Beautiful Nap Hair

I just remembered this photo I took on Sunday after Baby Zog's nap. I love it when he sleeps deep and gets a little sweaty and his gorgeous curls show up as a result. Same things happens when it rains and then he plays outside in the humidity. I wish he could hold on to his curls forever, but I have a feeling he won't...

What's going on in that head of yours?

Baby Zog seems to have reached a new level of cognition recently. He makes believe like James Cameron and tells stories like Aesop. More than ever I wish I could order a transcript from his daily thoughts. We were riding in the car on Sunday and he started to laugh. I mean deep, wonderful belly laughs. I asked him what was so funny and it turned out he was recalling something funny he had seen hours earlier and reliving it in his mind. To my knowledge, he's never done that before. "Mr. Noodle had to give Elmo a tissue!" he yelled while continuing to laugh. It seems that thinking about this skit was just as funny to him as actually watching it.

Toddlers are such amazing creatures.

This morning, he woke up ready with a rambling monologue of a story: "Mommy, I hear a doggie. The doggie talked to the kitty. The kitty saw a bunny. The kitty pushed the bunny. Not nice to push. Not nice kitty! Kitty goes to timeout. It's okay kitty, it's okay. Kitty needs to hug bunny. I hug Grover. Okay, time to change my diaper, Mommy!" I just stood there nodding and thinking, "Oh wow, here we go..."

Hello March, I'm Ready For You

Here in Zogland, February seems to, well....stink. (The caption on this photo can be "and don't bother coming back, February!" We don't know if it's self-fulfilling prophecy at this point, but for the last four years, we have not enjoyed the 28 days of the second month nearly as much as we enjoy the other 336 days. Yes, I know my birthday is one of those days, but it doesn't seem to help anymore. We are happy people, but we really struggle to maintain that in February. Oh sure, there are good days in February, but they aren't able to overcome the general yuckiness of the month. One of Daddy Zog's professors said, "February might have the least amount of days, but trust me, it's the longest month."

For example, 2007: I was one month pregnant, tired, dizzy and grouchy. It snowed a lot in DC that month and I was perpetually cold. Oh, and I turned 30 that month. Needless to say, we could have done without that month. Celebrating the big 3-0 with non-alcoholic margaritas is not the same.

February 2008 (this one is the prize-winner): Baby Zog (4 mo old) gets stomach flu. Daddy Zog gets stomach flu while visiting Georgia for PhD interviews and has to go to hospital for dehydration. He somehow flies home while still sick. Mother-in-law buys $600 emergency plane ticket to come help us care for sick people. Day after she arrives, Mother-in-law gets stomach flu. As if that weren't enough for that month, just one week later, Daddy Zog is in NC interviewing for his PhD fellowship and Baby Zog gets RSV and Bronchiolitis. Scary pediatrician (not our usual one) leads me to believe that my infant might stop breathing in his sleep and instructs me to use a "breathing machine" on him every 15 minutes while he is awake. I spend the entire weekend sobbing. Did I mention it was Valentine's Day?

February 2009: Me = unemployed for three months and not a single interview. There's plenty more, but I'll spare you. Bread-winner of the family being unemployed is enough.

February 2010 followed suit. The proof is that I have no photos to upload from Feb 2010. Not a single one. Let's just say no one wants to see pics of a family who have all suffered from bronchitis for three weeks and had raging cabin fever from the perpetual snowfall. Again, perpetually cold.

But as I mentioned, we are generally happy people. And here is the happy part: March is always WONDERFUL! The sun is out, the windows are down, Baby Zog's cough is finally gone. Yahoo!! I like to think of March as a verb - as in "March out and conquer the world and be happy." Here's to a great 31 days!