Seriously?

OK. This is my 3rd post this morning! Sadly, I've discovered that this free app doesn't include thoughtful extras like the ability to save a draft if you happen to get interrupted by some little inconvenience like a phone call. I mean, who expects to get calls on their *phone* mid-post? Certainly not twice in a row, huh? And who wouldn't be delighted to discover that their original witty, clever post magically disappeared in an Apple Abyss when they did something silly like *answer* the phone? What a lovely chance to sharpen your writing chops and start all over. Again. I think it might be time to suck it up and fork over the $2.99 for the fancay app with all the bells & whistles... Like "save."

A Whole New World

I'm way excited! I just found a blogger app for my iPhone! I've been dreaming of one for months and months! I've had a hard time blogging as often as I'd like because I'm almost never at a computer these days. But now that I can do this from my phone? It's on!! :)

Deeper Things

I've had some deep thoughts on my mind lately. Back in the day (you know, pre-Kumquat), I enjoyed journaling and using this blog as a way to work out and share some deeper things. Since the blooming of our little K, there hasn't been as much time or mental energy for such things. It's an interesting paradox because becoming a parent has actually led me to many new insights.

I consider myself to be a spiritual person. I always hesitate to use the word "religious" because it carries so many preconceptions and connotations that I don't think are necessarily accurate for my experience - even though I'm relatively devout in my chosen religion. I think that many of the folks who read my blog now have come here & gotten to know us as parents first and may not know so much about my background. Just a quick glimpse, but spirituality and my identity as a Roman Catholic influenced many important decisions and experiences in my life, such as my college major, some of my most significant college activities (such as this and this), my choice of graduate school, and so on...

Bottom line, even though God is something(one) I think about often, it's not always so easy to share. OK, so that was a super-long digression. :) Really, I just wanted to share a poignant moment I had recently when K & I were visiting my family in Tennessee.

Now that she's getting bigger, I've been trying hard to allow time for the baby girl to soothe herself if she wakes up in the night, rather than rushing in immediately to get her. Sometimes I think that is one of the very hardest things to do! I often end up standing right outside her door, listening to her cry, but trying to give her time and space to learn and grow as she discovers how to help herself settle down and go back to sleep. It doesn't always work. Sometimes she really does need her mommy to come in and cuddle her, change her or give her some milk. I'm finding that more and more often, though, she can do what she needs to do on her own. As I was standing outside the door in her auntie's house a few weeks ago, it struck me how I am always watching over her and won't let harm come to her, but she doesn't necessarily know that. I will let her struggle because it will help her to grow, but I would never abandon her. It breaks my heart to hear her cry and sometimes it takes every ounce of willpower I have to wait just a few more minutes, but I know that if I always swoop in immediately, it won't help her in the long run. My little Kumquat probably felt that she was all alone, but she really wasn't. She really never is. I check on her when she's sleeping and unaware, I watch her from across the room as she plays and explores her world independently, and every tear she sheds truly pierces my heart.

As I stood there in the dark, listening to my baby cry out, I wondered if that is how God feels about us. How often are we crying out, feeling all alone in a dark, scary place and wonder why God doesn't lift us up from our struggles? And if we do find our way out "on our own" does God delight in our growth? I think so. The word "delight" has taken on new meaning to me. I delight in my daughter... in her smile, her laugh, her focused concentration and ever other aspect of her. And as an imperfect, human parent, I can only imagine how much more purely God must delight in His own children. Becoming a parent and cherishing this sweet baby has truly made me stand in awe of the overwhelming love God has for us. I feel so thankful for all the things Little K has helped me to see more clearly already.

Surprise! There's a New Post!

OK... catching up again! It's been a busy, busy couple weeks here in the Kumquat Garden! Here are some highlights...

Baby K is now 7 Months Old!

She has really been keeping her mama on her toes! It's amazing what a difference 4 weeks make in a baby's development. Here's a little video I took of her 6-month photo shoot:

And here's another one from her 7-month shoot:

One reason she's been keeping me so busy is that she started crawling this week! (I know this video is long and I totally understand if no one but my family wants to watch all of it! Family - you'd better watch.) ;)

We're also continuing on with the solid foods. Her favorites seem to be the orange & white foods (sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, applesauce, bananas, etc.). She's also doing really well drinking from a cup. We've been working on some signs and she started signing "milk" to us very quickly. I really didn't expect to get any signs back from her for a couple more months, but she started doing "milk" within the week. (And she really is doing it - I promise! It's not just a mama's wishful thinking & over-interpretation. You can ask my previously-skeptical brother!) :) She's starting to do something that seems like "more" although it's really not consistent yet. Her favorite activities now are chasing a certain Big Kitty, singing to the ceiling fan, skyping with Lola & Lolo every week and hanging out with our sweet neighbors, Miss Sharon & Nana Blanche.

Poor Baby K has had a cold for about the past week, so we decided to postponed a trip to Denver we'd planned to take this week. I'm pretty thankful for that! We've actually canceled a couple travel plans this month. We also were going to Dallas next week (Ian has a conference), but we were invited to a very exciting event this coming weekend... The 22nd Annual Grand Ball of the Greater Wichita Association of Filipinos. Pretty fancy, huh? Naturally, we couldn't pass that up! So, we are no longer going to Dallas over the weekend; Ian has a conference, so he'll leave on Sunday (alone) instead. We'll miss him, but I have to say that I'm quite happy to be able to stay home for a little while!

Two big downers of the Baby Kold (well, other than the sick baby) are that we have not yet been able to go to the pool AND we have not really been able to take advantage of our shiny new membership at the YMCA. I'm totally psyched about the Y. We just got a brand new facility that is really beautiful! I'm so impressed by how nice it is. It's really not the image I've had of Y's... especially not after the ones I saw in Chicago. I can't, can't wait to be able to go there often!

One other thing that HAS been going on lately is one of our new favorite activities, Fire Pit Friday! We ♥ our neighbors! Have I mentioned that already? :) We've decided to spend Friday evenings this summer hanging out in our driveway, around our fire pit with whatever neighbors feel like stopping by. We just did our second one this week and they've both been great! We've met some new neighbors & other neighbors we've known have gotten to know each other. I'm so very thankful to live where we do. That actually leads me to the very most important thing that has been going on in our Kumquat Garden...

Happy Birthday to Ian!!

Today is Ian's birthday! I surprised him with a fabulous (turtle, ice cream) birthday cake (from this fine establishment) during our Fire Pit Friday visit. Then last night, I surprised him with a babysitter so we could go out to dinner and a movie. (You're jealous. I know) It was such a nice evening!

Speaking of which, I should probably get back to the birthday boy and quit writing this very long post!

Innocent Angel? Hmph.

I learned a very important mommy lesson yesterday... one should exercise extreme caution when feeding a baby prunes. Especially if her diaper happens to be just a tad bit loose. And if you happen to put her down on the nice living room rug even though a very lovely babyland had just been moved to the much more durable & easy-to-clean basement. And if that baby happens to be the crazy rolling kind who might have a little something explode out of her diaper and then proceed to smear it all over the floor... and roll around in it. Not that I know about that. I'm just saying...

Not Me! Monday!

It's that time again! I'm joining in on MckMama's Not Me! Monday blog carnival where folks share all of the things that they most certainly would not have been doing this week. Ahem.

First things first... I did not blog about my cyber-absence, promise to be get back on the blogging wagon and then proceed to take a 12-day hiatus. Nope, not me!

During that 12-day period, I also did not take a lovely trip to visit MY family... and I sure wouldn't have convinced my husband that the best way for us to get there was to drive 12 hours with a 6-month-old in the car. I most especially did NOT allow dear husband to turn around and make the same drive home (sans Kumquat & Mama) just 3 days after we got to Tennessee. Especially not when K & I were going to fly back after staying for 10 days. Poor hubby. I mean, he would be poor hubby had I done such a thing!

While we were there I did not COMPLETELY neglect to take an appropriate number of pictures. And I absolutely did not forget to take a. single. picture. of the baby with Grammy, Aunt Mandy OR Uncle Joe with a real camera (vs. the phone's camera). That would just be too sad.

Speaking of pictures... I ALSO did not suggest that it would be a lovely idea to have pictures done with one 20-month-old (who is experimenting with terrible-two's tantrums independence), one six-month-old (who is a rolling machine and nearly impossible to keep in place for more than a moment), and one four-month-old (who is as precious as she can be, but isn't always so fond of holding up her head). That just sounds like a headache for everyone involved.

I also did not complain about the incompetence of the photographer involved in this non-existent shoot, tell the studio there really weren't any pictures we wanted to purchase, agree to reschedule for the oh-so-unpredictable hour of 5 pm that same day, nor profess my undying love for the wonderful photographer who saved the day. Did you get all that? It would have been a heck of a day. Good thing I didn't do any of it!




Oh, and on my way home? I certainly did not completely forget to bring in the baby's car seat until I was about to check my luggage and felt like something was missing...

I also did not feel a lot of ambivalence about coming home. I did not reflect on how nice it is to be back home, but also feel my heart break a little at the thought that we might not see the family again until the Kumquat is a year old.

This picture of Auntie Jill made me remember that I totally did NOT let a newly-ridiculously-mobile K get out of my sight and knock over an almost-full cup of coffee onto the carpet! The light-colored carpet. Did I mention that the house is brand new and that this was the first spill? I didn't? Oh.

I do NOT miss my family terribly. Sniff. :(

I also did NOT engage in some retail therapy to make me happier at home (in addition to the retail therapy I did NOT engage in when we went to Nashville!). I certainly did not buy new bed linens completely on a whim even though the sheets we were using were new just last summer. I also did not inform my hubby that I just wasn't feeling very springy until we got new green bedding. I also did not fall in love with that lumbar pillow and completely change my mind about what colors we should get so I could coordinate with it!
Oh, I also did NOT write the LONGEST Not Me! Monday post ever in spite of the mountain of things to be done now that I'm finally home.

Boy, it would have been a pretty crazy couple of weeks if I'd done any of this!

Thank Heaven for Grandma's!

So, I seriously was quite sick for an entire month. Ridiculous. It started with some crazy flu thing when we went to Phoenix. Most of the symptoms went away pretty quickly, but I had a bad cough for a while. We were only back from that trip for about a day when Ian came home feeling sick... totally unusual because the guy doesn't get sick. Naturally, the following day, I was sick, too. Strep this time around and more antibiotics for Mae. After a week of that, I had a terrible GI infection from all of the antibiotics. I get why it happens, but I have to say that I think the entire idea of getting an infection from taking antibiotics is just not fair. So I really just kept getting worse & worse. Blah. We were starting to get a little concerned I might end up in the hospital to sort out everything - not so easy to do with the baby to take care of. SO, baby's Lola (aka Ian's mom) came to save the day.


It has been so, so wonderful and helpful to have her here. It's always hard for me to rest unless I know someone else has the baby. There's always that little part of my brain that's listening for her. So I've finally been able to get some good rest and I'm doing much better. Somehow, I think Lola's managing to make the best of the situation. :) Gosh, she's such a trooper to come spend a week with her granddaughter. Sometimes I've felt a bit guilty about all she's been doing for baby K, but I really think she's happy to do it. A few times, she's told me to go take a nap. I think at least some of the reason has been so she can have some baby-grandma time. I've loved to be in the other room listening to them play together. It has truly been precious.


Lola's going home tomorrow.... sniff. Fortunately, we have more family fun to look forward to. On Thursday, we're heading to Clarksville, TN, to visit about half of my family. We're so excited (although not so excited for the drive...)! Joe, Jill & Grammy haven't seen K since Thanksgiving! K was only a few weeks old then. How crazy is that? She's such a different baby. We also haven't seen Kevin, Mandy, Emma & Hannah since late February, before they moved from Springfield. Hannah wasn't even a month old then. These babies are just growing up WAY TOO fast! We should have some fun pictures and stories to share very soon! So, I'm sorry to have completely fallen off the face of the earth (both physical and virtual). I've missed you all! :) Hopefully, we're back for good now!

Nope, Not Me!

Well, hello there! Are you still here? Well thanks for checking in even though I haven't posted for about a bazillion years a few weeks! I'll update you more on that in a later post. For now, though, it's time for Not Me! Monday courtesy of MckMama... Here are some things I most certainly did not do this week. You can check MckMama's site to see what everyone else has NOT been doing!



I did NOT stay in bed for an extra hour this morning, pretending to still be asleep but really catching up on my blog reading while my mother-in-law took care of my baby. Good thing, too, because that would have been really rude!

I also did NOT breathe a sigh of relief when the tornado sirens went off on Friday evening because I'd previously invited our neighbors to come hang out at our fire pit, but ended up not feeling terribly social that night. I also did not worry that my Kansas neighbors, being the hardened tornado-survivors they are, might come over anyway as soon as the sirens stopped. Who would ever be happy there was a tornado in the area?! That would just be crazy.

Oh, and I also did NOT decide that we should grill for dinner tonight because I don't really feel like cooking and it's WAY easier to get my hubby to grill than cook inside... and I can still put on a good show of being a domestic diva competent homemaker for my MIL. And I totally wouldn't be paranoid about such things in spite of the fact that I basically have the greatest MIL anyone could ever ask for! And I absolutely would not be writing this post while my hubby is grilling said dinner and my MIL is with him on the deck... holding the baby for me. Nope, not me!!

A Pooka Post

Did you know that we have two cats? When we looked ahead to how life would be after the Kumquat's arrival, we knew it would be a hard adjustment for Connor Cat because he is such a baby. We knew there would be a lot of resentment and rivalry from baby K's big brother. BUT, I also knew that he would make sure to get his affection needs met because, well, that's what the Big Kitty is all about. I honestly was a little more worried about my sweet Pooka kitty.
Little Pooka is our secret cat. She runs for cover any time someone comes over, so it's quite possible that you could spend a fair bit of time in our house and never know we had 2 cats. This was true even when we lived in a 500 sq. ft. apartment. :) The Pooka has always been a pretty self-sufficient kitty cat. Don't get me wrong... she loves her people and lets us know that all of the time. She's just much better at entertaining herself than a certain Big Kitty we know. She's out and about quite a lot and is very fierce when the need arises - usually when there's something on the hardwood floor that requires immediate pouncing. She is a very proper lady cat and generally sits with her feet just so to make sure the stripes on her legs line up. The rare Pooka Belly sighting is rewarded with a glimpse of the Pooka Dots that speckle her belly (and the roof of her mouth). She's always been my girly ally. Like a true girlfriend, she rushes to my side any time I'm crying and purrs and purrs to help me feel better. Connor and Ian tend to run for the hills. Boys. :) So, we have tried to make sure that we still give The Pooka the love and attention she needs. We have special Pooka Time each night when we go to bed. Pooka usually starts nudging us to go to bed by 10. Once there, she purrs like crazy and climbs all over us. She also loves to dig tunnels in the covers and attack the viscious blanket monsters that sometimes masquerade as our feet.

So, why this tribute to The Pooka? Well, yesterday we celebrated Pooka Day. The 8th anniversary of the day Pooka took a crazy run through the St. Louis airport with me, was a perfect angel on the plane, and came to Houston to join Connor Cat, who instantly feel in love with her. Is it excessive to celebrate such a day? Not to me. The kittens kept me company for YEARS when Ian was working 120 hour weeks and went through three moves to new cities where we didn't know anyone. They've taken good care of me over the years, so I think they deserve to be honored a bit.

One of my very first posts was written shortly after our move to Charlotte, when I was still looking for a job and had time to answer one of life's great mysteries... what do the cats do all day? Since I've shut down the old blog, I've pasted that post below... just in case you're interested in the daily goings-on in the world of a very Fierce Pooka.

---

"No fairy is more feared in Ireland than the pooka. This may be because it is always out and about after nightfall, creating harm and mischief, and because it can assume a variety of terrifying forms."www.irelandseye.com

Since we've moved to Charlotte and my most important job has been the monotonous unpacking of boxes, I've had the opportunity to learn more about something that has always made me curious... what do the cats do all day? I've learned that I was right about Connor Cat. He eats and sleeps, which explains why he wants me to stay awake all night. The Pooka, on the other hand, is quite busy. Here is a sampling of her activities yesterday... a day in the life of a Pooka:

1. Wake up VERY early to give Ian plenty of hugs before he goes back to work.
2. Go back to sleep.
3. Eat breakfast.
4. Sit in the shower and get wet.
5. Use the box.
6. Wonder why I smell like poo.
7. Sleep.
8. Accidentally lock self in bathroom.
9. Engage in a very fierce battle with Carpet Fuzzy.
10. Keep an eye on The Kingdom from the window.
11. Try to figure out what the deal is with mirrors. Is that another cat or what?
12. Accidentally lock self in bathroom again.
13. Eat lunch.
14. Pounce Big Kitty.
15. Check on The Kingdom.
16. Try to figure out why bathroom door won't open anymore.
17. Walk up the stairs on the wrong side of the railing (and make Mae very glad the railing only goes up 5 stairs) before jumping down from the top step.
18. Sleep.
    
19. Go outside on patio.
20. Go back inside after about 20 seconds.
21. Eat dinner.
22. Check on The Kingdom.
23. Clean Big Kitty’s head.
24. Chase (toy) Mouse up and down the stairs.
25. Sing in the hallway.
    
26. Check on The Kingdom.
27. Sleep.
28. Build a tunnel in the bed sheets next to Mae.
29. Get hot and leave the tunnel.
30. Sleep.

Time Flies

It doesn't seem possible, but today, this little baby...


is SIX MONTHS OLD!

Can you believe it?

It really seems like yesterday that we were anxiously anticipating her arrival. These have absolutely been the best six months of my life, in spite of the fact that I can't remember what it's like to feel rested. :) She continues to amaze us all the time. Some of her big achievements lately are learning to screech sing (just in time for one of our recent flights), rolling over both back-to-belly and belly-to-back, sitting up unassisted, and eating solid foods like a champ. She's actually incredibly mobile and keeping me on my toes. In the past day or so, she's discovered she can scoot on her back pretty effectively and has been using that plus her mad rolling skills to go after lots of interesting objects... mostly Connor Cat. She seems to be working on waving, clapping and playing peek-a-boo. I swear, in the past two weeks, she's had an explosion of development. I can't even keep up with all of the new things she's doing.

I had high hopes of including a video in this post of my Kumquat rolling around, but I never seem able to get blogger and my videos to cooperate. One problem is that I think I'm incapable of keeping a video to 100 mb. Blurgh. Maybe someday I'll figure it out. Until then, here's a little one of her sitting up with her elephant.



Baby girl, I can't believe six months have gone by already. At the same time, your daddy and I don't know what we did without you! You continually amaze us and light up our lives with your smile. We say prayers of thanksgiving every day for being blessed with the privilege of being your parents and we are excited to continue to watch you grow. Love you, little Kumquat!