We have crawling! And teeth!

It's been an exciting week in the Hilwig household. Sasha cut her first tooth last Thursday, which was followed soon after with her second tooth breaking through today. They are still just peeking above the surface on her bottom gums, but the sharp bite is undeniable. I'm looking forward to posting photos of toothy grins!

We also officially have crawling - on her hands and knees - as of tonight. She has finally worked up the nerve to move her left hand forward. Coupled with a new sense of coordination between her legs and arms, she is a burgeoning crawling dynamo. Guess it's time to baby proof? I found out today in my refresher Infant CPR class that most household plants are not poisonous. In fact, it would take ingesting 30 leaves of a poinsettia plant to knock out a baby. Even Sasha doesn't have an appetite that big.

This week has flown by due to all the fun times we've had. On Monday, we went to our first Sitters & Rollers class as Sasha long ago graduated to the 6 - 9 month old group. It was a blast seeing all the babies sitting with straight backs in a circle, checking each other out and stealing each other's toys.

On Tuesday, we went swimming with some friends - Kyra and baby Ayla, and Jen and baby Jonas. We kept the babies from turning blue in the frigid 85 degree water by alternating our swim time with breaks in the sauna. My CPR instructor was a little concerned about both the "turning blue" and "sauna break" portions of my swimming story. Um, next time we'll get out as soon as gums start chattering and no sauna for over 1 minute.

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So, I started this THREE days ago and finally have time to get back to it.

We went swimming again on Friday, with Misha, Stuart, and Blix. Coleman Pool is great because it's a saltwater pool, is heated, and looks out over the beautiful Sound. My only complaint is that it was packed with every member of the Boys & Girls Club. We did manage to find a somewhat peaceful spot in the pool where Sasha and Blix could practice their moves. Sasha does a mean breast stroke.

I'm hoping we can get over to the Zoo today, if we can find anyone to join us. Otherwise, maybe we'll just take a walk in the Arboretum.

Here's a picture of Sasha and Jay on our blueberry picking expedition a couple of weekends ago.
They aren't really that pale.

Worst Night EVER

Ok, it probably wasn't the worst night ever. There are some nights in those first few weeks that could definitely beat last night's out. It was a big bowl of BAD, however.

She refused to take an afternoon nap yesterday, so by 6pm she was Miss Crankypants 2007 and sleep just had to be done. I put her down around 6:15pm, and then split for my Capitol Hill Mamas' Happy Hour which I look forward to every Wednesday. While I sipped my cosmopolitan and soaked up some adult conversation, Sasha was laying her first assault and Jay was taking the hits. She woke up at 7pm at which point Jay fed her. She then woke up at 7:45pm and he put her back down to sleep. I got home around 8:45pm, at which point she woke up again. And then, around 10:15, just as we were falling asleep. I thought for sure she'd settle into a longer pattern, but she woke up at 1:45am, 3:00am, and finally, 6:41am. She was in her bed until 1:45am and then came in our bed after that.

I'm really not sure what happened. The night before was near perfection and then she switched it up on us to the extreme. Jay thinks she went to bed too early. I wonder if it was skipping the afternoon nap that did it. Or maybe waking up that first time and having me be gone. Maybe swimming on Tuesday really tired her out and relaxed her into a full night's sleep. It's hard to say, but I can say for certain that parenting is a lesson in Zen.

Best Night EVER

"Wazzzup??"

I had Stephen Colbert running in the background while we practiced crawling, and she found the remote and turned it to the Weather Channel. Apparently, she is a 70 year old man trapped in the body of a six month old girl.

On the crawling front, we have definite progress. Since yesterday, she will now lift one hand off the ground while on her hands and knees, as if testing her balance. Last night, she even brought the hand forward and then one knee went forward and then she toppled over. She always gets right back up, though. Here's a shot of her gamely and gleefully trying out her crawling skills:
In other Sasha news, she has had a couple of good nights of sleep. Last night, we not only got her to fall asleep on her own, but she slept almost SIX hours in her own crib, in her own room, which is a personal best so far. I then brought her into our bed after her first night feeding, as usual, but she couldn't get comfortable. I put her back in her crib, and she passed out immediately, sleeping for another five hours. She woke up at 5am and I brought her into our bed, where she slept until 8am. I'm extremely pleased with last night's sleeping. I think she is very happy with the crib and the quiet, dark, cool environment in her room. Our bedroom is so stuffy at night and we get a lot of street noise. Heck, I'd rather sleep in her room, too.

I've been incredibly busy these days, although sometimes I think it just seems that way because Sasha is sleeping less during the day. That leaves me with limited time to do any sort of housework (darn) or catch up on emails/blogs/etc. and finally, to work on my business idea. Yes, a friend and I are hopefully starting a business together. We have a very well-formed idea that we think is going to be huge and we've possibly already found a prime location for the business. At least, the person in charge of filling the space is very interested and supportive of our idea. We're working on a business plan right now, and then I'll need to raise some money. It's not a huge amount, about equal to my student loan, actually, but I think I can do it if our business plan is solid. I'm just so confident about this idea and we've already gotten great feedback from the survey we've distributed. I'll definitely be updating more on this topic.

Ok, I probably have only a few more minutes before Sasha wakes up from her nap. Over and out!