jack of all trades, master of two.

i can't believe we haven't blogged since JANUARY. we are, as usual, very very bad. i intended to sit down and catch up a few times over these past months, but kept waiting for the next of several significant events to come and go so they could be included. seeing as the next really big one, chief's bday blog, is only about 1.5 weeks away (yikes!), it's time to hop to it!

our first knitting project.

hard to believe that in two whirlwind years i have gotten married, moved, had almost two children, finished another masters degree and got licensed as a registered nurse, but it's true. when i write it all down like that it suddenly makes me sleepy just to think about. however, i'm very satisfied with all of these accomplishments and am looking forward to spending the next two years (and forever) enjoying the fruits of my labor in a more leisurely fashion.

making valentine's dinner together.

so, thinking back to end of january......... i spent the month of february finishing up in the cardiac care unit. i continued to love every moment and was always excited to go to work in the morning, and invigorated when i came home. it was a real treat to have such a great work environment, and i can only hope to find something similar during my career. sadly, downsizing and budget cuts across illinois (and the greater usa) make finding work very difficult as a new grad especially, including at my home institution where i've invested no small amount of time, effort and money. large bummer. however, we keep hearing the pendulum's set to swing the other way...

bean and dada compose a duet.

regardless, the timing works out such that i have an extended leave of absence anyway, because we have to wait for #2 to be born and get all settled before i jump back into work. it takes so long to get approved to even take the boards (check), pass them (check), and then receive my license (still pending), by the time i can even apply for jobs, i won't be behind my peers by much, if at all.

bean visits cousin ava and cousin kuma, the first animal who doesn't run away from her or try to eat her.

i feel like my time in the ccu made it very evident to me that i belong in critical care, an added layer of confidence in my developing career that i really value. however, the few feelers i've already put out in the working world indicate a pretty harsh hiring environment. there just simply isn't a need right now for new nurses, so every unit has their pick. they can make demands like tons of prior experience because so many nurses are jobless. i'm not giving up hope, and will wait until it becomes necessary for me to augment our income so we can keep shopping at whole foods before i break down and take a job i feel less than excited to start. alternately, i can work at whole foods to get a discount on food, and we'd probably come out even.

our van!

so, i polished off my final clinical rotation as a student at the end of february (and had a legitimate two weeks of withdrawal), followed by a short trip to michigan where we handed bean over to her grandparents while i churned out my capstone project late into many nights at various ann arbor cafes. we returned to chicago where i had an abrupt shift in gears, from full time student to full time mom for the first time since stinky was only a couple weeks old. the first few weeks of march included a couple of academic obligations, exit counseling sessions, lunches, presentations, and finally, convocation. but other than an hour here and there, it's been mom and bean for a few months now.

more knitting projects

again, the timing worked out well, as i'm increasingly filled with apprehension about having two babies under one year, both very needy in very different ways. although we really were looking forward to spending a lot of time outdoors in these few weeks, which has been impossible with winter lingering, freezing rain and all, late into april, spending these last few weeks of bean's only childhood together has been really amazing.

bean goes from lying to sitting by herself.

so again, back to january. when we came home from davis, i personally found bean to be in a bit of a funk that lasted a few weeks. this was probably due in part to her increasing urge to crawl, which didn't come for almost a month after that, actually... but after weeks of rolling, rocking, sliding backward, and being generally very frustrated, the day of my graduation bean finally coordinated her movements and took a few paces forward. within the week she became so mobile that, after working many long shifts in a row, daveed woke up one morning and promptly nailed bean in the face with one of his shins because he didn't realize she had the ability to crawl clear across the apartment in a matter of seconds to see what her dad was up to.

bean swinging at the park.

bean and i spent most of this time trapped in doors with below average temps and excessive precipitation going on for weeks now. while i'm actually not a jack of all trades (i still need to attend higgs handyman bootcamp so i can learn how to grow food and roof and operate large tractory things and install cabinetry, etc.), i did take up knitting with such an obsessive fervor that i had little time for anything else! i even have blisters on the tips of my fingers fron doing decreases on tiny needles. fortunately, bean was initially also very interested in knitting for a couple of weeks. we had a blissful stretch where we passed day after day knitting and giggling and rolling around, bean far more interested in unraveling yarn and playing with little pieces of string than any of her toys.

unfortunately, those days have come and gone, though bean will spend decent stretches of time crawling around and getting into all kinds of mischief around our still not child proofed apartment. she still likes to help me knit still, but now she does so by grabbing whatever i'm doing out of my hands and handing it back to me immediately, dislodging stitches in the process. she remains fascinated by anything miniscule on the floor, picking up every crumb, feather, and cat hair. fortunately, bean puts almost nothing into her mouth, which is ideal considering her hawkeye vision and dexterity, but makes feeding herself rather difficult.

happy bday dada

while she literally exploded in developmental milestones over the course of one week in mid march, the confident crawling, waving, and graduating from cooing to babbling, she hit some roadblocks with solid food. still adventurous with flavors, new textures caused bean to literally projectile vomit. this seemed to bother us more than her, but usually made it difficult to continue with meals. while bean decided to leave sound sleeping behind (that's for babies) around 4 months of age, feeding is by far the most stressful thing for me. food and nutrition are not only one of my mastered trades, but a real passion and lifestyle for me/us. my kid not eating well is very difficult, and a large, ongoing exercise in patience. but, with the eating, sleeping (50% of the time we have naptime tantrums, and bean still wakes up twice a night despite being one month from her first birthday), and attitude issues, i continue to tell myself a bad day is a bad day, and she will eat/sleep better and scream less the next day, and that's usually the case.

to be fair, bean has come a really long way with texture. after a week or two of cottage cheese therapy (of all things!), bean now actually does great with chunks of fruit/vegetables/tofu/lentils/beans (a picky meat eater myself, i've been in no hurry to introduce it to bean) mixed into her cereal, and will happily munch on little pieces of pancake or bread...provided it's dropped into her mouth. while she's strong, coordinated, and intelligent enough now to feed herself and hold a bottle or cup, she refuses to do so. again...i keep telling myself she'll grow into it, or out of it, or whatever.

bean cruising through the apartment.

now that bean has become very mobile, she entertains herself well around the house. however, it makes certain necessary tasks almost impossible because she is really enjoying her hard-earned independence. strapping her into any kind of chair is 90% of the time a bloodbath...this includes high chair, car seat, and stroller, as well as diaper changes. which makes eating, driving, and generally leaving the apartment almost impossible. i am as a result an expert at diapering a crawling, sitting, rolling or standing baby. while i refuse to chase her around the apartment with spoonfulls of food, our compromise is that she can sit in her high chair with no tray table and without being strapped in (once she realizes she's strapped in, it's all over). even so, often times we'll only get through three bites of food before she becomes so infuriated that she won't attempt eating for several more hours.

unfortunately, this current phase is associated with a lot of legitimate screaming, thrusting, howling temper tantrums that are really not fun, especially in public. over the last month or so bean has gotten into a difficult in-between stage where she's developing a rather sassy personality (not surprising) but is not quite old enough to understand discipline, so i try to just ignore her (and all of the gaping bystanders) when she acts that way. hard to believe this is the same baby we used to do a diaper change for to calm her down, or take on road trips, put her in the stroller to sleep, or study with at cafes. no more!

bean and mom at the botanical gardens.

bean trying to pick flowers at the botanical gardens.

on my first day of my peds rotation about a year ago, i was assigned to an adorable little muffin of a one year old who had been born very prematurely and developed significant and sadly, very common debilitating afflictions found in many wee premies. he'd never spent a day outside the hospital since his birth. while i tried to go with the flow for his various tube feedings, physical therapy sessions, etc, he ended up very agitated at the end of my shift and puked all over himself and me, which is a big deal since he basically gets no nutrition. my nurse kinda tore me a new one for not adhering better to his "schedule," pointing to a numbered list of appropriate activities and corresponding times hanging above his bed, and attributed the incident to my lack of strict adherence. i obviously felt terrible and apologized profusely, but couldn't help but wonder what the hell a bedridden one year old needs such a rigid schedule for!

regardless, that memory stayed with me, and as it turns out, i started hearing and reading a lot about schedules for beans as my bean grew. when they are tiny, they sort of make their own schedule. but as they grow and can begin to respond to things like sleep training, meal times, etc, apparently a lot of benefit can come from scheduling tots, providing a sense of comfort and security for them. as soon as i could stay home full time, i vowed to get bean on a tighter schedule to try and work out some of her eating/sleeping kinks before the arrival of her brother.

bean and dada at the zoo.

that schedule has remained roughly unchanged, and is as follows:

6:30-8am (on the luckiest mornings), bean wakes up. if she had an early bottle, say around 4am, she sleeps in later and eats a light breakfast on waking, like yogurt with fresh fruit. if she had a late bottle, say 6am, she unfortunately usually does not go back to sleep.

for about two hours after waking, bean is in a happy little mood and entertains herself around the apartment. i usually sit on the floor and knit, and she comes to visit me once in awhile. general naptime signals include eye rubbing, yawning, and getting fussy even when held.

somewhere around 8-9am bean will have her morning nap, preceded by two stories. she sleeps between 45 minutes and two hours, usually around an hour.

as soon as bean wakes up from her am nap, unless she ate right before the nap, she helps me make her brunch and eats right away. she is in the best mood when she wakes up, so we must take advantage! she then crawls around happily for a few more hours. again, we've been stuck indoors for months now, so we use this time to catch up a bit on chores, folding laundry or unloading the dishwasher, etc. toward the end of a 3 hour block or so, we have a bath together. her bath chair is the only chair she will still sit in without a fuss, which is fortunate since this is also my bathtime--for months i've been far too fat to lean over the tub and wash her, so we have all our baths together.

bean and mom at the museum.

then bean takes her pm nap, which is typically the longer one, 1.5-2 hours. we used to adhere more rigidly to these nap schedules because if bean did not nap at exactly these intervals, she wouldn't nap at all. but now if we plan an outing, we sometimes stretch the time between day naps since it's easier to get out earlier in the day. on days with good weather, we live just a 5 minute walk from a small park with a playground, so bean and i sometimes have short outings there as well.

when she wakes from her pm nap, she again goes straight to the high chair to eat. then we have quite a long stretch before her 8pm bed time, so we usually have a nice walk, often to whole foods to get ingredients for dinner. then we come home and she helps me cook, has her dinner around 7, and a bed time bottle, her stories, and her sleep sack. for all the nap tears we get, she continues to go to bed at night almost exclusively without fuss. at the advice of our pediatrician, we now wake bean before we go to sleep to give her another bottle around 10...she actually does not regain consciousness for the entire feeding, and this allows her to sleep for a long stretch rather than waking us up an hour or two before we hit the sack.

enjoying a rare sunny day.

we have a nice little routine here that we really enjoy. we have tons of time together, but i also have a fair amount of hours each day of quiet time to myself, which is great. i used to use her nap time to study for the boards, but now i'm free to knit and even read non-text books, write this blog, catch up on emails, etc. i too have begun to find solace and comfort in this schedule, so i will really miss it when we throw a new infant into the mix.

bean varies day to day in her overall demeanor, but for the most part can be transitioned out of a fussy period with a simple change of scenery, made much easier by warmer weather. sometimes we both start to get some serious cabin fever! i'm excited for her to continue getting older so we can keep expanding on potential activities, like different crafts, or interacting with other beans. right now bean is still a little young to be out of the house for too long, to be interested in human playmates, or to hold crayons. but, we're getting there! we spend a lot of time these days making each other laugh with funny faces and noises and tickling, and lots of hugs and kisses. it's difficult to convey, actually, the amount of affection shared between us. but, as much as i love cute little babies, the older she gets, the more interactive and fun she gets. i'm looking forward to her continued growth and development.

these few weeks of adventures with bean have been very special in a lot of ways. it's really amazing to watch a tiny human develop and explore the world every day, seeing and smelling and touching new things for the first time. things like grass, or woodchips, or tree branches, or swinging for the first time are so stimulating and interesting to her. it's so cool to really know this little person better than anyone else, and to constantly be learning and adjusting to the way she is growing and changing.

bean discovering at the park.

it has also been really special for us to develop our relationship more, and to feel so trusted and loved. it doesn't matter how long she screamed on the way to bed, when she wakes up bouncing and grinning and waving furiously at me in her crib, it just doesn't matter. she has become both more clingly and more affectionate, giving lots of hugs and kisses. in fact, the one english command she really understands is "give ______ a kiss," and will open wide and plant her cute, slobbery mouth on whatever body part she can reach first with her fat little face.

give dada a kiss.

she is literally doing new things every week, every day even...trying new foods, saying new sounds (dadada then yayaya, bababa and today mamama). in the past few days she's gotten very agile at standing up by climbing up various pieces of furniture. she particularly likes to stand next to our coffee table and systematically remove every remote, book, and piece of mail one by one. over the past week, she has become a rather talented dancer. regardless of the kind of music, no matter where she is, bean will start moving her buddha belly, arms, and head to the rhythm. bean can literally draw a crowd with her dancing in the subway stations, when onlookers double and triple take at the little white girl bumpin in her stroller to rap and funk.

bean cleans off the coffee table.

she continues to look just like her dad did when he was her age, with many of the same expressions and mannerisms that he still has today. amazing what is genetic! her hair is long enough now that it's growing into cute little curls, which could actually come from either of us. what's really amazing though, is that her personality also seems somewhat genetically encoded. she has gone from a very appeasable, smiley, nonselective little baby into a fiercely independent, curious, loving little girl. she no longer smiles and giggles all the time, and while she's still definitely a happy baby, she's also often serious and quiet. it will have been silent for an extended period and i will find her alone in her room reading books, or unscrewing a chair, or examining a tiny piece of something on the floor. while most babies express stranger anxiety by screaming hysterically and clinging to their parents, bean will sit quietly across from a stranger, almost without moving, and stare at them intently for the entire duration of their visit. sometimes this is hours. it kind of freaks people out.

bean and dad play at the park.

this happened a few weeks ago when an old friend of mine since middle school came to meet bean for the first time. bean gingerly began to warm up toward the end of the two hour visit and even sat on her lap for some pictures, but was for the most part demure and penetrating. rebecca commented on this by saying, you know, she reminds me a lot of you. i had never thought about it before, but the independence, stubbornness, contentment with spending time alone reading a book on a nice quiet afternoon, skepticism of new people, but lots of love and smiles to share ultimately...she's a mini mom (on the inside). i immediately started panicking that maybe i should be making more efforts to socialize her with other babies and new people so she doesn't grow into an old hermit like me! but, i think these traits have already been imprinted...

bean reading quietly in her room.

so, it has been so much fun spending this time with bean, even though stay at home mom is officially the hardest job, if you're going to do well at it. wholly devoting 24/7 to the needs of another human is tiring and tough, especially when they can't always communicate what's bothering them but won't stop screaming... however, like many hard jobs, it's incredibly rewarding. i feel we've bonded and developed our relationship such that, as scared as i am for what challenges lay just ahead, i'm also glad i'll have my little friend and helper around all the time, keeping me connected to reality in ways that were difficult when she was a newborn and i felt very isolated. i do regret that i won't be able to give her every ounce of attention as i can now, but i think we'll all get used to it quickly, out of necessity. even on our hardest days together, i feel a little lonely when i put her to bed for the night, and go to sleep myself feeling so genuinely blessed that i get to be her mom. hard to believe i will have enough love like this to shower upon yet another little one, but i hear constantly that moms have no end to this stuff.

so, that's about it for now! i'm sure the next time we check back it will be with news of the latest addition to our family. unless bean gets a tooth in the next week, which would be an equally remarkable occasion. send us positive vibes for an easy and fast labor, ha!

we're (strongly considering) goin back to cali.

always willing to take full advantage of our few consecutive overlapping days off, ash and i set out to northern california last week to relax and experience our potential future home turf. i'd been to davis, california very briefly on two occasions. given how much ash and i love ann arbor (except its location and, consequently, the weather), i felt this seemed like a place that we'd be very happy settling down: college atmosphere in a small(ish) town; bigger cities nearby; easy one-day-drives to most things awesome (berkeley, san francisco, marin county, muir woods, napa, lake tahoe, yosemite, etc); exceptionally tolerable (if not generally quite pleasant) weather and lack of snow; good schools; quaint and homey downtown; more parks than you need; fresh food/farms/orchards everywhere; eco-consciousness (e.g. campus is covered in trios of waste receptacles: trash, recycling, and compost. they actaully serve food in compostable containers); friendly folks; a focus on the outdoors; a general wholesome feel; etc, etc. as an example of the outdoorsiness of it all, the town has more bikes than cars. a "green belt" composed of bridges, underpasses, and trails connects virtually everything, enabling people to get wherever they want on their bikes by crossing as few streets as possible. and where a street crossing is unavoidable, you see things like this:

we'd by all means miss the san diego friends and beaches if we were to go elsewhere, but this place sounds pretty higgsy if you ask us. we had five days to spend together, so off we went. this was significant for us because we left the bean behind in chicago for the first time in her life in the very capable hands of both grandmas, who didn't strike me as being particularly upset about the plan.

first thing we noticed as we deplaned in suburban sacramento was the perfectly pleasant smell of fog and soil. we'd forgotten what it smelled like outside of a city (ash calls the city fartsville-- definitely not that bad unless stinkbottom pulls a fast one, but chicago is by no means the amazon). we rented a car and drove the short 20 minutes into davis. we were way fortunate to hear that a good friend of mine from high school and college was now living with her husband and son in davis-- suzanne (formerly beck, now nitzkin), aaron, meyer, and roxy (spaniel mix) were kind enough to offer their home and wonderful hospitality for several nights beginning with a delicious homecooked meal composed entirely of ingredients grown/raised within 30 miles of where we sat and ate them.

suzanne and meyer in front of chateau nitzkin

the exceptionally shortened story on this home is that apparently suzanne decided to look a few things up, talk to a few people, become her own general contractor and build this thing from scratch. out of a full year of hard work and predictable frustrations emerged a fairly stunning home with an awesome dining room chandelier on the northern end of town. aaron works in solar energy, and through methods we will never understand, their house is energy efficient enough that their total electricity bill for the year they have resided there amounts to zero bucks. all that's left to wrap up are a few minor details and the landscaping. included in the back yard schematics are places for several fruit trees and a chicken coop. you read that right. strong work suzanne, really.

when we weren't being entertained at the nitzkin home, ash and i happily fended for ourselves in town, strolling in and out of restaurants, parks, communities, campus, arboretum, downtown streets, indie movie theaters, and of course the farmers' market. all lived up to the pregame hype. a truly warm and pleasant community, complete with free and available down parking. true to form, we also spent a fair amount of time in cafes. this is the one area that really seems to be lacking in davis, especially in light of the predominantly young, studious, northern california demographic. there are only three cafes downtown that we noticed, all packed to capacity every time we visited. someone needs to do something about that. below is a picture for the archives: mishka's will be moved to a larger venue down the street prior to our next visit...

one of too few local cafes

uc davis itself is beautiful, complete with huge lawns, open spaces, trees, and a great student union. wrapping around the southern edge of campus is the arboretum. while we've seen more robust arboretums, the walk had its high points, including some of the local wildlife in action.

uc davis arb

it's very easy to spend time there..... plus, we caught a glimpse of one potentially significant reason we were in davis to begin with-- when i was a senior in high school i went with my friends corey and brew to tour california colleges. i was so captivated by the "mushroom houses" at davis, introduced to me by the girl who gave the campus tour (who lived in one of them and whom i also had a crush on). this is a small community of student housing comprised of very small abodes (officially called the "domes" as i was reminded on this trip), wherein those living there are quite self-sufficient, apparently showering outdoors and growing much of their own food in a commune style setup. seemed pretty sweet to me. anyway, we are sorry to hear that they are likely to be torn down very soon due to old, allegedly carcinogenic construction. we may have caught them in their last days:

another potenial picture for the archives.

we took 24 hours out of our davis adventure to catch two nearby hotspots: napa and berkeley. as we checked in to my first B&B upon arriving to napa, the dude at the front got a phone call with a cancellation for that evening. he then asked us if we'd like a bigger room. easier decision. this place was so sweet-- complete with a larger-than-necessary bedroom and a larger-than-necessary bathroom. couldn't have been more relaxing.

our b and b--highly recommended

the highlight of the napa trip was a visit to the new oxbow market. we were told that the hog island oyster company had set up shop there and to give that a shot. i'd never tried oysters but was more than up to the task. delicious. we struck up nice conversation with the dude at the oyster bar, who comped me "the one that put us on the map," aka the hog island sweetwater oyster. "you might note an aftertaste of melon and cucumber." whatever, just lemme try it. very much unlike when people talk about overtones in wine, there was a palpable and delicious suggestion of melon and cucumber, increasing with each bite, and enhanced by a sip of white wine. i felt so f*kkin cultured. then we walked down the market to the venezuelan counter and ate two of the best arepas we'll ever have. got some cupcakes to go at the next stand and headed back to the B&B for the complimentary wine/snacks to top off a memorable afternoon.

the interior of oxbow market

arepas at pica pica

...as if i'd been handling oysters for a lifetime.

also guesting at our facility that evening were some representatives from neiman marcus. we'll never shop there. after several sips/glasses of their wine and hearing about apollo ohno ("he's so cheap"), the conversation continued (to pregnant ashley) with "we have some lotion for you that will prevent stretch marks." after about three minutes of back and forth about how she didn't use any lotion during the bean's gestation and emerged without a trace, the final word from the woman's own mouth was "it really comes down to genes." similarly, another dude was super fired up on his lotion "that sells for up to $1,600 per bottle." again, that ended with "you can go to the dollar store and get some witch hazel that will do the same thing, but we'll never tell you that." god bless wine as an honesty mechanism.

expertly drawing up one of several bubble baths in the jacuzzi

we reverted back to our room, where ash opened up her most recent bon appetite cooking magazine to a page dedicated to oysters-- low and behold they mentioned a total of four oysters out of all of the oysters in the country and included the hog island sweetwater. turns out that you can go to the bay where they're farmed (tomales bay, north of san francisco), and spend a day picnicking while they bring you as many oysters on ice, fresh outta the water, as you'd like. (suzanne and aaron, it turns out, have done this and endorse the experience whole heartedely. we were *this* close to making the trek the following day but decided to save it for another time. lookin forward to that.)

the next morning after a home-cooked breakfast and conversation with some other guests about how great a companion a parrot can apparently be, we headed out from napa to berkeley to see the town and hang out with two very good friends, steele and wilkes, who currently live in san francisco. at some point, wilkes asked me if we'd seen the domes while we were in davis-- of course i told him the story, and he told me his sister in law lived in them at the time i visited initially. still pending is word on whether she gave campus tours in 1993 and was perhaps the chick i had a crush on and thus a contributing factor regarding where my family and i choose to live the rest of our lives.

breakfast

after the predictable events of a friday daytrip to berkeley including the bear's lair (twice); a day, then a night walk through campus; and dinner at raliegh's, we headed back to davis.

our final day in davis included the farmers' market. while the breakfast i got there at my stand was real tasty (a whole egg, cheese and turkey bacon sandwich, plus half an arugula, goat cheese and egg sandwich from a place called fatface), ash's breakfast took the cake. four bucks got her more oatmeal than she could eat, complete with a dressing bar loaded with stuff found throughout the market. she chose strawberries, flax seeds, walnuts, almonds, cherries, apricots, prunes, brown sugar and cinnamon. bigger serving, more delicious. other toppings were available. that oatmeal's the go-to next time for sure.

coming from chicago, what a luxury to see so much variety on a january morning: tons of greens, broccoli, berries, potatoes, citrus, apples, mushrooms, baked goods, meats, plants, etc... this is a fairly well known farmers' market nationally; we can't wait to see it in full summer swing. we spent the afternoon in particularly multicultural fashion: an afternoon documentary at the local theater called Budrus that chronicalled a west bank town's efforts to reroute the israeli security fence, followed by an ethiopian buffet. that night, aaron introduced us to the board game settlers of catan. i came in last place and dreamed about it all night. not sure what else to say about it, except that it's a pretty sweet use of time. we'll do a rematch at some point i'm sure. quick note on aaron: great guy (truly), just don't stack warm cookies on the same plate around him. not acceptable.

berkeley by night

...with steele and wilkes at the bear's lair

faculty glade

unfortunately, the following morning brought with it the inevitable end to our vacation. it served every purpose: more sleep than we'd had in months, relaxation, time alone, getting a feel for the region, meeting up with old friends, and was complete with a drive around what might potentially be our next little sub-community (barring, of course, the job market in 18 months). it was easy for us to conclude that davis is really an exceptional place to settle down. thanks so much to the nitzkins-- it was great to meet the family.

meyer, suzanne, aaron and david dine on a german pancake below a most tasteful chandelier

despite our first time away from stink, we skyped with her frequently which made things somewhat more tolerable. frankly we're not sure she missed us, however. the grandmas threw a g*ddamned five day party that included new foods and more stimulation than she could possibly ask for. at one point, samina gave her an entire mashed up avocado in one sitting. she reportedly loved it and subsequently slept for about 45 straight hours without so much as moving her head. she's of course growing physically and cognitively-- and at least gives the impression of being excited about meeting chief in a few short months. ash and i are very excited for that, of course. in anticipation, we've traded in our pontiac sedan for a SWEET toyota minivan. this thing is awesome. i missed it while we were away. we'd love nothing more than loading the family in it next summer, driving across the great plains and over the rockies, and settling down in davis, california. fingers crossed.

bean when mom and dad are in charge

bean when the grandmas take over

*******************

david really overdid it transcribing our davis trip in one sitting, so i offered to finish things up for this entry with a quick update on our other goings-on. david of course has been on straight vacation for two weeks, ending today with the superbowl. good timing. the first week we spent in davis, and this past week he has been enjoying banking some hours with the bean and catching up on some studying. we loved to study even before we had no time to do it--now it's a real luxury.

bean and dad enjoy some father-daughter bonding time

i am about halfway through my final clinical rotation in the ccu and have loved every minute of it. the faculty did a smashing job matching me to both a unit and a preceptor i absolutely adore. i look forward to going to work every shift and have certainly come a long way already in terms of my clinical skill, knowledge, and nursing practice. it's been really great to experience what my life will be like--i love the 3 days on, 4 days off schedule; although the shifts are very long, they tend to fly by and then i have most of the week to hang out with bean, do some studying, cook and relax (although it was initially a big adjustment having whole days where i never laid eyes on bean awake). i could get used to this. while it's an ideal lifestyle with one bean though, i can see how with two, particularly one very tiny one, the first year or so of my career as an rn will likely exhaust me immensely. i can only hope to find a job as stimulating, interesting, and satisfying as the unit i'm currently on. here's hoping the stars will align and they can make some room for me a few months from now, since apparently this alleged nursing shortage is a mere urban myth in the city of chicago.

bean and mom enjoy chicago's 2011 blizzard

as for bean, she continues to become a bigger girl by the minute and also to somehow get cuter and slightly fatter by the minute as well. after carefully considering rolling over by herself for the past 7 months, this has now become bean's main method of transportation. we're not just talking one roll here or there. bean regularly executes a meticulously choreographed series of full and half rolls along with some scooting and pivoting to get where she needs to go (or at least to get somewhere she decides she wants to be when she arrives), a routine we call "ninja bean." this of course means that we finally have to keep a closer eye on her as she's now capable of rolling off things/into things/under things. she has been lunging from her now expert seated position, and on her tummy she's just starting to propel herself backward. on her back, she can pelvic thrust her way clear across a room in a matter of seconds if the mood strikes her. i have attempted three times now to upload a video of her repertoire without success, so you'll just have to imagine it.

the beautiful big girl

while bean is by no means behind developmentally, we began thinking that perhaps the reason she approaches physical milestones in such a leisurely manner may have something to do with the fact that we still swaddle her 3 layers thick nightly. while we realize we may be the only people on this continent still swaddling our 8+ month baby for sleep at night, any sleep deprived parent can understand that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. a few times i tried putting bean down for a nap without swaddling with disasterous results, and i just wasn't willing to sacrifice our increasingly long stretches of sound sleep so bean would crawl sooner (the idea being that babies practice a lot of their physical skills in the crib overnight).

however, bean had gotten strong enough that she was flipping onto her tummy in her mummified state, wiggling around, and getting her blankets all over her face without any hands to remedy the situation. for fear of bean rebreathing too much carbon dioxide, we agreed to bite the bullet and stop the swaddle, cold turkey. the first night, bean fell asleep no problem, but woke up absolutely terrified and crying hysterically a few hours later. we assumed we were in for a long night and at least several more as she got used to her new sleeping arrangements, but she was able to wake up a few times that night and put herself back to sleep, and by the next night, it was as though she'd never been swaddled in her life. again, all parents can appreciate that both good and bad times in a baby's life tend to be pretty time limited, so we're enjoying the continued nights of extended slumber (without worrying about her suffocating) while they last. plus, she's really cute in her crib.

bean asleep

bean awake

other than that, bean continues to try new fruits, veggies, and whole grains (now too numerous to count) without much protest, and this month started on dairy products as well. generally, if she's being fussy about a new food, pouring some prunes on top of it somehow makes it delicious to her. still no teeth to speak of, but who needs 'em? after a few weeks of contemplation, she has again become very vocal with an impressive variety of sounds and tones to choose from. we love hearing her talk to herself in her crib when she wakes up for good in the morning. she continues to enjoy time in her jumper, playing with her toys on the floor, and helping mom cook in the kitchen.

we hope everyone is surviving the cold and will check back soon to fill you in on our various adventures!