America's Next Top Baby

Today was our little supermodel's first photo shoot. Edy did great, and NewMom reports that the photographer said she was "a natural". It's the first step on a long road of international travel and fantastic multicultural experiences she will have as America's Next Top (Baby) Model.

OK, really, we just did it for the shoes. NewMom got an email about a call for baby models for a shoe store website - www.seekairun.com. They were looking for models for next years catalogue/web site. We just had some pictures taken, so we emailed them in to see what would happen. Pay for the gig was 3 pairs of shoes - and we need shoes!

They emailed us back and said we should bring Edy in. Awesome, shoes! NewMom took Edy to the location, where we thought they would dress her up, put some shoes on her, do the photo shoot, and give us the shoes. In fact, we found out that it was just a casting call. So instead they put her in front of a blank white screen, took five photos, and said thanks.

At the casting call, NewMom was in front of a Gucci-glam Mom who had dressed her daughter like a little princess - I didn't get clear about if the little girl had on makeup or not. NewMom, meanwhile, was in her turtleneck sweatshirt and pants, and Edy was dressed in her food stained shirt from lunch and a pair of jeans. Remember, we thought THEY were going to dress her.

Edy's sheer charisma won out, because she was asked back for the actual photo shoot, which happened today. The catalogue comes out fall of 2010, and apparently we can get the photographers proofs from the photo shoot in August of next year. Sure, they will be a bit old by then, but great for the scrapbook!

We think this may be a one shot deal. It was a lot of effort and trips by NewMom and Edy just for three pairs of shoes - even if they are $50 a pair. We're happy to email photos, but a casting call? One trip too many, and we even were picked for the shoot this time around. We would really be kicking ourselves for spending the effort if we didn't get the gig. Still, NewMom did say that Edy had a great time at the photo shoot. They had a professional "baby wrangler" and all kinds of toys that Edy enjoyed, so it's not out of the question...

I will send out the images and/or link when I hear of it next year. Please note for your records, Edy has now requested all correspondance or gifts be addressed to her modelling name - Edythe, no last name, just one word - like Iman, or Twiggi, or Cher...

First Kiss

I'm late on this post , but NewDad got his first kiss last week from his baby. Talk about the best thing ever!
I was making kissy noises from across the room, like I always do and she always ignores, and this time she came all the way across the room and did the lean in... No mistaking that intent, she leaned in, and you all know what that means - she got a big smacker from NewDad.
We've been kissing every day since, though NewMom seems to get more action than NewDad does.
For some things, you have no idea what you are missing...

I hope I don't have to write another "first kiss" post for 2o years.

First TT

Today before bath time, Edy took her first TT in the potty. Yeah Edy!
She has been sitting on her little potty just before bath off an on for about 4 weeks now. For a long time she would sit on the potty, then get up and TT on the bathroom floor or in the tub, but today she went in the potty!
Of course she was praised with much enthusiasm. Then she started playing in it, which for some reason grossed out NewMom. So Dad cleaned up and put her in the bath.
Hopefully, but not with expectations, this is the start of a "thing". But we'll see...

White Trash Swimming Pool

So our friends Jen and Paolo have this extraordinarily cool turtle swimming pool that Edy loves to play in with their son. Unfortunately we have no cool pool, so we let her climb in and out of our lasagna pan.

When outside and feeling uppity, Edy starts throwing gang signs, I mean, uh, pointing.

Plumbing Fun

NewDad got the pleasure of getting a phone call at work yesterday where NewMom told him that the toilet was plugged up and she didn't know why. Well, she kind of new why, but didn't know exactly what was down there - the glittery gold ball was accounted for, the other balls wouldn't fit - no little paper book parts surfaced when she plunged the toilet. Whatever could it be?

So NewDad spent an hour last night removing the toilet, and looking in the bottom to find a measuring tape that NewMom had given Edy to with only that afternoon. So hopefully we learned a lesson about keeping the toilet seat down...

Only the future holds the answers...

Trying Something New

I don't know if her Uncle Jo will ever kiss her again...

Eating on her own

Edy decided she is going to eat with a fork or spoon. Sometimes she gets a little frustrated and digs in with her hands, but she makes a consistent effort with the spoon first.
She's tried yogurt, applesauce, and Cheerios so far. Those Cheerios are tough though - she doesn't get them with milk yet, and they aren't very sticky.

More Words

Get ready for a flurry of updates.

The first one: Edy is developing quite a vocabulary. She now say ball, baby, and bath clearly enough for anyone to understand, she's good on the "B's". She also says up, teeth (as in brushing), and uh-oh. She signs words for cat, dog, brushing (as in teeth) and guitar (she made those up herself), airplane/bird, more, milk, sleepy, all done, parent (there doesn't seem to be a difference in the sign for Mom or for Dad), eat, and drink. I'm sure there is a few I am forgetting. She is obviously a girl-genius. :-).

My favorite though, is this morning when we got up, she made the sign for eat, then she made the sign and said the word - "O's" - she wanted Cheerios for breakfast!

First Word?!?

Edy yesterday said baa-bie while pointing at a yogurt container with a picture of a baby on it. She semi-consistently does it with books with pictures of babies, so we are sure she knows what it means.

Just like with walking, I'm not sure how clear it has to be to call it a word, but it is definitely two separate sounds with an associated meaning, so it sounds like speech to me.

I also forgot to mention she signs hot and cold, and she can almost say ball. Of course, the "l's" don't quite make it on the end there, but we're making progress.

Edy Sick, but Signing

Well we had a good long run of no colds for about 6 weeks I think. But Edy has the sniffles again - a little summer cold. She's been waking up 3-4 times a night and seems generally inconsolable except for NewMom's boobs.

She has been signing up a storm recently - and I think it is the coolest thing. NewMom and I have been teaching her sign language since she was about 10 months. About 11 1/2 months she started signing back to us. And it seems she's gaining new ones every day. She started with just "milk", but now she signs to us: daddy, eat/hungry, sleep, all done, more, airplane, and dog. She also made up her own sign for brushing teeth.

Edy Birthday!

On Saturday, we celebrated Edy's birthday - though I'm pretty sure Edy didn't really care. We had other friends there, and lots of munchkins running around. Since it was the first nice day of Spring, we had the whole event basically on the front lawn. NewMom's brother was also in town, and Edy's NewAunt Joanne was also here from down south in Oregon.

New Dad baked cupcakes and iced them himself. I will show her these pictures when she is 15 and yells at me that I never do anything foe her. I can tell her I made cupcakes!

More to come...

NewGrandmom Visits

NewGrandMom came up a few days before Edy's birthday and hung out in our basement since we didn't have renter. OK, maybe she didn't hang out there, but she did stay down there at night, and I think it all worked out OK. She had her own bed and kitchen, it was like a mini-hotel.

NewGrandMom babysat, went with Edy and NewDad to the Children's Museum, went to the park, and helped set up for her Birthday party. Not to mention all the cleaning and dishdoing in between. It was great having her here.

Out of Towners

The weekend before Edy's birthday, we had some out of towners come in from Portland and Monroe. Bev (who married NewMom and NewDad) came north, and Bridget and Michael came south. It seems we only got pictures of about half of them. Edy didn't quite know what to make of all the new faces. NewGrandpa Stan was visiting also.

Out at the Locks (Sort of)

We never actually got to the Ballard Locks on this trip. It was a little cold and Edy was getting sleepy and cranky - we made it as far as Me 'n' Moms, a used baby clothing store, which is just down the block. These were taken outside the visitors center, after we all had a healthy lunch of chowder, and fish and chips from the take-out place across the street. Yes, Edy does like french fries.

We also are showing ff our brand new stroller (OK, new to us - it was a Craigslist purchase). It has the ability to have the baby facing you while you push, instead of always facing forward. In our other face-forward stroller, it seemed Edy was always extremely bored, so we tried this one. Maybe she outgrew the phase, but she seems fine facing either way now. This stroller also has a really cool tray in front where she can eat, and the all important coffee cup holders. :)

Standing and Walking

These pictures are from April 23rd. Edy is getting more sure-footed about walking, and standing in no problem whatsoever. She seems to be better at walking than she thinks she is, but crawling is still the quicker way to travel right now.

Long Time, No blog...

Well, it's been over a month, and many things have happened. Edy turned 1, there was a Birthday party, she is making her first sign, she eats with a fork (sort of), NewGrandmom was here, and so is the summer so lots of new activities outside. See all the posts and pictures that follow...

Some more recent Edy pics

A few of the looks other than smiling that sometimes cross her face. These are pretty recent.

Her birthday is coming up on May 11th. Holy Crap! NewMom and NewDad have been parents for almost a year. We don't know how we've survived.

Coming at You Walking 2

A second video of the upright Edy from a different perspective.

Caught on Video: Walking

Edy has begun to string some steps together, and has even begun to walk from place to place without any prompting. In this video, however, she is VERY prompted.

She Walks!

I'm not an expert, and I don;t know when you actually count "walking" as "walking", but Edy took 5 steps on her own today walking from NewMom to NewDad, then took three more as she fell over into NewMom's arms, AND I THINK THAT'S CLOSE ENOUGH!

Yeah Edy! Now the real fun begins. We better baby proof fast. She sure does enjoy the walking on her own, giggles and laughs the whole time she's trying. We haven't let her fall down much trying yet, so we'll see how that goes when the time comes.

I am posting some recent pics of nothing in particular except a cute baby to commemorate the occasion.

No One Comes Into MY House...

Edy has caught the March Madness. Apparently she is a North Caroline fan. Sorry NewGrandpa Stan!

Edy Virgina Post Part 2

More photos from the Virginia trip. I love this chair, Great Grandma Edythe bought it for NewGrandMom when she brought home her first child (NewMom's brother). It is still in their family, and NewGrandMom is still dispensing wisdom to all those who occupy it. I wonder if Edy's predecessor's listened as well as Edy.

The next one is Edy being excited about her walking course with NewGrandMom.

Unfortunately, Edy did not sleep well while on vacation - got up every hour or two hours while in the crib that NewGrandMom bought for her. So NewMom didn't get much vacation time, except during the day when there was round the clock child care. NewMom took advantage then and kept up on sleep as best she could.

The wheels on the bus go round and round...

Some Recent Pictures

Since I haven't posted any pictures of Edy recently, here are some.

4 Pajama Night

I'm a little late in posting, this actually happened on Thursday evening, but I thought you would enjoy (or not) hearing about it. More typical life of the parents of infants, I guess.
NewMom wakes me up at about 2:AM - this is a typical time when she feeds Edy at night, and asks me to help cleanup where Edy had vomited all over the pillow and blanket where NewMom was feeding her. In my drowsy stater I quickly start picking things up and mumbling OK, OK, then came to my senses - "She what?"
Edy has vomited only one other time, while I was at work. NewMom called me and then called the nurse hot line. For those of you who don't know - infant vomiting is only worth mentioning to a heath professional if a) it's happened about 7 times in the last 3 hours and is causing dehydration, or b) there is some sort of bile or like material being regurgitated. So the random throw up - no big deal, apparently it happens.
So as we are cleaning up the mess - and NewMom changes her pajamas, Edy proceeds to regurgitate a second and quickly third time - causing yet another pajama change and NewDad to get even more towels from the closet.
The final pajama change came a little later in the evening, when NewMom changed her again because she wet through her diaper and soaked her pajamas - hence a record 4 pajama night.
Just to make a note, no one told me about this part BEFORE I had a kid.

Edy turns 9 months

Yesterday, Edy turned 9 months old. Hard to imagine how time has gone by so fast. She went to the doctor for a checkup, and her says she looks fantastic, and is tracking very well on her development.
She is 80th percentile in head circumference, 55th in height and about 50th in weight - 27 3/4" and 18.9 lbs for those of you keeping score. So my daughter is just about exactly average, except she has a big head. Hmmm...sounds familiar....
She got only one shot this time, and DID NOT like it. NewMom took her for her last appointment by herself and said Edy barely noticed it when they gave her the shot last time. This time that was not the case.
Future work for NewMom and NewDad - start brushing her teeth, or at least let her start gumming the toothbrush to prepare for tooth brushing, and weaning off of night feeding. Night feedings are not only disruptive to parents, but when she gets more teeth, we will have to start brushing them after she eats at night, which doesn't sound too pleasant for anyone.
We also have temper tantrums to start looking forward to, as she gets more mobile, she gets more independent, and we don't want her doing certain things - she she will get irritated. Yeah, fun child raising! But we also have walking to look forward to. i will be happy when that happens so I can save my back from bending over all that time to hold her hands as she runs through the house now.
All in all, a good visit, I'll post the pictures when I get them downloaded off the camera.

Edy's Virginia Visit Part 1

So much happened while Edy was in Virginia with NewGrandma - she fed geese and went on the swing, and learned to read. OK, not really learned to read, but she will obviously be a good student - look at that focus!

She also learned got much better at crawling, following NewMom up and down the hall, and cruising through NewGrandma's L shaped living room set and footstool. It allowed her to hold on to both sides and walk forward, which she really enjoyed, according to NewMom.

When she got back, she looked different - it was very odd that after only a week she had changed that much. Somehow she looked more like a little girl than a baby. I'm probably the only one that sees it, so it goes.

Return from Virginia

Edy and NewMom just got back from visiting NewGrandmom in Virginia fro a whole week. NewDad was left at home, conflicted. On one hand, he sorely missed NewMom and his little girl. On the other hand, he got a lot of stuff done and slept very well.

I will string out happenings over the next few entries, but to condense: Edy's travel score is a C. She did very well actually on the plane, but sleeping nights when she was there was just not happening. She seems to be doing well the first night back home - at least so far.

She was the darling of the flight home to everyone except the guy who was seated in front of her - he deserved it for reclining his seat on an afternoon flight while sitting in front of a woman who has a 9 month old babe in arms.

The flight attendants liked her so much they asked her to pose for a photo op.

She Poops, She Crawls, She Stands, She Cruises!

Well, it has been a heckuva last three days.

We were worried for a bit, OK, NewMom was worried, that Edy hasn't had a movement for 7 days as of Sunday, but then it all happened. Luckily, I mean too bad for NewDad, he was doing yard work (yes, in the middle of winter - whole other story) when it happened, so he was unable to be contacted for cleanup of the toxic site. But on to less disgusting and more fun news...

Edy is crawling forward - finally, after almost 6 weeks of getting on her knees and scooting backwards and rocking back and fourth. I don't know what did it - she just sort of started leaning forward and staying on her hands and knees instead of falling on her stomach and away she used to. NewMom says her favorite item to chase is her mobile phone placed just out of reach, and she will really go after it. I haven't seen it yet.

Also, Edy pulled herself up to standing in the bathtub form a sitting position, using only the edge of the tub for support. She did a repeat performance for NewMom, but I don't think that's the place we really want her practicing that skill often.

Finally, she has begun cruising - meaning she travels while holding on to other non-moving objects, like coffee tables and sofas. It takes her a while, and she needs motivation, but she rarely falls, and does a good job of landing on her butt and upright when she does. NewDad has to be careful, he is a bit cocky and thinks she can handle it on her own and probably doesn't stay as close to her as he should. Then again, she fell down once today and looked at NewDad ready to cry, but NewDad just continued on building his tower with blocks like nothing happened, so she just carried on her merry way.

First Tooth

Well Edy finally has her first tooth, though you can't quite see it yet - believe me we would have photographed it by now. She wasn't really that grumpy while teething, but you can feel the tooth - definitely can feel the tooth - just ask NewMom about the breastfeeding now.

Also on the crawiling front - she's still not quite doing it. I think she took two lunges forward today, which almost counts, but since I don't know if it was intentional, I don't think I can get that excited about it.

She can stand in one place without falling with no support for about 10 seconds. And she loves to stand against the sofa, or hold on to the footstool and play with whatever is in reach on top of the footstool. She has also started cruising around the footstool on her own - though she moves very slowly and we are are still catching her when she falls.

I think she might just skip crawling.

Edy's Blessing Day

One of these days, I will write enough posts so that I can stop apologizing for not posting more. But that day is not today.

Edy's Blessing Day was last Saturday, we did a small in-home ceremony to wish Edythe all the best in the life she has ahead of her.

Her surrogate grandpa Vaughn Hoffman did the opening Invocation, then NewMom and I recommitted to the vows we made as to how we promised each other we would raise our family. We asked others support in doing the same, and though we didn't vote individually, I think everyone was a go.

Finally, some people read their individual blessing they wrote for Edythe aloud, and there were some great ones, though I'm no going to play favorites. We ended with a singalong, and a closing gathering where everyone held hands.

It was great, I want to thank everyone who came, and all those who sent a blessing. It meant a lot to NewMom also. Once Edy got used to being the center of attention and being in the crowd I think she did OK too.

We haven't got the photos back from our official photographer yet, but Auntie Ann did get some good shots and even a little non-embarrassing video. Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/annfuchs/EdytheSBlessingDay# for the early pics. I'm sure I will post more once I see them.

Long Time No Post

So much to say. It's amazing that time flies by without me writing in this thing.

So Edy enjoyed her first Christmas, or what she understood of it, which I think was nothing unusual. She does enjoy grabbing the tree when it is in range and stuffing all the ribbons and crinkly wrapping paper that she can reach into her mouth.

She got lots of cool stuff. Grandmom K got her a bunch of cool toys, and NewDad's brother and sister got her some great clothes and the most fantastic wool boots (they make NewMom and NewDad look cool when she wears them). NewDad's other brother got her a great onsie - (see picture), and NewMom's brother got her this very cute Chrsitmas Grinch that is about as big as she is.

Of course, her favorite toy is always the one that you never expect. Grandma R sent a little mini rolling pin. It's kind of heavy, but it makes just a slight squeek when the rolling part moves. She seems to gravitate toward that one the most. She likes to chew on the handles and swing it around.

More to come soon...