Happy Father's Day Dada

Happy Fathers Day to Dada! We love Mark very much, and think he's a great dad. Of Course she has great grandpas too, but since this is Mark's first father's day we want him to feel special. Unfortunately this weekend he's been working ALL the time so we haven't had a ton of time to hang out, but Sawyer got her time in when she could. As I've said before, I think she is quite a daddy's girl - not too many people can make her laugh and smile like her daddy. Since both Mark and I have been busy with work, we are both looking forward to the upcoming 4th of july holiday so we can spend some time with our girl.

Sawyer-girl has been in a good mood this weekend. We have spent a lot of time playing, and she has spent a lot of time crawling around. Now that she's mobile she doesn't insist on walking ALL the time, but she does still prefer it, I think. Sawyer's crawl makes me laugh - she isn't fully up on her knees yet, so she army crawls on her stomach. She's pretty fast too, but the best part is she really only kicks off with her right foot - the left one just kind of hangs there.

This weekend has been a lot of Sawyer and me time since Mark's been working. On Saturday she came with me to the Museum of Science and Industry to check out the Harry Potter exhibit. We had a date with some of my friends, and Sawyer was really good while we were there. Afterwards we went out to lunch with some friends. We sat outside at lunch, and though we were in the shade it was pretty hot....poor Sawyer did not react well to the heat - she turned increasingly red and hot throughout lunch. When we got home I put her in a cool tub for a swim and then down for a nap. Thankfully she was back to milky white and cool when she woke up.

These are some pictures that we took on Saturday afternoon after the nap. Sawyer loves George and Porter - she typically eats/kisses their noses. She was tackling George for much of our photo shoot. My favorite is the one above where she looks like she got caught doing something she shouldn't...girl has got some great faces.

So not a whole lot else for the weekend. It was hot again today so we mainly just stayed in and cleaned. In between my cleaning, I took a picture of Sawyer taking her nap - i love to see her sleeping. She prefers her tummy and often looks like Mark when she sleeps. Thankfully I took this towards the end of her nap because the flash woke her up...whoops.

Comedy of Errors

Yesterday I had a lesson in how having a child can complicate things, and how one mistake can have a snowball effect. Don't get worried - it is comedic, but also somewhat unfortunate to live through. We've had rain off and on for the last several weeks, and it turns out yesterday was no exception. The day started out relatively nice, and in my stupidity, I forgot to grab my umbrella before leaving the house. Now I can blame that on my lack of sleep from the night before - Sawyer slept with me/on me for most of the night I think because her teeth were bothering her - but I was aware that it was supposed to rain. Despite that, I got to work, even went out at lunch. The rain came sometime after that - and it came in buckets. I was a productive girl at work and really didn't pay attention. As I neared my normal leaving time, I needed about 5 more minutes to finish what I was working on. As I didn't have an umbrella, I thought - no biggie - i'll just catch a cab, and get Sawyer in no time. Wrong. It appears EVERY person in Chicago forgot their umbrella yesterday and was also looking for a cab, and while normally they are lined up outside my office building - there were none in sight. I stood there a good 10 minutes waiting, but then started to get worried. I have to pick Sawyer up by 5:30 or they start to charge us, and if we pick her up late 6 times in 12 months they kick us out. While we've never been late, this looms on my mind daily. So...I see a bus a block away coming towards me - the #24's stop is about a block up from my building and goes within 3 blocks of my house. I start to run to catch it thinking even though I will get wet, I can just run home quick and change before getting Sawyer, and also pick up an umbrella to protect her a bit. Running through traffic, and yes - make the bus. Thank you god. So we're starting to cruise and I'm feeling relieved b/c I will totally make it by 5:30. Wrong again - I got on the #22, not the #24, and the 22 stops a little over a mile from my house. There's no protection at the bus stop, and no 24 in sight when I'm forced to get off, so I start walking to an apt building where there's cover. Stand there in hopes there's a cab - nothing. At this point it's 5:15p and I have 15 minutes to pick up my girl. Mark is working late, so there's no chance he can cover for me. So another decision is needed - I start pondering how fast I could run the mile+ home, in the rain, in my work clothes. Decide that's likely not the best decision, and instead I run four blocks over to my normal bus route in hopes, again, of a cab or a bus. I get to State st and there are no cabs - I wait about 2 minutes and finally a bus that I know goes to my house comes. It is raining BUCKETS, and I am head to toe drenched. Awesome. I squeeze on the ever so crowded bus trying not to drip all over everyone, thankful that most of them are soaked too despite having umbrellas. Bus pulls up to my stop and I'm three blocks from Sawyer's day care - it's 5:25p by the bus' clock. So again, I start to run. I arrive at Sawyer's day care and clock her out at 5:28p with two minutes to spare. Aside from looking ridiculous, nearly every single kid is gone and half the classrooms are dark. I grab Sawyer, put on her coat and hat and head home. The rain subsided a bit at that point so she was fine for the walk. We get home and it's finally time for me to shed the wet clothes and hit up something comfy. One problem, Sawyer doesn't like to be put down when we first get home from school. I don't know if this is a - "I've been gone from you all day, I want to make sure you're not leaving me" thing, or what, but normally I cuddle with her for a bit. Not so much today, I put her down on the rug in our room and she's crying away as I try to hurry and change. She was mildly traumatized for the minute or so I had her on the floor, but as soon as I picked her up, life was good again. Now all of this took place in the span of about 40 minutes, and really everything worked out fine, and would have been fine even if i showed up 5 minutes late to day care. That said, I realize how having Sawyer can turn a totally rational situation upside down. If I didn't need to pick her up by 5:30 or at all, I likely would have stood at the door to my office building until some cabs really did appear. It may have taken 30 minutes, but what was the rush? Not so anymore. While this girl comes with a lot of responsibility, I wouldn't even consider running a mile home in the rain for many people like I did for her...so here's hoping next time I'm a little smarter on all fronts because my Sawyer-girl is top priority.

Charlie's First Birthday

We had a busy few days this weekend, but tons of fun. On Wednesday we met up with Caroline and Danny while they were in town for Loyola's orientation. We went out to dinner and Sawyer was pretty good considering that we kept her up an hour past her bedtime. It was good to see them both - I love that she'll be so close while she's here at school. We are very much looking forward to when she starts in August. Now we just have to work on getting a bigger place so D doesn't have to stay in the dorms again.

On Friday, Sawyer got some more visitors - my friends Amy and Jen. She was pretty happy considering she hadn't had an afternoon nap and even showed off her silly laugh. Mark was good enough to stay in with Sawyer while I went out with the ladies and met up with other friends. Had so much fun seeing everyone, but had a very hoarse voice at end of night - clearly not as used to hanging at the loud places much anymore.

On Saturday we headed to Michigan for Charlie's 1st birthday party! This was the big event of the weekend, and we had a great time. Sawyer and Charlie had not seen each other since Christmas and it was fun to see them together. We didn't get a great picture of it, but Charlie tried to give Sawyer some hugs, and she kept trying to grab him and pull him closer...perhaps give kisses, but i'm not really sure she knows how. Sawyer continued her silly laugh for everyone - I think Mark and I take it for granted at home, but it seemed to entertain others, and reminds me/makes me thankful that we have a happy baby.

The Man of Honor preparing for his cake...

Sawyer and her grandpa. We got him to promise to make us some blueberry pancakes when we see him in three weeks! Sawyer loves pancakes for breakfasts, and no one makes them better than her grandpa.

Sawyer, Grandma, and Dada...we tried to take this picture with Sawyer sitting, but it became pretty clear that standing was a requirement. They're all looking at the other camera, so we'll have to get a copy of that one for the album. And because I like this picture so much - Uncle Ted teaching Sawyer how to hand bump. While this lesson didn't "stick", Mark and I did teach her to give high fives on Sunday. She showed everyone this weekend that she'll mimic waving and clapping so we thought we'd see if she could learn this...and we have a smartie on our hands! After playing, presents, cake and ice cream (Sawyer loved it and dug right in) and naps, the sun finally came out and it was time to give Charlie's new pool a test drive. Here's the cool dude below getting ready for some fun.

Sawyer-girl was equally as stylish, I think. She rocked the bathing suit her Aunt Katie bought her last year. She is the one girl who can make me look like I have some semblance of a tan right now.

At first, she wasn't sure what to think about the pool - it's not as warm as a bath, and is much bigger than the bathtub she's been in.

It didn't take too long and she really started to have fun. She even dove to put herself on her belly and play with the toys. She was spinning around in there by herself, and had much of her face in the water while she was playing with toys. She dipped her whole face in by accident which threw her for a minute, but I'm hoping we have a little water baby on our hands....now we just have to go get our own pool for the roof.

We ended up staying the night in Michigan on Saturday, and thankfully Ann and Ted are great hosts. We spent the day playing Bags and rounded out the night around the fire. Good times for sure - looking forward to seeing everyone again in three weeks for the 4th.

Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts for the day...

• Today is the first day Sawyer crawled across the room to me. Over the last month she has moved more and more, first starting with spinning around to get toys, then moving backwards, but today she did the full army crawl/inchworm forward about 6-7 feet from where she was on our rug to where i was at the table. I was working on my computer so perhaps she didn't think her crying was being answered quick enough and decided to take matters into her own hands this time. She's not fully up crawling on hands and knees, but i'm guessing that's next until she masters this whole walking thing.

• Sawyer has taken to her non-musical stuffed animals lately. She has Porter (her giant dog) and Curious George in the family room with her toys. She stares at their faces/eyes and goes into fits of laughter - i love it! She typically goes in and "kisses" their nose. I need to get her and George on tape because he can really get her laughing.

• Sawyer does not like hair dryers or the vacuum. I find this is funny - everyone told me she would love them b/c it's white noise, but the girl looks terrified when they're on. Mark vacuumed last weekend and Sawyer insisted on being held, and basically dug into my neck until it was turned off.

• We think Sawyer may have started to say mama. She's only said it a few times but she typically repeats it after mark. This is how she started out with dada, so although she doesn't yet use it for me, i'm glad she can make the sound now.

• We've got some fun things planned the next few days, including visits with family and friends so we'll checkback in at the end of the weekend. Cross your fingers it's nice weather because we want to spend time outside!

Crawl? Don't think so...

Crawl? No thank you, I'd rather walk. If Sawyer could talk this is what I imagine she would say - thank god she's polite. Our girl spends a lot of time standing with the coffee table as she loves the knobs on the drawers. Although she first was content holding the knobs, we have learned she has quite a reach and is interested in everything on top of the table as well. Her other favorite spot is on the outside of her exersaucer. She's getting so much more stable that she'll stand there on her own for quite a while. We've tried to get her to pull herself up more or stand on her own, but we're not there yet - she's typically too excited and wants to start walking to stand still. Our girl knows the risks though - she makes sure she's got a firm grip on your fingers before taking off.

In other news, in the last week we've learned some more about Sawyer's food preferences. As you saw, she prefers the fruit to the veggies, but she also seems to prefer "real" food to baby food. At daycare I told them to feel free giving her the school breakfast and lunch to see if she wants the food, since she's seemed to master puffs, cheerios and yogurt melts. First day - she ate two bowls of steamed carrots. Second day - pancakes, chicken, mixed vegetables, and apple sauce. WHAT? I was a little skeptical but I went shopping this weekend and bought some baby friendly foods, and girl really does like regular food - we think she prefers to feed herself. This weekend she has eaten a whole pancake and a whole slice of toast and jelly, in addition to mandarin oranges, grapes, pasta, avocado and raspberries. PS - she did not enjoy avocado or raspberries.

REALLY low key weekend - we're hitting up our netflix movies today as it's been dreary throughout the day. We went out for sushi and to a concert friday though - mark gets two thumbs up for suggesting this show, and jenny lewis gets an A+ for a great concert. i know you don't know who she is...you should figure it out.

Man, Fruit, Woman, & Veggies

Videos take a ridiculously long time to upload. Hence, only one video to date. So here's some motion pictures for your viewing pleasure.

It used to be that we were able to feed the rookie almost whatever we felt like. Now, she is forming her own tastes and they seem to be along the lines of the traditional.

Also, here are some snippets from Kate and Ryan's nuptials, heavy on the baby sounds and light on any other audio.

Part Uno - Entrance w/Big Popa

Part Duex - The Rings

Part Drei - The Happy Couple