The Miss K update

Sorry for the long gap between posts -- now that I'm back to work, it's hard to find time to write (much less read, etc.). Any time I'm not taking care of Kira, I feel like I'm only getting ready for the next time I need to take care of Kira (washing bottles, flipping laundry, taking a shower, etc). It's like being a step ahead and a step behind all the time.

But here I am, writing while Frank entertains K on the exersaucer. Kira is growing up so fast! Today, we went out to Sunrise Grill, and she was just not having any of the car seat. So I put her on my lap and she stared at the tabasco for a few minutes. Soon, she was hitting the edge of my plate, which I had wisely kept out of (what I thought) was her reach. All of the sudden, she had my parsley, and was waving it around! It was very cool.

The picture here is our test run of the Moby wrap in anticipation for the midwest tour. You can see she likes it very much, and that she likes to hold on to her toothbrush, eventhough she has no teeth.

Well that's all the time I have -- Miss K is hungry again!

More Pictures!

In an effort to find increasingly annoying toys for Miss K, we found the "Jumperoo"!

More pictures to the right!

"If this is the worst thing that happens to her.."

UPDATE: VIDEOS are now in the three month album to the right.

Kira is growing up so fast! Sometimes I look at her and realize that she's not a newborn anymore.

Last night, she found a cardboard box and could not stop feeling the edges with her hands, leaning forward on it like she wanted it to support her weight. It occupied her for about a half hour. This morning, she was fascinated with a rattle, and finally was successful in grabbing for it. When she got it in her mouth, though, she was so angry to find out it was hard.

In trauma news, while trying to tame her "talons" with the baby nail clippers, I took a little bit of Kira's finger out. She was very very upset, but probably not as upset as I was -- all I could think was "look at me, I'm a terrible mother, cutting off my daughter's fingers". As I was apologizing tearfully to my screaming baby, all these awful scenarios kept going through my head about blood clot disorders, blood poisoning, emergency rooms and stitches. Perhaps that was a little bit of an overreaction considering the wound stopped bleeding within 10 minutes, and Kira gave me a huge smile. By the morning, everything looked great and by today (48 hours post-trauma) you can hardly notice a thing.

In non-trauma news, we have a garden again this year! Lots of beans, herbs, strawberries and raspberries will be on our menus this summer. We are definitely in summer now, with our long nights. This morning, we even had one clap of thunder, which is really unusual for Alaska.

We've already got a good crop of rhubarb, and I'm busy making weekly deserts to keep up with it. This week, we're going to have rhubarb-berry crumble pie.

I also know that the link below doesn't work to youtube, and am working on it :)

Have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!

Baby talks back

(more pictures too on the right...)

Back to the Grindstone

I know I haven't written this week, but we all are still getting used to my new work schedule and all the juggling that's required.

Frank is doing a fantastic job with Kira and is really enjoying his time with her, despite some "setbacks":


In addition to our hectic schedule this week, we got the news yesterday that my grandmother died. To say she will be missed is an understatement. I'm not very good with words or feelings, but eventhough we live far away, I can feel her missing in the world, and that makes me sad. I'd sit here and write some "but on the other hand, it happens to all of us" stuff, but I don't feel like writing about that just yet.

Photoshop fun!

Dwight the Bobblehead, I'm awfully fond of you...

Meet Miss K's new business associate, Dwight Schrute the bobblehead. She discovered him in the bathroom mirror yesterday, and was fascinated by what I can only guess is not only his bobbly-headedness, but his good looks and charms. I know this because she totally ignored Michael Scott the bobblehead, standing right next to Dwight. Maybe it's the glasses?

In other news, the bumbo seat has become a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing, as Kira can have fun watching us do things, like eat, for more than 10 minutes at a time. However, this peacefulness comes at a big stinky price. You see, something about the bumbo seat's configuration makes Kira poop. A LOT. So much so that it's magic made us dub it the "Sit and...well..."Poop"". After this set of pictures, we had a blowout so massive that baby got a complete wardrobe change, and mommy almost needed one too.

Anyways, more pictures for you all at the rgiht. I've got the video camera ready for the next time Kira gets talkative.

Houdini

At night, Kira is currently sleeping in her crib completely swaddled. When I went to wake her up this morning, she greeted me with one of her grand arm waves. She had "escaped" from the swaddle enough to get her right hand out, and, I think, was waving it in the direction of the mobile. I'm actually not sure how she got her arm out -- I put those swaddles on pretty tight. To add to the mystery, she was lying diagonally in the crib, with her feet up in the air along the bumpers. So, not only did she get out of her straightjacket, she managed to move herself around as well.

In other news, it "might" be spring here -- there's still a chance of rain/snow all the way through the weekend, but it's beautiful and sunny. The days are getting long enough that the sun just seems to be up all the time. As soon as "the leaves on the birches are as long as a squirrel's ear", we'll start planting our garden.

Have a good weekend!

Guess who is two months old?

More pictures on the right...

The cost of stuff and Kira update

Juneau lost her power lines to the Dam last week, causing a five-fold increase in the cost of electricity to the town. In response:
"Now members of the Graves family eat dinner by candlelight, do dishes by hand, plan to dry their clothes on a rack by the wood stove, and limit their time on the computer."
Can you imagine what it's like? It's got me thinking about the amount of electricity we use on a daily basis, and what we'd do if we had something like this happen.

The price of food has really risen due to rising fuel costs -- ten percent during the first three months of this year. Luckily, if it stops snowing and raining, the farmers and families like us can start growing our own vegetables to keep costs down.

In Kira news...our little chicken slept for 8 HOURS last night! In total I got the most contiguous hours of sleep I have had in two months! Anyways, very exciting for the Moore household today, and almost makes up for the fact that it's snow/sleet outside today.

22 inches! 64wpm!

So, as I said, perhaps the sunhat is a bit premature. We got 22.5 inches at last count last night! Poor Galileo was really stumped this morning, considering the snow is as tall as he is.

In other news, do not try typeracer. It's addictive, although on the other hand it's fantastic to keep up your typing speed.

Perhaps getting the sun hat out was a little premature...

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees. I went on a walk without a jacket, and started working on getting the jog stroller in shape.

Today we have big wind gusts, icky cold rain, and...snow! They are predicting 2-3 inches. So Miss K and I are retreating to the water park., where we can pretend it's spring for a little while.

By Popular Demand...

More pictures on the right-hand side!

In Kira news, she went to the pediatrician, which was great, because we found out she was growing just as expected. She also had her first round of shots to keep her safe from all sorts of diseases. She then proceeded to sleep (it feels) for three days. Then, all of the sudden on Monday, she woke up and frankly has not had a real nap since.

It's beautiful outside here in AK, and I think it's time we run some errands. But I wanted to make sure I first got some pictures up since people were looking for them...

Kira update

Kira perfecting her Elvis impersonation

Kira's had a very exciting day! On Wednesday, she went back to the water park and sat in the water without crying once! In fact, she smiled at everyone and everything (especially the four year old that came up, touched her feet, and said "Where are the baby's socks?").

She also spent her first few hours at the neighbors (Thanks T!) while Frank and I went out to the opera. Miss K did us proud by being very very good and not throwing one fit.

Then, to top it off, she slept -- get this -- for six hours straight. That's after two nights of getting up every 3 hours, being irritable, and not sleeping hardly at all during the day.

Today, she is sleeping a lot, but in her awake moments, she did play with the bouncy chair (pictures in the gallery at the right) and also played with her keys, but this time, she suprised herself by putting them in her mouth. It sounds like a little thing to you or I, but it was pretty startling for Kira and I, since she's not supposed to be doing that for a while (I thought).

Now, we are off to the pediatrician for our six week visit!

And for my next trick...

Look, I can hold stuff! So that's what these hands are for....

In other Kira news, we went swimming on Wednesday! Ok, well I went wading into the kiddie pool holding Kira. When I tried to get her into the water, she was pretty upset, but she loved be held near the water -- so much so that she fell asleep.

It was probably all for the better -- the swim diaper didn't fit her very well anyways. But next week, we are going to try again..this time with a swimsuit!

More Video!

Here

Six Weeks!

Dear Kira --


You are six weeks old! Can you believe it? It went by so very quickly -- first, you were just a little peanut of a being, and now, you are more of a butternut squash-sized being who is starting to display a personality.

So far, you are not a morning person. Around 7:30am, you wake us up with a wail that seems impossible to come out of your little body. Your little eyes are scrunched up so tightly on your very angry face while your tiny fists are crunched up, and you remain that way until you are fed. Diaper changes, baths, and waking you up when you do not want to be woken up ellicit a similar response.

You like to be held as much as possible, and love to sit while mom and dad type on the computer. This is probably because it reminds you of the womb. Right now, you are leaning on my left hand while in your sling and making cooing sounds and grabbing for my hair. Closets, especially messy closets, are also fascinating to you probably due to the bright colors.

In particular, your favorite object (other than us) is the Matisse poster in our living room. You can stare at that for ten minutes at a time. Your second favorite thing is the skylight in the living room -- I suspect this will continue to be a source of interest especially since the sun is starting to interfere with bedtime.

You continue to sleep (mostly) through the night, with one feeding around 4am, although occasionally you decide to be wide awake at the 4am feeding. The problem is, you don't like sleeping in your crib and also sometimes want to stay up until 1am. Although I would prefer an earlier bedtime (like 9, please!), your dad and I are still very grateful for the sleep we do get, and realize it could be much much worse.

In the last week or so, you have learned how to smile and coo! It still is pretty infrequent, but when you do smile it is fantastic! You look so much like your daddy, especially in the eyes (and, as I usually joke, especially when you're angry :)).

The other big news this week is that you are consistently hitting things with your hands! You aren't grabbing yet, but the fact that you can hit things seems to please you very much.

Today, we finally let the nursery at church take care of you for an hour, since they have been begging for it. In the nursery, you proceeded to pee, spit up, and poop (a cornucopia of baby goo!) all over your clothes, requiring a complete change. Of course they didn't care because you were so gosh darn cute doing it :).

All in all, you are a good girl!

Love,
Mom

Bullwinkle's demise

It's a sad day in Anchorage as our beloved moose is no more.

For Your In-car-sideration...

Today I came upon a slew of inconsiderate drivers in Anchorage. I'm usually pretty calm about these things, but certainly today I just hit the jackpot.

It all started when I walked to my car after lunch to realize that some ginormous SUV had parked so cocky-swabbled and close to my driver side that I could not get the baby carrier into the car. So, I had to get the dog out of the car, crawl through the passenger side with a big old car seat, get the dog back in the car, wedge myself into the car, and drive off. As I'm wedging myself into the car, the SUV lady walks right past me, scales the Mt. Everest of her car, and drives off without any acknowledgement of the situation she put me through.

Then, as someone else was turning into the parking lot, I turned on the main road. As soon as I did that, a lovely suited gentleman in another huge SUV is on my bumper, honking, flicking me off and of course talking on his cell phone. He had flipped into my lane without turning on his signal while I was turning. Now granted, I am not getting a lot of sleep these days and fully acknowledge that I may be a slower-than-normal, but I don't think I was so slow to warrant such an awful response.

On a good note, at the next parking lot I went to, a raven was sitting on top of the car next to mine, picking at something on the top of the car. Now that was cute.

However, while I was trucking my baby carrier from the very back of the parking lot, I got to see a solo burly guy get into a huge SUV that was parked in the "Expectant mothers and families with small children" space. Argh.

Usually I find driving in Anchorage to very non-stressful and full of relaxed but generally friendly drivers. Frank found a poll that said 43% of Anchorage drivers at any time are on drugs -- maybe the lunch crowd today is taking a different cocktail than the normal afternoon crowd? If so, we should change their meds.

Rocking the Vote at one month old...

 

Kira got her first sticker yesterday from the voting center!

In other news...this is funny!