From Glenwood Springs, Colorado, sans pic

Hi there, sorry no photo because our camera is acting up. I did, however, catch a pic of Cecelia on the plane. We were fortunate enough to have a seat empty next to us, so we sat her in it and put on her belt and caught the moment. the flight was smoother than I had imagined in my wildest dreams. She actually made me more calm instead of stressed. BUT I am not assuming we will have such luck forever. But we did get through the first plane test with shining colors. There was another little girl too, so we had a playdate at 37,000 feet. Now we are with our friends in Glenwood where we brought some winter weather. This weekend is supposed to be nice, though, which is good because we are going to a lake cabin to get away from civilization for a couple of days. no email, no tv. We head out again on Tues and arrive home Wed. It is SOOOOOO nice not to have errands to run, house to clean, dinner to cook, etc. Just baby to play with.

First airplane trip tomorrow!

We will check in from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on our weeklong trip there starting tomorrow. We are hoping for minimal stress on the plane and in the rental car. Wish us luck. We are going to visit our friends Linda and Freddie. I was in the Peace Corps with Linda. She teached Science at the high school in Glenwood. The weather there has been gorgeous, but it looks like it will be turning worse once we arrive. Here is a recent pic of Cecelia pre-trip. Bye!

Visit to Matt, Eileen, Eamon and Declan

Well, the photo transfer from Matt's camera isn'g great, but better than nothing. We had a very fun visit with big cousins Eileen (who is due to give birth to 3rd boy Seamus on May 4th) and Matt, and littler cousins Eamon and Declan. Cecelia is not used to so much little boy energy, but she got used to getting knocked around a little. Good practice for if and when she gets a little brother some day. We ate a yummy lunch with asian noodles and chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and went for a walk on the conservation land behind their house. No snow and very springlike.
Eamon with his trusty walking stick all the way from Prince Edward Island. He found me one too.
Declan post cookes.

Bathtime is great, sleepytime not so much

Cecelia had a widemouthed grin for the duration of her bath last night. Daddy is in charge of baths and sometimes gets soaked, but always has fun. Last night we tried the 'Ferber' method of sleeping for the first time, and it is working, I cautiously believe. We can't really cope with 6 wakings per night anymore, it is starting to affect my thinking ability and I am afraid if we change the status quo it will only get worse. And the first night went much smoother than I had anticipated. Yes, she woke up 6 times, but 3 were just briefly and she nodded right back off, and today for her nap, I put her in the crib, she played with a dolly and conked out without a peep about 15 minutes later. Heaven. And she woke up smiling. Bonus. Like the green icing on the cupcakes I made for Andrew Schumacher's 19th birthday.

Hands

Cecelia discovers new and exciting (for her) uses for her hands every day now. She has taken to raking her nails across mommy's abdomen, for instance, she nurses. Fun for baby, painful for mommy. She also likes to grab at what little hair she has on the top of her head, twirling it in her fingers. She is able to grab toys more forcefully, pull on the straps of her bouncy bounce jumper, shake her rattle, yank on my nose, inspect my mouth, and show off her remarkable flexibility and dexterity (evidence to the right). We are going to give her real food (other than what passes for 'rice cereal' in the baby world) tonight. Pears, we shall try, and see if perhaps they have the ability to make a little person sleep for more than three hours at a time.

Matilda and Freya

We had lunch and made cookies with Nell, Matilda and Freya yesterday. Freya makes lots of funny faces, especially when she is being naughty, or contemplating being naughty. Matilda was not impressed with our upstairs. 'So, you don't have any interesting rooms up here?' Cecelia was a little out of sorts yesterday, but we enjoyed the girls' company anyway.

This is us on the couch and one of Freya's faces. I realize more and more how important it is for me and Cece to have little people and big people visits on a regular basis. I think it is good for her to observe the girls playing, even if she can't join in yet. And moms need to connect and compare notes and share ideas and all that. I especially like Matilda and Freya's funky fashion sense. And they really seem to love each other and enjoy playing together. They are three years apart, so their comraderie would seem to recommend having that gap.

New York City visit

We went to New York to visit sister Rachel and friend Kirsten and also got to have some unexpected visits. This is Rachel and Cece near the zoo in Central Park on Saturday. This is the new face that Cece has been making the last few days. I think it is an imitation of my smiling at her.
Then a few hours later with Kathy in the bar at the Tribeca Grand hotel. We caught up with Kathy and Rick on their romantic weekend getaway (some might say intruded on) and had a great time. Cecelia was cheerful and smiley throughout. We proceeded from there to Bar Pitti, our favorite Italian place in New York, where we charmed the clientele in their little dining room, including Julianne Moore and her brood.
This was an encounter between Cece and Manus ( as in McManus), a young irishman who took a fancy to Cece in front of the Dim Sum restaurant in Chinatown that we wanted at for 45 minutes and finally gave up on. (Only to be told by those remaining that they got a table as soon as we walked away. Typical.) At least we got a chance to quickly catch up with our friends Whitney and Michael, and they got to meet our chickpea. Unfortunately we did not get pics with them. Oversight on my part.

For great grandma Ellen

Here is Grandma Jane and Cece Rose yesterday in front of Jane's beautifully renovated home, thanks to Daddy Jim. We took pictures for her to bring to her mother, Great Grandma Ellen, in Wisconsin, this week. Cece was overtired and not too smiley, though. She doesn't want to miss anything, so she forgets to sleep. Where does she get THAT from???

To bouncy bounce or not to bouncy bounce

Here we are about a week ago. Everyone gets very nervous when I put her on my shoulders but it is the only opportunity Cece gets to pull Mommy's hair. How could I deny her that pleasure? Someone said that her laugh was just masking the abject terror she was really feeling up there, but I think that is overanalyzing, don't you? If it looks and sounds like a laugh, it probably is.

Here is the source of our latest quandary. We bought this 'jumpster' at Babies r Us last weekend as a result of many recommendations from well-respected moms. Cecelia loves it, we love watching her in it, case closed, right? Well....I told my Italian class about our fun with the jumpster and several of my students gave me an immediate and forceful earful. " I work with kids every day and I can't tell you how many kids end up with back problems because of those things." Apparently, and this makes sense, since Cece is not ready to bear weight, forcing her to do so in the jumpster ( for long, extended periods I would imagine) causes some bones not to fuse properly ad leads to subsequent problems. So I went home and glared at the empty seat hanging menacingly in the doorway for awhile and tried to find some information in my baby books and online about it. Conclusion: I am ok with using it as long as Cecelia does not sit in there for long periods of time or for more than about an hour a day. Any other thoughts out there about it?