Fun new videos

Quick, she's sleeping more than ten minutes, so here's some video updates of BugBat's recent progress:

Discovering her hand last week

Smiling at her caterpillar toy

Another hand discovery this week

Refusing to smile for the camera

Dad being silly with her

This has been a big week for both of us - BugBat hit her 6 week growth spurt, and only let me sleep about 4 hours a night while she nursed like crazy, but it's been worth it to see her rapid development this week.  Her eyes are focusing much better now, and she can keep herself occupied for 10 minutes at a time by staring at things and studying them while she's awake, as opposed to wanting to be held constantly.  We are also starting a gentle transition to her crib for naps, and she will stare at the mobile above her head and coo at it until she falls asleep (unfortunately only for 20 minutes before waking and crying for attention again).  She's also discovering her hands (see videos supra) and grabbing at her toys now, which is really fun!

As for me, I'm beginning to catch up with work and taking things home to study, while going into the office with her every other day for half a day.  Sometimes I end up working excruciatingly slow by typing with one hand and holding her with the other, but at least I feel like I'm trying to get back into the swing of things for next week when she goes to family care.  I've been dreading this point, when she's 6 weeks old and ready for babysitting, but I think it will actually be really good for me to have a break from her every once in awhile (we're starting out slow, with only 8 hours a week of care), and it will be good that BugBat gets used to the family care early, before she develops separation anxiety.  We also REALLY like our family care provider, someone I have known since high school, who has two children of her own, is educated in early childhood development, and has a structured and organic household for the kids.  We went for a visit last week during a busy day, and the kids were so sweet and well-behaved, so we feel really good about it.

Yesterday happened to be a bad day, however, we received bad news at the office, that one of our most valued coworkers was leaving us to work at the local medical center (congrats Nan, but we're going to miss you!), and then, after I came home from work, I found our papillion dog, Jack, at the bottom of the stairs refusing to come up and acting unsteady on his feet.  I tried to pick him up, but he yelped in pain, so at the end of an already long day, I rushed him to the vet with BugBat in tow, wondering how on earth I was going to carry both of them into the clinic.....luckily, Wombat was able to meet me there and the vet was able to prescribe some steroids for Jack's inflamed disc in his back, apparently a recurring condition he has.  Whew, what a week.  I don't know how single mothers do it.  Thank goodness that Wombat's business is also doing quite well so far, and I may be able to remain a part-time attorney and mom....here's hoping!

One Month of Sweet Pea Love

So I'm posting this late, but most of the pictures were taken when BugBat was exactly one month old, on Friday, October 14th.  (EDIT: This blog post took me over two days to finish, not because it is long, but because I could never sit down long enough to finish it.  In fact, this introduction just took me more than 2 hours lol).

Faux-hawk again, she likes it

U-Dub cuddles

Step-Cousin Ella's first introduction 

Papaw, Ella, and Mimi

Papaw Bill

Wombat being a Kanga with his Roo

I'm not sure who likes it more...

Caught sleeping with BugBat 

One Month Old already!  Picture taken with our token representative, Chocobo, for future size comparison.

Her deceptively sweet and clean face ;)

Same day, different outfit (after the first one went in the wash, of course).

Choco kisses, by accident, but she didn't seem to mind.

Smiles!

Don't look at me sleeping.

The infamous bottom lip pout, finally caught on camera!  It always makes us giggle.

Grandma Chris came for a visit to allow me to finish some chores.

Thank you, Grandma Chris!

Some updates and stories from this past week - it's a good thing she learned to smile at us, because she decided to have a red letter week in the mess department.  First, Saturday night I was planning to go out with some girl friends for the first time since BugBat was born.  As I was holding her one last time before heading out the door, she spit up all over me (and herself, and the floor, and the couch), thereby wasting most of the milk I had just nursed to her that was supposed to keep her satisfied while I was gone, and immediately wanting to eat the milk I had pumped beforehand that Wombat was supposed to use for her later.

Then, this morning, during her first change of the day, as I wiped her down before removing her dirty diaper, she sprayed the entire room within the split second it took me to pull her diaper away and before I could get the new one on.  It went on her baby book, the crib, the wall, the floor, me, her new diaper, and the lamp.  Thank goodness Wombat hadn't left for work yet so he could help me get the mess under control....meanwhile, BugBat just SMILED as us and began what sounded like giggling at us.  I was smitten regardless...the little scamp! One day those smiles will not work on us!  Probably.  Maybe.  :)

As long as we're talking about ups and downs, I have a confession - becoming a mom is a huge transition.  I knew it would require sleepless nights, and messes, and 24-7 attention, but I didn't realize that despite going through all of that, I STILL wouldn't feel caught up on things.  I do laundry everyday now, yet, more is produced as I do it.  I didn't realize that there would be times that I could not help BugBat stop crying, no matter what I tried.  I didn't realize how unproductive I would feel, even after a long day of nursing, changing, cleaning, talking, paying bills, and making a crock pot meal.  I often wonder if I'm doing it right, if I'm too lazy at times, or if Wombat is a better parent than I am.  When BugBat falls asleep during the day, I spend half the time trying to figure which of my priorities I should do while I have the chance, and then I second guess myself on my choice to take a nap, a shower, work out, blog, write thank yous.....  Then on the occasional day that I have a chance to wipe down the kitchen and bathroom, de-fur the living room, AND wash the dog, I feel invincible!

I'll end with an analogy from Dr. Dave that Wombat and I found funny at my 4-week recovery visit, "You can now waltz, but not slam-dance."  Hahaha!

First Hint of a Smile?

I don't know if this might be a real reaction or not, but it makes me happy regardless:

So BugBat's 3 week pediatrics appointment was yesterday, and although she still has to wait another month for her first round of vaccines, we received some good updates.  First, she weighs 10.0 lbs even (80%), she measures 21 3/4 inches (80%), and her head circumference is 37 centimeters (50%).  She'll need to begin taking vitamin D supplements since I'm EBF (exclusively breast feeding), and it's likely that she has a least a touch of colic, mer!  We got gas drops last night for her, and it seemed to help, so hopefully she'll get past this quickly.  She also slept for a record 6 hours straight last night....though it took 3 hours to get her to sleep, she slept from 1 to 7 am without a peep!  Huzzah!

Catching up from last week, Wombat and I also went on our first post-baby date on Friday, thanks to Grandma Chris and Grandpa Ron, who graciously offered to come over and be with BugBat at our house for a couple hours while we went out to dinner.  We choose our favorite local Mexican restaurant, and thanks to pumping and my cousin Sara for cluing me into breastmilk alcohol test strips  I had my first drink in nearly a year!  It may be hard to believe, but we actually didn't talk about the baby the entire time. We had to document the fantastic evening with a couple pics:

It may seem that this blog has turned into nothing but talk about BugBat.....well that would be correct, for now at least.  She's the newest, most exciting addition in our lives lately, however, now that we've all survived our first month together, I'm feeling some semblance of a life outside of parenting again.  I made my first car trip alone with BugBat yesterday, and it felt SO good to get through it smoothly.  We only went to Wells Fargo to set up her 529 plan, but I still managed to drive there without stopping to check on her (scary, because she's facing the other way in the back seat and quiet as a mouse), detached her car seat, carried it in with me, and got it back into the car without injuring either of us in the process.  If you've ever owned a Britax car seat, you know how awkward this can be since they are so big.  Anyway, after returned home, we couldn't go in the house yet since it was being exterminated for box elder bugs, spiders, and lady beetles (with non-toxic stuff approved for daycares, but still, can't be too careful), so I also managed to get her car seat in the snap-n-go by myself and we went for a lovely 1- mile walk down our road to see all the fall colors and enjoy the weather.  She slept the entire time. 

So back to the beginning of this post - I admit, for this first month of BugBat's life, I've felt compelled to protect her and take care of her, but I've been patiently waiting to feel "connected" to her, so to speak.  Most of the time, I'm pretty sure I'm nothing but a giant boob to her, but now, I feel like she's beginning to recognize my voice and respond positively to it (see smile, supra).  I can't wait to see some more of that soon :)  It still breaks my heart when she cries at night for several hours (colic) and nothing I do seems to help her.  The best I can do is throw her over my shoulder and walk for 2-3 hours on end.  And glare at Wombat as he sleeps, oblivious...  It's a good thing he's super helpful with everything else.  Seriously though, he's been great with meals, trash, laundry, mowing....pretty much everything besides cleaning, but oh, right, he's also working and running his own business!  Thanks, sweetheart, you're already a fantastic dad and we love you very much!

BugBat's many faces

Ok, after cleaning up, here are some more fun pictures of BugBat's expressions upon waking up and going through her daily stretch routine:

I love this "Cheerio" face!

 

And here is a not-so-happy face:

Current Likes:  Sucking on hands, sitting in a bath, being held, riding in the car, tummy time on dad's chest, spitting up on mom less than an hour after she finally gets a shower, messing up a diaper three times in row within 30 minutes, waking up and stretching in the morning

Current Dislikes:  being washed in bath, being strapped into a carseat, bright lights, being dressed/undressed, going to sleep between 10 pm and 2 am, having her diaper changed when she is hungry

Three Weeks

(a day late, but only because we've had major internet problems at our house lately....grumble grumble Time Warner grumble....)

First, some picture updates with dad:

 

Ok, I really don't know how or why these are sideways - I straightened them when I downloaded them, but the blog really wants them sideways for some reason.  Oh well, you get the idea (of cuteness!):

Some family reunion pictures from the weekend (another reason I haven't posted in awhile):

Brother and SIL (Uncle Jon and Aunt Margot)

Uncle Jon's foot comparison with BugBat's

Two grandmas (and sisters) with cousin babies

She outlasted Jack-dog

Wombat's poker game with the guys

Now for some updates - we unofficially weighed BugBat again this week using our bathroom scale and with Wombat weighing himself with and without her.......she came in around 9.7 lbs on Monday!  It's a good thing she's still growing because I've been getting concerned that perhaps she wasn't getting enough to eat when she suddenly began to get fussier at night and wanting to eat constantly, but now I think it was just for comfort, because she's also been spitting it up every other day, perhaps from overeating.  My chest soreness has also faded, but hopefully it's because my body has finally become used to being a human cow, and not that my production is down.

The family reunion was fun and it was great to show off BugBat, but it took us a day or two to fully recover, since the over-stimulation of noise and being held led to BugBat sleeping all day and staying up all night.  Luckily it appears she is still healthy and escaped catching any kind of cold from everyone....yay for breastmilk immunities!

Oopsie....more to come later after I clean up a massive spit up.....