Full Steam Ahead

My lack of updating is for actual good, valid reasons -- I'm working a lot these days, and it's keeping me incredibly busy, which is great for things like paying the mortgage but not good for logging important milestones in my child's life.

When Sadie was first born, my sister gave me a beautiful baby book. It was filled with pages that said things like, "On the day I was born, here were the top headlines in the newspaper!" and I always mean to go back and Google September 24th, 2009 and then write down all the important news stories, but then I realize I forgot to go to the market and Pepper's going crazy at my feet because she needs to be walked and I need to cook up a batch of baby food because we're down to nothing but three cubes of Wheaty Meaty Stew and instant oatmeal. And then I rationalize that Sadie, if she's interested in such a thing when she grows up, will also have the power of the internet at her fingertips, so really, it's not necessary for me to write it down and....aaaanyway, long story short, I was bad at filling in the baby book and I'm bad at posting updates.

These days are going by so fast, I'm just trying to stop every once in awhile to remind myself that my baby is becoming less of a baby and more of a kid. At last night's anniversary dinner for my grandparents' 50th, my mother looked at Sadie and said, "You can see...she's really becoming more of a little girl." And I was like, "Heh, yeah, that's what a grandmother would say," but then I did a double-take and when I looked for the second time, I could see: yes, she IS becoming a little girl. The baby features are already starting to go -- her cheeks no longer look like she's hoarding golf balls, her hands aren't as fat and dimpled, her hair has grown out.

Last week, Scott and I took her up to Seattle and Vachon Island for a vacation. And by "vacation," I mean that Scott got to listen to me bitch about how vacations are supposed to be relaxing while this was no such thing, and for that I'm sorry, honey.  But really -- I was rushing to meet work deadlines up to the night that we left, packing was a frenzy, in the middle of it we had to go return my leased Volvo to the dealership, and all that was before we even left. Once we arrived in Washington we contended with rain, many hours of travel, and a baby who went through one of the worst teething phases of her life to date. She actually went on a food strike for four straight days, refusing to consume anything but bottles and occasionally some yogurt, and let me tell you, a teething, hungry baby whose gums hurt too much to eat and who is also in an unfamiliar environment, constantly being thrust into the arms of people she doesn't know or  forced to sit in a carseat for hours on end, is NOT a happy baby.

So it was a bit stressful, but I'm also making it sound a lot worse than it was. We stayed in a hundred year old inn on gorgeous Vashon, our quarters adjoining the establishment's well-respected restaurant. That meant live music and conversation being piped into our rooms every evening, which I loved. Scott's sister stayed with us, holding out the fort at night, allowing us to attend our friends' wedding (the reason we were in Washington to begin with) baby-free and to feel privately smug towards all the people who'd brought their kids with them for a nighttime wedding.

From Vachon we took the ferry across the Sound to Seattle, where we stayed with my aunt, uncle and niece. They're incredibly cool about houseguests, making us feel welcome the entire time. Even so, I felt bad walking in the door with a crying, drooling, hunger-striking infant. "We swear she's usually not like this!" has become our constant cry every time Sadie goes through a teething period. All things considered, the plane flights to and from Seattle were remarkably unremarkable. Minimal fussing, she napped briefly both times, and all I can say is, thank heaven for the emergency instruction card because it kept her entertained for most of the flight.

Now that the teething has passed, Sadie's gone back to her usual happy self. Today I took her over to my parents' and she was the happiest baby you've ever seen, giggling at all of us and showering us with kisses. And why wouldn't she be happy? She's got all the love she can handle, from aunts and uncles to grandparents and great-grandparents -- all within the span of a few days. If this keeps up, she's going to start getting a big head.