I See You!

It has taken me a long time to figure out how to spend time with Aurora that's not working time. We've spent a lot of time together doing household tasks, sleeping, grocery shopping, and driving to and from her caretakers.

But when we got time to breathe, I would look at her and think, uh oh, what now?

When she was younger, I really had no idea what to do. We just stared at each other, cuddled, and I rubbed her head and sang to her. Now that she's older, I make her stuffed animals talk, she plays with the sock monkey feet on my footie pajamas, and we play baby's all time favorite, peek-a-boo.

Of course it took me a long time to figure this out, too, but she loves it when I cover her with the blanket and say, "Where's Smacky? Where's Smacky?"

She flaps her arms to uncover herself and peek out, and then gives me a big grin when I find her. Sometimes this is what I see.

Ready for Sun

Here is Aurora at Sarah's, her new MWF caretaker, posing in her new strawberry sundress.

She's at the stage where EVERYthing goes in her mouth, and we even catch her chewing on the bottom of her bottles.

Silly strawberry baby.

Daylight Savings- Wheeee!

I never realized that daylight savings messes with everyone when you have a baby.

Last night at the new 7:30 (which was actually 6:30), Aurora was behaving as if she'd just chugged a triple mocha with extra whip. I laid her down for bed and she cried, and when I picked her up to burp her (which I confess I frequently forget to do), her eyes darted from one part of the room to another and she smiled at me, knowing that now we could play some more.

Normally I don't get her up after putting her to bed but she was so obviously NOT tired, I laughed and turned the light back on.

Here she is, having a happy afternoon a few weeks ago, lounging on the bed. I wonder what she'll look like when she grows some more hair.

Bzzzzz?

Smacky's new caretaker, Sarah, snapped this shot last week. Both Smacky and Demitri, Sarah's funny two-year-old son, had one of these headbands.



I won't show Demitri since I haven't asked for permission, but here is a shot of a very serious Smacky the Bee.

A Different Form of Banana

Remember last summer when I posted a spate of photos of Smacky sleeping?

I realize I'm doing it again, this time with eating.

Here she is, eating a tiny slice of a tiny loaf of banana bread that I made especially for her, without walnuts.

Apparently it was acceptable but nothing to write home about.

A Sad Day

A couple of Fridays ago, Aurora and I were roused from bed by Gary and Arlo, who told us that Gary's older brother Randy had unexpectedly passed away earlier in the evening.

Please keep Gary and his family in your thoughts during this sad time. Randy will be greatly missed.

Frog on a Lilypad

When I'm not too tired and when Smacky is feeling athletic, we make the trek to our swimming class down the street.

On Valentine's Day many babies were absent, probably because their parents had overindulged in too many sugary cupcakes and had to stay home to recover. We, however, had no such problem, having eaten our cupcakes a week earlier, so we all got out of bed and made our way to the community center.

In addition to the rousing renditions of a bunch of songs I've honestly NEVER HEARD OF, this day the babies got to "play" instead of "learning."

This meant that Smacky got to float on a foam frog during class. It also meant no accidentally swallowed water, and no choking. I think the babies were all grateful for that.

Photographs courtesy of our fabulous in-home photographer Gary.