Last week, in pictures

Last Saturday, Sarah came over to scrapbook. I got a few pages of Bella's baby album done before I realized I haven't done a very thorough job of ordering pictures from Snapfish.
Since Bella can sit in a chair at the table now, she joined us for a little bit.

On Sunday morning, Bella got her first bath in the sink. I think I'll wait until she can sit up to do that again.

On Wednesday night, Bella helped me chop vegetables for dinner. I am loving the baby bijorn (Thanks Kelly)! Today (Friday) I took Bella grocery shopping with me and carried her around in the bijorn the whole time. She was so alert and just watched the world around her. It took almost an hour and she didn't fuss at all. What a good baby!

There and back again

On Monday I flew to, and from Chicago for a strategy meeting with clients at work. It wasn't until the return trip that I stopped worrying about leaving Bella and started thinking about how this quick turn in the air was going to impact my carbon footprint for 2009. It's always something!

I hadn't flown since March, and I was not looking forward to it. I actually called Jeff, in a panic, before take off because the pilot warned us that 3/4 of the flight would be "bumpy" due to storms. Lord help me! I survived by reading and highlighting a couple of manuscripts I wanted to be familiar with for the meeting.

Like always, I felt like I had come home when I walked out of the airport and boarded the El. Every time I return to Chicago I slip right back into my old city self. In the back of my head I was thinking about my baby and husband in Minnesota, but for the most part I just felt thrilled to be heading into work. I admit it - I bought a new suit for the trip. I wanted a new handbag, shoes and earrings too, but one has to draw the line somewhere.

Instead of going to daycare, Bella spent the day with her Grandma Rose and Auntie Amy. Apparently she was not taking her morning bottle and looked sick, so Jeff made the call not to send her to Janet's. When Jeff, Bella and Casey arrived at the airport to pick me up, I learned that the evening didn't go so hot either. She woke up shortly after he put her down for bed and screamed until he they had driven part way to the airport. I think she missed her mommy :-(

As much as I enjoyed my brief turn in Chicago, and I think it was good for me to know that I could be away for Bella for a day, it was immensely satisfying to snuggle with my baby and eat dinner with my husband when I got home.

Let the first gift you buy this year be life

Remember last year when Jeff "the nerd" and I "the hockey player" danced for water? Well, it's that time of year again and my friend at farm-raised would like your help. Please take a look here and consider what she has to say.

Funny hats

Like father, like daughter.

Let's talk about germs

Why not follow a post about snot by a post about germs? I recently read an article about the germy word we live it. A fellow germaphobe swiped different things that her hands and her child's hands come into contact with on a daily basis - grocery store carts, ATM machines, door handles at a coffee shop. She took them in to be tested, and learned that half of them contained "fecal contaminants". Ick.
The samples from her kitchen were the dirtiest of the bunch that she had tested. I already knew that cutting boards and sponges can harbor lots of bad creebos, but I was grossed out by the fact that my fruits and vegetables "can be loaded with animal and human debris" (Rope, 2009). Jeff and I have started to wipe our counters down with hydrogen peroxide on a semi-regular basis. After reading the article, I also cleaned my computer keyboard, mouse, and both cell phone and land line with it. Last, but not least, I'm now counting to 25 when I wash my hands. It feels like forever to scrub for that long, but apparently I wasn't getting the job done with my former speed-washing. And I have to dry my hands because germs are "attracted to wet surfaces" (Rope, 2009).

Rope, Kate. Diary of a germophobe. Shape;Nov 2009:157-161. -- I had a nerdy amount of fun using APA style to include in-text and a full citation for my resource in this blog. My students at Kaplan would be proud!

Snot

What a title for a post, you might say. Well, I'm covered in it, so I thought: why not blog about it?

Bella has her first official cold. Or she's really teething this time. It's hard to tell the difference with a baby. What I know for sure is that little nose has been running like crazy. She's learned that when the tissue is heading her way she needs to jerk her head rapidly from side to side to avoid the offense of being swiped. She shrieks in dismay when the nose plunger descends toward her face. Hence her face and my shoulder are covered in snot. I've decided showering is a waste of time. I'm just going to live in my snot clothes until she's better. Or until our company arrives at 6 tonight. Unless the snot scares them away.

Last week

On Friday night I babysat for Samuel, Benjamin and Andrew. Even though I had prepared the basement with lots of child-friendly distractions, I discovered that taking care of an 8-month and 4-month at the same time is a bit of a challenge. Samuel and Benjamin did great. They watched a Baby Einstein video and played with play dough. The babies took turns in the exersaucer and sitting/laying on the floor. At one point I noticed Andrew had army crawled over to Bella, taken her pacifier out of her mouth, and put it in his.
Here's Bella in her recycling jammies. My sister's sister-in-law, Maureen, gave them to me. My reputation precedes me...

On Saturday morning, Jeff decided that Bella has enough hair for him to style it. Here she is with her first mowhawk.