Daycare pics

Maren continues to thrive at daycare. We think she is learning to stand on her own by watching her classmates. We are amazed at how quickly she seems to be growing now - when I get home from work each day, it seems like she looks bigger and older already!

Playing with bubbles

What a couple of dolls!

Cruisin' on a Sunday Afternoon

Maren is "cruising" around furniture, walking behind her toy car, and even standing on her own for a few seconds now. She seems to love being able to move around and be independent. She crawls into the kitchen when I'm cooking, too. We have been meaning to baby-proof the kitchen cabinets and drawers, and now it's definitely time to do it. Here's a little video of her new moves:



Today we went to visit a co-worker of mine who has two sons, ages 5 and 3. Maren liked playing with their toys, especially a whole box full of musical instruments, and she had fun cruising around on someone else's furniture. The boys were really fun, because they wanted to show James and me all of their toys. The older boy seems to be mechanically inclined - maybe a future engineer? James had fun playing with all of his various cars, erector sets, and science projects. It was tough to leave, but Maren was ready for her second nap of the day and started to let us know.

Last weekend, we spent a night at Kari and Chip's house in Bellingham. It was a real slumber party - I think 14 adults and 6 kids in one house! Our hosts put on a game night tournament in their basement with ping pong, foosball, pub-style shuffleboard, and Boggle. Kyle set up brackets for a single-elimination tournament, and we picked teams randomly. My team (w/Dan Bartell) was quickly eliminated from every game except we made it to the finals in foosball! James's team fared better, and we both came away with prizes. We were able to borrow the hosts' crib for Maren and she slept well that night, but she woke us up early the next morning. It was wonderful to be in such a kid-friendly house where they had tons of toys and lots of kiddos for Maren to play with.

Bus Ride

James dropped Maren off at daycare this morning, and took this picture of Maren and her buddies going for a "bus ride" down the hallway in the rolling crib. The little girl next to Maren is her friend Tien - apparently they like to chase each other around the room and play together.

What cuties!

Just a few pics

Hi all. Just a few shots we thought you might enjoy. Interesting how every one has a picture of a baby in it. It is safe to say that Maren has mommy and daddy wrapped around her finger. Hope all is well.

Daycare!

Maren started at daycare this week, as James went back to the office full-time after spending 3 months with her at home. We were nervous that Maren wouldn't be able to nap at daycare, because she is such a light sleeper at home. We also thought she might have "separation anxiety" and miss us all day long. We were wrong about that! She is a social baby and likes to be around other little kids. Most of the other babies in her "class" are around her age and size, so she fits right in. We're lucky that we were able to keep her home with us for her first 9 months. Now she can crawl and pull up on furniture, so she can get around the room at daycare on her own.

Maren's daycare is right near James's work, so he takes her there in the morning, visits her sometimes mid-day, and picks her up in the afternoon. I'm missing out on that whole process, but it's nice that she is close to one of us. So far, Maren is adjusting pretty well. Her first nap is only about 30 minutes, and the second one is about an hour. We're hoping those times increase as she gets used to the noise level and activity in the room at daycare.

Maren's caregiver there sent us these photos of her first week.

Peas and carrots - I think she likes peas more than her mom does! Doesn't she look like a big girl sitting at that tiny table?

This one is my favorite. Her hair is getting longer now and starting to curl up at the sides.

Her caregiver says that Maren likes to "talk" to the other babies.

Pulling up and cruising around on the furniture.


That's one happy kiddo!

Goin' Back to (Southern) Cali

I flew down to L.A. on Saturday morning to go to Paige's bridal shower/bachelorette party that night. James and Maren drove me to the airport soon after Maren woke up that morning. It was hard to leave her, of course, but I knew I'd be back very soon. I had a stopover in Portland, so I didn't get to L.A. until after noon, but it was a fun-filled day and night.

Zak and Abby live near the airport, and Zak picked me up from LAX. We spent the afternoon at their apartment in Manhattan Beach, and strolled along the boardwalk. It was wonderful to be out in the sunshine after weeks of wet and dreary weather in Seattle.

Zak and Abby on the boardwalk.


View from the pier.

The house on the beach with the blue awnings (center left) is the old "90210" beach house where Donna and Claire lived (if you're into that sort of trivia. which I am). :)

That evening, Natalie picked me up and we drove north to Santa Monica to meet up with Soy and go to Paige's shower. It was a dinner at one of our favorite restaurants during law school, Fritto Misto.

Though she wasn't forced to wear a veil, Paige did have to sport this lovely white boa all night.

After dinner, we went to a bar in Venice called the Air Conditioned Supperclub. Here's a photo from its website.

Me with Natalie and Nisha. It was great to catch up with some law school friends who I haven't seen in a while, since pre-wedding and baby!

I left pretty early the next morning and got back into Seattle just after noon, so it was a whirlwind trip. But it was nice to get back to James and Maren. She is learning so much every day now, soaking everything up like a sponge. When we sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider," she puts her fingers together over her head. It's definitely a crowd favorite.

She has learned to clap her hands together and she will do it when we just say the word "clap" without doing the motions ourselves. It's so cool to watch a little person learn the English language. We put up letters spelling her name on her bedroom wall, and we point to it and say "M-A-R-E-N." Now if we're in her room and we spell it, she will look over to that wall. James is working really hard on "Dada," and she says it of course, but not with any meaning just yet. I am countering by teaching her "doo-doo," but James says he'll be mad if she says that one first! Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if her first word is "turtle." We have a turtle bath toy, and when I say the word, she seems to try to repeat after me. One thing seems clear - "Mama" is not going to be a part of her vocabulary in the near future.

Maren can also pull herself up to standing, and last night she did what so many other babies have done before her - she stood up in her crib, holding onto the side rail, and couldn't figure out how to get herself back down. She cried much louder and longer than she usually does when settling down for the night, so we knew something was wrong. While one friend's doctor said parents can just let the baby cry until he or she gets tired and sits down, we just couldn't do that to her last night. James went in and gently helped her back down. I came in and held her as James lowered the height of her crib mattress. Pretty much the only time she will cuddle these days is when she's exhausted - then she'll put her head on my shoulder when I'm holding her - but sometimes she quickly picks her head back up and looks around energetically, as if to say, "I'm not tired!" She stranded herself on the crib rail twice last night, and we took turns going into her room and comforting her when she was really worked up.



Maren is crawling around like crazy, too. She most especially likes to go after Daddy's laptop cord and the tripod for the video camera, as if she instinctively knows what's off-limits. We've tried her again in her jumper, and she is liking it a lot more now, though she's just getting the hang of it.




Daddy reading Maren a bedtime story. She is in a sleep sak that we borrowed from Sheila and Chris, but she's too long for it now. Our current favorite outfit is a fleece top and bottom set that MargaPops gave her for Christmas. So snuggly and warm in this weather - thanks again!

Trekking, eating and smiling

Hi All,

Susan and I are trying to get out and exercise whenever we can. We decided to bundle up the boo and take her for a little trek down to see the ducks in the backpack carrier. We bundled her up and set off....


Getting ready!!


Sometimes mommy carries her...

and sometimes daddy. She is such a trooper, she just sits in her little perch and looks at everything she can. We learned the hard way that she likes to take her gloves off and toss them away. You can see here a little exposed hand. Mommy and daddy had to turn around and retrace our steps to find a lost glove. We have since sewn a string between the gloves and it seems to work pretty well. Thank you again Marga for the gloves!!



Got to the lake but there were no ducks. Guess they had decided to fly someplace warmer. Bummer!! They have since returned.



We decided to try Maren on some yogurt. Let's just say she didn't exactly hate it. Mmmmm good.




Daddy realized after these photos that he may not be able to say no to buying her whatever she wants. Oh no!!... is daddy ever in for it.

Daddy...can I have a car!?

PWEAASSEEE!!

Take care. We will try and post again soon.....