Adventures in Babyland -- Babies Stage Riot at 2:00 AM, Take Over House

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Two nearly seven month old babies, Zoe and Kaia, staged a full-force riot this morning at 2:00 a.m. Zoe began the riot with a shrill cry and demands for a bottle, which were quickly met. Soon thereafter, her sister and cohort, joined in with a refrain of "Ehhhhhhhh. Ehhhhhh. Ehh." Which roughly translated means, "I think want to get up. Come get me. I want to get up."

Foolishly ascribing to the theory that it is good for babies to soothe themselves back to sleep if not too upset, the mommy (that's me) let this go on just long enough that Kaia's growing refrain awakened Zoe who had been satisfied that her demands for a bottle had been quickly met with top-shelf formula and a good snuggle. But now, yes now, it was on.

Not to be outdone, just as the mommy reached to pick up rioter #2, rioter #1 chimed in again with "AAAaaaaaahhhhh. eh. Aeeaah." Which roughly translated means, "How could you pick her up and hold her and lay me down here all by myself? You're supposed to be MY mommy."

And so, this back and forth went on, for nearly three hours, with bottles, diaper changes, lullabies, rocking and even attempts to convince the babies/rioters they were sleepy by telling them they were sleepy (Perhaps a reflection upon the mommy's powers of logic and concentration at 4:30 in the morning.).

At 4:40 a.m. all hope appeared to be lost as Kaia rolled over onto her tummy in her crib, waived all four limbs in the air above her, made raspberry sounds at her sister and laughed hysterically. Finally, at 5:00 a.m., the mommy gave in, sat down, with Kaia in her crib and Zoe on her lap, and had a Diet Coke and an organic cranberry orange scone, and the babies/rioters went to sleep. Who knows what it was that soothed them. The fizzie sounds of the Diet Coke? The sweet smell of the cranberry orange scone? Some strange stress-relief hormone that is released when mommies eat sweet carb-laden foods in the wee hours of the morning?

Who knows. But all is well that ends in babies going back to sleep. Even if it takes three hours to get there. Bless their little souls. They really are sweet, even at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. They are so worth every bit of effort.

Sleep well my babies. Mommy is going back to bed to prepare for tonight's adventure.

We Love Grandma Sue

Kaia -- "I'm Ready for My Closeup"

The Great Escape

Some may argue she's just teething, but I suspect Zoe's staging her escape.

We've Got Grandma on Speed Dial

Kaia -- Resisting Zoe's Early Morning Wake Up Call

Please be quiet Sister. Just a little more sleep.

Zoe -- Sweet Potato Dreams

Our little sweet potato fast asleep in her highchair. Eating is hard work after all.

Six Month Well Baby Visit

Our babies are very well! At their well baby vist yesterday, Kaia tipped the scales at 18 lbs 2 oz and Zoe weighed in at 15 lbs. Both smiled and babbled incessantly at Dr. Job, the fourth-year medical student who came in to visit us first. Kaia even gave Dr. Hui, the regular pediatrician, a big hug when she picked her up to examine her.

They received their third set of vaccinations yesterday too. Ouch! I think this hurt me as much as it did them. But they were troopers, only a minute of crying and back to bottles and rattles and other such things.

Poor Zoe has been irritable and restless since the shots, so we are doing our best to keep her comfortable. There must be a better solution to immunizing children than making them into little pin cushions so often.

Kaia and Zoe are doing well with their first baby foods (sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, apples, bananas) and have been cleared to begin sippy cup training. I have a feeling I may need protective gear for this. : )

The Six Month Milestone

Zoe and Kaia will be six months old the day after tomorrow. Yippee! Who would believe these tiny giants began as preeemies? Both are as big as or bigger than their nine-month-old cousin.

Six months without catching a cold or the flu leads us to a big shout out to the makers of Purell Hand Sanitizer. We're now working on making it through flu season. Any chance we could get a bulk discount, Purell?

Zoe is just beginning to crawl, making her first few moves forward yesterday while belting out a little battle cry of triumph.

Kaia loves her exersaucer and spinning herself around by pushing with her feet on the rails of her crib. Perhaps we shall nickname her Legs of Steel.

Last night I dreamed that Zoe stood at the edge of her crib holding the top rail and peered over the bar at me, as if to say, "Mommy, I'm going to climb out and run around now." I'm sure it won't be long.

Hatching a Plan

Okay Sis, this is what we'll do.

Oh boy, I can only imagine what's in store for us . . .

Special Credit -- Aunt Loys' Beautiful Quilt

Special thanks to my Aunt Loys who handstitched and sent us the beautiful quilt in today's pictures. It will be a treasured family heirloom for many years to come.

Kaia - Sweet Pacification. Amazing how a tiny little passy can make all the world's troubles fade away. Maybe we should distribute passies to world leaders at peace talks. 

Suburban Commando, or Can Anyone Realign My Chakras?

Okay, seeing the police officer running toward me with his rifle may have spurred this, but I'm beginning to feel a bit like a suburban commando. Forget the titles Soccer Mom and Homemaker. They're much too Martha Stewart.

When the police officer crossed in front of my bumper yelling "Get down! Get down! Get down!" and captured at gunpoint the first of four armed robbery suspects a few days ago, maybe it changed me a bit. Maybe my Chakras got bent. Too bad there's not a Chakra Shop for realignment. Maybe I could use a tune-up.

Yesterday, as I stood outside my running SUV with doors agape and reached in to comfort my screaming child, I noticed a man at the bus stop across the street watching us. Wanting to be polite I pretended not to notice. Maybe it was all in my mind after all.

I glanced again. Yes, he was still watching. Back to the screaming child. It's okay Honey, Mommy doesn't need to eat. We'll go home.

I glanced again. Now he's crossing the street, attempting rather awkwardly to look nonchalant, and he's not a small guy. Maybe it's not all in my mind.

Time to go baby. Load up and lock the doors. As I backed out, he walked into the parking lot and toward me. A petite nicely dressed suburbanite stood next to and almost behind my white Toyota Highlander. I motioned for her to go ahead. She seemed to also think this character had trouble on his mind. She balked at my offer to go ahead and it took me moment to understand that her car was even closer to this guy than mine. I pulled forward slightly and watched her get into her car to make sure she was okay.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, I wondered, "Was that really real?"

Zoe Learning to Crawl 

Zoe's Tasty Toes 

Zoe's Motivation 

Zoe's Reward 

Kaia and Her Court of Blocks 

Come here block 

Please, can I stay up 'til midnight?