Grandparents In Residence - An entry by Grammy as dictated by Yarden

Less than a week after the Laks/Silversteins vacate the “storage shed” (as the guest accommodations have come to be named) on Sycamore, the Hurleys arrive for 10 days of fun in the sun. We did lots of fun things with The Girl, most of which are captured in the photos below, with her comments.
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The Skirball Museum (skirball.org) in Pasadena has an enormous hands-on Noah's Ark exhibit with animals made from recycled materials. I made friends with the gorillas,
and then sat down to listen to a story by one of the docents.
I know you think I’m too young but look how attentive I am. We stopped for lunch and I slurped up some udon noodles.
No chopsticks necessary.
We visited part of the Hurley clan in Laguna Beach, Da's cousins Brian and David, and Brian's lovely wife Candace.
We had a snack at their house before a late lunch at a great restaurant overlooking the ocean. They knew I liked fruit so Grammy said I could help myself.
And their dog thought I was cute. On the night before my mom (and dad) had to go back to work, we had a belated gift exchange.

Grammy gave me this bunny and everyone told me I could play with it when I was 21. "21 what?" I asked. "Months? Surely you can't mean years!"
It's made from a mink stole that belonged to Grammy's mother.
It even has her initials on the bunny's bow - EMH (Elizabeth M. Hanley).
Dad asked what the M stood for, and since it was Margaret, we decided to name her Margaret Bunny. Most mornings I go out to the “storage shed” and hang out with Grammy & Da for a while.

(I do the same thing when Bubbe and Grandpa are here. Do they live together? Do they all sleep in the same bed?)
We bounce around and this time they gave me an empty box to play with.
It tried to swallow me.

One day Gram and Da took me to the Farmer's Market.
We had lunch at a French restaurant. I was still hungry when I got home, so Grammy gave me a banana.
Sometimes they put me in my play corral, but I get bored and try to sneak out to where the real action is.

And Da is so nice - he takes me for walks in my stroller.
I know he's trying to get me to nap, and it usually works.

Mom had to work for the WHOLE day and night (I think she's going to be doing that a lot), so Grammy decided to dress me in pink (not Mom's favorite color on me) while Mom wasn't around. I really wish Mom would reconsider - look how cute I am!
And speaking of wardrobe, Mom arranged for me to pose in a photo shoot for a kid's catalog. Me and some other kids (kinda cute, especially that little hunk Luciano) were all modeling clothes for kickypants.com, and boy did I have to work my butt off! They dressed me in this sleeper - cute enough, but get this - size 0-3 months! Something about wanting the stretchy fabric to appear smooth on camera. Grammy kept muttering something about stuffing a sausage while she was dressing me. And they even put the mittens over my hands - how babyish! But I sucked it up and smiled - even shared the camera with a few of the other kids. I think you'll be able to see it all on the kickypants website - Mom will let you know.

On Saturdays I have swimming lessons and the YMCA. We splash and blow bubbles and kick kick kick. Grammy got in the water with me, and I know Bubbe and Grandpa were here too. Do they all share the swimming pool too? My favorite thing is to "body board" on Mom's body.



On Sundays a bunch of friends come over to my house and we do "Outside the Box" (OTB), a very creative one hour playgroup.Last week we played with beads, lots and lots of beads.
I won.
And Mom took me to an extra OTB session so Grammy could see first hand how well I can finger paint.
Someone else wrote my name for me.
One morning Da and Grammy took me to UCLA's Museum of Natural History.
They have a Discovery Center full of all kinds of stuff (stuffed stuff, actually).
Some real stuff too, like this king snake that this guy was playing with. Yuk!
Mom and Dad tell me that Uncle Liam played drums here last year at a Josh Ritter gig.
Go, Liam!

On the last weekend Da and Grammy were here, we had a few friends over for dinner. (I even shared my toys with James and Jocelyn).

And Mom and Dad went on a date night while Da and Gram took care of me.
I know this seems to be all about me, but then again, it is.

Fingerpainting

Today we got MESSY.

Very few words are necessary.

Contemplating the blank canvas.

Carefully selecting colors.

The view from above.

Do you think anyone will notice if I eat this paper?

Busted.

Yarden's friend Lennon looking way too cute.

More photos of the event are here.

I've Been Tagged

I'd never seen this before or heard of it - but my friend Kristin tagged me on her blog (http://thehootenfamily.blogspot.com/).

Evidently she posted this back in early November, so imagine my surprise when mid-December, while casually perusing her postings when I found myself called out by name to lay my soul bare and answer a whole bunch of personal questions (honestly no less), then post the responses PUBLICLY on my own blog.

I don't like this at all.
But it felt like a fair challenge, so here goes.

I am: grateful. Also - highly opinionated (others have said "control freak").
I want: a solid sense of community.
I have: a wonderful nuclear and extended family.
I dislike: superficiality. It's disarming/distancing to interact with people who go through life with a veneer or an agenda.
I miss: having Nancy in my life every day.
I fear: losing my parents, getting in in over my head financially, getting complacent. More superficially - rats & roller coasters & that I will regret the time I spend watching TV.
I feel: back pain. I should be writing my holiday cards on a desk, not a TV tray.
I hear: Bluegrass on my daughter's night ipod mix, a load of diapers in the laundry, a wimpering dog, the fire from our wall panel heater.
I smell: dog - back up Oso.
I crave: pasta with parmegian regiano so I can try my new microplaner grater. Seamus is at the store buying the cheese now.
I cry: wow, when I regret my behavior, about the effects of Prop 8, thinking about kids who have basic holiday requests that will go unfulfilled, knowing how fleeting this period of Yarden's life is and fearing that something bad might someday happen to her.
I usually: run things by Seamus.
I search: etsy, amazon, google, for balance.
I wonder: whether the school system is as bad as I fear & whether it will really make a difference.
I regret: looking for a fight instead of enjoing the moment - especially with my mom (but not just her). Not spending better time with my Great Grandmother. I only realize way to late how lonely she was.
I love: being snuggled by my husband and baby.
I care: about being a good mother.
I always: am keenly aware of my "To Do" list.
I worry: about my posture, about being liked, about balancing work and motherhood and being a high achiever at both.
I am not: a stay at home mom. I know I couldn't hack it.
I remember: less than most of my elementary school days. I would not be my own best biographer.
I believe: in the best in people, even when there's good reason not to.
I dance: to make my dughter laugh out loud.
I sing: along with the radio.
I don’t always: floss, load the dishwasher,...where to begin. I'm obsessive at work - secretly lazy at home. Seamus would ask, "secret from whom"? I'm like the CEOs who frequent Dominatrixes (dominatri?).
I argue: about whether to have a Christmas tree in our home.
I write: blog entries, e-mails, production calendars, to do lists, holiday cards, host copy, and the ocassional letter to settle my mind but never, ever be sent.
I win: most of the "discussions" in our family.
I lose: important papers in the piles around the house.
I wish: I had a toned body and could keep an organized house - both without expended inordianate amounts of effort. And that I was better with names. And that Facebook could distinguish between Friends, Aquaintances and Business Colleagues. And that I was craftier. I admire the no tv, DIY/Do It All moms who make a rainy afternoon's activities look like a Martha Stewart Kids layout. Maybe someday...
I listen: to This American Life.
I don’t understand: why Miley Cyrus?
I can usually be found: via cell phone.
I need: a vacation without my laptop or cell phone.
I forget: people's names the moment we are introduced.
I am happy: sleeping in, when my baby smiles, eating food that exceeds my expectations, having conversations with friends that move beyond catching up, reading a good book, playing Taboo, waking up with my daughter. I'm happy most of the time.
I tag: Nancy
So now, Nancy (you lucky woman you), you get to copy and paste and fill this out on your very own blog.

I'm Starting to Crawl!!!

Check out this video.
I show off my bottom teeth at a minute or so in and then I crawl at 1:17.

OK - gotta run, I mean crawl, my parents will add more later.
There is lots to report.

Today I Am Six Months Old

We woke Yarden this morning with a rousing rendition of "Happy Half-Birthday" and a special "BIRTH-QUAKE!!!"
She seemed non-plussed - sleepy, but smiley & happy to see us.

She celebrated at school by eating lots & sleeping little.
I had major dental work done (ow) and found an awesome consignment shop that has Splendid baby shirts for $10 a piece (wow).

Here are some pictures from little mama's big day.

She now turns the pages of her books by herself.

Yarden's Big Weekend

With her 6 month half-birthday approaching, Seamus and I keep planning to do a photo shoot with Yarden with an array of accouterments so that whatever she shows an affinity for later in life, we'll have that predictive baby photo from her first 6 months of life. Yarden with a guitar, in a swimming pool, wearing a chef's hat, in a spacesuit, playing poker...the list is exhausting.

But in the real world, Yarden has actually been racking up the experiences - and this weekend added a few more to the list.

This morning at 9 AM, Y & I had our first infant swim class. There are only a few other babies in the class, Conner is my favorite. He's got two dads who showed up for class with a flip video camera. They also helped me with Yarden so that I could go pee (Note to self: Why did I think it would be easy to navigate a public locker room and bathing suits for both of us on my own when I can barely get out of the Burke Williams locker area without losing the key attached to my wristband?)

Yarden checks out the water.

Conner & his parents.

The swim lesson was awesome. The water was so warm and the class environment so friendly that I didn't even mind being in a bathing suit in public. Yarden loves to splash and kick and was braver than her mommy when it was time to dip completely under the water. We did a water version of "Wheels on the Bus" - already one of her favorites - and water "Ring Around The Rosie" ("splashes, splashes - we all fall down").

After that, Y and I headed home to shower, nap and head out to Baby Loves Disco.
I can't beat an article my brillliant friend Anna Cranage Conathan wrote about Baby Loves Disco
so I'll just share her article.

Three days have passed and I still haven't posted, so here are some updates ...

Mila Jovovich was in my Tuesday swim class. Ron Livingston was at the pool too. I'm now slightly more self conscious about my bikini body.

A group of 11 other moms and I are starting an Industry Moms support community to help balance the babies we love and the careers we nurture (and vice versa). We had our first planning meeting on Sunday and I've built us a blog - website to launch soon. We've got 100 members so far :)

And Outside The Box continues to meet at my house every Sunday. The activity this week was water tornados and puppet play. Click here for photos, including Yarden looking really blase about the activity.

I'm super tired, but feeling good.
Prop 8 is going to get overturned, I can feel it in my bones.
Trading Spaces is wrapping up and things look good for ideas I've brought to my employers.
I'm about to kick off 2 months of time off with my daughter with 10 days in NY.
Then I get to start a dream job on Hell's Kitchen.
Big picture I have a husband and daughter I adore, small picture I'm about to fall asleep watching the end of the Paul Rudd SNL from last week.

Life is good.

And Yarden's pretty happy too.

Yarden at Six Months

We don't have a baby book.
We haven't recorded the frst time that Yarden rolled over, or the first spoonful of rice cereal, or when her first tooth finally broke through her gums.

What we do do is obsessively photograph our daughter and sporadically blog about our family's - in which she figures centrally.

So - with her 24 week mark behind us and her official 1/2 birthday coming up on Nov 19th, it seems like a good time to use the blog to take stock of all the things our girl is up to.

Yarden is now 17 pounds and 25 inches long/tall.
She can roll to pretty much wherever she wants to get to within a room. No crawling yet.
She can sit up on her own, but eventually keels over. That head is big.
(So far) she's never rolled off the bed or been dropped.

Yarden's default temperament is sweet and loving - generous with her big flirty gummy smiles and no fear of strangers. Even at gatherings with lot of babies, like at her school, we get told she should model (hmmm....)

She has 2 tiny, tiny sharp teeth (like the size of a crumb of feta) poking up on the bottom row and she sometimes uses them to bite my nose, and occasionally my boob. And speaking of beating us up, she pulls my hair (hard enough to get out strands), grabs daddy's eye, and I've seen her pull Oso's cheek.

She is big enough to stand in the exersaucer and the bouncer and she loves both.
She wears 9 month size clothing and (despite my best efforts) she outgrew adorable things before she had a chance to wear them.

In the last month, she's been needier than usual (doesn't like it if we leave the room), but can still be cheered up with a hug or the ABC song, Her favorite game is still EARTHQUAKE!!! (see the bottom of the Oct 29th entry if you've never seen this game). On the other hand, the trick of running a finger down the bridge of her nose doesn't make her close her eyes anymore and it's harder to get her to sleep.

She's eaten rice cereal, peas, & squash.

She is no longer fully swaddled at night, just under the arms.


And her favorite blanket is the one I made her :)

The View From My Toilet Seat

Yarden's figured out how to roll and she needed a space to practice, so we've remodeled the living room to accommodate her new hobby.

We got rid of the futon/guest bed and moved the table - replacing the grown up furniture with 72 square feet of Alphabet Puzzle Foam.

Here's Yarden enjoying her new room.

But it turns out that Alphabet Puzzle Foam is to dogs what catnip is to cats.
Yarden may like the new setup, but Oso loves it.
He can't stay away.

SOOO - the full 72 feet gets covered with dog hair.
We've tried brooms. mops, wet swiffer, lint roller, and old fashioned getting down on hands and knees with a wet sponge.
None of that works.
Since we have playgroups at the house once a week, we have to keep it better than clean.
We have to keep it "up to 8 other parent's standards" clean.
(see photo below)

So Seamus has come up with a solution. Wash them in the shower and hang them dry.

As I type, this is the view from our toilet.
I love my ingenious husband.

Six Months

She is still getting the hang of feeding herself.More baby food should come in lollypop form.
I think she likes it.