Summer at the Beach

We just got back from spending five days in Oceanside, and it truly felt like a vacation. The weather was gorgeous and Oceanside it was one of the most relaxing places to be. This was Morgan's third trip there, and I was so excited to take her down on the beach. Now that she is actually aware of her surroundings, I thought she would really enjoy it. But because Morgan is aware of her surroundings now, she was too busy to sleep much. No longer do we experience the hour or two car naps, instead, Morgan sings, kicks, and occasionally whines on the three-hour drive to Oceanside. She also loves to throw her binky somewhere in the back seat that is unreachable by me. By the time we arrived in Tillamook, all three of the binkies I packed were sitting below her car seat. When Grandpa Ron, Grandma Dinda, and Auntie Kim arrived there were even more reasons not to sleep! Personally, all I want to do at the beach is sleep (in addition to eating, drinking, and staring at the ocean). Not Morgan, she is quite the social butterfly. She really loved spending time with and showing off for her family. Between all of us, she was showered with affection - no wonder she was tired.

Anyway, as I was saying I couldn't wait to take Morgan to the beach. We loaded her up for the first time in a backpack carrier and headed down on a gorgeous day. Morgan had her sunscreen on and hat, and had just woken up from a nap. We packed some beers and snacks and a blanket - it was going to be great! And it was, although much briefer than we planned. We walked down the beach a ways, enjoying the beautiful day, and Morgan started to get antsy. She apparently didn't want to be in the carrier anymore and was pushing and fussing. So, no problem, we will just stop here and spread out our blanket. We had a few moments of "ahh, this is great!" and a few sips of beer, and Morgan ran her fingers through the sand. She also tried to crawl and did a face plant, giving her a sandy goatee. But that was it. Morgan was ready to do other things, so we packed up and headed up to the house.

Turns out she was hungry. She has become a world class eater in the past week or so - a bottomless pit! I guess she is using up lots of energy trying to crawl - more like army crawl. In only a few days, she figured out how to pull herself across the floor, and now she looks somewhat coordinated. She is pretty proud of herself when she can wiggle over to the TV in search of a remote control or some other form of contraband. She's our little inchworm.

Morgan Loves Elizabeth

The school year has come to an end, which means I get to be home with Morgan for the summer. It also means that our nanny, Elizabeth, won't be coming to take care of Morgan anymore. We have been so fortunate to have had Elizabeth as Morgan's nanny for the past six months. She adores Morgan and has since the moment she met her. Elizabeth has a natural gift and love for babies and has taken amazing care of her while I have been working. She is so nurturing and intuitive, and adored Morgan as much as we did. And we could tell Morgan adored her as well.

I honestly think Elizabeth knew more about babies than Sam and I combined. Even though we never really discussed it too much, I think Elizabeth got Morgan on a regular nap schedule and sleeping in her crib (not in her swing, Sam!) She also made sure Morgan got lots of tummy time and practice sitting up. Elizabeth and Morgan went for lots of walks, something Morgan loves. It was kind of funny a few weeks ago, when Morgan and I walked to our neighborhood coffee shop and the woman at the counter started talking to me like she knew me. I was a little confused, but then I realized that she recognized Morgan and mistook me for for Elizabeth. I'll take that as a compliment.

I'm sure we will see Elizabeth throughout the summer, and hope to since she will be moving to France this fall. We will have to figure out new child care arrangements for Morgan, though, and it will be very difficult to find someone who adored Morgan as much as Elizabeth did!

Ha ha

When Morgan is happy, we're happy. And actually, she is happy most of the time. Lately, she likes to do this big "ha ha" laugh at us to get our attention. Then we laugh and she laughs back, and it just keeps going. And of course, there is always tickling!

Two steps forward, three scoots back

Morgan is now 8 months old and seems to be making - or getting ready to make - big leaps in what she can do. Something that brings me great joy is that she doesn't spit up anymore! Since she was born she has been a world class spitter upper. Sam and I were constantly draped with blankets and craning our necks to see if she was going to spit up all over her front or our front after we fed her. Then there were the unpredictable projectiles an hour after she ate too. We became experts at catching it and cleaning up. It really wasn't a huge issue as far as babies go - just a lot of laundry - but I am especially glad those day of giving her prune juice (and having it come up brown all over everything) are behind us! Now I am so proud when I burp her and all I get is a cute little belch ... and that's it. So grown up!

Morgan's latest cute thing is giving kisses. I think her nanny, Elizabeth, actually taught her this. It is so sweet and Morgan seems to know what to do when I say the word 'kiss' (okay, maybe she's just looking at my puckered face). But she will lean in a give (usually with her mouth still open) her version of a kiss. She even lets her stuffed Cookie Monster doll give her kisses, although I'm not sure if that's something I should be bragging about.

Despite all this cuteness, Morgan has actually been pretty cranky the past week. She just got her second top front tooth and apparently it was worse than the others because she has not been her usual happy self. She's been whiny and clingy and generally moody. But today she seems to be back to normal, thank goodness. Sam has been out of town for several days and I was getting a little sick of my roommate's attitude. I am glad he's back back so I can have a little more adult conversation too!
Morgan isn't crawling yet, and that may be part of her moodiness. She seems to be close to figuring out that there may be other modes of transportation in the world besides Mom, Dad, and rolling. I think she's given up on the rolling thing, though, and instead prefers to push up on her arms and whine like she's trapped in a well. Another thing that seems to tick her off is that she can only push herself backwards. It's especially problematic on the hardwood floors! They are much slipperier than the carpet and she can't seem to control herself ...other than to push herself backwards and whine like she's trapped in a really deep well. This combined with Morgan's love of laying on, sliding under, or rolling into objects (furniture, toys, our legs) has gotten her into a pickle (see above photos). The other day she managed to back into a little side table and push both herself and the table about ten feet backwards down the hall. It was pretty funny and it took her a while to figure out what that dragging sound was. I don't know when she will put it all together and start motoring around, but it will probably happen when we least expect it. For now, I am just enjoying her limited mobility. :)

Weekend with the Cousins

Last weekend Morgan and I got to spend a couple nights with just Avery and Noah, her cousins. Erica and Todd were out of town and so Auntie Robin volunteered to watch them for part of the weekend, as well as get a glimpse of what life as a mom of three would be like. Whew! Fortunately, the kids are old enough to know (mostly) what to do, so it was actually a lot less crazy than I anticipated. The kids were actually very sweet - both to Morgan and, more importantly, to each other!

Morgan is their first baby cousin so they were really excited to show off for her and play with her. They kept making cute comments as they discovered exactly what a baby her age can and cannot do. Noah asked, "You mean she can't walk at all?" When I asked Avery who Morgan looked most like, she said "Uncle Sam, because he doesn't have that much hair either." Avery also loved helping change Morgan's diapers and was pretty good at it, after having so much practice with her dolls. (After all, "I have a doll that pees!" she told me.) And they both found Morgan very entertaining when she jumped in her johnny-jump-up. They seemed to be most fascinated with Morgan's ability to stare without blinking much. Noah tried to have a staring contest with her, and when she finally blinked they shouted in amazement, "She blinked!"

It was so great to see Morgan through their young eyes, as well as have some time hanging out with these two great kids. It was fun watching Noah impress me with his Guitar Hero skills on Wii. And I loved having Avery read to me for the first time. (I didn't even realize she was reading already! I wish I had more opportunities to be auntie - how do our lives get so busy?) I am so lucky to be the aunt of these two amazing kiddos. They are growing up so fast, but I look forward to watching them continue to grow into incredible people.

Here's a video of Morgan at the park we all went to together on a very hot day. She loved the swing! (Sorry if it's blurry - I tried several times and am not sure why it isn't clear.)

Gardening Princess in training

I heard recently on public radio about some guy who is inventing a way for smells to be send via text message or something crazy like that. Apparently, this technology won't be available to another year or so, but it even enables the person receiving the message to block undesirable smells! This factoid probably seems kind of random, but I really wish that I could send a "smelly link" to my back yard. We have three large lilac bushes that are in full bloom, and every time I step out onto our patio the air is perfumed with their scent. Lilacs are one of my favorite flowers, and I think it was a sign that this house had them. Ever since we lived in Prague, where nearly every park is filled with them, I have loved lilacs even more. In Prague it was the sign of spring that we had been waiting all winter for. But I wish you could smell them too, because in just a week or two, they will be done blooming and I will have to wait another for them.

Sam and I are in gardening commando mode, similar to how we were when we first bought our house. I could spend days and weeks weeding and digging, and in a matter of hours together we can accomplish gardening miracles. We are nearly done edging (by hand) our grouchy old lawn, and the second mountain of bark mulch that sits in our driveway is getting smaller by the day. The knee-high weeds are gradually disappearing, and our yard is looking similar to when we bought it! But better, I think. After all this hard work ("sweat equity," right?) we will have to throw a few BBQs to enjoy it. And maybe we are the only ones who will notice that straight edge or the weed-free flower beds, but it does feel good to see such dramatic change. Actually, I take that back. My mom would notice, and I credit her with all the gardening instincts that seem to have suddenly sprouted since I have acquired a garden of my own. I am getting attached to this beast of a yard, and I am already sad at the thought of someone else getting to enjoy it after we sell it in a year or so. But I still have another year of lilacs and peonies and azaleas and clematis to look forward to. I have learned so much about the art of having a garden, and realize I still have lots to learn. But I did want to share a photo of a plant in my yard that I never even knew existed until I moved here: a tree peony. It is big and weird looking and pretty all at the same time. And the fact that it makes my mom, Gardening Queen of them All, a little jealous is pretty cool.

Big Girl Bath

Morgan had her first big girl bath tonight and absolutely loved it! Now that she can sit up on her own, I guess I can stop bathing her in the little sling in the kitchen sink - although it is so quick and easy. But Morgan was ready to play in the water and do some splashing. I got this cool blow up duck bath that worked great and cushioned all her wobbles. The minute she got in, she started splashing and slapping at the water, and fortunately didn't mind getting it in her face. Morgan sat there playing with her toys, grabbing at them as they floated and sunk. She looked up at Sam and I with an expression of, "did you know this water stuff is really fun?" and "why haven't we done all of this sooner?"

People say that giving a baby a bath before bedtime calms them and helps them sleep, yet I didn't find that the case with little Mo. She probably could have sat there playing all night, and the longer she was in there the more excited she got. I took her out because her bedtime was approaching, and as I got her dressed, she seemed to be more amped up than I have ever seen her. She was grabbing her clothes, tensing up her face, looking around for that cool water stuff, and wondering where that giant duck went. But I know she will sleep well tonight..and hopefully have many happy dreams of bathtime.


** There is a new Shutterfly album of some recent photos of Morgan, just in case you can't get enough! (The password is "theholloways")