October 2009 update!

Just signed in to this website and realized how long it has been since I posted. Well, never mind that, let's just see what I have to say now and forget the last six months of silence:)

We have been enjoying the last 10 days with Nana here taking care of Evie. We missed Nana a lot this summer while she was busy selling cheesecake and other yummies. We did enjoy getting to know Fanta and the kids at Fanta's daycare (Miranda, Zack, Opal, Kian, Elliot). We also really enjoyed walking to/from Fanta's with Evie and had settled into a pretty sustainable routine, albeit one that had us working rather limited hours due to the constraints of the open hours at the daycare.

One of the highlights of our learning to cope without Nana was starting a dinner co-op (which continues on!). It is a simple and fun solution to the problem of two working parents trying to get a hot healthy home-cooked meal on the table every night. It works like this: on Monday nights Michael and I cook a yummy healthy meal made from organic and/or locally grown foods for 3 other families and drop it off at their homes by 6 p.m. On Tuesday nights Lisa does the same, on Thursday nights Maria follows suit and finally, on Friday, Bailey delivers her meal to us all. Only one weeknight remains where we have to fend for ourselves. We usually savor our co-op meals so that we have enough left for lunches and that extra non-coop weeknight. Or I put something into the slow cooker. We enjoy selecting one special meal to cook each week, we enjoy cooking together and we especially enjoy meals being delivered to us! I'm becoming a better cook, learning from Michael as we cook together. We're trying new foods as recipients of other people's special meals and as chefs. I have thoroughly enjoyed three fish-based meals! That's more fish meals than I've enjoyed in my entire pre-co-op life! We learned to make phenomenal pulled pork. We can cook gluten-free meals with no trouble.

Now that Nana is here, we are adjusting to a new routine and trying to take full advantage of the extra time we can spend at work, cleaning around the house (we're still unpacking, but I'll get to that later...) and reconnecting with each other. Last week Michael and I went on walks around the neighborhood several nights after Evie was in bed. We talked, held hands, laughed, discussed research and parenting and homebirth (bad idea, criminally bad). We finally finished unpacking and organizing our bedroom and set up an office for Michael (and sometimes me!). We also purchased our travel tickets for the Christmas holiday. Over the weekend we played in an ultimate frisbee game while Evie napped at home with Nana. We didn't worry about the rain and we went out with the team for drinks afterward. We also spent some fun time playing with Evie and had Lidija, Keven and their twins, Lilly and Luca over to the house. We even went out for the India buffet at Woodlands on Sunday. Evie really likes mango lassi:) And on Sunday night we went to Boo at the Zoo, where Evie wore her frog costume and especially liked seeing the "liolin" (Lionness).

Evie is flourishing under Nana's care. She is speaking in more complex sentence structures, expanding her vocabulary, working on potty training (first day almost entirely diaper-free today!), pretend-playing in her kitchen and with her dolly and spending lots of time outside. Nana has been active on the internet since she arrived, ordering Halloween tattoos to give out this Saturday for trick-or-treat, ordering several winter coats for Evie, finding and buying a wagon for Evie and so on.. Evie and Nana have gone to the library for circle time, spent a day at the zoo, had a playdate with Joy, Grace and their dad, Chuck, had a playdate with Toby and gone for lots of wagon rides. The best part of my day at work is when I get my daily photo(s) from Nana!

Michael had a "best moment of his life" this morning. Evie went to bed before he got home last night, so she missed her nightly bedtime stories with Daddy. When she woke up this morning and saw Daddy she asked right away for him to read her a story. What a sweet girl. She missed reading her stories with Daddy and she wanted to make up for it. I think this says volumes about her love for her Daddy and her adaptability.

Michael and Nana just took off to the airport to pick up Grandpa (i.e. Pops). We'll all be together celebrating what is bound to be a really fun Halloween in our new neighborhood (did I explain that we had to move September 1st and that we're now 0.3 miles away from our old house? We LOVE our new home and neighborhood...but that's another post). I really love the month of October, Halloween, pumpkins, decorations, candy corn and costumes. I'm so sad that it is almost over but so excited that Halloween is almost here! I'm glad we got to have Boo at the Zoo last weekend so some of the excitement is spread out...it's like having TWO Halloweens! I'm supposed to be asleep now, so I better get off to bed.

Good night!
Heather

Evelyn's first Easter egg hunt

This morning we went to an Easter egg hunt at the Piney Branch Elementary School in Takoma Park. Evelyn's FIRST Easter egg hunt! We staked out a spot on the field with four plastic Easter eggs and Evelyn surveyed the area, sat down, mouthed the eggs, put some eggs in her basket, took some out and was delighted at the new experience. She wore her bunny ears we found at the store yesterday and got her photo taken for the newspaper--hopefully it will make it into the article and I'll be posting a link to the photo! In the meantime, I've posted an album at Picasa for you to see Evelyn bunny at the egg hunt.

Directly after the egg hunt we headed over to Rockville for Ben Cavanaugh's first birthday party. Evelyn loved the pumpkin muffin/cake, asking for more, moRE, MORE! Luckily we got two muffins to take home with us and the recipe. She also got into the present process, playing with Ben's toys right alongside him, smiling, waving and truly enjoying it all. She took 4 steps in a row on her own, a new personal record, toward one of Ben's relatives. I stood by in awe as my baby took steps so confidently and quickly that she was really walking. The past 3 weeks I've been considering her steps as cute antics not entirely connected to walking, but seeing her today made me realize that walking is not so far off for her. And what a whole new world it will be for Evelyn when she can walk--or should I say run? We had such fun at Ben's party and seeing Evelyn play with Ben's presents gave me some ideas for her birthday. Bongo drums, for instance, were a big hit today and I like the sound they make. The fisher price Barn was another hit, although I prefer the old school ones that say, "Moo!" when the doors open (the doors don't even open on the new one!).

What an exciting day! Of course, there are photos of Ben's party in the Picasa album with the Easter egg hunt photos.

Photos from our January trip to Kansas

Back in January when we were visiting the Lerners in Lawrence, Kansas, they hosted a very nice party. I took some photos and have finally posted them at Picasa HERE with a few other photos fro our trip to Kansas, including photos of Rachel and Dean with Evelyn.

At the party, Evelyn wore a lovely dress in which she looked like a snowflake (to me), little tights and black patent leather shoes. Many of you may be astounded at my attention to Evelyn's clothes, especially those of you who are familiar with my own style in clothing (or lack thereof). Dressing a beautiful baby girl is just so incredibly fun. I love it. One of my favorite things each morning is picking out an outfit for Evelyn. And on the weekends I love to go shopping for baby clothes. erm...toddler clothes...?

Kerplunk!

Evelyn's latest game is called Kerplunk! She sits up, catches your eye and then slowly lets herself fall over while you say "Kerplunk!" Then she rolls over, sits up and does it again. Usually she does this on the bed, which is where she developed the game with Nana while skyping with Grandpa. But lately she has also decided to Kerplunk in the bathtub. She has no fear. She doesn't mind the water washing over her, she just rolls herself over and sits up, albeit sometimes spluttering. I, on the other hand, feel my pulse racing and tremble while I try to keep that happy fun smile on my face. This is so scary, but so great that she likes the bath and doesn't mind going under water! Swimming lessons this summer would be fantastic!

Baby steps

For about two weeks Evelyn has been taking single steps to get to me, Michael or Nana or to go from the footstool to the window ledge. The past two days she has taken 2 steps in a row. She is still wobbly, but making progress. The moms at the play group last week were calling her a toddler. My breath caught in my throat at that. My baby could be a toddler soon?! How can nearly a year have gone by so quickly?

Dairy update #3: major progress

We have made incredible strides on the dairy front. I am afraid to talk about the amazing strides for fear that I will jinx the whole thing. I am regularly eating yogurt and cheese and I have eaten 1.5 pieces of Pops's cheesecake. YUM! and some banana bread with butter in it. I can't bring myself to put butter on my food or drink a glass of milk yet, but maybe soon...I don't even know what to cook these days, everything tastes SO GOOD with cheese on it. Tonight I ate some leftover black beans with CHEESE and avocado. A random meal, but SO GOOD. Almost anything could be a meal when you add cheese!

But the best part: Evelyn has been eating yogurt every day this week. She bangs her hands together to tell me the sign for MORE! MORE! MORE! when I get the yogurt out. And she has had cheese twice without incident. And, some banana bread made with butter (more enthusiastic banging of her hands!). A whole new world is opening up before her. In less than 3 weeks Pops will be here and I believe cheesecake will be on little Evie's menu:)

Baby sign break-through

This week Evelyn started using some new baby signs and really focusing on signs in general. It's like she suddenly fully realized the importance of using her baby sign language and is gung-ho to move it to the next level. She's been doing milk, water and potty on occasion for the last three months or so, but not necessarily when she wanted any of those things and always with a look of silliness on her face like she didn't quite believe what she was doing. But now, she has a whole new relationship with those signs. She is visibly thoughtful before she does one of the signs and she is using them in situations when she is frustrated because she wants something and isn't getting it.

She picked up the sign for "more" this week and is so thrilled to use it. Our most difficult times of the day (Althea is laughing hysterically thinking of the differences in scale we have between Evelyn's and Sylvia's difficult times...) are when Evelyn is eating. At nearly every meal she gets fussy (maybe frustrated? with us?) at least briefy and we distract her by using the sign for water (and giving her water from a cup) or by putting her food in a dish of brewer's yeast for her to fish out. We often wonder if she has to use the potty since she almost invariably pees during her meals. But really, who wants to take off the tray, wipe the baby down, take off the bibs, remove the clothes, hustle over to the potty and wait to see if pottying was the source of the fuss?!

Now that Evelyn has learned that she can tell us she wants more of something, she has used that sign at every meal. it doesn't hurt that most of her meals have involved blueberries or mangoes in the past three days:) And she does it with such character. She'll do the more sign and then clap, as if to say, "I'm amazing! I just said 'more!'" Just tonight she started fussing when she ran out of blueberries and when I asked her if she wanted more she became very thoughtful for a few moments, did the sign for more a few times and then clapped. It was so adorable...all 10 or 15 times she did it.

A mom who was nursing her second child told me last fall that it wasn't worth teaching a baby signs since they only really use them for a few months before they start to speak anyway...I was so disapointed in my heart to think that moms in-the-know think signs are a waste of time, but I decided we should do signs anyway. And, I'm so glad I did. Just the past three days have been amazing. The pleasure Evelyn gets from communicating, the break-through in understanding her fussiness at dinner, both of these things are so worth the absolutely minor effort we've exerted in teaching her signs!

Now we have to get that signing book and DVD out (thanks, Ben!) to refresh ourselves on the signs while Evie is so receptive!

skipping work and dairy update #2

Yesterday I took the afternoon off of work because it was absolutely beautiful, 60 degrees and sunny and my office doesn't have a window so I was feeling trapped and yucky. I left work around 2:30 p.m., picked Evelyn up, picked Pippin up and drove to the Rachel Carson Greenway. We hiked for about 1.5 hours in the warm sun stopping to throw the ball for Pippin and watch him swim across the creek to get it. We saw trees gnawed down by beavers, we got very intimate with some moss on a rock and some old leaves, we touched tree bark and baby budding leaves, we sang songs, we talked about the rooster (Cock! says Evie) and the turkey (Gobba! says Evie) and we threw the ball some more for Pippin. It was a wonderful afternoon.

We then messed it all up by my trying some food at Trader Joe's that unbeknown to me had whey in it. Poor Evie had a very rough day today, lots of crying, refusing to eat or drink or be happy unless Mommy was holding her. Poor dear, I thought maybe the dairy problems were over. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Meet me, I'm Bob...or Pbopb!

You may have always known me as, "Heather," but I am hereby telling you that my name is currently, "Bob." We've all said "Mom," "Mama," and "mommy," to Evelyn for months now and just three days ago she finally responded with a very soft and hesitant, "Bob." Maybe more of a, "Pbopb." And every day since then she's become more confident in saying my new name, "Pbopb!"

This is in stark contrast to the perfect DAAAD! that she constantly says:) Lucky, lucky, Michael:)

The dairy saga continues

On Monday I intentionally ate some cow's milk cheese (cheddar in my omelet) after 9 months of abstaining from all cow's milk products. In fact, every day this week I've eaten some cow's milk cheese of some sort.....and....Evie seems to be doing fine. She was a little fussy today, but she is NOT bloated, she does NOT have red spots on her face and neck, she does NOT need intensive comforting constantly and she does NOT wake every 1 or 1.5 hours screaming and arching her back in pain and agony.

I can't even comprehend the possibilities that are opening up for my daily diet....and maybe, in a few weeks, Evie's!

It has been such a long 9 months of difficulties when shopping and eating out (if you are ever a waitperson and a customer with an allergy present him/herself at your table--TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! YOU COULD BE HURTING SOMEONE, MAYBE EVEN A BABY!). We've lived much of this time very happily in the sunshine of dairy-free life but the dark clouds of evil dairy products have constantly lurked nearby often coming on all of a sudden with weeks of pain and sadness for Evie. It takes about 2 weeks for dairy products to clear out of Evie's system after she's been exposed, so just one trip to a restaurant with a lying or inconsiderate or just plain stupid waitperson could lead to 2 weeks of trouble. The last time I went to a restaurant where someone lied to me about reading an ingredient label (and I know she knowingly lied because I forced her to show me the label she told me she had read...the label that had microwave directions on it instead of a list of ingredients!), I actually stood up for myself and my daughter. I told the person that her behavior was unacceptable and that I would not eat there since I couldn't be sure it was safe. I then wrote a letter to the owner of the restaurant--and received a very nice phone call of apology.

But, I digress. I just wanted to tell you about this testing process we're in right now and how tentatively good I'm feeling about it. I'm not sure what to try next. It seems that Evelyn has been most sensitive to the whey part of milk (as opposed to the curds part) so I suppose I should have something with whey in it. Maybe I will try yogurt next. I'd really like to try the fancy chocolate cake Michael's boss's wife is making tomorrow, but that might be too much of a jump:)

Temporary site for lerner clan

I've been wanting to post some updates the past few months and just haven't been able to because our site is down so often. We're having some very strange issues with our lerner clan blog computer so I'm posting this blog as a temporary site until we fix our problems with the home computer or establish a fancy shmancy blog somewhere else. Thanks for traveling here with us:)