13 months

It's SPRING here in Portland. Wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous spring!
Everything is blooming. It's yellow and pink all over.
Uma is now 13 months old! I have been such a poor blogger, and my excuses are many. Let's just say this- being a single working mother is OVERRATED!!!
It makes one entirely too busy. I could go into details, but I'll spare you as it's an archetype we all know in this culture.

I miss my days of lounging around with Uma and taking long walks and smelling flowers. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Dag, I enjoyed myself so much on my maternity leave. I relished in every moment. I knew that going back to teach school this year would be an experiment, and I knew it wouldn't be easy but I had no idea the toll it would take on me. I love the kids, my co-workers, and the entire school community, I just wish we had 3 day weeks. A two week vacation every month would be nice too. Teaching itself is a huge job, it takes every morsel of your energy...combine that with sleep deprivation and chasing after a babbling one year old and it's not very pretty at times.
I just miss spending all my time with Uma.....

Uma, however, is fine. She loves school. She gets so much attention, it's ridiculous.
She is doing so many amazing things.
She blows kisses and waves (now without any prompting).
She does sign language for more, milk, eat, sleep and all done. She pets the cats gently.
She says WOW appropriately.
I tell you, the girl is a wonder. She loves to dance, and to passionately throw herself into furniture.
Her greatest joy these days (besides kissing herself in the mirror) is opening and shutting things over and over and over again. Putting lids on things, taking them off.
This is a stage that lasts a while apparently. It keeps her real busy.

She has all of these new expressions...she knits her brows together in a scorn (pretty funny), she pops her eyes out in excitement, she cocks her head when she is looking at something.
The girl is non-stop entertainment.

She is such a stinker. So firey and determined yet so absolutely adorable and beautiful.

She's even getting her top two teeth!!!! If you've been following the blog, you know she's been kinda behind in the teeth area of development, so we are anxiously awaiting the newbies.
This teething business is such a trip. I swear it's been my excuse for everything since she's been 2 months old. No one told me that the first 2 years of every baby's life are spent in fevers and illnesses induced by these bone daggers. Who could imagine that we humans could be so poorly designed? I know that it probably is perfect as it builds our immune systems or something, but the sleep deprivation is something else. I felt like I was hallucinating a few weeks back after a week of "teething".....
But it will all be worth it to see her smile with four whole teeth.