Zoe loves all the fun toys she gets. Just the other day, she got a fun Badger mobile and it is hard to get her off her changing table! Check it out:

Jon Q

Both Zoe and I are pretty cheery this week. I’m in a good mood because I’ve been getting lots of sleep; Zoe slept through the night *again* last night! (Could this be the start of something permanent?) Zoe, meanwhile, is happy because she discovered a new toy: her thumb. She seems to have lost interest in shoving her entire fist in her mouth; now she prefers that one little digit. I couldn’t help but snap a few pics of Zoe in all her thumbsucking glory…

-M

This isn’t, sadly, surprising news – but a study came out last week showing that the U.S. has some of the weakest workplace policies in the world for families. According to an AP article on the Harvard/McGill University study, we lag “far behind virtually all wealthy countries with regard to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast-feeding… Notably, it says the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.” The article goes on to say that the Labor Department is considering scaling back the Family and Medical Leave Act, which gives workers up to a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year. How depressing!

Q and I are lucky in that we live in California – the only state that provides paid family leave. (And our employers have been great to us, also.) But what about people who live elsewhere? Or who can’t afford to take unpaid time off to be with their child? Even before I became a mom, I recognized the importance of family-friendly workplaces – and I can’t believe the U.S. isn’t stepping up and enacting new, better policies!

(Okay, I’m done with my political rant now.) 

-M

Dan and Jenny were our first official babysitters last night! Michelle and I got a chance to go to a movie and grab some food without worrying about Zoe for a few hours (of course, Michelle made me call them like 100 times, but we won’t count that). As it turned out, she slept almost the whole time. Right after we left, she gave Dan a good crying fit, but 20 minutes later she was fast asleep and didn’t wake up until we got back 2 and half hours later! So, a big thanks from us parents. Hopefully, she’ll be this good for future babysitting events!

Jon Q

My first thoughts when I opened my eyes today and saw that it was 5:55 AM were, “Did I sleepwalk through a feeding?” and “Is Zoe okay?” My next thought (once I realized that I hadn’t and that she was) was, “Hooray!” For only the second time, Zoe slept through the entire night: she went to sleep at 10 last night and didn’t wind up waking to eat until 6:30. This also marks the first time since before she was born that I’ve gotten nearly 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and I am elated! I don’t expect this to be an every-night occurance (just two nights ago she was up every 3 hours, remember) but I’ll take what I can get. And if this is a taste of what the future holds, I say: bring it on!

-M

 

As Q mentioned below, we had a fun Super Bowl Sunday this year. What he didn’t mention, though, was that we had a bit of a bumpy road before the party. Much to our dismay, Zoe didn’t feel like sleeping very much on Sat. night or Sun. morning. She woke up several times to eat (she normally eats only once in the night), and she wasn’t that interested in sleeping for her normal long stretches of time. She was also crankier than normal. I couldn’t help but wonder about the timing: why now? Was she excited for the party? Was she experiencing a growth spurt? Was she trying to torment her parents (who got very little sleep that night)? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that (thankfully) she’s back to her normal self. (See pictures below for evidence. They were taken this morning.) She slept well last night, and she’s been napping most of the day today. (Oh, and she’s not demanding to be fed every 2.5 hours like on Sat. night.) A friend commented that sometimes babies just break their routine and act a little out of character once in awhile – and I think she’s probably right. I also like to think that Zoe just likes to keep us on our toes! (And I guess that’s a good thing.)

-M

As most people know, we really like to celebrate the Super Bowl (we have been pushing for it to be an official holiday and to get Monday off, but nothing has really come of it). This year we had a pretty large group of pre-kindergarteners running around the house. We still had the deviled eggs, mini hot dog pigs in a blanket, beer, and gambling, but as Jon H (a very wise man, for those who do not know him) reminded us, just a few years ago we were more interested in how many beers we could drink during the Super Bowl and now we have kids to worry about. Zoe may not remember the Super Bowl this year, but hopefully she’ll have better memories next year. Below are some shots of her wearing her football outfit for the last time this season.

Jon Q

“You better work (cover girl)
work it girl (give a twirl )
do your thing on the runway…”

RuPaul sang about supermodels in his early-90s hit (“Supermodel [you better work]”) and maybe Zoe should start listening to the lyrics! She has been striking all sorts of poses this week – check her out below.

-M

So, good news everyone…Punxsutawney Phil (Zoe’s favorite groundhog) emerged from his burrow this morning and didn’t see his shadow, which according to a German legend signals there will be an early spring! Punxsutawney Phil had seen his shadow every year since 1999, so this should be a good year!

Of course, some people in our family only go by Jimmy the Groundhog from Sun Prairie, WI (can you guess who that may be?). And Jimmy predicted 6 more weeks of winter…but what does he know?

In other Groundhog’s Day news, it is Uncle Dan’s 30th birthday today! Dan is now 10,957 days old (only 10,886 days older than Zoe), which is 1565 weeks compared to Zoe’s 10. Just think, Uncle Dan, when Zoe is 30, you’ll only be 60…Hope you have a happy 30th!

Jon Q

PS. Oh, and one other Groundhog’s Day note…something about Brett Favre coming back for the 2007 season or something…not that important, though…

The Dr. told us that the side effects from the shots should go away after 24 hours, and we have made it. And much to our surprise, Zoe did really well! She took her cherry flavored Tylenol every 4 hours and didn’t do too much complaining. No fever or swollen legs. She actually almost slept through the whole night…we fed her around 10:30pm and she didn’t eat again until 6am. So, all in all, she was a good patient!

Jon Q

PS. I read this in the paper this morning! One day late – article