pit stop

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.

zuzu swings!

enjoy a slice of zuzu as she wakes up from a nap in her swing. her cute little grunts and squeaks are what have led us to refer to her as our "baby elephant" at times.

hopefully this will make up for my lack of posting lately!

father's day

Zuzu and I were blessed to honor Ty on Sunday – his first Father’s Day. Especially being the first Father’s Day, we considered this to be kind of a big deal since he’ll only celebrate the first one once. The preceding week, we sing-songedly reminded him daily that his special day was around the corner and as soon as midnight Sunday rolled around I started saying “Happy Father’s Day!”. In the morning, Zuzu greeted her daddy with a card that she “made” (at Margarita’s house) which was propped in the corner of her crib for Ty to discover.

After church, Ty came home to find 21 little notes hidden throughout the house describing why we love him as a father – things like “You are always willing to change diapers in the middle of the night” or “You read books to Zuzu in utero”. After he found the first few he began to get the idea there were more hidden throughout the house so he started hunting around, opening drawers, peeking in the fridge, etc. to find them. They were everywhere from inside a clean diaper, underneath Zuzu in her crib, on the underside of the toilet seat, on top of the forks in the silverware drawer, folded inside clean underwear – you get the idea. Later he opened cards and I know he loved all his Father’s Day cards because they each made him teary. Sometime this week Zuzu and Ty will make a stepping stone with Zuzu’s tiny handprint and Ty’s big handprint in cement to commemorate his first Father’s Day (it was way too hot and humid to do it on the actual day).

Perhaps the most touching part of Father’s Day was late on Sunday night, when Ty turned to me in the kitchen and reflected on a moment with Zuzu he’d never forget – special time that just the two of them shared, quietly and tearfully, just an hour after Zuzu was born when they were all alone together. We love you, Ty -- you are a gift to us!

prototype

since becoming a parent, i've marveled at all of the modern conveniences and gadgets that have been developed over the years to make the act of parenting and caring for your little one just a bit easier. the baby monitor, the diaper genie, velcro on diapers - i mean, come on... that's genius! i hate to think of having to pin or button or even snap little zuzu's diaper around her little squirming body.

anyway, seeing how zuzu's thirst for her mommy's milk has steadily increased over the weeks (see previous post, item 2), i've come up with a new idea that could change the way we think about feeding babies - forever!
ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and babies... i present to you...

...the one-gallon baby bottle!

complete with convenient carrying handle.
i can see the infomercial already!

:)

recent events

Life has been so busy over the past two weeks that we haven’t updated as regularly about the little things going on with Zuzu and finding our way through parenthood. Here’s the shorthand of some recent events:

1. Jenn got halfway through Zuzu’s bath on the kitchen counter before realizing the plug was off the baby tub. There was baby bathwater everywhere and all were glad it was an otherwise “accident free” bath.
2. Zuzu guzzled 7 ½ ounces in one feeding at Margarita’s. In ONE feeding. That’s like half a daytime’s worth of milk for her.
3. She continues to be super cute. I know we’re biased, but we think she should be diagnosed as an EAB (Exceptionally Adorable Baby).
4. Note to self: a parent should always carry the phone number of their childcare provider with them at all times, because if they don’t and their car happens to break down at a major intersection at 5:15 p.m. in 90 degree heat when one’s child needs to be picked up by 5:30, and then traffic backs up and the flustered parent accidentally pops the trunk instead of the hood and the trunk latch malfunctions and won’t close, not having that phone number leads to great panic.
5. Tomorrow is Father’s Day. Zuzu will be letting her daddy know in some creative ways how much she loves him. More on that later.