On The Road

So the family is in Orlando, after a few days of "Baby in Vegas". Mad and I had lots of fun figuring out the monorial and were in heaven with all the shopping. We didn't even spend a lot of money, because most of the shops were full of stuff we'd just have no place to wear...

Quite a contrast, the innocence of a new baby and the drunken stumbling masses puking on the sidewalk.

It was Mad's and my first time in Vegas, and it was a lot like an adult Disney World, lot sof rides and sites and themed resorts...the buffet wasn't great, andthe cigarette smoke was nasty, but all in all we had a great time.

I guess the best part was how we asserted our independance and negotiated a city on our own. It was liberating and quite fulfilling.

Plus we learned that I am an a**hole stroller driver, and peeps besta get outta my way...

Baby on the plane was not nearly as bad as I expected, even though we had a full plane full of children. Of course Mad was the best behaved, and I was pleasantly surprise dand pleased with the whole experience.

Now we are in sunny (but a little chilly) Florida, and Mad has met her last set of grandparents, moved up to size 2 diapers, learned to laugh out loud, reached her 7 week birthday and is getting geared up for her infant baptism on Sunday.

It has already been a full week and she hasn't even met all her friends or her aunties yet, so we are still excited with all we have to do.

I will post some pics of the trip when we get home...too busy taking pictures to worry about that now ...

A Message from Mad

Hey you guys, Mad here. Mom has been getting me out a lot lately since I got over my cold. It is totally weird. I go to sleep at home but when I wake up, I am somewhere else. Generally a restaurant. And I always wake up when the food comes.

It is kinda my move.

I don't like getting dressed up, but my Dad thinks I am "SO friggity cute" in my big girl outfits. How friggity cute is this cargo skirt?

I am kinda dressed like Mom.

Sometimes we go on "outdoor outings" and I have to bundle...

Mom and Dad think I look like a polar bear in this one...

Anyway lots of times Mom and I just need a nap.

We kind of wear each other out. Not to mention Dad is super full of energy. So he wears us out, too.

It was Gramcracker's birthday the other day so she came over before we went to lunch with Auntie Bev and she took lots of pictures of me and my mom.

That's rad, because since mom takes most of the pictures, there aren't a lot that we are in together. I like this one because it looks like mom made me a wig of her hair. She is really hoping it turns a little redder...


But mostly she just loves me hard. I can tell my mom had wanted me for a long time. She must have been storing kisses forever, because she seems to have an endless supply of them.

I can't wait until I can kiss her back.

Happy Family Outing

So we went to the beach to introduce little Miss Madelyn to Lake Tahoe. I don't know if she opened her eyes much, she tends to sleep when Charlie has her in her front pack. The dogs were pretty stoked to be able to get outside and run around without too much snow underfoot.

Here is Zeus man on the pier at Valhalla. He has maybe two faces he gives for pictures. The "throw the stick" face and the "duh, what? face". I will let you guess which one this is...

This has got to be my favorite picture of these two yet...

There is something super sweet about a guy and his daughter. Something a little rough and something so soft. They are just the cutest together.

Speaking of cute. Check out Ono in the snow. She always looks so lovely with a white backdrop, and her fur looks pretty smart for a tundra chihuahua, with all its adorable little curlies and odd lengths. Everyone always asks me what she is.

I say "dog".

While we were on the beach we ran into an Irish Wolfhound. Ono and the Wolfy didn't really believe the other was a real dog...

It is funny, this picture looks almost exactly the same in its black and white version. Zoie is so pretty, and she is very good at posing for great shots.


I am just excited about the warm weather we are about to get ourselves into. I have a feeling Florida never looked so good to me before...

Raddest Valentime Ever!

Sure hope y'all had a great Valentine's Day. Mine was pretty sweet, although we had to celebrate a day early, not that we mind. I got candy and flowers and very romantic things and we went for sushi.

And I got this rad valentine which is probably my favoriteist ever...

When I woke up this morning, I rolled over and started to get all my morning kisses from Madelyn. Her little puss is so cute and she makes lips likes she is trying to kiss, and so you just have to kiss it back. Well, I do.


Anyway, today she decided kisses are funny and she's really smiling. There have been smiles since she was born and a few of them really didn't seem to be gas or poop related, but they were few and far between. These new smiles she gives with her whole face. Her eyes light up, and she gums up a cute one, and I just melt. And she can give them over and over all day long.

Oh, this I like.

She has been a little bit fussy lately and I was so frustrated when it started but now I am starting to get it - she isn't fussy, she is expressing herself and that is just what things sound like right now. And the good news is this expression is becoming more dynamic because she is learning at ludicrous speed. And now she is learning to express not only discomfort, but happy feelings and familiarity, and content.

Which is way less frustrating, in fact it seems like a little miracle . She seems like a little miracle - this little person who loves to snuggle and stare at me and coo and smile and fall asleep on my chest. She is so little, and it blows my mind that one day she will be as big as me.

11lbs 11oz of pure love, behbeh!

Should I go back to the short blond hair?
Charlie and I think it was pretty cute!

I know many moms cut the hair after the baby, and I have been working so hard to grow it out, but it seems that it constantly it matted with baby spit up, or being pulled by sticky little hands...

I don't know.

But I am looking for a new hairdo, and happy to take some suggestions...


Madelyn had her 1 month check up yesterday, and she is healthy as a horse!
(and almost as heavy as one!)

She weighs 11lbs, 11oz, which is about the size of an average 3 month old...she is growing super fast!

She loves her Daddy hard! Lately she has been a bit fussy - just a little overloaded by her new surrounding and the world at large.

I know how that feels. I can feel a bit overwhelmed myself.

I also know how great her Dad is at making it all better.

He has magic hugs.

A message from Ono

Ono here! Just thought I would take a little time to show you what kind of foolishness has been going on in our house lately...

Just so you guys can see picture proof...I used to be the baby around here...

It isn't as bad as I thought it would be. First, all this stuff kept coming to our house...toys and soft blankets and weird things you ride in or on. I really like the stuff. I was pretty sure it was mine.

And then Mom and Dad had a spend the night out of the house and came back with the baby.

I was a little disappointed/confused/insecure for a few days, but I am actually starting to like her. Even though I am pretty sure she poops in her pants.

So the other day we went for a walk in the neighborhood, and I scored a sweet new spot.

Either they bought this vehicle with an optional siren, or I am pretty sure I like the stroller more than she does, because she screamed and cried the whole time...sometimes I just don't get what they see in her...

Mom used to always look at me like that.

I am just glad that things are finally getting back to normal, we are starting to go on more walks and car trips, and I still get to sit in the front seat with Dad. Oh, and of course I still have my spot in bed, which makes it easier to put up with all the awakeness that goes on here at night...

And I have all these great new toys. Mom keeps telling me "no" and insists they aren't mine, but it is kind of hard for her to convince me with her arms full...


Zoie wants to know when her stroller gets here. She totally wants a ride!

Mom and Dad assure us we will like her better when she assumes her position as "Cheerio Monster".

We love us some Cheerios!

A Message from Mad...

Hey. How is it going?

Yesterday was my 1 month birthday and I have to say I am pretty proud of my parents for keeping me alive this whole month. It really has been a great start to a great first year. Anyway, I got to go to Carson for the first time for shopping. I sure it weird going down the hill. It made my ears feel funny. But Mom helped me feel better pretty fast.

Mostly, I slept. But it was nice to get out into the sunshine. And Dad carried me around in this awesome baby carrier. That was really cool because I really love to snug up to Dad. We got to go to Target and buy me stuff and then we went to Old Navy and everything baby was on sale so Mom went a little nuts and got me some rocking new outfits to wear on my trip to Vegas and Florida.
Did I mention I am going to Vegas, baby?

Oh yeah...

Mom is going to push me around in my stroller and and probably buy me stuff and we are going to soak up some sun. And then, we are going to Orlando. Yeah, home of the Mouse. Mom says we can't go there this time but she gets all excited when she starts talking about Disney World. Apparently, it is kind a big deal.


We are going there to meet my other other Grandparents and to see some of Mom's friends because she loves to show me off and talk about what an angel I am. We are going to sit in the sun and shop and eat and visit and I am pretty excited about it.

Anyway, here are a few things I have learned this month:
1) Dad likes ham.
2) My thighs are made of ham.
3) I can make Mommy do WHATEVER I WANT.
4) Life is good.
5) The big red one has a huge tongue.
6) I like to eat.
7) Everybody I know just loves me.
8) Especially Mom.

Dad figured out the timer on the camera. Mom says I look a lot like Dad...

Welcome to the Mommyhood!

Becoming a mother is quite a trek into unchartered territory. You just don't yet know the good spots to take baby, or the secrets of soothing/amusing/nurturing baby, and sometimes you just feel like the new kid on the block with no friends yet and a whole lot of bags and boxes to unpack, but no idea of where to put your stuff.

I feel like I just moved in to a whole new neighborhood, in a new town, and possibly a foreign country. And I am just starting to try and get my bearings.

I am excited about making new friends, discovering new people/places/things, and getting a better handle on my surroundings and situation. Simply by having a baby I have joined this new club, but I don't really know many of its members yet, and getting to meet other new (or seasoned) mothers is a lot like dating again, only with less cocktails. At least for now.

I do have friends that are parents, but most of the ones I have known for a while live pretty far away. Although they have welcomed me to the mommyhood, it is certainly a long walk to get to their houses.

I am not really one of those girls whose friends already had babies, and I only know a few ladies who are mommies, and those relationships are relatively new. So I will have to find new ways to meet cool moms and build relationships with the ones I have already met so that Madee and I have people to play with.

I can't wait until Jess has her baby. It has been so cool to go through our pregnancies together, even though they were so different, and though I am sure our babies and our mothering experience will also be unique, it is nice to have a sister I can relate to on this level. Somebody who faces similar challenges as what I am going through, and has to figure out all this stuff too.

In fact without her I would feel a little more lonely in this whole process.
I wonder if I should throw a "babywarming" party with the new moms I have met, because I have lots of questions about the upcoming months and they have just been through those stages of development or are tackling them now, so they have some pretty valuable information to impart.

And real human interaction beats reading Parents Magazine any day.

There's no Place Like Igloo

We get a lot of snow. Here is Charlie in our driveway, posing with our front yard. It is pretty crazy...you can tell which houses dogs live at from the yellow patterns in the snow at the end of the driveways. Zeus illustrates...
Here I am standing in front of our neighbors driveway. Hope they don't need to get in there until July...
That is our house on the left. All the houses on our street look like igloos with shake roofs. The house two down from ours is for rent. I can't imagine someone gets a good idea of what they are getting into with a snow pile like this!

Every street is a tall white tunnel, with little chutes that lead into people's driveways. When we give directions, we say "it is the first ice hole on your right..." Here is Zoie sniffing around at the end of our ice hole. You better know where you are going these days, because it is easy to drive right by if you aren't certain of where to turn in.

And good luck finding a parking space once you get there...

We Have a Good Time

A closer look at our weekend...

Madelyn and her activity gym

Ono on our back deck - the snow was up to her ears!

Just a little peek into what we do during the day around here...

We look at ourselves in the mirror...

While mom takes lots and lots of pictures...

We have a good time.

Tiny Love

It is a Saturday, and it is snowing (yet again) outside. For someone who didn't grow up in snow, I sure get a whole lot of it now. It struck me as funny the other night as I was scraping ice off the truck, warming it up, shoveling a path and throwing baby, grandma and grandpa into the 4X4 to go have dinner. Maybe now I have earned my passage from Mountain Gypsy Diva to Urban Mountain Mom. Umm...those are nice initials.

Madelyn and I are little sick, but we really should go have breakfast club with Auntie Lisa, and perhaps stop by Long's to get some birth announcement pictures developed. She is just sitting right behind me giggling in her kicky bouncer and half sleeping.

She has been such a good girl.

Yesterday we watched a little TV. She doesn't usually like TV, but it was the Disney Channel and it sounded cool and looked bright and colorful so she was actually kind of into it. Well, into it in her own way. She was actually up for hours - probably the longest stretch of awake yet, and we sat in various places and positions, played tummy time, activity gym, and kicky bouncer.

It was already a rad day and then the UPS guy got here.

He brought her this awesome gimini tiny love super gym that has colors and hanging animals to bat and pull at and a mirror, which she spent some time looking in, for sure. It also plays Mozart and little flowers light up.

Anyway, it is kind of a big deal, and she loved it immediately.

Well then she got over it, but it is sure to grow to be a hit.

Have I mentioned how edible her pretty little fingers are? I hope you enjoy this extreme close up...check that tiny fingernail. Seriously, do fingernails GET any cuter than that? I don't know how I walk around this house I am so weakened by her cuteness.

Seriously. Jello for legs.

Have I mentioned this guy? He's so hot.
I love him like high school. Like some 16 year old girl. My life is better with him in it, even when he has to be far away...

A beautiful little mind of her very own

Happy Grandpa!

She's a silly sleeper

The most complicated relationship most of us ever have is the one we have with our mother. I look at my relationship with my own mothers, their relationships with their mothers, my friends and family and the relationship they had with their mothers.

And I am a mother now.

My daughter is so perfect and wonderful and sweet and smart and beautiful, and in many ways she will always be, although one day she will make decisions i can't relate to or understand, she will do things i don't agree with, she will have a mind of her own.

A beautiful little mind of her very own.

Right now we are super buddies, we need each other and love each other and spend the majority of our time and energy and attention on each other, and I love it. I love every little moment of it and it is hard to believe that one day she will be embarrassed to be seen with me at the mall, or would rather spend holidays with her friends at some ski resort, and will have a little life of her own.

I really hope that our relationship is positive and safe for her and full of extra delicious love. I really hope she actually likes me as a person, is proud to have me as a mom, and is not exactly horrified the day she realizes that there are some ways in which she is much like me, just because she grew up in my presence.

I hope we turn out as close as we are now, just different. And all I can do to that end is be the best possible mother I can be, whether she agrees with my decisions or not.

I am so lucky that Charlie gives me the opportunity to spend my time with her, nurturing and teaching and loving her, especially right now when she is so receptive to it.

Her grandparents just left this morning, and it was so nice to see them hold her and love her and be in the very presence of her sweetness. Her Grandpa is so smitten with her, and she likes him a lot too. In fact he can calm and quiet her almost as well as I can, which was an awesome feature to have in a Grandpa for the week.

I hate that we are so far away from most of the grandparents, because I do want her to grow up knowing all of them. I guess we will be racking up miles with the airlines!