Snow, Meet Radha

(from Terri)

Well, almost everyone by now has heard about Portland's record-breaking and highly unusual winter storms (aka, Snowpocalypse 2008) that swept through our city, starting last week.  People seem to have a love/hate relationship with the snow and it brings out the opportunity to gripe about the city's lack of snowplows, use of salt, blah blah blah.   It's also a time when us non-native Oregonians bond over the days of our youth in Iowa/Minnesota/other bitterly-cold-winter-States and how we had it "so bad" during winters and how this storm is "nothing like the ones I grew up with", how Portlanders don't know how to drive in the snow, blah blah blah...

 

I'm kind of tired of talking about the weather and more tired of having it hamper a lot of plans (holiday, family, social, work, doctor's appointments, etc.).  It's been fun snow, and while it's cool that Radha got to meet you at our house (without having to drive up to Mt. Hood), I think we need a break from each other for a while.  Nothing personal?  

But I'm not too tired of taking pictures to remember you fondly:

To the above left is our hilly street, looking northbound.  Now snow-covered, it's popular with bicyclists (yes, still biking in the snow, gotta love Portland), skiiers, a dog sledder (Ro spotted, yes, actually pulled by dogs), and kids and parents sledding.  Today I even saw a couple of hardcore joggers in the snow!  For obvious reasons, our street is NOT popular with buses and cars going northbound, and sometimes even southbound.  When this weather hits, we typically have free entertainment and start counting the number of minor accidents and stalled cars in front of the house.  

Kids like to eat snow, right?  We gave Radha a tiny bit, just to see what her reaction would be.  Clearly, she's not impressed.  We may have to cross off future Winter Olympic Skiier off her list.

During one of the less windy days we all ventured down to the library and store (where onions were sold out of, oddly enough).  Interaction with the outside world was a pleasant change for us; we were all going a bit stir-crazy being homebound.

Radha gets a close-up look at this fluffy white stuff a week ago during the first snowfall day.

Snowfall at night outside our house.

Xmas Jedi

DSCF4230
Originally uploaded by MookieLuv

(from Ro)  The weather outside has been frightful over this last week. We've been inside most of the time, trying to find new ways to entertain ourselves and Radha.  We noticed her looking at our tree topper, so I decided to put my puppetry skills into action.  I think Radha has a new best friend.

Baby Mayhem

(from Terri)

I finally hosted my playgroup of moms and babies last week.  It was the first time I had hosted this particular group; the first time we had planned to do this, Radha got sick.

We had 8 babies and moms altogether in our living room.  As you can imagine it's difficult to get all babies in one picture, so not everyone was captured here!

When we tried to put everyone on the couch for a group shot, all hell broke loose!  This seems to be the case with the group baby pictures.  The crying seems to always be contagious.  Radha tried to take her friend Molly's toy, various babies pulling hair, trying to eat body parts of other babies, etc.  Pure mayhem!  

Should I feel bad that I was laughing at bit at the chaos?  (I wasn't the only mom laughing, by the way!)  And boy, did we need to do a thorough cleaning of Radha's toys after this playgroup.

Give Peas a Chance

crazy for peas
Originally uploaded by MookieLuv

(from Terri)

Yep, it's another baby food-related video.  AGAIN!  We just can't help ourselves. 

The introduction of all kinds of foods and flavors have not only opened up Radha's flavor palatte but a whole new way of communicating. It's utterly fascinating. And FUN for us and her. When she's not happy with a food, she lets us know it. And when she's thrilled with a food, she also lets us know it, with leaning forward, grabbing of the spoon and bowl, attempted lurches forward in her high chair, and lots of "Mmmm, Mmmm" and various squeals and weird noises of delight.

The video speaks for itself regarding Radha's thoughts on pureed peas.

Sneak Peak

(from Ro) I came across this video the other day on Carrie Brownstein's NPR blog, and after laughing, I thought to myself ... "Is this a glimpse into my future?"

Carrot Gobbler

carrot gobbler
Originally uploaded by MookieLuv

I know we've already posted some pictures of Radha eating baby dood already, but we just had to share this video. Check out how she lunges towards the spoon! (She had quite the opposite reaction to green beans, by the way.) We haven't finalized her Thanksgiving menu yet.

Party Time, Excellent!

(from Terri)

Sorry we're a bit late with this post, but we promised Radha's fans that we would post some pictures from Radha's first Halloween.  Thanks to my mom, Radha got to wear a cool kitty-cat costume for her first Halloween. 

Before our party I took her to work to show off her costume (here she's thinking, "Check me out, I'm the kool kat!")

The only glitch was that we were invited to a party with an "Under the Sea" theme.  No problem; we just told everyone that she was a CATfish instead.   :)  I went as seaweed (using an old green graduation robe) and Ro went as Steve Zissou from the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

The same weekend Radha got to celebrate her first Diwali, which is a Hindu holiday and festival of lights.  We took the opportunity to dress her up very girly in a fancy silver dress, which we had received from family friends at our baby shower.   Here she is with her Babaji:

Of course, last Tuesday was Election Night and we had a election party to attend.  Talk about excitement!   We managed to squeeze Radha into her "Obama Baby" onesie for probably the last time.   It must have brought Obama some good luck considering the results, which we were all thrilled about.  

With three parties within a week, Radha was quite the party animal!   Going to all these parties was a good learning experience for all of us (ex: how long it takes to get out of the house, mingling, eating, and drinking while holding a squirmy baby, first guests to arrive and first to leave, etc.).  But all were fun and Radha got to meet some of her internet admirers and new faces, all which hopefully will make her a pretty socialable kid over time.