Hazel's mouth has had some big moments these past few weeks. She's been babbling more than ever...earnestly trying to communicate with us. Her most common utterance is "tda tda tda", which we are close to believing she means "da da". Wouldn't that be wonderful? Violet's first word was "book"...and Calvin's was "ma ma"...I would just love it if Hazy's first word was "da da". Now that Hazel is 6 months old, she craves more solid food. Her eyes follow every fork and spoon she sees, and I can see her frustration when it doesn’t go to her mouth. So, now that she’s mastered all the infant cereals – rice, oatmeal, barley – we decided it was time for her to embark on the adventure that is vegetables. We make our own baby food…something we started when Calvin was a baby. It really doesn’t take too much time and we know exactly what we are putting in baby’s mouth. Also, we can add more variety to their diet than the prepackaged baby food offers. Marcus had been diligently roasting the squash we had purchased for our fall decorations, pureeing them, and freezing them in ice cube trays for the last few weeks. We now have enough baby food squash to last us 6 months at least. (This should give you an idea as to the volume of squash we had in the house – Marcus went a little crazy.) So, we started with the squash, and over the course of 3 weeks Hazel has graduated to sweet potatoes and carrots as well. She's loved all of them...gobbles them up without even a hint of a wrinked nose. So far, a great eater and we look forward to moving on to the green veggies next.
The biggest news is the arrival of her very first tooth! Resembling a small grain of rice on her bottom gum line, her first tooth has finally broken through after weeks of drooling and chewing. We've noticed in her a bit more fussiness with this process, compared to our other two kids...perhaps its a bit more painful for her, poor dear. The arrival of this tooth is bittersweet for Marcus and I...we are excited for this big moment, but sad to say goodbye to her toothless grin.
December has flown by with all the holiday preparations culminating this week in an over-the-top Christmas event. I barely kept up ...but we survived, however...even better than that, we conquered.
I love decorating our house for Christmas. Our tradition is to haul out the 10+ crates from the basement on the day after Thanksgiving and deck the halls. We have a real tree (this year a Fraisier Fir) as the "main tree"...which we supplement with a couple other decorative trees in other areas of the house. Every year we buy an ornament for the "main tree"...a blown glass ornament in the shape of something that somehow signifies the year. This year, we were blessed with our little Hazel and so the ornament we chose is a pink baby carriage. In years past, we've celebrated various events with our ornament choice...like the birth of our other kids (a pink baby block for Vi and a blue bootie for Calvin), a doctor bag the year Marcus had 2 knee surgeries...an owl with a graduation cap the year I graduated with my PhD...a lighthouse for the year we went to Hilton Head. Its such a treat to hang these and remember their significance...one of my favorite parts of decorating. We also have a small artificial tree in our upstairs hallway that we decorate Mardi Gras style...with purple, gold, and green lights and all our medalions from the parade throws as ornaments. We even top it with the Mardi Gras bow we used to hang on our apartment door during the carnival season when we lived in New Orleans. The tree itself was the first tree Marcus and I ever bought...the one we had for our first Christmas after we married. We were so broke then...I remember it was a hardship to lay down the $60 to buy this little 6 foot tree. I'm so glad we've saved it...and that we decorate it to memorialize our time in New Orleans...it makes me smile.
Between our decorating extravaganza and Christmas day, there were cookies baked, a trip to Chicago for a holiday party and family Christmas with Marc's parents, 2 Christmas pageants, parties at work, a Daisy Scout cookie exchange, holiday dress shopping for the girls, christmas cards sent, meal planning and grocery shopping, 2 trips to various stores after 10 pm, starting and finishing handmade presents, many online orders, marathon wrapping in the wee morning hours, counting and recounting gifts, so much laundry...its exhausting just thinking about all that we crammed into this month.
It was all worth it though. We've already enjoyed lovely visits with family...and on Christmas morning, we had 2 overjoyed kids at the sight of their stockings and the Christmas tree. After we set up the tree with all our presents, Marcus and I went to bed and waited for Santa to come. Once morning arrived, we were up first...waiting impatiently in our bed for the kids to wake, creep out and take it all in, and excitedly run to us and tell us what they found. They were late sleepers (huh?), so we finally got started with our Christmas around 8 am. We like to enjoy the presents as we open them...so that the kids attach a value to each one. We put together puzzles, played games, cuddled with new animal friends, ate goodies, well into the afternoon. I think we were finally finished opening around 4 pm. We took breaks throughout, to indulge in our Chirstmas quiche and other food, as well as prepare our Christmas dinner. My mom joined us for the feast and the kids went wild showing all of their trappings.
When we finally got the kids to bed, Marcus and I enjoyed some peacefully quiet moments, reflecting on the day, and all the excited anticipation that led up to it. We took a deep breath, knowing that all the last minute preparations, hectic planning, and finishing tedious details were behind us. We congratulated ourselves on successfully creating a boatload of Christmas memories for the kids...and realized that Christmas is more wonderful than ever...now that we have them.
Today I was reading a magazine article (while pumping) that inspired me. It was a compilation of reflections by several writers on their favorite time of day. Most of them chose an actual time...and described so eloquently how their life at those times was special or fulfilling. The actual moments they described didn't resonate with me, really...since they are writers, their work lifestyle was polar opposite to my office gig...one described how she procrastinates and starts to work around noon. Many of them lived in a city, too...so I couldn't relate to walking from my house to the corner coffee shop in the morning and sit for an hour reading the paper sipping on gourmet coffee. What I found inspiring was considering the moments that I love and relishing them. So here are a few of my favorite moments...
- when I hear the garage door open on Wednesday nights and I know Marcus is home
- when Doppler (our charming dog) curls up to sleep on my feet...especially on a chilly evening
- weekend mornings when I wake and realize that Marcus has kept the kids downstairs so that I can sleep in...I linger a bit longer between sleep and awake to take advantage of the last moments of peace before the day begins
- when I'm driving by myself - I listen to my favorite music...loud...and sing...and I can set the temperature to whatever I want...my own little kingdom
- when my little Hazel puts her hands on either side of my face when we're snuggling...she reaches out so purposefully and smiles as she successfully reaches my cheeks
- when I cross something off my mental list
- when I kiss Calvin goodnight - I crawl into bed with him, more snuggling, and we decide what kind of dreams he wants to have...sweet dreams...spicy dreams...sour dreams...
- when I've given a presentation of work and I know I've nailed it
- when Violet and I go shopping or crafting...and catch myself asking for her opinion because I really want to know...we're hanging out together and I realize just how grown up she really is
- time with my very best friends...the Sprite girls...talking, drinking wine, eating, and generally being the amazing women we are together in one room
- middle of the night reflection, when its peacefully quiet in the house and I am free to selfishly focus on me
- when I crawl into bed and Marcus holds me while I fall asleep...his arms are so comforting, loving
