Our Snuggle Bug is seven months old! She has learned how to sit up by herself, and just over the past week she has started to do a lot of babbling ("da-da-da-da" or "ba-ba-bah"). She likes to jumpy-jump-jump in her little Baby Einstein jumper, and she has learned how to push down on the little keyboard to make sound. She also likes to make squeaking sounds on the keyboard cover of our piano, by sliding her little fingers along the wood. (In fact, she prefers to "play" the piano this way, more so than pounding on the keys themselves!)

Lucy is not very interested in eating solids yet. So far, we have had a tiny bit of success with her eating pears, but that's about it. She will not open her mouth for food on a spoon, although she'll try to put just about everything else (non-foods) in her mouth. We have jokingly called her "Fort Knox," "The Berlin Wall," and "The Great Wall of China," because she will not open up for anything. If we are able to get any food inside, she usually spits all of it out. But we are trying to bring down her little wall each day. Once she gets teeth, I may try doing Baby Led Weaning instead, if I don't ever have success with strained foods.

We have been sleep training Lucy, and we are now at a point where we can put her down in her crib (with her still awake) and let her fall asleep on her own. If she does cry, it is only for a minute or two. I used to sing her "Edelweiss" and "Inchworm" before leaving the room, but lately she's been acting annoyed, as if I'm keeping her from going to sleep with my singing. She knows when she is tired and is usually ready to just settle down and relax.

I took this photo of Sam about two weeks ago, since I was amused at the position that he assumed while reading his books from the library. But now, as I'm looking at this photo tonight, I think that it is a pretty good summation of what our lives have been like this past month. We are been functioning alright and getting things done, albeit in uncomfortable and less-than-ideal conditions. (Although I think Sam would counter that he thinks this splayed position on the loveseat is really comfortable.)

It's been hard for us to get into a good routine since school started up again after the new year began. Lucy had a mild cough at the beginning of the month, which disrupted our attempt at sleep training her. (She still is waking up in the night, but she is getting better.) Then, just as Lucy's cough was starting to improve, J had appendicitis and had to go into the hospital for an emergency appendectomy! We are grateful that his parents were able to help us through that ordeal and over the following few days, but that unexpected surgery took us for a turn. I felt pretty exhausted after that week, since J couldn't help me as much with the kids or daily chores.

And since J has returned to work, Lucy and I have come down with horrible colds. I haven't felt myself for almost a week, and Lucy has been miserable for probably four days. We both have a stubborn, hacking cough that wakes us up at night. My voice threatened to go out on Friday, but luckily I made it through my class. Anyhow, as a result from J's surgery and these various coughs/colds, we have spent a lot of time this month just sitting around the house. This is a typical scene for me to see:


Despite all of the discomforts and adjustments, we have had some fun, too. Last week Fictionist came up here to play, and it was fun to see the band play and catch up with them after the show. We haven't been the best at keeping in close touch with the band (and their wives) since we moved up here, and I'm a little bit sad about that, especially since we all look older every time we do get together. So for me, seeing the band now is somewhat semi-sweet: I have these melancholic notions of the passage of time and loss of close friendship (especially for J with the guys) but also a remembrance of our happy times and then fun that we had in being part of that tight unit.

As J and I ate dinner during our anniversary, we recapped the ways that we have celebrated our anniversary over the past nine years:

• 1st (2006): Stayed in cottage at RB, ate Greek food in Bellevue
• 2nd (2007): Went shopping at outlets in Park City (I was pregnant with Sam)
• 3rd (2008): Spend this one apart; it was right after my mom was diagnosed
• 4th (2009): Stayed at home and J gave me four poems and gifts for each year of our marriage; this anniversary was right after my mom passed away
• 5th (2010): Went to Victoria and stayed at the Fairmont Empress hotel
• 6th (2011): Signed papers to purchase our new home! (We didn't go out that night, since we had just spent all of our savings that morning, but we stayed home and celebrated with Sam.)
• 7th (2012): Went to a fancy French restaurant, a performance by the symphony, and stayed at the Fairmont Olympic hotel (see post HERE).
• 8th (2013): We went to an Italian restaurant with Sam at Crossroads Mall. I was pregnant with Lucy. (J has to keep reminding me what we did this year; my food wasn't that great and it wasn't as memorable as other years. Plus, I was just getting over my stint of morning sickness in my pregnancy.)
• 9th (2014): We went snowshoeing as a family! And J and I had takeout food from the Bombay House in Bellevue, which makes delicious vegetarian and vegan Indian food.

Snowshoeing was a lot of fun. We had several mishaps in finding the right parking lot and place that we intended to go at Stevens Pass (only to find out that the Nordic Trail area was too icy and steep for Sam's little legs), so we ended up going to the Smith Brook road. We accessed the trail/road by turning westbound on the Highway 2 from the Nordic Trail Center parking lot, and then going just a mile or so up the highway. The parking was on the right side of the road. It was fairly level and not too steep for Sam.

 




 


I'm looking forward to this new year. I'm not trying to do too many resolutions, but I do have one resolution that I think will be practical and (hopefully) easy to keep. Since Lucy has been born, I have noticed that it is a little bit more difficult to have one-on-one time with Sam. Recently, when Sam and I have played together or read together, I often have been trying to care for Lucy or do some type of household task at the same time. My resolution this year is to have one hour of focused "Mom and Sam time" each day, when I can concentrate purely on Sam and do whatever he wants to do.

This time will need to happen when Lucy is napping or with J, but I think it will be good. Just in the past few days that we have started this new special time together, I have noticed that Sam has wanted to show me things or confide in me in ways that he hasn't before. The other day, when we got to go to a movie together, Sam mentioned out-of-the-blue that every night he checks to make sure there isn't a vampire under his bed. I had no idea that Sam had this fear, but we talked about it and I think he ended up feeling like he was conquering that fear through our conversation.

Here's to a new year!