More festive winter holiday detail:

Unsurprisingly, Sawyer was a big hit. She spent the week crawling around Grandma Marlo and Grandpa Bob's house, presumably thinking Hm. Why don't I have this much space in my no-longer-as-spacious-as-once-I-believed Manhattan apartment?? And in typical Sawyer fashion, she picked up a skill and practiced it 24-7: this time, the letter B. Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. The really funny part was that her mouth kept forming the "ba ba ba" shape even when she was inhaling -- so half of the bas were silent and half were voiced. Grandma and Grandpa were suitably enraptured. As were a variety of other Niehaus/Stieferman types.

I am under strict instructions from my husband to add more Christmas pictures to satisfy the Sawyer fanatics at his office, so here goes:







I now appear to have run out of image storage space on my blogspot account. Hm. This will have to be resolved. But not tonight.

We just got back from St. Louis. Two comments:

First, we had a wonderful time introducing Sawyer to the Niehaus ancestral homeland. Second, it's really good to be home!

More detail on Sawyer's first Christmas sometime over the next couple of days, but for the moment, this picture tells you pretty much everything you need to know.

So Long, Screwy . . .

Tomorrow we hit the road (or the airways) for Sawyer's first trip to the Niehaus ancestral homeland of St. Louis.

Somewhere along the line, her stuff has expanded. I don't seem to be able to pack everything for her in one little bag the way I could back when she was six weeks old and heading off to Richmond for her first weekend getaway. We're going to look pretty dopey in the airport tomorrow, what with the 6 or 7 bags I think we'll finally end up toting along plus stroller, carseat, and whatever else strikes my fancy as we make our way out of the apartment.

Last weekend Sawyer celebrated her first Chanukah at her bucolic Bucks County country home (tm) with Bubbie, Popsie, Aunt Carly, and the few relatives who were brave enough (and sufficiently consumed with desire to see Sawyer) to drive out to said bucolic country home through a snowstorm -- Uncle Harvey, Aunt Claudia, and cousin Becky. It was a lovely day, complete with not-unanticipated orgy of gifts for Sawyer from Bubbie and Popsie, and would have been even nicer if anyone had gotten any sleep the night before.

This was the first time that we'd spent the night away from home since Sawyer figured out how to sleep through the night. The night was an exercise in nostalgia for those fun months when Sawyer couldn't sleep for more than 20 minutes or so at a time between 1 and 5 in the morning. She was up most of the night wondering where the hell she was, why this wasn't her own crib, and why her pacifiers kept vanishing. (The last question is easy: the cribs at bucolic country don't have bumpers on them, so every time Sawyer squirmed, which was about every 45 seconds, whichever pacifiers weren't in her mouth dove out of the crib.) We're hoping that she'll get used to Grandma and Grandpa's home quickly, or else it's going to be a looong week in the Niehaus ancestral homeland.

Sawyer in festive Chanukah garb:



Meanwhile, non-Aunt Aunt Marsha came for a visit today and did the impossible. Sawyer's Chanukah gifts from Bubbie had included what I thought must be every babies' Chanukah product in the history of the universe, but Marsha found one that I'm sure my mother didn't see. How can I be so sure, you ask? Because there is NO WAY IN HELL that Bubbie wouldn't have bought it if she'd seen it: take a look here. How great is that??

Since we're leaving for St. Louis tomorrow, here's an extra bonus picture to tide you over until our return:

I've been crazy busy at work for a few days, so haven't had a chance to post in a while.

Sawyer is mended! Hallelujah!

And she's more or less crawling up a storm! Sort of an army-crawl, really, but it's gradually morphing into some real crawling. Amusingly, the two things that really get her moving are (a) the telephone, which she will happily chase all around the apartment, and (b) any piece of lint or thread on the floor, which she attacks with great vigor.

Mommy calling out "Sawyer, come here! Come to Mommy!" has no effect whatsoever, nor do any of the 5 billion toys scattered all over the place. Phone and lint. That's it.

Here she is, healthy, happy, and raring to go!



Evening Addendum: When Paul got home tonight, he wanted to see Sawyer crawl. Nothing doing -- at least not until I put the phone on the floor 10 feet away from her, at which point she zoomed across the room to caress the phone. Ah, first love.

Baby It's Cold Inside

Day 9 -- believe it or not, still sick. Cold is mostly gone, ear is improving, tummy is fair-to-middling, but the fever continues to hang about. We paid a visit to the pediatrician yesterday and if the fever doesn't go away, will be back there on Thursday.

I reiterate my "trooper" declaration -- Sawyer has been quite a brave little bunny throughout her now-extended welcome to the world of winter illnesses! This photo was taken on Sunday: note her happy demeanor in the face of fever, sniffles, and ear weirdness!



Meanwhile, in the midst of this cold snap, we have discovered that our new air conditioners apparently function as air conditioners even in the middle of winter. They just don't fit in the slot as snugly as one would like, thus welcoming much of the cold weather of the last couple days into the apartment for milk and cookies. So until Vaunted Fix-It Husband manages to gerry rig some sort of insulation for the air conditioners, there's a mighty wind blowing through Sawyer's bedroom (as well as most of the rest of the apartment). Fortunately, the crib bumper keeps her actual sleeping area at what is apparently the optimal baby temperature of 70-ish, even while the rest of her room shivers through the night at a toasty 61 degrees. Brrr.

Oh the Weather Outside Is Frightful

Day 6 -- still sick. Fever's gone, cold remains, ear still infected, tummy not dealing with antibiotics terribly well. Appetite? Not so much.

We did zip outside for a two minute introduction of Sawyer to the concept of snow. She wasn't terribly impressed. Yeah, yeah, guys, it's cold out here, and everything's just kinda white. Not colorful at all. Can I go back upstairs now for some hot chocolate?



Here's hoping for a healthy little Sawyer sometime very soon! Keep those no-snot thoughts and wishes coming our way . . . .

Fever in the Morning, Fever All Through the Night

Day 4 of Sawyer's first cold, and now we've added a fever to go along with it.

Up until today, she was a cheerful little stuffed-up snotful girl. Now she's pretty cranky, and her eyes are a little glassy and teary, and she's crying a lot, and, well, she has a 102 fever. So, after getting up at 4:15 a.m. today (!!) for a morning meeting in Boston, tomorrow I'll be staying home to take The Fever to The Doctor. Welcome to the life of the working mommy!

I haven't had the heart to snap a picture of Sawyer in her time of woe, but suffice to say that these haven't been her prettiest days. Of course, she's still the cutest bunny in the entire world, but (a) she just really doesn't like having her nose wiped, (b) her cheeks and nose and chin are all red and scratchy, and (c) she generally looks miserable. Poor little thing.

It just occurred to me that tomorrow is her seven-month birthday, which normally is a day for ceremonial photography (as opposed to every other day, which is a day for abundant casual photography) and updating of the growth chart. Perhaps we'll put that on hiatus until the weekend, and we'll have her official seven-months-and-three-days photo.

That's it for now -- feel free to leave sympathetic comments for an unhappy little girl with a cold.

December 4 update: And now it's been deemed an ear infection. I have to say, she's really been a trooper! She's hanging in there as well as could be hoped for given that she's got a cold and an ear infection.