Silent Rant

Zoe was a little older when we caught her laughing, but unlike Zoe, Lucy spends a lot of time crying. So we scrambled to capture this while it lasted…

Lucy proudly showed off her new cheeks.

here are some photos of Zoe. I think she’s marvelous!

She loves having tea parties. But should she offer you tea, politely decline – she sucks water out of her sippy cup and spits it into her tea cup. I learned the hard way.

Flying with Uncle Preston

The source of Zoe’s entertainment and our sanity on our road-trip to UT. As Jed would say, “Who needs a portable DVD player when you can just tie your laptop to the back of the driver seat?”

Sprinkler fun! (Doesn’t it look fun?!)

She falls asleep with different animals every night. The girl has a thing for reptiles.

An impromptu water party calls for impromptu fashion. My sister happened to have this extra green suit on hand. Zoe wears it well. I think the diaper helps.

After taking a header on the sidewalk, she insisted on having her lips bandaged.

Riding the Blue’s Clues ride at the Mall of America – the closest it gets to a real roller-coaster when you’re only 37 inches tall.

This morning I thought I’d make Zoe’s day be showing her how to make and fly awesome paper airplanes. I sent our hand-crafted machine across the kitchen for its maiden voyage, and Zoe quickly retrieved it. I expected the usual “again!” Instead, she dropped the plane in front of me and said:

no airplane. make car.

Yesterday it was -23 degrees with the wind chill, and I didn’t take Zoe outside all day. Around 5:00 PM she came to me all ready to go “aside” in her p.j.s, Sundays shoes and hat. She also brought me my snow boots. She’s getting more and more hilarious every day! Today she told Jed that a pirate says, “arrrg.”

Check out this clip the Today show did on HG. I’ve met Kimber and she’s wonderful. She’s doing a great job helping survivors and supporters, and spreading awareness. I really hope this helps a few more people understand at little bit about this disease.

On a more pleasant note, Saturday Zoe and I went to a little “Pumpkin Patch” fair type thing in Hyde Park with our friends the Stevens. When I checked the weather at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning it was 75 degrees and 79% humidity, which was nowhere near the expected high for the day. Hot day! Not really ideal for hanging out outside all day, but we were determined to make the best of it.

There were all kind of festivities going on at the “Pumpkin Patch” – rock climbing, games, picking pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, decorating pumpkins, pony rides, a petting zoo, playing in inflatable toys, face painting and food. We did everything but the rock climbing and face painting.

In the pumpkin patch, Zoe quickly lost interest in “picking” pumpkins. She decided it was more fun to run around, or stand at the edge of the patch closest to the speakers that were blaring old school soul music and dance.

(Head banging to “Respect”.)

(The lucky pumpkin.)

After all of the dancing and running, it was so hot that Zoe’s face was bright pink and we were all dripping in sweat. We let Zoe and Autumn jump around in the inflatable toys for a few minutes and then got lunch and a cool beverage. Zoe got to enjoy her snow cone through her sippy cup.

Zoe’s favorite part was the petting zoo.

Autumn’s first pony ride…

Zoe’s first pony ride…

It was hot and swampy, but so much fun!

Yesterday morning Jed got Zoe out of bed and then he came downstairs for breakfast. When I asked him where Zoe was he said she was trying to climb into the gym bag she dragged into the hall, and it was pretty cute. So I grabbed my camera and took this picture:

Nothing exciting because she noticed I was there. I went away and two minutes later I went back and took these pictures:

Pretty good for being awake for only 15 minutes. She kept herself this busy the rest of the day.

Here she is after I brushed her off in the tub, completely unphased. She makes me laugh!

Today has been one of those days when I wonder what in world I am doing with a kid. The thought first entered my mind this afternoon as I was sitting on the floor in Zoe’s room trying clean up some toys when she came screaming over and started smashing the toys and throwing all of the parts around (geez, you’d think she was a boy), so, naturally, I burst into tears. After calming down, and praying like crazy that I wouldn’t start yelling at her, I tried to figure out what set me off. Today hasn’t been unusually bad. Let’s see…

There was the episode this morning during story time at Borders. Zoe didn’t really feel like listening to the stories being read, so she found a few stuffed Cookie Monsters and Elmo dolls and toted them around the children’s reading area pulling books off the shelves whenever she felt like it. Which means I was running after her putting the books back on the shelves (she had no interest in helping me) and trying to keep her reasonably quiet while the other kids listened to story time. Zoe had a blast there, until we tried to leave. The amount of screaming and kicking that went into getting her to put the stuffed monsters down and get into the stroller was alarming, and embarrassing. I pretty much had to force her to do it.

Then there was the little episode at Pottery Barn Kids. She was fine there until she had to go to the bathroom. That was quite a time consuming process for her, during which she squatted around the store holding on to various pieces of furniture, hid behind the rug rack, and finally laid in the middle of the walkway alternating between rolling around and propping herself up on all fours grunting. She’d let out panicked screams and squiggle out of my arms if I tried to touch her. Not a pretty picture. Especially when you add the store employees and other mothers and kids who were there trying to get by, and breath. Toddlers have no shame.

(My brother, Preston, with crazy Z.)

Things were fine after that until I put her down for a nap and two hours later she was still talking/yelling in her crib. I finally got her out.

Did I mention that she yips? Yips like a dog. I can only handle so much of it until I start losing my patience.

And she refuses to wear anything in her hair, so I was forced to give her bangs and now, unless I dress her in pink, people get confused about her gender. And if you come over to my house right now you will see a bright blue bow on the top of my head. I’m trying to set a good example.

Plus she never slows down and she gets into EVERYTHING! And spits (I have no idea where she learned that)!

(My busy girl with crazy hair.)

Anyhow, none of the above is really that awful, or out of the norm, but I’m pretty sure it’s the books in her bedroom that are bothering me the most. I like to think that Zoe has a a pretty impressive book collection for someone her age. Most of her books were given to her by my mom, who is a retired kindergarten teacher. We have great books that I would never have knowledge of or money to provide for her right now. Being the book lover, and obvious idiot, that I am, I put all of her books down within her reach thinking about how lovely it will be to have my child surrounded by books. Bad idea. Granted she loves books almost as much as I do, but she has already torn a couple of her books beyond use. Then there are the ones with crayon on them, and she only has a couple flap books left with flaps. Imagine how fun that’s going to be for the next kid – assuming we have one.

So while I was cleaning up her room, I got so frustrated that I moved all of her books up a shelf in her bookcase. Now she has to stand on her tiptoes to even reach a few of the cardboard books. And I figure, who really needs a literate child. Reading is over rated.

(Actually she’ll be a great reader! She doing a wonderful job and having a wonderful time learning the alphabet.)

Anyhow, after the books and the toys, the irrational crying began. The crazy thing is that I’ve gracefully dealt with three times the drama and chaos, and usually some bodily fluid, but today I just couldn’t. I feel like such a stellar mom, and a complete cry-baby.

Does anyone else have days when you really wish you could’ve negotiated some sick leave and personal days into your parenting contract?

I want to take tomorrow off.

Last week Zoe was playing with the house keys, one of her favorite things to do, when – zap! – the lights go out. Yes, less than five feet away from us (albeit around the couch and out of our sight) Zoe stuck the keys into the electrical socket. Leave it to my kid to find the only uncovered socket in the apartment (I know because I double checked afterwards) and stick something metal into it. I don’t know how the socket plug got out, but I found it in her toy basket a few feet away. We’re very lucky that Zoe wasn’t hurt! It took Jed a while to figure out how to get the electricity back on and the keys took a beating (one key is actually missing some metal), but nobody was hurt. Still, if she can get the outlet plugs out (something Jed will admit he can’t do), then the security status at our house has been elevated to RED.

I promise that we are not negligent parents, so there is no need to report us to DCFS. But seriously, an experience like this certainly brings on a lot of guilt- one of parents’ constant companions. Ugh…we’re so lucky Z is okay!

So between the picture above and this one below (taken last winter), it’s quite clear that we need to teach Zoe more about the proper uses and safety of plugs and outlets.

Zoe makes me so happy! Here are a few of my most recent favorite photos of her.

We just got a booster seat for Zoe since we sold her table seat when we moved. For the first couple of days she would only use it to eat if she didn’t have to be in it. But she’d hang out or play in it for a really long time. Now she loves eating in it. I thought these were cute…

Zoe’s hair has been driving all of us nuts. She always pulls her hair out of rubber bands and it hangs over her eyes and down to her mouth. Not too fun, especially if she has a runny nose, which she has had for two weeks now (I hate teething!). So after a week of snotty hair, I was inspired by a cute baby’s haircut that I saw in one of the magazines I was skimming through at a stalled checkout line at Target last Saturday. I was really inspired. I called Jed and had him look online for place to get Zoe’s hair cut. Two hours later Zoe had her first hair appointment at KidSnips.

As soon as we walked into KidSnips I knew it would go a lot better than I imagined. Neither one of us, including Jed, were going to have to suffer through it. This “salon” is fully equipped with everything short of a live pony to keep your child entertained and happy while they get their hair cut and styled.

When it was Zoe’s turn (we had to wait a few minutes, for which we received a free toy coupon), our stylist, Joann, strapped Zoe into a little car, wrapped her in a pink cape and turned the TV on her counter playing Dora the Explora towards Zoe. This wasn’t enough to keep Zoe happy, of course, so the receptionist handed Jed a container of bubbles to blow and directed me to a bowl of lolipops. The addition of one banana sucker made Zoe a happy, and quiet, customer.
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Afterwards, the receptionist took a polaroid of Zoe, stapled it to a certicate along with locks of her hair, gave it and a balloon to Zoe and then let her pick out of the treasure box. The whole thing took thirty minutes, and Zoe left KidSnips sporting a cute “bob”! She’s so adorable!

There is nothing quite like a basket of clean blankets for Zoe.

arranging…

relaxing…

dead man’s float…

Zoe is a really happy kid. She smiles, squeals, gasps, and babbles. But she never really lets out a good hearty laugh.

Until now…

Despite my gentle requests to go with a pale green, Chelsey painted Zoe’s room pink last week. I have to admit it looks great, although I’m really going to miss the nice wallpaper trim that was previously there. Check the before and after:

Okay, rather than turning SilentRant into a Zoe-only site (though that would likely be more interesting than the usual junk I post), I’ve made a link (over on the sidebar under “LINKS”) that goes to all her photos on my Flickr account. For the one or two people out there that use RSS and are interested in getting notifications of new Zoe photos, here’s the Flickr-Zoe-feed.
And now back to our semi-monthly, seemingly-random, largely-irrelevant rants.

First, the important update: as hoped and expected, Zoe is doing much better. She has been eating quite a bit more (though we still have to wake her to eat), and today they took her little “Bilibed” away. Frankly I think she misses basking in the blue lights.

Whatever the case, her time in the bed has certainly turned her away from swaddling. I think most babies enjoy being all snuggled up in the straight-jacket-blanket, but Zoe now must have her hands up by her head or she goes crazy.

And I know babies this young can’t really “smile” per se, but it’s fun when you see the random twitches that resemble one:

As far as this website goes, I’ve done some updating and hopefully fixed the funky issues that some people have been experiencing. If you notice anything weird or broken, please let me know.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce Zoe Addison Wood. She currently holds the title of cutest baby in the world. The cynical and less beauty-sensitive among you might be inclined to say she looks like most newborns, but I’m going to have to appeal to authority on this one: as a one who holds an advanced degree in Design, trust me- it’s true.

Overall things are going great, but she’s got just a couple of issues we’re dealing with right now. If you’re a praying kind of person, we could use a little mention of Zoe. Read on for the details. In the hopes that somebody out there might glean a tiny nugget of helpful information from this, the rest of this post will disclose a little more detail than I would otherwise be inclined to share about my newborn child in such a casual and public forum.

[UPDATE] Indeed, she’s doing better.

The Basic Stats

• Born Thursday March 9, 11:35 pm
• 6 lbs. 14 oz.
• 20 inches long

Labor and delivery

I imagine every birth-giving woman has to “pay the piper” at some point, but Chelsey has done that for 9 months. Consequently, she had a fantastic labor and delivery, minus some big annoyances with too many needles and failed IV attempts. Pushing session was a mere 30 minutes, and start to finish for the whole ordeal was just under 9 hours. She’s got some healing to do, but feels blessed that everything went so smoothly.

Our blue glowing astronaut

Though lots of things can cause the Bilirubin count to be high, the most likely cause in our case is that Chelsey is Rh negative, while Zoe is Rh positive. To get things under control, she now has to sleep on a Bilibed, with a glowing paddle atop her torso.

Daddy’s urinary tract

Clearly I can’t blame Chelsey for this one, given my history, but there’s a chance she’s got a problem with her urinary tract. In order to collect a sample, the poor girl had a bag taped to her for 2 days. For various reasons (messy diapers “messing” things up, etc), they weren’t able to get a good sample and finally had to have a catheter briefly. Between that and an ultrasound in two weeks, we’ll know more- but we’re encouraged by remembering that the liklihood of any real problems is low. In the meantime, she’s already taking antibiotics. Here’s to promoting the overuse of those, eh?

But not Daddy’s appetite

Right now this is our single biggest concern: she’s simply not eating. Dehydration, high Bilirubin count, and her mother’s love for sleep has made it a real struggle to get her to drink even an ounce during feeding. We try all the usual wake-up tricks with little success. She’s just a dang sleepy kid. If we don’t get better results by tomorrow morning, she’s headed back to the hospital for an IV.

And finally, just one single photo for now (no doubt there are thousands more to follow… ):