Merry Christmases!

I just celebrated my first Christmas... or more accurately, my first several Christmases! Apparently there really are 12 days of Christmas!

On Dec. 12 & 13, we drove from Madison to Boulder. It was a long car ride, but I didn't mind it too much. On the way we stopped in Kansas City and visited Aunt Kyle and Uncle Jodi. They gave me my first presents, Winnie, Eeyore, and Tigger, who kept me company on the long drive through Kansas to Colorado.


Back in Colorado I've had so much fun with all of my family. We visited GG and saw Papa Steve's family, and took a picture of four generations of hands (me, Mom and her cousin, Michelle, Great Aunt Missy, and GG).


We spent lots of time with Avia, Uncle Logan, and Uncle TyTy and Aunt Sara, who came in to visit from Lake Tahoe. We had a fabulous dinner at the Flagstaff House on Friday the 19th, and then enjoyed Ty's world class cooking (lamb and couscous) at our early celebration of Christmas at Avia's house with GGpa and Great Barb on the 20th.

On the 24th we went to Grandpa & Grandma's house in the morning and had a yummy brunch. Grandpa read us the Christmas story and I played with my cousins. That night we went to Nana and Papa's and had another fabulous dinner, and played some more! I'm so lucky to have so many big cousins to take care of me. I've really enjoyed my cousin Maggie -- to show her how much I love her, I like to suck on her cheeks!



We slept at Nana's on Christmas Eve and had a relaxed Christmas morning the next day, and then visited Aunt Jen's and Uncle Ian's families to see what Santa brought all of my cousins! In the afternoon we went to GGpa's and took a long walk on their land, and then enjoyed MORE great food and a concert by Uncle Logan.




I am so grateful for all of the wonderful presents I got this Christmas -- way too many to list here... books and toys, cute clothes, and some wonderful creative artwork and photo gifts. Our family also donated money to build deep wells in Africa so that little kids that aren't as lucky as me can have clean water to drink. It's been a busy and fun couple of weeks, and I'm glad I get a little more time to hang out with friends and family before we go back to Wisconsin!

In the meantime, I've also been doing lots and lots of work on my standing and crawling! I'm getting pretty good at moving short distances, and I love to pull up on anything I can grab on to. I love moving my body and exploring the world from my new vantage points. It's all very exciting!

What a crazy world I live in.

I don't know if any of you noticed this when you were six months old or so, but all of my toys are now mysteriously located just beyond my reach. It's driving me crazy. I remember when everything used to be placed in my hand and I didn't have to struggle to find anything. Now it seems that even my favorite objects are ALWAYS a couple of feet away. Even when I go through the whole ordeal of getting onto my belly, pushing up onto my knees and lurching forward to grasp my prize, it seems to tear itself out of my hand and relocate a couple feet away. I get so fed up with this, that I usually just sit back up and stare at the mischievous magazine or stuffed animal for a while before I turn my attention elsewhere.

I made my parents take some videos of my crawling and my standing so you can all see. Plus, I've got this one little sign language thing going on. One of my boyfriends, Miles, used to do this cool thing where he would put his arms out to be picked up when his dad clapped his hands twice. I thought it was pretty cool, so I picked it up.

One more thing. I'm not really all that religious, but I'm really excited for my first Christmas. I'll make sure to do some posts about the trip to Colorado. I'm driving with both of my parents, both of my dogs and my cat from Madison to Boulder through Kansas City, where Uncle Kyle and Aunt Jodi are living. Should be pretty awesome, but I have to watch the whole trip out of the back window. Try it sometime, it's weird.

Thanksgiving in Washington

I spent my first Thanksgiving in Bellingham, WA, at Nanny and Papa's house. Avia and Uncle Logan were there, too, and so was Nanny's sister, Auntie Caca, and her mom, Nunu! We had lots of fun, and I even tried some sweet potatoes. I've sort of lost my enthusiasm for food, though. Mama's got the good stuff. Also, I'm not crazy about sleeping anymore, either. I had Mom and Dad on a pretty good schedule for a while, but now I'm mixing it up a bit, waking up every couple of hours at night. Good thing I'm so cute!

After Thanksgiving we drove down to Chehalis and spent a couple of days with the Smith family -- I met Great Grandma Dorothy and Great Grandpa Don, who just turned 80 years old!! I also met lots of aunts and uncles and my cousin, Tamira -- she's even littler than me, and I enjoyed grabbing her hands and face.



Here are more pictures of our trip to Washington.

Thoughts from a stay-at-home father

I have always wanted to stay home with my baby, but I never thought I'd have the choice. My wonderful wife has made this possible for me with her success and her selflessness. (thank you) Now, I've spent the last 6 months at home with my daughter. She is the most amazing human being in the entire world. As any parent knows.

I didn't really know how this lifestyle would be or how I would feel about my decision. I miss being a teacher and a coach. I miss being known as Mr. D or Coach D or just...D. I miss my friends and I miss my family. But when I wake up in the morning and my day begins, I couldn't be happier. Right now Mazie is learning how to sit, crawl, stand, grab, eat, communicate and even how to absorb a face lick from her "big dogs." I get to help with some of these milestones, but mostly I just get to witness these minor miracles. Fortunately, Katie's job allows her to work from home quite a bit, so she rarely misses an event. I don't wish I were somewhere else. I don't wish I were doing something else. I'm totally satisfied with my day and my purpose.

Mazie is so calm, so sweet. She makes my life very easy. I realize that I am very lucky to be able to spend my day with such a sweet human being and have no other responsibilities. Recently she has been taking 2 hour naps on my back in an Ergo, twice a day. While this limits what I can do while she sleeps, it is a wonderful connection between us.

There are so many more wonderful moments to come and I am so excited to be there for all of them. It is strange and wonderful to be responsible for another human being's life.

More to come...

Happy Half-Birthday, Mazie James!

Believe it or not, Mazie has been in the world for 6 whole months. Here are a few reflections on this amazing little being....

Mazie is an incredibly sweet, good natured baby. She cries very little, and if she's fussy it invariably means she's either tired or hungry. Easy to please. She actually doesn't laugh a lot, either, although we're getting better at figuring out her sense of humor. I have the most luck when I call her a "little monster" and growl at her. Raspberries on her tummy are also funny, and Caleb has gotten some great giggles when he "wrestles" with her, rolling and flopping her around on the bed. But mostly she's just smiley and content.

She has a strong little body and a curious mind. At a brunch this morning someone who hadn't met her before remarked on her "independence" as she rolled around and babbled to herself (a beautiful mix of da-das, squeaks, and raspberries) on the carpet while we ate. She loves new faces, maybe due to the constant stream of admirers that surrounded her during her first few weeks of life. We keep watching for signs of "stranger anxiety," but for now she still goes happily to any new person.

If there's one "issue" we have it's her sleeping. Her naps are pretty inconsistent, and her night sleeping has been pretty variable, too. We had a good stretch a few weeks ago where she was consistently sleeping up to 10 hours at night in her crib before coming in to bed with us and sleeping a few more hours. This past week I've had more trouble getting her to go down in her crib, and instead of going down at 7 or 8 it's more like 9 or 10. But even with this, we can't really complain, and I've been really reluctant to do any "sleep training" for a few reasons. She's so good natured otherwise, and since I'm not with her as much during the day I want to give her as much time as she needs with me at night. Even now (literally, actually -- she's sleeping in my arms downstairs as I write this), not going down in her crib at 7 just means that she comes downstairs and hangs out with us in this quiet, sleepy, sweet state for a while before drifting off. Pretty wonderful, really, even if it's not exactly "sleeping through the night." Overrated.

In brief, she's amazing and we love her so, so much. Hard to believe she's 6 months old, but also hard to believe she was ever missing from our lives. How did we get by without her? The feeling I've had since the moment she was born is still with me. I can't wait to see what she does next, to watch all of the unfolding moments and changes, but at the same time I want her to stay exactly like she is forever. Perfect little angel.

-Katie

Good Times with Great Friends

We went back to Durham last week and had a great time catching up with the old crew! First we went on a plane and I helped the pilot get ready for the flight.


I especially enjoyed spending some quality time with my boyfriends, Jacob, Miles, and Tobin.




Miles wasn't that in to me last time we saw each other, but this time he couldn't resist my charms. He gave me some nice kisses, and we even took a bath together! There are more pictures here.




In other news, I am getting really close to being able to crawl. I can get up on my hands and knees and today I even managed to sort of flop myself forward from there. I'm waiting to put all my moves together until next week, when I'll have a bigger audience -- we're going to visit Nanny and Papa in Washington, and Avia and Uncle Logan will be there, too! We're even going to see the whole Smith family, so I'll have plenty of people to cheer me on. Can't wait!

Happy Parents, (Mostly) Happy Baby

Apparently some exciting things happened in America this week. Barack Obama will be the first president I will remember. I don't know what all the fuss is about a black president. Why is that special? Seems completely normal to me. Shouldn't we always just pick the best person for the job?

Dad and I did quite a bit of work last weekend for the Obama campaign in Madison. I was the office mascot, and met lots of very nice people. Here are some pictures, and there are more here.





Meanwhile, I'm also working on some new tricks. Apparently my cousin Eaton (who's a month younger than me) can stand holding on to the side of his crib. Well, we tried it out and I can stand with a little support, too! I've also started pulling up to standing and am getting some pretty strong little legs.


(This outfit belonged to my uncle Logan!)

I'm still pretty happy most of the time. But I do get sad sometimes, and another one of my new tricks is blowing raspberries when I cry. It's annoying because every time I try to tell Mom and Dad how sad I am, they just laugh at me! I mean, look at this face -- can't you tell how upset I am???



This week we're going to North Carolina. I'm pretty excited to see my boyfriends, Tobin, Miles, and Jacob. Hope they're ready for me!

Meanwhile, back at home....

O-BA-MA!! O-BA-MA!!



(I let kitten wear my Halloween costume.)

Obama! Obama!

Here we go. This is the Obama office getting ready to send out volunteers. It's pretty exciting right now.

Happy Halloween!

Before I was even born, Dad decided he wanted to be a Denver Bronco for Halloween, with me as his football. Luckily, my Avia is a master seamstress and made me a pretty amazing costume! We went trick-or-treating with my friend, Julia, and her mom, Carmen. I didn't get any candy, but Mom did let me chew on a crinkly Whoppers wrapper, which was even better!

Happy Halloween, everyone!!

Miss Mazie is Five Months Old

I turned five months old last week (16 lbs 6 oz) and boy do I have a lot to report... our internet has been pretty shoddy lately so we haven't been doing a good job of keeping you up to date.

At the end of September Avia came to visit. It was so great to see her and show her my tricks. I miss her a lot but I know she loves me very much.


Then we went to the cottage again at the beginning of October... we already told you about that. What we didn't tell you is that I also went to Milwaukee with Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma to visit my Great Nana! She was nice enough to hold me so I thought I should give her a BIG hug and kiss.


Next we went to Chicago and saw Grand Uncle Gordon and Aunt Stephanie, and our friend Claire. My favorite part was playing on the swing at a downtown park!


Then Aunt Jen and my cousin Olivia came to visit from Colorado. We had so much fun. My cousin can do so many things -- she can even walk and feed herself!! I wonder if I'll ever grow up to be big like her.


Even though I'm not big like my cousin yet, I have been working on some big kid skills. I'm getting better and better at sitting up, even though I still fall over occasionally. And this past weekend, Mom and Dad FINALLY caught on to the hints I've been giving them (like trying to eat a piece of paper... Dad pulled a wad of it out of my mouth after noticing that I'd been chewing on it for a while) and gave me some FOOD! For my first meal, I had a little bit of rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. It was yummy, and also a lot of fun to play with. (Dad's got a better video that he'll post soon, but this will do for now.)

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Finally, on Monday I saw my first snow! It only lasted for ten minutes or so and didn't stick to the ground, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot more of that white stuff in the next few months. Luckily, Dad got me a nice warm coat so I'm all ready!


That's all for now!! You can click here to see more pictures... I sure am cute.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

When I was up at the cottage, I impressed everyone with my rolling abilities. Dad thought it was funny that I rolled all the way across the room so he set the camera on the floor to catch the show. I didn't disappoint. And...at the end, I even kick the camera right on cue.

Sitting Pretty

I can sit up! I'm still not really stable, but as long as I have something to focus on in front of me I can stay upright for quite a while. This video is from a couple of days ago. I've actually made even more progress since then! Next up: crawling....

Cottage!

Grandma and Grandpa came up to the cottage last weekend and the whole family went up to hang out with them. Dad beat Grandpa at golf and we all had a really good time. Grandpa has this really nice camera and he took some amazing pictures. Go check 'em out. Click on this word.

4 Month appointment

Baby Mazie had her four month appointment. She got another shot to protect her from the world and she did very well. She cried a little and then latched on to her mama. She’s now in the 97th percentile for height (26 inches) and 84th for weight (15 lbs., 8 oz.), which obviously means she will be 5’10”, 120lbs.

We have a bunch of other posts coming once we reinstall our video software. All of these posts, including this one, will be back dated to more accurately keep the history of her development. So don’t be confused if you see a brand new post from 2 weeks ago.

Cute Picture of the Day

 

My kitten is nice enough to share her bed with me!

Four Months!

I am now four months old! It seems like I've been learning a new skill every day. I've gotten pretty good at using my hands to reach out and grab things. And my hair has gotten pretty exciting, too! Check out some of these head shots.







Click here for more recent pix.

I'm also developing some music preferences. In particular, I LOVE the song "Baby Beluga," and I make Mom and Dad sing it over and over. When I'm sad, all they have to do is belt out, "Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea, swim so wild and you swim so free," and by the time they get about that far in I've gone from crying to smiling. They've tried substituting other songs but I'm not having any of it -- it's got to be Baby Beluga! Dad's throat is getting hoarse from singing it so much!! Of course, it's all worth it to keep me happy. I've got them wrapped around my little finger...

She Rolls Both Ways

Here's the trick she's perfected in the past week or so. As Uncle Ty said, now she's an ambi-roller!

First Cottage Trip!

This weekend I took my first trip to our family's cottage in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. I got a nice life jacket so I could go on the boat. We also went to Mom's friend Beany's wedding, which was actually in the same town (Three Lakes) as our cottage! You can see more pictures by clicking here.

Another week in Madison... and my first sickness

This week I had a fever. It wasn't very much fun. I was a lot less happy than I usually am, and spent lots of time sleeping on Mommy's and Daddy's chests. Luckily it only lasted for about a day and a half, though, and by the end of the week I was back to my smiley self.

Click here for pictures of some of our activities this week, along with earlier pictures of our last days in Durham, our old house, and our new house. (A few are below as a teaser.)

With Dad in front of the Capitol


The front of our new house


Me and Mommy