The Zelly Zone

Lost Tooth!

At nearly 7.5 years old, zelly has finally lost her first tooth.

And here's a fabulous close up:

Last week, she showed us that a new tooth was coming in, but her tooth wasn't loose yet! Thankfully, the next day it loosened up (a lot!) and was out within a few days. Here, you can see the new tooth:

Zelly put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy after the following discussion:

z: Mama, how does the tooth fairy get under my pillow?
me: well, that's a good question! I don't know, since I was always asleep when she came.
z: hrm. okay.

The tooth fairy left a gold dollar coin. According to zelly, some kids are getting $10 for a tooth... I guess the fairy that comes to our house is a bit more reasonable!

New Play Structure

We've been talking about getting a play structure for at least two years. Last spring, we figured out where to put one and started site prep. It only took us a year to finish the site prep and get something installed! We purchased a Rainbow structure with installation included. Due to our taking soooo long to do the site prep (hence our work over the last few weeks not being that big a deal) and Rainbow being able to complete the installation in under four hours, we were able to completely surprise Zelly! She got home from daycare and went out to a ready-for-play structure. How awesome is that?!?!

Zelly checks out the clubhouse:

Zelly climbs the wall:

Zelly on the rope ladder:

Zelly on the swing:

With spring break happening next week, I expect all the neighbor kids will be over here!

Zellacious Quotes

And now for another installment of 'Funny Kid Stuff' by Zelly

Zelly, while eating a cookie:
"Mama, this isn't a M a'M cookie, it doesn't have M a'Ms in it. It has all these colored candy pieces with chocolate chips underneath."
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One morning, while we were having breakfast, she gave me a very serious look and asked "Mommy, why does my top lip not move and my bottom lip does?" I stared at her in amusement as my not-quite-awake brain tried to figure out what she was asking. Her upper lip was obviously moving. "Do you mean why does your bottom jaw move?" She nodded and I showed her where her jaw bone attached to her skull so she could feel it move. This led to her opening and closing her mouth in a very mechanical way several times. I have no idea what thought process brought her to that question, but I'm sure it was fascinating.
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Asked while wndl and I were silently reading the paper, "Are you reading in your brains?"
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Lately she been inclined to ramble on about a innumerable topics from her carseat. A few weeks ago she said to Wendy, "Mama, I wanna be a whole buncha beautiful."
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Current fave words/phrases: "whywhywhywhywhy, why?", "fabby-lous" and "you're freaking me out"

Holiday song choice: the Jingle Bells chorus, over and over and over again.

Alternative song choice: songs she makes up sung to the tune of Jingle Bells.
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"Mama, when are your tattoos gonna come off?"
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I came home the other night after a very mentally challenging work day and told Zelly I was tired and my brains were scrambled. She gave me a concerned look and zoomed in to my face. Soon she was giving me little kisses all over my forehead. "I'm helping you unscramble your brains, Mommy."
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"I can see in the darkness because I have vision in my eyes."
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Said out of extreme exasperation: "What are you thinking in your brain?!"
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When she was first introduced to bon-bons, she called them "pom-poms"
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One recent morning, Z sprang up from her play area in the living room and exclaimed, "I need something to put the evil science in."

She scrambled into her room singing "Evil science, evil science, eeeev-il sciiiii-ence" and emerged with a toy cook pot. She announced with great ceremony, "This is a pot for the evil science. It's a evil science pot." Wendy and I exchanged amused glances throughout this performance. We don't know where this latest goofy idea came from. I am somewhat amused at 'evil science pot' as opposed to the more common 'evil science plot'.

Moments later she invited us to a tea party where she was serving 'evil science' on little plastic plates. "The ev-il sci-ence is ready, Mommy and Mama, come here and get some." 'Evil science' consists of sponges that look vaguely like tiny farm animals, scraps of paper and little pieces of clam shell. I took a sip of air tea and a faux nibble of evil science and pronounced it 'spicy'. Zelly nodded knowingly. Wendy was a little late to the party and had to be harangued into attendence by our hostess. I think it's good to support our daughter in her early culinary efforts. Maybe later she'll be cooking up evil science on a successful TV show or in a highly funded laboratory and be able to support us in our old age.
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If we taped this child 24/7 we would probably end up with 6-10 hours a day of hilarious footage.

Just now she's raging away while having an imaginary phone conversation. Listening to her pretend to be mad at her imaginary antagonist, I know exactly where she gets those phrases and attitudes -- from us. This raises a question -- if she's hilarious impersonating us and using our conversations as an inspiration, why aren't we hilarious? Maybe I should start wearing striped tights and a black tutu with a cape and blue jeweled sunglasses.

Funny stuff

Zelly has been making us laugh a lot lately, she's got quite an active imagination and enough vocabulary to weave some pretty amusing stories. Last night at dinner, she pointed to my dinner and said, "Mommy, that's a munter! There's a munter right there!" She says this wearing a face that's a mixture of horror-stricken and almost-laughing. There's always a little smirk in her eyes when she's playing an imagination game with you.

"Um, where? I don't see any monsters."

She pointed at the asparagus on my fork, "Right there, on your fork. I see it, it has one eye and a nose." She struggled to make a serious face but it was a losing battle.

"This? This isn't a monster, it's my asparagus and I'm gonna eat it," I ate it with a dramatic chomp and her eyes got big. "Now it's in my tummy, no more monster."

She often sees things in food that I don't see. I don't know how many times I've seen her animate food -- partially eaten pieces of toast or fragments of carrots. She creates a whole scene, dialog and all. Zelly with two carrot pieces, "Hello, how are you? I'm good... This is the mommy and this is the baby, hello mommy. You better eat all your dinner, baby."

This kind of conversation gets played out with her babies too, it's very odd to hear your own words become part of a toddler's play.

Zelly was in the yard with me last weekend, we planted daylillies and fed the worms. Zelly loves the worm box and insists that I leave it open so she can visit with all the creatures there. On this particular day, she was poking around in the box and called to me, she was very excited, "Mommy, come here, I got to show you something, come here, hurry."

I walked toward her and she pointed at something I couldn't see yet, "Mommy, I found a lady bug, it's right here, come see it." I bent down, curious to see this 'lady bug'. She was pointing to a potato bug, one of the hordes crawling around on the open worm box lid. "Look Mom, hey Mom, it tickled me," she giggled, finger lightly touching the many little legs. "Mom, it's tickling me, that's funny. "

"Those are potato bugs, honey. See? They're all over the place."

"I like 'tato bugs, mom," she put her finger next to one, "Come here little bug, come here, on my finger. It's ok, I won't hurt you."

I walked away laughing, what a kid. It wasn't the last time she'd provide comedy that afternoon. Later, while I trimmed the fruit trees, she played with the sunflower seeds we'd put out for the squirrels. "Mom," she said seriously, "I'm want the birds to come here and eat, it's time for their dinner."

"Ok, honey, but they don't seem to be around right now and they might be scared of you." She considered this for a moment and got a scoop of seed in her little hand, "Come here birdies, come here and eat your fooo-oood!" This continued for a few minutes, then silence again.

"Mom, I got a 'dea (idea)..." (pause) "...Ladies and Gentlemen! Come out of your houses! Come and see this!" She was holding the seeds again, but there was obviously something else going on in her minds eye. I didn't hear the rest of what she said cuz I was laughing too hard. "Mom, the peoples not coming out of their houses." She seemed a bit peeved, I tried to catch my breath, "Oh, honey... (laugh)... nope, they must be busy."

They really should have come out of their houses, though, this kid is quite the entertainer.

Zelly Signs Her Name!

Zelly was coloring a Thank You "card" for a friend at daycare who gave her a Valentine's Gift and wanted to sign her own name. She drew the "H" and asked for help with the rest. I got one of her alphabet books, and showed her which letter to use next... and voila! Her first signature, using her "official" name even.

Three Year Check-Up Results

Zelly had her annual check-up today and the results were exciting. Miss Hazel Jeanne is finally on the chart for weight as well as height. Her 24.4 lbs puts her in the 3rd percentile for weight and her height of 35 inches places her in the 5th percentile for that category.

Zelly had her first vision and hearing tests today. I think her hearing was a little impaired by congestion, but mostly she had trouble following the nurses directions. She was great with the vision test (it helps that she knows her left from her right). The vision test for kids that age is identifying shapes, rather than letters (although she'd probably do pretty well with that). Overall, the doctor was pleased with her development physically and mentally, and was quick to reassure us that her small size wasn't a problem -- something we haven't been worried about in a long time.

For more about growth charts, here's a good article explaining them.

Spring 2002

Happy spring, everybody. I'm long overdue sending out this update, but sometimes
just taking part in life takes all my time.

Zelly is doing great. At her last check up in February she weighed in at a whopping
19.7 pounds and has stretched to a towering 32.5 inches.

I've recently updated the website with a new front page picture and story, so check it
out, www.speakeasy.org/~camcombs [Ed. that's the old site]. There are some newish pictures at the end of
the index and we'll be uploading some more in the coming months.

Spring is in the air and it's time to put seeds in the ground. Zelly helped me plant the
garden this year. Here's what I remember of that day:

Me: Ok, Zell. I'm going to do some planting, want to help?
Zelly: yeah-huh!
Me: Alright. First we have to crumble up the dirt. No, keep your gloves on. Watch
how I do it. [dig-crumble-dig-crumble]. Ok? Do you want to try?
Zelly: Yeah, Mom! Mom...?
Me: What honey?
Zelly: Mom, bubbs on!
Me: Yes, honey, you have your gloves on.
Zelly: Momma-bubbs on?
Me: Yes, I have my gloves on, too. Are you gonna help me?
[much digging and crumbling and messing with her gloves]
Me: ok, now it's all smooth and we're ready for the seeds, ok?
Zelly: Mom-mom? Buhrds talking... yook, buhrds!
Me: Uh-huh, those are birds. [seeds in my hand, now she's interested in them]
Zelly: Momma, what dose, momma?
Me: Those are seeds honey, baby plants come out of them.
Zelly: Oh... beebees? Momma, I wann some dose.
Me: Ok. Here are some for you, sprinkle them around like this. [she waves her hands
around for several seconds after the seeds fall out of her hand in a clump].
Me: Alright, now we'll put a little more dirt on them and pat them down.
Zelly: Pat, pat, Pat, pat [sing-song voice]. Momma, I pat!
Me: You sure do honey, you're a big help. Now we're going to plant some swiss chard.
We're going to poke the seeds in. [I start placing seeds around the prepared area]
Zelly: Mom-mom, I wann some dose.
Me: Ok, honey. Here are a couple, put them out. Now we're gonna poke them in, ok?
Watch me... poke 'em in, poke 'em in...
Zelly: [poking random holes in the dirt, saying in a sing-song voice] poke 'em in, poke
'em in, poke 'em in....

[… eventually ...]
Me: ok, honey, that's all the seeds, we're all finished.
[Zelly pats the ground a few more times just to make sure.]
Zelly: ok, mom, aww done!

I took her out to the garden this weekend to show her that some of the baby plants
were coming up and she seemed excited but I'm not sure she connected the plants
with what we did the weekend before. During her surly teenaged years, I'm sure to
comfort myself I'll drag out this memory of the time when she hung on my every word
and her bright blue eyes followed my every move.

Oh, here’s another story for you. Zelly loves eggs. She especially loves it when she
gets to help me cook them:

Zelly: Mom-mom, I hunnry. [tugging on sleeve or pant leg] Momma, I rearry hunnry.
Me: Oh, ok, well, what do you want?
Zelly: I wann aigg, momma, aigg aigg aigg. [nodding her head like it’s gonna come off]
Me: Alright, let’s cook an egg. Up you go.
[I lift her up to sit on the counter beside the stove]
Me: Ok, Zell, what do we need? We need a pan, and...?
Zelly: Aigg!
Me: Yep, we need an egg. Here’s an egg. What’s next?
Zelly: [pointing up at the cupboard above the stove] Mom-mom, sall and peppie!
Me: Yep, we need salt and pepper. Ok, now the pan is getting hot, so keep your
hands over here.
Zelly: Mom-mom, I pay? [she’s pointing at the timer]
Me: Sure, here you go, you can play with this.

[she goes through several cycles of turning the timer on and cranking it back to zero so
she can ring the bell. Each time the bell rings, she says ‘Momma, what happen?’ with
her eyes wide open and her eyebrows arched up into her hairline. This is one of her
favorite games during egg cooking.]

Zelly: [ding] Momma, what happen?
Me: I don’t know, Zelly, what happened?
Zelly: [big smile] I nunno… [and repeat]

Me: Zelly, do you want cheese with your egg?
Zelly: Chee aigg, momma!
Me: Ok. Zelly, can you sing the egg song?
Me and Zelly: Aiggy, aiggy, Aig-GY! [picture a conga line of two, complete with the
hand motions]
Me: Ok, Zelly what do we do now?
Zelly: sall and peppie! Sall an sall an pep-PIE! [more conga line music]
Me: Ok, salt and pepper. And now we turn the egg over and it's time for cheese.
Zelly, can you do the cheese song?
Zelly: cheezy, cheezy, chee-ZY! Aiggy cheezy aig-GY!
[soon she's settled into her high chair cheerfully gobbling up her one egg omelet]

We do the sing-song, dancing thing a lot at our house. It’s a sneaky way for us to get
Zelly to practice words she’s been having trouble with, and it’s entertaining. She’ll
break into song and dance for no reason but that it’s fun. The alphabet song is her
favorite and if I was really talented I would reproduce that for you here. Her favorite
part is ‘lmnop’ but lately she’s been skipping the whole middle to get to ‘xyz’ so she can
do the ’… now I know my abc’s, next time won’t you sing with me’ verse. What a silly
monkey!

Hope this update finds everyone happy and healthy and doing lots of singing and
dancing. If you're not sure what to sing and dance about, take a lesson from Zelly: you
can sing and dance about everything!

Zelly Has Spots!

Yes, that's right, chicken pox. She started showing this morning and
now is covered in red splotches. Because of the puffiness in her face
she actually looks chubby for the first time in her life.

She's been in pretty good spirits throughout the early stages of the
pox, sleeping more than usual and eating less, but in a great mood
when she's awake.

Other news: she's about 31 inches tall now which means she's got to
duck to walk under the dining room table. She's still got that long
thin physique - we think she may be closing in on 20 lbs finally. At
21 months, she's wearing mostly 12 month clothes. The pants are
generally long enough but the waists are a tad large still, we have to
shrink them up a bit to keep them from falling off.

Zelly is showing some signs of being a lefty. She tends to draw with
her left hand (see the newest picture on the website). She'll eat
with both but is a bit more sure handed with her fork on the left
side.

She's a real talker now, mostly her own language with a smattering of
English. Some favorite words: no, uh-oh, oh no, baby, thank you,
hello, ni-ni (night-night), bye-bye, hi. She signs 'please' and
'more'. She's also very clear with mommy and mama now and uses mom
alot. She says "mommmm" whenever she wants the adult in the room to
pay attention to something she's doing or pointing out. She says
uh-oh when the phone rings, or the door or gates are left open, or if
she is playing with the remote and turns the TV off. She's got the
cutest little girl voice. She barks like a little puppy when ever she
sees or hears a dog barking. She meows like the cats when she hears
them meowing. She's an incredibly good mimic (so beware if you are
visiting with her, she's got her antennae out).

Zelly is quite the popular girl at daycare. She was invited to a
birthday party recently (we had a previous engagement) and when I
called to RSVP, the mom was very aware of who Hazel was. Apparently
all the kids love her and talk about her to their parents. We've been
at Costco and had people come up and say, 'Hello, Hazel'.

She loves to color with the crayons that grandpa got for her and we
have to watch to make sure she mostly colors paper, rather than
everything else at hand. She has a baby doll that she is very sweet
with - kisses, hugs, feeding with a tiny bottle (often in the eye, I'm
not sure why). Oh, and the kisses, she is quite a good kisser now -
no tongue action anymore, just sweet little smackers on the cheeks or
lips.

She likes to put on her socks and shoes, sometimes even on the
correct foot. If her shoes and socks aren't handy, she'll use ours.
She hasn't bitten anyones toes lately but she's still pretty foot
oriented - she loves to have her feet rubbed when we're settling down
for quiet time.

Spring 2001

You experienced parents probably saw it coming. Infant turns to
toddler, parents have less time for things like email. Yes, Zelly is
officially a toddler. She started getting serious about walking late
in the week of February 19. During the earthquake she was standing in
the middle of the daycare playroom and suddenly found herself on her
diapered butt. She cried and looked around because she thought
someone had pushed her down.

She isn't quite running yet but she leans forward and walks so fast
sometimes that she falls down. Climbing is also a favorite pastime.
She loves climbing onto chairs and down again, over and over. She'll
climb right over you to get to a higher position so she can see out
the window. She's very much a toddler in the sense of testing
bounderies. The TV and remotes fascinate her and she loves the fact
that she can make things happen -- turning the TV off and on, changing
channels, turning the volume to concert levels. When we tell her not
to push the buttons on the TV anymore, she turns and smiles and
reaches for the buttons again. She's apparently of the belief that if
she smiles and turns those big eyes on, she'll get her way.

Zelly is also getting into the idea of dress-up. In the morning, when
we're getting ready for work, Zell will look for a bra to try on.
She'll look at it this way and that and finally get her arm through
one hole. She ends up with the cups draped across her shoulders and
she'll walk around the house proudly showing that she's a big girl
who knows how to get dressed. She'll also find hankies, towels and
other small articles of clothing which she'll drape around her neck
like a shawl. To top it all off, the other morning, with a bra across
her shoulders, she was trying to step into the red rubber garden
clogs.

People ask if she's talking yet. Yet? When did she not make
some kind of vocal noise? Seriously though, most of what she say is
in a language we don't quite understand. She experiments with a lot
of noises, most of which are not used in English. She does have noise
which sound a lot like Jordan and Harlow, our cats' names. She has no
problem understanding we're we're saying and will unearingly respond
to 'Where is Lamby? Where is your bottle?
Where is Jordan.' But ask her where Mommy or Mama is and
she'll draw a blank... apparently our names aren't yet in her
lexicon. She does go around the house asking 'O-um? O-um? O-
um?' And there are subtle variations that I think signify each of us.
I'm pretty sure that Zelly's first word will be a completely
grammatically correct paragraph about why she should be able to do
something we are preventing her from doing. You heard it here first.

On other developmental fronts, she's got two bottom teeth to show off
with her smile now. She enjoys using those teeth to tear apart pizza
crust, string cheese, large numbers of helpless crackers and other
small foods. Her favorites still include sweet potatoes and broccoli
and she's recently added scrambled eggs and breakfast bars to the
list.

She enjoys her daycare friends and is very popular there and
everywhere she goes. Our friends practically beg to babysit for us.
It helps that she's easy to have around, especially if she's not
teething.

Zelly will be 15 months old on 3/20 and she's still just somewhere
between 15 - 15.5 lbs. She's close to 29 inches tall and height seems
to be her growing priority instead of pudge. For her clothing that
means that a shirt or pair of pants might still fit her around the
waist or in the shoulders but her legs or tummy starts poking out
because they are too short.

Our big family project this year is selling our small house and
moving into a larger one. We all need more room and we need a
safer, slower road to live on. So I guess I'm apologizing ahead of
time for the delays in future updates. As always, I'll respond to
emails from you and hopefully it won't be another three months before
I send out the next report. Love to you all and happy spring time.

It's Been Quite a Year

Hello and happy holidays.

Well it's been a year since Wendy and I became parents - a
wonderful, joyous, crazy, sleep-deprived year. Zelly is really
coming into her own -- almost walking, wanting to feed herself,
playing with her toys in imaginative ways. She's even beginning to
want to share, and there's nothing more appetizing than a soggy rice
cake remnant offered to you by your child.

Those of you who've met her will agree that she's got quite the
personality. Wendy and I especially love the way she smiles.
When she's really happy she smiles so big that all you can see is
gums, her nose crinkles up and her eyes nearly disappear in a squint.
Then there's the smile she uses when she's flirting, that coy little
girl smile. She can do amazing things with her eyebrows -
waggling them up and down, together or independently of each
other. Another sign of delight is her laugh. Sometimes she just sits
and plays and laughs to herself - Heh heh. Heh heh. Heh heh. She
also has a whole range of Hee hees, giggles and loud Ha has.

She's also very into mimicking. If you cough, she'll cough. If you
laugh, she'll laugh. She's getting better at copying sounds and
gestures. We're working on simple sign language - eat, drink, 'O' for
cheerios, a big Z for Zelly.

She's getting bigger all the time. She's a danger to the computer now
because she can stand at the desk and hit the keyboard. There are a
whole range of horizontal surfaces in this house that are stripped
almost bare because she can now reach them. Her feet now hang
slightly over the edge of her carseat -- and this is the girl who used
to have blankets tucked around her because she was so small. And the
corner chair that we've been using as a changing station is shrinking
as well. Her feet and lower legs dangle off the front of it. If you
leave her alone there, she'll turn over on her tummy and wiggle
herself down to the floor.

And she's nearly busting out of her size 1-2 diapers. They're
getting to be too short and they're harder to wrap around her. The
bummer is we can't just go to size 2s since we buy at Costco and still
have a few 1-2s to go through. (note to self: find strapping tape to
put in diaper bag)

She had a very good birthday this year, although she won't
remember much about it. She had 4 seperate celebrations -- is
this girl loved or what? She's received all kinds of fun toys and
she's figuring out how to play with all of them in very interesting
ways.

We're getting ready to head over the mountains to spend
Christmas week with Wendy's family in Richland. We hope that all of
you, our family and friends, have a wonderful holiday season to kick
off the year 2001. Wow, 2001,remember when that was the realm of
science fiction?

October Report

Hello, Zelly Fans! Here's the update as written by Wendy:

Zelly is just over 10 mos old (b. 12-20-99) and has pretty much
"caught up" developmentally. She is a speed crawler, she can pull
herself up on anything (including a flat wall, but prefer's one of
mom's legs!), and she can cruise all the way across the living room,
going from table to couch to rocker to ottoman and back. She has also
mastered lowering herself from a standing position ("look mama, the
hydraulics go down too!"). We think she'll be walking by her birthday.

Zelly is very talkative! She mostly is doing the "mamamamama"
thing, but interweaves that with "monster baby" sounds and
miscellany other sounds, including raspberries. When she goes to bed
at night, she usually spends a few minutes telling Lamb-ee (her
favorite stuffed animal) all about her day. This "talking" has a
definite conversational cadence to it and Camey and I just get a kick
out of hearing it!

We started swimming lessons last week and she's having a blast. As
soon as we are in the pool, she starts splashing and kicking. She's a
natural! The other baby in the class was fairly hesitant, but after
watchin Zelly splash for a few minutes, he started doing it. Of
course, due to her very small stature, other parents and employees
have to wonder to our corner of the pool to see the "tiny baby" in the
pool. Zelly looks absolutely adorable in her tiny blue swimsuit...
especially after she's all wet and her eyes are just shining! (no, i'm
not biased )

We went to the Swedish Special Care Nursury "graduates" party
on Oct. 22nd, where it was certified that Zell really is small! I was
amazed at all the preemie parents who commented on how small she is.
I think it's because of where she is developmentally. Having her
dressed in jeans, turtleneck and a sweater (see pic on web page) and
shoes (which sh'es almost worn out already), while other babies her
age were in jammies AND the fact that she was crawling and walking
(with help) seems to emphasize how small she is. The other crawling
babies seemed like the "right" size for crawling (at least 17lbs), but
many of them were 3-7 mos older than zelly.

Hmmm, what else is happening with us? We just finished redoing
our bathroom: new tile in the tub surround, shower plumbing fixed and
hole from sink plumbing work patched up. Then I painted it a yummy
creamy yellow! Wish we would have done this years ago!

We're not going trick or treating, but we'll probably drive around and
show off zelly in her lion costume to some friends. Her costume has a
sound box in the front that makes roaring sounds when you push it.
Zelly is very intrigued by the sound coming from her stomach!

September Report

Hello, everybody! How is the early fall treating you?

Zell just got through her first fever. She was really fussy and
uncomfortable from Thursday to Saturday when it broke. None of slept
very well. Happily, she's now back to her normal happy self, ready to
move along on her developmental path.

She's sitting up on her own, turning herself around, leaning over and
pulling herself back up. Her favorite syllable is 'ma', as in
'mamamamamama, mom-mom.' It is just a crackup to watch her talk, she
gets a look of total concentration on her face and curls her lips
across her gums. No teeth yet, guess they're taking their own sweet
time. Her hair is getting thicker on the top, but not really all
over.

She likes to listen to music and sings along. She also loves to
dance, whether it's with a mom or while sitting on the floor. She
gets her butt and head going until she's got this head bobbing, butt-
wiggling rhythm going on.

We've been working semi-solid food into her daily schedule. We
sit her down in the highchair in the evening so she can have dinner
with us. She isn't eating a lot, but we're sticking with it so she
knows what big kids do. We've progressed beyond rice and oatmeal and
are working on orange veggies - carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. I
can tell you that so far she isn't very impressed. She gets this
horrible look on her face but she keeps opening her mouth for more.
It's as if she's saying,"Well, moms eat, so I want to eat, but it's
kinda gross. But I'm going to keep doing it because they do it and I
want to be like them." Zelly also recently ingested her first paper.
I handed her a piece of paper so she wouldn't grab the ones I was
working with. She was on my lap at the computer. The next thing I
knew there was a corner missing and no where to be found. Oh, well,
roughage is a good thing, right?

That's all for now. She's really getting to be a big kid in so many
ways, we had to pack up a bunch of her newborn stuff this weekend.
The good news is that we have more than enough gifts and hand-me-downs
in the 9 - 18 month sizes.

The next time you get an update we'll have a new weight and length to
give you.

Baby of Summer

Hello everybody. Hope this note finds you all healthy and having a
great summer.

Zelly weighed in at 11 lbs 3 oz this week -- 9 lbs more than her birth
weight. We haven't measured her length yet, but we can tell by the
way her clothes fit that she's getting longer (taller?). On August
20th she'll be 8 months old. Was it really only eight months ago?
And I'm still getting statements for her hospital stay in January,
argggg.

She likes to stand and she's working on sitting up. She's strong
enough to sit up but still loses her balance sometimes. She enjoys
singing little songs to her toys (especially when she's got something
in her mouth). She's also started gargling her saliva... not
necessarily Miss Manners' approved behaviour but silly and
entertaining anyway.

People are always telling us what a good baby she is. My first
reaction is, well of course, she's ours after all. She sleeps from
around 9 pm to 6 am each night and takes a morning and afternoon nap.
She usually drinks a full bottle (just under 6 oz) without any
complaints. She sat for an hour this evening while I got my hair cut
and entertained herself with her Eor and her binkie.

She's happy and healthy and smiling and trying to laugh (it sounds a
lot like coughing right now). By rolling onto her stomach and
pivoting on her belly, she can get to where she wants to go -- usually
in the direction of her toys.

We tried some rice cereal a few weeks ago and she had about a
teaspoon altogether. She was far more interested in the spoon as a
plaything than in the food itself.

She is usually in a good mood unless she's hungry or tired or
bored. She doesn't like to be out of sight of other people for very
long. And when she does catch the eye of someone she smiles and her
whole face lights up.

Well, I guess that's all for now. We're gearing up for Wendy's 30th
birthday (8/17) and Zelly and I have some great surprises for her but
I can't tell you guys because she gets copies of this report.

June Report

I know, I know, it's been awhile since the last report. But hey, it's
summer and there's the garden screaming for attention and soccer
practice to go to and Zelly, of course, growing everyday.

I don't know exactly how much she weighs but she's probably
close to 10 lbs. We'll go in next week for a checkup and I'll send
out a quick update then. She's healthy and happy and sleeping from
9:30 pm to 6 am every night -- yahoooo!

She knows how to roll over from her belly to her back, from both right
and left. Once she's on her back she's not in a hurry to roll back
over -- she's usually happy where she is and she can see what's going
on. She's very strong now, holding her head up high when she's on her
tummy, standing tall on her legs when we hold her on our laps. She's
very clever with her hands and can manipulate her toys from one to the
next. Of course, everything must meet the mouth and her favorite
thing right now is anything made of cloth. Her shirt, her blankie,
her bibs, her moms' shirt collars... you get the picture. Within
seconds of getting sucked into her tractor beam the object of her
desire is soaked with slobber.

She's at another milestone tonight, sleeping in her crib instead of
the bassinet in the living room. She doesn't know it yet, she was
asleep when I put her to bed. Just hope she doesn't freak out too
badly when she wakes up... she probably won't, I made sure she was
holding a blankie, and that's one of the things that comforts her
lately.

I'm not sure who she got all that charm from (Dad?...) but she can
flirt with the best. She's got this coy little move where she smiles
and then turns her head. And, wow, does she have a smile. With her
smile and her big blue eyes, most people fall in love at first sight.
I've been working on capturing that smile with the camera and it's
hard because she wonders why I'm hiding behind it and stops smiling to
look for me.

Some of you already know that my Grandma Hazel died this week.
We went to the memorial and Zelly was at her charming best.
She was decked out in her cream satin dress with matching diaper cover
(thanks to Bob and Sarah Simon). She behaved quite well and was quiet
and attentive throughout the service. She did get hungry halfway
through, which I anticipated. She downed her bottle with her
customary gusto and I propped her up on my shoulder for a burp. I'm
sure she was quite a sight -- little angle in satin, big eyes looking
all around at the people sitting behind me. The minister was partway
through his sermon and paused. Right on queue our little angel cut
loose a burp that a football player would have been proud of. As it
echoed through the church, my cousins, sitting behind us, struggled to
contained their giggles. Ahhhhh, what a little angel our Zelly is,
and so unconcerned about social propriety, how refreshing.

And elsewhere in the state, my sister is possibly in labor right now.
Cyndi -- Zelly is quite excited at the prospect of having an
innocent little cousin that she can corrupt with her older ways. She
can definately be the burp coach, and help in flirt training. Good
luck, Cyndi and Joe and Rascal, hope you don't have to push too hard
or for too long and hope you have a wonderful birth experience.

Five Months Old

Well, it's high time for a Zelly update, don't you think?

Zelly is 5 months old now and she's definately bigger -- longer,
heavier. If she's still gaining weight by an average of 1 oz per day,
she's in the neighborhood of 9 lbs 6 oz now. And even at the slower
rate of 3/4 oz per day, she'd be around 9 lbs.

Zelly is more active and more social than ever. She squeals, coos and
smiles -- sometimes when there's no one else in the room. She likes
TeleTubbies and other kid oriented shows -- the combination of high
voices and lots of action really gets her attention.

She's become a tractor beam with all roads leading to her mouth.
Anything she gets in her hands ends up there -- a bib, her sleeve, a
blanket, a toy. She's got a toy we call the CrocoDilly (thanks, Billy
and Alicia), it's a brightly colored, segmented crocodile with crinkly
stuff in some of the segments and a rattle in one, the head has a
squeekie toy in it. She just loves it and squeals at the sight of it.
I'll play with her by having the CrocoDilly kiss her and squeek and
she'll grab it with both hands and talk and chomp on it and kick her
legs. Her manual dexterity has improved to the point where she can
grab her binkie, take it out of her mouth and manipulate it with both
hands until she gets it back in. Wow, that's a big developmental step
from a month ago.

She hasn't rolled over yet and she doesn't do very good push ups but
we're going to be patient and let her develop at her own pace (as if
we have much of a choice ). Her cognitive and social skills
are at the 5-6 month level. Her small motor skills are between 3-5
months and her gross motor skills are still at the 2-3 month level.
But I guess that's the way babies are, they'll do their own thing at
their own pace and to heck with standardized charts.

Her sleeping pattern is becoming more mature. She sleeps from
around 9pm til she's woken at 11:30 to eat; sleeps til 5:30 am and
eats again; sleeps til around 8:30 am when Wendy gets her ready to go.
She's having a lot of fun with the sitter, Lisa Pond, and her kids.
She has especially bonded with Katie who's 3. The two of them play
and laugh and have a great time. Zelly smiles at the sight of her.

I've been updating the website ().
The Zelly Zone now features a picture index on the left side for ease
of navigation and we've added a few new pictures. We'll be adding more
pictures over the next few weeks and also some new features like
access to all the previous Zelly updates.

I hope this message finds you all well and happy.

Four Months Old

Although it will be a week until we visit the ped., we know she's
growing by the clothes she can no longer wear. We've retired the
smallest preemie clothes and are on the verge of putting some more
away -- another inch and she'll be too long. Of course, we're happy
she's growing but it's sad to see those cute little outfits put away.
Oh, well, on to other cute outfits -- and she's got plenty.

Zelly is showing what a smart girl she is lately. She can get her
fingers into her mouth when she wants -- one thumb, a thumb and some
fingers, a thumb from each hand, etc. It's funny to watch how serious
she is about it but I guess this is her job now. Her vision is
improving rapidly. She can track things a couple of feet away and
responds to facial expressions. It's pretty easy to get her to smile
now with a combination of facial expressions and a 'smiling voice.'
We've gotten her some infant visual training toys and she really likes
them... until she's had enough stimulation and needs a break. A
soccer teammate of mine gave us a book of babies with different facial
expressions -- Zelly really likes it.

We are starting to have 'conversations', too. I mimic her noises back
to her. Sometimes it takes her a moment to realize what's happening
but when she does she gets excited and we go back and forth for
several minutes. She really likes silly noises -- raspberries,
clicking noises and other goofy stuff. Of course, maybe she's just
manipulating me into being a dork for her own entertainment. I don't
mind, it is a job I'm well suited for.

Speaking of jobs , I'm getting ready to go back to mine.
Monday the 24th is my first day back. Zelly will go to Lisa Ponds'
house during the day. We had a trial run this week, on Monday and
Tuesday, while I attended training. Zelly had a great time and so did
Lisa and her kids. Lisa and her partner are foster parents to special
needs kids and they all just love babies. They live in a neighborhood
with lots of kids and stay at home moms. It's a really good situation
and we feel pretty luck to be able to have her watch Zell.

So my days as a stay-at-home-mom are ending. I liked it more
than I thought I would. Meaning that I thought I'd miss the hustle
and bustle of work more, but I didn't. If I could collect my paycheck
and stay at home with Zelly I would. That not being the case, I'll go
back with as much grace as possible knowing that she's in good hands
when she's not in ours.

Photos! We've got two rolls to send in and as soon as we get
them back you'll have lots more pics to look at on the website. She's
just getting cuter all the time and smarter and bigger and... of gushing mom>. Whenever we got anywhere she gets so much attention,
it just fuels my ego.

March Update

Ok, first things first. Zelly weighs in at 5# 14oz today, is 19" long
with a head 35 cm around. She's growing and sleeping longer at night.
In fact her whole feeding schedule is changing so that she eats less
at night and more during the middle of the day. She's slowed down her
growth rate, only averaging 1/2 oz per day for the past three weeks,
down from the previous rate of 3/4 oz. 'Normal' newborns grow at an
average of 1 oz per day.

She continues to grow more beautiful every day. She's more alert
during the day, picking up her head and looking around, showing more
interest in visual things.

Zelly is learning how to suck her thumb. She's lying on her back,
babbling to herself, her arms zooming around in random motion.
Suddenly one of her hands brushes by her mouth. She opens her mouth,
but too late, the hand has zoomed off again and is now waving in the
air by her ear. Her mouth is open now, ready for another chance at
the elusive digits. Vrroooom, the hand comes by but too fast, but the
other one is close behind. Ah Ha! She captures a knuckle, suck, suck,
suck, zoom, and it's gone again. This goes on for several moments
until at some magical point the reflex to open the mouth coincides
with the arrival of the hand, and, fortuitously, the thumb is
extended. The mouth closes around the thumb and sucks loudly. Her
eye brows are drawn together in concentration. Her other fingers are
open and holding her cheek. Then, just as suddenly as it arrived, the
hand pulls away again, leaving an empty, smacking mouth.

I know this isn't a news flash to other moms, but I can be
entertained for a long time just watching her do this.

Zelly and I are taking walks around the neighborhood on nice days.
And yes, we do actually have a few in March, you just have to
move quickly between spring showers. I pack her up into a snuggli
carrier, wrapping her in a blankie and wedging her into it. She
usually falls asleep instantly.

Ok, that's it for now. Be sure to check the website for new pictures
and just to tide you over, I've attatched a picture of Zelly smiling.
Ok, so maybe it's just a reflexive smile, but it's nice anyway. I had
her propped up on the couch and waited with the polaroid trying to
catch her with her eyes open. Everytime I got ready she started to
nod off. Then she cracked this smile and even with her eyes closed I
knew I had to take the picture. Enjoy.

cam

Adoption News

This morning we met with the Judge and 10 mins later Wendy became Zelly's
other legal mother.

I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I want to celebrate
HUGELY that our family is legal, but on the other hand, I'm irritated
that I had to adopt in the first place, so I want to downplay the
procedure.

I guess it's like this: would I celebrate completing medical power of
attorney papers? Ya know, another document that would be unnecessary
if Camey and I could marry.

So, it's done, it was easy (thank goodness!) and, *bonus*, my company
has adoption reimbursement.

wendy, mama to zelly and partner to camey
p.s. there's a new pic up on the web page... and we'll probably have
the adoption pic up later today.

Eye Check and More

We had two doctors appointments last week. Zelly had her
preemie eye exams and passed with flying colors -- she has no
retina problems related to her premature birth. We also saw the
pediatrician and she's up to 5 lbs, 2 oz and 18 inches long. That
explains why she's growning out of some of her sleepers. Our little
girl is growing up so fast !

She's in an awkward
inbetween stage where she's getting too big for the very smallest
sleepers but is still too small for the stuff you can get for newborns
in the stores. Luckily we've got a handful that still fit including a
couple of the pretty pink Carter's jammies her Nana (Wendy's mom) got
for her.

Why is she so big? She's been eating extremely well and this
past weekend she really put away the chow. Which, of course,
means more stinkys!! This girl can fart and burp so loudly that it
startles her -- and we can hear it from the next room. It's amazing
that such a small package can make sooo much noise.

We've been working on Wendy's cross-adoption of Zelly and last
week we had our homestudy. Wendy collected glowing reference
letters from friends (thanks!) and the guardian ad-litem conducted an
interview. We just got the post-placement home study report and the
recommendation was positive. Now we're just awaiting word from our
attorney on a court date. From what we've heard the court date is
just a formality, we'll meet with a judge in their chambers and Wendy
will become a legal parent to Hazel. This is a very exciting step for
us and we'll let you all know when it's finalized.

Other updates....
We've opened an education IRA and a second investment account
for Zelly. We're also looking into buying tuition credits from the
state of Washington for her college education.

Zelly is 2 weeks past her due date and 2 1/2 months old. She's
getting more alert all the time. When she's not sleeping or being
grumpy, she has fun talking to herself (or her stuffed animals) and
wiggling her legs and arms all over the place. She may not be able to
focus her eyes yet but she can follow some large movements.
Especially when there's lots of light and dark contrast. It may not
seem possible, but she gets cuter every day.

Well, gotta go, Zelly's telling me (loudly) that it's time to have a
snack between meals. Some days it seems like all I'm doing is feeding
her or getting ready to feed her.... and once she is fed and freshly
diapered I'm faced with the ages-old question - do I nap or do I try
to do 10 things around the house in the (maybe) 2 hours that I have
before she needs to eat next?

Until next time, sleep well and if you happen to be awake at 3 am,
think of Zelly and I working on a bottle and watching World News Now.

The Due Date has Arrived

Hey, only two more days until I'm due! How exciting... ;-)

So now Zelly's finally due on Saturday, 40 weeks old on Sunday
and 2 months old on Monday. This is Zelly Weekend, which
should be a holiday so make sure to celebrate according to your
customs and whims.

And to celebrate getting to this stage in her young life, she's gotten
herself up to 4.8 lbs (4 lbs 12.5 oz). She's grown 1.5 cm (up to 44)
and her heads gotten bigger around (no doubt due to all the times she
hears how great, beautiful, strong and smart she is).

Also, as a 2 month birthday present to her, I've launched a website
for her... the Zelly Zone at . Please stop
by and check it out. I've got a couple of pictures up that I've not
sent out to you all yet. I plan on adding more pictures, a fuller
account of her birth story and other bells and whistles as time
permits.

I have a request to make of all of you. Please write a paragraph or
two or more about or to Zelly. Some of you were present for her
birth, you could write about that. You may want to give Zelly advice
or tell her stories about her mothers or make predictions on the
future. You could tell her what you thought when you heard about her
birth. Whatever you want to do. I'll print them up on nice paper and
include them in her baby scrapbook.

Weekly Checkup

Zelly had her weekly checkup yesterday and is doing great. Her
diaper rash is almost totally cleared up and she's eating really well.
She didn't gain weight as fast as I'd predicted, she's at 4 lbs 3 oz,
exactly 2 lbs more than at birth.

She's getting better at spending time alone, entertaining herself.
Her chief form of entertainment is waiving her hands around and seeing
what they run into first. If it's her mouth, she sucks on them.
Anything else, she grabs it and pulls. That could be her ear, nose,
eyes... if she gets a hold of her blanket, she pulls that into her
mouth. She coos and talks and squeeks and grunts to herself in an
almost endless monologue. In short, she takes after Wendy.... oh, am
I going to get it!

We're settling into a sort of groove with her at home. 'Sort of'
because as you other parents know, the groove tends to change every
few days if not daily. I think we're both feeling a lot more
confident in our parenting abilities.

Chubby Cheeks

She's getting bigger and bigger. At our Thursday pediatrician
appointment she weighed in at 3 lbs, 15.75 oz. We figure she's
above 4 lbs now. Her cheeks are getting chubby and her hair is
getting darker. She's a really good snuggler when she's not being
fussy about her diaper or her tummy.

Wendy and I are adjusting to sleep deprivation and still being nice to
each other -- quite an accomplishment, I think.

She gains about an ounce a day so she should hit 5 lbs in a
couple of weeks. I'll leave it at that for now, just wanted you all
to know that we've hit another milestone.

stay well, everyone and if you happen to wake up at about 3 in the
morning think of Zelly and me and send her encouraging thoughts about
drinking all of her bottle.

We are a FAMILY..

.. we've got our little Zel-ly.

Yes, she's home. We are now parents-in-fact instead of parents-in-
waiting. She was discharged at around 11:45 and we immediately went
across the street for an eye exam. Her eyes are fine and we'll go
back in 4 weeks for a followup. We'll go into the pediatrician
Thursday to weigh her and do a blood test. We're watching her for
possible anemia, a common concern in premie babies.

Boy am I ever glad we got a diaper genie. She's been home about three
hours and I've relieved her of three poopy diapers already. She
filled them all in the last hour -- obviously she was holding it for a
while.

Wendy and Zelly are watching the Rosie O'Donnell show. It's
important to start teaching her about culture early and about
sleeping through loud laughter. The cats think she's some wierd
little creature, they are satisfied to peek at her and leave it at
that.

Her weight today is 3 lbs, 12.5 oz. I think she'll be 4 lbs this
weekend, which will be what she should have weighed at birth. She's
16 1/2 inches long (2 inches more than at birth). Do we have a
volunteer to buy her basketball shoes?

Well that's all for now. I'll get another report out later in the
week. Thank you to everyone for your encouraging messages.

Getting Bigger

Hey, folks! It's time to reward your patience and give you pictures
of the miracle girl. I finally got comfortable with the scanner and
software so that I could get good images and save them in the correct
format. Hope you all like them.

[note: photos in photo section now]

Zelly weighs 3 lbs and 5.6 oz today. She's taking more and more
feedings from the bottle, without needing her tube. She's still not
getting much from breasfeeding but she has more patience for it each
time we try. She's only 36 weeks gestationally this weekend so she's
still doing things appropriate for her developmental stage. Included
in that development is moderating her body temperature well enough to
be in an open air crib.

Zelly's been practicing her facial expressions. She's very good at
angry, hungry and blissed out. She's got a lot of skill in pursing
her lips and wiggling her eyebrows up and down. And she has a little
smile that makes you think she's got secrets she's not sharing.

When her grandparents (Kathy and David) visited last night, she
was a bit stubborn about opening her eyes. Many photos were
taken anyway. I don't think she was sleeping, she scrunched up
her eyes each time the flash went off, I think she was just showing
her independence. After a nice long visit and much holding and cooing
by the grandparentals, I settled Zelly back into her crib to sleep. I
put her on her side, with her friend Piglet and then she did it. She
opened her eyes. And smiled her secret smile.

I've attatched three pictures. The first is a picture of Zelly at 41
hours. We're having skin-on-skin time (also called kangaroo care).

The other two are from last night. One is of Zelly and the Piglet
that Grandpa gave her shortly after she was born. Piglet has been
keeping watch over her ever since. In the second one it's hard to
tell but she's yawning not howling.

Coming home soon?

Well I remember saying awhile back that she would probably be
able to come home at the end of January. If all goes well, my
estimate is prophetic. Unless there are counter-indications over the
weekend, Zelly will be discharged into the loving care of her moms on
Monday, 1/31/00. How's that for the end of January?

She weighs 3 lbs and 10.5 oz and is spunky and full of
personality. She knows how to impersonate various animals: she
grunts like a little piglet (is she trying to communicate with
her crib mate?), she can mewl like a kitten, and she knows how
to play possum when she's not in the mood to take her bottle.
And she can purse her lips like the Church Lady.

We're going out today to complete the car seat acquisition and get it
checked out by the nurses. I'm planning on spending an extended
period of time with Zelly tomorrow, away from the monitors and nurses
in a seperate room near the nursery. That's supposed to help me gain
confidence in my ability to take care of her. The reality is that the
prospect of finally bring her home fills me with exhileration and
terror. All you parents, tell me, is that normal?

Ok, nows the time to REALLY send us the positive vibes, we're
about to become full time parents.

Up to 3lbs

This update will be short, but sweet, like our Zelly.

She's topped 3 lbs this week! Today's weight is 3 lbs and 2.6 oz.
That's a 2 oz gain over yesterday's weight. Yesterday's weight also
represented a 2 oz gain, up to 3 lbs .6 oz. So who wants to place
bets on when she'll top 4 lbs????

We're still working on nursing and bottle feeding. We work on
nursing twice a day and she takes a bottle for some of the other
feedings. That's a big step for her. She's still pretty tuckered at
the end of the day and getting those feedings mostly through her tube
(special delivery, straight to the tummy).

Transfer to Olympia

Zelly is *finally* being transferred to the local hospital here in
Olympia. Swedish okayed her for transfer Monday evening, but the
insurance companies (we switched jan 1) were fighting over who was
responsible for transit expenses. Our company finally agreed to pay
the cost themselves in order to expedite the move. One of the
insurance carriers will probably end up paying anyway, but they may
not resolve it for months; and since corp. essentially "co-signed" for
the payment, Swedish had their authorization. So once that was taken
care of, we could have moved her yesterday, but the nursery down here
was full! Today they have room, so Zelly is currently en route!

We are very excited to have her closer. Cam has been working on
breastfeeding for the last 3 nights and it will be much better for her
and Zelly to be able to practice several times a day. Zelly's getting
the hang of it, but is getting most of her food via a tube, and will
continue to do so for a couple weeks. Once she can get all food via
breast or bottle, she can come home!!!!!!

I've joined the preemie-l list, which has been interesting... ya know
being in a straight space after so many years on this list is kind a
weird. I did get a pretty amazing message last night from a straight
woman on the list applauding our decision to have a baby. And I've
met a lesbian in Seattle who had a preemie at Swedish 2 yrs ago.

well, I've gone on long enough! Zelly is up to 2 lbs, 13.5 oz and
looking more like a little girl every day.

I also wanted to thank all those that sent messages to me... I don't
have time to reply to everyone, but wanted all to know that I really
appreciate the messages.

New Kid In Town

Ok, our patience has been rewarded. Zelly will be coming to
Olympia this morning to begin her next phase of learning to be a
baby.

Last night we had our third nursing session. Zelly's starting to get
the hang of it, although it's still recreational -- she still gets her
main feeding through her tube. She opened wide and searched around
and clamped on (ow!) and sucked. I think she's going to figure this
out pretty soon.

She's up to 2 lbs 13.5 oz. She may slow down a bit with the
transfer but I'm hoping we'll have a 3 lb baby by her 4 week birthday
on Monday.

Thanks again to all of you and your positive thoughts and
supportive messages. Good-bye for now from Olytown, soon to be
home to the wonderful, magical Zelly.

25 days old

Hello to Zelly's fan club

Well, she's getting fat and sassy! As of last night she weighs 2 lbs,
13 oz. Wanna bet on when she'll hit 3 lbs? She's wearing tiny little
preemie clothes now (thanks Cyndi and Joe!) and looking cute. There's
a puffy little pink hat that we put on her when she's out of her
isolette and it makes her look like a little mushroom baby. She's got
the Combs forehead and eyebrows, her maternal great-grandmother's big
feet, her maternal grandmother's frown line and her mother's lips,
chin and nose. Her hair is showing a tendancy toward blonde, at least
for now, and but we can't tell what her eye color is going to be yet.
As for personality, she's got tons! I have a feeling Wendy and I are
always going to be struggling to keep up with her.

She's been ready for transfer to our local hospital in Olympia for two
days now. That means that she's off the IV, off the oxygen and
getting her feedings every three hours instead of continuously. She's
regulating her body temperature almost well enough to be out of the
isolette. So she's been doing her work just fine. We're not
surprised that she's goal oriented like her moms.

Even though she's been ready to move on, the transfer has not
taken place. Unfortunately we got caught in an insurance limbo
(we just switched to a different insurance company at the first of the
year). We've spent a lot of time and long-distance phone money
getting this resolved (mostly screaming at the right people at our
corporate office so they would resolve it). I'm happy to report that
we've just received word that the transfer has been approved and Zelly
should be moved to Olympia tomorrow morning. Hallelujah! Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is great because Zelly and I are learning a new trick -
breastfeeding. With her in the local hospital, we'll be able to
practice more often and hasten the time when she can come home. That
will be quite a happy day.

Wendy and I have the crib set up, finally. Right now it's home to
Zel's stuffed animals since she'll be in a bassinet for a while.
We've gotten several beautiful pieces of clothing -- most of which are
too big for her now but will look lovely on her in the coming months.

Thanks to all of you for your positive thoughts and good wishes. It
means a great deal to us that we have such a strong and loving
extended family.

Thanks

Thanks to all who have sent messages to me and the list.. we're going
to put them all in the baby book (or rather, the baby box!).

Wanted you all to know that Zelly is now up to 2 lbs. 11.6 oz. She's
finished phase 1 of feeding protocol, so all her nutrition is coming
from Camey. They've currently got her on fortifiers as well for 2-3
days. Then she's starts phase 2 of feeding protocol: moving from
contiuous feeding to every 3 hrs. This is a 3 day process, starting
with feed 2hrs, off 1 hr; then feed 1 hr, off 2 hrs; then feed every 3
hrs. When she's done with this, she gets to move to Olympia. This
will probably happen next Monday or Tuesday. We are very excited to
have her closer to us.

A couple of big milestones:
1. clothes! nurse Kristina put her in a onesie on Sunday night, so we
got to change her clothes on Monday night. Of course, we had to unhook
and rehook her IV and feeding tube, but it's great to see her in a
onesie.

2. bath!!!! we got to give her a bath on Wed. night. What an
adventure that was. We used one of those hospital basins, ya know
the ones about 12 x 6 x 6in deep that are great for doing dishes when
camping. The nurse put a towel in it, draped over one end. All the
monitors were removed and in she went. I had her head/shoulders with
one hand, held her iv hand/arm out of the water, and cam washed her.
Zelly would NOT keep her legs still. I think she was trying to do the
breast stroke kick! At one point we ended up with her suspended
totally in the air... while Cam washed her back. I swear zelly looked
at us like "what the HELL are you amateurs *doing*?"

3. She should be getting her IV out today. We'll find out when the
nurse calls with the update this afternoon.

Well, that's it for now. We are still in a really weird space: being
moms without a baby at home, but shopping via ebay for her has helped
me out!

She has Arrived

Well, by now all of you know that the baby has arrived. I thought
I'd drop you a line to let you know how we're all doing.

I'm feeling great and back to work part time. I'll go to work in
the mornings and work from home in the afternoon until Hazel comes
home.

Hazel is beginning to put on weight -- Yahoo! She's doing great
with the feeding protocol and if she continues at this pace she'll
be coming to St. Pete's in Olympia next week. Wendy and I spent
time with her last night and she was in fine form. She burped,
sneezed and had hickups -- all very normal, mundane things but very
exciting for us. She also was exercising her nursing muscles by
sucking on our finger tips -- she's very good at it and kept at it
until Wendy rocked her to sleep. So far the person she most
resembles is Dad -- high forhead, receeding hairline, same bushy
eyebrows, same wrinkles on her forehead. She is beginning to smooth
out and fill in some of her skin, I am eagerly looking forward to
the time when she has an actual butt and not just a couple of
wrinkles over her hip bones.

Hope this message finds you all in good health. Thank you for all
your prayers, positive thoughts and love -- they all contributed to
a good outcome for my little family.