Still alive

Kylie got the stomach bug on Wednesday morning.

Karen got it Friday morning.

I got it Friday night.

We had a heck of a weekend!

Thank heavens a babysitter was available to help us out on Saturday morning because Karen & I were incapable.

If I had more wit or alacrity about the situation, I could probably write some funny posts about just how nasty it got around here. But I think I'll pass.

Suffice to say that we are all slowly on the mend. Kylie lost a bit of weight (and she really doesn't have it to lose) but her appetite is back and I'm confident she'll put the weight back on.

Oh, and to make matters worse, Karen had a root canal procedure done today.

It's just a race to see just who is the most pitiful around here. We have to laugh about it or we would cry.

To look on the bright side, my tulips should soon be blooming.

And I did make the time tonight to complete my first lesson in Jessica Sprauge's Digi In Deep Class.

Check it out.

Just a photo

Baby is still sick. Just time enough to post this sweet picture of Karen and Kylie that was taken on 3/11.

Rocking chair

I spent most of today rocking a sick baby.

When we were at Gymboree yesterday, one of the moms told me about how her two little ones had gotten a 24-hour stomach virus and how horrible it was. Upon seeing my raised eyebrows, she went on to assure me that her daughter that was playing near Kylie was feeling much better and she was sure that she wasn't contagious.

Yeah, Right. As graciously as I could, I moved Kylie away and onto another play area. But it seems that the damage was done.

Last night at 3:30, sweet Kylie vomited for the first time in her life. (Sorry to write about vomit but hey, it is a mommy blog).

And for the rest of the day, she just didn't feel well.

I tried very hard to think Christian thoughts about the mom at Gymboree.

Kylie ate very little but stayed hydrated (I hope) all day. But she just did not feel like playing. So she spent most of the day curled up on me as we rocked away--talking, watching lots of Baby Einstein, and reading her stories. I pulled the gliding footstool out of the closet so that we would be more comfortable. And we just rocked and rocked.

Even though I was deeply worried, I tried to soak in the sensations of Kylie wanting me to hug her all day. I studied her hair, her eyelashes, her nose, her eyes, her entire face. I gave her lots of neck kisses. I gave her lots of strokes and pats.

Today was a hard day for both of us but it was also bittersweet. For awhile I was holding a baby again and not an active toddler.

And tonight, I made this scrapbook page.


Let us hope and pray that Kylie feels much better tomorrow.

Four New Words-Baby, Hey, Up and Yea

The journaling:
Baby
Your “official” second word.
You say it a lot through the day—mostly to your reflection in your nursery play mirror.

Hey Baby!
I say this to you when I open your bedroom door when you awaken from your naps. Now you’ve started saying it back to me. And you love how it sounds so much that you repeated it almost constantly for one full day.

Up
Momma Karen encouraged you to learn this word. Every time she would lift you, she would say “Up!” Now you say it as a request. And the cute part is that you say it with a lot of breath so it sounds like a loud whisper.

Yea!
It’s no surprise that this is one of your first words. We use it all the time around you to congratulate you on your accomplishments.

For scrapbook details, click here.

Easter Pig

We got Kylie a drum, a Disney movie, some tactile balls and bubbles for Easter. And Granna got her a book and a bunny.

So, what else could a little girl want for Easter?

Why, a pink knitted pig of course!

I finished knitting the pig just in time for Easter. Kylie gave me a pretty smile when I showed it to her.


But then, she was off and moving and it was hard to get another good picture of her and the pig.


And I really wanted a clear shot of her and the pig. I mean, I've been knitting on it for a few weeks and I just wanted a picture of the two of them together.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Photo Friday

Scrapbook pages--details here.


11 month milestones scrapbook pages.
Left page

and Right page


Have a wonderful Easter everyone!

Magazines

Magazines are my new favorite thing to entertain Kylie. After Kylie's meals, it has been difficult to clean up because she wants me to sit and play with her. She gets frustrated that I'm trying to clean up our mess and no amount of kitchen toys or songs will soothe her.

But recently, she crawled over and pulled a magazine off the couch. She seemed very pleased with herself. I was doing the Mom thing where you are watching without seeming to be watching your kid. She thumbed through the pages and then she ripped one. She looked up at me and I gave her a quick nod to let her know it was okay.

She laughed with delight and started turning more pages--going back and forth easily through the magazine. At this stage, she's not too interested in tearing out every page or eating them all-- just turning the pages. She thinks it is cool to pull the magazine off the couch (it doesn't work as well if the magazine is already on the floor). And this activity gives me the five minutes I need to clean the kitchen.

So hurray for magazines!


I have my sippy cup of juice and my magazine. What more could a girl want?


Oh yeah! A kiss from Momma Karen!

Daffodils

You've got to click here to enlarge this one to see the gentle way Kylie is holding her Momma Karen's hand and the daffodil.




Clapping. Kylie's new favorite thing. She's either clapping for the joy of daffodils or for my stunning rendition of "Old MacDonald". I was singing it to get her to look at the camera.


I'm just a tre-ee in the wi-ind. (If you haven't seen the Jodi Foster movie "Nell", you probably don't understand this caption).

11 month birthday

Dearest Kylie,

Today is your 11 month birthday. Here's what you've been up to!

You learned how to kneel onto your knees to get yourself down from standing this month. You can also lean over or squat while standing to pick a toy off the floor as long as you are holding onto something for support. You can easily move from crawling to sitting to standing and back down to sitting everywhere in the house.

You still mostly love to pull toys out of the various toy bins throughout the house but when the fancy strikes you, you’ve also learned to put a toy INTO a bin.

You’ve mastered turning the pages of your board books by yourself. It’s wonderful to watch you crawl over to a book, turn the pages and study the pictures.

The most delightful thing you’ve learned this month is to clap with joy, excitement or agreement. In the previous months, you would clap if we started clapping. But now you get the urge to clap on your own. It’s so fun to watch you giggle and clap your hands together when one of us walks in the room or the cat walks by or if you hear a song that you really like.

You started using a toothbrush to brush your four teeth this month. You like to hold the toothbrush and move it around while Mommy gives you your bath. Then you let me brush your teeth for good measure.

You are still a wonderful eater who eats just about anything we put in front of you but you've become so active that you've only gained a few ounces this month. You still go to sleep like an angel at 6pm every night and you sleep until around 5:00-5:30 am each morning.

We feel so blessed to have such a delightful, easy-going baby. It's hard to believe that you will be a year old on April 17th. Soon, we'll have to start referring to you as our toddler but you'll always be your Mommies' baby!

Feeling better

Thank you for your encouraging comments. I do feel better now. I've worked out a few times (endorphins always help) and I'm delighted to see the beginning signs of Spring around me.

Here in Portland the daffodils and cherry trees are blooming. This past Fall I planted some tulip bulbs in my small backyard and they are actually coming up! The fun part is that I have no idea what color of tulips I bought so each bloom will be a cheery surprise.

Sweet Kylie was either teething this weekend or caught a stomach bug because she had quite an upset tummy. Let's hope she'll feel better tomorrow because tomorrow is her 11 month birthday!

Francesca commented on my last few posts with some suggestions on some writing topics so stay tuned for those. And Celeste tagged us for a meme so stay tuned for that as well.

Until then, I leave you again with my grateful thanks, and of course, a scrapbook page!

Blah

I've been feeling so blah this week. I think I got a bit run down when Karen was in Texas last week and I still haven't quite recovered. Karen's been so sweet to let me sleep late and take naps this week but I swear more sleep just makes the blahs worse some times.

I can't help but reflect that it was this time last year that I also started really slowing down--getting really heavy and slow the last month of pregnancy. Perhaps my psyche is remembering and repeating that pattern. But I also remember that in that last month of pregnancy I was really ready to have the baby. I can't say that I'm really ready to have a one-year-old. I'm doing my best to come to terms with it.

I'm dying for more comments here and on the Flickr site but I'm not writing anything particularly comment worthy. You've all been so sweet to send me a comment like, "She's such a pretty baby" and such. And I appreciate it. All of your comments mean more to me than you know.

I hope to shake the cobwebs loose from my body and mind and be more spirited soon.

But in leu of being witty or charming today, I'm posting a few more pictures. Kylie's smile is pretty enough to brighten our days without any words from me. There are a few more new pictures on the Flickr site.











Latest page--details here.

Pictures

I'm not feeling terribly loquacious at the moment. Hopefully these pictures will suffice.



I think she looks like my Mom's mom in this picture. Something about the way she's holding her mouth.


A few more of her playing.


Nothing like a grand, spitty smile.


This picture is a shout-out to my blogging friend Meg at Knittens who has taken some beautiful photos of her daughter's hands as part of an
everyday flickr set.


I love the lighting on this one. Kylie's eyes look so dark.


And this is my favorite of the photo shoot. I think it really captures her personality.


Latest page--details here.


I hope to be a more interesting blogger soon!

Funnies

I just cracked up when I saw this picture come through. It's too funny for me to even come up with a clever caption.


Pants? I didn't take off my pants. My brother took them off.
What? I don't have a brother or any siblings? Well then, the wind blew them off.
No? Well what really happened was the cats took them off. That's it Mommy. The cats took off my pants. I'm totally blameless. You're busted kiddo!


(Sleepy voice) No, I'm not sleepy Mommy. I'm rarin' to go. I could go for hours.
---Ker-thunk---as I put her in the crib and then......
Snore.

Have a great weekend!

That's new!

Thank you for your comments on the pediatrician post. I loved hearing from you. I'm going through the recommendations and am confident I will have a great doctor soon.

Miss Kylie did something new and funny today. She pulled her left arm out of her feeding smock. She did it fast too! And then for the rest of the day, she was pulling her left arm out of her shirt. She was wearing a loose shirt so it was easy for her to do. She was determined that her left arm be bare. It was funny! If she does it again, I'll get a picture of it.

I was just thinking that one of her milestones for this month was that she is getting more helpful in putting on her clothes (when she wants to). It's like she understands that her arms need to go through her shirt or her jacket and so she helps hold them up and quickly pushes them through.

Now her pants are another story. She will wiggle and kick just like any other almost-1yr-old when it comes to putting on her pants after diaper changes.
Here is the wiggler/giggler.


I know I just posted these walking pictures. But I stayed up late finishing this scrapbook page and wanted to share it with you. Details are here.

Pediatrician

I've discovered something quite odd. I can't find any pediatrician listed in any of my gay-friendly advertising sources.

Our pediatrician's office is closing their doors. So I'm trying to find a replacement doctor's office.

I first checked our PLOP (Parenting Lesbians of Portland) online resource page. - nothing.
Then I checked our Q Center's online resources- nope.
I looked at the online version of "Just Out" magazine. Nothing.
Then I looked in my Portland's Gay & Lesbian Community Yellow pages. Nada.
And then I tried a bunch of google searches. Not one doctor's office is listed.

What's up with that?

Now, if I want to find a real estate agent, an attorney, or an accountant, I have lots of choices. Many of these professionals advertise as gay or gay-friendly. But I can't find one single pediatrician.

Part of me thinks that I should just pick a nearby office. So many professionals that we've encountered are incredibly welcoming and kind to me and Karen. That's one of the awesome things about Portland.

But yesterday, I stopped by a nearby doctor's office to see if they were accepting new patients and if they took my insurance. And the receptionist was (pardon me here) a complete bitch.

I don't know if she was having a bad day or what. But her end of our short conversation was filled with venom. She did everything but shoot darts at me to get me to leave that office. My hands were shaking as I quickly walked out. And then I wondered. Was she just having a really bad afternoon? Does she not like Southerners? Or did I just look sooooo gay and she hated that and wanted to shoo me away.

It didn't help that I've just gotten a very short haircut. I felt like my head looked like a cue ball. I looked very spiky/dykey yesterday.

So after that yucky experience, I just want to insulate myself from any gay-hating people. I want to know that if the receptionist is being a bitch, that's she just having a bitchy day and that she's not a gay-hating bitch. I just want to know that I'm safe going to the doctor's office. I don't want to feel anxious. Because when I get nervous, Kylie gets nervous and that is the last thing I want for her doctor's appointments.

So, calling all you gay-friendly pediatricians. Come out of the closet. Portland is full of lesbian moms that want your services. Please do us a favor and make it a little easier for us to find you.

Lastly, if you live near me and like your pediatrician, please send me their contact information.

Thanks.

Wordless Wednesday 3/5/08

This is so blurry but I just love it. She's been crawling lately with two of the same things in each hand. In this case, it is two sets of popping beads.


Details for this scrapbooking page are here.

Exciting weekend

Why are you looking at a picture of my baby's but?

Because you are actually watching Kylie get the notion that she can let go of the furniture, grab my fingers and walk towards me.

Are my legs really moving toward Mommy?

Yes Baby, they are!

First steps. Incredible.

Kylie has also started giving me a really clear "All Done" sign. (Granted, in this picture her mouth is full and she's holding a cheerio but you get the idea).

When I ask her if she's all done, she raises her hands and says "Duh". Hopefully she means "duh" as in "done" not "duh" as in "get a clue Mommy".

There are several sounds that she's making like this that may turn out to be words. She says "heeee" when she sees the kitties or she'll say something that sounds like "meow". I tend to say "Hi" to her a lot and I think she's mimicking that back as well.

I caught some pictures of her standing in her crib. She did this for the first time this past week too. It's been a busy week for the munchkin.



Let's see, she also found the joys of pulling on the toilet paper roll and the lever to the toilet. Needless to say, I took her away from the bathroom and firmly shut the door on that fun.

Mostly we played a lot.


And, of course, I scrapbooked.




Details are here and here.

I hope you had a great weekend!