Photography in the Park

My friend Katherine got a fancy-pants camera for Christmas and has been learning how to use it.  She emailed me about a month ago with what she said I might think was a strange proposal.  In addition to blogging, riding horses and taking pictures, Katherine is also an avid runner (and triathlete and half-iron woman!). One evening, she was out running around Southwood and found a pretty little park.  Her proposal was to take pictures of Juliet (and me and Ray if I wanted) at this park because she wanted to practice her photography skills.  More cute pictures of my child?  Yes, please!  And pictures of me with my child?  Sold!  I have tons of pictures of Juliet.  And I have a lot of pictures of Ray with Juliet.  But I have very few of me with her.  I think this is because I am the one taking pictures - Ray is a man and doesn't think, "Awww, that is so cute I need a picture of it!" very often.

A couple of Sundays ago, we met Katherine at this park on a gorgeous afternoon.  She took a ton of pictures of us with her Canon Rebel T3, and we had such a good time!  Unfortunately, I somehow managed to delete the entire disc of pictures when I was transferring them to my laptop this evening.  I swear, I have actually used a computer before.  I have even transferred files from a disc to a hard drive before.  I truly have no idea what happened.  One minute, I was creating a folder to send the pictures to, and the next moment, I was yelling, "Don't format the disc!!" like that would somehow stop what was going on.  Thankfully, Katherine kept all of the originals and is willing to provide me with another disc.  She said, "A pro never deletes her originals."  (This was after she told me that she couldn't help me because she'd deleted them after she burned the disc.  She can be evil.)

Before I annihilated what she gave me, I sent three pictures to Ray via email, so I do have those to share.  (Thank you, Sent Mail!)

A nice, normal shot:

I love this next picture so very, very much.  I feel like this speaks volumes about who Juliet is right now.  She is such a snuggle bug, but she loves to chew anything she can get her hands on.   I love her crazy, wild hair that I cannot tame.  And I love her beautiful eyes that, on this day, were blue.  But she has her father's eyes, so sometimes, they're kind of green.  When the sun shines in her eyes, you can see more of the green with flecks of yellow.  It is so wonderful to look at her and see my husband when he is away from us.

Finally, this picture just makes me laugh out loud.  This shot also is an excellent demonstration of who Juliet is.  She is a crazy, happy girl.  She laughs a big girl laugh and grins giant grins.  And she thinks I am hilarious.  I would do just about anything to hear her laugh her shrieking, "Mama, you are so funny!" laugh.  God, I love this child!

Memorial Day Murph

CrossFit has a series of workouts ("WODs") called The Hero WODs.  These are named after men and women who have given their lives either in war or in the process of saving others.  They are - hands down - the most difficult workouts in CrossFit.  I don't know where the phrase "suffer to honor" originated, but I suspect it was in the military.  Or from member of the military who was into CrossFit.

Every so often, CrossFit Black Box schedules a hero WOD on a regular day.  And there are times (like after a suicide bomber killed seven CIA members in Afghanistan) that CrossFit affiliates across the world do them on the same day.  Memorial Day is a day that CrossFits everywhere do Murph.  As Memorial Day is a holiday to honor men and women who have died serving their country, it is only appropriate that we do a Hero WOD.  Many affiliates choose to participate in a fundraiser as they do Murph.  Others, like Black Box this year, simply do Murph to honor the fallen.

There is something about suffering to honor that I can't explain very eloquently.  This guy does a much better job than I ever could.  (I recommend reading the May 6, 2013, entry for a taste of hero.  Somewhere on that blog is a wonderful entry about how when you're in the middle of suffering through a terrible WOD, you gain some real perspective.  I can't find that entry because the author doesn't use helpful titles. Anyway, I digress...)  But my not-so-eloquent version is this:

When you're doing a Hero WOD, it's miserable.  You want to quit.  You want to throw up.  You want to cry.  You get angry at your body for failing you.  But in over all the voices in your head telling you how much it sucks, you hear another voice telling you to be grateful for your blessings.  Be grateful that you're alive to suffer through the WOD.  Be grateful that you can go home to your husband, child, pets, home.  Be grateful that when it ends, your misery is over.  It's the least you can do considering that someone else has died so that you can be free.

So today, on Memorial Day, I loaded up Juliet and Ninja and drove to CrossFit Black Box.  The great thing about CrossFit is that everything is scalable.  Even the Hero WODs.  I have been out of the gym for a long time for a variety of reasons.  But, for a different variety of reasons, I'm determined to get back in there regularly.  I am out of shape.  I am slow.  I am weak.  So I chose to do a Half Murph:

Run half a mile
50 pull ups
100 push ups
150 squats
Run half a mile

A full Murph is double that, and to do Murph as prescribed, you do double what I did in body armor.

It took me about 40 minutes to complete my half Murph.  I pushed Juliet in her stroller for the runs, and she watched me do the pull ups, push ups, and squats until she fell asleep.  I got Sean to take a picture of me, Juliet, and Ninja post-WOD.

I know it seems silly to bring my almost-eight month-old with me for a workout like this and expect her to get anything out of it.  And, to be honest, I don't really expect her to get anything out of it (except a nap!).  But if felt important to me that she was there.  I want her to grow up understanding that it is important to be healthy and active.  And I really want her to grow up understanding that people put their lives on the line for her every day.  We really have so much to be grateful for, and remembering those who have given everything so that we can have all that we do is so very important.

This last bit - understanding the sacrifices of others and how it ensures our blessings - is so important to me as the mother of a daughter.  Articles like this and books like Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali make me so glad that Juliet and I are American citizens.  We are guaranteed so many rights and protections that so many women in other parts of the world are not.  We should never ever take these for granted.

Thank you, Murph, for helping me remember how lucky I am.

For Ray

Ashlee Duffy recommended pouches of food when I told her we were having trouble getting Juliet to really take to solids.  I spent a solid forty-five minutes reading the ingredients of all the pouches in Target to find the ones that were closest to what we'd make at home.  Plum Organics is the only brand I could find that didn't add water (or other things).  All of their pouches contain only organic [whatever fruit and/or vegetable] and organic lemon juice.  This video is of her eating peas.  She seems to like fruit better than vegetables, presumably because they're sweeter? 

I apologize for the quality of this video and how my arm was in the way for the first half.  It was very hard to get this video for you and feed her with a spoon.  Also, how hilarious is Ninja's sniffing nose?

                             

 I think these pouches helped Juliet figure out what to do with the solids.  Maybe because she could suck the puree out of the straw thing?  In addition to giving her pouches of food now, I give her mashed up banana and sweet potato.  The texture is different from the pouches - not as smooth - but she still knows what to do.  I have to laugh, though, at how she still spits some of it back out.  She is light years ahead of where she was a week ago.  She can and will eat about 4 ounces of solid at a sitting now.  It's nuts!

We miss you!

Look What I Can Do!

Yep.  I'm rocking a mohawk and doing all sorts of other cool-kid stuff!

In the past two weeks, Juliet has done tons of new things.  It's seriously amazing how much she has changed in just a few days.  A quick list of what she has done:

• Crawling for real
• Crawling really, really quickly
• Pulling up to a standing position in her crib
• Pulling up on my legs
• Eating solids (well, purees)
• Swimming in a hot tub
• Put things on her head

As outlined in my previous post, Juliet has been on the move for weeks now.  But she hasn't actually been crawling.  Now, she's got it down.  This video isn't her best effort, but it's the best video of her efforts.  :)

I'm amazed at how fast she is.  I can no longer put her down and run to do something else.  She can't be trusted to stay out of trouble for more than 10 seconds.  I'm not exaggerating.  She used to hang out on our bed while I got ready for work.  Last week, she kept trying to crawl off the bed, so I put her on the floor.  10 seconds later, she'd worked her way into the bathroom and grabbed the cord of my flat iron and pulled it onto the floor next to her.  I managed to grab her just before she touched the hot iron thank goodness.

On Saturday, I sat Juliet in her crib while I packed a bag for us.  I put her in the crib because I needed her to be safe while I took my eyes off of her for two minutes.  I literally had my back to her for a mere 30 seconds when she started cackling.  I turned around to see what was so funny, and she was standing in her crib.  And she was extremely proud of herself.  Needless to say, I spent Sunday afternoon lowering her crib mattress so that she won't somehow fling herself out.

Yay, me!!

Mama, why are you so worried?  Clearly, I've got this under control.

This weekend, Mike (who was the Best Man at our wedding) and his wife and son were in town visiting his parents.  Juliet and I went to visit them, and we decided to hang out in the Duffy's salt water hot tub.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of this, but Juliet loved it.  PMD, Mike and Ashlee's two year-old son, was really great about sharing his pool toys with Juliet.  Upon further consideration, I think I'm okay with arranged marriage.  PMD is a very nice young man that I feel would be a suitable husband for Juliet.  Frankly, a good man is hard to find, and I haven't met any other young men I feel would be acceptable for Juliet to date (much less marry).  I emailed Ray a picture of Juliet and the Duffy family.  He was not thrilled to notice that Juliet seemed to be very interested in PMD.

One last development is really not such a huge milestone, but it is so funny to watch.  Juliet has figured out how to put things on top of and over her head.  She thinks this is an excellent trick and frequently does it with her bath book.  I love, love, love watching how much she is changing and growing!

Here We Go!

Juliet is on the go these days.  She's not quite mastered actually crawling, but she has made significant progress in the last 36 hours at that.  But she has totally mastered what I call the inch worm.  She uses this technique whenever she is determined to get somewhere else.  Typically, she will use the inch worm to get to Ninja or Filch, to the edge of the carpet (which she loves to chew on), and the edge of our bed or the couch.  And she spent a decent amount of time this weekend inch worming her way to the dog's water bowl to play.

Ninja doesn't like for anyone to touch her paws, so she doesn't really care to have Juliet trying to gnaw on them.  But I give her a lot of credit for not running away when Juliet goes for them.  I'm not sure if that's because she minds well and I told her to stay or because she is just really good with the baby.  :)  Either way, I'll take it.  And, clearly, so will Juliet!

Seven Months

This is the best picture I could get of Juliet and her 7 months sticker

So this entry is about a week late.  I apologize for my tardiness, but things have been a little nuts around here.  Ray has to travel for work, and we've been trying to get everything in order for him to leave town.  And when we weren't running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we were trying to just enjoy the little bit of family time we could snag.  It's so strange to me.  I used to think I had very little free time.  Then, we had Juliet, and I truly understood what it meant to have no free time.  Between working a full time job and being a mom, I've come to believe that there really are just not enough hours in the day.  Don't get me wrong: I love my child and my job, but it would really be awesome if I had about two more hours a day... Or if I could function at the same level with two hours less sleep.  Oh well.  I wouldn't trade it for anything!

At seven months, we've had a lot of new developments!

• Juliet weighs a little more than 17 pounds and is 25 inches long.
• She is mobile and therefore no longer trustworthy.  We can't put her down and trust that she'll be in the same place for more than three seconds.
• She's had several growth spurts lately that have made her a little fussy.
• She is extremely interested in both Ninja and Filch and wants to grab and taste both of them.  Ninja is much more patient than Filch.
• She is progressing sloooowly with solids and seems to really like apples.
• She can roll over in her crib now and crawl around in it.
• She uses what I call the inch worm method to get wherever she wants to go.
• She has all the pieces of standing, but she hasn't quite put them together yet.
• She likes to sleep on her side.
• She seems to be showing signs of separation anxiety.
• She literally changes in a matter of days, and it's amazing to see!

In the next post, I'm going to upload of video of Juliet using her inch worm method to get where she wants to go, but I bet that she will be actually crawling very, very soon.  In the last 36 hours, she has started moving her hands and arms when she is trying to get somewhere at a leisurely pace, so I imagine it's only a matter of time before that becomes her preferred method of movement.

On Saturday morning, I got up to make breakfast, and I heard Juliet in her crib.  Since she was happy, I thought I'd get the coffee started before going in to get her.  45 seconds after I made that decision, I heard a loud, steady thumping coming from her nursery.  I ran to see what was going on, worried that she'd somehow stuck a leg or arm through the spindles and gotten stuck.  Nope.  She had crawled to the foot of the crib and was swatting at the baby monitor to try to pull it down so she could chew on it.

We're working on teaching her to be gentle with Ninja and Filch.  I'm not sure she's going to get it any time soon, but I don't think it'll hurt to start trying to teach her that now.  She is fascinated by them both, and she wants to touch/grab/taste them any chance she gets.  Ninja is pretty patient and will take it for a few minutes before finally moving.  Filch is not so tolerant.  Let's be honest here, too.  Filch isn't exactly a nice kitty all the time anyway.  And he is definitely not a morning kitty and doesn't do well when you wake him up.  So I try to allow Juliet to pet him with a lot of help and supervision in case he decides to go all tiger on her.

This month has had such fun changes and developments.  I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

This is why the shot of Juliet and the 7 months sticker is just me holding it... She wanted to eat it instead of wear it.

Ninja is a good girl.