Nigh-Nigh...

Every night before Ginger goes to sleep, we prepare her bottle, and then go to Dad for hugs and kisses. Then, as Woody (our husky dog) follows us to her room, she waves to him and says "nigh nigh". She's quite taken to this little routine, and even if Woody happens to be outside at that moment, she looks around and waves her hand, and says "nigh nigh dah (dog)".

Well, last night, I walked to the kitchen to prepare her bottle, and Paul and she were playing on the floor right in front of the kitchen, where Woody was resting. As I walked towards her to pick her up, I see that she has walked up to Woody, and gave him a huge bear hug! She laid on his back, squeezed him tightly, and said "nigh nigh dah". Paul and I watched it happen and though this was a tiny moment, it sure put tears in both of our eyes. What a beautiful memory for us!

Our big girl...

What a charming little girl we have on our hands these days! Ginger and I went to visit Dr. Shaw for her 1 year check-up, a little late but I felt better about it because Ginger had been sick for a few weeks right after her first birthday, and I didn't want to shoot her up with vaccinations when she was a little down for the count. So, once she was feeling better, we decided to go in and get it over with :)

Up until this visit, Ginger hasn't so much as made a whimper when she recieved her shots. This time around, we had a very sweet nurse who was almost too gentle in injecting the shots. So I watched Ginger's little thigh wiggle like jello while the tip of the needle worked on poking through. I almost wanted her to just pop it in and be done with it- it felt like slllllllow motion to watch this needle, and Ginger DEFINITELY told me how she felt about it. Mommy teared up too, but a few seconds of rocking afterwards, and she recovered.

At 13 months old, she is 22 lbs. (52nd percentile) and 31" tall (86th percentile). She is growing SO fast these days, I still call her my baby, but she sure doesn't look like a baby to me anymore!

Dr. Shaw was really impressed that Ginger was already walking so well, and he kept telling us how absolutely adorable and charming she is. I don't know if they say that to everyone, but Ginger adores him (surprising, as she only has met him a handful of times) but she sure turns it on for him. Smiles, giggles, she even kissed his forehead while he was leaned over checking her. It was too cute.

On Sunday, Paul and I took Ginger to her first Nascar Race. We were invited to attend and watch the race from an executive suite, complete with catered lunch, sound protected environment, comfy couches, and children and parents of all ages. We had a blast, as did Ginger. We took her up to the rooftop to watch the race (of course we put little ear plugs in her ears, and surprise! She didn't pull them out!) and she pointed and said "Ca, Ca"!! She see's Daddy's model cars displayed in our house, and with Paul's garage it's no surprise that car is one of the 10-12 words she uses frequently these days.

Ginger loves to laugh and giggle, in a very goofy charming kind of way. She likes to tickle mommy and daddy these days, especially our toes! On of her favorite things to do with Dad is play together on the living room floor. They roll around and kiss and tickle each other. If he's laying on the floor with a pillow she will make sure to rest her head on the pillow too, or just lay on top of dad for a quick snuggle.

Ginger is also a bit shy with others these days, which we knew was coming! She definitely keeps her goofy silly personality under wraps until she gets to know you a little bit. I remember watching other people's children and internalizing it as an adult, but now I watch when Ginger is shy and see that it has nothing to do with the adult- more it has to do with her and wanting comfort from mommy.

We are working on cooking more together, and she absolutely has to be part of the action these days. She doesn't like to go and play and watch a cartoon before dinner- she MUST be in the kitchen with mom, and these days she MUST be shown what we're cooking, etc. Luckily I can plop the Bumbo chair on the counter, and she's content with a spoonula pretending to mix right along with mommy.

Here are some pics from the doc's visit and Nascar!

Superbowl Sunday

Well, they say the Saints won- I wouldn't know as we didn't follow the game much today, maybe just a check of the score here and there. Though it was Superbowl Sunday, Paul and Dad made the most of this weekend building their hot rods in the garage. Mom came up and hung out with Ginger and I, and we sure had fun! Ginger was a crack-up today, this girl is turning into a little comedian! She definitely loves to giggle and laugh, and today was no exception. We decided to put together her buggy car that her aunties and uncles got her for her birthday- she loves it! She climbed in and couldn't wait for Paul to install the seatbelt. Mom and I took a walk down the block, pushing her in the buggy, and she was grinning ear to ear. Later, mom and Ginger took another little walk around our cul-de-sac, and as I watched through our front window I couldn't believe that my little baby is so grown up- enough to take walks with grammy! I read a quote the other day that explained how having a child is like having your heart walk around outside of your body. This is so incredibly true- it's just such an amazing experience being a parent. Even better than anyone could ever dream of describing...

Ginger's Winter ONEderland!

Our little Ginger Lauren turned 1 on January 13th, 2010 and that was probably the fastest year of my life! Maybe it is because you are watching a baby grow, but in some ways each day felt like a year (in that she would wake up from overnight and be a new child) and yet it went so fast that I am thankful I took so many pictures!

Her 1st birthday party was held yesterday, and was a perfect celebration with friends, family, food, drinks, and great spirits. Ginger is a full-blown walker now- she rarely crawled at the party, preferring to walk circles around our house chatting and laughing with everyone.

One of my favorite moments was when we sang Happy Birthday to her. I know, so cliche, but in that moment, I am singing to her and looking into her eyes, and I see her looking around at everyone focused and singing to her, and she got it. She smiled, looked absolutely beautiful, and humbly enjoyed the spotlight. I didn't really think that she would even pay attention in this moment, especially with a smash cake in front of her, but she did. She loved it.

Here are pictures from the afternoon!

Anticipation...

our little girl is standing...and cautiously taking a step or two at a time. Not so cautiously when she see's mommy or daddy, though, if we're sitting nearby Ginger will let go of the table/couch/etc and almost step then LEAP into our laps. Every day she is taking it just an inch further. Yesterday she was pushing one little buggy she has, and then stepped 5 steps to her other buggy, circled around to the back, and walked in the other direction with that one. We were in SHOCK!

I am hopelessly in love with this little girl. Ginger has touched us in such a special way, and yet I'm sure this isn't unique for just me. Other moms are experiencing this as well, and I'm sure it only gets better. I can't imagine if that is possible- truthfully!

Long overdue!

I'm sure that's a mantra of every working mom, but I'm now getting requests to update my blog so that must mean I have at least one follower (happens to be Grandpa). Time has been moving at the speed of light these days, as has Ginger's growth! Hitting those milestones sure are fun. Since Halloween, Ginger has learned to crawl, pull herself to standing, and on December 17th she took her first "real" step! Since Halloween, she has also had 4 more teeth pop through, has had her first ear infection, and had the stomach flu. So it's been quite a roller coaster but we've enjoyed every minute of it!

We continue to see peeks into Ginger's personality, which is a blast to watch. She seems to be following in Dad's footsteps, in that she is very curious, cautious, observant, and has a quiet/soft presence. We thought this girl would come out larger than life, and in a lot of ways she is, but very unexpectedly she is calmer, softer, and sweeter than we could have imagined.

Now, that's not to say that she's not a chatterbox- they say some kids are walkers, some are talkers, and she is definitely a talker. She now has "mama, dada, dog, baba, nigh-nigh" in her vocabulary, in addition to all of the cute baby babbles she enjoys. Her first word was dada, which softened my heart and made Paul beam. :)

She adores stuffed animals of all varieties, I would have to say that some of her favorite toys are her stuffed monkey, teddy bear, and yo gabba gabba stuffed characters. She loves to hug and kiss her friends, she dives into them and rolls around on the ground with them as though they are her best friends. Some of my favorite moments are watching her show compassion of any sort to her little buddies. It's wonderful to watch.

Other than cows milk, sweets, honey, and juice, Ginger pretty much eats it all now. She loooooves pasta, definitely takes after her mommy on that one! Ravioli, bowtie pasta, tortellini, she loves it all. Funny though, that she doesn't like it plain like most baby books say they will. She likes pesto and tomato sauce, not a ton but just to flavor the pasta. Yum yum yum.

Ginger has moved up into a big girl car seat, which she adores!! She was definitely getting antsy in her infant seat, so we decided to make the switch and she is so much happier in the car now. She can look out the window and see all there is to see, and she loves it.

Sleep, well, you just never know what you'll get with Ginger. She cut out her second nap early, I've read babies usually don't drop the 2nd nap until 12-18 months (or later) but she much prefers to sleep 2-3 hours on one sitting, around 11:00 am to 1:30 or so, and goes to bed around 7 or 7:30. She seems to like to wake around 5am or so, so Paul or I will give her a bottle, she'll snooze for another hour or two, and we'll get ready for the day in the meantime.

Being a mom is so incredibly fulfilling- I get just as much back from her now as I give, and Ginger is such a sweet, snuggely, calm little girl. Other than when she's teething, of course, then Mom can't leave her sight, but outside of those parameters, she is pretty even tempered. Let's hope that continues!!

A Halloween to remember!

Our first Halloween, as a new little family, was everything I'd hoped for, and definitely a good little memory to tuck away for the future. We decided to go down to Temecula to my parents house, as they live in a good trick-or-treat neighborhood with homes right next to each other and a LOT of families. (My dad went through 10 bags of candy by 7:15pm!)

I'd debated (with both Paul and myself) for weeks about what costume to pick for Ginger. I knew that this would be memorialized in photos, etc. for the rest of her life, but I didn't want her to be uncomfortable or not in a good mood. So I decided on a '50s poodle skirt costume that was called "Bandstand Baby". The skirt was satin with her name embroidered on it, and she looked absolutely adorable.

She enjoyed going to Richie's Diner, a '50s restaurant for dinner with Opa, Grammy, Paul, and I. She tried spaghetti for the first time, and even got a tiny bite of whipped cream from dessert!

We walked the block and trick-or-treated with masses of other children- which was Ginger's biggest interest. Candy? Didn't care- it was all of the other children's laughter and conversation that was enjoyable for her.

Here are some pics from the night!

First Day with "Miss Maureen"...

Today was Ginger's first day with Miss Maureen, who runs a small home daycare called Happy Kids Day care. It is about 3 miles away from us, in a nice community with parks and nice homes. Miss Maureen only watches one 2 year old little girl full time, and then has 2 children she watches PT for a few hours 3 times a week. She's licensed and CPR certified, which I was glad to hear.

We decided to ease Ginger in today by having Paul take her over there just for the 3 1/2 hours between her morning and afternoon nap. We decided Paul would take her because he took the day off today, and also so I didn't have to experience the trauma of first day jitters.

From what I hear, Ginger was a champ! We had already visited Maureen's house once, so I'm told that they arrived, went to the playroom, introduced Ginger to 2 year old Breannah (who Paul says is an absolute doll!) and Ginger and Breannah started playing together. He slipped out after several minutes and she didn't make a peep after he left!

Here is the email I received after Paul picked her up a few hours later:

Hi Wendy,

Paul just came to get Ginger. She had a good time playing with Breannah. Oh my gosh...she is so cute. She ate really well (everything) and is such a good baby. Never cried. A joy to watch.
I'll see you on Monday.

Thanks,
Maureen

Thankfully we did this so after I got to spend the whole weekend with her. But if she is this easy to transition, I will have considered myself very lucky. I know cute little Breannah is helping my cause by giving Ginger a playmate, but whatever works!

Commute? What Commute?!?

Today is day #1 of working from home, and I have to say that I am enjoying it thoroughly! Although I am behind closed doors in my office, I can hear my mom with Ginger out in the front room and it's so awesome that I can go out and visit with her at lunch and on a break or two. She's been a little under the weather these past 2 days- she has 2 new teeth coming in (top right and one bottom) so she's been drooling and in pain for a few days. Then on top of that, 2 nights ago she had just finished her last feeding of the night, and she choked on it because of all her drool and it ended up coming back up and out her nose. So little one was a bit stuffed up but is recovering swiftly!

There is a light sprinkle outside right now, this first bit of rain was what inspired me to talk to my boss about transitioning to working from home more often. He was completely supportive and is just great. We have found a small, in home daycare just a few miles up the hill, so Ginger will start going in the mornings, and most likely will come home right before her afternoon nap, on the days I work from home.

So, I can't complain. I'm a happy gal :)

Pickin' Pumpkins at Peltzer Farms

I have been having so much fun with Ginger these days, that's it's hard to even stop and take the time lately to write about it! Paul, Ginger and I, along with my mom and dad, visited Peltzer Farms on Friday evening, which is down in Temecula. Afterwards we went to dinner in Old Town Temecula, where there is a big hot rod cruise/show. We had such a fun night together, and I was so happy to watch Ginger gaze at her first pumpkin patch.

Ginger is becoming such a thoughtful, funny little girl. I can see just the cusp of her personality developing, and it is amazing to see her grow, right before our eyes. Yes, you see other people's kids grow, but it's really not the same as seeing this reflection of you, getting just a wee bit older overnight.

There was a sign at the pumpkin patch that measured kids height and it would be fun to go back next year to see her progress. The Peltzer Farm was really just what I was looking for- lots of families, a small petting zoo, pig races, a corn maze, pony rides, train that takes you around the farm. But it's not glamourous, and is kind of out of the way, so it really had that feel of a good secret that you only want to tell your friends about.

Ginger was a champ the whole night. She laughed, gazed, smiled, wondered, and I did the same. One for the memory books :)