from day one...

bedtime prayers

2009-11-09T20:57:00.003-06:00

Tonight in our hotel in Illinois during our fall trip, we watched Zuzu put her doll, Babydoll, under the covers in bed. She followed it by praying,

"Dear Jesus, God bless Babydoll as she sleeps."

Amen.

she loves her some Jimi

2009-10-31T23:14:00.001-06:00

The girl has taken a liking to Jimi Hendrix. She gets near the stereo and repeats "I want Jimi, I want Jimi! I want to listen to Jimi Hendrix!" until I put the CD in. The first song produces lots of dancing (often in circles), frequently checking out her reflection in the TV screen, and sometimes a family dance party. The second song results in pleas for more Jimi. "Zuzu, this is Jimi!" we tell her. Sometimes we'll try other songs on the CD. No luck. She doesn't understand all the other songs are also Jimi Hendrix. By the time it's all over, we've repeated "All Along the Watchtower" ten times and she's stripped down to her diaper.

lookin' out for numero uno

2009-10-28T20:22:00.003-06:00

FOUR. Count 'em, cuatro. That's the number of times in a row Zuzu has gotten right down to business and successfully used her potty. Never mind the fact that she placed the used TP on her head last night. And then sat her bare bottom upon me. That's what soap is for, right?

I am beaming with delight. My fears of hours in the bathroom with nothing to show for it are long gone. I'm thinking that this kid could be a potty training genius.

snow tease

2009-10-11T20:49:00.004-06:00

It snowed yesterday. Our first mistake was telling Zuzu it snowed. We should have curbed our enthusiasm.

Our second mistake was giving in when Zuzu said she wanted to wear her boots. Even though this was followed by "okay, honey, but we're not going outside," it translated in her toddler mind as "Yes, Zuzu, here are your boots. We'll have a glorious time outside in the snow."

Our third mistake was allowing her to put on her winter coat and mittens, again followed by "you can wear them but we're not going outside." To Zuzu, getting on her boots plus the winter coat AND mittens, despite the warning, meant "Mommy and Daddy are bluffing -- score! Outside to the world of snow we go!"

The kiss of death was actually opening the front door to look at the snow. And locking the storm door. It's just plain cruel.

Are you kidding me?! But I have my coat on, and boots, and mittens!
This is the end of the world, I tell you! Horrible! Tantrum! Tantrum! Tantrum!

We apologized. Even today she was still asking for her sled.

z's boots

2009-09-21T20:25:00.003-06:00

On Saturday afternoon Ty and I had a parenting faux paus when we both feel asleep -- one on the couch and the other on the floor -- each assuming the other was watching Zuzu. Thankfully it's taken two and a half years for us to make this mistake. Little Z was apparently delighted with the uninterrupted playtime, evidenced by the fact that when we woke up her toys were everywhere and she was in her own little world, flitting around from room to room and whispering to herself and her dolly. She had taken advantage of the opportunity to undress herself (thank goodness she kept her diaper on), leaving a trail of clothes in various rooms. She also went rummaging and pulled her winter boots out of the hall closet. Ty woke up in time to see her put her boots on by herself, which involved the following steps:

1. Place boots on floor.
2. Lean forward until head and hands touch ground.

3. With head on floor and rear in the air, step into boots, with the left boot on the right foot and the right boot on the left foot.

4. Stand up and walk until feet are firmly in the boots.

Later that day she had her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She loved it so much she ate all of my sandwich too. Of course, she ate it at the kitchen counter with her little legs dangling, wearing nothing but her diaper and her winter boots.

recent zuzu musings

2009-07-19T21:32:00.004-06:00

Last week at Von Maur, with Zuzu in my arms while I try on shoes:

"Mommy, LOOK!" (Zuzu wildly points over yonder). "Those men are NAKED!" (I look over, relieved, to see the headless/limbless underwear manikins in the men's department). "And Mommy!" (Zuzu is shouting now) "I can see their NIPPLES!" (I put the shoes back on the rack. We leave the store).

------------------

Two weeks ago at Lowes:

Zuzu dramatically announces she has a dirty diaper. She awkwardly leans over a lawn chair in the summer clearance section and yells "popo!" Ty runs out to the car to get her diaper bag. While we wait, Zuzu repeatedly tells me what's in her diaper. People in the store stop making eye contact. Either they think I'm not going to change my kid's poopy diaper, or the smell starts to make their eyes sting. Ty returns with the diaper bag and takes her to the men's room. In the midst of changing what is reportedly a humdinger, Zuzu looks at Ty very sweetly, smiles, and says, "it was just a little toot."

why we say our prayers

2009-07-11T07:08:00.005-06:00

Last night while standing in the kitchen:
Ty: Zuzu went down to sleep really well.
Jenn: That's great. Did you say her prayers?
Ty: Yes.
Jenn: Did you remember "God bless our house and keep it safe and keep us safe in it?" I say that with her every night.
Ty: "No, I didn't pray that."
Jenn: "Uh oh."

Just after midnight.
Thunder! Rain! Boom! Boom! Jenn and Ty both jump up and run to the patio doors. They watch the rain outside. BOOM! CRACK! Biggest crash ever. White light outside and through the skylights. Darkness. Jenn and Ty each say they think the house was struck by lightning. Zuzu starts crying and her alarm clock, oddly, starts ringing. Jenn and Ty grab flashlights. Check the breaker box -- almost all the switches are flipped.

12:45 am:
Fire department arrives. Thankfully without a siren but with a very bright spotlight on the house. Inspection, infrared camera, confirmation that we were struck. Fire department leaves at 1:00 am.

2:00 am:
Jenn, Ty, and Zuzu go to bed together.

4:00 am:
Zuzu starts crying and wants Horsey and Giraffe. Jenn brings them into bed.

6:00 am:
Zuzu starts crying. Ty puts Zuzu in her crib. Delirious with sleepiness, she repeats the word "dinner."

7:15 am:
Ringing. Where is it coming from? Jenn goes into Zuzu's room and discovers it is her alarm clock again. Zuzu wakes and says it has "loud bings and bongs."

8:00 am:
Ty and Jenn start writing down all the things that don't work. This light switch, that appliance... An electrician's call is in order. Jenn groans when the garage door is added to the list.

9:00 am:
Call to contractor to uncover second sump pump line (just in case). Call to siding guys to put our gutters back up (just in case), which they took down the day earlier. Call to insurance company to make a claim.

Later today:
We will buy some lottery tickets.

curlylocks

2009-07-05T19:39:00.004-06:00

These pigtails make my heart melt.

little people

2009-06-23T21:16:00.003-06:00

I found these two loitering on the floor in the corner of the kitchen. Guy and Girl were in a time out. They must've been up to no good. Rumor has it that a naked toddler escaped from bathtime wearing a bunny towel on her head and released them later this evening.

arts fest 2009

2009-06-14T21:36:00.002-06:00

Last weekend was Arts Fest in downtown Iowa City. Great art, great weather, great food, great tradition. Ahhh, great fun.

goin' with the flow

2009-06-14T20:34:00.004-06:00

Things were going swimmingly with our house excavation project until last Monday when the driveway came out. Ironically, one of the noisiest days of the project began with the pounding of concrete when Zuzu was sick and needed to stay home. Ty took the morning shift at our casa and called me around 10 am to say, according to our contractor, the soil under the driveway was horrible. At noon I came home and saw a vast expanse of chocolate pudding where our driveway used to be. Three construction size truckloads of goopy mud had to be hauled away.

Around 2 pm the guys knocked on the door with news. When they dug a four foot deep trench the length of our driveway, water started flowing down it. It turned out a river was coming out from under our garage. I could not believe what I saw; Zuzu’s rubber duckie could’ve floated down the current of this thing. Down in the yard water started to bubble up through a newly dug hole. These were not good developments. A test by the city indicated it was all natural ground water; our house was built on top of a natural spring. A friend who works for the city confirmed a creek, which likely went through our property, ran where our street now stands. The whole area was wetlands. The developer filled in the creek and built our neighborhood.

With more drain tile added to relieve the river and a few extra truckloads of rock, the concrete was poured:

We had the fun of entering the house by walking a plank instead of climbing over the front railing. Ty carried Zuzu across it; I think Zuzu would’ve loved to walk the plank but we didn’t want to chance having a little impression of her rump in the concrete.

It’s still an eyesore outside but we are hoping the regrading (and topsoiling, and seeding, and patio rebuilding, and retaining wall replacing, and air conditioner reinstalling, and…) begins in the next few days? weeks? whenever the piles of dirt around our foundation have officially settled. Zuzu can’t wait to see the diggers in action again.

diggin' it

2009-06-07T12:59:00.004-06:00

Zuzu summed up our house excavation project by waving her finger in the air while exclaiming, “That’s a LOT of mud. That’s VERY VERY dirty!” After water in the basement twice, two failed rounds of interior drainage system installs (think jackhammers, concrete, big mess), a triple sump pump system running much too frequently, and a very big “etcetera” to sum up everything else, the only thing left to do was dig up around the house.

Three big digging machines arrived last week. Out came the deck, patio, retaining wall, anything living (plant or chipmonk), and loads of dirt to expose the foundation below the footings. Without wasting any time, they put in tile. One crew member said the water was "gushing" in and another said it "had a current." The gist of it was that it didn't sound like a normal situation.Also revealed was the original drain tile (incorrectly installed), crushed and full of mud. Lots of clay and sand. Lots of water at the footings. And oh yes, old pop cans and the original metal LOT FOR SALE sign with metal holder (what, doesn’t everyone have something like that buried around their foundation?).

As of today: new drain tile? Check. Rock? Check. Blackjacking? Check. A/C unit sitting cockeyed in the middle of the back yard next to a ditchwitch, a pile of dirt, and a couple of pallets piled with the stones that used to be our patio? Check. Toddler that wants to play in the dirt? You betcha. Next week: bring on the jackhammers, goodbye driveway.

highchair entertainment

2009-05-02T21:36:00.003-06:00

zuzu has been providing us with plenty of drama lately. enjoy the show!

pop quiz

2009-04-11T15:00:00.001-06:00

the marks on ty's head are a sign that:

a.) zuzu really likes the neighbor's dog.
b.) zuzu needs her fingernails trimmed.
c.) daddy shouldn't have zuzu on his shoulders when she could potentially get really excited about something.
d.) all of the above

los dientes

2009-03-21T00:22:00.005-06:00

In preparation for Zuzu's first trip to the dentist, we talked about going to the dentist a lot. We practiced opening wide at home, took turns peeking in each other's mouth, and hyped up brushing (not her favorite thing to do).

I warned Dr. Elliott's office that it could be tough: a highly teary visit to the peds clinic once prompted a physician to ask if she'd ever had a traumatic experience at a doctor's office. Zuzu doesn't seem to like people in masks, exam gloves, or lab coats. No sooner were we in the office door than she began asking about the "speshul ice cweam" casually mentioned in the parking lot (promise, this is the first time we've bribed her). Then she was concerned that the dentist would be a rabbit since that's what one of the framed cartoons in the waiting room showed (certainly confusing to a toddler), plus I had to explain that unlike the half-dressed rabbit which she duly noted, Dr. Elliott would be wearing pants. Thankfully the waiting room was empty during that conversation.

She and her dolly were really patient through the whole visit. She pushed the buttons to make the chair move and sat on my lap for the exam:

She got a cool new toddler toothbrush which she loves to use:

She gave the hygienist a five:
And then picked out these sweet sunglasses from the treasure chest (Dr. Elliott uses bribes too):

And then we went to the mall for ice cream. She was HAAAAPPPPY!

walkin' around. neighborhood.

2009-03-19T22:04:00.004-06:00

...that's how zuzu puts it. lately, we've had some great weather and have been trying to take advantage of it by getting in some strolls around the block.

here are some recent pics of our walking adventures.

yes, it is

2009-03-10T20:06:00.004-06:00

Yes, it's underwear.

Yes, it's clean (right out of the package -- an Elmo incentive for future potty-training).

And yes, I do see where it is.

perfectly beautiful

2009-03-03T19:50:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago, Ty set up Zuzu with a paintbrush while I was out of the house. The results were amazing. The two paintings below were surprises for my birthday and I was overjoyed by how beautiful they were.

Zuzu's first time using a brush with acrylics:

Acrylic and watercolor:

Thanks, Zuzu (and Ty). Perfect, perfect, perfectly beautiful. :)

kickin' it with the cousins

2009-02-28T19:33:00.003-06:00

Ama, Poppa, and the Franco girls visited today. Zuzu was so excited about their arrival that she jabbered all through her morning nap time and was on cloud nine while they were here. Her grin was huge. Since it was a special occasion, Zuzu and her cousin Ella got to sit at the little girls' table for lunch (no high chair). Ella sat in her chair on her bottom, ate her pizza quietly, and used a napkin. Zuzu, hopped up on excitement, talked all through lunch. Notice I didn't say anything about sitting on a chair or using a napkin. Later the two of them enjoyed a little snack together following a good old fashioned tea party.

She had such a great day playing with family that she had a short meltdown after everyone left (not surprising), took off all her clothes and ran around in her diaper saying "cousins!" and fell asleep in her high chair in the middle of dinner (so tired she barely ate). She went from high chair to crib still asleep a little after 7:00 pm. Amazing.

valentine's day love

2009-02-14T23:15:00.000-06:00

our valentine's day was full of zuzu's love and sweetness. here's a little taste of what we got to enjoy this morning from our favorite valentine...

we are the luckiest people in the world, without a doubt!

in our fridge

2009-01-18T18:54:00.003-06:00

Zuzu likes to hang out in the fridge -- she opens the door, we hear a lot of giggling, and usually one of us has to drag her away from it. This has been known to last for up to ten minutes at a time. Somehow she doesn't mind the cold inside the fridge. I even tied a bell from Greg and Holly's wedding on the fridge door so we'd know when she opened the door, but she does it so much now that I'm immune to the jingle. Last night I went to grab a glass of juice and found a caterpillar instead.

from my babe's mouth

2009-01-17T13:40:00.004-06:00

This afternoon after lunch I was cleaning in the kitchen while Zuzu played in the next room. I heard her say, "Even. Even! Even bite!"

I was delighted to see that she had her children's Bible open and was looking at pictures from the story of Adam and Eve --- and was talking about Eve taking a bite of the apple.

Then she pointed to Adam and said, "Burp! Amen!"

getting some "Z" before getting some ZZZs

2009-01-16T11:50:00.007-06:00

nighttime has been pretty entertaining at our home lately. watching zuzu play freely, explore, discover, and generally have a good time is way better than watching the latest reality tv show, so i thought i'd give you a taste of some of what she's been up to.

zuzu's christmas 2008

2009-01-01T16:28:00.002-06:00

check out this slideshow of images from zuzu's christmas experience.

goodbye, emma

2008-12-07T14:21:00.006-06:00

Our beloved cat and family member, Emma, passed away in our arms this afternoon.

Emma joined our family seven and a half years ago after she was left during the night at the animal shelter. Once we met her she instantly became our baby and gave us immeasurable love and joy. We always said she was our firstborn. We couldn’t have asked for a better big sister cat for Zuzu.

Some of you know that especially over the past few months Emma had numerous medical complications. Then in early November she was diagnosed with diabetes and subsequently stopped eating. She amazed us with her strength and although we will feel an enormous hole in our little family, we are glad she is now at peace.

We will always remember when Emma would:

snuggle under the covers with Ty on chilly mornings
lick Jenn's hair during the night
faithfully sleep with us every night
nap in cuddle caves around the house
lay in the windowsills in the summer
perk up when she saw squirrels and birds outside
get a sudden burst of energy playing with a toy mouse
bat food and twist ties around the kitchen floor like a hockey player
nestle under the Christmas tree every year
cuddle up with us when we felt sad -- somehow she always knew when we needed some extra love
be amazingly patient while Zuzu touched her, played with her food, or splashed in her water dish

Emma, may your blanket keep you warm outside where you’ll always be near the birds and the squirrels and never far from our sight. – love, jenn, ty & zuzu

christmas could be different...

2008-12-01T22:32:00.006-06:00

for the last several years, we've been wanting to create a christmas experience for ourselves (and now for our little zuzu) that focuses more on jesus - and his coming to earth to show us what he and the rest of the trinity is all about - and less on buying and receiving. honestly... it's not easy and we've made very little progress.

this christmas, however, we're needing to seriously cut back - due to a number of unexpected expenses over the last year or so - which actually ends up helping us to step closer to our goal of spending less time and money buying and more time enjoying the true spirit of the season with our family, friends, and community.

this year, jenn and i rented and watched "what would jesus buy," a documentary that takes an entertaining look at the current consumeristic condition of christmas in america and encourages us to envision what christmas was like "before all the shopping began." if you really think about it, i'm betting that people weren't feeling an emptiness, a void, that could only be filled by material goods. imagine the activities that might have been happening in place of the craziness and busyness of shopping, the buying, and the getting.

recently, i discovered the following video on a couple of friends' blogs and it really struck me as something which captures the hopes i've had growing inside of me, more and more, year after year, christmas after christmas. it's an idea worth spreading, so i thought i'd pass it on.

an ordinary photograph...

2008-11-24T17:23:00.006-06:00

this may look like your average everyday snapshot, but in fact, if you examine it closely, it tells you quite a few things about our little zuzu these days:

1. hats. if you haven't heard already, zuzu likes hats. green hats, cowgirl hats, baseball hats - all kinds of hats. now, zuzu is an outside-of-the-box thinker, so hats can be anything that will sit on your head. if a "hat" has straps or an elastic waistband, it's an added bonus.

2. pants. zuzu doesn't want to wear pants. zuzu wants to wear pants. it's up to her. she likes saying "pants," which usually comes out as "panths." she enjoys taking her pants off (see previous post). this has actually been a little helpful for us when getting her ready for bedtime. i've recently realized that we won't have to do everything for her forever (though, i don't mind). special note: a pair of pants can also be worn as a hat.

3. shoes. zuzu likes shoes. she's liked them from a very young age. she seems to have dozens of pairs - each appropriate for its own occasion. she gets that from her momma, i think.

4. fridge letters. zuzu loves playing with the extra large letters on the refrigerator door. her favorite thing to do is to pull them off of the fridge and onto the floor. in october, she enjoyed putting them into her pumpkin basket, one by one. zuzu is getting pretty good at repeating the names of the letters when we say them to her.

5. fridge pictures. zuzu loves looking at the pictures that we've placed on the refrigerator door. there are pictures of her aunts and uncles, her cousins (even a dog cousin), herself, mommy, and daddy. old pictures. new pictures. we thought putting them inside plastic sleeves or in magnetic frames would protect them from her curious hands, should she decide to take them down. well, she decided to take them down - and has greatly enjoyed shuffling through them on the kitchen floor.

6. catalogs & magazines. zuzu really likes to browse through the various catalogs and magazines we receive. for a while, we had a nice stack behind the corner chair in the living room. behind the chair became her secret spot for relaxing and flipping through pages of pictures of other children - some wearing hats, others playing with water toys. another related activity involves tearing pages out of these publications and scattering them around the living room.

7. fridge access. zuzu has learned that she can open the refrigerator door anytime she wants. even if she's flat out refused to drink her milk or water at mealtime, she'll head straight for the fridge handle within 5 minutes of getting out of her high-chair when she's done eating and grab the leftover beverage to sip at her leisure. sometimes she'll even sit on the bottom ledge of the open fridge and say, "chair!" though this could also be classified as "out-of-the-box thinking," it may be time for a fridge lock.

kitchen counter tricks

2008-11-24T12:13:00.005-06:00

zuzu's home with a fever today, so i thought i'd take advantage of some time during her morning nap to show you what she has been up to lately.

this is what i found her doing in our kitchen the other day...

look out, christmas tree!

clothes just get in the way

2008-11-09T17:24:00.004-06:00

Right this minute, Zuzu is running around the house wearing 1) a fleece top, 2) an orange baseball cap backwards (she put it on that way), and 3) a diaper. Anything important missing?

Zuzu has mastered taking off her pants. She tugs at the waistband, steps out of each leg, leaves them in a heap on the floor and says "Uhhhh oh!" as if it was all a big accident. That's the same thing she said when I found her in her crib this morning and asked, "What happend to your jammies?" (also victim of her stripping antics). Just moments ago this bare-legged girl climbed up on the couch by herself (picture the effort involved in mountain climbing), rolled over next to me and said, "Mommy, I funny."

I love her.

2009 costume preview

2008-11-03T22:40:00.004-06:00

zuzu had so much fun this halloween that she decided to get a jump start on next year by testing out a new costume idea. as you'll see, she was kind of hoping to keep it a secret - hence, she was a bit evasive - but i was able to get you a sneak peek.

she wouldn't let me in on the specifics, but i'm thinking...
1. bee keeper
2. bank robber
3. hollywood mosquito wrangler

what do you think?

(by the way - zuzu's "mask" was a zippered laundry bag for delicate items. zuzu also tried out some of the "delicate items" as masks, too, but i thought maybe jenn would appreciate it if i didn't post those images!)

Texas Toast

2008-10-31T23:50:00.000-06:00

No, she’s not a sandwich. Look closer. Texas toast, get it? Cute enough to nibble and homemade to boot.

Tata had her annual costume parade and early trick-or-treating around her neighborhood (somehow she and Tato got all the kids in costume, up and down the street with no one crying and Zuzu managed to keep her hat and boots on). We caught up with them late in the day. Adorable, huh?

Then we were off to Hy-Vee’s Halloween activities. We declined the candy, but Zuzu did get a balloon:

…a free picture, and a pumpkin cookie. When half the cookie fell in the floor by the meat department, Zuzu had a meltdown (despite the fact that the other half of the cookie was stuffed in her mouth – keep in mind, she doesn’t get sweets very often), so we wound up giving her the cookie back. You’ve got to pick your battles. One more stop by the frozen foods so she could get her picture with her costume’s namesake:

…then we headed home to visit some of the neighbors. The night ended with Zuzu ripping into a sucker, which she ate while standing frozen for five minutes at the Steele’s doorstep. This was quite a feat for a 19-month old wearing a cowboy hat and two large pieces of bread. She must’ve known we would take it away if she tried to walk with it in her mouth. She also saw two dogs, got licked by one bigger than her, and cheerily patted the Grim Reaper down the street. A good Halloween.

summer update

2008-09-07T21:50:00.000-06:00

We’re back online after an extended hiatus without internet! We received many laments about Zuzu’s blog absence, and all we can say is life has been, well, busy. We’ll catch you up on our happenings in another post, but for the moment we’ll share a few of our favorite pictures from the past months.

During the time that has passed since her first birthday, Zuzu has blossomed -- goodbye baby, hello toddler. Zuzu's first haircut was in May. Don't let her smile fool you -- despite eating an arrowroot biscuit while sitting on Jenn's lap at our friend Jen’s salon, Zuzu knew something was suspicious the minute the vinyl cape was draped over her shoulders. We spared you the squirmy "during" pictures and just shared the end result:

One of our "must do" traditions is going to Arts Fest every June. We spent a steamy Saturday downtown inspired by creations, listened to music, took a break for an Indian lunch buffet (another one of our traditions), looked at more art and then lapped up melting gelato. Zuzu carried her rubber duckie around all afternoon. If anyone finds a rubber duckie in the Ped Mall, please call. That weekend she’d started to become confident in her ability to walk and was thrilled to hold onto a pinky as she strolled in the summer breeze.

While Zuzu is a consistent cuddler and loves to be held by one of us, she has become quite busy in her play time at home -- walking a loop between the kitchen, dining and living rooms and sometimes wandering down the hallway only to return with a loose sock or a stray shoe held excitedly above her head, babbling and spontaneously giggling. It's so fabulous to watch her explore. Below was one of those quiet moments in the midst of play time that lasted just long enough for me to grab the camera:

Walking became official in June. Zuzu walks on her tiptoes so much that she wore holes her birthday shoes. Sometimes she has blisters on her toes, but doesn't seem to notice them at all. She is just thrilled to be prancing around on her own. After going barefoot most of the summer, she fell in love with a pair of Crocs from cousin Ella.

Jazz Fest fell on a hot, humid weekend but Zuzu still seemed happy to be out and about. I think we wound up running into people and talking more than sitting still and taking in the music, but even a brief time on the lawn in front of the Old Capitol among the crowd was fun. With a summer full of long work weeks we were hungry for any time together as a threesome.

Zuzu is saying more new words than we can keep track of. We last counted in June and she was at about 30 words at that time, so I really can’t guess how many she’s saying now. Our favorites include hearing her say "broccoli" and "Amen!". Now she's starting to pair words together a little bit – “Bye bye agua” (in the tub), “What is that?”, “Hi Daddy”, etc. A few weeks ago she started singing “yeah, yeah, yeah!” along to a U2 song. And books, which she loves to read over and over, keep her busy and repeating lots of words.

sweet dreamer

2008-05-08T19:22:00.000-06:00

zuzu's fever hasn't affected her attitude or behavior much, but it has made her a bit sleepier these past couple of days. when naptime rolls around and it's my job to put her down, i often try to enjoy the perks of such a task by letting her fall asleep on my chest while we sit in the rocker. with her fever, zuzu's level of sweetness has been equally elevated to a higher level - her warmth and soft sighs against me are like smelling chocolate-chip cookies fresh out of the oven... so sweet!

this afternoon, zuzu was so zonked that when i eventually put her in her crib, she slept in the position in which she landed - arms and legs tucked into a big self-hug.

i caught a bit of this sweetness on tape and put in some music from plumb along with it. it seemed to fit so perfectly.

enjoy this, another slice of zuzu.

keep it simple...

2008-05-08T15:47:00.004-06:00

once again, it's been a while since we've posted. we're trying to figure out ways to keep the blog-flow going and have a theory that a "keep it simple" approach may be the way for us to go in this season. post a picture or a bit of video, a couple of sentences, and you're set! as we all know, even just a drop of little zuzu in our life will keep us happy for some time.

this week, tata has been on vacation, so on monday and tuesday my mom (grandma) watched zuzu during the day. yesterday, i took over and began three days of "daddy-duty." unfortunately zuzu developed a fever on tuesday night/wednesday morning, which meant my plans of grand adventures (you know - like hot-air balloon riding, roller-coasting, and, say... mall-walking) had to be put on hold till a later date. today during lunch, i decided to entertain zuzu with a little comedy to lift her spirits. and i kept it simple... the ol' hiccup routine. works every time.

zuzu's first birthday

2008-04-19T12:26:00.002-06:00

well, it’s been over two weeks since zuzu celebrated day three-hundred sixty-five and people are starting to talk. here’s the (long overdue) scoop on the celebrations that took place in honor of her very first birthday.

did someone say emergency?

2008-03-30T00:01:00.000-06:00

This week we had two emergencies. First, on Easter Sunday instead of celebrating the stone being rolled from the tomb, Ty rolled his own seven millimeter kidney stone, not too shabby as kidney stone sizes go. We spent the evening at the emergency room while Ty writhed around while his little surprise friend traveled out of his kidney, until he got some welcome pain killers in an IV (here's Ty giving the thumbs up after the meds kicked in). Zuzu was a real trooper and made Ty's experience more bearable as some of the ER staff fawned over Zuzu since she's been talked up big time in the ER by her honorary Auntie Katie who works there (here we are waiting with Ty). The stone has yet to be apprehended but we're sure it will be a memorable event for Ty when it does, ahem, appear.

The second emergency was Wednesday morning when our smoke detectors went off. Zuzu sat patiently in her excersaucer while I tried to silence the alarm, which didn't work, so I took out the battery and tried to pull the detector (which was still going off) out of the wall, but it was wired in. Beep! beep! beep! beep! beep! Zuzu's smoke detector was going off too. We finally got them quieted, only to have one go off ten minutes later. And then again. And again. And again. And again, and again, and again. And then again with a new battery in another room. The fire department said to call 911 "just in case". So after calling 911 and explaining that we didn't appear to be in imminent danger, and then the neighbors (so they didn't worry), not one but two fire trucks with sirens pulled up as well as the fire department command van. Sheesh. By then Zuzu was at Tata's so we didn't have her all worked up over the commotion. All was fine and somehow just a weird coincidence of events and a recommendation from the firefighters to replace our smoke alarms.

who took the last square?

2008-03-29T20:09:00.008-06:00

Zuzu really likes going to the bathroom -- as in she likes going into the room and exploring. First, it was the cabinet doors under the sink that caught her attention...so much fun to open and close them. Then they came in handy to hold onto while she pulled herself up. Next, she discovered the bathtub and toilet -- more things she could grab and try to stand. Last week she noticed the toilet paper roll and did what most little ones do when they see it: yank, yank, yank and play.

Then she fled the scene.

laundry service

2008-03-21T15:04:00.009-06:00

Ahh, I like to help sort through the clean laundry.

I'm sure no one will mind if I throw it on the floor, right?Hmm, let's stick a few surprises in the laundry basket...
like a granola bar.

zuzu plays a video game!

2008-03-19T23:30:00.001-06:00

zuzu has really been enjoying her ability to pull herself up and stand. last week, we had paused a DVD we were watching during dinner (a special - and rare - "feel-better" treat for a sick jenn) when zuzu noticed the moving screen saver graphic and took advantage of the opportunity to practice her hand-eye coordination skills.

she cracks us up!

exploration

2008-03-19T23:00:00.001-06:00

zuzu's been seeking out many opportunities for learning and discovery lately. here's a recent experiment she conducted with her hands.

notice how she checks to make sure that the coast is clear - and that an upset emma isn't lurking around the corner - before leaving the scene of the cri- uh, er... experiment? i told her that since it's emma's bowls she's playing with, any spare fingers found there are fair game for nibblin'. actually, the more zuzu has been moving around, the more emma seems to recognize who the boss of the house really is.

super daddy

2008-03-15T22:36:00.003-06:00

This week Ty won the parenting award for pulling double-duty at home by taking care of Zuzu himself and taking care of me while I was sick – even having Zuzu accompany him at an evening shoot. Today things were a little more back to normal at home and Zuzu finally got to play with both her daddy and her mommy.

This morning after breakfast she discovered the sliding glass doors and the great big window they create (I have a feeling we’ll have fingerprints on the doors for a long time to come). Zuzu also discovered the vent deflector, which will probably never stay in place again.

photo op

2008-03-13T18:40:00.005-06:00

Ty came home the other day from picking up groceries and announced he made an appointment for Zuzu’s first studio portrait (given the fact that we take a gazillion pictures of her and we both prefer candids anyway, getting a studio portrait taken seems more like a rite of passage than a hope of getting a good picture – but Ty reassured me we’ll just do it and get it over with and don’t have to buy anything).

I asked Ty where he booked it – thinking I'd recognize the name of a good area photographer – but Ty said he really didn’t know who would be taking it. Hmm, not a good sign. When I wondered where he signed up for this, I didn’t expect to hear the response, “at a stand outside of Hy-Vee” (which translated to: “by the shopping cart corral, my dear. Only it didn’t seem so shady until I came home and started to tell you about it”). But wait, it gets funnier. Guess where the picture will be taken? In the Hy-Vee cafeteria. I hope this fly-by-night operation will put up a backdrop, but if we see even one kernel of creamed corn that flies out of the mouth of a patron eating their lunch while Zuzu gets her picture taken, and it shows up in the picture, I’m asking for a full refund of our ten dollars.

And we’ll post the picture online – of course. Wallet-sized prints, anyone?

jailbird

2008-02-25T23:15:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Zuzu figured out how to pull herself from sitting into a standing position in her crib. Not only does this mean we can walk into her room now and find her standing there looking like a jailbird, holding onto the railing and occasionally sticking out her hand -- which cracks us up, predictably she does not know how to get herself back down onto her bottom. Sunday afternoon by 4:45 p.m. after having her boomerang into a tearful standing position each time we put her in her crib, we gave up on trying to get her to sleep and figured we'd all be happier if she was a sleepyhead, free to crawl around the house, rather than being a crying kiddo trapped in her crib. Thankfully by her evening bedtime she was either so tired that she didn't care anymore about standing in her crib or just plain forgot, because as soon as she hit the mattress she snuggled onto her belly and fell asleep.

sweets for the sweetie

2008-02-20T21:15:00.001-06:00

Saturday was a BIG day for Zuzu. At least it was in my book. Her life will now be forever changed.

Our little, sweet, innocent Zuzu had sugar for the first time. No, not the wonderful "nature's own" sugars found in fruit, but the real kind (yes, gasp, I know!). And not ONLY did she have sugar for the first time, but she had chocolate too (yes, feel free to gasp again). And she liked it.

Okay, so truthfully it was Ama's super healthy fat free yogurt chocolate mousse, but it still counts on our list of (previously) forbidden foods. We threw caution to the wind and let her indulge after being chided that I'd likely give my child a bran muffin on her first birthday instead of a piece of cake (hmm, Christy, the bran muffin isn't a bad idea, you know). ;)

be my valentine

2008-02-14T19:20:00.003-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day, my sweet Zuzu!

Today, Zuzu wore a big heart on the front of her shirt; all week she's been wearing red or hearts in honor of her first Valentine's Day. Her first homemade Valentine was given to Tata this morning (okay, we confess -- we made it, not Zuzu); however, while at Tata's she made us a Valentine gift that she actually painted.

Today Ty came to my work bearing lunch and a heart-shaped dessert, and then filled in for me so I could participate in the school secret Valentine partner reveal. Needless to say, both the lunch and filling in for me was really thoughtful.
"How many people got flowers at school today?" he asked me when I came home tonight.
"Three."
"Yeah," he joked, "but how many people's spouses actually showed up in person and gave them the best gift of all -- their time?"

So tonight we're all spending time together as a family -- our favorite thing to do!

dinner theatre

2008-02-12T23:17:00.005-06:00

when zuzu hits the highchair these days, we know we're in for a real show.

answered prayer...

2008-02-11T10:08:00.000-06:00

as i drive zuzu to tata's each morning, i've tried to keep a habit of praying with her for the day ahead of us (eyes open, of course!). usually the prayers from day to day sound pretty similar - praying for health and safety for us and for her friends at tata's daycare, thanking god for our friends and family and many other blessings we've been given, asking for a stress-reduced day (for mommy & daddy), etc. well, today i got creative and asked that "love would be evident" - mainly for zuzu's day at tata's. i guess if i start feeling like the prayer is a repeat of the previous day's, sometimes i'll just let things come out and see where they go.

now, there is typically no lack of love and care at tata's - in fact, it is abundant! but today, i prayed for it to be evident. as we pulled in to her driveway, we could see a large red heart taped to the front door, as big as could be.
upon reaching the door, on the heart we could read, in glittery gold writing, "Love is in the air..."

getting into everything

2008-02-10T21:42:00.000-06:00

Lately it's as if Zuzu hit the fast forward button. She has taken off with her crawling speed and is getting into everything (which keeps us laughing and occasionally panicked). Yesterday she crawled over to a box of canned food for the Crisis Center which we "cleverly" (i.e. not recommended) used as a temporary barricade to prevent her from reaching the railing that's not kid-friendly. She managed to lift the cans of food out of the box by herself, not only amazing me with the strength of those little hands but undoing our meager attempt to block access to the railing. I guess we need to hurry up our plan to replace it.

Yesterday our washer broke. Zuzu just happens to be on her last clean pair of jammies so I think we may get creative with her bedtime attire later this week depending on how long we are without a washing machine. The washer gets added to our "Now Guess What Broke!" list, to which the temperature control on our oven was added a couple of days ago. The only thing we can do is laugh because everything keeps breaking and our list of things to be repaired or replaced keeps growing.

recent pics

2008-02-06T13:45:00.002-06:00

can we really EVER get enough of this girl?!

i love my cat

2008-02-03T12:26:00.000-06:00

Zuzu has a special relationship with ten year old Emma (our "first born"). She delights in petting her, is filled with glee when she brushes up against her, and will stop eating out of sheer happy distraction if she walks in the kitchen. Today when Zuzu started saying, "Eh-ma...Emma. EMMA!" during church we had to leave the room.

This afternoon I sat Zuzu on the floor and watched her scramble after her four-legged friend, who was on her way to eat. I knew what was coming, but decided not to stop it: the shiny food bowls are very, very intriguing and the feel of cat food on little fingers a new texture to explore. Thankfully Emma was a very good sport.

ten months

2008-02-01T02:13:00.000-06:00

Zuzu is ten months old today. Only two months until her first birthday -- it's hard to believe! Last night we saw Zuzu side by side with a little six week old baby, and in comparison Zuzu looked so big. When she was a newborn we'd look at other people's kids and think they were mammoth -- but now we're on the flip side.

This week Tata started hinting around that Zuzu's hair is getting long in the front. Ty and I are both on the same page that we're not ready for that first haircut (she really doesn't need a trim yet) but things like haircuts still seem pretty big girl-ish. More like the kind of thing she'll do after age one, along with her first dental exam or getting her first tattoo.

Zuzu surprised us last night by opening one of the entertainment center cabinet doors. Tonight she did it again, and then made a beeline for the extension cord under the secretary in the dining room, furniture which I discovered has the perfect-sized opening to wedge a child's head. Hmm, how to childproof that thing...? Today she attempted to pull herself up in her pack-n-play at Tata's, a maneuver she also tried recently at home a few times using either the laundry basket or the excersaucer as leverage. We are just waiting to discover her standing in her crib holding on to the sides and unable to get back down, which we predict will happen in the middle of the night sometime, making it so much more of an adventure. We'll see!

In addition to clearly saying Emma and Momma, Zuzu has been saying Dadda a little more. She has perfect timing and says it when least expected, usually causing us ask each other what she just said. Zuzu now says Emma's name in the car when we're heading home from Tata's (does she know she'll see her?), when we walk in the door and Emma's waiting, and when Zuzu looks at a clay cat that's sitting in our living room. The clay cat now evokes lots of panting and hand-waving out of Zuzu since she gets so excited to get close to it.

Here's a picture of Ty and Zuzu dancing to Barry White last week. Who doesn't dance when they hear Barry White? Zuzu loved being dipped and whirled, and especially enjoyed watching Daddy's dance solo. Mommy enjoyed it too. ;)

yogurt, anyone?

2008-01-26T11:15:00.000-06:00

In an effort to expand Zuzu's repertoire of mealtime fare, lately we've been introducing a variety of new foods. Anyone who has seen Zuzu attempt a new food, appear to dislike it and try again can attest that her willingness to eat what's put in front of her was not inherited whatsoever from her mother, who was labeled as "picky from birth". Thankfully so far she seems to have gotten Ty's genes for food tasting; he will eat anything and everything placed in front of him unless he's seriously ill or is served mushroom stroganoff, a big mistake from early in our marriage and the only time Jenn has ever seen him refuse a meal. Case in point: the other day we tried to feed her some plain yogurt, her introduction to sour(ish) food. The result? Hilarious. Perhaps you will find it entertaining too.

fun with every day objects

2008-01-21T19:15:00.000-06:00

Though Zuzu received plenty of actual toys for Christmas, we still find ways to make use of things around the house to keep her entertained.

onesie model, part II

2008-01-19T17:27:00.000-06:00

If you like the baby, or if you loved the onesies (see earlier post) then check out http://www.NoBabyNoDesigns.etsy.com to see both. Sorry, baby not for sale -- but the onesies are!

first freckle

2008-01-19T17:17:00.000-06:00

There it is in all its glory, right in the middle of the top of her foot: Zuzu's first freckle.

At first we thought her foot was dirty. A bath didn't help the teensy spot disappear.

"Has Zuzu scratched her foot?" we asked. A couple of days later it was still there.

"Aha! Her little slippers are rubbing her feet!" we hypothesized. But even wearing only socks, the spot was still there every night when we undressed her.

Finally it is bigger than a grain of salt, so we figure it's going to hang around for a lifetime.

A freckle has never looked so cute (at least to us).

onesie model

2008-01-11T21:21:00.000-06:00

Meet Zuzu the supermodel. A local artist was looking for some babies to model onesies featuring his designs, and of course we needed no excuse to photograph our little one even more. Now that Zuzu has entered a very mobile stage, photographing her sitting up has become a challenge. Thankfully between a patient daddy, a mommy dangling ribbons off camera, quick reflexes and lots of odd noises and cheering coming from the two of us, we managed to capture some good ones. Like the onesies? Let us know, we’ll point you in the right direction to own one yourself.

chatterbox

2008-01-11T21:06:00.000-06:00

As if crawling wasn’t enough of a milestone, in the same week Zuzu started saying “momma”. Her second word (first was “ehwa” -- translation: “emma”). Ty has been very interested in this “momma” business. Initially I thought Ty was hard of hearing since after Zuzu would say “momma” Ty would say “dadda?”. Ty was reassured when Zuzu whispered “dadda” to him in the middle of the night without witnesses around. I will attest that I have heard this too, and I think it’s rather sweet that Ty gets his name softly whispered by her like she’s telling secrets.

crawler

2008-01-11T21:01:00.000-06:00

Zuzu is now crawling! It’s official. It’s now less of “Army crawl meets crazy rolling” and more “coordinated arms and legs”. The other morning she crawled right into the bathroom as we were getting ready for work and grabbed onto Ty’s ankle. Last night she went straight for a stack of books on the living room floor and promptly spread them all over. Everything is a temptation to her. Ty installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs, but we’re still in a predicament when it comes to how to keep Zuzu out but still leave enough space for Emma to get through on her way to her litter box. Pretty much anywhere Emma can squeeze through, Zuzu can as well. (Our railing remains a safety hazard so that Emma has some passageway – we’re still brainstorming that one!)

holiday summary

2008-01-11T02:22:00.001-06:00

It seems that the busyness of the holiday season made us blog-impaired (actually, our internet connection was bad). So much has happened since Christmas that I actually need to look at a calendar to remind me of everything we’ve been up to!

Zuzu’s Poppa came to visit and take care of Zuzu for two days before Christmastime. Our normally good-natured girl decided those were the days to get her Christmas wish: her two front teeth. Except they wound up being one of her front teeth and one next to it on the other side. Thankfully, her other front tooth just broke through so soon she won’t be so asymmetrical. Now she’s got a total of six teeth and knows how to use them.

On the Friday night before Christmas, Andy & Rox drove through the fog and stayed with us after their flight from St. Louis to Des Moines was cancelled. Zuzu had a surprise to wake up on Saturday morning and find her uncle and aunt here!

The next day was “adventure day”. Once we got all packed, car loaded, and headed west on the interstate toward Ames, our windshield began to ice over. Just outside the Little Amana exit, all cars suddenly started braking…then the car in front of us slid into the ditch (thanks to Ty’s maneuvering we managed to not hit it)…then a semi narrowly missed rear-ending the car next to us…and then we saw a freshly-flipped car in the median…all in a matter of seconds. Clearly no one was meant to be traveling and heading back to Iowa City was not a safe option. We would end up getting a room at the Super 8 in Little Amana before all the rooms were sold out and had a “vacation” at exit 225. By vacation I mean there was no laundry to do, no phone to answer, no emails to check, no presents to wrap, and there was cable TV and a king-size bed. Who cared that our sink in the hotel didn’t have hot water? Zuzu thought sleeping in a king-sized bed was pretty cool, and decided to let us know by giving us a happy wake up call in the middle of the night. Here's a view from our hotel room window the next morning, and a glimpse at our exciting night in Little Amana.

Zuzu had a wonderful first Christmas. As expected, tissue paper scored high marks in the gift category. She now has actual toys to play with and is having a ball. The other day I sang one of the songs that a new toy plays and she looked at me, then at her musical table, and made a beeline straight for it. Below are some of the miniature canvases that Zuzu painted for her grandparents and aunts and uncles as gifts with her fingers and toes.

We returned from Ames to be greeted by ice dams…water coming in the kitchen window, through the insulation, out the light switches, dripping down into the storage room, through the soffits and who knows where we can’t see. Argh. The roofers who put our roof on last winter came out and cleared all the snow off our roof twice. Once winter is over they’ll try to solve the problem and begin repairs.

After Christmas, Zuzu's Ama and Poppa came to take care of her for a few days. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity and get both sets of her grandparents together. Actually, our parents hadn't seen each other since the day after our wedding seven and a half years ago, so it was kind of a rare thing. I think it looks like they're tearing Zuzu apart in this picture, but the theme was intended to be "sharing".

have you seen my elf?

2007-12-19T00:06:00.000-06:00

Right now our kitchen resembles Santa's workshop as we work on some top secret projects. Even Zuzu has gotten in on the action and become one of Santa's elves at home. And recently she was spotted at the Christmas party at Tata's as an elf again, making herself comfy in Tato's chair.

o christmas tree

2007-12-15T22:47:00.000-06:00

Tonight we popped in the fireplace DVD Ty made, turned on some holiday tunes, and decorated the Christmas tree. Zuzu “helped” put the star on the top of the tree:

good hair day

2007-12-15T22:33:00.000-06:00

Guess who did Zuzu’s hair after her bath this morning? Daddy. She looked absolutely adorable with a little curly mohawk. No product; that’s all natural, baby. From a certain angle, she reminded us of Conan O’Brien.

snow day

2007-12-11T19:26:00.000-06:00

This is the view today from our living room window. See the birch trees that normally stand tall, way over the house? The freezing rain arrived and a couple hours after taking this noontime picture, the top branches touched the sidewalk. There’s a little crabapple tree underneath all those branches that is taking part of the weight of the larger tree. Ty tried knocking off some of the ice this morning but it just broke off branches instead.

So, it’s been a snow day. No school for Jenn (hurrah, which we’d hoped for since Zuzu is sick, which means for the first time since going back to work, I can finally be the one home with her when she can’t go to Tata’s). We just regained power after a couple of hours which were spent a) trying to hear the backup sump pump kick in, hoping it would, since the basement is almost done; b) contemplating various ways the lack of power impacted us and the things we could and could not do (turn on the oven to bake cookies? no. run the space heater? no. plug in the Christmas tree and pretend we’re warm? no.) and lastly, c) trying to open a jar of baby peaches. You can even ask Ty, the latest batch of baby fruits are impossible to open. So Zuzu ate peas instead.

Happy snow day, everyone.

-- update --

So, I wrote the above post around two o’clock. Around three, Ty called. Our conversation went like this:

Ty: have you had power?
Jenn: we lost it twice for about two hours. And guess what, each time it went out I heard a comic book-like “zzzaa – zzzaa – zzzzzzuh” and then bam! no lights.
Ty: really? But you have it back now?
Jenn: yeah, and I’m hoping it…

----zzzzaa….zzzaaa….zzzzzzuh ---- darkness.

And that’s pretty much how things were until about 7:15 tonight, when we blew out our candles and cranked the heat, and breathed a huge sigh of relief to hear the main sump pump running again (the backup was running every 40 seconds…so we were feeling nervous!).

Between Zuzu and myself we wore two sweatshirts, two shirts and one fleece; three pairs of pants, one pair of long underwear pants, three pairs of socks, one pair of shoes, a stocking cap and a hood. I imagined my dad saying, “start putting on layers, it’s going to get cold” so that’s exactly what we did. I’m not banking on the power staying on, especially since we’re supposed to get more sleet, but for now we are well-lit and toasty.

hang on

2007-12-06T01:54:00.001-06:00

Hooray for a baby who likes to take a bath! On most nights, a rub-a-dub-dub is part of Zuzu's bedtime routine. While we've tried graduating to a bath seat, Zuzu still likes her blue baby tub; and we like it because her bath toys (a ruber duckie and a firefly) don't usually wander too far. She always tilts her head back when her hair gets rinsed (she takes advantage of this opportunity to try to lick any water that runs down her chin) and has yet to lay a giant poo in the tub. So in a nutshell, she's very cooperative when it comes to bath time.

Last night, however, instead of grabbing onto duckie or the firefly, she clung to the side of the baby tub for dear life (don't worry, she wasn't really in any danger). It cracked us up (the spinach she eats must be making her strong!).

p.s. Zuzu, if you see this when you're older, Mommy didn't pixilate your bum for the video. It's just so darn cute.

that's entertainment

2007-12-04T01:51:00.000-06:00

Some days, it feels like we entertain Zuzu as much as she entertains us. Lately she enjoys sitting in her high chair and watching us disappear and reappear from behind the other side of the kitchen counter. Even though it's me (Jenn) behind the scenes in this video, she seems to like it most when it's Ty hiding and popping up. The more she figures out what we're doing, the harder we have to try to get a good giggle or jump out of her!

a nap? are you joking?

2007-11-26T21:15:00.000-06:00

After all the Thanksgiving festivities and visiting both families, Zuzu was tuckered out from fun and therefore her body clock decided sleeping was silly and unnecessary. Imagine that! Mommy and Daddy thought much differently, but despite our efforts we had an overtired girl and tired parents. After night #3 of Zuzu not wanting to sleep (and finally on Saturday night her dinner making a surprise reappearance in her crib as a result of letting her cry it out), she settled down for a nap just before it was time to go to church on Sunday morning. Seriously hoping for a good nap for her, we stayed home so she could get some rest.

Her nap was short lived and she was wide awake. Out of ideas to get her back down to snooze, I wound up taking pictures (she's just too cute). This is her "I Heart My Cat" pose (by the way, she's started saying "eh-wa" when she sees Emma!):

...and this is her "Tired? Maybe a little. But take a nap? You must be kidding" pose:

...and life is interesting in the laundry basket:

...but hee hee hee, there's no way I'm sleeping:

wire zuzu

2007-11-26T20:56:00.000-06:00

Pictured above is a wire sculpture that Maddie made for her cousin Zuzu. Can you guess who it is? It's Zuzu when she's older! I love her long curly hair and the fact that she's not afraid to wear a big beret the size of her head (if I remember correctly, Maddie said she put that on her because the sculpture had a bald spot...which Zuzu really does right now, only it's in the back). She's got on a funky top that, if it were real, I'd suspect may have come from a thrift shop (that's my girl!) or maybe is a hand-me-down from one of her older cousins, a chic scarf, and nifty purse (love the orange strap). And, she's wearing purple flip-flops. A very spunky girl!

thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T22:24:00.000-06:00

zuzu's first thanksgiving started out with monkey bread, fresh from the oven. though she wasn't able to enjoy it in the same way that jenn and i did, she did get a chance to take a good look at it and perhaps breathe in its warm, gooey goodness.

we're all about enjoying classic holiday family traditions here, so next on the list was turning on the macy's thanksgiving day parade, mainly to just have on in the background - to create atmosphere. normally, we don't have zuzu watching tv, so she was quite curious about the activity taking place. even when turned in her exersaucer to face the other way, she insisted on twisting around to see the next float, balloon, band, or performance.

i started noticing how everything was so carefully orchestrated to blend smoothly into the advertising. the latest barbie super-princess mega-dream castle float featured a "live" barbie, singing about her perfect life (or something like that), then transitioned to a strategically positioned commercial alerting viewers to the newly available super-princess mega-dream castle DVD. ech! okay, the "corporate marketing machine" may have put me under its enchanting spell when i was a kid, but they can't have my zuzu! so i turned off the tv and we enjoyed some holiday music until it was time for a morning snooze-break.

after zuzu's naptime, we headed up to see my family for an afternoon and evening of thanksgiving feasting and fun. on the way, we took some time to talk about some of the things for which we are very thankful. loving families and friends, good health, and a happy home were found on the list, with zuzu being the number one answer on our board this year! thank you, god, for such a wonderful little girl. thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

everyone had a good time being together and playing with zuzu and dayten, her 6-month old cousin. we enjoyed a bountiful meal of turkey, dressing, potatoes (mashed and sweet), cranberry sauce, and more. we put zuzu down for her afternoon nap in the middle of the meal, which offered me a good chance to take a break from stuffing myself. i eventually made it back to the table to finish off an additional helping of some fine sweet potato casserole (thanks, julie!), turkey, and mashed potatoes.

zuzu's napping didn't last too long, so jenn and i spent a good hour and a half or more encouraging her to sleep by lying down with her on the floor and then on the bed. all the excitement of a festive family environment must have wound her up quite a bit, but eventually she fell asleep for about an hour. a bit later, we enjoyed some pie and took some family pictures.

it was a good thanksgiving, indeed!

pics

2007-11-14T02:56:00.000-06:00

Ahh, the wee hours of the night. Zuzu is asleep, the house is quiet, and we have an internet connection. Before one of those things change I will quickly post a few recent pictures taken before bedtime a few nights ago. Now that Zuzu is really getting places with her rolling, we sometimes take advantage of that extra energy just before bedtime to help ensure that she wears herself out a bit to make sleep come more easily. Sometimes it works and sometimes it backfires! This was one of those evenings she was on the go... The little scratches on Zuzu's forehead were Zuzu's own work (not Emma's!) but were the reason why I snuck in her room to trim her nails at 2 a.m. last Saturday.

tootsie roll

2007-11-06T01:07:00.000-06:00

Zuzu was a tootsie roll for Halloween, an adorable costume courtesy of her cousin Ella -- note that Zuzu is so long we couldn't cinch the bottom of the costume. Late in the afternoon Margarita dressed Zuzu in her costume, along with the three boys Margarita also cares for (Zuzu’s “big brothers”), and took the kids for an annual Halloween costume parade in her neighborhood. Margarita made her a little fleecy treat bag (which Zuzu reportedly held onto with success!). Below are some pics passed along to us by one of the parents -- Zuzu outside and with Margarita: That evening we briefly took Zuzu trick-or-treating to say happy Halloween to a few of our neighbors, some of whom hadn’t seen Zuzu in a while. Admittedly, we wanted to show off how cute she looked. We have such friendly neighbors (and I’m not just saying that since I know who reads the blog) so it was a good excuse to be, well, neighborly, since sometimes we’re so busy we don’t get to see them much.

big mess

2007-11-06T01:05:00.000-06:00

Halloween also was the Great Basement Jack Hammering Day. It was a lot of work to get things ready for this project and it was only the beginning!

Okay, so you can see there are piles of things everywhere that came from downstairs. Mattress propped against the dining room wall, stacks of things, boxes, lamps, displaced dining room chairs, etc. When this is all over I am going to have to post a video of our house when it's together just to prove we don't live like packrats. But I admit, that is a lot of laundry; however, in our defense it was laundry sorting time and without the laundry room the sorting happened on the living room floor!

Emma was boarded (jack hammering sounds can be scary). I came home from work to find big barrels of concrete chunks in the driveway ready to be hauled off, and a thick layer of concrete dust coating the walls and floors downstairs, clinging to every object in our garage, and sneaking upstairs despite the plastic barrier. We were thrilled to turn the furnace back on in the wee hours of Friday morning after our first clean up attempt while wearing masks and goggles – that stuff is nasty -- although more rounds of cleanup remain. What a project! We are really crossing our fingers that in late November, three and a half months after the flooding, that this whole thing can be done and the house can be back to normal.

One good thing that came out of this is that we discovered we have hardwood stairs in the house. A neighbor tipped us off and after prying up not one but two layers of gross carpet and chiseling away disintegrated carpet padding, we found a little treasure, or at least great potential, in our entryway stairs! See, didn’t we say that the wet basement would mean a house project that grows exponentially? Maybe we’ll table working on the stairs until the spring. Now I’m itching to see what lies beneath the living room carpet (besides more carpet).

bananas

2007-11-06T01:00:00.000-06:00

Zuzu’s Poppa (Norm) will be thrilled to know that she ate his favorite food on Saturday for the first time. Yes, bananas. Dad, I’m sorry to say she gagged on them, but we’ll keep trying.

october 22nd

2007-10-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

Happy 12 year anniversary, Ty. We started dating on this day in 1995 and haven't stopped dating each other since. You are an amazing daddy and husband and best friend. Who knew that falling asleep while watching Babette's Feast for a philosophy class could lead to such great things?

sunday morning nap

2007-10-21T21:10:00.000-06:00

We went away on our fall trip for two nights recently. We followed Zuzu's routine -- like clockwork. Somehow, "strange place" and "schedule" didn't fit with Zuzu's plans, so her sleep cycle got thrown off, leading to an out-of-character tired and cranky girl. On Sunday morning I was so delighted to have her successfully go down for her morning nap that I decided to take a quick video of my sweet sleeper. Here's what happened.

fall trip

2007-10-19T21:14:00.000-06:00

it's an annual tradition. when the air begins to turn crisp and the leaves, crispy, we take a couple days off from work and head to where the foliage seems to fall in slow motion. autumn seems to be one of our busiest seasons of the year, so this trip forces us to stop for a moment and breathe in the beauty around us.

this year, jenn and i have become tour guides to our newest october traveler (zuzu), pointing out all of the places we've enjoyed visiting in the past. today, we made it to the main attraction - starved rock state park. riding in a backpack carrier, zuzu took it all in with a smile.

(click to enlarge)

emma & zuzu

2007-10-18T00:37:00.000-06:00

Zuzu has recently taken an interest in Emma (who, even though she's a cat, is frequently reassured she will always be "our baby"). Emma often makes a good target for Zuzu to reach for when she's on the floor, and Zuzu can be seen wriggling in a variety of ways in hopes of getting a quick touch. Emma puts up with it for a little while before becomming indifferent (or annoyed). Seeing the two of them hang out on the floor together usually makes us chuckle, since they are close in size and sometimes both rock from side to side while on their backs. Notice how they both have their bellies "exposed" in this video (and Zuzu scratches hers), always a good sign of being relaxed!

newness

2007-10-14T20:55:00.000-06:00

Zuzu has outgrown her infant carseat. Which is funny, because she’s just six months old and we thought it would last her until a year – but she’s so long that she could not wait to upgrade. After polling friends and family and scouring online reviews, we wound up on the floor in Target putting Zuzu in the display models to try them out and we drove home with two giant boxes and a lighter wallet. Now she has a new seat in daddy’s car and another for mommy’s car.

And if getting new carseats wasn’t exciting enough for one weekend, Zuzu’s first tooth broke through on Saturday night (see teething ring in picture above). She had a fabulous attitude the past few days despite teething. It had been waiting below the gums teasing us for a while, until early on Saturday we exclaimed “there IS a tooth there!” and relieved we hadn’t imagined its imminent presence. Sure enough, Sunday morning it was finally free. Now we are eager to see it grow as it pushes up and becomes more visible.

This weekend we continued to ready things for the basement waterproofing work that will be tackled around Halloween. Yesterday we hauled out the contents of our storage room, sorted and organized items into tubs, and moved things into the garage. It kind of felt like we were moving! Today Ty conquered our deck by removing boards in preparation for the new sump line going out of the house. Inside there’s still baseboard to be taken off, another closet to empty, blinds to take down, vinyl to peel up, work for an electrician…ugh. We’re not quite ready to contemplate how much work will remain once the contractor finishes... and we haven’t told Emma yet that she’ll need to be boarded while the work goes on, poor kitty. But thankfully all this is happening before Zuzu will be crawling and after it’s done the downstairs will be dry and recarpeted – hooray -- and the guest room at “Chez Jenn & Ty’s” once again open for company ;)

sweet baby

2007-10-11T20:30:00.000-06:00

Ahhh, isn't she a sweet sleeper?

So, our baby is six months old. She is now rolling like a tumbleweed. Sitting up like a pro (okay, a little wobbly, but she's got the hang of it). I'm pretty sure a tooth is coming in on the bottom. She'll hold a glass if there's one within reach and put it up to her mouth. And she likes peas! How is she growing so fast?!

diaper magic

2007-10-08T18:49:00.000-06:00

Now that Zuzu has added baby food to her diet, we have had some fascinating diapers. In went squash, and out came something squashy. In went carrots, out came something with carrot-like flecks. But yesterday was by far the most amazing. In went mushed sweet potatoes and out came --- SOLID SWEET POTATOES!

homecoming parade

2007-10-01T00:33:00.001-06:00

Friday was UI’s homecoming parade, and it’s tradition for Jenn’s school to march in the parade. With Zuzu in the backpack carrier, we were part of the caravan of strollers and wagons. Jenn’s school handed out Seed Savers seed packets (instead of candy), the kids carried biodegradable earth balloons, and we all seemed to take turns carrying some kid-created “eco rules” signs. I thought it was a blast and of course something good for the baby books – Zuzu IN her first parade. We loved having friends spot us along the way and call out “Zuzu!” to get our attention and wave. She was a trooper the whole way despite the fact that the time fell during her normal nursing/dinner/bath/bed routine time. Afterwards Ty proclaimed it tradition from there forward to go to El Ranchero for dinner each year after the homecoming parade. It was a perfect evening together as a family. Ahhhh.

news from the homefront

2007-09-25T20:59:00.000-06:00

We’ve been working on the sitting thing for a while but Zuzu has been more interested in assisted standing, which has been fine with us, and we’ve figured when she’s ready to sit she will so we haven’t pushed it. On Saturday while we were in Ames visiting family, she was perched on my lap for a bit before I realized she was sitting! I took away my hands and she sat there for a couple of minutes without falling over – and a roomful of witnesses to vouch that she sat by herself for the first time.

On an unrelated note, last night we met with the contractor to remedy the problem that caused a very wet basement in August. Remember how I said that having our basement flood would turn into a house project that grows exponentially? The foundation of our house says welcome, Mr. Jackhammer and hello Mrs. Drainage System! How lovely to meet you, Miss Backup Sump Pump! Make yourself comfortable, Madame Exterior Drainage Line! We’re thinking that removing the contents and shelves from our storage room is going to be loads of fun (note overtones of sarcasm), but not nearly as exciting as pulling up part of our deck (anyone have experience with this?).

p.s. we’ve really appreciated some of the recent comments – zuzu likes knowing that people read her blog!

why i normally don't drink caffeine

2007-09-23T21:45:00.000-06:00

almost midnight, in our bed...

queen of the castle

2007-09-20T00:37:00.000-06:00

Look who finally has a high chair! Eating rice cereal AND oatmeal these days certainly calls for proper seating options for our little babe. We have never before been so excited about something largely vinyl and plastic in our home. Zuzu seems to like her new perspective and we really enjoy no longer squatting on the floor to feed her in the bumbo. But she did look awfully cute in that, too.

under the weather

2007-09-19T23:52:00.000-06:00

Zuzu has been sick for the past few days. Poor kiddo. Just a virus but her first time officially being sick still felt like a milestone. Sometime last week she started an occasional dry cough (only I thought she was merely exploring this aspect of her vocalization and enjoying the attention). Late last week we noticed her cheeks were pretty red plus her nose was a little runny (but no fever), and chalked it up to spending time outside in the cooler weather. By Saturday she wasn’t quite herself and she began to look a bit speckled… hmm, we wondered if she was reacting to our laundry detergent. But by Sunday morning she had a croupy cough – out came the humidifier -- and her spotted appearance gave way to a definite rash. At one point she looked a little beat up between the rash and eyelids red from rubbing them and of course her relative patheticness melted my heart. She didn’t sleep well Monday night (which meant no one slept well) and didn’t have much interest in her cereal either. There was no going to Margarita’s on Monday or Tuesday (and I felt terribly guilty for not being the parent to stay home with her) but Ty enjoyed two full days with his girl.

ninja dad

2007-09-06T21:31:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday night Zuzu attended her first kids’ birthday party – the three boys at Margarita’s celebrated their third birthdays together. When I walked in the door, Zuzu was wearing a party hat and man, she looked smashing with the pointy hat on her head and the little elastic band under her chin.

When we got home from the party, I spotted a creepy-crawly on the vaulted ceiling in the kitchen and mentioned it to Ty. I think my, ahem, distaste for bugs has created an instinctual reaction in him, because with ninja-like stealthness Ty flung one leg up and lept onto the kitchen counter and started to reach a Kleenex up in the air. With un-ninja-like intuition, he didn’t recognize the ceiling fan whipping around with a 100 watt bulb glaring out like a beacon that says “I’m on!”. If it wasn’t for the spike in his hair, he would’ve never felt the fan blades graze against his head, which caused him to duck and gash his lip on the top of the cabinets. I’m pretty sure the spider was laughing inside as Ty cried out to the cabinets for getting in his way. If you see Ty, please commend him for his heroic attempts at saving his poor wife and innocent baby from the spider in the kitchen.

And today I ran over a squirrel while taking Zuzu to Margarita’s house. I think tomorrow we’ll buy a lottery ticket in hopes of bulking up Zuzu’s college fund.

rice cereal

2007-09-03T23:54:00.000-06:00

The time finally arrived this week for Zuzu to eat rice cereal -- her first taste of anything other than breastmilk. She seemed to love this new experience (actually, she seems to love just about anything in life), which made feeding time quite nice for us. Here's a video clip of her first feeding -- that's her real smile in the video after the first bite.

put on a big smile

2007-08-25T00:55:00.000-06:00

when it comes to entertainment, there's nothing better than a cute babe.

these days

2007-08-24T23:26:00.000-06:00

We are long overdue to post! The past two weeks have flown by, feeling particularly busy with the start of the school year for Jenn, which gave Zuzu some opportunities to tag along at work with her momma after being picked up from Margarita's house during the week and on weekend days. It's amazing how quickly "mommy guilt" sets in when our schedule goes through a hectic phase -- I just feel so sad to be away from her. Ty was his fabulously flexible self and had lots of one-on-one time with Zuzu when I couldn't be home. A three day weekened is coming up soon and Ty decided not to go on the annual guys' mountain trip this year in favor of family-of-three time. What a devoted daddy -- I love him!

Zuzu is doing well and amazing us every day. She's exploring her excersaucer (thanks, C&M!) and seems to like the cat, dog, cow, duck, and lion sound buttons. At first when she heard the noises they made, she looked a little shocked -- but now she will smile with intrigue if I say a long "mmmmmooooooooooooooooo!" to imitate the cow. She's also standing on our laps as often as she can and seems to enjoy the workout this gives her little legs. Zuzu is falling into a predictible schedule, so for her sake we're doing our best to keep mealtime, naptime, bath time, bed time, etc. the same each day to develop solid routines for her. It's amazing how quickly she lets us know if we get a bit off schedule!

Right now we're in the process of drying out after getting water in our lower level. The contents from our downstairs now resides in our garage and living room, the carpet and padding went to the landfill, and a big stinky mess has taken over our family room and guest bedroom. In addition to an initial headache, all this eventually leads to a house project that grows exponentially. Zuzu was awfully patient while we dealt with a contractor, the Servicemaster guys, carpet ripping and furniture moving this morning. Thankfully she's not crawling yet because our house is far from child-friendly at the moment!

This pic was taken a few days ago. Seems Zuzu's left fingers are the favored chewing items these days.

delayed reaction

2007-08-12T21:08:00.001-06:00

Click to Play

We crack up every time we see Zuzu's delayed reaction on this video. Enjoy.

miss easygoing

2007-08-12T20:47:00.000-06:00

Zuzu’s morning began with snuggling in mom and dad’s bed and eating (usual routine), then laying in her crib listening to classical music (also her usual routine), and then hearing one of her parents wildly shrieking after an incident involving an unsuspecting naked person, the shower, a towel, and a very, VERY large spider. She had little reaction to the ruckus and went merrily about her business of smiling at her mobile while her mom “dealt” with the eight-legged squatter.

Later, Zuzu ran errands with her dad while I spent some time at work. I pictured Ty trying to juggle Zuzu in the carrier and a cart full of groceries to bag as not a simple task, but once again Ty proved me wrong! I’m not sure if the two of them worked out a little deal a while back, but every time Ty is on baby duty Zuzu winds up sleeping. Ty seems to have the magic touch with her!

Tomorrow is a pretty big day: Zuzu has her four month appointment (more shots), plus participation in a psychology research study (don’t worry, no electrodes are involved). This ought to lead to some good stories – stay tuned!

more vacation pics!

2007-08-07T20:36:00.000-06:00

we had such a great time in maine with zuzu and have the pictures to prove it.
see some of them here.

the swimming incident

2007-08-05T22:30:00.000-06:00

We decided to take video of Zuzu’s first dip into Beech Hill Pond on our trip to Maine – you know, so we could look back on it later and remember our trip. Gosh, I’m so glad Ty wore his water shoes for extra traction.

Click To Play

p.s. ty was such a good sport about it that he gave me the thumbs up to put it on the blog. out of respect for him i promise to not ever mention it again (um, at least publicly). for the record, he said there was a big rock.

shhhhhhh.......

2007-08-03T07:09:00.000-06:00

Up until now, we've prided ourselves on the fact that Zuzu cries very little (of course, this must be genetic). Usually any problem involving tears can be rectified by a diaper change, a warm bath, or the old standby -- a good feeding from mom. So why Zuzu has been frantically crying the past two nights is a mystery. Around 7:30 each night she's started with a whimper and by 8 p.m. she's been at a full roar (and not just an "I'm upset" cry but more like "I'm in serious pain AND I'm starving AND I'm grumpy AND if you try one more thing to calm me down I will explode"). The past two nights have ended with us laying in bed with her around 9 p.m., one of us rubbing her back, and each of us softly and rhythmically saying "shhhhhhhhhhh...." in each ear. (I must admit the "shhhhh..." thing is so effective that Ty and I have put ourselves to sleep in the process. Thus, we've done zero loads of vacation laundry and our suitcases still are in the middle of the living room.)

Here's a pic of her (happy!) perched on a little Adirondack chair under the pines along the shore in Maine.

p.s. um, no thanks -- we don't need any unsolicited advice about calming a crying babe.

p.s.s. but she's cute even when she cries.

back from maine

2007-08-01T22:46:00.000-06:00

We're back! On Monday night we returned from 12 wonderful days in Maine, Zuzu's first real vacation. (We missed blogging, by the way, and are glad to get back into regular posting). Zuzu was a total trooper on the flights (we even changed diapers on our laps on the plane without any catastrophes!) and ate and slept like a champ throughout the entire trip.

Our days were filled with family, getting our toes in the sand, swimming, boating, attending a fish funeral (thanks to the little cousins), having s'mores, seeing the ocean, and lots and lots of play time. It was a wonderful and peaceful trip and Jenn was especially thrilled to introduce Zuzu to a Maine vacation like she had each summer growing up.

There are many stories from our trip to share later but for now we'll include a classic downeast vacation picture - a lobster dinner on the coast with a babe on our laps. Yes, we had a wicked good time.

roly-poly

2007-07-11T21:12:00.000-06:00

On Monday Zuzu got the sniffles, which are still hanging around. She's been in a pretty good mood considering that she's had the snooter-rooter (a.k.a. nasal aspirator) in her face quite a bit. Tonight I got out the camera while she hung out on the floor since I hoped to take a good sneeze candid for the blog. Instead she was content to play on a blanket and was looking as beautiful as ever:

Then I flipped her onto her belly for her evening tummy time. Lately she's been pushing up with her arms more until she gets so tired she tries to eat the blankie, which is what I anticipated she'd do tonight. She spent only about five seconds pushing up with her arms... ...and then to my complete astonishment she rolled over. She rolled over! Wahoo! I couldn't believe it. I don't know what surprised Zuzu more: the fact that she went from tummy to back all by herself, or my repeated cries of, "I can't believe it! You did it! You DID IT!" followed by an overdose of hugs and kisses. Of course I had to document her laying on her back too:

I was so proud of her that she and I went for a little celebratory walk up the street so that we could greet Ty on his way home from work. Zuzu had her little footsies up on the tray of her stroller, relaxed and looking on top of the world, when Ty pulled up and we announced that Zuzu had big news. Of course, Ty was awfully excited to hear about this latest milestone. She hasn't had a repeat performance (I'm sure she's just saving it up for another day) but now we can really say that she's our squirmy wormy.

it's contagious!

2007-07-09T23:15:00.001-06:00

Click To Play

li'l giggle

2007-07-08T22:52:00.000-06:00

Zuzu finally did it – she laughed! Ty got the honor of being the very first person to hear Zuzu’s first laughter on Saturday. She’d been soooooo close for weeks now and we’d just been waiting for an authentic giggle to unfold. I missed hearing the first one since I was out of the room but from listening to Ty’s laughter in response, I knew her giggle must have been something great. This morning she laughed for me for the first time at church. Later tonight, I was able to get her going with some silly noises and tummy tickles, and Ty got it on video. It’s too late to upload the video but hopefully Ty can get it on soon and share her laugh with everyone.

What a great feeling to hear her laugh! It’s beautiful!

poolside

2007-07-05T23:04:00.000-06:00

In preparation for our upcoming trip to Maine, we thought it was about time to try out staying overnight away from home with a baby (of course, practicing this was more for us than it was for Zuzu). So on Tuesday night we headed to Ames and stayed at Zuzu’s Ama and Poppa’s house. Sometime in the middle of the night, I decided that putting Zuzu in the travel bed between us wasn’t the best idea since Ty and I were each left with a narrow parcel of mattress to sleep upon, plus we made her roll every time one of us moved. So the travel bed wound up on the floor at 2 a.m. and Zuzu snuggled in between us in the regular bed.

We spent the 4^th with the Francos (Jenn’s sis, bro-in-law and kids). The kids voted not to go to the Ames parade (according to nine-year-old Maddie, “it’s just a bunch of sweaty kids trying to get candy!”) so instead Zuzu had her first Digi Makeover. If the Digi Makeover box says it’s for ages 7 & up don’t listen, because 33-year-old guys who like tech stuff can also have lots of fun with the Digi Makeover camera.

The highlight of the day in Ames was taking Zuzu swimming for the first time. Did you know there are swim diapers specifically so that little babies can get in the pool? I’m awfully glad the Francos gave us an extra one because I was otherwise worried that after Zuzu’s swim we might be on pool cleaning duty. Zuzu had a fabulous time in the pool – Ty took her in first while I got it on video – and once I got over the initial fear of my perfect husband accidentally dropping our baby in the water, all was well. Zuzu was happy as a clam and “swam” alongside her cousins.

I discovered this picture on the camera tonight. At first I was a little horrified that Ty did this to Zuzu (earlier the same day he put her in a turban) but then it made me chuckle. You never know what fun will happen when the two of them are left alone together.

it's been 3 months...

2007-07-02T22:37:00.000-06:00

i think it's about time for some more pictures in my album!

pit stop

2007-06-24T20:34:00.000-06:00

The last Sunday of every June, Ty’s family has a reunion and picnic. It’s a summer tradition held at Les and Wendee’s home, complete with noodles made from an old family recipe. Every year we look forward to taking walks through the gardens, getting inspired by Wendee’s artwork, seeing the fish in the pond, and playing games outside.

We hadn’t driven too far from home when we heard the sound of Zuzu in the back seat devouring her hands. Wanting to prevent a total meltdown, we pulled off in a parking lot to give Zuzu a good feeding before continuing the trip. This was a perfect idea so the drive could be free of crying, and I got Zuzu’s belly all filled up until it was so full she had to make a contribution to her diaper. Those darn diapers certainly don’t have an “explosion-free protection” guarantee on the label for a reason. And why we dressed her in an all-white cotton sundress and bloomers I have no idea, because it wasn’t a smart one. Yes, there’s nothing like trying to change a squirming baby in a parked car on one’s lap when everything (including part of my lap) is covered in you-know-what. Of course we discovered her diaper bag to be out of plastic baggies, so while I tried to prevent the mess from spreading, Ty rummaged around in the trunk until he found a 40-gallon garbage bag which, in retrospect, seems quite fitting of the degree of messiness that was initially found on mother and baby.

We never did make it to the picnic and I think we’ll be eating chilled tomato and mozzarella salad for the next four nights. Oh well, at least once we got the worst of it cleaned up Zuzu seemed pretty content, as the picture above shows.