All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth

OK, so I know that song refers to adult teeth, but Bugsly is working on some teeth of her own this holiday season. Her lower front two teeth are starting to break through the gums. Thus, Zoa has been in an unusually foul mood as her gums are swollen and red. She is powering through by taking extra long naps. Today she took 2 naps, one 3 hours long and another one an hour long. These are definitely marathon naps for our girl. She has pretty much cut napping down in general to 2 naps a day. However, usually one is 1-2 hours long and the other is only 20-40 minutes long. Her longer morning nap actually gives Brian a little time to himself once in a while, which is a welcome change.

I just wanted to give a quick update as we are in the midst of packing for a trip to Madison for the holidays. We are packing pretty much our entire house as there seem to be a million things for Zoa that just have to come with. We are not looking forward to the car trip tomorrow and are hoping it goes faster than last time we drove. We'll see...

Onto some serious Bugsly news (not for the faint of heart)

We are trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon after taking it easy several weeks. However, the truth is, we have just been busy in other areas of our lives. Brian has been accepted to dental school and has been busy figuring out prerequisites and student loans, and I have been busy finishing up my first semester at UNO. That said, it is time for a serious Bugsly update.

Zoa seems to have new tricks every day. They are becoming so frequent that it is actually hard to recall them all. Most notably, she has been sitting up on her own (see photo) for about a week or two now. She does very well, but tends to topple over head first when she reaches to the side. This has meant that she is doing more playing in the upright position, especially with her favorite toys: the music table and car. These toys still do occasionally cause bouts of crying due to frustration or being ripped from them to eat.

The bug also seems to be making progress towards crawling. This weekend I witnessed her pull one of her knees up under her as she scooted along the floor. She is also an expert pivoter as she can change her direction using her arms. Finally, she can scoot herself backwards while on her belly as well. So, I have a feeling that crawling is not far off.

Zo also has new sounds all the time. She now can make all of the stops; although, her /p/ involves much bubbling and spitting. Now that she has mastered them, she is moving onto the fricatives (consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together). She is making one sound right now that may evolve into an /s/, but it is hard to tell.

Finally, she is eating solids like a champ. She is thoroughly enjoying the fall/winter vegetables, her favorite being butternut squash. She also has been eating sweet potatoes, pears, and rice cereal. We have found that she is not a big fan of avocados, but may try her on peas this week. We received a baby food grinder from my parents over Thanksgiving and it has been great for making our own baby food. We are starting to pack our freezer with Zoa-sized servings. In fact, our freezer is so stuffed with baby food and breast milk that I fear there will soon be no room left for food for Brian and me.

Well, those are all the developmental milestones that I can remember at the present. I am looking to spending some more time with my girl over the next couple weeks of the holiday season.

-Melanie

Now don't be rash

Rash, rash, rash, rash. Poor Bugsly Doogle knows this word well. Off and on for the past several weeks, Doodle has endured much rash over much of her body. If it were burns, you could probably compared the severity to that of Michael Jackson's infamous Pepsi Cola hair ignition. Now, I am not saying that Bugsly is going to use this as an excuse to get multiple nose jobs and her skin coloring treatments, I am merely saying that I couldn't blame her if she did.

So it is Cetaphil cream (not lotion) for her. She is so slippery with the cream that bathing her is like trying to hold a greased pig. Luckily, Melanie has experience catching such slathered swine from her early days in the circus. Unfortunately, given my rather upscale adolescence, the closest I have ever came to oily hogs is when the man with the dirty shirt ordered a "hot dog" during one of my luncheons at Spago.

So what else is new in Bugslyland? Isn't that what you are all tuned in to read? Let's see. Her physical development appears to be unchanged with the exception of some new hair buds in the bald part of her knoggin' (see photo). This was to be expected after we started with the Baby's Own Rogaine treatment, which is basically the leftover sludge at the bottom of my neighbors Rogaine bottle (extracted masterfully from the trash under the cover of darkness), a little baby oil, some garlic, and a dew-rag (for support). We can't have Bugsly go around as a little bald girl now can we? It's a fact that 75% of all bald and semi-bald children under the age of two have low self-esteem, so we need to do all we can early on. Ok, ok, so that last statistic is - probably - not entirely accurate, but what in this world is?

Oh, there is one last "new" thing. She is a sharer. Meaning, she likes to give Daddy (and sometimes Mommy) her drooled on objects of affection for us to take a pull off. In the last week, I too have teethed on drooly cups, teethers, and blankets, mainly as an effort not to offend Bugsly and her gracious offering. I was trying forever not to be the first to introduce my oral flora into her mouth (given the septic nature of my trench mouth), but her insistence in swapping drool with me could only means lots of time at the dentist in the future. If only she would have shared first with perfect mouth Melly, all would have been fine.

-Brian

Extra, Extra! Bugsly Hates Packers

Bugsly was laughing before we put the bib on, now look at her, purely traumatized. A picture truly does speak a thousand words.

Somethings A-Fowl: Bugsly Versus the Turducken

Greetings Bugsly fans. Lady Zoa sends her regrets for the extended layoff, but she's had a packed holiday schedule.

Lady Swinebottom had much to be thankful for this past week. During her six month checkup, her pediatrician noticed something peculiar about her fat rolls on her legs, they were assymetrical. Apparently being fat is ok, but being assymetrically fat is a problem. An x-ray was ordered, parents were worried, an orthopedic specialist was contacted, and Bugsly's hips were examined in fine detail. The end result? Bugsly's endoskeleton is in prisitine working condition, though a manufacturing defect known as hip dysplasia was suspected. The only good that may come from this is the potential for superpowers from x-ray exposure. The power I am rooting for is the power to make her big girl poop smell like Uncle Don's Axe Cologne. Wait a minute, strike that, reverse it. Poop is probably better.

On the other side, Zoa’s 6-month well-baby check-up with the doctor revealed that she continues to make gains in the growth percentiles. While Zoa held steadily at the 10th percentile for height and weight for months, she has now crept to the 30th for height (measuring 25 inches) and 20th for weight (weighing almost 14 pounds). She is still small of course, but we are happy to see her making such improvements after months of worrying about her.

Additional joy was found in a visit from a long list of devotees including the grandparents Bloom, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jen (from Austin), and Great Grandmother Margaret from New Glarus. These souls braved the cold to find their way to Dodson Manor for Bugsly's first Thanksgiving. Of special note is Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jen's crazy 16 hour voyage which included a broken down car not too far from their home during holiday traffic. After procurring a jeep, they drove all night, arriving at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving. After a brief nap, they awoke to good times and good food.

Bugsly enjoyed her family so much that she did not power down at the appropriate times, recklessly disregarding the original manufacturing specs that say at least three naps per day. The wired Bugsly had much to show to her family, including the complete repertoire of rolls, giggles, and rashes. As a special note, rashes are common amongst those wacky Bloom children and that defect has now spread to Lady Swinebottom. At least mother and child can have special bonding time as they apply rash ointment to each other as a bedtime ritual. Yay eczema!


Ok, so there wasn't really a turducken fight, where Bugsly had to first defeat the turkey, then the chicken, and final the all evil duck residing in the belly of the chicken. Extra kudos to The Onion for the story about John Madden being found with a Turhumanheaducken, it was an inspiration for the title.