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.

Snot Funny

Sawyer has decided that she definitely prefers certain foods over others. She's a little mercurial about it: whereas a month ago she was a big fan of carrots, carrots provoked this reaction yesterday:



On the other hand, the new plums/bananas/rice combo prompted what Sawyer's Aunt Carly referred to as the "baby bird face":



We all had a lovely time on Thanksgiving -- the food turned out well, everyone was in good spirits, and Sawyer was in fine form. And spitting up only required one outfit change. (These pictures aren't from Thanksgiving, by the way -- they're just cute.)

In other news, you may notice that I'm posting earlier than I normally do these days -- that's because Mademoiselle has her first cold and Paul and I just spent an invigorating half hour trying to do all those things that substitute for nose-blowing among the baby set. Yippee. Her mood has been good despite the cold, though, as shown here:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Paul and I obviously have a lot to be thankful for this year. Every day we're grateful to have been blessed with a such wonderful and beautiful and entertaining little person in our lives, but, tomorrow being the official day to reflect on such things, I'm feeling reflective.

We will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow for our little family of three plus my parents and sister (aka Bubbie, Popsie, and Aunt Carly). Among the dishes to be served is brussels sprouts -- Sawyer is already a big fan.



Enjoy your turkeys!

How Many Popes Fit Under a Baby's Neck?

So it used to be the case that if you looked funny at Sawyer while she was sleeping, she'd wake up and start howling inconsolably. Not so anymore. In fact, we've discovered that she can sleep through pretty much anything.

A couple of nights ago, Paul and I went into her room around 11 pm to check on her, and noticed that she had a pacifier wedged under her neck. We figured this was probably kinda uncomfortable for her, so we wiggled it away. This caused her to roll over slightly, showing another pacifier tucked away under her neck. So we pulled that one out as well. She rolled a little more, only to reveal two more pacifiers hidden away beneath the ample little folds of Sawyer's neck! This made two things apparent: (1) a great many pacifiers make their snuggly home in the warmth of Sawyer's cuddle, and (2) Sawyer, the former Princess-and-the-Pea sleeper, now has no problem whatsoever sleeping on top of a bunch of lumpy bumpy items.

On Saturday, we joined Sawyer's buddy Benjamin and his parents for a parents and babies brunch at La Belle Epoque. It's a great idea: a yummy buffet brunch (with perhaps the best french toast I've ever tasted, by the way) and a big carpet in the middle of the room loaded with playpens, toys, books, exersaucers, the works! It was all extremely cute. Lots of babies running around. (Or crawling or rolling, as the case may be.) Mid-brunch, Sawyer got so wiped out from all the goings-on that she fell asleep in my arms, which she hasn't done in ages. Actually, she fell asleep totally upright, which I've never seen her do, then snuggled in for a mommyshoulder nap. Paul was deeply jealous that it was my arms she fell asleep in -- so much so that later in the day, he pulled her out of her crib during her late-afternoon nap to snuggle up on the couch with her. Hee hee. This is the bummer side effect of a supremely successful Ferberization: no more couch naps! But in this case, she was so exhausted from the baby brunch that we could have laid her down on the sidewalk of Third Avenue and she would've snoozed away happily. Daddy got a good snuggly nap out of the whole thing.

Sawyer also did something totally new at the brunch. She was trying really really hard to munch on one of the books provided by the good hosts, but I didn't think that eating a random book of unknown origin was the most hygienic thing in the world. So I took the book away, and Sawyer started howling with annoyance that I was taking this yummy-looking book away from her. This was the first time that she's ever gotten mad when we've taken something away. Fortunately, Benjamin's mommy had some books with her whose chain of custody was not in question, so disaster was averted and Sawyer got in some good chomps on Hug. Tantrum avoided thanks to the quick wits of Benjamin's mommy!

More on books: Paul and my mother have each expressed some concern that Sawyer doesn't seem terribly interested in books, other than eating them. Not that anyone (except perhaps my father!) expects her to be reading just yet, but they feel that she should be showing more interest in listening to people read to her. So I saw a sidebar in What to Expect talking about eight-month-old babies not being interested in books. Setting aside the fact that Sawyer won't be eight months old for another six weeks -- oh my God, she'll be eight months old in six weeks?? -- the book made the point that babies initially show their interest in books by eating them. So now, we have a regular bookworm on our hands! The sidebar also made the point that one should read in front of one's baby when possible to show that Reading Is Good. So I saw Paul hanging out reading Band of Brothers for the umpteenth time on the floor next to Sawyer while she was rolling around -- he confirmed that his burst of near-Sawyer reading was indeed prompted by the blurb in What to Expect. We're apparently very impressionable young parents.

Today's photo comes from a high school friend of mine, who is a free-lance photographer here in the city. She took some pictures of the three of us in Central Park a few weeks ago, and I couldn't be happier with the results. This isn't my absolute favorite one, but it's close (I'm saving my favorites for Xmas/Chanukah gifts, so don't want to spoil the surprise):

La Fille Boheme

At some point this summer, I commented that Sawyer was much like the Princess of "Princess and the Pea" fame in that the least little change sent her off into throes of wahs. But lately, we've noticed that she seems to have chilled out quite a bit. No longer does she wail inconsolably when we take the bottle out of her mouth before she's quite finished, or when no one comes to rescue her within 15 seconds of her awakening. Instead, she seems to have realized that the bottle will come back at some point and that a crib is a perfectly lovely place to hang out alone with one's thoughts. She's content to hang out by herself and play with her toys (though she does usually prefer to have someone else in the room). Most interestingly, she no longer goes from smiles to a Level III Howl Alert in 0.9 seconds: instead, she has developed a little whimpering system to let us know when something's not quite right. Paul is concerned that this is the immediate precursor to whining, but I take a slightly more optimistic approach -- I think she's just learned that Levels I and II exist between smiles and the Level III Howl.

I am curious, though, as to which route her personality will ultimately follow. It seems odd to me that I could end up with a calm and placid daughter, but Paul keeps insisting that he was a small serious boy (can anyone confirm this for me, please?), so I guess it's a possibility! She's generally rather contemplative and doles out her giggles sparingly. In that respect, she's quite the showman: always leave 'em wanting more! But Sawyer is definitely a sunshiney little smiler -- strangers tend to be very proud of themselves when they meet her, because they've managed to make her smile. I don't have the heart to reveal that she's just extremely generous with her smiles. (No harm in that, right?)



One last note: Sawyer's eye color appears to be migrating toward more of a grey-green, particularly when viewed against her little bohemian black turtleneck. (Mommy, when can I get an apartment in the Village?) Not terribly surprising, all things considered!

Baby on the Move

Sawyer is a girl on the move. In the last five days, she's progressed from the backwards scoot to getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth -- or "revving," as her friend Benjamin's mommy calls it.

Here she is! (Insert your own "vroooom" sound effects.)



We've also taken care of the transition from the 3-6 month clothes to the 6-12 month clothes -- they look so big! (Sneeeeeefle.) Susan-the-Wondernanny's eyes got a little wide as we walked through Sawyer's new wardrobe this morning. Suffice to say that Bubbie's been busy these last six months ensuring that Sawyer would not lack for suitably adorable clothing this winter.

Princess Sawyer's Court

I've been a little remiss in noting the various visitors Sawyer has had over the last couple of weeks. First, she met William and Katie Foster (and, of course, their parents!). William was born exactly seven hours after Sawyer -- and he's the happiest, giggliest baby I have ever met.



Next up, Sawyer's Uncle Jamie, in from Atlanta for Marathon weekend. Sawyer had a lot of fun whacking Jamie's face around:




Sydney and Aunt Wendy made an appearance on Sunday. Although Sawyer couldn't bring herself to relinquish the number zero, she had a lovely time hanging out with Sydney while Sydney test-drove her toys.



And finally, Susan-the-Wondernanny has learned how to work the digital camera, and so I now get to see things like the cute little outfits that Sawyer manages to poop all over before I get home, as well as the friends Sawyer is making while Mommy and Daddy are off working! Her closest buddy is Ariel, who lives a few blocks away. Here's Sawyer demanding that Ariel stop looking at the camera and pay attention to her instead:

Sawyer Is Ert!

To commemorate her momentous six-month birthday, Sawyer has been doing some serious baby stuff over the last few days. She roars like a little lion cub -- loudly and with feeling! She rolls around back to tummy and tummy to back. Here she is attacking the number "8" from her activity mat thingy -- these pictures were taken in rapid succession.











She rotates like a helicopter propeller in her crib, usually doing a complete 360 over the course of a night. And most amazingly? She can zoom! She lifts herself up on her hands and feet like she's doing a pushup (a pushup with excellent form, I should add), and moves herself backward. All the way across the room, and quite zippily. Susan can no longer leave her in a room alone, as she discovered when she went to get a glass of water and Sawyer nearly performed the Great Escape from her room.

Zoooooom! Here she is in perfect pushup position:



The scooting around backwards thing has been going on for a few days, and it's really pretty impressive. It's pretty much crawling, only without the crawling. Time for babyproofing!

This being Manhattan, we will be calling the babyproofing consultants to come transform our apartment into Sawyerskittering paradise. Freestanding full-length mirror? Ugh. Hutch with assorted handmade pottery? Forget it. Pedestal holding weighty crystal vase? Ha! I guess our bedroom is about to be transformed into a closet for fragile items. What we're going to do with the granite topped steel coffee table, I have no idea. Can you pad and upholster a coffee table? (And more importantly, is "upholster" a word when it doesn't have the prefix "re-" attached to it? I'm sensitive to this issue, having spent a substantial amount of time around the age of seven discussing with my father why the opposite of "inert" is not "ert." I've also often wondered whether "dulating" is synonymous with "not moving.")

Six months of Sawyer, and the world is a very different place. Paul and I promised each other a long time ago that we would remain the same people even after we were a family of three instead of two. I think we have -- we're still us. We're just us plus an incredible little six-month-old person.

Happy Half Birthday, Dear Sawyer . . .

Today Sawyer is six months old! It's unbelievable.

More ruminations later, but for the time being, click here to see the updated growth chart.

And now! The Event you've all been waiting for!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we proudly present to you, all the way from New York City:

She Who Quacks!



Bubbie and Popsie came up from Sawyer's bucolic Bucks County country home (yes, I will always refer to her grandparents' home that way, solely because it amuses me -- how often does a girl get to use the word bucolic??), and a lovely time was had by all. We basically spent the afternoon strolling around Central Park and Fifth Avenue letting the world coo admiringly at our little ducklet. Which is a lovely way to spend Halloween, don't you think?

And what would Halloween be without the baby swings? Here she is, swinging away in Central Park, along with other similarly situated swinging babies dressed as frogs, tigers, mermaids, and leopards:

While you all wait for tomorrow's duckography, here, in the meantime, is Sawyer coming in for an attack on the telephone:





And the inevitable outcome:

All of a sudden, Sawyer's got herself a schedule! I'm not sure how it happened, but along with the Ferberization came an honest-to-God schedule:

Up at 5:30 am to eat, then back to sleep until 7:30ish. Bottle at 9:30. Half hour nap 10:30-11ish. Bottle at 1. Nap from 1:30-2:45ish. Bottle at 4:30. Nap 4:30-5ish. Bottle at 7:30. Sleep 7:30 pm-5:30 am. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's like she's a normal baby!

Meanwhile, Susan the Wondernanny reports that Sawyer has become a gleeful aficionado of the baby swings. She apparently has taken to doing that "so big she could eat the world" smile as she swings back and forth. We're looking forward to swinging her tomorrow in her duck costume.

That's right -- tomorrow she's a duck.

Quack.

Add to the list of accomplishments for the weekend Sawyer's first foray into the world of baby swings!

Paul and I took her to one of the playgrounds around our apartment this afternoon and plopped her into a baby swing. (You know, the kind that's basically a bucket with leg holes.) And off she went! There actually wasn't much of a reaction in either direction -- she wasn't whooping with delight, but she didn't look terrified, either. She pretty much just took it in stride. (To the other parents hanging out at the playground, Paul and I must have looked pretty dorky, what with the camcorder AND the still camera. But that's another matter entirely.)

Here she is at the beginning of her swinging adventure:



And after she got rolling:



And here she is, passed out in her stroller on the way home from the exciting afternoon at the playground! (Just look at that sweet little face. Just look at it!)

It's very busy tonight over here in Sawyer's World, so not much time to write.

But I did want to note that there's been a flurry of activity here for the last couple of days -- a sudden surgence of rolling over in both directions, spontaneously napping on her tummy, sitting up (quite straight!) unsupported, and my favorite, out-of-the-blue giggling!

She's a hoot. A deeply adorable mercurial smiley little hoot of a girl.