Snowbound Herpetologist

Our neighborhood forest walk is starting to show a *teensy* bit of green - well, at least on the ground, if not in the trees :) And I caught three snakes here today, yay! Also, here's a little shot of Maya self-standing, and looking mighty proud of herself! She can hold herself up in a standing position for almost a minute, at last timing! Other than that, we're on the 3 day countdown until Maya and I head to CALIFORNIA, yay!  Wish us all the luck you can on the plane flight since we're going *without* husband, and I'm as equally nervous about screaming meltdowns pissing off the entire plane (trust me, this girl has a serious set of lungs on her) as I am about sitting next to someone who's entirely uncomfortable (or even maybe openly hostile, yikes!) about me breastfeeding.  Maya is - and always has been - a crazy nurser, popping on and off the breast 8 million times (= milk geysers during letdown, and lots of nip viewing the rest of the time), squirmi...

Again, a quick post - what is Maya like at four months? New skills: - She can stand!  Well, she can bear her weight by locking her knees.  She just started doing this about a week ago, and it's her favorite trick.  She looks so proud of herself when she does it! - She's a reaching machine.  She's pretty coordinated at it too, and she can hit and grasp most things at first try. - Sitting skills (with a bit of support) are still awesome.  Rolling…not so much. - So many more sounds!  And how loud! Likes and dislikes: - Loves nursing, bath time, pat-a-cake, putting everything in her mouth (see photo above where she's eating her Easter dress), being held at inconvenient (for her parents) times. - Hates tummy time, sun in her eyes, being woken abruptly from naps, getting sweaty, evening bedtime. Sleep schedule: - Super hit or miss.  Last night, she went down at 8 and was only up twice, at 12:30 and 3:30 (=awesome!).  Other nights - it's...

Also, we got some new books today from Amazon - hello, Pout-Pout Fish! Someone found her toes! Selfies at work Yoga ball bouncing during dinner prep - note the messy living room! Husband looking snarky while baby-wearing on a recent bird walk Our little Easter bunny :)

In response to my good friend Lesley’s very valid comment question about how on earth I get any work done with the baby in tow, I’ve decided to do the post that I’ve wanted to write for a while.  I am, in fact, attempting the impossible for the next four months: working as close to full-time as possible while not putting the baby in day care. (Edit: I wrote this really long, flowery, idealistic post below, but the short answer is that I work - poorly - while the baby sleeps.  So I also do everything in my power to help her sleep in long chunks, which is perhaps instilling bad sleep habits, which I will also probably pay for later.  And that's about it :)) Over the course of my world travels, I have always been inspired by the women in less industrialized societies than ours.  They truly bring their babies everywhere with them as they go about their daily business.  They simply strap the babies to their bodies in some kind of carrier and go, nursing whenever...

This photo is for my mom - she was wondering how Maya and I get into campus with all of our gear, and I told her that I'm basically a pack mule with saddle bags in front and back instead of on the sides. Yup.

We are trying to reclaim a bit of our former lives as humans (and not just parents!).  One of the things husband and I used to LOVE was to try new recipes at least once a month - which we haven't done at all since the baby was born.  So, since the Mexican restaurants in the North Country suck (the Asian food too), we have been kicking around the idea of cooking something adventurous at home.  May I present to you: "Carnitas Taco Night!" We slow-cooked the carnitas all day, and it was super scrumptious. The final carmelization step out of the slow cooker - yum! Lime and avocado make everything taste like sunshine. Abby eyes the carnitas while Maya eyes Abby. Tacos for my belly! Everyone was a fan! And she seems to sit pretty well in the new high chair! But lest you think that we live in a Better Homes and Gardens photo spread or something, let me assure you that the photos above were taken at T minus 10 seconds from nuclear meltdown whi...

Maya and I have officially survived our first extended time on our own while husband traveled (he did a trip in January, but my mom came for that and rescued us). Moreover, we are smack dab in the middle of the 3-4 month sleep regression, and we still survived! It wasn't pretty, but we made it :) Then, sort of humorously, we went and picked husband up from the airport yesterday right as Air Force One was flying in. Obama was giving a speech at the university, and every single freeway overpass between the airport and Ann Arbor had cops on it as husband and I were driving back home. We went out for a great lunch at Zingerman's Roadhouse to celebrate my recent birthday, and we kept joking that we were going to run into Obama there - but apparently he only goes to Zingerman's DELI when he's in town, not the Roadhouse. Too bad for him, he's missing out on some *killer* mac & cheese!  And bonus, Maya was well behaved during the meal, too :) At least for the mo...