Since Miguel has summers off and I don't, weekends are precious to all of us.  The quandry of whether to stay home, to get out and go, run errands, or to catch up on sleeping is often apparent.  This weekend, we had penciled in a camping trip and possibly raspberry picking on our "to do" calendar.  We have to mentally gear up for a camping trip, and after heavy thought I was still up for it - and I think Miguel would have been happy to stay home, but he said he was game for an adventure.  We planned it all out over breakfast - but the thing about us is that we plan and we take a very long time to 'do'.  We figured we'd wait until after LE's first nap since she's never been keen on "sleeping in the car" when we make that part of our plan.  This time, we were going to be smarter than her.  I got a tip from a neighbor friend that Camano Island was a beautiful place to camp, and only 1.5 hours away.  So that was the destination.  All we needed was a piece of advice and our plans were in motion. 

While LE took her nap, I resourcefully went to the store to pick up the dinner items, snack items, and a few cute clothes that she 'needed', like a swim rashguard to protect against the sun and some plaid pants (of course!).  I managed to get home shortly after she woke up, but we were all hungry, so the lunch we intended on making at the campsite, we made at home.  As Miguel puts it, we were slow before having a kid.   Now, we're glacial.  So, to sum it up, we got out of the house at 2:40pm.  No problem, right?

Wrong.  We arrived at the campground to see a sign, which I should have taken a photo of to further dramatize this entry, that said "Campground FULL".  We kept an ounce of hope and drove around the 1-43, 44-78, 79-105 loops, and every single stinking spot had a car in it - or some sort of pathetic camp chair.  Not to dispair though, we pulled into the day use area and were determined to have a good time.  The beach was full of rocks the size of baseballs and covered in barnacles.  The water was brown and murky and the tide must have been out, because it was a long ways away.  Lucy was rambunxious as all get-out, and chased her frisbee ad nauseam.   We found a small patch of little gravelly type rocks where we put out a blanket and let LE sift the sand through her fingers.  Lucy ran herself ragged - and cut her feet all up on the barnacles, so we had to stop chasing the frisbee.  We didn't have enough food and the car was too far away. This wasn't quite the beach experience we were expecting, and both of us couldn't help but think, "We should have just gone to Larrabee Park in Bellingham - it is way better than this."  You know how sometimes you have to travel far away to realize how beautiful it is right in your own backyard?  We stayed for about an hour and then with little discourse, made the decision to head back home and camp at good ol' Larrabee State Park. On our way out, we saw big groups of college-age folks with their boom boxes, loud yelling and beercans, and thought "Yah, maybe it's better we didn't find a spot".   With a kick in our step, we headed back home to the first place we ever stayed in Bellingham,  the Larrabee campground.  

I won't go on forever, but you must know that we made our way along the twisting, winding Chuckanut Drive and pulled into the park an hour and a half later, to see the dreaded sign "Campground FULL".  Once again, beaten down.  "No, you will NOT go camping".  So, with a screaming, kicking LE (sick of being in her carseat), and a very tired & sore Lucy, we pulled up in front of our house and proceeded to take everything out of the car that we had so carefully placed there a few hours earlier.  Camping Trip Thwarted.

Never fear though, instead of putting a match to some briquettes, we put LE down in her own bed, made up two beautiful steaks on the grill with salad and corn on the cob and a couple glasses of fine wine (all of which we took out of the camping bin) .  We watched a movie, made a batch of Snickerdoodles and a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies, and went to sleep in a comfy Queen bed.  We felt like morons, but we were comfortable morons.  

Sunday was much more successful as we did some yardwork, met our friends to pick 10 lbs of raspberries (and LE got very down and dirty), and even visited the water park on our way home.  Once again, this weekend was a good reminder as to why the heck we love living here.  We don't have to go anywhere else to have a great time.  Bellingham is seriously the best place on earth.

This past 4th of July weekend was our first attempt at dragging Linnea through a multi-day ultimate frisbee tournament.  Overall, the event was a success and Linnea had a good attitude on the field.   There was one other bbay (14 months) on the team with us.  Miguel and I picked up with a group of players from Nanaimo, B.C.  We didn't know most of the team but we wanted to play in the tournament, so we accepted the invitation.  As the days drew nearer, I had thoughts of bagging out so we could leave the chaos and unknown behind us.  How was she going to sleep on the field?  Food?  How would we heat up the food and what if she cries the whole time?  Think of all the packing and unpacking and ugh - what a lot of work!

Soon it was Saturday morning and the alarm sounded.  Miguel and I went into action and had the car packed up, kid changed and in the carseat, and were heading down I-5 by 7:45am.  The tournament was 3 days long.  We played 6 hours of frisbee each day and overall, Linnea did great.  Miguel and I would trade her back and forth as we played a few points and came off the field for a few.  We passed her off to welcoming teammates and everyone helped out.  We only had two major problems.  1- Napping.  We tried and tried and could not get this girl to go to sleep.  To her credit though, Potlatch is not really a sleeping environment.  At any one time, there are people yelling, blowing horns, playing loud rock music, dancing, hooting for drinking games, running around in chicken suits, full body pink spandex, moose heads and clown outfits.  It is doubtful that anyone could sleep through the chaos.

Our first night, we paid for the lack of sleep during the day as Linnea woke up screaming at 10pm in the hotel room.  We tried all we could think of to calm her down, and we must have put that pacifier back in her mouth a hundred times before we resorted to taking her for a drive.  The car was more of a soundproof box than anything - as I was certain we were keeping the entire building awake.  Within 5 minutes of driving, Miss Linnea was sound asleep with the pacifier hanging loosly from her lips.  We drove for 40 minutes and transferred her back into the crib successfully.  She woke again in a couple hours and so I put her between us in the bed - where she slept until morning.  It was a rough one for all of us.  The next day we learned to feed her more throughout the day, and to nurse her laying down in the bed until she fell asleep.  We also learned that we love King size beds.  

2- Drinking.  Our child loves to eat and drink everything.  Well, out on the frisbee field, that includes adult beverages - and they are everywhere!  PBR, Gin & Tonics, Coors Light, Red Bull.  Whatever we're drinking out of those shiny containers sure looks good to Linnea, and she'll scream and twist and churn if we don't give it to her.  Luckily we made it through the weekend without our 9 month old getting sloshed from an unattended drink - but there were a few times when I had to pull her entire fist out of someone's mixed drink.  

Our team was placed in the D-Pool (out of pools A-F) and we won 4 and lost 4 games throughout the weekend.  We played hard and Miguel had his usual stellar catches and throws that turn heads up and down the field - so that was fun for all of us.  Linnea was a good sport and she cheered for mom and dad - especially when prompted.  Thanks "7 Potatoes" for a great weekend.  Our big adventure comes to a close and Linnea is once again happily sleeping in her own little bed.     

It was a week night and I was on my way home from work on a lovely sunny evening.  It was one of the nights where we take turns to get out on a bikeride, or to do something out on our own for exercise in the evening, but it donned on me that I'd much rather spend an evening with my family (together) outside.  So, instead of rushing to feed Linnea and rushing out the door to run around, I pitched the idea to Miguel to rush to Fred Meyer for a roasted chicken so we could spend the evening at Boulevard Park with Linnea & the dogs.  Miguel had no qualms with the idea, so that's what we did.  We took a blanket, some drinks, Lucy's frisbee and about 25 other things we probably didn't need, and ended up at one of our favorite places in Bellingham.  So what that Linnea went to bed an hour late.  So what that I didn't get to run.  There will be plenty of time for all of that.  We did get the memory - some great photos - and two very happy dogs out of it.  I'm sure Linnea will forget that we did that, but for me, it was important to see that with a little initiative, we can still do little things that put life into living. 

When I heard Miguel say through the bathroom window "Linnea, remind me to listen to your mother", I didn't know whether to worry or say "I told you so".  This, along with the smell of smoke emanating from his sweatshirt could only mean one thing...lighting the briquettes wasn't going as planned.  Earlier in the evening I offered a snyde comment when Miguel said he was going to cook our steaks using the briquettes in our yuppy portable fireplace.  I said "Isn't that going to take forever?"  It was already past 6pm and I've learned that on weekdays, dinners need to be started before 6pm in order to eat at a decent hour.  I didn't harp on the subject though, and I said that if he thought it was a good idea, he should go for it.  Meanwhile, our gas grill was sitting in the corner. 

Once Linnea was tucked into bed, I came outside to find Miguel with the briquettes actually on the gas grill and he filled me in on the sequence of events.  He started with the briquettes in the fireplace and lit some wood shavings underneath - only to be covered in a swath of smoke.  He tried newspaper, white gas, the blow torch.  Nothing was moving him any closer to dinner.  In admission of defeat, he pulled out the propane grill and decided not to waste the briquettes, so he put those on the rack underneath the steaks.  Next time he checked, the plastic knobs on the BBQ were practically melting off of of the front panel because so much heat was being generated inside.  Thus, the steaks are smoldering nicely above open flame.  A good ending to the story though, the steaks were wonderful and not burned or dropped into the briquettes.  It is no wonder we don't use those things anymore.  

To his credit, our gas grill was not a man's grill.  It was cheap to begin with and we were the 3rd people to own it.  The racks were thinning out and barely holding onion rings anymore.  Needless to say, Father's Day this year was not a difficult purchase.  Unfortunately, I don't have the photo documentation to show you, but once we got our neat box (grill in a box) home, we didn't account for the dismantling of the packaging and backyard chaos of putting together a BBQ before dinner.  We planned a lovely dinner of tuna steaks and scallops just for the debut of the Father's Day BBQ.  We had styrofoam, cardboard, nuts & bolts, doors & stainless steel parts scattered througout the lawn at 7pm.  Never fear though, we busted through those mind-boggling instructions and 2-D figures to produce a spitting image of the BBQ that was already put together in the store.  At some point, you've got to wonder how this was a "gift".    We had our tuna steaks breaded with sesame seeds over salad and 2 giant scallops each with butter, lemon and salt - a perfect meal to reward our effort.

We now have a beautiful (large) functioning, 4-burner gas grill that can stand up to any man's man.   Happy First Father's Day Dad - let's figure some way to donate those leftover briquettes - or maybe smoked smores would be good someday!

Grandma Mary was up visiting for the last couple of weeks while our nanny Olivia was gone on vacation.  In that amount of time, Little Linnea has made big strides in her daily activities.  On the first day, we noticed that she was doing a bit more moving around than in the past, so we set up a nice padded barricaded PlayLand in our living room.  I'm not sure why we even dismantle it at night, since we just put it back the next morning - but I guess it saves a little on the dog hair clean up.  Mocha and Lucy are quite fond of PlayLand except for the fact that Linnea is always in it.   The dogs, by the way are doing great with the baby and they let her fondle their feet and tails for about 20 seconds before up and moving.

We officially witnessed crawling motion with the chest off the floor.  According to all the food packaging instructions, that means Linnea has also officially graduated to being able to eat finger foods and teething biscuits.   That's a good thing, because we're already giving them to her.  Finger foods - the kid adores them.  She knows two baby hand signs so far - more (tapping her fists together) and milk (squeezing her fingers shut on one hand).  When given any sort of cube-shaped or drop shaped item of bite size, Linnea instantly puts one in each hand and gives the sign for "more" - as if to say that she already knows she's going to need more before she even tries them.  

Speaking of food, there is hardly anything we've found that turns her off.  The one thing was pesto pasta - not a good face on that one, and spit it out.  However, we've managed to get great reactions from beets, coffee, bacon, hot sauce (not really), hummus, pickles, Tim's Cascade Potato Chips (who wouldn't like them), lentils, broccoli, plain yogurt, and tea.  As a matter of fact, when Grandma gave her a sip of tea last night, she gulped it down like she hadn't had anything to drink in 3 days and she was rather appalled that Grandma wouldn't give her more more more.  

You're probably wondering about the Bee Sting.  Yeah, that wasn't a good mothering day.  It was a nice day outside.  The backyard was freshly mowed and Dad was doing some yardwork, so we wanted to join him.  Linnea has been practicing her walking skills, so even though I knew there would be some bees walking in the grass, I thought I'd watch very VERY carefully as we pranced around singing and walking little walking steps.  Much to my surprise, a heartfelt cry came out of nowhere and I lifted her up to wipe the grass off - to find a bee attached to her itty bitty foot.  Well crap - that was stupid.  So, she's totally teary eyed and in obvious pain as Miguel and I rushed her to the kitchen for some baking soda, ice packs and attempted distraction.  She settled down fairly quickly and I took her to the park to swing for a bit.  Luckily she had little to no swelling and aside from the couple hours of whimpering and broken mother, is no worse for the wear.  

So, what does every child need that is trying to learn to walk and has bees in the backyard?  Shoes!  Pink Shoes!  Grandma went straight to the baby store to pick up some lovely itty bitty sandals and Linnea just adores them.  She's pretty certain that she now has to work extra hard and pick her feet up 3 more inches to clear the shoes from the ground - so she looks a bit like a soldier when she walks - but she's already smitten with her fancy feet.

It was a sad moment when Grandma got in her car for the last time and drove away.  Linnea and I stood and watched as her car moved out of sight.  We had so much fun visiting, making dinners & breakfasts, learning, crawling and crying.   Time moves so fast when you look back at the memories.  Thanks mom, for being a part of all of the hustle and bustle - even taking our last chicken to her new home (she wasn't ready for chicken heaven just yet).  We look forward to seeing you next time!  Oh the fun we'll have then too.

Tonight as I was feeding Linnea before bed, I noticed a twinge of pain that was unfamiliar.  Low and behold, upon further inspection with my finger - a tiny point in her bottom gumline!  Teeth ladies and gentlemen - have arrived!  Of course, actually seeing the teeth was impossible and out of the question without major fussing and fighting before bed, but soon those photos will show pearly whites in her cheeky smile.   Stay tuned! 

It has been said that there are many milestones in raising a child.  I believe we've hit a milestone ladies and gentlemen.  Now, some of our friends have claimed (and I think they're lying) that their child slept through the night at a mere 8 weeks old.  Well, our darling Linnea waited until she was good and ready, and as of last night has slept a record breaking 8.5 hours (7.5 months).  She made a few peeps and cries in between, but didn't officially need parental involvement between 10:30 pm and 7 am.  Miguel and I were such nonbelievers that we had to go in and check for breathing at 3:30am just to ease our minds.  Actually, it was more Miguel than me - as I was in a sort of blissfull "I'm still sleeping and it's awesome" frame of mind. 

In other news, Linnea has been pinching "puffs" between her fingers and putting food in her own mouth for about a week now.  We're also quite smitten with the fact that she's saying "ma-ma" - although we're not convinced she knows what it means yet.  I particularly like it when she accents the first syllable to sound more Italian "ma MA", so I'm trying to encourage that one as much as possible.  She's sitting up with confidence and lunging forward at will.  Her newest trick is all of a sudden arching backwards when you're holding her so she can look at the world upside down for a few seconds.  This comes as a surprise to us much of the time, so we've got be on top of our game when holding the little wiggle worm. 

It was Miguel's birthday last night and so we had a babysitter come to the house while we went out to dinner.  We tried a popular Italian place here in Bellingham and had a great time enjoying ourselves.  I notice that when I see other kids out and about now, I have a different perspective on them.  I think about what Linnea will be like when she's their age, I think about the parents and try to guage their faces to see if they're tired, content, or disheveled.  One thing Miguel and I both noticed while out on our date was that we missed Linnea.  Funny how that works.  She's become a major part of our daily routine - but even moreso, we now feel like something is missing when she's not around.  Speaking of that, you know how we're so busy all the time - doing laundry, washing diapers, dishes, sweeping, picking up toys, changing diapers, feeding...etc.  We wonder what in the world were we doing BEFORE when we thought we were so busy?  Good question. 

Our chickens are starting to eat each other.  They've been cooped up together for about 3 years now and its starting to get to them.  A couple weeks ago, Gertie decided to defeather Big Red's entire head, and she decided not to stop there.  Big Red has a gaping wound now on her head that looks like a bit of a problem.  We're letting her out of the coop during the day as to not expose her to the continual wrath of Gertie - but it doesn't look good.  It's about time for new chickens anyway  - but we're doing a heck of a job procrastinating on actually doing anything about that, so Gertie has taken it into her own hands I suppose.

So, Mother's Day is coming up this weekend.  My first real Mother's Day as a mother.  I think I've earned it and I'm going to love every minute. I'm going to celebrate 8 hours of sleep - even though that has not been 8 hour for me - hooray!  As a matter of fact, I'm going to go to sleep right now and cross my fingers that she can pull this off again. Snoooze button here I come.   It's been a long time coming and I am so ready.  As a matter of fact, I'm so excited I probably won't be able to sleep. I'll try anyway.  Goodnight!

Last night we had 9 toddlers and babies at our house for a once in a lifetime photo shoot.  The kids were all up for it for the first 30 minutes of the gathering, but as we waited for everyone to show up, their enthusiasm waned.  We ended up with a pretty good shot amidst all of the chaos.  They lined up from oldest to youngest.   Archer, Eliot, Finn, Hans, Oliver, Isaac, Alden, Linnea and Fisher.  We want to do this again, perhaps annually if we can make it happen.  We're totally looking forward to showing this to everyone when they're 18 years older.

They said they could tell a difference in the development of their child each day.  I thought to myself "no way - such liars".  But now, I'm one of them.  Linnea is literally getting stronger and more mobile each and every day.  The crawling stage is close upon us and it will probably be a matter of a couple weeks before she's cruising all the way across the floor.  Yesterday she could scoot a few inches backwards by pushing off of the ground with her arms.  Today she scooted backwards to get away from something and moved a couple feet! 

Baby proofing our house is next on the weekend list of "to do's" along with lowering the crib mattress.  Things certainly have changed from the weekend plans of a Saturday morning bikeride followed by a day of yardwork or ultimate frisbee practice.  This week I totally chickened out of our Wednesday night run because of bad weather and the fact that Linnea wouldn't be able to join us.  Rain and wind are no fun for a 6 month old - although I seriously contemplated suiting her up in her pink snowsuit so she could come with us.  Somehow we got the entire crew to bag out on the run, which never happens.  That kid (along with the crap weather) sure has us wrapped around her finger.

I've been having the dreams that represent the fears of a mother.   Once I wasn't holding Linnea on a flatbed trailer and she fell off as we rounded a corner.  Another time I was in Fred Meyers and I turned my head away from the cart to get something and when I returned she was missing.  Last night I was watching a performance at my high school reunion and was juggling a grocery bag, Miguel's backpack and Linnea.  I got so engrossed in the show that the next time I looked down, Linnea was nowhere in sight.  I had left her in another section of the stadium by herself.  So, I don't know if these dreams will continue for the rest of my life, but now that I'm finally getting longer stretches of sleep, it is more stressful to be asleep and ironically, a huge relief to wake up! 

I don't think I ever officially made the annoucement that I'm only 3 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight, but as of yesterday morning, I only weighed 138!  At the tippy top of the pregnancy I was 160 - and 150 after Linnea was born.  Thanks to our weekly runs, a few bikerides and 4 months of boot camp, I'm back in the game.  I can even do 10 pullups again, and I played in a women's Goaltimate tournament a couple weekends ago.  Yay for back to normal!

I've been a bit reflective recently and have to mention that I feel extremely fortunate to be in this life.  Even with the ups and downs, I love the time I spend with my family & pets, friends, and co-workers.  Looking back at my past 10 or 12 years ago, I could never have guessed that path it would take.  I own the dog of my ex roommate from 8 years ago.  I married that guy I met on a rock climbing trip 12 years ago.  I was pregnant and have a child of my own - what??  I'm the creative director of the web company of which I interned with 5 years ago (following a spontaneous lunch with Rusty).  I went to college for 5 years studying biology and gave up teaching science to become a web designer.  I don't know that it's material good enough for a novel - but I love it just the same.  Bring it on - what's next?   

When I'm riding my bike home from work, I can hardly go fast enough.  Even though I'm dodging traffic at the 5:00 hour, I can feel a smile coming on as I think about seeing Linnea again.  This must be the feeling of motherhood I've heard so much about.  This morning I think I experienced it again.  Nothing particularly interesting or different happened.  Miguel had left for work on his bike and we had waved goodbye in the yard.  We took the dogs to the park and walked around the circle a couple times.  We went down the slide and back and forth on the swings a few times.   We came inside and Linnea was sitting in her ExerSaucer tapping some things around.  The dogs were laying on the couch watching me walk around.  At that moment, I realized that I was happy - really happy.  I took a moment to think about it because it felt so nice.  Work is going well, we're healthy, we're having fun, and Linnea is making strides in her daily development. 

Sometimes I think about it and I'm actually stricken with sadness simply because everything is going so well.   So today I had a moment when I realized that noticing happiness is just as important as being happy.  Perhaps those moments are fleeting and they don't officially last very long - but I'm going to try to have more of them.

After researching for a client project the other day, I came across this video: www.theyearsareshort.com.  I'm not sure if this would have hit home a year ago as much as it does today - but it does tug on the heart strings a bit. 

This is it.  This is life.

My parents came to visit this past weekend.  Miguel and I had the pleasure of playing my dad in racquetball after an 8 year hiatus (the last time I played Dad I was in college).  We played for 2.5 hours and we loved every minute of it.  Dad & Margo got in as many photo sessions as they could in their 3 day visit.  Linnea was a good sport and she allowed us to get a few 'keepers'.  Every time we have family visits, we talk about how we wish we lived closer to each other.  I wonder where Linnea is going to be when we're 50 years old.  Is she going to move far away too?  I can see how that would be hard to deal with when college comes around.  Kids are so eager to get out of the house - and parents wouldn't mind holding on a bit longer.  

For now, I'm loving the nights when Linnea falls asleep in my arms and the mornings when she wakes up with a big chubby leg stretch in the bed.  Her squeal of delight when I say 1 - 2 - 3 - and tickle her little tummy.  And that happy feeling of anticipation when I'm riding home from work - that soon I'll be able to see my little girl again.

Right now I'm sitting in our quiet living room with the sun cascading through the leaves of our spindly avacado plant and across Linnea's bouncy seat onto the floor.  Our house is now a menagerie of colorful do-dads with dangling monkeys, parrots and giraffes of a rainbow of hokey colors.  I've spent portions of the last two nights on the couch because I managed to come down with yet another cold.  Speaking of the cold - as a tangent - I am getting a little tired of this.  First I was pregnant - then I had the baby and couldn't do anything for 2 months.  Then I got sick right after Christmas with a hard hit to my lungs (colds must hone in on the weakest link of an asthmatic).   Just as I was finishing the nasty coughing stage, I managed to crack a rib or three on my first mountain bike ride.  That set me back into "injured" mode for another 6 weeks, and just as the ribs were healing, I came down with this other cold that has masacred my lungs again.  Even though it sounds pitiful, I've still managed to go to all but 4 days of Boot Camp throughout all of this, and I'm only 6 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.  So there.  Thank you - year 2010 - for sparing me the searing pain of coughing whilst nursing cracked (or bruised, possibly) ribs, but seriously - a little bit of a break from injuries and illness would be appreciated.

Back to the main point here - in that we are well into the baby-fied house decorations.  I used to snarl when we had too many things shoved into corners, or if the throw pillows didn't match the walls, and now I'm living with not only a playland colors galore, but daily stumbling over Jaques the Peacock and Sophie the Giraffe, and picking up tiny stray socks that find their way all over the house. We have a jolly jumper in the main doorway to the kitchen and our dining room table is taken over by a dangling toy playland.  Needless to say, our lives and our home decorating feng shui have changed.

Linnea has passed her 5 month mark and apart from this cold she's fighting, she's developing into her own person.  One of the most evident traits she got from her dad and I is her determination to do things.  Many times - although it is unapparent to us what she is trying to do - she grunts and presses and shrieks and smacks her hands down as if she has challenged herself to do a task - like smack a toy up and down 10 times and then throw it on the ground.  We have one toy in particular that has a plastic triangle, square and circle that fit in a tree-shaped plastic thing, all of which are too big to fit in her mouth, and she gets downright pissed off when the entire tree doesn't fit in her mouth the way she wants it to.  We have to take that one away most of the time.  If we're a little slow on the draw in getting her food, she raises her shrieking frequency and decibals until the food reaches her lips.   If she doesn't want to be in the stroller anymore bouncing along the trial, you will know.

My favorite times with her are when she's just finished eating and she's content just to lay back in my arms.  Or the times when she wakes up in our bed and gives me a big smile when she opens her eyes.  Sometimes I wish I could play Pat-a-Cake with her for hours without getting tired of it - because she smiles so big when I clap and pat her little hands.  She's pretty much interested in everything we ever have in our hands and she reaches out her little hands with her fingers spread wide open as if that item - that beer bottle, coffee cup, bite of salad or dirty Kleenex is all she's ever wanted.  Luckily she's still easily distracted, so we just have to pick up something else to give to her - and she does it all over again.  

I think she's already starting to play us a bit - in that she knows we get excited when she smiles and that we will do almost anything to see her laugh.  I think she's got us wrapped around her litte finger and she holds back until she wants to give us the pleasure.  She anticipates a tickling session with great big eyes and a promising grin, but most of the time once you actually start tickling her, she doesn't give you that last 10% into a laugh - she just holds out, as if to say "Nah, try something else".   She is also starting to remember things from the past and I think she uses them against us.  If we've just squeegeed snot out of her nose, no laughs for at least 2 days.  She'll smile all over you until you bring out the evil eye of the camera - and then totally straight faced until the camera is put away.  We have a whopping 3 photos of this kid smiling - and a handful of her half smiling.  What a trickster.

In developmental news, Linnea is rolling from her back to her tummy.  She's eating oatmeal cereal, squash, yams, sweet potatoes and carrots.  Her stools are moving away from being benign breast milk messes to actual smelly unpleasant messes.  She's sleeping about the same at night - 4 to 5 hours at a stretch, but her daytime naps are really lacking.  On average, she's sleeping two 20 minute naps during the day.  My book on healthy baby sleep says she should be getting at least 4 HOURS during the day.  I'm investing in blackout curtains this weekend to see if that does the trick.  She's "cawing" and "uhhing" and she talks to the dogs a lot.  We think she weighs about 16lbs and she's got chubby legs and a plump tummy.  Her eyes are turning more brown every day.  Her favorite song is one that Miguel made up and she smiles every time he starts singing "There's a girl named Li-nnea - she likes to suck on her pac-i-fiah"...

We're very lucky - and loving every moment with her. 

First Day of Swimming from Heather Alvis on Vimeo.

Hiking with Fisher from Heather Alvis on Vimeo.