Growing

Our growing E is nearly nine months old!  She's everything I ever dreamed of and more.  Every day, she blows my expectations out of the water.

She's become quite quick at crawling, and isn't shy about where she goes.  She loves the kitchen and the bathroom in particular.  She's been pulling herself up to stand for more than a month, and now she pulls up on pretty much any surface - even against flat walls, or the dishwasher.  She enjoys "helping" to load the dishwasher.

Recently, we've taken her swimming for the first and second time in a big pool, and she is a HUGE pool enthusiast!  What a blast we're having - this summer is going to be an amazing time with her, I just know it.  E adores splashing, kicking, squealing, and talking to the water.  She likes any body of water, truthfully.  She drinks water from a cup very well, but sometimes she wants to put her hands in it first.  I've given her a shallow tupperware dish with water in the bottom to play with and she loves that, too.  I think she must be part fish.

She is still a cuddly sleeper; I cherish those moments.  I catch myself staring at her while she snoozes, smiling like an idiot.  I catch T doing it, too, so I know I'm not alone.

I love the way her face lights up when T comes home.  I love the way she squeals with delight and kicks and flails when our dog comes up to see her.  I love the low chuckle she gives out when she thinks something is amusing.  I love the sweet belly laughs she lets out when she's tickled or pleased about something.

E signs 'milk', she waves, she says "Mama" and "Mom" - though not reliably, ha, and the other day she waved at the dog and exclaimed, "Dod!".

Last week, a large UPS truck drove by and E happened to babble "Da Da" as it passed.  T smiled and commented, "Hey, the sperm that makes up half your genetics was delivered in a big truck like that, so you're pretty close!"  We got a good laugh out of that one.

Pretty much, we think she's brilliant and perfect and curious and precocious and sweet and smart and the most amazing child.  I think everyone should feel that way about their babies.

In adult news, T and I have been looking at buying another house.  The housing market is finally on the upswing, but the prices are low enough that we can still get a lot of house for our money.  The home we own currently is right about at the point where we might be able to sell it for how much we owe, but with home values projected to increase 50% in the next five years, we figure it'd be wiser to hold onto it as an investment property and rent it out while living in whatever house we buy now.

Last week, T and I were having lunch with two good friends.  One friend just rented her house out and moved, and the other is in the process of buying a home.  All our babies are close in age.  We spent a good portion of our lunch date discussing interest rates and down payment assistance programs and the local economy.  I had to sit back and laugh.  Although I'm 26 this year, it still feels like being a real adult is a fairly new experience, and the idea of spending lunch talking about such grown-up (read: boring) topics is funny.  I suppose I make up for all the maturity and wisdom I sometimes display by still loving animated movies and ice cream for dinner and fart jokes.

On the opposite side of the same coin, it feels really good and really mature that we're financially able to own two homes at once.  We may become landlords in the near future.  How intense and incredible to be able to have this potential for building wealth in the next few years!


Today, I'm wondering how I am so lucky to have this wonderful family.  A kind and loving wife, an amazing and amusing daughter, and both sets of our parents and siblings who are always there for us.

As with all things, this too shall pass.  Tomorrow may not be an easy or good day.  But today is, and I'm still learning to live in the moment.

At 8 months

Water baby

E loves quinoa!