Trip to the Zoo!

We took a trip to the National Zoo on Saturday! We were supposed to meet up with other parents from our church, but it just did not work out right. Luckily our church intern, Erin, rode the metro with us, so we had that connection early on. We had misty rain in the morning, but after lunch the sun broke through and it became a wonderful day.

Abby was excited as soon as we walked in to Amazonia, the zoo's indoor rainforest. When you walk in you are greeted immediately with a pond of rays and other fish. We let her stand and look at them while we waited for others to join us, and she just stared in amazement. Then we moved over to the massive tanks, with all sorts of large fish and turtles. Upstairs you can see into the tanks from a different perspective, which is cool. They also have animals like monkeys and birds that roam free. It was early in the day and we did not see any monkeys and only a few birds.

She was okay with that, since she reall just wanted to see more of the fish. Here she is looking down on the ray-pond:

She fell asleep shortly thereafter. No, seriously. We had a nice time seeing the elephants, hippos, apes, big cats and other various animals. (some pictures of animals are HERE, but I didn't want to overcrowd Abby's site with animal pics) We even had lunch without the gabbing and cuteness of Abby. When she is tired and in her ErgoBaby she can sleep like a champ. I really should post about the greatness that is the ErgoBaby. Soon, my friends.

So, when she finally woke up we were all the way back up to the top of the zoo. If you've never been to the National Zoo you don't know of the slope. It's tedious. We managed, mostly by stopping to stare at animals just a little longer than we probably would have.

She was awake to see the Sloth Bear. She was amazed to see it go back and forth, right in front of her! She was standing, hands and face on the glass, for the longest time. Very cute.

I tried to get her to look at the bear through the blue binoculars (?). She liked playing with them, but did not understand to look through them.

There is a cute bronze statue of a Giant Panda. We sat Abby there for some picture time and she loved it! There's one where it looks like she's trying to escape, and another that looks like she's being tickled. I called this one "One Thinker, One Stinker."

From May 2008

It was a great day, and I wish that I had not messed things up as far as coordination. We'll be going to the Baltimore Zoo sometime, and hopefully back to DC this summer.

First *Real* Blood Draw

**This story can not be told without being graphic. Don't read if you don't want to hear about blood and how to get it. Remember, you're reading it - I was there.**

On Saturday we had to have Abby's 9 month bloodwork done. Yes, she will be 11 months old on Monday, so you can figure out that we have been putting this off for a while. For her 9 month visit they wanted to have her tested for Iron and have a CBC done. To test for these things you need a blood sample.

When Abby was younger and had to have blood drawn the pediatrician just did it in his office with a dab or two of blood from her heel. She cried, but not too badly. I don't know if it was the tests being done or the fact that she's older now, but the easy method is over.

We arrived right on time for our 7:20 am apointment at our neighborhood facility and were taken quickly to do the standard paperwork and were led back to the cutest room in the joint. Definately the one to have your blood drawn in if you're easily distracted by Mickey and Friends posters on the walls.

All of that went smoothly. Then the smooth stopped.

The Quest technician showed me how she wanted Abby to be held, and so I did just as instructed. First she tied Abby's left arm to look for a good vein, then her right. Neither looked fruitful, but she decided to try the left arm anyway.

What I can not describe well enough is the squirminess that I was trying to stifle in my arms. Abby loves to be held, but she could tell something was going to happen that she was not going to like. She was screaming from the time that the Tech touched her until we were up and walking out the door.

Back to the blood. The Tech cleaned abbys pudgy little arm and went for blood. I swear to you, she could not find it. I watched and she really tried, but Abby's little veins counted each drop of blood as valuable. At this point Abby is screaming, I'm agitated and the Tech is annoyed. She called in and older (more experienced?) woman to look for better veins. No such luck.

(begins getting more graphic HERE! You've been warned.)

She then prepped Abby's little finger for a finger stick. This is where they prick the tip of someone's finger (this can be done on the young, old and in between) and manually squeeze blood from the finger. She had three tiny vials to collect the forced blood into.

Abby was screaming above and beyond anything in her normal range. I wish it was easier to explain to her, but it's not. There is no way to prep a ten month old for something like that. It was not the best experience, and I really expected her to fall asleep on the way home, but she fussed a little and tried to eat the bandaid on her finger, but was actually okay with things by the time we got to the farmers market.

I know that we will have to do this again and again as the gets older, but I think we will be more diligent in finding someone that is better at dealing with babies and children next time, rather than going with the local one.

If Only There Were Instructions

We learned an important rule when out to dinner on Friday. Now, I really should have learned this rule in August of 2004 when the exact same lesson was learned by Paul, and in the same manner.

The Rule Is: Taste an item of food before giving it to your infant, especially in a restaurant.

Setting the scene:
Chili's on a Friday night. We've read that steamed broccoli is good for the digestive system, especially in a baby that is, let's say, having issues with that. I saw steamed broccoli on the menu, and ordered some just to give to Abby. Win-win scenario is that it gets steamed for her eating, and I don't have to do the steaming!

The Issue:
It would appear that "steamed" means "steamed in garlic and butter" at Chili's.

The Rule Being Broken:
I received my broccoli and promptly cut small pieces to give to Abby. After cutting enough to keep her occupied for a while, I licked the "extra water" off of my fingers from the cutting. I noticed then that there was a heavy taste of the garlic and butter. Too much for me, but I will tell you, Abby sure loved it.

It could have been worse, and she really did tear through that stuff. We think that any effects of shocking Abby's system with so much goodness has passed, and that's good.

Bottom Line:
Don't feed your child something in a restaurant without having tasted it yourself.

Guess I've got a lot to learn.

Daddy Daughter Time

Anny went to a ceremony for one of her teacher friends so Abby and I got to hang out for the evening. It was pretty cool. I have to say, I really like this kid!

Aside from the normal afternoon/evening stuff (food, bath, bottle, bed) I decided to take Abby to Greenbelt Lake. We had her on the swings there once and she loved it, so I figured I could get some great photo's out of it. I was right!

From May 2008

Since we haven't done one recently, I'll open this up as a caption contest! What do you think Abby would have been saying, if she could talk?

Six Random Things (Meme)

Many thanks to Aunt Sarahlynn from Yeah, But Houdini Didn't have Hips for tagging me.

Sarahlynn asked specifically that Abby do this meme, as I have just done a much bigger one on my blog here. The responses are written in first person AS Abby.

This is a familiar one that goes like this:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Bits of Abby:
1 - Whether my parents admit it or not, I'm a co-sleeper. I might go to bed at night in my crib, but there's nothing nicer than waking up between mommy and daddy.
2 - My top two teeth are coming in! I've even begun to use them in conjunction with my bottom teeth to bite cheerio's in half.
3 - I have a slight rash reaction to sweet potatoes. Though my parents know this, they continue to give me sweet potatoes from time to time. They say that they are "testing it again." I think they just like to take care of diaper rash.
4 - I have learned to stand on my own in the last few days! I am convinced that I can walk before my first birthday. I only have six weeks to go.
5 - My favorite band is Trout Fishing in America. I really dig their music. My favorite song is 18 Wheels on a Big Rig. I like lots of other music, too.
6 - Beginning on my birthday I'm going to start one of those Project 365 things on Flickr. I'm too young to know that, as a Monroe, you're supposed to avoid camera time. They have a Project 365 pool just for kids, so I'll join that. (My cutest pictures are on Flickr already!)

Now I'm supposed to tage 6 of you. I don't tag folks often, but I'll give it a go:
1 - Chase or Steph at NeurosesGalore
2 - Amy at PrettyBabies
3 - Noah (or Natalie) at GrowingACritter
....Oh, I hate tagging people. So, to everyone who is interested but hasn't done who hasn't done it yet: have at it! And let me know that you did.

Attention span is huge!

Our latest trip to UMD for an Infant Study:

We arrived a little late and Abby was hungry, so I wasn't sure that she would be ready for a tedious, repetitive study. But we took a few minutes for Abby to enjoy her bottle while I filled out the prerequisite paperwork.

The activity began with two toys in front of a researcher. She got Abby's attention and then used an L-shaped hook to pull the rainbow colored ball towards her. The person behind the video camera then waited until Abby looked away from the toy for a minimum of two seconds - testing her attention span.

Abby has a HUGE attention span - definitely longer than mine! It seemed like we waited forever for her to look away and then they repeated the activity over and over again trying to reduce her attention span. We must have watched that girl pull the rainbow ball towards herself two dozen times and each time it was at least a full minute before Abby looked away. Most of my high school students don't have attention spans like this!

To finish, the researcher switched the two objects and then, instead of pulling the rainbow ball towards herself, she looked at it and they noted which direction Abby looked and for how long. If she's studying a researcher's simple action with this much attention, imagine the intensity she uses to study everything Rob and I do!

I can't decide if this concerns me or impresses me more.

Take Your Child to Work Day

Fun afternoon at the office!

New Header

Did you notice it? No? Just look up! It was my idea for a party invite, but it's way too wide for that purpose.

Real post later.

The Nursery Is Done

Okay - the nursery has been finished for months, but my friend Amy at PrettyBabies brought it back to my attention that I have not posted the final photos! Shame on me.

Here is a tour around her very small piece of the world:


We got the crib at Babies R Us. The plastic bin on the right is full of clothes that are too big. It's easiest to keep track of where things are this way. On the tub is the cow humidifier. We had one before this, but it got gross so we had to get rid of it. Hanging over her crib is the cross she received for her baptism.


Abby's dresser has been in my family for a while. There is a matching dresser somewhere in Maryland, though I'm not sure where. On the corner is clothes that are too small. We gather a few at a time and bag them to be stored for (ahem) later use.


In the circles are two sets of animals. When we decided on the theme of a farm we knew that we wanted family members to help. Since it is not feasible for everyone to come here to help, we bought cut out animals (from the craft store) and mailed them out. When they came back, the animals varied so much - orange lambs and purple ducks. Very fun, and everyone really did have a hand in it.


Abby's closet and the top of her bookcase. She has another bookcase that is much more full, and other books spread across the living room. We have a bunch of springy dresses that we are looking forwrad to putting Abby in!


The changing table was made by Gramps when my cousin Jon was born, 20 years ago this month. The top has the standard changing pad. The middle shelf has a a diaper warmer on the left, and creams and such on the right. Diaper warmer is essential when using cloth wipes. The (empty) basket on the right of the bottom shelf is where the diapers go. They are in the dryer right now....

From April 2008

We found this cow rug on sale this weekend. It's adorable, and the colors are perfect for our room. I like this picture almost as much as I like the carpet itself. Oh yeah, the floor! Under the cow rug is our rubber floor! We bought a reversible floor that is designed for play rooms. We hoped to use blue and green in the middle and the gray side for the outside, but we found out later that it's one way or the other.

So - that's Abby's room. She's about ready to head in there for the night. Hopefully....

Some Brief Updates

On the Food front:
We tried egg yolk yesterday. That did not go over great, but she didn't gag like she did on Asparagus.
Her top two front teeth are through the gums, but barely. This creates many screaming fits.

On the Signing front:
Abby has picked up "Milk" and "Food" a few weeks ago. She now knows what each means, and is very adamant about being sure she gets what she's after.
We started giving her baths three weeks ago. We found it easier before that to pull her into the shower with one of us, but have decided that a bath fits better into a standard routine. Two weeks ago we found the sign for "Bath" and began using it. After one week, she has gotten that one down too!

On the Mobility front:
She has mastered crawling - and sometimes crawls too fast for the dog to get away!
She has mastered pulling herself up onto furniture and railings.
She is beginning to "cruise" things too. Last night it was a chair at Jae and Nadia's house. I think we're close to walking

On the Cute Picture front: