Monday, November 28, 2011

Seven a.m. Shock

Today as I was busily preparing my breakfast with Zayd clanging ceramic bowls together at my feet (bad mom, I know), I looked down to see him standing. Not hanging on to the island. Not teetering. Just standing and gnawing on a tiny ceramic bowl.

We need to baby proof on the double!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Im so grateful

Grateful for this sweet little lentil.



Grateful that he has started officially babbling and the 24/7 moan has subsided.
Grateful that Sam is finally buying himself a new car. He deserves nice shiny things!


Grateful that my El found a place where she's settled, happy, and looking ahead to a wonderful future.


Grateful for this wonderful neighborhood that Sam and I were truly blessed to just stumble upon. I always says that Bryn Mawr was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I definitely add Mahncke Park to that list now. (Just to be clear, Sam is on that list as well. That decision was just easy.)


Grateful that I have such amazing parents who my baby us just as fond of.



I'm grateful for Sam's family who has come from the ends if this country tosupport our fledgling family.
So grateful to have another wedding UN the works- congratulations Uncle Jon and Auntie Andie.
I'm grateful to have a job and a husband who support me unabashedly and allow me to strike my perfect balance of Mommy and mathematician.
I'm equally grateful for the Manny that makes this all possible.
I'm lucky and grateful to have my 36 favorite people coming for Thanksgiving.
I'm exceptionally grateful that they are coming tomorrow. I have 27 hours to get a meal for three dozen in the table. Wish me luck!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Look out, world!

It's official. After a couple of weeks of clearing a room by repetitively getting into crawling position and then sitting, Zayd can officially put one hand in front of the other and get where he's goin!

This video was shot a few days ago and the difference from this video to today is astounding. I will have to get another video up soon because the baby can really fly at this point. He seems to be catching on that he is capable of self-propelled movement. :) Dangerous, I know!


Something else worth mentioning in this little clip is how crazy and sleep-deprived I must be. I call a ball a balloon, I can't remember the Urdu word for sun (Dhoop!), and I trip over my tongue a few times. Really, its quite a testament to the level of exhaustion seven months without sleep can bring! Either way, I am happy and kickin, so just excuse my eloquentlessness. Yes, I said that.

And, as a preview, Zayd now pushes himself to standing and can stay there for a few seconds before he topples over or grabs onto support. It's only a matter of time...

Saturday, November 19, 2011

"He done his first edge up"

I asked for a tight fade but I suppose an edge up will do. It's official Zayd looks like a big boy. And all those newborn curls are stored away in a tiny plastic bag.


Friday, November 4, 2011

What?

You don't eat twigs?
A wise man told me that little boys and watermelon thrive in the dirt.


Thursday, November 3, 2011

Sleep is for the Weak Part 2

To date, I would say the hardest thing about being a mother is trying to get my sweet boy to sleep. You have no idea how much energy Sam and I put into coaxing, convincing, and tricking the lentil into sleeping.

We had our bout with The Baby Whisperer. I whispered that baby for weeks and each time I thought I had it figured out, Sam proved me wrong. He didn't WANT to prove me wrong, but no sooner would I utter the words, "I think he's ready for you to put him down for a nap" than the whole "schedule" and "sleep" would fly out the window. Back then, Zayd fought naps with exaggerated kicks. Nowadays, he just screams at the top of his lungs and attempts to climb out of his crib.



A couple of weeks ago, I took Zayd for his evening walk. We went by the Circle School and realized they were hosting their annual Fall Festival complete with hay and jack-o-lanterns. A perfect photo opportunity. So, we rushed home, put our Halloween jammies on, and headed back. After signing up for the story time in the hay field, I turned around to find this little man:

Really, Zayd? Really? I try and try and try to get you to sleep at least twice a day and AT LEAST three times a night and you refuse. Then I take you for a photo shoot aaaannnddd...really? I will have you readers know that as soon as I pulled him out of the stroller to place him in his crib, he woke up, freaked out, and screamed at me for quite some time.

Lately, it seems he is discovering the ability to self soothe. But only in the strangest ways, The other day I had some Cruise Holidays work to do so I put him in his jumperoo for about 15 minutes. I heard him bouncing happily along for quite some time and then he went quiet. For a couple of minutes I wasn't concerned, maybe he had found something to chew on. I come out to find this:

He is 100% passed out. He bounced himself to sleep. This is a hysterical twist on the foresaken yoga ball that we got to "help with colic" and now the whole Mammen clan (not to mention the Manny) is enslaved to. "Should I bounce him?" is heard every day in our house. I have given up bouncing for the most part, but I just replace bouncing with nursing and we "crutch" our baby to sleep.

Here is Zayd just this Tuesday at the park around 8:45am.

This is a new thing and I am hoping it is a sign of positive changes to come. He wasn't asleep but he was tired, so Zayd shut his eyes and relaxed his little neck for a minute. I thought for sure he would have a great morning nap that day. But both days this week (I am home full all day Tuesday and Thursday) he skipped morning nap, had an awesome afternoon nap, and refused any further sleeping until bedtime. And, no, skipping most of his sleep during the day doesn't make him a better night sleeper. We have had some decent nights lately - maybe a 4-5 hour stretch after he joins our bed - and some horrible ones - last night comes to mind.

As I write this, I can see Sam bouncing little Zayd in our baby video monitor. He has successfully bounced him to sleep and put him in his crib twice now. Three times a charm? I'm guessing we have to call in the the natural ambien - milk.

Think positive sleepy thoughts for us.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Happy First Halloween, my Little Goblin!

If you follow the blog then you remember Zayd's Owl-riffic BooTanica outfit. (If you haven't seen it, please look through these photos.) We recycled the costume to go to our friend's neighborhood Halloween party but Sam and I joined in the fun. See if you can figure it out...

Minus being so frazzled that we showed up for the party a day early and the fact that Zayd doesn't like when mommy wears a huge plastic "hat", it was a successful family costume. Just the right amount of costume for Sam, and something Z can crawl around in and not realize is a costume. The Mammen men are particular about their livery. (Word of the day!)

Here was our first step in Zayd's actual Halloween costume: can you guess from just this?
By Halloween, in all honesty, we were pretty burnt out. It has been a whirlwind fall so far. I would say that my little Yoda pretty well turned out for made minimal effort I did.
We ended up trick or treating with the Toddlers and Waddlers Trick or Treat Parade that one of the neighborhood moms organized. I really truly live in the best neighborhood. It was fun to hang out with a dozen little ghosts and goblins (and an adorable 3 month old Princess Leia) and their parents.