A Big Toy & Lizzy's First Halloween

Kristina is finishing up her internship with a professor in Provo.  Last week, we all went down to meet with him so Kristina could discuss her final report and presentation.  With a paid for trip to Utah, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to go to IKEA.  We got a desk and other things, and also a set of storage compartments to help divide the living room from the kitchen.  After getting it put together but before I got all the little storage containers in, Lizzy realized this is just a great big toy.

She thoroughly enjoyed crawling back and forth for quite a while.  She was very cute.

It turns out, that day was also Halloween, Lizzy's first.  She went as a little witch.  She only visited two houses, but had a good time.

Visiting Family

This August, we planned a trip to visit family around my grandmother Duffin's 90th birthday.  In case we would bring some paintings of Grandpa's home with us, we decided to make the visit to Washington the end of our trip.

We started by going to Bountiful, UT to visit our friends Mary and Richard Cahoon.  We had a nice relaxing visit.  Lizzy got to meet their granddaughter Esme.

It was here that Lizzy learned to sit up on her own.  We made our usual trip to IKEA while we were there as well.  But mostly just a relaxing couple of days.  Richard and Mary always treat us well.

From Bountiful, we made the long haul to Manteca, CA to visit my grandparents Johnson.  We had a great visit there as well.  Grandpa was proud of his huge tomato plants.

We took the opportunity to visit Berkeley and San Francisco while we were there.  I learned a great lesson that day.  When traveling with a small child, I can't plan on doing as much as I would alone or with just Kristina.  We had a nice visit of the UC Berkeley campus and were able to see Ghirardelli Square, but that was then more than enough.  We had the unusual experience of meeting lots of German tourists while we were in San Francisco.  One bus ride had as many as three different groups of Germans.  We joked that they should call it the Deutsche Bahn.

I grateful that we have now had a couple opportunities to visit the Johnsons since moving to Idaho.  More than once this trip, we commented on how great it is that I still have all my grandparents.  All of Kristina's grandparents have passed away, which makes for a stark contrast.  Grandma Johnson is not doing so well, which makes me especially glad to be able to visit with Grandpa.

From Manteca, we traveled up Medford, OR to visit my Uncle Richard and Aunt JoAnn.  I hadn't seen them since before leaving for Germany.  It was nice to get caught up and introduce Kristina and Lizzy.  The weekend before we came, their washing machine malfunctioned and overflowed.  They let us stay in their trailer, which was actually quite nice.  We had breakfast at Rich's deli twice.  Always worth it.  

One of the hard things about traveling is not having all the things for Lizzy that we are used to, like her high-chair.  Luckily, Uncle Rich was a pretty fair substitute.

For the day we spent in Medford, we went up to visit Crater Lake.  It was astounding how blue the lake was.  A beautiful spot, definitely worth the visit.

Lizzy was charming as always, easily getting JoAnn to fall in love with her.

From Medford, it was off to East Wenatchee, WA for our last stop with the Duffins.  We got to see all my cousins, aunts, and uncle on the Duffin side of the family.  I hadn't seen some of them in almost 20 years, so it was a really great reunion.

Getting to spend a couple of days with my parents and a few brothers was great as well.  Lizzy is the main attraction now, but that's okay.  I'm glad that she gets to spend time with her grandparents too.

Lizzy had a great time with her second cousin Maddie as well.

All-in-all, a great trip.  We did end up getting quite a few paintings from Grandpa.  It was actually quite fun.  One day several of us were out in his garage, going through all that he has out there.  It was like Christmas shopping, where the store owner is thrilled to give you anything you want.  We have now filled several bare walls in our house with paintings that will have meaning for years to come.

Lizzy really was a trooper and didn't complain too much about all the time in the car.

Switching Roles

A new semester has started, but this one has a bit of a twist.  Kristina is going to work, and I'm staying home.  I was able to get a month and a half of paternity leave so that Kristina can complete her internship and then be finished with her degree.  We are all very excited for Kristina to finish her degree.  It will be a great accomplishment that Kristina can be proud of.  We were also very happy that she was able to work out and internship where we could stay in Rexburg.  She is doing data analysis for an atmospheric chemistry professor in Provo.  It is an exciting project, and she's glad to have a personal consultant when necessary.  I'm have made it through two days as a stay-at-home dad, and already appreciate my wife more.  I think it will be really good for us to have this opportunity to get a feel for what each others' "work" day is like.

Enough about us, Lizzy is making great progress.  About a week ago, I was working outside (we are getting close to having sprinklers and grass) when Kristina comes out and says, "Guess what?"  Kristina had left Lizzy in the living room to play, as we often do (did).  She usually restricted her movements to the carpeted area of that room.  It is surrounded by tile and that had effectively been a wall.  No more.  That day, Lizzy went from the living room into our bedroom to see what Kristina was up to.  Now the whole house belongs to her.  I quickly finished my baby-proofing work, so now we let her wander where she will.  She has moved to a full crawl and is fast.  More than once, she was getting into whatever I was working on, so I would carry her off somewhere else.  By the time I'd gotten back to where I was previously, she was right there too.

It is great.  She is a happy, fun baby.  She is currently recovering from an ear infection, so that is a bummer, but she's recovering well.  She even slept "almost" through the night last night.  During our vacation last month (I'll write another entry soon about our vacation), she started scrunching up her face when she smiles.  It was super cute.  I even managed to get her teeth in the picture below.

 

She was as happy as Kristina and I to finish all that driving and be back home.

Actually, her sleep pattern has been a bit off since our travels last month.  The first night of our vacation, we tried to lay her in the pack-and-play to sleep.  That did not go well.  I've never heard her cry so hard.  We ended up having her sleep with us the whole trip (12 nights).  It coincided with a new bout of teething, so who knows what actually triggered what.  The short of it is that our great little sleeper is gone.  I'm hopeful that we will settle into a nice new pattern once this infection clears up.

She is super tall and already out-growing clothes for 9-12 month-olds.  This jumper is for 12-18 month-olds and is already tight.

She has a thing for sucking on straps.  Here she is going crazy on the belt on her high chair.

Viel passiert

 Mein Semester ist endlich vorbei! Ich habe mich gut geschlagen, aber es war auch ziemlich anstrengend. Ohne die Hilfe meiner Nachbarin und Freundin, Mijken, wäre alles viel schlimmer gewesen. Während ich zur Klasse musste, wurde Lizzy bei Johansons bespielt und geliebt. Die drei jüngsten Kinder freuten sich immer, wenn Lizzy rüberkam. Es mussten Lizzy-Regeln aufgestellt, damit die Kleine nicht völlig überfordert wurde. Die erste Regel lautete: Lizzy needs some space; get out of her face! Lizzy hat dort gelernt, in die Hände zu klatschen (Patty Cake).

 Den 4. Juli haben wir ganz gelassen angehen lassen. Es war so drückend heiß, dass Lizzy der Umzug so ziemlich egal war. Wir mussten dringend Schatten suchen, und dann lebte sie wieder auf. Auf dem Body steht Born in the USA.

 Dieses hübsche Kleidchen haben wir von Mijken geschenkt bekommen.

 Ansonsten wurde mit Papa rumgelümmelt,

 Tante Melanie bezaubert,

  viel gezahnt (mit 8 1/2 Monaten kamen unten die ersten zwei Zähnchen durch),

 bei Johansons (unseren Nachbarn) geschaukelt

 und auf dem Trampolin gewippt,

 Mama nassgespritzt,

 selbständig sitzen gelernt (das Kleidchen hat Oma Leslie genäht),

 und eine Bergbesteigung versucht...

 ... aber leider noch ohne Erfolg.

 Früh übt sich, was ein Buchliebhaber werden will...

Wann immer wir Lizzy auf ihre Beine stellen wollen, zieht sie sie an. Nein, sie möchte nicht stehen. Hier wird Lizzy vielleicht besser motiviert, ihre Beine zu benutzen. Haben wir auch von Johansons geborgt. Es ist toll, was wir nicht an Geld ausgeben. ;)

Getting stronger

Lizzy has been doing exercises to get stronger. Her favorite is to hold her legs tight and her head up to strengthen her stomach. Our home teachers today commented that it looks like she's training for the luge.

She does this all day long. She's also gotten very good at rolling from her stomach to her back. No matter how difficult we try to make it for her, it only takes a few seconds before she's rolled over.

In other news, we moved Lizzy into her own bedroom. The first night was kind of rough. But not really. She cried for maybe 15 minutes. We had to comfort her some that first night. The second night, she didn't cry at all and just went to sleep. So now she's sleeping eight hours a night, and her parents are very happy.

The new semester has started. It's going pretty well for me, but harder for Kristina. I haven't made any major changes to my class, so I'm very hopeful that this semester will be easier than last semester. Kristina has two classes instead of one, and one of those is on campus three days a week. But these are Kristina's last two classes, so we're both very optimistic that she'll survive.

We are very blessed with great babysitters. Kristina's plan was to have three of our neighbors watch Lizzy each one day a week. Our next-door neighbor was not in favor of this plan. She wants to have Lizzy every time. We feel bad to be such a burden, but she sees it as such a joy and privilege. So Lizzy will go next-door three days a week. We like the consistency, and they like having her, so it's a win-win.

Fröhliche Lizzy

 Unsere süße Maus ist weiterhin gesund und munter. Wenn wir Glück haben, dann wacht sie nachts nur noch einmal auf. Das passt mir gut, denn morgen fängt das Frühlingssemester an, und ich brauche die Kraft und Ruhe. Ich werde zwei Klassen nehmen. Eine ist online, die andere 3x eine Stunde am Campus. Drei Nachbarinnen werden mir helfen und unsere Kleine für jeweils zwei Stunden nehmen; eine am Montag, eine am Mittwoch, und eine am Freitag. Schade, dass Mutti nicht auf meiner Straße wohnt. ;)
Lizzy ist jetzt fünfeinhalb Monate alt und hat einen ganz schön langen Oberkörper. Ich bin schon dazu übergegangen, ihr Sachen für 6-9 Monate anzuziehen; trotzdem wirken die Bodys, als ob sie nicht mehr lange passen werden... Bei unseren Genen musste sie ja groß werden. :)

 Gestern sah ich das erste Mal, wie Lizzy ihren Fuß in den Mund steckte. Sie ist ganz schön gelenkig. Ich möchte den Moment mal auf Foto einfangen, aber dazu muss ich auf Zack sein.

 Hier ist Lizzy mal ganz mädchenhaft. Die Schuhchen sind keine echten, sondern sind nur aufgemalt. Die Strumpfhose hat uns entweder Doreen oder Ines geschenkt. Sie hat auf dem Popo eine große Blume; das sieht so niedlich aus. Apropos Popo, vor kurzem erwischte ich mich dabei, wie ich zu Lizzy etwas Intelligentes wie "Hat dein Popo ein Pupu gemacht?" sagte und mir ziemlich gewitzt vorkam.

 Während der einen Woche Frühlingsferien fuhren wir für zwei Tage nach Burley, um Barbara und Larry zu besuchen. In Ermangelung von Großeltern in unserer Nähe sagen wir Lizzy, dass es Oma Barbara und Opa Larry sind. Sie haben einen winzig kleinen Hund, eine Art Pekinese, und er (oder besser sie, Elfi) war eifersüchtig auf Lizzy. War aber kein Problem. Barbara sah, wie ich Lizzy Reisbrei fütterte und sagte mir, ich würde ihn zu flüssig machen. Der Meinung war ich überhaupt nicht. Aaron hat dann aber zu Hause mal den Brei deutlich trockener angerührt, und sie aß die doppelte Menge. Seitdem bin ich auch überzeugt. Danke, Barbara!

 Nach ein paar Berührungsängsten hat Lizzy sich ganz wohl gefühlt. Ich weiß nicht, ob ein Kind so früh schon fremdeln kann, aber manchmal sieht es so aus.

 Seit ihrer Geburt habe ich jeden Tag Uhrzeit und Menge jeder Fütterung aufgeschrieben und dann über 24 Stunden zusammengerechnet. Seit heute mache ich das nicht mehr. Lizzy ist stabil genug. Ich bin jetzt auch zu größeren Flaschen übergegangen. Es fühlt sich gut an, und es spart mir Arbeit.

Baby vom Planeten Vulkan

 Weil Lizzys Haare vorne schon bis zu den Augen kamen, habe ich sie abgeschnitten. Das Ergebnis hat mich zuerst erschreckt. Mit dem zu kurzen, geraden Pony sah sie aus wie ein Mönch aus dem Mittelalter. Später kam mir ein noch besserer Vergleich. Sie sah aus wie ein Vulkanier-Baby, Mr. Spocks Enkelin. Zum Glück finden alle Leute sie immer noch genauso süß. Nächstes Mal lasse ich da aber wahrscheinlich einen Profi ran. Ich möchte gerne, dass mein Mädchen auch wirklich wie ein Mädchen aussieht und nicht wie ein Junge.

 Ich habe mir auch endlich mal einen Haarschnitt und Strähnchen gegönnt. Es war auch wirklich Zeit. Mein letzter Friseurbesuch war vor anderthalb Jahren oder so.

 Hier beißt Lizzy vor Hunger in ihren Stuhl. ... Nee, Scherz! Sie beißt in alles, was sie erwischen kann. Weil sie nachts nur noch 2 bis 3 Stunden am Stück schlief (und mich das total fertig gemacht hat), haben wir angefangen, ihr Baby-Reisbrei zu füttern. Die Mengen, die sie isst, sind winzig, aber ich freue mich anzusagen, dass sie schon wieder 4 bis 5 Stunden am Stück schläft.