Go Go Go!

October 25, 2013 (15 weeks)

I was talking to my friend, Jill about our Halloween plans, which mainly consist of picking up my mom at the airport. She said, "You are just always go go go, aren't you?" My reply, "Well since Sierra has been born it has been like that constantly." "Weren't you kinda always like that though?" "Oh, well I guess I was." This past week was no exception!

Last Friday, after cleaning the house, Sierra and I went to hang out with Bailey and the girls around lunch time, and in the evening our family of 5 (our 2 dogs included) drove down to Jerry and Anne's for the weekend! When we arrived we were greeted with the familiar hugs, smiles, and great food! Sierra was welcomed with new books and toys to play with from Grammie (the librarian) and Grandpa Jer Bear.

Lyndsey also came home for the weekend, which was really nice. We all had a great weekend. Sierra saw her great grandma, Marybeth, too! It was wonderful to experience the feeling of extended family; 3 generations in one room.

We revisited the playhouse that Jerry and Anne have been getting fixed up!

 My best friend Crystal and her fiancee, Onkar, happened to be in the area for a wedding too; so we were able to meet up with them when we went for our hike in Shaver Lake on Sunday morning.

The "Baby Weight Training" class is going well. Sierra, the women, their babies, and I are all enjoying the energy and work-outs. It has been so fun for me to do. I get to teach and coach some basic lifting principles and cues while leading the class. Unfortunately, Bailey and her babies were sick on Tuesday and Wednesday so I brought Sierra to work with me. It is such a great feeling to have her with me all day, but doing two jobs at the same time can be a bit demanding! The moms' group and swimming are great as usual too. Today I cleaned and before I went grocery shopping I stopped in at the Goodwill and bought Sierra a $5 PJs/Halloween costume! Costume preview (she has to be dressed up to pick up Nana from the airport).

The dogs have now officially accepted her as part of the pack.

It will be here before you know it

October 18, 2013 (14 weeks)

Sierra hit her 3 month mark this past Saturday, and this week I am already folding her 3 month onesies and putting them in her bassinet (where I keep all the clothes she has grown out of). Each article makes me pause for a second, because it is a constant reminder of how fast she is growing. This is one of the outfits I had to fold up this week (she's still waking up in this picture).
We have even had to widen her cloth diaper setting, and some of the covers don't even fit her bum anymore. The weeks just keep flying by, albeit in somewhat of a blur. I am busy busy busy with her before I leave for work, then there's work which is equally busy, and then I come home to spend time with Gus and her for the hour before she falls asleep... let's not forget about the 2-3 times she still wakes up each night either. Then all of the sudden, here we are at week 14!

She has started to teeth this week more noticeably; her drool has picked up 10 fold and she is constantly chewing her hands, as you can see in this picture.

Sleep has been a bit rough for her too, although she is napping right now in the Ergo carrier as I write this blog up. Tummy time is going increasingly well, her tactile senses and abilities to grasp are also developing rapidly. Gus and I are honing in our parenting selves quite nicely I might add. Gus spent almost 6 hours with her alone on Tuesday and unfortunately at the end of a great day of watching her she had a horrific melt-down. Full-blown tears (which is also new for her because she hadn't yet produced tears until then), and 100-decibel screams. Unfortunately, it put him into a state of shock for the rest of the night, but fortunately he took it as a challenge and a learning point. On Thursday, when she had another melt-down he was able to center himself and let it float over him without getting distraught. It is very impressive to me, how much you can learn from having a baby.

Our sitter/nanny is phenomenal; she is so caring and full of love. Both Gus and I are always saying how glad we are that we found her, or I should say that she found my ad on care.com. She always takes pictures during the day of Sierra, which I love to see at work! Her 6 month old and Sierra are the same size and although her baby is far more advanced than Sierra is, they enjoy each other's company on the play mat! Her 2 year old shows books to Sierra and helps her mommy out everyday.

This week I started the baby weight training group class that I had been developing. There were 5 participants, and babies of various ages! I had a blast teaching, and it seemed like all the moms had fun too! Good thing it is only 45 minutes because almost everyone's baby was ready to nap, eat, or be changed by the end of it. This is a picture of Jack that Lisa took while she was training.

The morning moms' group is still insightful and great for Sierra to smile and gurgle at other babies, and the morning swim class is still entertaining for the both of us. Lisa switched her lesson time, so she's now in the same class as Sierra and I!

Otherwise, we had a great previous weekend with Pop-pop (my dad). We cooked great dinners, went for some nice walks with the baby, we all even went over to Jill and Levi's (and little Wes') for a BBQ w/ Lisa, Jeremy, Jack and Lisa's mom too! We just generally had a good time before he shoved off to OZ. The next time we'll see him is at the end of February, which feels like a long way away but will be here before we know it.

The giggles!!!

10.11.13 (13 weeks)

So baby girl is almost 3 months here and the wave we're riding now is that she has discovered her tongue... she sticks it out all the time in a playful manner, she is discovering her hands more, and she is rolling over more frequently. She is putting up  with our ever demanding schedule, and we love her for it. 

What an amazing weekend of seeing great friends, witnessing a marvelous wedding in the redwoods, and being in a spectacular environment that Gus and I both love?! The trip to Arcata was flawless! Lucas and Katie had a beautiful wedding! Quite a few of our friends who were at the wedding have babies too, so Sierra was able to get great bonding time in! Our friend Ashley was so happy; she's holding Amanda and Dan's 8 month old and Sierra at our rental house. She is one of those women that you know is meant to be a mom.

Gus, Sierra and I took pictures from the photo booth at the wedding. We stayed with a great group of our friends from the area, and could never replicate such a wonderful weekend again (but sure hope we can come close, in the future). 

On Monday our nanny/sitter came back after a month of having family sit for us; Sierra hasn't seen Bailey and her babies for awhile! She loves hanging out with them, and now I don't cry when I leave her either. Between how wonderful Bailey is with her and how much the babies get along, I have just realized it's just a great thing for everyone. Here's Addie pushing Sierra in her swing. 

On Monday night I picked up my dad from the airport for a week-long stay with us. He sit for us Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. He had a blast and so did Sierra (as this video demonstrates)!  

My dad loves being Grandpa! 

On Tuesday night, Grandpa Jeff, Grandma Starr, and Auntie Lyn came over for dinner at our place. We felt lucky that Lyn made the dinner, especially since I didn't get home until 7:20pm!  Everyone had a great time talking about their adventures (Jeff and Starr in Costa Rica and my dad heading to Australia). Jeff and Starr spent the night too, so we had a full house!

On Wednesday morning I dropped off my dad at yoga class, while Sierra and I went to our moms' group. The yoga class "kicked his butt" so he didn't go to the movie night at Jill, Ian, and Marion's house that night. Gus and I really enjoyed it! They projected a movie onto a sheet in their backyard for a bunch of their friends. Sierra slept the whole time; we had her in a cozy fleece attire. 

Thursday morning my dad came with us to swim class! He liked seeing that all babies are as spastic with their movements at this age as Sierra is. One of the women from the moms' group is in our class.

Sierra is still quite entertained with other babies and enjoys the songs and variety of colorful pool toys.

Poop already!

10.3.13 (12 weeks tomorrow)

You quickly realize what consumes your mind when you have a baby. How much are they sleeping, eating and pooping? All important questions. Unfortunately, we became a bit worried about Sierra, as it had been 4 days since she pooped. Although we both have read literature that says it's normal, and other moms confirm it's okay. We still called our doctor to get the final word. "If she doesn't poop by the end of the morning on Thursday give us another call." Lucky for us Sierra has a great sense of timing, and the world is right again in the Wick house! This also means she won't be nearly as fussy as she has been for the past few days. 

Last friday we had Jill, Ian and Marion over for an awesome potluck dinner. They are great new friends to have! Even the babies love hanging out. They smile and spit up and gurgle and blow spit bubbles back and forth. Being so close in age, they both really engage when they see each other. It was nice for all of us, although the adults refrained from spitting up after eating; we did have some good conversation.

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow, seeing as Gus had to go into work for mandatory overtime. We had Grandpa Jeff over for dinner on Saturday and we all went out to Katmandu on Sunday. He babysat all week again, which has been really great for all of us. (You can tell that we live by a farm that has rotting fruit in the field... a fly landed on her head in this picture).

My Monday and Tuesday mornings remain mellow with Sierra. We say hi to the chickens, read stories, sing silly songs that don't make any sense, go for short walks in the stroller, and cuddle with the dogs on the bed together. 

The dogs love her, and she has really begun to key into them. She especially likes to watch Keta play with her ball and wrestle with Oso. Oso's main interactions with the baby involve his incessant need to clean her. We often have to tell him that he's done enough cleaning for one day. 

Otherwise the moms' group on Wednesday was filled with good baby interactions and swim class was good as usual. We even saw Jill and Marion again afterwards. This is the bathing suit Nana Maryann got for her that she wears each week. All the other babies seem to like it.

We head up to Humboldt again for wedding number two today, and are more equipped with baby distractions this time. It's a long drive for a little one to handle! Unfortunately, the second wedding we were going to try to make it to (in the same weekend) we thought would be too much for her to manage so we had to cancel. 

And then I got a flat...

September 26, 2013 (11 weeks tomorrow)

Last weekend I realized that I tend to plan out my days quite a bit, which means I also plan out Sierra’s days too. Friday I brought Oso and Sierra to Land Park to go for a run in Sacramento before the mothers’ group meeting at 10am. One of the women who runs the group was moving. Since she was the first person to reach out and help me with my cloth diaper questions, I wanted to say good bye to her. Immediately afterwards Sierra, Oso and I went to Arden Hills to meet the director of a conference I will be presenting at this winter. As it turns out he and his wife will be having a baby soon too, so he really enjoyed meeting Sierra. 

Saturday Sierra, Oso, and I went for a run with the newly married, Julia and her dog Taj. We met them at the Yolo Bypass… we knew there was a possibility of rain, but we thought we might miss it. Not a chance. This seems like the typical way things work with Julia and I. We were still about 30 minutes away when it started to rain. Julia and I took our jackets and tied them up so that no rain would get into the Bob stroller and onto Sierra (I SWEAR I'M A GOOD MOM!). As it were, every time I looked down at Sierra, she was staring out the small hole between the Bob and the jackets. It truly seemed like she was enjoying herself throughout the downpour. Unfortunately, the Bob tires weren’t doing so well. The fine soil we were running on became clay-like very quickly and stuck extremely well to the stroller tires, creating a clog. It felt like we were pushing a 50 pound sled up a hill. Julia and I traded off pushing! 

The rest of the day Sierra napped on and off while I prepped dinner on and off for the pre-concert meal! Sierra was going to her first concert, Buena Vista Social Club! Julia, Chris, Lyn and Grandpa Wick all came over. Grandpa Jeff was up from Costa Rica, and will be in town for a whole other week. The concert was so much fun for everyone! Luckily they didn’t make me buy a ticket for Sierra (although they truly made us believe that it was the norm). 

Sunday morning Sierra and I met up with a great couple from the labor and baby class that Gus and I took. I had been wanting to get together with them for awhile, and we finally were able to get our babies' schedules worked out for it! I thought since it had rained the day before I should bring the "pack-and-play" for the babies to lay on (and essentially stare at one another). So when I got to the town green, I strapped Sierra in the Ergo and began to attempt to set it up. I must have looked like a bumbling idiot! Two sides clicked into place but the other two sides wouldn’t. So when Jill, Ian and their baby, Marion, got there I was having quite a bit of difficulty. As luck has it, they saw their friends who also had a baby, and we all thought perhaps they would be able to get it to work. Alas, the pack-and-play was a mystery to us all. (If this were an Aesop’s story the moral would be: Figure your $hi* out before you take it out in public). It was a great morning of baby gurgles and adult conversation in the end (even without the pack-and-play). I did finally figure the darn thing out at home though. Sierra also got to see her buddies Wes (Jill and Levi’s baby boy) and Jack (Lisa and Jeremy’s baby boy) for a walk later in the afternoon on Sunday too. She LOVES to look at other babies, as all babies apparently do. 

It is so fun to get her experiencing different things, but I must say it was nice just to stay in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before I had to go to work this week. I even napped with her on all 3 days! Grandpa Wick has been a great sitter for us this week; he even has made a chart of her behaviors for us! Today after our swim class we ran into our mom and baby friend Jill and Marion again and talked about how funny it was to be within the new friend circle of moms and babies in Davis (a bit surreal when pre-prego I was essentially friendless in town). Sierra was so pooped from swim class she even fell asleep in her car seat, WOAH!

On my way home from work today I got a flat and all I could think was that it was going to take away from my time I was going to get to be with my family! Luckily, a very kind Asian man named Frank stopped and helped me figure out the tire jack and within 15 minutes I was on my way home! Now I know how to change a flat!

When does saying goodbye get easier?

Sept 19, 2013 (10 weeks tomorrow)

I question if saying goodbye before I leave to go to work ever gets easier. People say it does, but I tend to doubt them. I think it is completely dependent on the day. For instance, if it's a Monday and I just spent 3 days without separation from her I am more emotional than when I leave on a Thursday (because I know our weekend together is just a few hours away). Either way, sometimes there are moments that I have with her right before I leave that make my life so much happier. On Tuesday before I left, right after Auntie Lyn came over, I was having a hard time saying goodbye... so I was talking to her and smiling at her. All of the sudden, she started laughing at me. Oh, how Lyndsey and I laughed. She continued to chuckle as did we; it just made me the happiest mom ever. Those are the moments that sit with me; that I think back on while I am at work.

The weekend with my friend, Liz, was awesome. We wanted to show Liz as much of our area of California as we could in one weekend, which also meant showing Sierra a lot too! We went for a "mellow" hike at Sly Park Reservoir on Saturday. I must say, that my memory as a mountain biker on this trail is completely different from that as a mom with a Bob stroller.

All I have to say is, thank goodness for the head and neck support we have in there! It was a little more bumpy than I remembered. 

 Liz helped me lift the stroller over roots and rocks the whole way.


On Sunday we met with Grammy Anne and headed to Napa to check out Mondavi vineyards and have a late lunch. 

So our crew had a great weekend, although Sierra skipped her nap and was a little cranky at the end of it!

Lyn had a good week sitting for us with Anne's help and love on Monday. Getting to better understand Sierra's rhythms is fun for the whole family. Even when we hire Keta and Oso to watch the baby!

Moms' group on Wednesday and swimming on Thursday were both stimulating and fun too! She seems to be developing so quickly now. She seems to enjoy "talking" a lot, as well as the stories I read to her each morning.