle of tequila, several cases of beer, and a LOT of food. Chicken, Carne Asada, Chorizo, macaroni salad, chips/salsa/guacamole, garlic bread, watermelon, and iced oatmeal cookies (i told you it was a lot of food!).

Josh snuggling with Ginger


What a perfect afternoon!


Emmie, Kari, and Ginger


Me, lovin' my Blue Moon...


Beep, Beep!


The sweetest snuggles...


Ginger drinking mommy's milk in a bottle!


Late night card session


This was towards the end of the (late!) night


Clearly, partied and jacuzzied out!