Finally a video!

My sister told me that Zadie's cousins have been anxiously waiting for us to post a video, so here's one I have from about a month ago. Zadie is walking really well now (better than in this video) and you'll also notice that her hair is really growing. Tori is really good at putting it in pigtails that actually stay, but since I don't do it as well Zadie always manages to pull the rubber bands out when I do her hair.

So I finally got my new laptop! And my mom gave me her old webcam so tonight we Skyped with Kim's family and my mom (she's up there visiting). Zadie is a bit confused about the people on the computer screen, but she enjoys it.

Reinforcements on the way

I haven't been very good about blogging lately. I'd like to blame my computer, which is very old and very prone to shutdowns. Recently a new friend who is also an IT professional tried to diagnose the problem and he informed me that my lack of anti-virus vigilance was allowing hackers to do horrible things and that I was an irresponsible global citizen. He feels very passionately about these issues and I must admit that I was completely unaware of any of this -- I just thought my computer was slow and annoying.

So I've finally broken down and bought a new laptop. I've been agonizing over this decision for the past year since I'm trying to be cheap and of course I don't NEED a new laptop. But I found a decent deal and it should be here shortly. Which gets back to the subject line of this post -- hopefully I'll be blogging more often (and interestingly) once I my new laptop arrives!

But isn't that always how it is with materials possessions? You think, "Well, if I had x item then I would definitely do blah blah blah." So you readers (all three of you) can keep to this promise!

Stages

Literally ever since Zadie was born, I have told Tori that her particular age at that moment was definitely my favorite age. She always laughs at how I keep changing what my favorite age is based upon whatever age Zadie is at the time. I think it's because I didn't previously have much experience with babies and so everything has been new and exciting -- and I really have loved every stage.

Except this new stage. Zadie is 14 months old now and she really, really wants to talk. She does actually do a lot of talking, but none of us know what she's saying. It's kind of a nasally alien language and she is very persistent in her attempts to communicate. This isn't the part that I don't like -- I find her little alien language very adorable. The part I don't like is what happens when we either don't understand what she wants or we understand but decide not to let her have her way. She yells and cries. It's not like any of the tantrums that I know some kids have (and maybe that's in store for us down the road), but it's very unpleasant.

It's only been 14 months, but I think I can identify what one of my major parenting challenges is going to be and I'm really trying to work on it. I think I get very easily drawn into standoffs and battles of will and determination...like I'm always trying to prove a point or something. I don't want Zadie to think she can yell and then she'll get what she wants, so my natural instinct is to battle her and show her that I'm in charge. But then I see how Tori so naturally avoids major conflict and instead offers different solutions or finds some way of convincing Zadie that her way is definitely the most fun way. So I'm trying to work on not engaging in a battle of wills with my 14-month-old daughter. I better start working on this now so that I'll be ready when she becomes a teenager! As my own parents can attest, I was a very stubborn child so hopefully Zadie will not inherit that. I remember watching "Bridge on the River Kwai" (sp?) when I was in elementary school and then deciding to go on a hunger strike over something I was mad at my mom about. Wisely, she ignored the whole thing and the hunger strike kind of lost its appeal.

This is my very favorite photo of Zadie (hooray, Kim!). Kim also took the family photo, which I really like, but I think I'm going to get a snarky comment from my mom about my terrible posture. Mom, this is not an issue of my posture -- it's just that Zadie was being squirmy and everything got discombobulated.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday and we were lucky enough to have her for one night. We wanted to make her a special breakfast, but all she wanted was oatmeal, so we put a candle in her bowl of oatmeal and had a great breakfast (except for Zadie's grumpiness). Our nephew Nick also came up and he's always a great guest.

In honor of my mom's birthday, here's a photo Kim snapped on one of their morning walks in Hawaii. Everyone knows how kind and loving my mom is, but some people don't know what a quick sense of humor she has. She is one of my favorite people to spend time with -- and not just because she takes me out to nice dinners!

I'm also including a group photo from Hawaii, although it is sadly missing Eric, who had to go home early to start his new set of classes. And, finally, I love this photo of my dad about to blow out the candles on his 60th birthday. This was in Hawaii and we all sang "Happy Birthday." As you can see, he was quite emotional about it all -- I think he may be the first person to ever start crying during "Happy Birthday." Not normally a tear-jerker, but my dad is a pretty sensitive guy!

Beach Zadie

We just returned from a wonderful week-long vacation in Kauai with our whole famdamily. There were 13 of us who traveled there to celebrate my parents' 35th wedding anniversary and my dad's 60th birthday. What kind of parents take their whole family to Hawaii to celebrate their anniversary? Those are some good-hearted people!

I could blog about bajillions of memories from the trip, but it's late and I still have a lot of things I need to do tonight, so I'm going to just break this up into chunks. The first thing I want to blog about is Zadie and how much she loved the beach. It's a good thing, too, because Tori might disown her if she didn't like that beach! My dad said she was like a little sand crab. I'll try to find a video to post of her splashing around and rolling around in the sand like a little maniac, but for now these photos will have to suffice.

Thank you to Kim for taking AMAZING photos throughout the whole vacation and then posting them all so quickly. I'm going to post a bunch more of her great photos (and not just of my child) later.

She Walks!

Well, it's taken 13 and a half months, but Zadie finally took her very first steps last Thursday. Hank dropped her off at our office and, in front of several co-workers, she took three steps in a row. Everyone cheered and she got freaked out and started bawling.
She hasn't done much walking since then, but last night we tried to lure her to walk by holding the pacifier out for here. Here's a little video clip of her showing off her new talent.

Catching Up

It's been a while since I've posted, but it's not because I haven't tried. I tried uploading a video the other day and it took forever and finally froze. So then I was too irritated to approach the blog again, even though it wasn't the blog's fault -- it's really the fault of our 4-year-old computer. Maybe we should stimulate the economy and buy a laptop.

My sister has been putting me to shame and blogging her heart out with great posts and great photos. She gets all deep on her blog, whereas I'm just thankful if I make an entry and post a photo or video.

My mom came to visit last week and it was great to have her here, of course. But there's starting to be a downside to her visits. Zadie has become slightly obsessed with her and only wants to go to her. And then she makes these little whiny cry sounds if she doesn't get to. I've seen this behavior before because Zadie's cousin is highly obsessed with my mom and after she leaves Izzy takes a few days to recover. So I told my mom to stop spoiling her with so much attention, but of course my mom acts so innocent. Ha!