Updates on Tessa Dianne's first year

1st Month 
Nov 11, 2000 to Dec 11, 2000

Thursday, November 16th-  Well, here we are at day 5 and doing pretty well.  Sleep is kind of messed up but that is to be expected.   Tessa is such a good baby.  She only cries when she is hungry, wet or when we clean her umbilical cord stump.  She doesn't like the cold alcohol.  My milk has finally come in so I can stop worrying about her becoming dehydrated.  In fact, at her first doctor appointment this morning when they weighed her she was 8 pounds 11 ounces already!  The doctor says she is looking great, we see her again in 2 weeks.  Brian seems to enjoy being a Dad.  He can pretty much instantly calm Tessa down if she gets ruffled just by talking to her softly.  It is very touching to watch. :)  I just got up from a nap with her and since she was still sleeping I took the opportunity to trim her fingernails.  That was pretty nerve wracking but I got all of them done but the thumbs.  I'll have to do those later.  No blood and no screaming! (From either of us!)

Saturday, November 18th- Tessa is a week old today.  She really is a great baby.  She eats well (my sore breasts thank her for that) and even though she loves to be held and just stare at us, she is also quite happy sitting in her bouncy seat watching the world.  Looks like she has put herself on a 11:30 pm, 2:30 am and 5:30 am feeding schedule as far as the nights go.   Yesterday Grandma came down to visit and the three of us packed up and went to the outlet Carter's store for a few more warm sleepers.  We've decided it is going to be cheaper to bundle her up than to pay the huge electric bill we'd have trying to keep the apartment warm enough for her thinner sleepers.  We were gone a little too long and I paid for it last night being sore and pretty cranky.  Thank goodness Brian understands.  He is making me take it extra easy today.

Monday, November 20th-  We used the baby monitor for the fist time yesterday.  Tessa and I were going to take a nap in the bedroom but then our dinner arrived earlier than expected.  It works really well and picked up every sigh and coo.  She still hasn't slept in her crib.  She either sleeps in the Pack n Play bassinet in our bedroom or in her bouncy seat in which ever room I'm in at the time.  We're still getting the hang of the whole breast feeding thing.  I can't believe we were worried that her newborn clothes and diapers wouldn't fit her.  She swims in most of her little sleepers.  She hates to be wrapped up tight and MUST be able to move her legs around.  If her foot gets stuck in one of her big sleepers she is not a happy camper.  Looks like were are going to have to pick up some more newborn size diapers.  She is pretty typical in that she seems to find joy in pooping right after I put a clean diaper on her.  Oh well.  I seem to be recovering nicely.  I'm looking forward to a few weeks from now after my uterus has returned to it's normal size so I can really tell how much of this is still expanded uterus and how much is extra that I need to get rid of. : (

Thursday, November 23rd-  Happy Thanksgiving!!   We definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year.  I thought I would take advantage of these few quiet moments this morning to do an update.  We went to see the midwives on Tuesday.  According to their scale she weighs 8 lbs. 9 oz. now.  That seems much more likely than the 8 lbs. 11 oz. that the scale at the pediatrician said last Thursday.  I think we had her in too many clothes that day to be weighed.  They stabbed her little heal to do the PKU test.  She screamed bloody murder and I sobbed. :(  She hardly ever cries and when she does it breaks my heart.  She's really fussy about her feet anyway because of all the blood draws and IV's and stuff they did to her feet in the hospital.

Speaking of feet, I've learned you can't be cheap when it comes to baby socks.  I bought some fairly cheap ones before she was born thinking socks are socks but the only socks I can keep on her feet are her Baby Gap socks (Thank you Tracie!).  The other ones she can get off pretty easy even if her feet are inside her sleeper.  Another favorite thing we got is the touch lamp my parents bought us to use as a night light.  It has three different settings and it is so much easier to walk into the room and just tap the base a couple times and have light to change her by.   No messing with buttons or knobs or anything.  We have a regular night light in there too but it doesn't put out nearly enough to change her by and the overhead light would blind us both at 2:30 in the morning.

Anyway, Tessa (and Brian) should be getting up soon.   We are going up to my parents house for Thanksgiving dinner and I don't want to get on the road too late because traffic is going to be terrible.  At least Brian is driving.  I usually do most of the driving but I'm officially not supposed to until Saturday.  Time to go feed my little Peanut!

Friday, November 24th- I think Tessa is going through a growth spurt.  She seems to want to eat every half hour and then she pretty much passes out for 20 minutes or so before she wakes up hungry again.  She got her first sponge bath tonight.  Didn't like that very much.  I tried trimming her little finger nails again and made her bleed. : (  She didn't seem to notice though.  Now I have to wait until she is really deeply sleeping so I can try to do the other hand.  She's starting to cut her face and is scratching me when we cuddle.  I could sit and hold her for hours.  I love all the little noises she makes and watching her smile and raise her eye brows as she dreams.  I wonder what babies dream about?  I don't know what I am going to do when I have to go back to work in January.  I'm going to miss her so much.  I'll only be working a 6 hour shift (6 am to noon) but it will still seem like forever. 

Monday, November 27th-  Tessa is 16 days old already.  Seems kind of weird because 16 days at the end of my pregnancy seemed to last forever but the past 16 days have gone by so fast.   Everything is going pretty good.  She gets the hiccups at least once a day just like she did when I was pregnant.  She still hasn't really established an eating and sleeping schedule.  We are managing to get some sleep at night though.  Our problem right now is I have kind of become a human pacifier.  She'll have a full tummy and a dry diaper but she wants to suck so she'll latch on for 30 seconds and then fall asleep.  We've ordered some pacifiers and hopefully they will cut down on her need to be attached to me so often.  This morning we went to see Dr. Sprake so he could check my incision and see how we were doing.  He said everything looks good and is healing nicely.  I see him again in a month for my 6 week post partum check-up.  

Thursday, November 30th-  We went to the doctor today for Tessa's three week check up.  Everything looks great and she has gained almost a full pound since she was born.  She now weighs 9 pounds, 3 ounces!   I knew she was getting bigger but I had no idea.  She's developing quite a little personality too.  She loves to be held, tolerates her swing for 5 to 10 minutes at a time (that's where she is now), sleeps in her bouncy seat during the day and her bassinet at night (still haven't used her crib), she gets the hiccups at least twice a day, and she now makes eye contact more when you hold her up in front of you.   Sometimes she looks completely puzzled like she is trying to tell me something and just can't understand why I am not getting it.  Her lack of mobility seems to frustrate her.  We need to do more "tummy time" so she can practice holding her head up and stuff.  

Saturday, December 2nd- Tessa is three weeks old today.  She seems much more aware of her surroundings all of a sudden.   When we are changing her diaper she loves to look at all the stuffed animals on the bookshelves.  She also makes eye contact more.  I know they say that smiles this early are just gas but I think Tessa has given us a few social smiles in the past few days.  She is also starting to find her voice and does much more cooing and squealing than before.  I can't wait to finish the roll of film I have in my camera because I know I got some cute pictures of her over the past few weeks.  I had hoped to do family photos for our Christmas cards this year but we never had the chance.  I'll just have to do a mid-year mailing to everyone when we get them done.

Tuesday, December 5th-  Brian went back to work today.  He watched Tessa for about an hour and a half this morning while I went into work for a job interview for a position I can't take because the hours don't work for us.  The extra money would have been nice.  Maybe next time.  I got back home about 11:30, just in time for Brian to head out the door and be to work by noon.  At 12:30 Tessa and I headed for the mall to do a little Christmas shopping.   We used the stroller for the first time.  It's kind of a pain getting it in and out of the trunk but luckily it was a beautiful day and I could take my time without getting us rained on.  She slept most of the time we were at the mall so that made it easier.  I'm going to try and go to the mall pretty often just for the exercise.

We've been doing pretty good on our own this evening.   She's a little restless or maybe that's just my perception since I can't pass her off to Brian for a few minutes here and there.  She is sleeping right now but if her pattern continues she'll wake up again in about 5 minutes.  Actually I shouldn't complain because maybe she will sleep better tonight if she isn't sleeping well this afternoon/evening.  She's been pretty much awake for the last 3 and a half hours.   Tomorrow we are having lunch with our friend Tia and her new daughter, Macy, who was born 9 days before Tessa.  It will be nice to swap advice with someone who is also in the thick of new motherhood.   

Thursday, December 7th-  Tessa slept in her crib for the first time last night.  She did pretty good.  I don't think we necessarily got more sleep than we were with her in our room.  I still want to do the new mom thing and be able to hear her breathing so I had the monitor up pretty loud.   When I went in to get her up at 9:15 her hair and the top part of her sleeper were all wet because she had spit up sometime after her 7:30 feeding.  I feel terrible that I didn't hear her spit up so I could clean her up earlier.  I took her into work with me again so I could go to a meeting.  She slept through most of the meeting and during our quick trip back to the mall to exchange something I bought the other day (got it home only to find out it was broken) but she woke up hungry on the way home.  I hated letting her cry while I drove home.  Made me feel guilty.  I should have skipped the mall for today and just brought her home to feed her.  Wow.  This is just the guilt day I guess.  Brian has tomorrow off so we all have a three day weekend together to regroup. 

Monday, December 11th-  Tessa turns one month old today.  It has definitely been a month of learning for all three of us.  We have pretty much figured out her cries (wet, hungry, gassy, bored) and the fact that she hates being put in her car seat but is usually fine once she is in the car.  She won't take a pacifier which I guess is both a good and a bad thing.  She sleeps pretty well if we put her in bed with us but I try to do this only if she is really fussy.  In a month when I go back to work I'm not sure what we are going to do about our current schedule.  She goes to sleep about midnight and between the middle of the night feedings and diaper changes we don't usually get out of bed until 10 am or so.  I'll need to be to work by 6 am so our current system is not going to work.  I try to keep her awake during the day but there is only so much you can do to entertain such a young baby.  Putting her in her swing just seems to put her to sleep and if I try to hold her all the time to keep her stimulated and awake, I get nothing done.  Things will get easier, someday. :)

Tessa has learned quite a bit too.  She is holding her head up better, she tracks objects with her eyes and will turn her head to follow things, and she knows if she cries enough, mommy will pick her up. :)  She also smiles a lot and I know some of them are social smiles, not gas. :)  I love to hold her and watch her sleep.  She clasps her little hands together and it looks like she is praying.   She sighs and smiles in her sleep and I wonder what she is dreaming about.  I hope she is happy.  I want to do everything I can to make her life the best it can be.  Happy One Month Birthday Tessa!

I forgot to mention something earlier in the week.  We got a notice from our insurance company saying they had received the bill from the hospital and they were going to be processing the claim.  The bill was for $4.816.88.  I thought that wasn't too bad seeing all that they did to both me and Tessa.  A few days later we got another one saying they had received a bill from the hospital for $8,323.48.   I thought it was odd that we got two of them but then I noticed that they had two different insurance member numbers on them.  And looking at them now I see that the one that says "newborn" has my number on it and the one with my name on it has Tessa's member number.  Oh well.  I'm assuming the $8,000+ one is for me since I had the surgery and the other one is for all the Special Care Nursery stuff they did with Tessa.  As long as they pay them both.  Total hospital bill-  $13,140.36.   Yikes!

Also, I must be a real Mom.  I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror a minute ago and I have streaks of breastmilk or eye goobers or slobber or some such substance on my shirt up by my shoulders where I burp her.  I guess I'll need to be extra careful and check my shirt before I leave the house. :) 

2nd Month
Dec 12, 2000 to Jan 11, 2001

Wednesday, December 13th-  Yesterday was our last midwife appointment.  Normally I would go back at 6 weeks post partum for a check-up for me but I've already made an appointment with Dr. Sprake to do that.  At that time he'll do a pelvic exam and a pap smear and such.  At the appointment yesterday Tessa weighed 9 pounds, 11 ounces already.  That's a 1 pound, 6 ounce gain since her birth.

We had two firsts today.  Tessa had her first official diaper blowout!  Yuck.  I was just getting ready to put her in a clean outfit anyway so it really wasn't a big deal, just messy.  I rinsed out her outfit and onesie right away and then put them in the wash with the rest of her dirty things (I still wash her things separate from ours) and neither of them stained at all.  She decided to pee while I was getting her redressed but luckily I hadn't put any of her clean things on her yet.  We've been using the leftover blue chux pads from our birth kit on the changing station and it soaked up the pee nicely. :)  We've got about 15 of those things left still (I only used a few during labor) so we're set for a while with those.  The other first was the first snow of the season.  Okay, so they were little tiny flakes and didn't stick at all but I thought it was neat.  I wrote it on Tessa's "Baby's First Year" calendar.  She was napping at the time but I woke her up and took her to the window to show her.  Stupid I know since she probably can't see that far yet but I didn't want her to miss it. :)

Saturday, December 16th-  Yesterday Tessa and I headed up to Seattle to Mom's work for a Christmas party and pictures with Santa.   She did really well and didn't fuss until later in the day.  She was tired, hungry and had generally had enough of all the people.  She looked so cute in her little holiday outfit that Wayne and Carol sent her.  By the time it was her turn to see Santa she was asleep but I think we got some cute pictures.  We even went downstairs to visit Dad at his office.  I'm glad we did because he didn't make it home before we had to leave to come back to Olympia.  Brian had taken some time off in the evening so he was already home when we got here.

We've just stuck around the house today watching football (good job Seahawks!) and getting some things done while Tessa naps in her swing.  I love that thing.  I try not to put her in there for too long at a time but when I really need to do some stuff around here it's nice for keeping her entertained.  The other day I was holding her as she slept and realized she has total trust in me that I will be there and won't drop her.  I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of love and responsibility.  Kind of neat and scary all at once.      

Monday, December 18th-  I can't believe Christmas is only a week away.  I've been so busy it doesn't really feel like it.  I had another Mommy Test this morning.  I had to get me, my purse, two packages and a car seat occupied by an infant into the post office on the busiest mailing day of the year.   Not an easy task but I think I passed.  Packages got mailed and Tessa even fell asleep while we were in line so I could pop next door and get my hair trimmed.   At least I won't look like a total street person in the Christmas pictures.   Someday I'll look like myself again. :)  I did a little bit of work on the baby book while Tessa took a nap.  I need to go make some color photo copies of some of the pictures so I can cut them out and put them in there.  I have a few "real" pictures in there but I am keeping most of them in an album.   Besides, photo copies are thinner and not as heavy so they don't warp the pages when you glue them in the book.   

Tessa seems to have fallen into a daily poopy diaper pattern.  She gives me a nice present between 3:00 and 7:00 pm everyday.  I've read that breastfed babies sometimes go a few days without a poopy diaper.  That wouldn't be so bad.   At least they are not smelly yet.  In the first few weeks she seemed to have a poopy diaper every time she was changed.  Ah, the joys of parenthood.  

Wednesday, December 20th-  Tessa went to bed last night at about 11 pm and had a great 6 hour night, waking up about 5 am.  I changed her, fed her and burped her and put her back to bed but she seemed to have other plans.   She fussed and cried for the next three hours.  I got up with her several times and got about 20 minutes sleep in that 3 hours.  I think her tummy hurt.   Just when I thought she had established a pattern, she skipped her afternoon dirty diaper yesterday.  She finally went at about 1:00 this afternoon but she was still kind of fussy.  She just fell asleep (it's 3:30 pm) in her swing so I'll let her nap for awhile.  There seems to be a really fine line between letting her sleep too long and then she doesn't want to go to bed at night and not letting her sleep long enough so she gets so cranky she won't go to sleep.  She did go back to sleep this morning at 8 am so Brian and I got a couple more hours of sleep.  I think I'm going to go take a nap on the couch in a few minutes.

Tessa loves to have her feet rubbed.  When we are doing a diaper change we take her little socks off and rub the soles of her feet.  She also likes being upright.  If she's awake she doesn't want to sit on your lap and lean back against your chest, she wants you to hold her so she is sitting up.  Makes it hard to just sit and snuggle with her but I'm also building up some good arm muscles.  This morning while I was up with her she was only happy if I was holding her so she was facing out.  The living room was dark except for the clock numbers on the VCR and the cable box and she just wanted to stare at those.  I also noticed her hair is growing back on top.  In the hospital pictures I was noticing she had a ton of hair but most of the hair on top fell out.  Now she's got a little bit of fuzz where it is coming back in.  Soon she won't look so much like a little old man.

Saturday, December 23rd-  Tessa's umbilical cord stump finally fell off!!  I thought that thing was going to stay on there forever.   The rubbing alcohol didn't seem to be doing the trick but when we switched to cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide, that did the trick.  It sure bubbled a lot the first few times we used it.  Now she has a cute little belly button.  Looks like she is going to be an "innie".

On Thursday, Tessa and I went to McDonald's and had lunch with some of the ladies I used to work with at Tutor Time.  It was great to see everyone again.   Of course Tessa picked that hour that we were out of the house to have a big diaper blowout so I got to change her poopy diaper and her clothes right there in the middle of McDonald's.  That was interesting.  Speaking of diapers, I think we've decided we like the Huggies better.  I thought we were going to like the Pampers more but I've changed my mind.  That's fine with me since we can buy the big boxes of Huggies at Costco.  I seem to talk about diapers a lot don't I?  Well, I guess when she basically just eats, sleeps and poops there isn't much else to talk about.  When she eats it is so cute because she takes that first suck and her eyes kind of half close and roll back like it's the best thing she's ever tasted in her whole life.  Then I remember that it's the only thing she's ever tasted in her whole life.

Thursday, December 28th-  Yesterday I went to see Dr. Sprake for my 6 week follow-up.  He said everything looks great and I can resume my regular activities.  Seeing that I pretty much resumed my regular activities about a week after Tessa was born I thought it was kind of funny.  Too bad he didn't tell me I couldn't go back to work for another month or something.  Oh well.  I still have 10 days before I go back to work. : (

Today I went to the bank and opened a savings account for Tessa.   There's only $50.00 in her account so far but it's a start.  I've spent the afternoon hanging some of the smaller stuffed animals from the ceiling in the nursery using fishing line.  When Tessa is having her diaper changed she loves to crane her neck around to look at all the stuffed animals on top of the bookshelves.  I thought I'd make some of them easier to see.  Looks really cute too with all these animals hanging from the ceiling.

Monday, January 1st-  Happy New Year!  Tessa had her first real bath on Saturday night.  She did really well and seemed to like it.  I was worried that since we waited so long she wouldn't take to it very well.   Last night Tessa conked out around 11:00 in her swing.  I moved her to her crib after we watched the fireworks at the Space Needle on TV and she slept until 7 am this morning.  That's an 8 hour night!  Now I just have to figure out how to get her to go to bed earlier that 11 pm and sleep for 8 hours.

Today my parents came down to drop off a dresser for Tessa.  Now I can have my dresser back and move it into the master bedroom.  Tessa's dresser is the one that my Mom got from her grandparents when she was little.  I think I used it for awhile when I was a kid too.  It's still in great shape.  Now I'm washing some of her bigger clothes because she is rapidly outgrowing all her 0-3 month things already.   Everything seems to be 100% cotton so it is hard to judge what is going to fit her until it is washed.  Mom and Dad took the five of us to Applebee's for lunch.  I fed Tessa before we left for the restaurant but apparently she didn't like seeing us eating without her so I ended up doing a feeding at the restaurant.  I rocked her for a little bit and she fell asleep so I put her back in her car seat and we were able to finish our lunch.

Wednesday, January 3rd-  I realized this morning that even if I wake up dead tired, as soon as I lean over the crib and get one of Tessa's big toothless grins, lack of sleep doesn't really matter so much.  I suppose all parents think their children are the most amazing thing ever.    I gave her a bath tonight.  I thought baths were going to be hard but they are actually pretty quick and easy. I just changed her diaper and she is in there looking at all her animals hanging from the ceiling.  I'm excited for her to be able to roll over and be mobile (I'll probably want to take that back once she is mobile) but for now it is nice to be able to just plop her on the couch or the bed and know she'll be right where you left her.  

Monday, January 8th-  Things have been pretty quiet.  I went back to work today.  I'm running on about 5 hours of sleep so I'm glad this keying cycle will be over on Wednesday or Thursday.  6 am to noon for a few days and then I'll have about 2 weeks off.  I had only been at work for an hour this morning when I really missed her.  I knew she was at home still asleep and I wouldn't really be with her at that moment anyway (maybe I just missed the fact that I'd be asleep right then too!) but I still missed her.  Brian did great all by himself.  He'd taken care of her alone before but not for this long.  She cried for awhile but we think it is because this morning was the first time that he was the one to get her up in the morning and do the whole feeding and changing routine.  I think she was a little confused.

I had hoped I'd be able to work my shift and not have to use my breast pump.  I made it until 11:15 and just couldn't hold out until I got home.  My body knew she should have eaten at least once (and sometimes twice) in that period of time and I was going to suffer for missing those feedings.  Now I'm home and Brian is at work.  She is napping and I should be too. 

Thursday, January 11th-  Tessa is 2 months old today.  She's still the best baby ever. : )  She slept for 7 hours last night except for a few minutes around 1:30 when she woke up.  She was just talking to her stuffed animals so I didn't even get up.  She was so cute today playing with her ear.   She'd pull at it and then wiggle her head back and forth like she was trying to get whoever was doing that to stop.  She still hasn't really discovered her hands yet so she didn't realize she was the one pulling on her ear.  We went into work to visit Brian and everyone else today.  I only worked 9 hours this week and now I am off until the 29th.  The keying cycle was pretty much over when I went back to work on Monday.  At least now I can start claiming unemployment again.  Our nights should be a little bit quieter because our neighbor upstairs finally moved out.  Her parties seemed to start around 1 am.  Not even visits from the police seemed to stop the drinking, loud music and yelling.  That is one neighbor I won't miss.  

3rd Month
January 12, 2001 to February 11, 2001

Sunday, January 14th-  Yesterday Tessa and I went up to my parents place for a brunch with some of the members of the Renton Eagles Travel Club (Hi Arline!).  I had been keeping them updated in e-mail and through my webpage but none of them had actually met her yet.  Tessa took a nap on Mom and Dad's bed while I ate but we had to make Missy (the cat) give up her spot on the bed first.  As soon as Tessa was up, she reclaimed her spot.  This morning Brian watched her while I went and got my hair cut.  It took me years to grow it out but having it all one length just wasn't working.  Now it has long layers in it and frames my face a little better.  I finally feel more human and not just a frumpy mom blob.  We took some cute pictures of Tessa this morning with some stuffed animals.   The teddy bear is bigger than she is.  I finished off another roll of film and Brian is almost done with the roll in his camera so we should have some new cute pictures to post soon.

Over the past few weeks we have retired most of her 0-3 month clothes.   Even her newborn onesies are getting to small.  Most of the 3-6 month stuff is still a little long on her but she was getting displeased with the small stuff squishing her toes.  I don't know if she'll continue to be a month ahead as far as clothes sizes go or if her growth will level off here in the next few months.  Had she been born on her due date she is actually right on track.

Oh yeah, yesterday I submitted a picture of Tessa to the Baby Zone photo contest.  There is no guarantee her picture will even be picked for one of their weekly competitions but if it is I will let everyone know so you can vote for her.   But it's very important that you only vote for her ONCE a day.  If they get more than one vote from the same person (they track the IP addresses) then that child's photo is DISQUALIFIED.  No stuffing the ballot box.  This isn't Florida you know. :)  

Wednesday, January 17th-  Tessa had her 2 month check-up today.  She weighed in at a whopping 14 pounds, 2 ounces (97th percentile)!  No wonder she is growing out of her newborn clothes!  The nurse measured her and came up with a length of 22 and a half inches (50th percentile).  We think they may have measured her wrong at birth because for her to have gained nearly 5 pounds but only grown one and a half inches in length, she'd be a little butterball but she isn't.  She's long and lanky, not fat.  Her head circumference is 15 inches (25th percentile).  Everything else looks great according to the doctor.  She's right where she should be as far as motor skills and such. At the end of the appointment she got her first 4 shots.  Brian had to hold her legs for the nurse because I couldn't do it.  I cried almost as hard as she did.  We realized she hasn't really cried since they took blood for the PKU test.   I've said she cries if she is wet or hungry but she really just fusses.  Today was crying.  She's slept most of the 3 hours since her shots.  Poor little thing.  She goes back to the doctor for her 4 month check-up and another round of shots on March 19th. My boss called me this afternoon and I'm going to go back to work this Monday instead of the 29th.  I may as well.  We can use the money.

Sunday, January 21st-  We've had a fairly busy 3-day weekend.  Brian had has flex day on Friday which made the weekend a little longer.  Anyway, Friday morning our friend Karima was in town for work and stopped by to meet Tessa.  Later that afternoon my parents came to visit to drop off some things for Tessa and the t-shirt Dad had picked up for her on his recent trip to San Francisco.   On Sunday we headed to Casey's for a few hours because he had not had a chance to meet Tessa in person yet.  Martha (Tessa's Aunt) and Joy (Tessa's Cousin) came over from across the street while we were there to see her too.  Today we braved the crowds at Costco to pick up some things we needed.  We got a box of the size 3 Huggies while we were there.  We still have about a half a box of the size 1-2's but they are only supposed to be for babies up to 15 pounds and they are definitely getting a little small on her.  For now they are still okay.  I just hope she doesn't grow so fast we can't use the whole box.

Wednesday, January 24th-  Today it was my turn to go see Dr. Chinn.  We spent more time talking about Tessa's appointment last week than about me.  Dr. Chinn just had a baby girl by c-section back in July so we have a lot in common to talk about.  Anyway, everything looks good and I should have test results for everything in a week or so.  I also got a Depo-Provera shot while I was there.  No more having to remember to take a birth control pill everyday. Yeah!   I just have to go in every 13 weeks for another shot and it is supposed to be as effective as female sterilization.  Did you know that 1 out of every 100 women who get their tubes tied still gets pregnant?

Tessa is doing great.  I think she is looking more like Brian everyday.  She still looks a lot like me but Brian's features are coming through more in her now.  She sure likes to suck on her hands.  She still hasn't figured out how to get just one finger or her thumb in there so she kind of gums at her whole fist.   Maybe this is a precursor to teething.  Yikes.  She has officially outgrown her size 1 diapers.  We didn't make it though that box like I had hoped.   I guess we'll give the last 4 packages from the box (120 diapers) to our friend Mia for her little one.  Even a simple wet diaper leaks out around her legs because they just don't fit her right anymore.

I've begun my quest for her next car seat.  Officially she can stay in the infant car seat until she is 20 pounds but she fights it quite a bit.  I found one I like (the Eddie Bauer Alpha Omega Car Seat made by Cosco) that can still be rear facing until she is 35 pounds and then forward facing until she is 80 pounds.  It should be the last car seat/booster we will need to buy.  I've only seen them online so I need to get up to Babies R Us to look at one in person so I can make sure it's really what I want. 

Friday, January 29th- Tessa picked up a toy today!   Mike and Marion Holland gave her the Manhattan Toy Skwish.  I had her on the floor playing under her Kick and Crawl toy that Grandma and Grandpa got her and I put the Skwish up next to her head where she could see it.  Next thing I know she has grabbed onto it and was banging on the toys hanging from the Kick and Crawl arch with it.  I was so proud.  I've been putting toys in her hand lately and she'll hold onto them for awhile and play but this is the first time she grabbed something by herself.  Not bad for 11 weeks old. :) I think we may be approaching the end of nursing.  Brian gives her a bottle during the morning when I am gone and she seems to prefer it.  Sometimes it is breastmilk that I've expressed at work but she will drink formula just fine too.  It's going to take a little while to wean us both but it will be nice to be able to go out and not have to worry about being home in time to nurse or trying to find someplace private to feed her.  They even have formula now that is premixed.  All you have to do is pour it into the bottle.

Tuesday, January 30th-  We had a fairly interesting weekend.  The end of nursing came sooner than I expected.  On Saturday afternoon Tessa refused to nurse.  She would cry and wail and beat her fists against me.  I knew she had to be hungry so I made up a bottle and she sucked it down.  I tried a few different times that day to get her to nurse but it just wasn't going to happen.  I could have kept expressing milk for her but that is so much of a hassle.  Except for a few times I pumped over the past few days when the pain was just too much, I've gone cold turkey on breastfeeding.  It's been quite uncomfortable and painful but I think it will be easier than trying to draw it out.  My body still hasn't quite grasped the idea yet so I'm still a very firm D-ish cup but in another few days I may be able to cross my arms in front of me again. :)

We had a nice, quiet Super Bowl Sunday.  Tessa enjoyed watching the game.  This morning Brian found a tape of a Monday Night Football game he had taped and never watched and Tessa happily enjoyed that with her Dad.  Now well have to get her interested in basketball.

Tomorrow is my sister Natalie's 26th Birthday!  Tessa says Happy Birthday, Aunt Natalie!

Sunday, February 4th-  It's been a pretty quiet week.  We spent part of our time deciding which formula we liked best.   We got a couple of cans free while I was pregnant so we could experiment without spending any money.  The Enfamil is really good quality but it is $11.49 a can and since it is "the closest formula to breast milk" she still wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to eat because it goes right through her.  The Carnation Good Start is much cheaper at $8.99 a can but the scoop is really big so you'd use a can and a half of that to equal one can of Enfamil.  Our favorite is the Similac.   She likes it (she seemed to like all of them actually), it is in the middle as far as price goes at about $10.29 per can, and it is thick enough that she will sleep through the night (8 pm to 5 am) after her last bottle in the evening.  Oh, and now that we've switched to formula, the poop definitely has some fragrance.  No trouble telling when she has a poopy diaper anymore. 

Tessa's jumper arrived on Friday.  She seems to like it.  I had to adjust it way low so her feet touch the ground and I have to put a blanket in there with her to keep her upright, but she'll happily bounce away for several minutes.  It has a tray on the front so I can put her skwish on there to play with.   It will be even better when she is a little bigger and can sit up on her own.   Then she'll really get to bouncing!

Her two new favorite things to do are to chew on everything (her skwish, her hand, My Pal Al, etc.) and scooch across the floor on her back.  She can get some pretty good distance if left alone long enough.  Usually she seems to scoot around until she can see the TV better.  She still likes watching football.   Thank goodness for the XFL.  I need to put her on her tummy more so she can start scooting around that way and stop rubbing all the hair off the back of her head.  At least the hair on top has all grown back in now.  She has her Daddy's widows peak.  It so cute! My Mom and Aunt Merilee stopped by this morning on their way to Portland.  Mom dropped off her Creative Memories templates so I could get some of Tessa's pictures into an album.  We have a reunion with the other couples from our childbirth class this coming Wednesday and I want to have the pictures organized and in something I could take to show them off.  It will be fun to see everyone again and meet all the babies.

Thursday, February 8th-  Last night we had a reunion with some of the other couples from our child birth class.  Tia and Toby were there with their little girl, Macy.  Jan came (her husband, Phil, had to work) with her little boy, Max.  Jan is the one who missed the last child birth class because she went into labor the Saturday before so Max is 6 months old already.  It was great catching up with everyone and kind of comparing notes.  Tia and I talk in e-mail all the time anyway, but I hadn't seen Macy in a few months.  Tessa did great.   The pizza parlor we went to had posters on the ceiling so she spent most of her time with her neck craned back looking at the pictures.

Saturday, February 10th-  Today we went up to Katherine's house, one of Brian's sisters, for her surprise 50th birthday party.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone.  All six of the Smith siblings were there (Tom, Martha, Katherine, Bob, Elizabeth and Brian) with their spouses.  All six of them headed outside and did a group picture.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.  They did a group picture at Brian and my wedding in 1996 and we gave them all a 5x7 of the picture.  Many of Tessa's cousins (Heather, Joy, Jennifer [Happy 30th Jennifer!], Jason, Paul, Dillon and Allie) were there too.  Allie was so excited to see Tessa again because she never got a chance to hold her when we saw her at Martha's bell concert back in December.  Tessa slept in the car on the way up and the way home and also took a nap on Katherine and Gary's bed while we were there.  She was quite the little entertainer. 

Brian was pointing out that her Little Lessons Octopus only has 5 legs and therefore we should really be calling it a Pentapus so when Tessa gets in school and they ask her what "octo" means she doesn't say "5".   Good point.  So to kind of revise my update from the other day, Tessa loves her Pentapus. :)

4th Month
February 12, 2001 to March 11, 2001

Monday, February 12th-  Yesterday we made a run to Costco.  That's always an adventure.  Weekdays are much less crowded but with our work schedules, the only time we can go together is on the weekend.  What a zoo.   We got another box of 160 size 3 Huggies diapers and 2-36 oz cans of Similac formula.  The formula was $23 a can but seeing that the 14 oz cans are $10 at the grocery store, it is a deal.  She usually eats about 4 oz at a feeding and has been averaging about 25 oz a day.  I think that is a little lower than what she is supposed to be eating but I know she is not starving and she continues to grow out of her clothes so I'm not at all worried about it.  Her 4 month check-up is about a month away (March 19th) and we should find out then if she is ready to start eating some rice cereal or something along with her bottles.

We had become pretty used to things being quiet around here since our neighbors moved out upstairs but our new neighbors began moving in today.  I hope they are not this noisy normally.  I met the man a few weeks ago (they are moving from one of the 2 bedroom apartments in the next building over) and I know he has a teenage daughter and a teenage son.  Tessa and I ended up taking Brian some dinner because just as she would drift off to sleep for a nap, they would bang something around.   She got in a decent nap in her car seat while I sat and talked to Brian at his desk.

I kind of had a strange day.  I felt fine until about 10:00 this morning when I started getting a really bad headache.  By 3:30 in the afternoon I had lost my lunch : ( and was so dizzy I could hardly stand up.  I had to call Brian to come home from work because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to take care of Tessa on my own this evening.  We figured out that I hadn't really eaten a decent meal in a few days so Brian cooked some steaks and I feel much better.  I'm still a little dizzy but my headache is gone.   

Thursday, February 15th-  Tessa's Great Grandpa Robinson died early this morning.  I got an e-mail at work from Brian a little before 8am that I needed to call my step mom, Toni, as soon as possible.  She told me the news.  He had been in the hospital recently but the last I had heard he was doing much better.  I had hoped he and Ramona would have a chance to come see Tessa this summer on their way through the Pacific Northwest in their motorhome.  Tessa has been extremely happy today and laughing a lot so I think Grandpa has found a way to visit his great granddaughter today.  We'll miss you Grandpa.  I'm sorry I didn't call recently like I had planned.

Friday, February 15th-  We got about 7 inches of snow dumped on us overnight.  I didn't go to work because I still wasn't feeling well and Brian had his flex day today so we just kind of barricaded ourselves in the apartment and watched the snow fall off the trees as the temperature rose.  I did take Tessa outside this morning and let her feel the snow.  She was more interested in looking around than what I was putting on her hand.  Monday is a holiday and we don't have anything planned this weekend so we'll probably try to enjoy the quiet time.

Monday, February 19th-  Happy President's Day!  This is kind of a strange milestone but Tessa is 100 days old today.  Yesterday was significant because it was one year ago on the 18th that we learned we were going to be parents!  Oops, I better go.  Tessa is out in the living room making her fake coughing noise when she wants to get our attention.  They say babies this age are not supposed to understand cause and effect but she sure knows how to get our attention.

Sunday, February 25th-  It's been a pretty quiet week.  Most nights Tessa sleeps all the way through but she still has an occasional 2:30 am feeding.  She suddenly seems very interested in watching me when I am eating or drinking.  We are still several weeks away from starting her on any kind of solid foods but at least she is taking an interest.  I guess I should stop looking at highchairs and actually buy one.  She's still outgrowing clothes at a pretty steady pace.  I need to go down to the Carter's outlet store and pick up some more sleepers for her.  She still wears those most of the time unless we are leaving the house.  I'll put her in a little outfit to greet the world in.

She's getting better at getting her thumb in her mouth when she wants to.  She doesn't suck on it though.  She chews on it.  Today she managed to get my thumb in her mouth and she gummed it pretty good for a few minutes.   I'm glad she has decided a pacifier is not for her.  One less thing to worry about when we leave the house.  With all the flu and even measles going around we haven't taken her out much but we might go video camera shopping today and that would be a family outing. 

Monday, February 26th-  Well, we did indeed go shopping for a video camera and bought Sony camcorder at Sears.  We bought the one they had on sale in their Sunday advertisement but they didn't have any in stock so we have to wait until March 12th before it comes in.  Why advertise something if you don't even have it in stock?  Anyway, it's a pretty nice camcorder and I'm excited about getting it.  Tessa is starting to do really cute things now and I want to record some of them.  But if I take as much video as I do still pictures, we're going to need a whole cabinet just for video tapes of Tessa.  She can roll all the way up on her side already and while I'm excited that she's about to roll over, I'm kind of hoping she waits a few weeks.

We found out it takes about 10 days to get through one of the 36 oz cans of  Similac formula from Costco.  That's not too bad.   Obviously more expensive than breastfeeding but cheaper than buying formula at the grocery store.  We just opened our second can so I need to go to Costco sometime soon and get some more before we run out. 

Wednesday, February 28th-  Today was quite exciting.  At 10:55 am we had a 6.8 magnitude earthquake centered just 11 miles northeast of here.  I was at work at my next next to the huge window.  As soon as I realized what was going on I dove under my desk, skinning my knees on the way down.   Things were still shaking when I grabbed my cell phone to call Brian here at home but I could not remember our phone number.  It is one of the numbers I have programmed into the phone but I wasn't even thinking straight enough to remember that.   I finally pulled it together enough to dial home and thankfully Brian picked up right away.  He and Tessa were fine.  I had been pretty calm until then but hearing his voice was such a relief that I started shaking really bad.  Brian doesn't even remember picking Tessa up and getting out of the apartment but he must have been quick because he said things were still shaking as he stood outside with her.

We all evacuated the building at work and they told everyone to come back after lunch.  Even if my shift wasn't going to be over in an hour I wouldn't have had to go back anyway because they closed all state offices in the Olympia area for the day.  Tomorrow should be interesting.  I guess the power finally came back on around 3 pm.  I have a half keyed batch sitting on my desk and a CD in the CD ROM drive that I couldn't take out to bring home without power.

I just got back from Albertson's. If I was going up and down the regular aisles (east to west) things were fine, but if I stopped in one of the aisles running along the back of the store or along the front (north to south) my cart would roll away! I stopped to grab some lunch meat and when I turned to put it in the cart, my cart had rolled about 8 feet away.  It should be interesting to see what kind of damage is found over the next few weeks that wasn't immediately obvious today.  I have to remember to buy a newspaper or two tomorrow for Tessa's memory box.

Thursday, March 1st-  Tessa rolled over!!   She's been really close the past few days and this evening she finally figured out how to get her arm out of the way to get from her back to her tummy.  I guess this means she's officially mobile.  Of course the video camera won't arrive for another week or so.  She'll be really good at it by then.  I'm so excited.

Our building at work sustained no structural damage so Brian and I both went to work today.  Other state buildings were not so lucky.  We did have two aftershocks.  The 3.4 aftershock at 1:10 am woke Brian and I up.  I didn't feel the 2.7 quake at 6:38 am.  They said on the news that Olympia sunk 7 cm as a result of the earthquake.  Wow.  The dome on the Capitol Building shifted over 3/4 of an inch.  It's going to take me awhile before I don't get really nervous as 10:55 am approaches each morning.  I've created an earthquake page to kind of document my earthquake story.  I has helped me deal with my emotions a bit better getting it out on "paper". 

Sunday, March 4th-  Yesterday my Mom came to visit.  She, Tessa and I went down to Centralia to the outlet stores.  I bought Tessa some 6-9 month size sleepers at the Carter's store.  Looks like she will probably outgrow her 3-6 month sleepers long before she reaches 6 months old.  Mom had bought Tessa an umbrella stroller so we used that while we wandered around the stores.   I hooked her skwish to it for her to play with and she was pretty content.

Thursday, March 8th-  Well, today is my 30th Birthday.  We had our March Birthday's/St Patrick's Day potluck at work today but I couldn't stay because I forgot to put bottle liners back into the small diaper bag. :(  I had packed them in the big diaper bag the day of the earthquake and they never made it back into the other one.  I had a bottle and formula, but no liners.  Oh well.  Tessa was getting cranky  anyway so I selected a gift from the gift basket, got my birthday card from the group, and came home.  Tessa had come in early with Brian because he had a meeting to attend.  Brian said she sat quietly in her stroller and played with her pentapus.  She's such a good baby.  Everyone oohed and aahed over her and she had smiles for everyone. Brian and I are both taking tomorrow off so we can have a 3 day weekend.  That's my birthday gift to myself.

Tessa's doing great.  She'll jump in her jumper, chewing on a toy, cooing away.  She loves to talk.  I've been trying to get her to say mama but no luck so far. :)  She's getting really good at grabbing things.   Tessa has a musical teddy bear that she got from Bill and Diane Ogle that I have in her crib and more than once I've gone in to check on her when she's sleeping and noticed that she's pulled him out of the corner.

I think the doctor is going to let us start her on baby food after her 4 month check up on the 19th.  She sure is interested in watching me eat and that is one of the signs that they are ready to start solids themselves.  I gave her a little tiny taste of my orange sherbet the other day.  Most of it drooled down her chin but she seemed to understand the whole spoon concept pretty well.

Sunday, March 11th-  This weekend turned out to be fairly exciting.  Yesterday morning we went to Denny's to have breakfast with two of our friends, Tessa's honorary Aunt Michele and Ann.  Michele hadn't had a chance to come by lately so it had been several weeks since she got to see Tessa.   Ann, who I used to work with, hadn't yet met Tessa.  We had a nice visit and Tessa charmed everyone in the restaurant.  I thought she was going to get fussy before we left because it was way past her usual naptime but she did great.

Yesterday evening Tessa's Grandpa and Grandma, JB and Toni, stopped by for a visit.  They had been up north visiting my step brother (Toni's son) and his wife and their 6 month old daughter, Callie.  They got to see both granddaughters in the same day.  One of these days we're all going to get together so the two cousins can meet.

This morning Tessa rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time.  That was a much easier task than rolling from her back to her tummy was.  She just kind of did it.  I wasn't expecting it and had some of her toys on the blanket with her and she ended up rolling right over onto her skwish.  It ended up under her head but didn't really hurt her much because it did was it was supposed to and "skwished".  Looks like it's time to set up the pack 'n play for her to play in.  If she can roll both ways that means she can move all over the room.

This afternoon Grandma Dianne stopped by and took us to lunch on her way to the 4-H Know Your Government Conference at a hotel over on Olympia's westside.  Tomorrow night we are going to go to Red Robin with her and her 4-H kids.    They were supposed to tour the capitol building tomorrow but it looks like that isn't going to happen.  Who knows.  Since the legislators are back to work, maybe they are conducting tours again too.   

5th Month
March 12, 2001 to April 11, 2001

Wednesday, March 14th-  Monday night Tessa and I went to dinner at Red Robin with Grandma Dianne and her Know Your Government 4-H kids.  Tessa was really good and sat in her carseat and played with her pentapus.   We tried putting her in the high chair but she wasn't interested in that.  Next year when Tessa is walking that outing will either be easier or harder.  Personally I think any outing that doesn't involve that stupid carseat will be an easier one.  She is getting way too heavy to lug around in that thing.

Our video camera finally arrived so I went and picked it up today.  I haven't taken it out of the box yet.  I'm going to wait until Brian gets home.  Tessa is getting better at the rolling over thing and can roll from back to tummy with ease.  She still sometimes gets stuck going back the other way.   

Monday, March 19th-  Tessa had her 4 month check-up today.  She weighs 14 pounds 4 ounces and was 24 inches long.   Dr. Chinn agrees that she was probably mis-weighed back in January because her weight was 14 pounds 2 ounces then and I know she's gained more than 2 ounces in the last 2 months.  She is currently at the 75th percentile for weight.  We're going to hold off on solids until she can sit up on her own.  The doctor said since she will eat 5 ounces and then go 3 hours before being hungry again is a good sign that she doesn't need to go on solids yet.  If we did start her it wouldn't hurt her but there is no hurry.  She's doing all the developmental things she's supposed to be doing and everything looks good.  She got 4 more shots.  She didn't even seem to notice the first one but she cried during the other three.  When we got home she promptly drained a 6 ounce bottle and fell asleep.  She goes in for her hearing test next Monday and we see Dr. Chinn for her 6 month check-up on May 15th. 

Thursday, March 22nd-  Thought I'd catch up on the past few days.  On Tuesday, Tessa and I went to visit Mia and her baby girl Ashley.  I work with Mia and her little girl was born at the end of December.  We've decided Tessa and Ashley are going to be best friends so we better start having them play together. :)  We had a nice visit and plan to get together again soon.  Yesterday Tessa and I went to Fred Meyer to do some shopping but had a pretty quiet day overall.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the past few days but is supposed to start raining again tomorrow so Tessa and I took advantage of the sun and temperatures in the 60's and went for a walk.  I loaded her up in the stroller and we went down to the trail that runs behind our apartment complex.  It's nice and wide and paved and lots of people use it, especially around lunch time.  I hadn't been out there for a walk since I was pregnant so my poor ankles were soon protesting.   I ran into my next door neighbor and the gal she walks with and they had walked 3 miles!  My ankles are going to have to work up to that.

Monday, March 26th-  Tessa and I just got back from Tessa's hearing test a little while ago.  She passed with flying colors.  First the lady tried to do the hearing test where they put these little probes in her ears and listen to the echo produced by the sound.  That was supposed to show if the ear canal was formed correctly which usually means the baby can hear just fine.  Tessa wasn't going to have anything to do with that and would promptly rip the probe out of her ear as soon as it was in there.  Even if I held her hands she'd just rub at it with her shoulder and pop it out.  Pretty smart kid.  So we moved on to plan B.  We did more of a conventional hearing test.  With Tessa on my lap in one of those little soundproof rooms with speakers on opposite walls, the lady would either talk or cue different noises through one speaker or the other.  She wanted to see if Tessa would turn towards the sound.  She showed me the chart after we were done and Tessa's hearing is almost in the same range as a normal adults hearing.  She said Tessa scored much higher than the average baby of her age.  Well, we all know Tessa isn't average. :)  

Sunday, April 1st-  Time to catch up.   The week was pretty quiet.  We tried using the sippy cup but I'm going to have to modify it a bit if she is going to be able to use it this soon.  The mechanism that makes the cup spill-proof also means the baby has to such really hard to get anything out.  I might make the hole bigger but then it might leak more readily.   Yesterday we all went to Centralia for a party for two of Tessa's cousins.   Jennifer just became a Licensed Massage Therapist, and David just became a chiropractor.  We got to see lots of family and friends at the party and Tessa charmed everyone until she started to get tired.  She can go from sweet and cute to piss and vinegar in about 2.2 seconds. :) 

This morning Tessa and I headed up to Kent.  We first stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house to visit.  Tessa got her Easter basket filled with baby silverware, a bowl, a teething toy, a sippy cup, a little tiny football, some travel size baby wipes, and even a chocolate bunny.  I think Brian and I will be eating that.  Tessa and I then joined my friends from high school Shellie, Roni and Scott for lunch.  We get together every six months or so and this was their first opportunity to meet Tessa.  It was a fun day but it pretty much wore us both out.

Monday, April 2nd-  SHE WON!!   Tessa won the hibaby.com photo contest for March!  Her picture is now on the monthly winners page.  She won a $50.00 gift certificate to their online store.  I ordered her a cute little T-shirt that has a farmyard animal print that comes with a little checkered pink diaper cover and a reversible pink check/farmyard sun hat.  We're all set for summer!   I'm home sick today but this sure brightened up my day. :)     

Friday, April 6th-  Tessa came to work yesterday.  We were having our birthday potluck for the month of April so Brian brought her in with him so I could stay and eat.  She made the rounds, smiling at everyone.   Today was the last day of the keying cycle so I'm off work until the 27th!   We're looking forward to a quiet weekend.  I've been thinking of picking up some rice cereal and giving it a try.  She sure watches us when we eat. 

Tessa reached another milestone on Sunday- her first solid food!  Well, I don't know if Gerber Rice Cereal is really all that solid but it was the first non-bottle food she's ever had.  She did pretty well.  She probably ate about a tablespoon full altogether.  She wanted to help and kept grabbing for the spoon.  I thought giving her another spoon to play with would solve the problem but she just got that all gooey by sticking it in her mouth and ten all over her face.   Brian got the whole thing on video so we can relive it over and over.

This morning I gave her some more cereal but added some peaches to it.  She seemed to like that too.  Didn't get much in her once again but I'm not worried about that.  She's eating some of it and that's what counts.   She definitely lets me know when she's done.  She either refuses to open her mouth at all or anything I put in come right back out.  She even sneezed on me this morning.  Luckily she had already swallowed most of what was in her mouth. :)  

Wednesday, April 11th- Tessa turns 5 months old today!  It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day so I think we'll make the rounds and go visit some friends and stop by work.  I made color photo copies of several of the new pictures I've taken of Tessa and I want to put them up in my cubicle.  Yesterday my friend Mia came to visit with her son Andrew and baby Ashley.   We were supposed to go to the park but it rained all day.  We had a nice visit and 15 week old Ashley seemed to enjoy trying out all of Tessa's toys.  It was very cute to watch.

6th Month
April 12, 2001 to May 11, 2001

Friday, April 13th-  Well, I didn't get to go out and enjoy the sun on Wednesday like I had planned.  Tessa took a short 15 minute nap in the mid morning and then didn't sleep again until about 3:30.  I spent the whole afternoon waiting for her to get tired and take a nap so we could go.   By the time she did, the afternoon was gone.  Oh well.  That couldn't have been the only sunny day we'll have.  Could it?

Yesterday Tessa and I went and had lunch with Tia and baby Macy.  Macy is only 9 days older than Tessa but she is doing some incredible things already.  She has several teeth, can sit up on her own, rolls all over in her crib (Tessa rolls on the floor but hasn't even tried to in bed), and Macy has even pulled herself to standing in her crib!  Wow!  Super Baby!  Look out world, here comes Macy!  Tia's husband Toby stopped by and joined us for lunch for a little bit.   I really enjoy comparing notes and swapping information on what products are best and different parenting questions.

Today Michele stopped by for lunch.  It is Brian's flex day (Well, supposed to be.  He had to go in and fix someone else's mess again) so we ate Arby's sandwiches and caught up on things.  Her new job keeps her pretty busy so we do most of our communicating through e-mail and quick phone calls.  It's a rare treat when she actually gets to come by for a visit.  On my list of things to do for the rest of the day is to start a load of  laundry and maybe mop the kitchen floor.  Oh joy!  

She seems to be staying awake longer these days.  A few weeks ago her awake time was usually between 9 and 10 hours.  Now she's staying up for 10 and a half to 11 hours a day.  If she would learn to take longer naps during the day she wouldn't be waking up at 7am every morning and be ready for bed by 7:30 in the evening.  I'd rather she stay up until 9 or 10 and sleep in a bit in the morning.   I forgot to mention it before but we decided to stop solid foods for now.  She kept spitting up after eating and since she has never been a spitter-upper we are concluding that her system is not ready for the solid food yet.  We'll try again in a month or so.

Monday, April 16th-  Today Tessa and I had lunch with my Uncle Robby.  We stay in touch pretty well through e-mail but it had been a long time since I had seen him.  Even though he works right here in town, we don't see enough of each other.  Tessa was kind enough to be cute as a button for awhile and then take a half hour nap while Robby and I caught up on things.  He and Andy go to Hawaii several times a year so I was asking him for suggestions on good places to go for some QUIET.  I want to wait until Tessa can go and enjoy it too so it will be a few years.

Our power was out for a little over an hour this morning.   Still  enough hot water in the tank to make a bottle so Tessa didn't care.   We listened to the radio and played on the couch until power was back on so I could fire up the computer, and the TV, and the coffee maker, and the toaster... I need electricity.  For the first time in several days Tessa is taking a long nap.   She'll go for days taking little 30 and 45 minute naps and then every 3rd or 4th day she will take a normal 2 hour nap.  Of course I never know which day it is going to be so I don't realize until it's too late that I could have taken a nap too.  Oh well.  

Thursday, April 19th-  It's been a pretty quiet week so far.  Tessa did get really fussy for about an hour yesterday evening.  I'm not used to hearing her cry so when she does I think the worst.   It's just teething though.  Nothing has poked through yet but her little gums are really hard.  It seems like sometimes just drinking a bottle hurts them.   Yesterday morning Tessa rolled over onto her tummy in her crib for the first time.   I heard her waking up so I looked in on her to make sure her eyes were actually open before I made a bottle.  When I came back to get her she was on her tummy looking around.  She started wearing 6-9 month sleepers earlier this week.  Her 3-6 month ones still fit her but now that she likes to play with her toes at every opportunity, it is easier for her if she has some roomier sleepers so her toes don't get so squished.

We haven't gone anywhere since Monday.  It's been kind of nice just hanging out.  Tessa likes watching Sesame Street in the morning.   She seems to especially like Elmo, Telly and Little Bear.  She laughs and bounces up and down in her saucer.  Most of the show she doesn't seem too interested in but she likes those three.  I've been having fun watching because Maria and Gordon are still on there and some of the little letter and number skits they use were ones I used to watch when I was little. 

Tuesday, April 24th-  I learned a valuable lesson early yesterday evening.  Tessa is now too big for me to leave her propped up in the corner of the couch while I go to the kitchen to make a bottle.  I had barely gotten into the kitchen when I heard a thud and Tessa start to cry.  She had managed in only a few seconds to lean herself over onto her side and roll off the couch.  I'm glad Brian was home at the time because I was crying harder than Tessa was.  She's fine and was back to her old self in just a few minutes but I still feel guilty about it.  I've put her on the couch like that countless times and just assumed she would stay put like she always has.

I wasn't supposed to go back to work until Friday but my boss called a little while ago to say they had work coming in already if I wanted to come back tomorrow.  Doesn't give me much time to get my head out of stay home mode and back into work mode but it is more money than unemployment.  I'm not looking forward to that 4:30 am alarm though.  At least Tessa doesn't start to wake until 6:30 or so these days.  I guess I better not stay up too late.

Sunday, April 29th-  It's been a fairly quiet week.  I went back to work on Wednesday and we've fallen back into that routine.  I've become obsessed with the soundtrack to the movie Gladiator but it sure makes the time fly as I sit there keying at work.  As long as I don't get caught humming along. :)  My Mom was down for a visit today and just left a little while ago.  She can't see enough of her grandbaby. :)  Tessa's first tooth started to break through on Thursday and I just noticed this afternoon the one right next to it is coming through too.  She'll soon look like a little jack-o-lantern with those two bottom teeth sticking up there.  She's been grumpier than usual through all of this which makes it hard for all of us.  Brian and I don't like to see her in pain and we also don't like dealing with a fussy baby!

Tessa is rolling over in her crib now and frequently sleeps on her tummy.  It makes me nervous sometimes because she tends to sleep face down instead of turning her head to the side.  But she seems to do okay or just turns herself back over and sleeps on her back or her side.    I find myself checking on her much more often when she sleeps that way.   The other morning at 2am I went in and tried to turn her over without waking her up but she saw me and when I left the room she started screaming.  Oh well.  A dry diaper and some bottle and she went back to sleep.

I've been having a hard time getting good pictures of her lately.  The last roll of film I got back she had her eyes shut in most of the shots!   Well, I figured out why.  I was taking a picture of her the other day and she is anticipating the flash and starts blinking her eyes really fast!  No wonder she's got them closed or half closed in most of the pictures.  I'll have to be sneakier and do really candid shots of her.   

Thursday, May 3rd-  Well, as of this coming Monday, Brian is the supervisor for Network Services.  This promotion kind of came as a surprise because they gave that job to someone else over a month ago.  Now they've decided it's really two jobs and so Brian gets the supervisor position he was supposed to get long ago.  Anyway, as of now it is not more money (that's a whole different bag of political do-do) but Tessa might be a special guest at a lot more meetings.  Today Brian had to be at a 10:30 meeting so she went in with him.   The little conference room they were in is right behind my desk and since it is simply a tall cubicle partition between us I had to laugh every time I heard her squealing in there.  She seemed to be having a good time.  Some of the other ladies I work wit heard her too and came running over to my desk to see her and were surprised that she wasn't there!  I had to explain she was on the other side of the wall in a meeting with Daddy.

Besides that it's been a pretty typical week.  Tessa is still sleeping pretty well.  Her eating has slowed back down a bit again but I think it's a teething thing.  She's definitely not skin and bones so I'm not worried.   The doctor Tessa and I both see is moving out of the area in July so yesterday Tessa and I walked across the street to where the pediatricians offices are to see about transferring Tessa care to the doctor that was recommended.  We got a medical release form that our doctor can sign when we go in on the 15th for her 6 month check-up.  I have to remember to call our insurance and change everything with them and then I can call the new doctor to set up her 9 month check-up for sometime in mid August.  

Sunday, May 6th-  Today is Brian's Birthday.   We didn't really do anything special besides getting a cake.  The new video camera was both of our birthday presents this year.  I'll get back to the rest of the day in a minute.  It's been a pretty full weekend.

Thursday night Tessa didn't go to bed until 11pm.  We were staying up watching the Survivor II finale so it wasn't really that big of a deal but since I had to be up for work at 4:30 am on Friday it made for a very quick 5 and a half hours of sleep for me.  She got up at 8am with Brian but when I got home at noon Tessa still hadn't napped and seemed to have no interest in sleep at all even though I really could have used a nap myself.  She finally fell asleep in the car on our way up to Kent.  So much for my nap.  We stopped at my parents house and visited with Grandma for awhile who was home from work.  

A little before 5:00 we headed over to Red Robin to have dinner with some friends from high school- Ivy, Shellie and Colleen.  Ivy was up visiting her family from Texas and is expecting her first child on Halloween.  I had lunch with Shellie just a few weeks ago but I hadn't seen Colleen since my baby shower.   I've known Colleen since the 1st grade.  I'd scan in our third grade class picture but she'd kill me. (Love those stripped tights, Colleen!)  It was a lot of fun catching up with everyone and hearing all about Ivy's adventures with her pregnancy and getting some advice from Colleen whose little beauties are 2 and 5 years old.   Tessa and I headed home after dinner and reached home about 8pm.  Just in time for Tessa's bed time.

On Saturday, Tessa and I went out to Tia and Toby's house to have lunch with Tia and baby Macy.  Toby was away for the weekend so it gave us a chance to talk about baby stuff.  Toby is a building contractor so they have a great house with vaulted ceilings and lots of windows and warm colors on the walls.  I loved it.  Tessa and Macy got off to a rough start playing together by trying to beat each other up.  I guess Tessa needs to work on her social skills.  Tia and I both took some pictures of the girls together so hopefully there will be a few good ones in the bunch.

Today we took a little family drive back out to Tia's to pick up Tessa's bottle that I had left there.  What a dork.  I almost left it at Red Robin too.  But it gave Brian a chance to see their house and we discussed different features we want in a dream home on the drive back into town.  My poor car hasn't been properly washed since before Tessa was born (Yikes!) so after filling up at Texaco, we went through their car wash.  I was worried that the loud noise and all the brushes beating against the car would freak out Tessa but she just sat in her car seat and watched it all without a peep.  I was relieved.  I wasn't sure what we were going to do if she started freaking out in the middle of it.

The rest of the day we have just been hanging out trying to mentally prepare for another week of work.  Not that you can ever really mentally prepare to go to work.  

Friday, May 11th-  Tessa is 6 months old today!  Yeah!  Happy Half Year Birthday Peanut!  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by.  One day she was this little tiny thing and now she's a little person.  She can get around qite well rolling over and scooting around on her back.  We're still working on sitting up.  She'd rather stand!  She loves to babble and has said mama and dada several times but just in among her babbling so we haven't counted anything as a first word yet.  Tessa has become a tummy sleeper (like her Mommy) but I don't think she knows how to do it right.  She hasn't really figured out how to draw one knee up and turn her head to the side so she lays there with her face pressed into the mattress.  Sometimes she puts her little hands up under her cheeks and creates a little air pocket.  I don't know.  She seems to do alright.

Tessa came into work again yesterday so I could stay for our monthly potluck.  My friend Lynn calls babies "love sponges" so she had to get in a few squeezes.  I got a bunch of really cute Gymboree outfits last weekend from Tia (Macy has grown too long for them) so I've been dressing her up at every opportunity  before she outgrows them too.

7th Month
May 12, 2001 to June 11, 2001

Sunday, May 13th-  Well, today is my first official Mother's Day.  We spent a nice quiet day at home.   The three of us did go out for a walk earlier to enjoy the nice weather.  We were going to go up to the pool and take Tessa swimming for the first time but I just felt too lazy today to do it.  I want Brian there in case she doesn't like it so I can just hand her to him but we can do it one week night when I am off work next week.   Looks like we might be offering Tessa water in addition to her formula.  Today Brian was drinking out of a water bottle and she kept reaching for it.  Brian let her try and even though she ended up soaking wet, she did drink some and seemed to like it.   Probably not a bad idea especially with summer coming on. Yesterday Tessa's Tickle Me Elmo arrived in the mail.  Margaret and Paul sent it to her.   She loves him!  She can't push on his tummy hard enough to make him giggle and shake on her own but when we get him going for her the look on her face is just priceless.   Too cute.

Tuesday, May 15th-  I only worked for 3 hours this morning because Tessa had her 6 month check-up today.  She now weighs 15 lbs., 13 oz and is 25 inches long.  She is right at the 50th percentile for weight and a little bit under for height.  We got a prescription for fluoride since our water her does not have any in it.  She got 4 more shots too.  It would have been 5 but they were out of the Prevnar vaccine so that one will wait until her 9 month check-up wit her new doctor.  Everything else looked great.  She is hitting all the developmental milestones she should be.  She is currently napping.  She always takes longer naps on days she gets shots.

Here on the home front things are great.  This keying cycle is almost over so I should have some time off work again very soon.  Tessa has grown out of her "damsel in distress" phase (for now).  For a few weeks she would roll over on her tummy on the floor and then fuss and whine for one of us to come "rescue" her and turn her back over even though we knew she could do it herself.   Now she just does it without all of the drama.  I don't know if she just wanted to make sure we would do it if she wanted us to or if she was just being lazy.   Now she seems to have the attitude that it is much easier just to roll over herself than to wait around for Mom and Dad.  Thank goodness.

She seems to have lost interest in solid food.  This seems to be common among other babies on the mommy e-mail list so I'm not too concerned.   It's like the novelty has worn off or something.  Or maybe she's worried that anything coming in her direction on a spoon is more of those nasty prunes.  She sure didn't care for those.  I need to get some veggies next time I'm at the grocery store.  Dr.  Chinn said we could giver her crackers too (already?) so I'll get some of those baby biscuit things.  

Wednesday, May 16th-  Gee, I'm long winded these days.  Only 5 days into this page and this is my 3rd entry already.   Let's see... I guess I spoke too soon on the aversions to solids thing.  Tessa just finished up a rather good helping of rice cereal mixed with banana.  Gobbled it down.  Her favorite game during meal time (besides trying to rip the spoon out of Mommy's hand) is to spit a little bit back out and then rub her little fists in it and then touch everything she can get to.  I'm either going to have to wrap her in SaranWrap to keep her clothes clean or just feed her in just her diaper.  That would probably be the better option of the two.  A high chair might be a good idea too.

Today was also a bit unusual because she took a 3 hour nap!   Usually her maximum length is 45 minutes.  I think she is still trying to process the shots and stuff.  After she got up we went over to Albertson's to drop off her fluoride prescription and mail some cards and letters I've needed stamps for.   I would have gotten the prescription today but the pharmacist thought it was an unusually high dose for a 6 month old and as calling the doctor's office about it.

She's turning into such a fun little person.  One of her favorite activities is puling on my hair.  I have to make sure it is back over my shoulder while giving her a bottle or she gabs a big handful.  She runs one of her hands through her own hair while she drinks her bottle too.  It's so cute.  She plays with Brian's hair too.  If her holds her up in front of him he rubs the top of his head in her face and she grabs the hair on the side of his head and giggles away.   Now with those two little teeth she's had a few instances where she has bitten her own tongue.  Then she puts her hand in her mouth to comfort herself and bites her finger.  I feel bad for her but it's funny too.  For awhile now she'll look for toys that have fallen out of sight.  If she's in her saucer or the bouncy seat and the toy she is playing with falls on the floor she'll lean over and look for it.   Usually she'll yell at it like it's going to jump back up into her hand if she scolds it long enough.   

Thursday, May 24th-  It's been a fairly quiet week.  I had a meeting today at work so I took Tessa in with me.   She hadn't napped all morning so by the time the 12:30 meeting rolled around she was kind of cranky.  I left a little early but I know what part of the project I'm responsible for.  The weather has stayed really nice all week.  Hopefully it will hold through the long Memorial Day weekend.  I noticed something kind of strange today.  Tessa cries whenever I blow my nose.  I don't know if it startles her or if she doesn't recognize me when I have a Kleenex over my face or what.  She rarely cries so I just thought it was a weird thing for her to cry about.

Saturday, May 26th-  Not much to write about but I was putting the new pictures on this page so I thought I'd do a little update as well.  We all went down to the Farmer's Market this morning.  They have cherries now but they don't look very ripe yet.  I decided to wait on getting some.  Tessa's new favorite game is peek-a-boo.  I throw her little towel over her face and she pulls it off.  "Where's Tessa?  There she is!"   Today we caught her playing it by herself.  The blanket we lay her on when she is playing on the floor is long so we have it folded in half.  She was pulling the loose end over her head and then she would just lay there until one of us said, "Where's Tessa?"  Then she'd pull it off and giggle.  Very smart little girl.  Do I say that too much?  Nah.      

Wednesday, May 30th-  I think Tessa is going through another growth spurt or is trying to cut another tooth.  She's been staying up late and taking weird naps.  Oh well.  At least she keeps it interesting.  Monday, which was Memorial Day, was pretty busy for her.  Grandma and Grandpa came down to visit and brought along a big bag of cute clothes they had found at various garage sales.  Most of it is for next winter so I'm storing it all away for now.  While they were still here, Cyndi and her boyfriend Justen arrived for a visit.  I've known Cyndi since junior high school but I hadn't seen her since my baby shower.  We had a great visit and caught up on a lot of gossip and such.

Well, she's in her crib napping right now and I really should try to take a little nap myself.  Work is busy these days and I dread the 4:30 am alarm.  Is it the weekend yet?  Oh yeah.  We've learned a little trick when we put Tessa down for the night or for a nap.  We don't bother covering her up with a blanket until she's decided on a position and a spot in the crib and has fallen asleep.  If we try to put one on her while she is still awake she just gets tangled in it and is usually lying on it when she falls asleep.  Doesn't do us much good underneath her.

Saturday, June 9th-  It has been a fairly quiet week.  Tessa came in to work for a little while on Thursday for Suzi's baby shower.  Today she stayed home with Brian while I went out to Mia's for Suzi's other baby shower.  Besides going to work or running to the grocery store, today was my first time out of the house without her.  It was kind of nice having just some adult time with my friends.

Tessa seems to have figured out sitting up.  I didn't think she could and after seeing Ashley sitting up on her own today (Mia's daughter who is 7 weeks younger than Tessa), I was concerned.  When I got home I plopped her on the floor with some toys and there she sat.  Okay.  She can sit up on her own.   She fell backwards a few times (onto the pillow I had put there) but did great overall.  I'm going to wait a few days and have her do some more sitting up before I call it official and put her "Sits up unassisted" sticker on her First Year calendar.  She's only a few days from turning 7 months old.  Hard to believe.

We gave our loveseat away to Cyndi and Justen because we needed some more room in the living room.  Severely cuts back on our available seating in there but now we have room to put up the playpen.  With Tessa rolling all over the place and on the verge of crawling, we needed a safe place to plop her down if we were not in the room.  Tia is going to come over for lunch in a few weeks and I'm going to use little Macy as my guinea pig.  She is completely mobile and pulling herself up on everything so I want to see what she goes for in the apartment to see what kind of baby proofing we still need to do.  We got the speakers for the entertainment center up off the floor but I know there are other things we are going to have to modify when she starts crawling. 

Sunday, June 10th-  We had another earthquake this morning.  I say another like we just had one last week or something but to have two you can feel in just over 100 days is rare for around here so it seems to have come rather fast on the heals of the February 28th earthquake.  Anyway, at 6:19 am we got a jolt big enough to wake Brian and I up.  It was a 5.0 magnitude (considerably smaller than the previous 6.8) and centered about 30 miles northwest of here.  This one was very short.  Just a quick thump like someone picked up the whole building and dropped it back down.  Tessa slept through the whole thing and when the shaking didn't continue in the next few minutes, we didn't even get out of bed.   Just a little AM excitement.

8th Month
June 12, 2001 to July 11, 2001

Tuesday, June 12th-  Took Tessa to her first Baby Gym class this morning.  Tia was there with Macy and Mia came with Ashley.  It was fun but I think she'll enjoy it more once she can crawl around and play with the other babies.  She did sit in the ball pit for awhile but seemed totally overwhelmed by everything that was going on around her that she didn't even play with the balls, just sat there.  I hope the picture I took of her in there turns out.   She got hurt early in the hour which made her a bit leery as well.  My fault really.  She was sitting up between my legs and I didn't catch her fast enough and she ended up scraping her chin on my shoe.  The facilitator did circle time where we sang some songs and played a few games.  When we introduce ourselves we put a blanket over our child's head and sing a little song and they are supposed to pull the blanket off their head.  Tessa knows that one.  We play peek-a-boo all the time.   Anyway, there are lots of neat toys and about a dozen babies to play with once she gets the hang of it.  Plus it will be nice to see Tia and Mia on Tuesday and Thursday and talk about Mommy stuff.

Last night Tessa was playing in her cage (our term for the playpen) and she was shaking one of her rattles.  all of a sudden she stopped and started to laugh.  Then she'd shake the rattle again and laugh some more.  I think she figured out that she was the one who was making it make that noise.  She was so tickled with herself.

On the news today they were saying that on average, babies that were born on the year 2000 will cost $166,000 to raise between birth and 17 years old.  That seems pretty high but I guess fees for sports and dance classes, clothes, food, school expenses, etc. can all add up pretty quickly.  Heck, car insurance for a teenage driver is probably half of the $166,000 at least. :)   

Thursday, June 14th-  I guess we can make it official and say that Tessa can sit-up without support.  After her tipsy performance at BabyGym on Tuesday we made her "practice" sitting up on her own last night and she did great.  Fell over onto the pillows a few times but she is now learning to adjust her balance if she starts to lean.  This morning at BabyGym she did great didn't fall over at all.  She is even rocking back and forth which is another step towards crawling because once she gets her hands down on the floor in front of her and rocks up onto her knees, she's in crawling position.  That will probably be in the next few weeks.

She did manage to bonk her head right at the end of class today when I put her down on the exercise mat so I could put my coat on and she promptly rolled off onto the hard floor.  I had just been telling Mia that the only time she says "mama" is when she is hurt or upset.  In between her other blubbering she did say "mama" a couple of times and stuck out that pretty little bottom lip.  She was suddenly the center of attention from a few of the mommies so tears turned into smiles quite promptly.

These days Tessa is usually up for 11 and a half hours with two hour and 15 minute naps breaking up that time during the day.  Her nap right now is approaching 2 hours so I may need to wake her up.  I swear I heard her laughing in her sleep a little bit ago.  I just put a clean sheet on her mattress.  She looks so precious on her yellow sheet with her yellow blanket over her.  I'd take a picture but when I did that yesterday it scared her and she woke up crying.  Last night she fell asleep in her swing at just under 11 hours for the day.  I tucked her into bed and took it as a sign from God that I should probably go to bed too.  Alas, it was only a nap because she was back up only a half hour later.  We changed her, tried to feed her... she just wanted to play.  I know Brian put her back in her crib about 10:30 and she fussed for awhile but I'm not sure what time she actually went back to sleep because I beat her to it.

Today was fun.  Mom and Dad came down for dinner.   Brian and I have been married for almost 5 years and this is the first time we've had dinner guests!  We made meatloaf, au gratin potatoes, rolls, and fruit and had chocolate pie for dessert.  Tessa passed out just as we were sitting down to eat so she napped while we ate.  After dinner we watched the Mariners game (they lost but still have a 52- 15 record) and took Tessa for a walk. 

Wednesday, June 20th-  Tessa is still battling her cold.  She's asleep in her swing right now.  She does pretty good during the day if she is upright so she has spent quite a bit of time in her supersaucer and especially her jumper.  In the evenings she doesn't want to be rocked to sleep so we put her in her jumper and she falls asleep in there. :(  She'll stay asleep when we move her to her crib so I guess until she feels better that will be the routine.   Last night she slept pretty well.  A few bouts of coughing during the night but not enough to wake her up. We skipped BabyGym yesterday and all tried to get some sleep.  Tessa finally woke up about 9:30 which is halfway through class so I'm glad I didn't make her get up to go.  We'll probably go again tomorrow.  

Yesterday afternoon Tia and Macy came over for lunch.   Watching Macy get around so well is just amazing.  We definitely still have some baby proofing to do.  Our CD rack was a favorite target.  They are just so much fun to pull out onto the floor!  We also have some cabinets in the dining room were we store all sorts of stuff that is going to need to be secured away better.   Time to get some baby proofing locks and latches I guess.  We had a good time watching the girls play and talking about what's going on with us and swapping parenting strategies.  At this stage in the game they are not techniques anymore, they are strategies. :) 

Sunday, June 24th-  Things have been fairly quiet.  Tessa is still battling her cold.  I've been doing a small load of her laundry about once a day lately because we've been cycling through her burp rags quite a bit.  She is also very fond of blowing raspberries which means she wears a bib a lot or we have to change her clothes every hour because of all the drool.  Bibs are also being used more frequently now that she is having two meals of jar food a day.   Usually I can do a pretty good job of keeping her clean but every once in awhile she fools me and sticks her tongue out as the spoon is going in and it rolls down her chin.  She really likes the Bananas with Apples and Pears right now.  We tried the Chicken Noodle but that didn't get nearly the welcome reception.  She's got a sweet tooth like her Mommy.

She still isn't crawling but that's fine with me.   Right now we're working on her being able to sit back up on her own when she falls over on the floor.  She gets frustrated when she bats a toy out of reach and falls over trying to get to it but then she is frustrated because she can't sit back up to play with it like she wants.  She's been spending a lot of time in her jumper these days.   With her stuffy nose she falls asleep better if she is upright and lately that is the only place she will fall asleep.  We'll have to change that once her cold is gone because she needs to relearn how to fall asleep on her own in her crib.

Tia let me borrow some of the baby learning tapes she has for Macy.  With the classical music and brightly colored geometric shapes and everyday objects I find them rather soothing to watch.  Tessa watches for a little bit here and there.  She especially likes the counting ones.  We count with her a lot and also do her ABC's.  This morning when she woke up and was babbling away in her crib it sounded like she said "A, B".  Who knows.  Could have just been babbling. 

Sunday, July 1st-  On Friday after I got home from work Tessa and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go to the park.  She loves making her jumper swing back and forth so I thought she'd enjoy the swings at the park.  She seemed to like it but was paying more attention to what the other kids were doing on the playground than the fact that she was moving back and forth.  I also let her sit in the grass for awhile since she has never experienced grass before.  She wasn't too sure of it but didn't hate it either.  We didn't stay for very long because it was hot out and I wasn't sure if I had covered all her little parts well enough with the sunscreen. 

I bought her one of the little blue bath rings to use during bath time since she has pretty much outgrown the baby bathtub that grandma and grandpa bought for her.  No loss though since it is the kind that folds up and doubles as a step stool.  In a few years she can stand on it while she's brushing her teeth.  Since she can sit up on her own now, she can take a big girl bath in the bath ring.  I need to get her into the pool eventually because she really dislikes having water in her face.  Maybe just more baths will remedy that problem.

Sunday, July 8th-  Yesterday we headed up to Mom and Dad's for dinner.  My sister was there and so were some friend's of the family, Holly and Elsie.  They had not met Tessa yet so they got to see her and I had someone else to show off my photo album to.  We took her highchair up with us as she sat at the end of the table and entertained us all eating little pieces of roll and staining her fingers red on a hunk of cherry Jell-O that she had fun smearing all over her tray.  We went and looked at some new houses near them and I fell in love with one of the floor plans.  It was the biggest model home they had open of course.   When I dream, I dream big.

We spent a quiet 4th of July here at home.  Well, quiet in that we didn't go anywhere.  With all of the fireworks around here I didn't get much sleep.  They didn't seem to faze Tessa though.  She even slept through the big fireworks display that the city of Lacey does on the night of the 3rd just a few blocks from here.

Looks like she is on the verge of crawling.  In just the past few days she has been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.   Once she figures out how to turn the rocking into arm and leg movement she'll really be mobile.  She can make some pretty good time across the floor right now with some rolling and scooting but boy does she get mad when she wedges herself in between some furniture and can't figure out how to get turned around to get out.  Mom and Dad to the rescue!  

Tuesday, July 10th-  Yesterday evening Tessa and I went across the street to the hospital to visit Suzi and her new daughter, Kassie.  Suzi looked great.  Kassie was born yesterday morning at 5:33 am.  At 7 pounds 13 ounces and 21 inches long she sure is a cute little thing.   The nurses were asking me how old Tessa was.  I told them she was born right here, 8 months ago on Wednesday.  One of them said, "Well, I knew she must have been born here, she's so cute.  We only have cute babies here."  Can't argue with that.

The keying cycle ended yesterday so Tessa and I got to see all her friends today at BabyGym.  Macy has 8 teeth already!  Wow.  It still absolutely amazes me that she is only 9 days older than Tessa.  We'll be going to lunch at their house next week.  I can't wait to see her climb all over her little play gym she has.  There won't be any BabyGym classes in August but they have set up a schedule of parks to meet at during those weeks so hopefully we'll be able to make a few of those.

Just wanted to make a note of the fact that today was the 2001 All-Star Game.  Not only was the game at Safeco Field in Seattle but we had 8 players on the American League squad and the Mariners still have the best record in baseball at 63 and 24.  Go Mariners!

9th Month
July 12, 2001 to August 11, 2001

Friday, July 13th-  Tessa turned 8 months old on Wednesday.  Getting big so fast.  Yesterday we went to BabyGym again.  We were going to start swim class with Macy but they start on July 23rd and costs $75 since we are not YMCA members.  I think we're going to wait until she is a little bit older and take them through Lacey Parks and Rec where they are not so expensive.  Brian came home from work for awhile yesterday afternoon and watched her while I went to the doctor.  I sat in that little room for 70 minutes waiting to see him just to get a birth control pill prescription!  I'm glad I don't get sick often.

Today Cyndi came down for a visit.  She just got a new job as a bookkeeper for a sewing and vacuum store.  One of the stores she will be doing the books for is right around the corner from work so we took a drive to see where she would be going once a month and dropped by work to visit Brian and so she could see where I work too.  After leaving there we went to Shari's for lunch.  Tessa was a good girl and sat in the high chair and played with her toy while we ate.  I gave her a french fry but she had more fun smashing it all over the table and dropping it in her lap for Mommy to retrieve than trying to eat eat.  Thank heavens for wet wipes.

Tessa is really big on playing on the floor these days.   She loves to roll around and play with her toys.  We have to keep our shoes out of reach because she makes a bee line for those.  She also rolls over to the swing but just ends up bonking her head on the legs.  We haven't had her in it in a couple of weeks now so we'll probably put it out in storage and get her a little activity table and put it there.  Earlier today she was just fascinated with the bottoms of her feet and pulling on her toes.  Just trying to figure out how the world works.

Tuesday, July 17th-  It's been a pretty busy couple of days.  Last night I learned that my cousin Dina and her husband Rob welcomed their little boy Jacob Ryan into the world on Sunday evening.  Trouble is, she wasn't due for another 8 weeks.  Despite the odds, 3 pound 5 ounce and 17 inches long, Jacob is doing very well and is breathing on his own.  My uncle Gary called this evening to give us an update and Dina and Jacob are both doing well.

Today started early for us.  Tessa woke up at 4 am.   She had a fever of 100.5 and was very irritable.  We gave her a couple of teething tablets and some Tylenol.  I called the NursePlus line at the hospital just to make sure we were doing things right.  It was kind of funny answering the nurses questions about what her symptoms were.  Working in the daycare for so long I often looked for the same things.  On a couple of occasions I almost wanted to say, "No, she doesn't have Whooping Cough and she doesn't have Foot, Hand and Mouth."   I knew what illnesses she was hunting for just by her questions.  Tessa finally went back to sleep at 5:30 and so did we.  She later awoke at 9:15 am, happy as a clam and no fever in sight.  She had been constipated (had a nice present for Mom later in the morning) and her teeth were probably bothering her.  We decided to skip BabyGym so we could all get some sleep after our early morning adventure.

At 2:00 Tessa and I headed to Dairy Queen where we met up with some of the old Tutor Time gang.  Stacey and her three daughters, Mary, Kristen, Gwenna, Gwenna's daughter, Dawn, and most importantly, little one month old Reese, Dawn's baby boy.  He was the same size as Tessa when she was born but holding Reese it was hard to remember her ever being that small.  Reese is going to be a big boy with his long slender fingers and feet the same size as Tessa's!

After a stop back at home to feed Tessa and let her take a little nap, Brian, Tessa and I headed out to Rainier to take dinner to Suzi and her family.  Several of us at work signed up for nights to take them dinner like they all did for us after Tessa was born.  For the second time today I got to hold a little one.  I didn't have a chance to hold Kassie in the hospital back on the 9th so I took advantage of the opportunity tonight.  Once again she seemed so tiny compared to Tessa.  Suzi is itching to take her out and do things but has to remind herself she is only a week old.  I was in such a daze for the first 3 weeks (okay, I was overwhelmed) that the thought of going anywhere was the last thing on my mind.

Thursday, July 19th-  Yesterday Tessa and I went out to Tia and Macy's house to have lunch with them.  Macy is just a little bundle of energy and moves around so quickly!  You don't dare leave something on the floor or on the edge of the table you don't want her to get because she can get to it faster than you can move it.  I think I'll definitely try to enjoy Tessa's relative immobility while I can.  I think she waved for the first time too.   When we were leaving Tia and Macy walked us to the car and after I got her strapped into her car seat Tia waved at her.  Tessa flailed her arm in her general direction so I'm calling it a wave. :)

We are trying to change Tessa's schedule.  I'm not sure if that is possible or not but we're going to try.  Last night she went to sleep just before midnight!  She's a little night owl like her Dad.  On the weeks that I am working it is not really that big of a deal but I'm exhausted by the time she decides she's ready for bed.  This morning I woke her up at 7 am.  Lately she's been sleeping until about 9 am, taking two 1-hour naps during the day and then staying up until 11:30 or so because she is typically awake for 12 to 13 hours a day.  I don't mind getting up earlier but I have to be in bed earlier too.  If we can get her up by 7 am, then in theory her bedtime should come two hours earlier as well.  In theory anyway.  We'll see what time she goes to sleep tonight.

After I got her up this morning I gave her a bath and we went to BabyGym.  She was already cranky from being awakened early so when she fell over and hit her cheek on my shoe we got big crocodile tears and everything.  Then she threw a little tantrum because she wanted to put one of the balls in her mouth that I could tell was really dirty.  We ended up leaving a few minutes early but that was probably a good thing since she was asleep before I got out of the parking lot and didn't even wake up when I got her home and changed her diaper before putting her in her crib.

Part of the reason she has been in such a mood lately is that both top front teeth are just about to break through.  When I looked this morning at BabyGym I thought they had broken through but I checked again after her nap and saw that they are just on the verge.  Probably by the end of the day or sometime tomorrow Tessa will double the number of teeth she has now.  We've been giving her teething tablets and even some infant Tylenol every now and again because she is obviously in pain.  She barely ate any baby food yesterday because it seemed to hurt.  She didn't even want her cold teether and she usually reaches for that when she sees it.   I want my happy TD back so I'll be glad when they're in.  She will too I suppose.   

Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary.  We were going to leave Tessa with our friend Amy from work but Brian didn't get to take his flex day and ended up working until about 7:30 Friday night.  He's been working a lot of extra hours because most of his staff was gone last week for training, family matters and other stuff.  Hopefully all his hard work paid off and he will be able to take all of next week off as planned.  Yeah!  We might try to do a trip to Mt St Helens while we have the chance on a weekday.

There were all sorts of things going on in the Puget Sound area this weekend-- Bite of Seattle, Capital LakeFair, the King County Fair, Raspberry Festival...  Did we attend any of the festivities?  Nope!  Spent a quiet weekend hanging out at home.  We went to Costco this morning and I snuck away for a few hours to the outlet malls in Centralia but we just didn't feel like fighting the crowds.  In the next few years I'll be much more gung-ho about attending things like that but right now it always seems to interfere with naptime or a bottle and Tessa pays attention to stuff but could really care less if she's watching the raccoons on the patio or horses in a parade.

Wednesday, July 25th-  We've had a pretty busy past couple of days.  On Monday we took both cars to have their oil changed.  While Brian stayed with the cars, Tessa and I went next door and ordered take-out Indian food.  Yum.  Since we didn't get to go out for dinner on our anniversary, we had a great meal of  Chicken Daal, Lamb Vindaloo and garlic chapati bread while Tessa happily bounced in her jumper.  I got 3 meals out of my take-out order.  Yesterday morning Brian came with us to BabyGym.  Dad's come every now and then and at least now he knows where we are and what we're doing ever Tuesday and Thursday morning.  He enjoyed watching all the other babies to see what we are in store for as Tessa gets more active.  In the afternoon we did a quick trip to the mall.  We were going to do the one hour photo at the Ritz Camera place in the mall because our Ritz over here is having their one hour machine serviced.  Seems like everyone had the same idea because it was going to be a 3 hour wait for 1 hour service.   We'll just wait until after the 31st when the regular place has their machine back to get the new photos developed.  I hate that though because I'm always anxious to see how they turned out.  Brian always takes great ones and even gets photos of her with her eyes open!  Amazing!

Today we decided to be brave and went down to Mt St Helens for the day.   Tessa started getting fussy on the way down but we had left just before nap time hoping she'd sleep all the way down.  No go.  I ended up sitting in the back seat with her and giving her a bottle while she rode in her carseat.  She did end up sleeping for about 15 minutes as we headed along the Spirit Lake Highway but that was 3 hours after her usual naptime and two teething pills later.  The weather was really nice, just a bit hazy and even though it was a Wednesday, I was surprised at how few tourists there were at the visitor's centers for the middle of the summer.

We were starving by the time we got to Coldwater Ridge and the bananas and Fig Newton's we had brought along just didn't sound appetizing.  We paid almost $12 for two mediocre hamburgers and one large Coke.  I guess they have to do something to pay to truck the food all the way out there.  We were the only ones in the whole eating area and unfortunately we arrived just as the girl was emptying all the garbage bins.   Tessa has this weird fear of garbage bags.  You know that sound they make when you kind of whip them back and forth to get them open before putting them in the can?   She freaks out!  She does that when I change the kitchen garbage bag at home too.  Every time I noticed the girl was getting ready to put in a new liner I'd turn Tessa the other way and talk to her really loud and distract her.  The people behind the counter must have thought I was nuts.

We got me a new Mt St Helens mug since I broke my other one when I dropped it at work. :(  I also got Tessa a cute onesie for next summer and we got some good pictures (I hope).  Some of Tessa and I with the mountain in the background and some that I've been wanting so I can update my Mt St Helens pages.  We survived a long car trip with Tessa and that's the important thing.

We found out another reason Tessa was fussy today.   She now has 4 teeth!  I was checking when we got home and sometime during the trip the other top front tooth had broken through.  It's barely there but definitely has arrived.  Now besides blowing raspberries her new game is to scrape her bottom teeth and top teeth together.  She was  doing that in the car and I was having flashbacks of Natalie grinding her teeth in her sleep.  Worse than fingernails on a chalkboard!  I hope it's just a fun little diversion until she gets used to having teeth.

Monday, July 30th-  Brian and I have been sick since Thursday.  Blah.  I went to work this morning but only stayed a few hours before putting in for sick leave for the rest of my shift and coming home.   Tried to get some sleep during Tessa's nap but of course this is the day they decide to do some construction on the outside of our building.  Tessa has either avoided this bug altogether or is just handling it with much more grace than her parents are.  Of course with her nose blowing phobia it's been a rough 4 days for her too.   Sometimes she fine with us blowing our nose, other times she freaks out.  We think it might be some kind of doctors mask flashback to her time in the special care nursery.  Or maybe one of the nurses always blew her nose right before she came over and pricked her with a needle of some sort.

Anyway, I felt bad for her this weekend.  All Brian and I wanted to do was lie around so she spent a lot of time contained in her jumper or saucer or "the cage".  We just didn't have the energy to chase her around as she rolled her way through the apartment.  She has discovered the hallway and the accordion doors across the washer and dryer.  She knows there is something cool and interesting behind that moving wall, she just can't figure out how to get to it yet.   She is just on the verge of crawling.  I really mean it this time.   She'll move her arms but isn't very good at balancing on one while she picks up the other.  I even got a really good "face splat" on tape this afternoon.   She wasn't very happy about it but it shows her progress.

She made another physical milestone just a little while ago and I missed it.  Since I obviously wasn't getting any sleep I decided to vacuum but needed to pick up all of her toys first.   She was lying in the hallway watching me and when I turned around with her basket of toys she was sitting up!  "You sat back up!"  I practically yelled.   Brian had been in the computer room and didn't see it either.  Tessa just looked at me like I was insane.  You'd think she'd just levitated 3 feet off the floor or something.  It's just that she's been sooo close these past few days that now that she finally did it I'm a bit in shock. 

Diaper changes have become quite the nightmare.  It's all a big game to her to roll away as I'm trying to get the old one off and the new one on.  But I found if I sing to her she'll stay on her back and listen long enough for me to get the diaper on.  Forget putting her clothes back on her though.  Do you know how hard it is to get baby feet into the feet of a sleeper when they are on their tummy and trying to struggle away?  Another potential Olympic event if you ask me.   That and keeping them from rubbing the food on their chin into their hair before you can get to it with a washcloth.

Thursday, August 2nd-  Brian and I are still sick but Tessa is happy as ever.  She can definitely get to a sitting position on her own after being on her tummy.  I finally caught her doing it today and now she seems to do it all the time.  She even crawled a few feet.   Basically just a hand, hand, knee, knee to get to her toys but it was a crawl.   Rolling still seems to be her preferred mode of locomotion.  I cleared off the bottom shelf of the bookcase a few weeks ago and put her basket of toys on it.  She's become very good at pulling out the basket, dumping the toys, and then playing with the basket.  <Sigh>  Why is the packaging always more fun than the toy?   I'm going to have to clear off the second shelf soon because she has started to reach up to things to try and pull herself up.  She's gotten to her knees using the lever on the side of the rocker/recliner but hasn't made it to her feet yet.  I think we are still several weeks from that because even when I stand her up and hold onto her hands she is very wobbly.  She needs to work on her balance a little more.

On Tuesday I came home from work and grabbed Tessa and headed for Red Robin for a good-bye luncheon for Mia.  I get to see her and Ashley at Baby Gym all the time but now that she has decided to be a stay at home mommy the ladies at work wanted to give her a big send off.  Suzi brought baby Kassie out for the first time for everyone to meet.  She's 3 weeks old already.  Michele was able to get away from work long enough to join us too.  We haven't seen her in a few weeks so she had fun playing with Tessa.  Tessa is almost big enough to wear the Tommy Hilfiger outfit Michele bought for her so she'll have to come over soon so we can do a photo shoot of the two Tommy girls.     

Monday, August 6th-  Saturday I left Tessa with Brian while I went up to Kent for a baby shower for Ivy, a friend from high school.  Her baby is due at Halloween.  She and her husband live in Texas so I don't get to see her very often.  It was fun to sit and visit and swap pregnancy stories.  On Sunday my parents stopped by on their way home from fishing at Westport.   We all watched the SeaFair hydroplane races while they played with Tessa.  No really any new developments with Tessa in the past few days.  She's begun to explore under and behind things more so I need to be more diligent in my cleaning efforts to make sure the low window sills in the living room and the areas under all the baseboard heaters are clean.  Yesterday I found spots for most of the books on the second shelf where I have her toys and I rearranged some things in our big linen closet so the bottom section just has sheets and blankets.  I was storing extra soap and other bathroom stuff down there but now they are on one of the upper shelves.

We haven't been to BabyGym or the play dates in the park lately since I've been back to work again but I got an e-mail from Tia today and she mentioned that little Macy is WALKING!  Wow.  I'm not surprised though.   She has been miles ahead of Tessa in the physical stuff all along.  I know it's not a race and Tessa is making advances so I shouldn't worry but it's hard not to compare.

10th Month
August 12, 2001 to September 11, 2001

Sunday, August 12th-  Tessa turned 9 months old yesterday.  We are now into the final quarter of her first year.  Wow.  She has grown up so fast.  Today we're trying to keep her out of the cupboards, tomorrow we'll be trying to keep her out of the car.

Anyway, she is getting around pretty good now.  Still seems to prefer rolling to crawling but that's fine.  I'm sure she'll be getting rug burns on her knees soon enough.  I got her Kick 'n Crawl toy back out and assembled it into the crawling tunnel instead of the overhead arch she used to like to lay under.  She spends most of her time trying to figure out how to pull it apart like she used to do with the arch but so far the Velcro has held and she eventually gives up and leaves it there in a heap like a wrecked car.  Most of the time these days our living room looks like a tornado went through with her toys strewn about all over.  She started clapping on Friday.  Now she's not just bashing her fists together but does a real open palm clap.  I moved her crib mattress all the way down to the bottom yesterday.  When she wakes up in the morning she usually sits up and plays with her toys before we go into get her.  She hasn't tried to stand up in her crib yet but I didn't want her standing on the bumper and be high enough to pitch forward and over the rail.

Last night I left her home with Brian while I went up to Southcenter and had dinner with Roni, Shellie and Beth.  It's always a lot of fun to get together and catch up on what everyone is doing and reminisce about our high school days.   Besides it's a great excuse to eat good food.  Especially a piece of Kahlua Chocolate Cheesecake.  Yummy. Babies R Us was in the same parking lot as the restaurant and since I got up there early I did some shopping.   $70.00 later I had bought Tessa two little outfits off their clearance rack, a crib rail teething protector, a TV Guard (to keep her from pushing the buttons on the front), a cute, multi-colored stuffed hippo, and a Step Start Walk 'n Ride toy.  She's still a bit unstable on her feet but in not too long she can use this toy to help her learn to walk and then it easily converts to a riding toy.  We might start it as a riding toy actually.  She liked sitting on the riding toys they have at BabyGym so I thought she'd get a kick out of this.

She has her 9 month check-up tomorrow morning with her new doctor so I am only go into work for a few hours.  All of the BabyGym people are getting together at the park on Tuesday morning but right now it looks like I'll still be working on Tuesday.  : (  We'll have to catch them next time I guess.

Monday, August 13th-  Tessa's 9 month check-up went pretty well this morning.  She now weighs 16 pounds 13 ounces and is 27 1/2 inches long.  Since her 6 month check-up she has gained a full pound and 2 1/2 inches.  I thought she was going to weigh more than that.  She sure feels heavier than 17 pounds when I'm packing her around!  Her Prevnar shot was the only one she had to have today so that wasn't too bad.  She's hitting all of the appropriate milestones for her age so I guess we just keep doing what we're doing.   She's taking a nap right now and has been asleep for longer than usual like she always does after getting a shot.  I need to call this afternoon to make an appointment for her 1 year check-up. 

Tuesday, August 14th-  I know Grandma Dianne won't be reading this update until tomorrow.  That's okay because the 15th is her Birthday!   Tessa says HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!  She promises not to tell how old you are.  He He.  I don't think she has enough fingers and toes to figure it out anyway. :)  Just kidding.  Hope you have a great one.

Anyway, are 9 month olds supposed to be saying phrases?  For quite a few weeks Tessa has been saying "Mama" (usually when she is hurt but not always), and she says "Dada" all the time.  On occasion she has even said "Hi" if we say it to her first.  Brian had claimed that he had hard her say "Hi Dada" a couple of times.  I was skeptical until he came home from work last night and Tessa got all excited to see him and sitting right there in front of me said, "Hi Dada!"  I haven't put anything in her baby book yet as her first word but maybe I'll put that in there since we have both officially heard it.

She's really figured out the crawling thing now and is getting fast.   I was in here checking my e-mail and glanced out the door and she was happily playing with her toys.  I looked again a few moments later and she was GONE!   She was down the hallway trying to get at the washer and dryer again.  She did the same thing to Brian this morning.  We definitely can't leave her quietly playing while we leave the room for a moment anymore because she is never where we left her.   During one of her roaming adventures this evening she managed to to whack her head on the corner of one of our video tape cabinets pretty good.  Looks like it's going to bruise.  Poor thing.  Makes me want to glue pillows to every hard surface I can find.

She and I went to Fred Meyer this afternoon.  She wore an adorable yellow outfit I got her at Babies R Us.  I need to put it back on her soon and have Brian take some pictures.  With the little yellow hat she got from Macy she got a ton of compliments from all the little old ladies in the store.  She did look pretty darn precious talking up a storm, happily chewing on her teether keys as we went up and down the aisles.  

Monday, August 20th-  I finally got some time off this month.  It's only for a week but I'll take what I can get.  Tessa is getting really close to pulling herself up which means more falls as she gets halfway up and then usually slips and goes face first into whatever she was trying to pull up on.   She's about as graceful as her mother.  We recently got out her Fisher-Price Rock 'n Stack toy that she got from her Grandma and Grandpa Robinson for Christmas.   She loves to take the colored rings off the base but hasn't figured out that she is supposed to put them back on too.  If we want to keep her occupied for awhile we just keep putting the rings back on as soon as she takes them off.  Even if she has moved on to another toy she'll kind of look at us like, "Gosh darn it, I just got those off of there and spread all over the floor!"  She'll crawl back over and dismantle it again.  She likes to take two of the rings and bang them together or, of course, chew on them.    

She's figured out how to transport a toy around with her.  She'll carry it in her mouth like a dog with a bone.  There might be a toy she wants to play with but she doesn't want to play with it where it is so she'll just take it with her.   She has also started clapping her feet together.  She'll lie on her back and hold onto her ankles and clap the bottom of her feet together.  At least we know she can entertain herself.

She definitely loves her Cheerios.  I usually give her a dozen or so after she has her baby food.  Gives me a chance to put things away and do a few things in the kitchen while she is munching on those.  Today after her lunch I got out the box of Cheerios and set it on the table next to her highchair.  I noticed that her bib had come down a bit in front and I thought I better pull it back up under her chin so she didn't get little sticky pieces of Cheerios on her outfit.  Well, I start fiddling with her bib and she throws a fit!  She thought I was taking the bib off of her and lunch was over.  I was tempted no to give her the Cheerios because it was pretty much rewarding the tantrum but I gave them to her anyway.  As far as she knew I wasn't fixing it, I was taking it off.  Taking the bib off means getting down.   Not really her fault.

Brian taught me how to use his Nikon so I could take pictures on that too.  My camera you basically point and click where the Nikon you have to manually focus.  I think I'll have to let Brian take those photos.  I'm having the same problem that our friend Tia is having.  When she gets out her camera, Macy rushes toward her so she's had problems taking any good pictures lately.  Tessa does the same thing now and I can't focus on a moving object!  By the time I get it focused she's three feet closer and out of focus again. 

Saturday, August 25th-  It was kind of a weird week with three days of downpour and now a few days of nice sunny weather.  On Wednesday, Tessa and I went out to Mia's house to play with Ashley, Macy and Anna.   Anna is another one of the little girls at BabyGym.  I took a picture of all 4 of the girls while they were playing.  Hopefully it will turn out.  It wasn't easy getting them all to stay still long enough to snap the picture!  We finally got to see Macy walking.  Wow.  Now she really is a busy-bee.

This morning I made a trip to Costco (low on formula again) and when I got back and Tessa woke up from her nap, the three of us went downtown to look at the sandcastle art at the Sand in The City celebration.  Lots and lots of people!   There was music and different booths with children's activities and a big sand box for the kids and stuff.  The sand sculptures were pretty cute but it was really hot out there on the pier.  We took a quick walk through the Farmer's Market and headed back home to the coolness of the apartment.  We stripped Tessa down to a diaper and she really loves that.  We're going to be in big trouble when she is old enough to take off her own clothes.  She'd much rather be naked baby than wear anything.

She had some Mixed Vegetables for lunch (had peaches for breakfast) and is now munching away on her pile of Cheerios.  I give her quite a few because a lot of them end up down in the seat or on the floor.  I've just been keeping the broom in the kitchen instead of putting it away because I use it so much lately.  

Monday, August 27th-  Tessa has started to pull herself up on things.  I've only seen her do it absolutely by herself twice now (Brian helps her out quite a bit) and she still struggles getting from her knees to her feet but I'm sure mastery is just around the corner.  I guess I can't use the foot stool as a mini desk anymore.  She has been getting up on her knees for about a week now and could reach things I had left along the edges so I was piling everything in the middle but if she is standing she'll be able to reach a whole lot more now.  Just another step in the baby proofing process I guess.       

Saturday, September 1st-  I don't know where August went.  It just flew by.  I worked a lot so that makes it go faster.   I'm looking forward to getting through this keying cycle so Tessa and I can start going to BabyGym again.  Everyone is going to be amazed.  Last time we saw most of the the BabyGym people was July 26th and she was still rolling.  Just in the past 21 days she's learned to crawl and pull up on things.  She's still wobbly when she gets up on her feet so walking is still a ways off but she is so proud of herself when she stands up and gets hold of something she's not supposed to have.   August has been a big month for her.  This morning she said "cat".  She got all excited when Fluffy showed up on the deck this morning and Brian was talking to her about the cat and then she said it.  Now she says "mama", "dada", "hi", "up" and "cat".

On Wednesday Tessa and I went out to Hawks Prairie and visited with Teresa at Tutor Time and then walked down to Ben Franklin to see Gwenna.  Teresa is the only one left who worked at Tutor Time when I was there 2 years ago.  Kind of typical of child care these days to have such a high turn over though.  I'm glad we've worked out our schedules so we don't have to have Tessa in daycare. 

Her new thing these days is what were calling her "bitter beer face".  She scrunches up her lips and look amazingly like the guy in the commercials.  She also does her little piggy impersonation when she is in her playpen by squishing her face up against the mesh and sliding down.  It looks hideous but I laugh every time.

I noticed when I got home from work today that she managed to scratch her face up pretty good during the night.  I missed one little corner of one fingernail when I trimmed them yesterday.  They are minor scratches and will probably be gone tomorrow but it still makes it look like I've been abusing my kid.   Luckily the scrape along the side of her nose where she fell against the end table is healing nicely.  She fell, I swear. :)  

Saturday, September 8th-  Well, we've given in and are letting her play at the windows.  She likes looking out at the cats too much to try and keep her away.  Big temper tantrums if we keep relocating her.   Today she wanted to play with the newspaper and I wouldn't let her.  Big screaming and crying.  Isn't she supposed to be two before she starts doing that?

I know it's early but I've started planning her birthday party already.  I didn't want to do a theme like Elmo or Blue's Clues or anything like that so our theme is the number 1.  I couldn't find invitations I liked so I'm making my own.  I've only made one so far (kind of a prototype) but it's so cute!   One of the moms on the October Moms list was talking about buying a white table cloth and putting the child's had prints on it each year and having everyone who attends the party sign the table cloth.  Then you use the same table cloth over the years and keep adding hand prints and guest signatures to it.  I thought that was a very cool idea.  Now our only problem is figuring out where to put everyone that we want to invite!

She's still as busy as ever pulling up on things to explore spots she couldn't reach in the past and she goes to bed every night with little red knees from crawling all over all day long.  I have to work on Monday but it looks like we'll be back to BabyGym on Tuesday.  I can't wait to see everyone and to let Tessa play now that she is actually able to play on all the toys and crawl through the tunnel and pull herself up to the little kitchen.  I can't believe how much she has grown since we were at BabyGym last time. 

Tuesday, September 11th-  Terrorists attacked America this morning.  They hijacked 4 jet liners and crashed 2 of them into the World Trade Center towers in New York, one into the Pentagon, and one crashed in rural Pennsylvania, apparently never making it to it's intended target.  I'm completely stunned.  Hundreds are already known to be dead.  The numbers could reach into the tens of thousands depending on how many were not able to escape the WTC towers before they collapsed.  New York,  Washington D.C., and all of America is reeling from these attacks.  Life here in western Washington is eerily normal.  I don't know what else to say.  I am saddened and sickened.

11th Month
September 12, 2001 to October 11, 2001

Tuesday, September 18th-  I've spent most of the week in front of the TV watching the events unfold following last week's terrorist attacks.   It's given me a lot of time to think.  I have always treasured every moment I spend with Tessa but suddenly the need to remember every little giggle, every smile, every accomplishment is even more important.  Life is so precious.  I'm not sure what the different stages of grief are but I know I was stuck in disbelief for several days.   I didn't get angry until I saw a webpage put up by some sick minded person who was celebrating the deaths of so many Americans and hoped that even more would die soon.   I was suddenly aware of just how evil some people can be and it frightened, disgusted and angered me. By the time I ventured out to buy an American flag, the stores had sold out.  So I made my own.  I got out the construction paper and the paper cutter, bought some silver and gold stars, and made my own flag to hang on my front door.  Life will go on.  Life must go on.  I still grieve for all of those who lost their lives last week but I will not let this keep me from enjoying life and enjoying my family and friends.  I look forward to watching the Mariners play tonight.  I look forward to celebrating Tessa's birthday, eating turkey at Thanksgiving, and decorating the tree for Christmas.  I will probably always cast a wary eye at planes passing overhead and say a quick prayer before entering a high rise building but I don't want to let the terror of terrorism run my life.

Friday, September 21st-  Tessa got her 6th tooth today.  Her 5th one came in last Monday.  She bit Brian on the thigh earlier today.  She had pulled herself up on his leg while he sat on the couch and was merrily drooling on his pants when- CHOMP!  She's got some sharp little teeth.  It's like having a rabbit in the house.  This evening we gave her the big box that the diapers come in and she had a ball playing with it.  Never did figure out she could go inside but she loved to pound on it and pull herself up on it.   All those toys and she'd rather spend two hours playing with an empty box.

Today she and I went down to Centralia with Mia, Tia and Erin and their little girls.  Carter's Outlet store was having a sale on sleepers.   Of course I ended up spending more money on little outfits than on sleepers.   Last Friday the 8 of us went to the park.  We sat on a blanket in the shade and contemplated the state of the world and things to come.  Rather odd really.   Earlier this week I did get my emergency supplies out of my trunk and go through them just to see what was there and what I still would like to have.  I bought a bigger Rubbermaid container to put it all in and am in the process of getting some more things I want to have on hand.  We are trying to get back to normal but it never hurts to be prepared.   

Monday, September 24th-  Brian had to work all weekend so Tessa and I were on our own for most of the time.  On Saturday she and I took my poor dirty car through the car wash.  She doesn't seem to mind it at all.  Probably a good thing since I don't have the time to take my car down to the lower parking lot and try to wash it by hand.  We also made a trip to Costco.   We've switched to size 4 diapers.  The big box of size 4's costs the same as the size 3's.  Too bad you get less diapers.

On Sunday she and I went up to visit my parents.   Tessa played with some of the toys they have for her and showed off her standing skills.  She can stand without holding onto anything but she still needs something to lean against.  She also tried to chase the cat but Tagger isn't stupid and didn't stick around very long.  Tessa looked quite confused when Tagger actually came in the house because even though we have lots of cats here she likes to look at through the window, none of them are ours so they don't come inside.  We took her shopping at Sears and she happily sucked on her toes while Mom and I picked out some cute outfits off the sale rack for her to wear next summer. 

I've learned a new skill- Speed Cleaning.  Tessa follows me around the apartment like a little puppy and when I'm trying to straighten up and put things away she challenges me to do whatever I need to do in a room before she can get in there with me.  We keep all the doors to the bedrooms and bathroom closed when she is awake and roaming.  I have to go into the bedroom and gather up the laundry and get back out and shut the door before she gets down the hall and into the bedroom.   Sometimes if I'm not fast enough and she makes it in, I can sometimes get her to come out by opening another door.  Then I have to be fast and get both doors shut while she is still in the hallway.  If I have to physically remove her there is bound to be some sort of fit but if she comes out of a room on her own and then I shut the door she doesn't seem to mind.  My favorite is to see how many dirty dishes I can get loaded into the dishwasher before she can get into the kitchen and try to pull the dirty cutlery out of the dishwasher.

Tuesday, October 2nd-  I wasn't feeling very well this morning when my alarm went off so I e-mailed work and went back to bed.  Amazingly Tessa slept until 9 am so I got 4 extra hours of sleep!  Wow!   It's now almost 4:00 and she has only taken a 15 minute nap so far.  That's a good thing since she has been staying up for approximately 13 hours a day.  If she takes too long of a nap today we are looking at a late bedtime.

Anyway... on Saturday Tessa's friend Anna from BabyGym turned 1 year old so Tessa got to attend her very first birthday party.  We had a great time and I got to see what I'm in for when Tessa gets to dive into her own birthday cake.  On Sunday I went to Old Navy and bought a really cute bunny costume for Tessa to wear for Halloween.  She has a cute little orange stripped onesie with a ghost on it and a pair of black pants she can wear under the costume so even if she gets to warm in the bunny suit she will still be wearing Halloween attire.  I have Bunny ears I can wear and I might buy some white sweats so we can be Momma Bunny and Baby Bunny.  With those cute little teeth of hers and the round cheeks she kind of looks like a bunny anyway.  We tried the costume on her and she looks absolutely adorable.  Later that day I also found a costume for her for next year at Albertson's.  She is going to be a giraffe.  The costume is pretty simple.  It is basically a coat with a giraffe head on the hood and a tail coming down the back.  With a pair of brown pants she'll be ready to go.

This morning Tessa was sitting on the floor playing with her toys and she found her little pink hair brush in among her things.  He put it up to her head and was trying to brush her hair!  I was so impressed.  She seems to be learning so much lately.  I'm having so much fun watching her turn into a real little person.

Thursday, October 4th-  Well, I told Casey I'd do an update so here we go. :)  Hi Casey!  Good to see you today at Cris' luncheon.  You'll have to come visit sometimes instead of just reading my updates.

Anyway, last night we began our battle with bedtime.   We've kind of been bad parents.  Back when Tessa had her cold she was having a hard time falling asleep laying down in the crib because her nose was all stuffed up.   We tried rocking her but she'd just squirm around and not relax.  Well, we started putting her in her jumper and let her fall asleep in there and then move her to her crib.  After her cold went away we just kept doing it.  Now the jumper is a crutch.  Time for bed-- put her in the jumper.  It won't be long before she is too heavy for the jumper anyway.  For now we are trying to rock her to sleep and then put her in her crib.

I know there is the whole philosophy about putting them in their crib and letting them cry but we just can't do that.  For one thing she sounds like we're ripping her arms off or something.  But more importantly, we are her parents and we are supposed to care and provide for her.  Tessa rarely cries because she doesn't have reason to.  She should be secure in the knowledge that Brian and I will be there to love her and take care of her and when she is standing there in her crib screaming I feel like I'm betraying that trust.  We may have replaced one bedtime crutch for another but since she never sits still long enough for me to just hold her, rocking her to sleep is kind of nice.  

 I'm amazed by how much she understands.  On Sunday I was trying to read the newspaper and she kept grabbing at the sections.  I saw one of the cats come up on the patio and I said, "The cat is outside.  Go to the window and look at the cat."  And just like that she did it.  Happily pounded on the window and gave me time to finish reading the paper.  Today she was in the kitchen standing next to one of the chairs and I noticed she only had one sock on.   I asked, "Where did your sock go?"  She looked down at her feet and then back at me with a puzzled look as if to say, "Gee Mom.  I don't know."   (I still haven't found that stupid sock.  She probably stuffed it under the couch.)

Yesterday she figured out that if she dumps all of the toys out of the plastic bin we store them in and she turns it upside down, it becomes a dandy step stool.  This might be okay if she could stand on her own but she still needs to hold onto something.  She got up on it but then lost her balance and ended up doing the splits on the way down.  Bonk.  I noticed she hasn't tried it today so maybe she learned her lesson (for now).

We saw Tessa's cousin Jennifer in a commercial yesterday!   Yeah Jennifer!  She is a recent graduate of Ashmead College (do family members get free massages? :)  ) and she is in their new commercial.  Pretty cool.   Hopefully we'll get it on tape soon.

Well, time to go move Tessa from the jumper to her crib.   I gave up this afternoon on getting her down for a nap.  I think she went beyond tired because she was so fussy she would not relax and rock with me.  Weaning from the jumper is going pretty good.  This is only the second time in 5 days that we've used the jumper to get her to sleep for a nap or at night.  Pretty good in my estimation.    

12th Month
October 12, 2001 to November 11, 2001
Tessa's 1st Birthday!

Saturday, October 13th-  Can a child live on hot dogs alone?  If so, we have nothing to worry about.  Tessa loves hot dogs.  She also likes to eat Cheerios and Kix, waffles, applesauce, and yogurt.   She especially likes Key Lime Pie yogurt when Brian shares it with her using a big people spoon.  She's not big on vegetables so she is still eating carrots, peas and green beans in baby food form.

On Wednesday we went out to Mia's house so the girls could get together and play.  I just love that Tessa gets to interact with other kids her age without having to be in daycare.  Thursday morning was BabyGym.  Yesterday we carved our Halloween pumpkin.  It was probably too early and the pumpkin won't make it to Halloween but I think we can afford another $1.17 pumpkin.  Brian had to work for awhile today and Cyndi has a cold and couldn't come visit today.  We've rescheduled for next Saturday.  We went out to Tia's instead for another play date.   Mia and Erin were also there.

Friday, October 19th-  It's been a pretty quiet week.  Tuesday and Thursday mornings we went to BabyGym as usual.   On Wednesday, Tia and Mia brought the girls over here to play.  Erin got a job at a flower shop and had to work Wednesday afternoon so she couldn't come.  On Wednesday evening we took a family trip to Sears where we all got new shoes, Brian got some new work clothes, and we bought more bags for the vacuum cleaner.  Since I vacuum so much more often now the bag gets full really fast!  On Thursday afternoon Tessa and I went back to Sears.  We got a couple more turtleneck shirts for Brian, a pair of slippers for Tessa, and some tights for her to wear with her new shoes.

Tessa seems to like chicken a lot.  I cut up some of the chunks that were in our chicken fettuccini the other night.  Food is still kind of a struggle though.  She's pretty picky.  Little Macy eats anything and her favorite foods are spicy!  Hopefully as Tessa is weaned off the bottle and drinks less formula, she'll eat more real food just because she's hungry.

Thursday, October 25th-  Last year on this day was Tessa's due date.  I'm glad I didn't know then that I still had 16 days to go.  Or maybe knowing would have made the wait easier.  Who knows.  I just know I'm much happier today than I was a year ago!   

Let's see... On Saturday afternoon Cyndi came down for a visit.  I had planned on taking Tessa with us to lunch but she was ultra fussy and hadn't taken a nap yet so she stayed home with Brian while Cyndi and I went to Applebee's.   On Sunday, Mom and Dad came by for a visit on their way home from Ocean Shores.   They'll be stopping by this Sunday as well.  We went to BabyGym on Tuesday and this morning.  I went back to work on Wednesday but Brian had meetings this morning so I made arrangements with work to stay home today.

Tessa had her first bug encounter the other day.  She was playing over by the window when I noticed she was eating something.  I was hopeful it was just a fuzzle but I ended up dragging a dead spider out of her mouth.   GROSS!  After I got done being totally freaked out I got her to drink some water and then put her in the jumper while I moved all the furniture and vacuumed.   Used the attachments to get into the corners and under the baseboard heaters.   I hate those heaters.  They seem to be a magnet for cobwebs and bugs.

Kind of a little sign of the times side note... Yesterday as I was sitting at my desk at work a plane went over the building really low.  It was probably someone headed into the airport or a plane from Fort Lewis or McCord but it was still a really helpless feeling.  Sitting there clutching the side of my desk, willing the plane to stay in the sky and knowing that even if I wanted to run I'd have no idea which way to go.  I do my best not to let it get to me but those terrible images of September 11th are always rolling around in the back of my head.  Maybe that's a good thing.  Keeps me more alert and focused on the world around me.

Monday, November 5th-  Unless Tessa does something spectacular this week (like walk) this will probably be my last update before she turns 1!  She is doing really good with the standing on her own thing.   I was trying to get her to walk today but she'd either just sit down and crawl or kind of take a half step as she fell towards me.  Oh well.  She's almost got it.

On Saturday we went out to Toby and Tia's for Macy's 1st Birthday party.  It was a lot of fun.  There were a lot of people there and everyone brought great food for the potluck lunch.  In typical one year old fashion Macy was much more interested in the boxes than the presents themselves.  She got some CUTE clothes.  We got her a little Sesame Street Radio.  Oh oh.  A noisy toy.  Tia has already threatened to reciprocate. :)  Macy's grandma made her a little cake of her own to dig into.  She was pretty hesitant at first until someone pushed her hand into it and showed her how much fun it could be. 

Tessa got her first birthday present today.  We probably could have waited until her party but I was too excited and let her open them tonight.  She got a Play By Light Piano and a cute pink jumper outfit from Steve, Jo Lee and her cousin Callie.  Brian and I were playing with the piano and she actually got upset at us and kept pushing our hands away.  It was so cute.

Thursday, November 8th-  Well, she did something spectacular alright.  Murphy's Law came into play and just 72 hours before her birthday party Tessa fell against the corner of the video tape cabinet and now has a nice purple goose egg on her forehead. <Sigh>  I freaked out and called Brian.  He came home from work and we called the NursePlus line to see if we should take her to the hospital or not.  Since she didn't lose consciousness and there was no bleeding we are just supposed to keep a really close eye on her for the next 48 hours.   The goose egg looks better than it did earlier.  I think birthday pictures will be okay.  We can kind of hide it if we comb her hair over it a little.  Oh well.

Sunday, November 11th-  Happy 1st Birthday, Tessa!

We had a great day celebrating!  All morning I kind of replayed in my head what I was doing exactly a year ago.  I was up with her for a little while at 4:30 am and realized we were just about getting ready to head over to the hospital.  At 9:30 am they were getting things ready to take me into surgery.   It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by.  I spent the morning getting the apartment ready for the party and then headed out to pick up the cake at Costco and the sandwich tray at Albertson's.  We also had a veggie tray, little bags of chips and various kinds of pop.  Not a huge spread but something to munch on.  We got Tessa all dressed up in her little Tommy Hilfiger dress and took a few pictures of her before the crowd arrived.  Her forehead still had a bump on it and was kind of greenish but it was easily covered by her hair.  It probably won't be noticeable in the pictures.  My parents arrived a little early to help out so Dad blew up several balloons to hang around the kitchen and living room and Mom helped get the food set up.

My friend Cyndi arrived first with Tessa's three BabyGym buddies following close behind.  Aunt Natalie was a little late but got here and that's what counts.  Like most 1 year olds, Tessa preferred the packaging to the presents but after the party was over she had a great time playing with all her new stuff.   She also got some really cute clothes and some pajamas.

Later in the day as Tessa was finally napping and I was getting started on the Thank You cards we got some special phone calls.  One was from Tessa's Grandpa J.B. who was on the road somewhere in Utah.  The 11th is also his Birthday.  I also got a call from my step brother, Steve.  Not only have I not talked to him in a long time (we send e-mail quite often) but right now he is over in Spokane at Fairchild Air Force Base.  He was one of the many people in the National Guard that were called up to protect our country.  It was really great to hear his voice.

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