Half birthdays

We've got two half birthdays this month - Teo turned 7 1/2 on January 1st and Hugo will be 6 months on the 11th. I never knew how big of a deal half birthdays were. You don't get presents (but doesn't hurt to keep asking, just in case someone changes their mind and is feeling generous) however you could be lucky enough to get cake. Teo's mom made funfetti cake for her - her favorite kind.

Teo's becoming such a big kid. First grade really changes a person. She's much more independent, graceful, works really well with her hands (drawing, knitting, cutting, chopping) and is quite resilient. This week she lost her 7th tooth-- accompanied by a lot of blood and trauma but surprisingly no tears. She's sleeping in the upstairs room on her own, helps out a ton with Hugo, has a whole repertoire of songs she can play on the piano and violin, is learning so much at school, and does her own hair in the morning and it actually looks good. Just the other day I was thinking back to when I first got to know her when she was turning 5, and what a tiny person she was. Now she's 6 months away from being baptized.

No blood, but definitely trauma (for me) and tears when it comes to Hugo's sleeping habits. Over the last few weeks we've had lots of excitement with visiting family and traveling, but also lots of colds and congestion. Poor baby gets just as congested as any adult would but he can't blow his nose. No amount of wiping, suctioning or q-tipping could relieve the stuffy nose. He wasn't sleeping well because he couldn't breathe and would wake up in the night crying. Long story short(er), he'd gotten to the point where would only sleep in our bed while being held, and still only getting a fraction of the amount of sleep he needed. So this week we're trying tough love, or rather, letting him cry a little before falling asleep. It's terrible to listen to your baby crying, but after a few rounds of cry/close the door/wait/rub his back/cry/wait he does fall asleep, I think because he's so exhausted. I know there are lots of different methods and approaches to getting babies to sleep, but for us, the best is to have him sleep in his own space. (Just about every night up to now, including last night, he spends at least a portion of the night sleeping in our bed because I can't bring myself to setting him back down in the crib when he wakes up, even when the crib was in our room).

The first night he cried I had to soothe myself afterward, so I got the camera out and downloaded all the cute pictures from the last month or so. He makes the funniest faces, sucking on his bottom lip until it turns purple. He loves the johnny jump up and can become quite hyper. He does these open-mouth-sucking kisses while pulling quite painfully on your hair. He's figured out how to roll across the room. He loves riding in the baby bjorn and seeing everything that's going on, and reaching for stuff while I'm trying to get dinner made (watch out for that knife baby!).

the tooth sitting at an unnatural angle

one of the few johnny jump up pictures that was actually in focus

cute little hat he got for christmas

chumpy face

Halloween costumes

Seems like my writing skills have gone downhill at an alarming pace. Blog entries have become either wordless or only picture captions. I blame it on the sleep deprivation.

Trying to catch up with the pictures. I found a costume for Hugo at Me 'n Mom's in Ballard, a consignment store for baby stuff. The only thing they had in Hugo's size was a dalmatian costume so that's what I got, only to discover later that Teo was a dalmatian for her first Halloween, too. (And with a birthday just 10 days before him, they were both about the same size for their first Halloweens.)

Teo's mom made her a volcano costume complete with red hot lava running down her head. We met up with Teo, kids from her school, and the nannies and their kids at the park where they have non-scary "friends of the forest"-- parents and teachers dressed up and handing out candy at various places around the park. Hugo decided he'd had enough excitement around 5pm and proceeded to have a meltdown, so we went home to hand out candy to all 5 groups of kids that came by the house.

Frida and Teo

Nannies' kids and cousins

Kaia as Harry Potter - the glasses are barely hanging onto his little nose

Dylan the pharaoh

detachable tail why?

the little aviator hat has become very snug

Happy Halloween

Back to work

I started back at work today and things went pretty well. The nanny has been watching the baby for a few hours nearly every day since the beginning of September, but this was the longest I've been away from him in one stretch. I tried to get everything planned out the night before, with the pump and bottles and purse (haven't used one of those in 3 months, it's just been the diaper bag) and setting the alarm early enough that I'd have time to either pump or feed, then shower, eat and get out the door on time. Even with Joe's help I wasn't quite on time to work, but that shouldn't surprise anyone.... Anyway, I guess my point is that it was difficult to say good bye to the baby and I missed him terribly during the day. Saturday night we had our first real date and went to the opera, and I kept thinking about the baby and how cute he is and how I just want to cuddle him and how he's growing so fast and ....

I realized I didn't have any pictures of him at work, and I need some badly. Maybe that will just make me miss him more. Dunno. But look at this cutie - how could I not miss being around him?

crazy eyes!

Well hello there!

Hugo discovered his right hand today

* update - the "Centering" group mentioned below is a group organized by the hospital of all the families who are expecting babies around the same time. Instead of going in individually for monthly checkups, a group of about 9 couples (primarily first time parents) meet for prenatal visits together and discuss a myriad of pregnancy related issues. Belly checks, weight, blood pressure, and any other checks are taken individually. It's ideal for first time parents who don't know anything about pregnancy and have so many questions, or don't even know what questions to ask. It's also meant to be an ongoing support group - you know, people who are in a similar situation getting together to talk. Not hippie.

Hugo is getting to an age where he can sit and stare at a toy for quite a long stretch. He's not to the point of reaching for it, but will stare and goo goo at it, while foaming at the mouth and kicking his legs. He's been doing this for the last 30 minutes--

Last weekend we had a reunion with our centering group. It was fun to see how all the babies had grown. Here's the obligatory (and incredibly cute) baby lineup. Hugo's holding steady in the middle. It was hilarious to see the babies all sitting there, some sleeping, some leaning, some being soothed with white noise.

setting up the shot

relaxin'

falling... look at that nicely shaped head!

finally all the ducks in a row

Thigh creases

Goodbye chicken legs

Hugo has this one sleep stage where he's not quite awake but not in deep sleep either. During this stage he squeaks, grunts like an old man, smiles, whimpers and flails his arms and legs. Some say we should just swaddle him, but Houdini here can get out of the tightest blanket. He lifts his legs straight up and then bends at the knees repeatedly, then pulls his arms sideways and upwards until all appendages are free and the blanket is just loosely wrapped around his middle. Last night I slept with Hugo downstairs on a mushy futon so he kept rolling towards me. I'd wake up to little arms flailing and tiny legs kicking me. I tried to hold his arms and legs down but he just grunted and wiggled more and tried to straighten his legs over and over and pull his arms from my grip -- all while in this not-quite-awake stage. After a while he'd finally relax and I'd fall asleep again, only to wake to noisy sucking. Yes, he's discovered that his little fingers are just the right size for sucking, sometimes several at a time. I'll have to try to get video of this sometime.

Speaking of other things I don't have pictures of, about a week ago we got a Baby Bjorn (chosen over other carriers because Hugo likes to face out). Joe had it on and we were trying to get the baby situated in it, but apparently Hugo still had some gas bubbles because as I was fixing a burp cloth over the front of it, he let loose with a fountain of milk. As quick as I think I am with a burp cloth, I couldn't get to it before he sneezed. That's right, burped up milk sprayed all over my face and a little bit in my mouth. Joe was calling out "get the camera!" but it was too late, I was already at the kitchen sink washing it off. Now I wish I had that picture.