Feeding Time (or A Month of Thanks)

The feature of November is Thanksgiving, of course.  It's my favorite holiday because it involves the things that I love most in the world: family, friends, and food. Not always in that order...just kidding.

In honor of November, and Thanksgiving, I thought it appropriate to dedicate this month's blog to "Feeding Time". Anyone who knows Kevin and I, knows that we love food.  So it comes as absolutely no surprise to us that our daughter seems to feel the same. In fact, since she began eating solids, I have yet to see Analiese act full or express that she doesn't want another bite.  Her meals end because I eventually tire of having to monitor her, or because things around the house still have to get done, regardless of how much we all love to eat.

 One of my favorite presents was the Baby Bullet that my brother and sister-in-law gave us.  Not only have I used it for Analiese, but it also has come in handy as the household food processor since ours is still packed away in storage.  For the first couple of months, Analiese got to taste her way through every known fruit and vegetable (at least the ones not on the high allergen list) in pureed form. She seemed to like it all, for the most part but her favorites were definitely avocado, pears, and butternut squash.

Once she was able to eat more solid food, I found it was a lot better to keep her occupied with food on the tray, then it was to sit there and shovel it into a moving target. It is so interesting to see what patience it takes to coordinate small precise finger movements. Eating seems like such a natural process but parenting reminds you that every single thing has to be learned. She was happy, I was happy, and...





Unfortunately - some meals are messier than others.  And why is it that babies hate being cleaned off? I use a soft cloth, I wait for the water to warm up, and still I am waiting for the day that CPS  shows up at our door because the upstairs neighbor has turned us in for the shrieking of a tortured child!










Analiese loves to talk while she is eating.  Here are her thoughts on Peas and Carrots. It's nice to see that Marshall is finally coming around with some affection towards Analiese...

As I mentioned before, Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday.  I love the premise. I love the tradition. I love my family. I love stuffingmashedpotatoesandgravy.  Here is my mom's table before we all sit down to devour the yummy homemade food.  Those dishes came over with our great great great grandmother, Mary Hart (the one Analiese received her middle name from) on a ship from England circa the early 1800's.  They are hand painted and lovely.  They are also small compared to our plates nowadays, which just goes to show that gluttony is a more recent American past time.

This year was a special one because Alejandra's parents were visiting from Puebla, Mexico.  It was their first time to experience a traditional Thanksgiving feast.  It was also Paisley's first Thanksgiving Feast.  Paisley is Adam and Alejandra's beagle - now about 7 months old - and her little nose can sniff out the smallest of scents so a huge turkey was no match for her!

Here's the Thanksgiving table in action starting with my mom, Nana, Lupita, Juan Miguel, Burnie, Adam, Ale, and our Auntie Sue.  My place is the empty one - with the one stick of celery - and it stayed that way for the duration of the meal because Analiese was sick and teething...which meant my Thanksgiving Dinner was a microwaved plate at 8:45 p.m. when Analiese finally collapsed to sleep.  Kevin had to work that holiday and his presence was deeply missed!

As I mentioned before, Analiese never misses a meal, so although she was sick and teething, she still managed to smile while she ate her peas and potatoes.  She did not look like this about five minutes later, though, when she started fussing all over again...

She does love food but it turns out that some things are less desirable than others. During a complicated few days (enough said about that) I decided she might need some prunes introduced to her diet.  She, however, wasn't as enthusiastic about them.  In fact, I think that she actually flipped me off at the end of her 'prune shudder'.

Now that Analiese has passed the 8-month mark, it feels like her development has accelerated. Every day brings new fun things to notice about her.  Her face keeps losing a little more of the baby look and we can see her little girl features beginning to shine through. Her hair is slowly but surely catching up to her one single long luxurious birth lock you have seen in previous blogs. She becomes more confident about standing/cruising the furniture, and loves to stand at her toy box and pull her own toys out.  Mirrors are a favorite place to hang out and she loves to dance.  She can walk with support and thankfully she seems to smile all day long.

October

Well - all it takes is a little baby crawling around and POOF! - there goes the blog time.  In the same three day period (waaaaay back in October), Analiese learned to crawl, learned to pull herself to standing using the furniture, and got her first two bottom teeth. Whew.  It made for a very loud few weeks - teething fussiness accompanied by her wails of pain from constantly falling down.  Glad we're through those milestones...and now she is starting to learn to walk. That's why this month's "Signature Picture" is of Analiese happily standing at her baby gate.  That's before she really understood what it was for.  Now, she doesn't really look like that when she is on the other side.

When I last blogged, I had a video of Analiese as she scooted to me in our living room.  About 48 hours later, no joke, she decided scooting was outdated and took up real crawling. She was 6 months old and already crawling, standing, and toddling around the furniture.  It's been "crazy time" around here every since!

We spent the first weekend of October, in Tehachapi, celebrating my Nana's 96th birthday. The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed quite a bit outdoor time in Granna's beautiful yard. ( It was still 100+ here).  Analiese got to play for the first time in an antique wooden rocking chair for toddlers that was originally used by my Aunt and Mom - and then was refinished by my Pop Pop years ago for myself and my brothers. Now it's on to generation number three. I wish they still made mainstream toys like this.





We celebrated Nana's birthday by enjoying dinner out at a restaurant.  We are so happy to be close enough to share these special moments with family! And I would just like to take a moment here and honor my 96-year old Nana.  She is an AMAZING woman (and says that if she had a $1 for everytime people said that about her, now that she's "old" - she would be rich).  We sure love her to pieces.

Once Analiese learned to roll over and scoot, the days of naptime in our bed with pillows as "roll guards" was over.  We set up her crib and that is where she spends her naps and the first part of every night since then...

She is quite vocal now and can entertain herself for surprising lengths of time by making sounds and watching her hands move.  We call the exersaucer her "office" because she loves to hang out there.  I titled this video, "Chatting at the Office".

As I sort of touched on earlier, learning to stand up means learning to get down. That seemed to be the toughest part of the learning curve for her. She LOVES drinking water from her cup - so much so, that we have to ration it out to her in small doses a couple times a day or she would just end up being a water-tarian. This video just goes to show how scary 'getting down' really is - not even her precious water was worth the risk.

For those of you who were wondering: Yes, that is her real hair. It's one solid lock of baby wonder hair that has grown since birth. Weeee LOoooove iiiiiiit!

Analiese LOVES her bath.  There are so many cute bath pictures we have - but they are not web appropriate. Darn it!  But this one is still pretty cute...can rolls get any more delicious than those???

And, of course, Halloween.  Our little MOMS Club had a Halloween Party so here is a picture of Snow White and I.  She was sick for the first time so she wasn't really all that thrilled.  We just went to drop off my first official batch of "Mom Cupcakes For a Kid Party" which I am showing here because I think they came out awesome and I am proud of my presentation.

I will leave you with these - no more stories - just cutie pie pics!

I

Six Months or "Scoot-A-Rama"

HERE'S TO SIX MONTHS OF LIVIN'

Six months!  Can you believe that it's been six months?  Well, I can.  I mean - of course the time has flown - but since I am lucky enough to be with Analiese everyday I am also lucky enough to see every minute of her development.  And when you think that THIS:

Can so quickly change to THIS:

It is pretty amazing but it also seems like six months is a rapid amount of time to grow and change so much. Here are some of our favorite pictures and milestones that have occurred from month five to month six - -

Analiese has learned how to undo her cloth diaper covers.  It's really fun for me to discover her around the house with diapers dangling. Or worse, finding the diapers in their cover on the floor- - - with no baby in them.  Needless to say she wears her onesies more often now.

Analiese loves to drink water from our cups. She gulps down about three times more air than water, and most of the water goes down the front of her clothes, but she loves it anyway.

Since she was so enthusiastic about water, and watches us eat like it's a tennis match, we thought she might be ready for food.  It turned out that she wasn't so ready for that after all.  We'll stick to water and breast milk for now.

I joined a MOMS Club in this area in an effort to actually meet people.  Part of that experience has been joining a baby playgroup.  Our Analiese has been all over the southern CA area, passed around to multiple strangers, been to weddings, funerals, airports, etc. and has greeted everyone with a smile. Put her down on the floor with five other children under the age of 1 and this was her response.  She wanted none of it. For now, she spends her time on my lap while the rest of the babies roll around happily with one another.

The weather has finally cooled off around here.  Translation: The highs are usually only in the low 100's now.  As a result, we can hit the pool once in a while in the late mornings before the temperature rises.  Analiese plays happily for a long time in her little floaty frog.

 Analiese is a scooting machine. She's real thrilled with herself and the fact that she can get around the house without our help.  It's a game changer for us. Daytime relaxation is nonexistent. And watch out, because today she pulled herself into a standing position for the first time...

August Travels

WOW! That is the only word that comes to mind when I think about the month of August. WOW! It was a busy month and it included both being travelers and hosting those who were traveling.  To begin the traveling portion of our month, Analiese and I drove to Tehachapi to drop off our dog, Marshall, and our parakeet, Clover. My Nana had kindly volunteered to watch them for us while we were gone.

Luckily for us, our trip there coincided with the 38th Annual Mountain Festival. For those of you who aren't from small towns, you have no idea what this means. For those of you who have lived in small towns, you know exactly what this means. Here is a photo of the family as we lined Tehachapi Boulevard to watch the parade. Afterwards, we strolled the city park to check out the local arts and crafts booths and to catch up with lots of friends, many of whom I have known for two and a half decades.

We arrived home from Tehachapi in the evening and at 3:00 a.m. we got up, loaded the car and were on our way to Ontario Airport. A bit bleary eyed but very excited, we boarded our first flight as a family to visit Kentucky. A plane flight with a baby sure is different than a plane flight without one! Gone are the days of reading, sleeping, listening to music or daydreaming out the airplane window. Now, it's a contained traveling circus with two overly animated adult faces, as many small toys as can be crammed into the carry-on diaper bag, and lots of juggling/readjusting of a wriggling little human.
But, we can't complain because Analiese never made a peep of discontented noise on any of our four flights (much to the relief of those who were seated around us). It was mildly discomfiting to see the horrified gazes of our fellow travelers as we made our way down the aisle...What a relief to prove them all wrong!

We spent a week in Owensboro Kentucky and it was heaven. The weather was gorgeous and we all enjoyed the ability to sit outside. Bystanders were able to overhear Kevin and I explaining things like, "See Analiese? This is what the outside looks like.", "Those things are called trees", and "That's the color green. Some people get to see green instead of brown when they go outside". One of our favorite things to do when we are in Kentucky is to visit Papaw on his houseboat - and to take the pontoon around Rough River. 

 Analiese got to wear her first life vest and hang out with her mama on the water.  She loved it.  I realize that you can't control your kids - they are their own human selves - but it sure would delight me it if she loved the water as much as we do!



 

It was great to see Nana again. Analiese was just starting to be animated when Brenda came out to visit us in June. But two months makes such a difference and they spent many an hour playing and giggling together while we were there. 

She and her husband Steve live in a gorgeous, renovated, old Owensboro home. Steve's granddaughter coined the phrase GrandmaPa, which is what Analiese will call him, and we were proud to introduce the two. Steve and Brenda are amazing cooks and this was just one of the many great meals we shared together - laden with home smoked/BBQ'd meats, various homemade sauces, and about three hundred side dishes. This is life in the South - and I love it!

Analiese got to meet her Aunt Jordan for the first time and  the two hit it off splendidly.

She also met her extended Kentucky family.  Our Aunt Becky has a home out at Rough River.  She, Aunt Sandy and our dear cousins, Leigh Ann and Sara hosted a huge family get together.  We met them out on the river for some boating and swimming and then reconvened at Aunt Becky's house for a wonderful BBQ.  The table was groaning with homemade food and we had such a fun time.  Now - you might wonder, "Where are the pictures?"  That's what I wondered when I sat down to write this blog.  Amazingly enough, NOT ONE SINGLE PICTURE was taken of the whole day.  I am heartbroken.  The only thing I can say is that it just goes to show what a great time we were having - so great that I left the camera in the diaper bag inside and spent my time being present with our wonderful Kentucky family members.  Next time,  THERE WILL BE PICTURES!

Our trip to Kentucky was wonderful and we are already homesick and ready to return. We figure if Analiese's legs get any bigger, we might get to skip the plane altogether, strap ourselves to her back and have her run us there!

Robert Emery Whittier (July 15 1927 - August 16, 2011)

For the Thompson Tribe, August was a month of beginnings and endings.  The Beginnings were the subject of my last post. The Endings were symbolized most poignantly with the passing of my beloved grandfather, Robert Emery Whittier. Here he is with Analiese when we went to visit him on his 84th birthday in July. I admire my grandfather for many things, not the least of which has been his unwavering presence in the lives of my brothers and I.  But in the end, I admired his courageous choice to die naturally in his own home, rather than using medical technology to string along his last shred of human life.  I am grateful to have had him in my life for as long as I did, and for the fact that he got to see and hold his first great-grandchild on several occasions.  I wish his soul a safe journey.

New Friends...

WELCOME BABY KARA ELLE!

One of my dearest friends from college just had her first baby on August 11. Kara Elle Barber is a beautiful baby girl. Her birth is especially exciting for me because when I was growing up, the children of my parents' close friends became like family to us. Often we addressed the parents as "Aunt..." or "Uncle..." so their children were like our cousins, and sometimes we even introduced them as such. We always looked forward to the several times a year we got together because those children were 'special friends'. They didn't live on our block or go to school with us - we had to drive in a car and spend a night, or several nights, in the course of a visit. We camped with these friends. We went to Disneyland with these friends. These friends were outside the realm of the normal day-to-day life stuff and that made them way cooler. Because we were all born within the same span of several years, none of us really remembers childhood without one another.

Marleena and Marc now have baby Kara, which means Analiese and Kara are now linked in each others' lives - even if they don't know it yet. Another of my best childhood friends is due to have her first baby, also a girl, in September. We look forward to meeting her. I know that Analiese will grow up with these two girls as her friends and it makes me smile.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

Since we don't have a scale, or a soft measuring tape, we had absolutely no idea how big or tall Analiese was. My only reference as to how much she weighs is by taking into consideration the fatigue of my left arm when balancing her on my hip at social functions. By my estimation, she is heavy compared to when she was born. And since she just upgraded to the next size of baby clothes, I am also able to make a very technical assessment and confidently announce that she is also longer than when she was born. Now, we are happy to bring you bona fide weights and measures, as recorded professionally by a real doctor.

Analiese now weighs 16 lbs. 14 oz. (as opposed to the 8 lbs. 14 oz. at her birth)
Analiese now measures 26.5 inches (as opposed to the 21.5 inches at her birth).

So - I was right. She is bigger. Who needs doctors anyway?

She started rolling from her back to her front on July 13th(ish). I think I referenced in our last post that we spend quite a bit of time rescuing her from this new stunt. Once on her tummy, she gets stuck, gets frustrated, and engages a grunt-to-whine-to-shriek sound track that requires one of us to set her on her back again. She smiles with gratitude, then immediately rolls onto her tummy again and the saga continues. The doctor told us that this is the complete reverse of the "average" baby (whoever he/she is) as babies normally go from tummy to back first, and then back to tummy second. Either way, we have eagerly anticipated the day that she will move on to Step 2 and get herself righted out. In the meantime, I have been intending to get a video of her turning over. It's been over a month, for crying out loud. Finally, I figured I better do it before she is 6 years old and we are having her reinact the moment - which doesn't have the same allure. Here she is - with an unchoreographed Marshall moment as well!

I turned the camera off and then saw that it looked like she was practicing rolling further over but Marshall's hind end was in the way...

I thought, "I'll move Marshall out of the way and maybe I can get some good 'practice' footage..."

It was so great to actually catch her first front-to-back roll on camera.

So now it's on to whole new horizons - - keeping track of a mobile baby. Yikes!

Lazy Days...

Let's be honest here - no days are really "lazy days" when you have a baby. But what that really translates to is "day after day after day in the apartment". Summertime keeps rolling on by here in the desert - mostly it rolls on by our windows because it's way too hot for it to roll by in person outside! But being in the apartment means lots of time to take pictures of Analiese and to revisit pictures that never made it into the blog. So this post is dedicated to some of our favorite pictures of our favorite girl:

This first series of pictures I will title, "Going, Going, Gone!" They were taken when we first moved in. Analiese and I were sitting in the U-Haul, waiting for Kevin to finalize the paperwork for our apartment. I took all three in about a 60-second period of time. Apparently she takes after her daddy in the sleep department...

Whenever we visit Tehachapi, we always take a little time to visit my Nana at her house. Even though she is usually present at family events, it's easier for us to have a conversation when it's one on one. My Pop-Pop passed away in November of 2009 and so I usually sit on his chair, with Analiese in my lap, when we are visiting. On one of our last visits, I sat Analiese by herself while I ran to help my Nana with something. When I turned around, it was so cute, I had to snap a picture. I call this one, "Pop Pop's Chair". I wish he could have been able to hold her in person, but this is the next best thing.
My youngest brother, Jared, recently graduated from a nursing program. We went to Tehachapi to attend his graduation. His girlfriend, Kelsey, flew out from Florida as a surprise to him. Our joke is that Jared's graduation was really just an excuse, as the real reason she flew out was to see Analiese. I love these pictures of them.

Although Analiese is obviously still a baby (at just 4 months old), it is amazing how her face is losing the pure baby look and beginning to show signs of the little girl who is emerging. When we packed to move into the studio (ha!) we put a ton of stuff in storage that we knew we wouldn't have room for - and this big bear was one of them. We wanted to take a picture of her with him as they probably won't meet again for another year or so. This was taken right before Memorial Day weekend and you can see how much her baby face has changed since then.

Analiese has learned to roll over from her back to her front. She is quite pleased with herself as this next pictures demonstrates. Well, she is pleased with herself for about 5.6 seconds, at which point she starts howling with frustration because she has yet to learn how to roll herself back over. We are hoping that next step comes soon because large portions of our day are now spent having to finally roll her back over when her wails have reached a certain decibel level. The minute we help her out - she rolls right back over on her stomach and the cycle begins again. l leave you with this last picture I call, "Analiese Smiles".

The Mother-In-Law Visit

In traditional American Folklore, the Mother-in-Law visit is a dreaded event. Thankfully for me, I have the world's best Mother-in-Law. We were very excited to host her and Kevin's niece, Kenrda, for a week back in June. We had barely brushed the box dust off our hands before they were here to remind us that there is life after moving. It was an especially meaningful visit since they both live in Kentucky and were coming out to meet Analiese for the first time.




Analiese was thrilled to be entertained twenty-four hours a day during their visit. No bouncy chair for her that week! At any given moment she had an adoring Nana or Auntie to cuddle her up. Here she is with her Nana.










Kendra insists that she is not really a "kid person" and certainly isn't going to have any of her own. However, whenever Analiese gave the slightest indication of unhappiness, her Auntie Kendra was right there to coo and sympathize with her. So she might not be a "kid person", but she certainly is an "Analiese Person".











Analiese's Aunt Mary Beth, Uncle Kurt, and cousins, Lauren and Lila, live in (relatively) nearby Riverside. They came to meet us for lunch in Palm Springs. It was fun to get to see them. The drive to Palm Springs was a first for us and we enjoyed seeing the cute little desert towns between here and there.









Mary Beth brought us a bag full of sun hats and other fun summer accessories for little girls. They are certainly necessary around here! Analiese doesn't seem to mind them at all and they sure look adorable on her.







San Diego is a little over 2 hours from where we are so we decided to take a little road trip. The fastest way to get there entails a rather windy road through the San Jacinto mountains. Our Kentuckyians are used to green green green so these rugged desert-scapes were something new for them. Here are Brenda, Kevin, and Kendra at one of the look out spots.




Since Kevin and I don't really know our way around San Diego, we decided to spend the day on the "Hop On Hop Off Trolley". It was great! We only had to find one parking space and then spent the rest of the day being driven all around the San Diego hot spots, listening to the entertaining drivers share San Diego history and fun facts. We were able to get off wherever we wanted to spend a little more time looking around, and then we could hop back on to the next trolley that came along. It was a great way to see Old Historic Downtown, Balboa Park, Coronado Island, etc. etc.


The Trolley goes over the bridge to Coronado Island and although you can't tell (the photographer missed at her aim of artistic bridge view scenery in the background...) - this is Brenda and Kendra with gorgeous ocean and the San Diego skyline behind them.










Here are Kevin and Analiese enjoying the view. It was SO nice to be outside for a whole day in sunny, breezy, 70-degree, San Diego weather. If only it were just a wee bit closer...

We are ready for Kevin's company to start acquiring vacation homes there so we can manage the San Diego division (it never hurts to dream, right??!?).






We spent so many fun days together laughing, talking, eating good food, shopping, watching movies and being spoiled in each others' company. It was very sad to see them go but we can't wait to visit them in Kentucky - - soon, we hope!