School Starts

All bundled up and ready to head to daycare for the first day:

Her stuff all packed up:

Heading to the car:

The "school bus":

On her way:

Paige's Progress so far...

We are very lucky that I am a gifted teacher (the person that instructs the gifted students, that is) because I am able to quickly recognize all the signs of giftedness that Paige demonstrates. For example, growing: Paige has managed to reach the 95th percentile in height. She's only in the 75th percentile for weight, so we've been working on that one by showing her how to eat like a Heironimus (only eat things that you see and/or are within arms length). She is also a very gifted sleeper. She gets that from Dave. Not many people believe me when I tell them that she sleeps from 8 pm until around 7 am every night (and has done this since she was a little over 2 months old), but she does. I almost called the pediatrician to see why she was sleeping so long, but was told by more than a few people that you don't call the pediatrician because the baby sleeps too well.

Other than her ability to outgrow clothes at an accelerated pace, Paige is also able to do all the things that she's supposed to do, plus many more. She "talks" with lots of sounds and "plays" with the numerous toys we present her with. Of course, her "playing" is more of an activity in getting the thing in her hand into her mouth, but we'll call it playing. She can now jam her entire hand into her mouth at one time, something that will probably prove to be a fun party trick for her over the years if she keeps up with the practice.

Izzy is starting to enjoy Paige a little bit more now that she realizes the benefits to living with a baby that has reflux...a never ending supply of spit-up on the couch, the carpet, the kitchen floor, our clothes, etc. We, of course, see the benefit to having a dog that is willing to "clean up" all spit-up spots for us. Paige has finally started to notice that Izzy and Burrito exist and she'll stare at them and attempt to grab them as they walk by. She still hasn't quite mastered her grab though and so she typically ends up with air in her hand and the dog is long gone by the time she actually closes her fingers...

So basically, to sum up, Paige is on the path to greatness and will most likely continue to add cute and fun things to her ever expanding portfolio of tricks. We do not hide the fact that we are enamored with our little girl and everything she does (eh, we could do without the crying sometimes). Next month we look forward to the possibility of Paige clasping her hands together or doing something wildly accelerated for her age. Would it be too soon to start creating a resume of her activities for her UVA application?

Paige Can Feel it in the Air Tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyGR2b9qAb4

Mommy Bootcamp

Since the excuse, "I just had a baby," doesn't last forever, I decided it was time to start working out again. Now, to be honest, I am probably close to my pre-baby weight, but I'm still about 15-20 pounds away from my pre-England weight (thank you Carling beer and Bangers & Mash). Dave and I occasionally go on walks with Izzy (and now Paige), but that is about the most strenuous activity that I have completed in the past year. So I decided to dive in headfirst to working out again by signing up for Mommy Bootcamp. I was feeling pretty confident when I walked into the Dulles Sportsplex because I used to do workout classes all the time. Seriously, I thought to myself, what can two pregnant lady instructors do that will be so difficult...

I made it about 10 minutes before I wanted to collapse.

Paige was supposed to be my partner in this workout routine by crying when I needed a break, because that's the only reason I could stop without getting yelled at by an instructor. Of course, my "partner" slept more soundly during that hour than she ever has. Rarely do I wish for Paige to cry, but this was one of those moments that I would have done anything to get her to scream. No such luck.

Will I go back? Absolutely. I find that I'm much better at working out if I have a set class to attend where someone will yell at me if I slack off. Without that, I am very good at finding excuses to either not go or to do the minimum. I do hope that Paige will learn that she needs to rescue me occasionally, but maybe she's just trying to help me get back into shape...

How is Izzy Doing?

Since we brought Paige home from the hospital we have had many inquiries as to how Izzy is handling the new addition. I suppose the best way to answer that question is that she is doing pretty well. She has enjoyed our home "remodel" (we didn't really remodel, baby crap has simply exploded in every room, to Izzy it seems as though we remodeled) and also appears to like all the brightly colored things that dangle and swing and play music that have become predominant in every room. She seems to appreciate our rare walks and trips to the dog park a little more than she did before she was second fiddle. A few months ago Izzy expected these things, but now she gets really excited when we say "want to go on a waaaalk?" in our higher-than-normal pitched voice that we use when we talk to Izzy. She is disappointed that we got rid of her leash that extends and got her a 5 footer (easier to use with the stroller), but she still likes her walks.

Those of you that know Izzy also know that Izzy has a blue blanket that she loves and carries everywhere she goes. Well, a few months before Paige was born, her blanket was in shreds (too many games of tug-of-war with Yogi), and she was down to a piece about the size of a washcloth. Pop (Izzy's grandad?) came to her rescue with another full-sized blue blanket for her to drag around our house. It was like the present that you get an older child when a new baby comes into the house. This blanket has become a nice little security blanket for Izzy and she definitely lugs it around more now that she gets less attention from us. Her blanket must come into our bed every night now, and then comes back downstairs with her every morning. I should probably wash her blue blanket more often than I do, but it is hard to get the blue blanket from Izzy long enough to wash it.

All in all Izzy is doing very well with Paige. She doesn't acknowledge her very much, but when she does, it is mostly to give her kisses. We initally tried to stop Izzy from licking the baby on the face, but realized very quickly that it was a lost cause. Paige doesn't seem any worse for the wear due to Izzy's face lickings, so we've given up on that one. I see it as the beginning to a great friendship.

Paige Snores

Puggles Like Pacifiers Also

This week I have really perfected the art of talking to myself, the dog and a baby that communicates through a variety of different cries. Dave had to go to San Diego for work, which left me home with Paige, Izzy and Burrito. Surprisingly, the only casualty of the week was a pacifier that Izzy decided to chew up while I was showering. The current theory is that Izzy sees how much attention Paige gets, and Paige seems to always have a pacifier in her mouth, so Izzy thought that she should have the pacifier in her mouth which would then mean she'd get some attention like Paige does. Truthfully though, her thought process was probably something more along the lines of, "that looks chewy and smells like that thing that I lick all the time (aka Paige)."

Last night we had a nice thunderstorm and Izzy really could have used a pacifier. Apparently howling at thunder is her new thing. She even tried snuggling up to Paige on the bed for comfort at one point because she was so freaked out. My decision to run downstairs and get the camera (leaving Paige on the bed with the dog) is probably not going to win me any Parent of the Year awards, but the picture is at least adorable (unfortunately the camera did not capture the moment when Izzy put her paw in Paige's hand, but I at least got the picture that I did).

Dave returns from San Diego tomorrow, then also leaves again tomorrow for his NASCAR race weekend in the Poconos. I'm sure I'll begin talking to inanimate objects at some point this weekend, but hopefully my sanity will return with Dave when he returns on Sunday night.