Kiwi is 8 months

April 4, 2016May 25, 2016catherinemryan

Baby dandelion Ten Thousand Hour Mama This post is really late, but work/life/everything has been a bit much. Life ebbs and flows, and we’ve been at high tide for a while now.

But Kiwi moseys along, oblivious to deadlines and the empty fridge and the thick layer of dog hair on the unvacuumed carpet. (Ok, she actually does notice all that hair, especially considering a large amount of it ends up in her mouth.)

Kiwi is now mobile. She was so close to crawling for what seemed like forever, and then one day she finally managed to move forward instead of backward. She never looked back.

Ten Thousand Hour Mama Baby crawling Ten Thousand Hour Mama Baby with doll Ten Thousand Hour Mama Not being stuck in one place has revolutionized her life (and ours, obvi!). She is even more engaged now that she can spy something that interests her and get to it. Read more →

Kiwi is 7 months: Sisterhood

February 19, 2016May 26, 2016catherinemryan

Baby fox toy Ten Thousand Hour Mama

Everybody’s doing a brand new dance now,
I know you’ll like it if you give it a chance now,
Come on baby, do the Locomotion!

The last month Kiwi has been all about moving around!

She’s not crawling, although she’s made it to all fours and is occasionally rocking, the first steps toward that milestone. But she intentionally rolls toward a destination where she’s set her sights—a beach ball, her toy piano, and especially Finn.

Baby fox toy Ten Thousand Hour Mama Baby and dog Ten Thousand Hour Mama She also moves by whale tale splash, a special move she’s waiting to patent. While on her back, she lifts her entire body up to her shoulders and slams it back down on the ground. She swivels around like this and, by all measures, looks very proud of herself.

Sisters forever

Kiwi has also started the Peeper Fan Club. She is, of course, President. The two of them have also started a band. Kiwi does solo side projects, too.

[vimeo 155894222 w=500 h=281]

Kiwi Rock from Catherine Ryan Gregory on Vimeo.

Sisters band Ten Thousand Hour Mama Sisters band guitar Ten Thousand Hour Mama Sisters Ten Thousand Hour Mama She’s pretty much obsessed with Big Sister. Peeper can do no wrong. Even when she is hitting Kiwi in the face with a pom pom or grabbing toys away, Kiwi stares and giggles.

Sisters Ten Thousand Hour Mama

Oh so tired

Over the last few weeks, everyone in the house has been passing a cold back and forth. Kiwi has been sniffling for what seems like forever. During the day she’s still her usual cheerful self, but the nights have been brutal.

Every night is worse than the last. My euphoria over her successful sleep training has been replaced by despair as I feed her to sleep every two hours. And the last few nights, she has been awake in the deep, dark hours when everyone else is snuggled safely in their dreams.

Motherhood is not for the faint of heart; parenting two is even harder. But when I’m living in a sleep-deprived fog no quantity of caffeine can touch, beautiful rays of light break through: the love these girls share.

Shine on, sisters.

Sisters Ten Thousand Hour Mama

Eight months

March 10, 2014catherinemryan

When Peeper was just born, her awareness was mostly limited to the eight inches in front of her face. Then her eyesight improved, and she just drank in whatever she could see, from cars driving by to the wind-whipped trees overhead. She demanded to be carried facing out so she didn’t miss a thing. Then she learned to roll and suddenly she was more in control of her own body.

Now that Peeper is mobile, her world has expanded even further.

Mobile technology

February 21, 2014catherinemryan

This week my life flashed before my eyes: Peeper started crawling!

We went to a play date at a friend’s house on Monday. Her 9-month-old twins were motoring around the house, dodging plush toys and cross-legged adults sitting on the floor as if the living room were an obstacle course. At one point, her son used my left arm to balance and her daughter my right as Peeper rocked on her knees in front of me. It was happy chaos.

At one point a visitor from out of town who didn’t have a baby of her own looked up and said, “Wait, where’s the fast one?” For a second everyone stopped. Where was he?

Thankfully, he wasn’t off rummaging through the knife drawer: His mom had put him down for a nap. But with his crawling skills, he could have been anywhere.

I identified with that heart-stopping panic now more than ever.

Peeper started crawling the day after that play date. (She must have been inspired by the very mobile twins!) She suddenly figured out how to coordinate her arms with her legs. Now she has forward mobility, however precarious and wobbly it looks.

Seven months

February 7, 2014catherinemryan

Our little girl turns seven months old today. I’d celebrate with her, but she refuses to stay put for more than two seconds.

Hold on—she’s scooted across the room and is trying to chew on the door frame. I’ll be right back.

Earlier this week I was doing something in the kitchen. When I looked up a moment later, she had scooted backwards behind the armchair. I picked her up and picked pieces of lint and dirt off her jammies. I’m learning a lot as she becomes more mobile, like how to position her in the center of a room and that I need to vacuum more often.

Edie also scooted backwards until she was under the dog bed.