Long time, no write!

It's been a very long time since I had a spare moment, and chose to use it writing here. So much has happened!

Vi is crawling and cruising (for you laypeople - that means pulling herself up into standing, and sort of walking around while holding onto furniture). She is babbling, still. As you can see below, she is pointing. At everything. All the time. Sometimes, she points up with both hands, then cocks her head to the side and shrugs. Talk about cute!! When she's crawling away from me, I say, "Excuse me, Miss?" and she stops, turns, giggles, then continues along her way. As if to say, "Yeah? You talkin' to me? Talk to my taillights, 'cuz I'm outta here." She still emits a loud, crystal-shattering shriek whenever Mitten saunters into eyesight. (She also made this noise at an airline stewardess mid-flight. Almost made her spill my tomato juice.)

We drove to Westwood, MA for a bridal shower two weeks ago. Vi slept the entire way there and back, and was great at the party. She oohed and aahed as Haley opened her gifts. She flipped through her ABC board book. One of the games at the shower was for the bride to answer 'trivia' questions about the groom. One question was "what book is Jared currently reading?" The correct answer was, "He's not reading anything right now." Someone piped up and said, "That baby's reading more than your fiance'!" Okay...you had to be there. Funnier in the moment.

She really IS reading a lot...if you put a pile of toys and a pile of books in front of her, she will paw through the books first.

One thing she's not doing is sleeping well. Not napping for me during the day (she napped for a brand-new babysitter the other day, but for me? No.) and certainly not sleeping through the night. Not "sleeping like a baby" at all. Whoever came up with that phrase is an idiot. We've tried the go-to-sleep routine. We've tried the let-her-cry for just-a-minute routine. We've tried keeping her in bed. She just won't give us a real pattern to follow, or try to adapt! When one starts to emerge, so do four new teeth, so she's up in pain. Or she'll get a cold. Or a vaccination. I know how tired I am - I haven't had more than a dozen full nights of sleep in 18 months! She must be pretty tired, too. Not sure where she gets all of her giggling and crawling energy from.

She's eating a lot, too. Avocado, carrots, potatoes. Pears, apples, blueberries. Oatmeal, barley, rice. Bread, Pirate's Booty, Cheerios. She has days when she insists on self-feeding, and others when the spoon can't get from mouth to bowl to mouth fast enough. She has six teeth - four on top, two on the bottom. Her toothy grin keeps getting cuter. She was "kissing" Dan last night (this involves a lot of drool and a slimy baby tongue on your cheek) and decided to chomp down on his cheek. He has a big red mark from it! And yes, I'm still breastfeeding. No injuries to report.

Grammy (my mom) is back to feeling herself, and has been coming to watch Vi twice a week for the past couple of weeks. She'll continue doing one day a week, and may stick to two if she wants to. Vi crawls towards her, screeching and smiling, every time she arrives.

Other family news:

Dad had a 1.6 cm kidney stone lithotripsied-out two weeks ago. Suddenly his back doesn't hurt anymore. :-)

Steph is showing and glowing, as she should be! I forget how beautiful a pregnant woman can be!
They'll be moving back to NYC after the baby comes - JD first, for work, then Steph to follow.

Ben has started T-Ball, and Noelle is the coach. (Co-coaching with Mr. McHotty.)

Noelle broke/sprained her foot the other day.

I broke a toe the next day in sympathy.

Dan is super-busy with work again. It's that time of year - he works in retail, for a marine supplier. His weeks have gone from a standard 45 hours to about 60+ hours. He doesn't get paid overtime, and there are days when he leaves so early and gets home so late that he doesn't see Vi at all. I know it's a good job, but it seems like other people would do this "paying your dues" thing for a couple of years to get ahead...and we just keep paying and paying and paying, and getting further behind. And we miss him. It's hard being a single mom for a few hours each day - I can't imagine doing it full-time.

After a long search full of FRUIT LOOPS, LUNATICS, and FLAKES...we finally found a mother's helper/babysitter to come watch Vi on my work-at-home days. She's got a great attitude, is super-helpful, has great instincts with Vi, and Vi loves her. Feet-kicking, screeching and pointing when she arrives. :-)
Work has finally levelled off for me...funny how childcare has helped me get caught up, eh?

Spring is finally here - the lilacs are in bloom, my tulips are all up (well, the ones that remain after the squirrel pillaging), the sun is shining..! Springtime in Maine is the best. We got our inaugural ice cream cone a couple of weeks ago. It's so nice to get out, too. Even a quick stroll around the block, or just sitting on a blanket in the grass, is such a much-needed change of pace. Summer will be here soon, and it's a busy one. We have four weddings (well, 3 weddings and one Civil Union) to attend, seven family birthdays, one anniversary, several friends' and babies' birthdays, lots of fish to catch, squash to grill, weeds to pull, and grass-stains to get. I'm dying to get Vi into a pool somewhere, too. She has a couple of swim suits already...yes, I'll post some pictures. :-)

She's still asleep, so I should really be getting some work done, some laundry folded, some dishes washed...something.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Looking forward to seeing some of you as you come to Maine this summer!!!