17 months, and a visit to "Gamma"

For those of you who have not heard, my mother has recently become ill with pancreatic cancer. A nasty disease, that one is. After her diagnosis, Naomi and Aunty Em (my sister) and I took a little trip down to Florida to visit with her. We were glad to be able to spend most of our time with her pre-surgery (the Whipple procedure), then were able to stay with her for a day or so post-surgery. While the reason for our visit loomed overhead and was hard to forget about, I think we were able to keep things fun and keep "Gamma's" mind off of the heavy stuff a least a little bit. We spent a day driving around South Beach, did lots of pool swimming, and even spent one morning taking Naomi on her first beach excursion, resulting in this month's photos.

She LOVED both sand and water, and sat mesmerized by the vast ocean.

As a short update, mom is home from the hospital as of last night and working on getting herself recovered and strong so she can tackle the big treatments ahead: A course of chemo, followed by radiation treatment, followed by another course of chemo. The road ahead would be daunting to any of us. Please keep her in your thoughts...

Current Stats

Weight: 25lbs, 13.5oz

Height: 31"

Head Circumference: 18.5"

15 months, and a poll!

A trip to see the tulips in bloom in La Conner!

Again, time has gotten away from us. Naomi is 15 months already. Milestones seem to be mixed in with some typical (crappy) toddler behavior - read hitting and whining. But on the positive side, her vocabulary has skyrocketed ("Auntie" and "Uncle" are the new exciting ones as she refers to Emily and Chad), her mouth is full of teeth (which she LOVES brushing!) and all-in-all she is a pretty happy, easy kid. Its a little sad seeing her become such a big kid so quickly, but I suppose Naomi is scrambling to learn as much as possible in the next 5 months so she can share the info with her new brother or sister!

Which brings me to our next topic...

The countdown is on to finding out the sex sex of our beloved second child, currently known as "Knock Knock" since Naomi likes to knock on my belly like it is a door to say hi to the baby. Comment below if you feel like taking a guess! We'll announce the results on April 27th after our ultrasound - provided the baby cooperates.

Good luck - the prize is bragging rights and the privilege of claiming to be psychic.

Happy, happy birthday, baby!

The holidays have taken on a whole new meaning for our family. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the normal holiday craziness, we had a first birthday to plan for!

Happy, happy birthday, Naomi. If it wasn't absolutely clear before, let it be completely clear now... YOU ARE LOVED! And not just by your parents, but by everyone who meets you.

Now that you are a year old, let's revisit some recent milestones:

You are toothy! Your tooth count is now 8. Four up top, and four on the bottom. And your teeth look big for your face, which allows you to deliver an especially toothy big smile. It is completely endearing!


You are an ALMOST walker! While you don't yet have the confidence to walk on your own, you have stood up on your own without support. And you love to practice your walking - whether you are using your lion walker that Grandma & Grandpa sent you for Christmas, or you are holding on to one or two of our fingers. We can tell you want to - you just need to believe that you can. That first step is just around the bend.

You are a talker! There are plenty of words you have down pat: duck, dog, dada, mama, pop-pop, baby, bobby (your name for your blanket), and best of all - BANANA. And words you can't yet say, you understand. When asked how old you are, you put one finger up... then it goes into your mouth. When I say "No, no, no," you look at me and smile... and keep doing whatever you are doing so you can hear me say "No, no, no," again. When I say, "No, yucky!" you take whatever you have in your mouth out and hand it to me.

You are an adventurous eater! You will try anything and everything, and there are only a few things you have not liked so far - parsnips being one of those. You have earned the nickname "the mooch" since you demand food off of everyone's plate at every meal. You are on mostly table foods now and REALLY enjoy seeing how much you can stuff in your mouth at one time. Your favorite so far, though, must be stewed carrots and your first cupcake - banana and pecan, with Caramel buttercream, made from scratch with love by your mama for your first birthday.


You are a JOY! We can not wait to see what you have in store for us in your second year!

9 months old

Naomi has now officially been out of my belly longer than she was in it. And she has grown so much since then. Shall we look at comparison pictures?

Remember Naomi as a newborn...

And Naomi now.

Wow. A world of difference. Dark hair turned blonde. Muddy eyes turned crystal clear blue. 4 teeth (yes, the two upper front teeth are in now!). 12lbs, 12 oz added to her weight, now at 21lbs even (90%). 8.75" to her height, putting her at 27.75" (75%). And just look at her. She is no longer a fragile little baby. She is a strong, active, INTERACTIVE kid!

She makes friends everywhere we go. Every errand we run takes twice as long now as she needs to say hi to everyone she sees (mostly a wave and HUGE grin, but sometimes even a little not-so-confident, am-I-saying-the-right-word? "hi.") And, of course, everyone needs to stop and indulge her. They can't refuse that face, and I don't blame them. She is just magnetic and I am in awe of her daily.

With this big-kid personality comes some big-kid moving around. Naomi is crawling. Full speed. And Climbing. While Naomi is not yet sturdy enough to stand on her own, she is happiest on her feet practicing. You are most likely to find her cruising around the furniture these days. This has already gotten her in trouble, as most of you already know. On Friday, Sept 25 Naomi pulled a top-heavy speaker over, making mincemeat of the tip of her middle finger on her right hand. This incident earned her her first three stitches. Besides the initial pain, little miss didn't let the stitches or very dramatic-looking bandage phase her. She was back to her old tricks that afternoon.

I think I was more traumatized by it than she was. But leave it to Naomi to make ME feel better as she crawls to me, saying "mama" through a huge smile and with wide, happy eyes. My heart melts and the world spins in the right direction again...

The eighth month...

August flew, plain and simple. Jam packed, full of travels and visits and fun and work and... teeth.

The three of us took a long weekend in San Francisco August 8-10, coinciding with the SF International Gift Fair. Business is always a good reason to travel, and why not make it a family affair! We had a fantastic time exploring the city, eating scrumptious food (read: foie gras sushi that was to DIE for, our first experience with In-n-Out Burger, and casual tasties from Taylor's Automatic Refresher). I think Naomi was hungry to enjoy the grastronomical side of San Fran, too, as that is where she cut her first tooth! For the record, that was August 10th, and it was the bottom-middle-left.

The bottom-middle-right came on August 18.

Another big event happened the beginning of August. Naomi met her maternal grandma! My mom came out for a visit and got to spend some long overdue time with Naomi. During her visit we took a trip out to the the beautiful San Juan islands and spent the day at Friday Harbor. It was here that Grandma picked up this sweet hat, perfect to keep our little nymph warm all winter!


Naomi also got to meet some of her island O'hana! We were able to catch up with our friend Tamar (in San Francisco) and Tamar's mom, Judy (on a trip to Tacoma). Tamar and Judy are also Aunty and Granny to Naomi's far-away friend Kilinoe, and Sister and Mom to MY faraway friend Tina.*

Our friends Scott and Jarvalen, and their little one, Brennan, were also in town for a wedding in August and made some time to stop by for lunch and a playdate!


August is also a lovely time in Tacoma - the weather is perfect (but a bit hot this year), the days are long (daylight 'til 10pm!) and the vibe is just relaxed and fun. One of my favorite things about summer is being able to walk down the street to the farmer's market. On one particular trip we were able to spend time with my friend Jennifer and her kids, Opal (3) and Ellis (newborn). Opal is the cutest - she just LOVES Naomi, and Naomi just loves to watch Opal do her thing and learn how big girls play. This particular photo amuses me, though, so I thought I would share! (Note the sign in the background and Naomi illustrating the point...)


Mid August also marked Naomi's first National Park visit. Mount Rainier towered over us in all it's glory. Just stunning...


I told you August was busy. There was also probably a barbeque somewhere in there, a few trips up to Lake Stevens to visit Aunty Em and Uncle Chad, a heat wave... we'll be looking forward to a slower, cooler fall.

*HEY TINA - don't you think it's time for you and Kili to take a trip up North to finally meet Naomi?

6 months old!

Today marks Naomi's half birthday. Man, this goes quick! What is Naomi up to these days?

Naomi now sits on her own unassisted. I love that! She is just looking like such a big girl now.

She still plays with everything with her feet, like a little monkey. It's pretty hysterical, actually. I'm not sure I've ever seen another baby handle things with their feet the way Naomi does. It is almost as much as she uses her hands!

While rolling from back to front is her favorite past time, she is still refusing to go form belly to back. She knows how. She has done it, but we think she is just lazy. She would prefer to whine until one of us flips her over. We figure this can't last forever. Come her crawling which is sure to be just around the corner seeing how she handles herself from the sit position, she's going to have get over it and do it eventually.

She does squirm and get whatever she wants to get wherever it happens to be. It is not uncommon now for me to turn around for two minutes and she is in the complete opposite direction from where I left her. She also wakes up from her naps sideways in her bed and has taken to sleeping on her side lately. I am grateful for this because it is allowing the hair on the back of her head to grow in!

Solid foods. ACK! What a mess! so far her favorite is bananas mixed in oatmeal. I laugh because this is my father's favorite breakfast, too. Two peas in a pod, those two.

Still no teeth. I'm waiting for that terror. She is teething and everything she picks up goes directly into her mouth but I feel for teeth every day and nothing yet. She will occassionally wake up crying late at night because her gums hurt. I know they are coming in soon.

Naomi's current favorite toy is a Little Tikes piano Judy Hassing gave us a long time ago. She just loves to sit on the couch and bang on that thing. And she thinks it is hysterical when I try to sing the notes she plays. (Why does everyone laugh when I sing?)

In other friend-based news...

Naomi and her friend, Metztli had their first playdate recently! The girls are just SO cute together. Metztli is so gentle with Naomi, shares her toys, and even gives her sweet little besos! Ah! So much fun! It is also nice for me to be able to visit with Metztli's mama, Bree.

Metztli and Naomi

A new friend for Naomi has been born! Making his debut on June 21st was Eliot. A BOYFRIEND! He's pretty darn cute, too. We can't wait until Eliot is grown up a little bit and the kids can play together. Congratulations mama KC and daddy Jac!

Elllllliiiiooooot (*ET Voice)

There is another new friend on the way, too. We're not yet sure whether it will be a boy or a girl, but we do know that whatever it is, that baby is LATE! Good luck Jennifer and Kelly and big sister Opal!

Cute picture of KC (left) and Jennifer at Kc's baby shower! (Belly Buttons!)

And that's it, I think. It's been a really busy month for mommy with work so, again, apologies for my lack of posting. I'll keep trying to work on that!

5 months old!

The amount that Naomi has changed in the last month is just incredible. I know I sound like typical first time parent, but this it is just stunning to watch day in and day out.

Naomi is now 15 1/2 pounds (according to our postal scale), and while I don't exactly how long she is, she must have just gone through a growth spurt. She is just looking really long all of a sudden.

Her feet are still her favorite toys, but a close second are her lips as she purses them, spits from them, and experiments will all sorts of new noises. Girl really likes to talk!

Also, if you haven't noticed, her hair is going super blond. I am still a little shocked at this. I thought for sure she was going to be a raven haired little girl. But, she is looking more like her daddy every day. I might be Maury Povich's first guest on for a MATERNITY test. Not sure where I fit into the equation. Did I really give birth to her? Did we mix her up at the hospital?

Let's see... what else:

• Elmo obsession in full swing. If Elmo comes on while she is eating. She will stop in her tracks and refuse her bottle.
• While she loves Elmo, Naomi has started to fuss and cry as soon as Mr. Noodle comes on. I always hated Mr. Noodle, too.
• Naomi's new favorite place to be is in the corner of the couch (or bassinet, or crib) - anywhere we can prop her up and let her sit on her own for a good while. She feels like a grown-up, I think.
• Naomi is an awesome sleeper, for the most part. We have had some rough nights but overall she is doing really well. I just love that she has gotten so good at self-soothing. She doesn't make a peep when I put her down for naps or for bedtime. She does still want a 4-5:00am bottle... hopefully I can break her of that once we start cereal (in a week or two!).

Naomi is the happiest baby. We are so lucky. She is just so easy! I know our next one is going to be a terror.... isn't that how it works??

As happy as she is, though, Naomi is a stubborn little girl. She does NOT like to be on her belly or roll over. She can do it. She just refuses. She is, however, ahead of the curve on sitting up. She is pretty good and getting more stable every day. I think she'll easily be able to really sit on her own by the end of this month. She can handle about 10 seconds at a time right now without losing balance, but like a good girl she puts her hands out for support.

I am really excited for the next few months. This is a huge milestone period for babies.... eating, sitting, crawling, maybe a first word... we'll keep you posted on progress!

4 months, and time keeps flying...

N's first baseball game, April 18, 2009. Go Tacoma Rainiers!

This has been a busy month, and you know it has been since this is the first real post since I was announcing Naomi's 3 month birthday! Yikes... I gotta get on it...Need to carve out more time...on the flip side, it really means that business has picked up for me so it is really hard to complain about that!

Anyway, Little Miss Independent turns 4 months today. She actually had her 4 month appointment a couple weeks ago as we are part of a group of families that goes all at the same time. So, here are the stats - really at 3 1/2 months:

Height: 22 1/2" (10%)
Weight: 12.1 (25%)
Head Circumference: 39.8cm (25%)

OK, so she's kinda short. Don't make fun! We're not the tallest people in the world...

Our little fishy goes to the pool... N's first swim, April 19, 2009.

As far as big developments are concerned, here is what is going on:

Naomi thinks she is all grown up now. How do I know? She insists on holding her bottle herself. We still need to give a little support but she is mostly there. Baby is already doing 6 1/2oz curls! Her daddy is so proud...

On the subject of food, there are some times that she is watching us eat and I think she is literally going to POUNCE on my plate! She tracks food from the plate, onto the fork, and into our mouths. I don't know how we are going to hold her off on solids until she is 6 months old without her getting really pissed!

I was watching Oprah today and could not hear the TV. Why? Because Naomi was talking her head off. Obviously not words, but she babbles like crazy. Constantly. I think we're in trouble. Of course we've all been nurturing it, talking back to her and asking her questions. I know in her mind we are having real conversations... it's pretty adorable actually, especially when she gets her plethora of facial expressions going.

And, last but not least... (DRUM ROLL)...

Yesterday, on the very last day of her 3rd month, Naomi completed her first solo roll-over (tummy to back)! I swear I thought she was never going to accomplish this. I am SO relieved!

Like I said, April's been a busy month. For all of us.

Lamb-a-rama-ding-dong, N's current favorite doll.
An Easter gift from Grandma and cousin Trellany.

Labor & Delivery

For my entire life I had been completely TERRIFIED of this day. The day I had to go through labor and deliver a baby. I was convinced it would be traumatizing, both physically and emotionally. It would be painful. It would be bloody. It would be chaotic. It would be, in short, a nightmare. But then your urge to have a baby and start a family finally overrides your fears and you just get pregnant and decide to deal with the agony when it comes, keeping in mind it can't last forever.

I realize that the above scenario is a reality for some people. I was so glad that for me it was the complete opposite.

I woke up at at 4:30am on 12/31 feeling what I thought might be Braxton Hicks contractions (painless practice contractions). I tried to time them to see if they were real and if I could detect any kind of rhythm to them. They seemed to be about 8 minutes apart. So, I woke Jim up at 5:00 to let him know that I thought that MAYBE I was starting labor...

Like a movie cliche, he jumped out of bed ready to go gather our stuff and hit the road to the hospital. I laughed at him and told him to get back into bed. If this was labor, chances are we had quite a while to go. Besides, we weren't supposed to call the hospital until we hit the 5-1-1 mark (contractions 5 minutes apart, lasting about 1 minute, for at least an hour). So, we laid back in bed and tried to fall back to sleep... we didn't get very far.

At 5:35 I felt a slight sharp pain, not unlike how it would feel if the baby kicked my cervix. Then I felt it again a few seconds later, followed by a distinct "gush." I thought to myself, "Either my water just broke or I just peed the bed."

For those of you who don't know, once your water breaks you have 24 hours to deliver the baby, otherwise risking serious infection. So, we called the hospital and told them what was up. They told us to come in immediately. What I really wanted to do was take a shower but I figured I'd be able to do that once I got to the hospital and checked in.

We got to the hospital at about 7:00. The nurse confirmed that my water did break and that I was in labor. My blood pressure was a bit high, which was strange as it is always in the normal range. Because of this I was confined to bed and not allowed to take the shower I was hoping for!

Despite the doc's request to start Pitocin, I decided to go for it on my own for a while to see how far I can get. I had a long way to go since I was only 1cm dilated when they checked me. The doctor decided that I could try it for a while but she was concerned that my contractions were not strong enough to get me very far.

We checked again at 10:30 and I had made it 3cm. Again, I requested to go ahead without Pitocin for the time being. I was still able to breathe through the contractions pretty well.

We checked again at 1pm. By this time I was only at 5cm and while I was progressing, my contractions were still pretty weak (although getting more and more painful) and were not going to get me all the way there. The doctor pushed me this time to start Pitocin in order to avoid coming down to the wire and risking a c-section. I had decided in my birthplan that induction with Pitocin were necessary I would definitely need an epidural started BEFORE the Pitocin. I have heard nightmares about going the other way around.

This is where it gets kinda blurry... blurry in a good way. Once I got the epidural I was no longer watching the clock, counting to my next contraction, dreading every second. After I got my epidural everything was, dare I say, pleasant.

Seriously. I enjoyed the rest of labor and delivery. I'm not kidding. I enjoyed the anticipation, knowing that Naomi was about to arrive, wondering if she was going to be a 2008 baby or a 2009 baby. Emily and Chad and their friend Jashwant from school came and hung out with us. We talked, laughed, watched TV, (they) played cards. Jim and I even napped for a while. I didn't feel a thing! And this is what we did until about 11:30pm when I finished dilating and the baby was engaged and ready to be delivered. Chad and Jash went to wait outside. Jim and Emily stayed with me to watch the baby being born.

I admit, this is where I got REALLY nervous. Not about Naomi's arrival, but about pushing. Really, I was terrified of the physical trauma that pushing could leave behind. But, at the point of no return, what can a woman do? So, I pushed.

With an epidural, if you haven't experienced this, pushing is a bit tricky. The doc had to literally tell me HOW to push because I couldn't feel anything. In fact, I was so numb below the waist that the part of my body that hurt the most were my TEETH. I had just had my braces adjusted a couple days before so they were still sore. And that was my only complaint. I think the doctor thought I was crazy when I vocalized that discomfort!

I think this is where I was amazed, once again, at how smoothly everything went. My doctor handled everything exactly how I would have want it to be handled. Everything was calm, I had great music on in the background, a cool washcloth on my forehead, and the lights dimmed in the room. The hour that I pushed went by quickly - I just took it one push at a time and before I knew it, Naomi had arrived: January 1, 2009 at 12:34am.

Emily noted that Tori Amos' "Happy Phantom" was on as she was born, if you are curious. She also said something that made me really proud. Apparently, I make giving birth "look easy." Also, I guess my pushing face looks like I am smiling, although I can say that I was really working hard on the pushing and I was not intentionally smiling. But, it makes me feel good to think I looked really happy when Naomi was coming into the world.

To back up for a second, I have to give serious props to Jim. He got through the whole thing like a total stud. He was calm, he held my left leg as I pushed, he surprised me by actually watching Naomi being born AND cutting the cord! If you missed the post I wrote about this previously, read it here. You'll note that he made a complete 180º in this area as we had previously decided that he would NOT watch and NOT cut the cord. I just think it ended up not being as scary or gross as we had prepared ourelves for. The worst part, he says, was having to sit and stare at my placenta for 20 minutes as it sat in the metal bowl on the table while they tended to the baby and stitched me up (no worries - only a minor tear requiring 2 stitches, and that didn't hurt either).

And that was that. The room cleared out, and soon it was just me, Jim, and Naomi. And we were completely blissed out. I can say for myself I fell in love twice that day: once with my new, perfect little girl, then once again with my husband, the man who gave me the biggest gift I could ever ask for.

She's Here!!!

Everybody please welcome Naomi James Roberts.

*Sorry about the shaky video.

Mia Hamm, are you in there?

Seemingly overnight, Lemon got the hang of this kicking thing. 

Over the past few weeks I have been feeling her off and on - but they were the little flutters, or a short pounce on my cervix (ouch!). Nothing I could prove to anybody. But yesterday, out of the blue, while I was eating a Key Lime flavored yogurt (SEE - I'm not kidding about the citrus thing!)... WHAMMO! Mid-tummy, she started thomping on me. I put my hand on my belly and... POW! She kicked me square in the palm. I was shocked. I ran upstairs to Jim (to the nursery which he is so lovingly painting while on strike from Boeing) so he could feel for himself. But it was too late. She found her comfy spot and settled down.

Last night while we were watching the premier of Fringe (very promising new show, by the way) she started again, and this time Jim caught it... He felt his very first kick last night. It was very exciting!

And can I just say, it feels SO COOL! I say that now while she is still tiny. I reserve the right to change my tune as Lemon starts to stack on the weight - which is what I hear she should be working on now.