Traveling

Traveling with my parents the other day went really smoothly. Claire didn't seem to mind the trip at all. She slept a good deal but I also managed to engage her is some play time.

Friday was a mellow day. It snowed off and on all day. Now the landscape is covered in a white blanket. We spent most of it at my parent's house doing the usual... feeding, napping, playing, pumping. Claire's naps were short and her meals were smaller and closer together which unfortunately translated into her waking every two hours during the night. UGH! I slept in till 9:30 and didn't even hear my dad come in early this morning to get Claire.

Yesterday we made a quick trip to the health food store because I was out of multivitamins and we needed some grocery items. Several adoring fans in the store cooed at Claire and asked her age. I was carrying her in the Snuggli carrier. Then we went to great grandmas so mom could get her computer working. While we were there I got Claire laughing really loudly by first swooping in over and over and kissing her cheek and then her belly.

Before we left on Wed. the physical therapist got Claire to sit without support for several seconds!
She is also demonstrating the ability to roll from side to front and back to side. It looks like she will soon be able to roll any way she wants. She also demonstrates other mobility... scooting to the top of the crib and turning herself around like a clock hand on the floor.

Rescue

Mark updated to the latest version on blogger.com. One result of this was that I couldn't log in this week. Now I'm back.

Green Clean is coming this morning and our house is more chaotic than usual. We still don't have everything put away after the delivery of the new fridge and we have extra people in the house.

My parents are here to rescue us. My dad is going to help Mark with a hydronic heating project and mom will help me with Claire and my to do list.

cold

The Book parents arrived on the coldest day of the year. Hope we have enough blankets.

Domestic Hero

We decided to replace our decades-old refrigerator with a more energy efficient one and Fry's threw on a vacuum cleaner for free. How hilarious. It is one of the new bagless cyclone ones and Mark was so inspired that he vacuumed most of the house this evening. Go Markos! (He is, like his Uncle Jerry and our friend Gary, enthralled by these new machines.) I haven't had a chance to try it yet. The fridge arrives tomorrow.

Claire was awake for Communion today and didn't spit it out. Hurray. (This is different than her usual.) She wore her cute blue velour overalls from the Allens. She also fell asleep in the sling during luncheon which was nice. The service was especially nice since today we celebrated Epiphany and two of our catechumens were Chrismated.

There are new photos of Claire on Flikr. :)

slow start

I had big plans for this morning, mostly to do with tidying up around the house and doing some grocery shopping and food prep. I had to abandon all of the above because I woke up with multiple plugged ducts and Claire wasn't interested in nursing to help unplug them. She was busy dealing with her own issues. (Being constipated from iron in the multivities which I have been giving her more regularly lately.) Her issue and mine were resolved by about 1:30, so by 3:00 we packed up the family to go shopping for a more comfortable chair for the nursery. We found one we like at Plummers but I had to get back home to pump and there was a line to speak to a salesperson...maybe later.

Claire is really enjoying interacting with the toys she got for Christmas. She likes shaking them and batting them and discovering what nioses they make and how they feel in her mouth.

Transition

The transition back to life at home after vacationing with family is a challenge. We went to Lompoc to visit Mark's Mom for New Year's Eve, so we've just been back a couple of days. We look forward to visits from my Folks and Mark's mom this month.

Adding to the challenge... we had to have a plumber over to replace a busted pipe which was apparently leaking while we were gone for the weekend. Thankfully the pipe in question was in the front yard and not inside the house.
gotta go. Claire calls.