First tooth

Last night Evelyn woke up at 3am screaming bloody murder. It was awful. She had a very scared look in her eye and nothing I did could help her calm down. It was very out-of-character; I thought she might have had a bad dream. I rocked her and nursed her and she eventually fell back asleep.

About 30 minutes ago, my mother-in-law called to say she could feel a rough little tooth poking out of Evelyn's gum! Her first tooth! How exciting! Now it makes sense why she was so inconsolable last night. Poor little baby.

She is getting so big. I can't wait to go home and feel her tooth for myself!

Seven months

We have been having so much fun with our little Evie these days. She is a delightful, happy, adorable, fascinating little girl. She turns 7 months old this week and I can’t believe how much she has changed in just the last month. She can sit up entirely by herself, and when she tips to the side, she can kind of catch herself or at least soften the fall so it isn’t a mighty crash. She can now roll off her stomach to the right, although she has forgotten that she already knows how to go to the left. She is sleeping better. She loves the dogs. She loves her parents. She loves the blinking light on Jon's laptop. She loves music. She loves her toys—especially the little aluminum water bottle that she can yell into, the giant stuffed dog she can wrestle with, and the wooden blocks she can throw around. There really isn’t anything she doesn’t love, except maybe being left alone to play by herself and green beans. The former is rare since she isn’t really old enough to be left alone (she just wants us in the room, fawning over her adorableness), and the latter is something we will continue to work on.

There are so many things I want to remember so I can tell her when she gets older. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday so I’m sure these little things will be lost to time. I want to tell her about the mysterious poo incidents of last week—one where there was poo on the back of her leg, but not in her diaper, or on the wipes, or on her clothes or anywhere else; and the other where the poo was everywhere. I want to tell her of the fantastic laugh she reserves for times when she is watching the dogs. I don’t know what is so riotous about watching Tucker lick his paws, but Evelyn sees the hilarity. I want to tell her about her fantastic smile, the one that starts and one side and creeps up the other until her whole face is beaming. My favorite Evelyn smile is the one I get when going to her crib in the morning or after a nap. She’ll be playing with the blanket or kicking around entertaining herself until she sees me, and then her whole face gets excited and her smile can not be beat. It is my favorite thing in the whole world.

When she is older, maybe even having children of her own, I want to tell her what a happy baby she was. How much fun she is to have in our lives, and how every week brought such newness that I can almost see her little brain growing. I would tell her how she loves to eat, and eat and eat and eat. How she likes the tofu out of her dad’s miso soup, or the black bean sauce off my lad na. How she sucked all the pulp off an orange slice and then proceeded to try to eat the rind. I would tell her how much her dad and I love every little bit of her, and everything she does, and everything she is, and everything she might someday become.

That last part…well, that isn’t something I’ll forget to tell her. I only hope she will hear me.

Snow day

Yay! The snow is still coming down, but just a touch. We got about 15 inches on the grass, 12 on the road. We also got some unsolicited-but-much-loved help from our neighbors, two of whom came by at different times to snow-blow our walk and driveway! With a foot of heavy wet spring snow, that would have been an amazing amount of shoveling. So nice!

My office closed early yesterday and is opening late today, but I am working from home. Only a half day, though, because we don't want to get out on the raods to take Evelyn up to my aunt Claire's house. Her area got even more snow than us!

Everyone in Denver is thankful for the moisture, but did it have to all come at one time?

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung here in Colorado, which means the flowers are starting to come out of the ground, the bushes are all budding, and we have a massive snowstorm to deal with. The forecast for my area is 12-15 inches before tomorrow morning. I think we have 3 or 4 at this point. I am working from home, Jon is out running an errand before the snow gets too bad, and Evelyn is napping. This is her second good nap of the morning, almost like she knows that when it is this cold and snowy you just have to settle in and nap.

This is the first, and probably the last, big snowstorm of the entire season. It has been really warm and dry all winter. I think I will take a "snow day" and stop working around noon. Maybe we can get Evelyn all bundled up and go explore the neighborhood in the snow!

Bye bye Bolder Boulder

I saw a doctor about the knee and while I didn't do any serious damage, he says I have some degeneration and that running is really not a good idea. At all. As in no 10K. My knees would be better suited toward bicycling or swimming or something less impactful.

I'm glad I didn't tear anything and that a little ibuprofen-and-ice therapy is likely all I'll need to get my knee to a better place, but I am totally bummed about the no running thing. Gearing up for that 10K was the first time in a long time that I have felt motivated to do anything difficult, especially involving exercise. I think setting a goal was a good thing. Now I just have to find a new goal that I can train toward. A bike race or the Iditerod or something. Ha. Iditerod.

Anyway, I need to take it easy on the bum knee until the pain goes away and hope for the best. If the pain doesn't go away, physical therapy is the next step. I would really rather not get to that place, because if PT doesn't work, a surgeon is in the future. Basically if I keep running, my doctor said I'll have to get knee surgery at some point. I don't want that. No more running.

Herbs from the garden

The weekend was full of good and beautiful days, peppered with a little humor and a pinch of exhaustion. One bad thing. I'll start with that so we can end on all the wonderfulness.

I hurt my knee jogging. I ran SIX miles last week. OK, "ran" is a strong term. Let's say "jogged with a lot of walking in the middle." But still, six miles. That is impressive. But on Friday I caught my foot on Evelyn's diaper bag and kind of twisted my right knee just a little. Not even enough for me to notice an hour later. But when I went to run my 30 minute walk/run on Saturday, I could feel a twinge. I should have stopped, but I thought it was just a normal "you are out of shape and your knees are hurting" kind of twinge, not a "you won't be able to walk for two days after this run" kind of twinge. Which it was. I've been in a whole lot of pain ever since that run ended Saturday morning. I can walk, but not down stairs, and only very slowly, and with the aforementioned pain. It's bad. I'm going to miss my 20 minute run today. I might miss this whole week. I might not be able to run again for a while. I might see a doctor. I am totally bummed about it, though, because I was so proud of myself for getting out there and jogging 6 miles in one week.

But now the good stuff. The biggest thing the Lew family did this weekend was start a container garden! We planted a few "early spring" vegetables, an herb garden, and--my favorite thing--a dwarf blueberry bush! We may have gotten a little ahead of ourselves and planted too early, but it had been in the 60s and 70s all week and we were just excited. So, since it might be a little early, we are keeping the plants in our garage at night, opening the door to let the sun in during the day, and hoping for the best. Before this summer is over we hope to grow parsley, oregano, basil, mint, chives, rosemary, green onions, garlic, squash, bell peppers, pumpkin, bok choy, soybeans, and carrots. I don't have high hopes for the blueberry bush to produce fruit this year, but hopefully in the next few we'll get some sort of yield. Oh the excitement. It was so nice to get outside, get our hands in the dirt, fill our pots and decide which vegetables and herbs would go together. We bought the herbs as plants, not seeds, and so last night we were able to take rosemary from our garden to make roasted potatoes. It was fun.

I also started learning how to knit socks, something I've wanted to do for a long time. I'm starting with a very simple pattern to learn the basics. If the socks turn out well they will be a gift to someone. If they don't, I'll keep them for myself. I knit one sock leg last night and started the heel before going to bed. I think I can maybe finish that sock tonight if I can figure out how to pick up stitches along the gusset. (Picking up stitches is really hard for me for some reason. I do it incorrectly every time.)

The rest of the weekend was laying around, running errands, not doing the dishes, and the normal stuff. We had gorgeous weather, though. Evelyn and I did a lot of sitting outside listening to the woodpeckers and dogs in the neighborhood.

First run

I promise I won't post about every run I take on my journey to the Bolder Boulder, but yesterday was the first one and it was worth blogging about. Why? Because I jogged over a mile! Yesterday I was supposed to do a two mile walk/run. My first attempt at activity since, well, forever. I didn't have high hopes. I got to the trail after a few blocks of warm-up walking and decided to just start jogging. I was slow. I have no technique. But I started and I didn't stop for about a half mile! It was awesome. Then I walked a half mile up a GIANT HILL and rested for a minute at the top while waiting for a traffic light. Then I jogged another half mile (or maybe a little more). Go me. I was so proud of myself. I did it. It sucked, it took 30 minutes, but I did it.

I feel slightly more confident that I can actually run, and finish, the Bolder Boulder 10K.

Sweet.

In other news, Evelyn is super cute. That is all.

Weekend Update

Everyone says that when you have kids your whole life changes. Nothing is the same. Everything is different. Etc. Etc. That isn't entirely true, but one thing that definitely, for sure, 100 percent changes is the weekend. Once you have a kid your weekends are no longer relaxing days to recharge for the next work week. At least they aren't for Jon and I. They are busy days filled with all the things you can't do during the week because you are working. I am usually more tired on Sunday night than I am going into the weekend on Friday night.

The weekend was busy, as always, but it was nice. The weather was delightful. Evelyn and I spent some time in the backyard feeling (and then tasting) the grass and listening to the woodpeckers. We took the dogs to the state park and let Sofie run and run and run while Tucker just tried to keep up. We ran errands and did laundry. I bought some running shoes, although I wasn't able to do anything with them because I injured my knee again (the recurring injury I've been dealing with since Japan. I'm going to the doctor on Wed and I'll ask about it).

I also finished two projects. One, a shrug for Evelyn.

The color is more purpley than it appears in this photo. It's just a little something to cover her arms when she's wearing all the adorable dresses she has. A nice spring transition piece... :)

Two, I painted my dresser and added new pulls! It used to be white with forest green trim and gold-colored pulls. Not appealing. I think I painted it those colors in high school. Anyway, I updated the whole thing with some glossy red paint and funky pulls. The place I went shopping didn't have two-pronged pulls so I improvised with a funky assortment. The dresser looks really good in the guest room/craft room now. It livens up the whole room.

(The color is a deeper red...more cherry than fire engine.)

Two of my favorite pulls, of the 9 pair I bought.

Bolder Boulder

I have this friend, Alisa, who is super beautiful and super smart and super funny and super amazing. She also has three kids, so I'm pretty sure she has super powers. A few months ago she started training for a half-marathon and I thought, "Well, that's just crazy. I could never do that. It's impossible!" Despite my negativity, the idea of a half-marathon was planted in my brain and I have decided to try for it. There is a half-marathon in Denver in June, but I think that is way too soon, so I am shooting for the one in October. Yes, I have picked a goal that is 7 months away. So be it. But to help motivate myself, and to show some commitment to something for once, I am registering for the Bolder Boulder 10K. It is Memorial Day. That gives me 10 weeks to prepare for a 6 mile run.

Holy. Cow.

I haven't done anything more than a brisk walk since I got pregnant over a year ago! Am I crazy? Maybe. Am I going to do it anyway? Yes!

The first steps on this crazy goal are:

1. Go to a specialty running store and get some running shoes that fit really well. I have bad knees and a good shoe will be key. Also, a supportive undergarment, if you catch my drift.
2. My first run is Monday, just a jog/walk for 15 minutes. That's all. I can do that.
3. Then jog/walk 2 miles on Tuesday! (I've already mapped out a two-mile route around my neighborhood!)

It goes from there. I get three weeks to jog/walk my way through 2 miles here, 35 minutes there, and then it gets to running only. We'll say jogging. Jogging only. The hardest part will be starting. And getting up earlier than I have to so I can jog before work. If I want to go after work I'll have to invest in a jogging stroller so I can take Evelyn with me.

Let the painful journey begin!

Cutest. Baby. Earth.

Observations

A few random observations on this snowy, cold morning:

** Evelyn did not sleep through the night yet again. I'm telling you, it's this dang daylight savings switch. She awoke at 1am with a giggle and a screech and stayed that way for, oh, 30-45 minutes. I'm not sure. I went in to her room when I first heard her to try and stave off the waking with a quick insert of the pacifier, but to no avail. So I went back to bed. About 20-30 minutes later Jon went in because it sounded like Evie had pulled her blanket up over her head, as she often does when she's kicking and having a good time. At some point she fell asleep on her own and so did we and all was right with the world. Until she woke up at 5am...

** I find I am becoming my mother, which isn't a bad thing. In many ways it is a good thing. Except that I have caught myself saying on more than one occasion, when looking into the car next to me on the road, "That kid isn't old enough to drive! What is he, 12?!" Yep. That's my mom. I also talk back to commercials, especially infomercials, about that stupidity of their claims. I'm not sure if my mom did that. She would always talk to us about various things we may be seeing on the TV, like how an ad that says a product is a "$49.99 value can be yours for the bargain basement price of only $19.99" is, in fact, only worth $19.99 because the value of something is what you are willing to pay for it. Stuff like that. I question the validity of claims made by the Ninja Peeler commercials. I stand by my assessement that at no time will I ever need to whittle wood and then, directly after and with the same instrument, peel a peach. Never.

** I do not, nor will I ever, understand the need for a decorative garland.

** Apparently there are many different "types" of parent out there. A blog in the Washington Post outlined 6 or 7 different labels that parents get these days, including Helicopter Parent, Free-Range Parent, Crunchy Mamma, Hipster Dad, Posh Mom, Slacker Mom, etc. While still developing my parenting style, I can pretty much say right now that I am a slacker mom with a little crunchy thrown in for good measure, with a yearning to be free-range but knowing that I'll have a lot of helicopter in me as well. Luckily Jon is a hipster, and probably a separate category--"laid back" perhaps--that will keep our household grounded.

** People in Colorado drive equally as slow when there is 1/2 inch of snow on the ground as they do when there is 8 inches. I mean, come on people! It took me way too long to get into work today.

** Tonight I think I will make corn chowder for dinner.

Poor decision-making method

This weekend Evelyn really started rolling over. She can roll from her stomach to her back from both the right and left (although she goes to the left 95% of the time). She is 3/4 of the way to rolling from back to front, but she can't quite figure out the logistics quite yet. She gets her legs over, and her body on its side, but she always gets hung up on her elbow, not knowing quite how to get all the way over. She only ever goes to the left as well. I wonder if it is because she is right-handed. Because she is. Very right-handed, in fact.

I was having a semi-exhausting Saturday with a cranky baby who didn't want to spend any time on the floor, or sitting up, or in her bouncy toys. She wanted to be held. So in a stroke of mommy genius, I took the mirror off our entryway wall and propped it up against the living room floor to help entice Evelyn to entertain herself. She loves watching herself (our little Narcissus), and will happily play on the floor for a very long time as long as she can look over and see her reflection from time to time. So funny. It was literally the first time in six months that she did tummy time without getting upset--because she could look at herself. That is when she really mastered rolling over, too. She had done it before, but really only on accident. But now, while staring at her reflection, she was able to spend enough time on her stomach to figure that if she pushed off with one hand she could slowly roll to the side. Then she likes to stare at her reflection upside down while on her back. I mean, seriously, if I was that cute I would stare at my reflection all day, too!

In not-so-awesome news, Evelyn was awake for two hours in the middle of last night. Much like the two hour wakey time she had in the middle of the night one day last week. She isn't upset, she isn't hungry, she isn't wet, she isn't sleepy--she is awake. And happy. And noisy. She will lay in her crib and grunt and screech and coo and giggle and yell, just having a grand old time. At some point she'll get upset that she can't find her pacifier, but generally she is just fine. So I can't so much employ the "cry it out" method, because she isn't crying. Nor can I employ the "go back to sleep and let her play by herself" method, because I live in an old house with ZERO wall insulation and I can hear every little creek and crack that comes from her room. So instead we employ the "trying to make parenting decisions at 2am" method, wherein Jon and I try to decide what to do in the middle of the night since we are both awake from the noise and both totally wishing we were asleep. It usually comes down to me using my boob as a pacifier because that is almost guaranteed to get her back in the vicinity of sleepy. But it is totally NOT the best thing to do--I realize it reinforces negative behavior--but it really only gets implemented after we have both been awake for over an hour.

If anyone has any awesome parenting tips to help us out, I'm all ears. She is an excellent night sleeper 85 percent of the time, but that other 15 percent....ugh.

Promotion

I got a promotion! You are no longer reading the blog of a Sr. Business Analyst. You are now reading the blog of a Business Analyst Specialist. What is the difference? Not much. A little more work and a little more money. I don't manage anyone now or anything. But it is a step up and that is always nice. Especially because I didn't solicit the promotion, I was given the promotion because my work is so valued by my supervisor. Hooray! I am very happy.

For the grandparents

For the grandparents, who I know want to know this sort of thing. And some pictures to break up the text. Isn't my spring baby adorable?

I am just so demure and beautiful. Like the flowers growing up behind me...

Evelyn had her six-month check-up and she is, officially, HUGE. Tall, actually. Here is the breakdown.

Weight: 17 lbs, 13 oz. (85th percentile)
Length: 27 inches (90th percentile)
Head circumfrence: 17 1/8 inches (80th percentile)

No, I said 'step, tap, step, tap!' Where is my gin and tonic? You! Over there! Get off the stage and bring me my drink!!

She is big. Big big big. So big that the pediatrician said she has outgrown baby tylenol and is now ready for children's tylenol. So big that she is almost too big for her car seat. We're probably a month or two away from needing to get the "big kid" convertable car seat and retiring the infant car seat. She is happy and healthy and developmentally on-target (or a little ahead...really, she's a genius).

I have an old man face. Grrrrr. I stick my gums out at you!

The only health-related excitement around here is that my lower eyelids have had some sort of a reaction to this eye cream I tried to use and now I look like I'm either high or infected with pink eye. It's awesome.

But that is neither here nor there. Evelyn is good. And that's all the grandparents care about. :)

Happy half birthday, Evelyn

My office has been undergoing various construction projects for over a year. The final element of that rebuild was to move the reception area from the third floor down to the main lobby on the first floor. The third floor reception area is now just an empty space with a big desk, a couple of chairs and a couch. I mention this because Evelyn had a very bad night of sleep last night, which means Jon and I had a very bad night of sleep last night, and the couch in the abandoned reception area is calling my name. If only it wasn't still a major traffic area from one side of the building to the other...

Today Evelyn is six months old. Her half birthday. A milestone. Something. I'm really too tired to get all excited. She has taken to crabbiness the past week. It is, my friend recently said, as if she is on the cusp of something else but can't quite get there. I think she is frustrated she can't be more mobile. Or maybe she is teething. Or maybe she is just outgrowing her 4-month-old personality and making way for a new 6-month-old personality. Whatever it is, she is crankypants babypants and it is very tiring.

Which isn't to say that she isn't equal parts adorable. No, really she is at least twice as cute as she is cranky, which makes it impossible to get upset. She has started making the funniest crinkled old man face. Her nose squishes up and her brow furrows and she opens her lips in this hilarious square way, like she is sticking her gums out at you. Oh man, it is funny. Not easy to capture on the camera, but funny. She also will go from giggles to angry cries and back again all in the same breath. I wish so much that I knew what she was thinking about in those moments. I wish I knew what she was thinking most of the time. I think she would have some very interesting things to say. Probably something like, "Mom, seriously...t-shirt and jeans again? Can't we move past the all-cotton-all-the-time look? I promise I won't spit up on you..." Or maybe "Carrots! CarrotsCarrotsCarrotsCarrots! Carrots!"

She loves her carrots.