102 degrees...

.... in Oakland... 'nuff said. Hot mama, hot baby, hot daddy, hot cats..... dreamed last night of freak snowstorm -- everyone was deliriously happy.... Now we are just delirious, but it is from the heat.

sigh....

Six Month-iversary

Dear Little Hank --

In exactly twenty minutes you will be exactly six months old. Where has the time gone, little puppy? It has really been flying by, probably because we've been having so much fun. These days you are working so very hard to crawl. This had you really frustrated for a couple of weeks, but then you realized that you could simply roll from place to place to get to wherever you wanted to go. I've seen you do this now to get to certain toys, to tip over your wagon (and spill all the toys it holds onto the floor), to get closer to your bottle, and to just get from one place to another. You always looks so proud and happy with yourself when you manage to snag whatever it is you've been trying to reach. You have recently become a big fan of toys on wheels.

You sit up in your little red seat pretty well, now, and eat tons of different fruits and vegetables. A few days ago I gave you a sippy cup of water for the first time. I wasn't sure what you would think of that, but you seemed to really enjoy it -- you grab the cup and instinctively know it is something to drink from. I had heard stories of babies choking on water or refusing it all together, but not you -- you seem to be slurping quite a bit of it up these days, and you grin while you do it. You barely need my help.

You are such a smiley, vocal baby these days. You constantly make happy, high pitched shrieks. Each time you start on a "conversation" I find myself wishing I had a tape recorder running, because your "vocabulary" is constantly changing, and I hate to think that someday I won't remember all your wonderful baby sounds.

Your daddy and I love you so, so, very much, Hank. We don't know where we would be without you, and can't imagine life without you. In six more months you'll be a whole year old! I marvel that we've gotten this far, and am delighted that things just keep getting better.

Lots and Lots of Love and Smooches,
Mommy

Worth the Wait

Worth the Wait, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

My birthday present from Henry finally arrived! All the way from Hawaii! She's totally kitschy and wonderful and her hips even sway back and forth. I love her. Thank you, Henry! You are the Wag to my Mond. XOXOXOX

There are so many nice things on my mind tonight. Hank just continues to open up -- everyday he is more and more vocal, and constantly pushing his boundaries, working on new skills. It is so exciting to be a part of it all. He's been working so hard at crawling, but he can't quite get there yet. Soon, soon! He can get his behind up in the air, and can get into the cat-cow position from yoga. It is just a matter of time. He has figured out that he can roll from Point A to Point B, but at the same time I can tell by looking at him that he knows there's a better way to get there.

We are just really having a good time. We had about a week and a half there where none of us were sleeping well, and that made for a stressed out little family. But we did some sleep training with Hank -- just some 'check and console' type stuff, and that really seemed to make the difference. Of course, now that I've put that thought down in writing it will probably all go straight to hell again, but I'm going to stay positive! But we're all feeling pretty good again, I think.

So many nice things on my mind tonight...

• We had a group hug this morning, with Hank in the middle in a baby carrier. Henry kissed Hank on the head and said, 'Hank, will you be the meat in our family sandwich?' Totally sweet and cute, but of course begged the question -- if Hank were a sandwich meat, which kind would he be? Turkey? Olive loaf? Roast beef?

• Hank had his first visit to Fairyland today. We went with my friend Molly and her three little boys, and my friend Carol and her little baby boy. It was so fun to go back to Fairlyland for the first time since I was a kid! Hank was too young for it, but I felt like a kid in a candy store. Pretty much nothing about the place had changed, and every time I turned my head I was seeing something else that took me right down memory lane. It was totally, totally rad.

• Another first today, Hank had his first encounter with a bug! I was changing his diaper in his stroller (which makes an excellent changing table, by the way -- if anyone is vacillating between getting a stroller that reclines over one that doesn't, get the one that reclines, if nothing else so that you can use it as a changing table when none other is available). We were under a tree and a caterpillar fell out of the tree and was ooching its way towards Hank in the stroller. I put the caterpillar on my finger and showed it to Hank, who was completely mesmerized by it. Awesome!

• Solid foods continue to be a hit. This afternoon when Hank was getting his butternut squash, between each bite he would stick his tongue out as far as it goes and grin like an idiot.

• Hank is all about the raspberries these days. He blows raspberries constantly.

• Hank's got his first pair of actual shoes! They are so little and the first time he wore them he seemed to really like them. All I could think was 'wow, now you look like a Real Boy!' I got them so that when he uses the walker at my parents' house he doesn't rip up his socks or toes. He cruises all over the house and backyard in that thing, and has actually walked up to me in it, on purpose. We are going to be in so much trouble...

• When I went to feed Hank in the middle of the night last night, by the time I got to him he had stopped crying. I thought, 'great, he found his pacifier!' Nope, he had found his tiny stuffed elephant and was contentedly sucking on the elephant's trunk. It was super cute.

I guess that is it for the moment. Hank is snoozing and Henry is off to train club so I've got the place to myself. Sweet!

Another week, another...???

So the big return to work was not as bad as I thought it would be, just like everyone had assured me. In fact, it was kind of fun, and even sort of nice to have a few days to 'myself', as much as spending a day at work can be spending a day doing things for myself... but nevertheless, it was kind of fun, and nice to be out and about. But it was a big change in the way we've been spending our time, and I am pretty sure Hank felt the change too. His sleep really deteriorated, and he's been harder to console at night. Could it all just be developmental stuff (like teething and trying to crawl)? Or is it just reaction to less time with me? Who knows... all I can tell is that he seemed to be really happy on Thursday to spend all day with me -- Friday, too. I know I was happy to spend that time with Hank. In some way the time I had spent away from him during the week resulted in me enjoying our time together even more than I used to. Monday evening, once we were all three home, we all spent the evening hanging out in Hank's room, playing on the floor, trying to make the baby giggle, and it was such fun.

We managed to pack in quite a bit this weekend -- hopefully we won't be too wrecked come Monday morning... Friday night Henry and Hank hung out at home while I got to go with my friend Heather to see Duran Duran play a show in Concord. This is the friend who flew to Vegas for the night with me to see D2 play in 2003. She always calls me up when they are coming to town, usually with an extra ticket, and we go and have a blast. This is the kind of show you've got to so see with another aging Duranie, and we are each other's aging Duranie. We joked that since they are now touring on the Concord Pavillion circuit, next time it will be Konocti, then Reno, and then if we are lucky it will be South Lake Tahoe. And we'll go to every one. (actually, they oughtta do a tour where they play venues like the Filmore in SF and the Whisky in LA -- that would rock!).

Saturday we attended a memorial, and had a Raymond family dinner. Poor Hank missed his bedtime and would not go to sleep... he was so, so tired. Poor baby.

Today we spent most of the day at the Maker Faire taking in all the wonderful and wacky inventions that make up that particular Geek's Paradise. There was all kinds of metalurgy, robotics, electronics, crafty goodness, and all-over creativity. We were kind of tired, but we took it all in nonetheless. My favorite parts were a cool shadow box where you could spin the light and change the shape of the shadows, and a GIANT set of tesla coils.

Anyway, must hit the hay... Pictures of this week's various adventures are in the flickr...