Happy New Year!

We’re back in Athens.  Our return trip, accomplished in 11½ hours, was another rousing success.  We even discovered a fantastic taqueria just off the highway in Durham, NC that will undoubtedly become our halfway-there lunch spot for future Athens-DC excursions.  We are now staring down the last two days of freedom left in our winter break.  I go back to work on Monday, Ellen will be getting ready to return to full-time PhD work and teaching, and Safia will begin a two-days-a-week daycare.  We’ve come to notice, quite acutely, just how profoundly life’s transitions affect our day-to-day functioning. 

While we were in DC for the winter holiday, Safia did some growing up.  She continues to make progress on her “crawling.”  She is not yet on hands and knees, but is getting increasingly proficient at getting to where she needs to get.  She is getting more comfortable on two feet, and just loves to tentatively explore the world of bipedalism, mostly with shrieks of wonder and giggles.  Safia has also learned to wave hello and goodbye – quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. 

Ellen and I, as always, are trying to figure out Safia’s sleep patterns.  We seemed to have things under control before we left to DC, but predictably, right when we arrived, her sleeping routine got all discombobulated.  Trying to go off her cues, we noticed that she might be trying to consolidate her three naps-a-day to two naps.  Logically, if she consolidates naps, the naps she takes should get somewhat longer to accommodate.  Her naps, however, are no longer – 30 minutes on the average.  So that leads us to wonder what in the world is going on.  She has also had a harder time going to sleep at night, likely the result of only sleeping a combined one-hour throughout the day.  We have conceded that traveling is hard on babies, and once we get settled back into familiar routines and spaces, she should settle into a rhythm.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t hard, though.

Anyway….this is the last post of the year.  We hope all is well with all our loved ones and friends that have supported us through this crazy, crazy new experience.  Thanks for the advice, babysitting, listening ears, food, laughs, drinks, hand-me-down clothes, sympathy, empathy, and loving hugs.  See you all in 2012!

Made it!

Safia at 8 months

Safia was a complete rock star.  I can say, with all honesty, that the prospect of driving from Athens, GA to Washington DC with an 8 month old was completely daunting.  Sure, we had done it before, but she was a very different baby then.  Last time we did it, she was a mere 3 months old - different sleep patterns, different eating patterns, different awake activities.  Now, at 8 months, we were dreading a scream-fest and were now willing (however reluctantly) to entertain the idea that this drive may have to be broken into two days.  We strapped Safia into her car seat and were on the road at 7am, and she screamed endlessly, certainly a message to us that she was the captain of this ride.  After 45 solid minutes of wailing, a breakfast feeding in the car seat, and a quick stop for breakfast biscuits for us adults, we all settled in for the haul, and Safia did great.  What is ordinarily a 10 hour drive, sans baby, was accomplished in just over 11 hours and we couldn't have been more delighted.  We arrived in DC to happy grandparents and aunt, a crazy dog rumpus, and fabulous Thai food.  Let the relaxing begin.

We arrived here in DC on Monday, and we'll be here about another week.  We have indulged, gluttonously in great food and company.  We are being spoiled by the generous babysitters that watch after Safia so Ellen and I can recall, for brief and fleeting moments, what life was like before we had the responsibilities of child rearing.  Urgent baby yowls and yelps at 5-in-the-morning, however, quickly return us back to reality, but having so many willing and helping hands around has made all the difference.

Since we last wrote here (and it has been an exceedingly long time, sorry) there are many new Safia-related things to report on.  She continues to not be the greatest napper, but we take what we can get.  She is not quite a proficient crawler, but she is army-crawling like a champ.  Really, what she wants to do is walk.  It seems she is determined to bypass that whole crawling thing and just move around like everyone else.  She has learned she can pull herself up and can stand, wobbly and shaky, but proud as can be.  Safia is also still a champion eater - devouring shocking amounts of food, and we're now working on self-feeding.  Safia is still very clingy, but her new-found love of locomotion has afforded us some freedom from the cling.  That's about it...below are some of our favorite pictures from the past month (including a Thanksgiving feast with my mom and brother).  Hope all is well where you are, and Happy Holidays!