SitterBaum Life: Bittersweet Three Months

It's been a busy past couple weeks, for good and for bad.

First, we went to visit my cousins Emily and Sara (and their 5-month-old babies and 3 and 4 year old girls) in Indiana since Emily missed meeting Amelie at our last family reunion due to illness. The drive there was a little harsh, since Amelie did NOT want to sit in her carseat after an hour of the 4 hour drive, so we stopped every 45 minutes or so to swing her in random parking lots along the way, but we finally arrived in fairly good time, considering. Sara's hometown was having it's annual holiday celebration, so it was a great time to go - we took the kids to the parade downtown, and then met Santa:

Somehow we forgot to get a picture of all three babies together - but I think that may have been because one was always taking a nap at any given time.

While there, I learned some new things from my cousin mommies:

Some babies don't poop every time they eat, in fact, some don't even poop every day. Wow. Imagine all the savings on wipes and dipes! Good thing we have the cloth dipes.
Baths are a great way to relax babies before bedtime.
Kid sisters, as opposed to parents, often get the biggest smiles/laughs from babies.
Most moms can feel their milk let down and describe it as a tingling sensation. I have never felt this. Odd.

A week later, we had planned a trip to Miami, Florida awhile ago, to visit Dorian's last living grandparent, his paternal grandmother, Leah Baum. Amelie is her first and only great-grandchild and we wanted to introduce them as soon as possible. We scheduled our flights for the week of December 11th. 3 days before we were scheduled to leave, Dorian received a call that his boobie, Leah, had suffered a heart attack, but was stabilized and in the hospital, but scheduled to be released within a few days. We considering leaving early, but she was recovering, and we couldn't take Amelie to visit her in the hospital, and besides, I had to attend an annual Medicaid CLE, that I ironically missed last year when I attended the funeral for Dorian's other grandmother, Beatrice, in NYC.

Anyway, we left as planned, and Amelie handled her first flight with flying colors, sleeping the entire first half of the 2.5 hour direct flight, and playing with a toy the last half. I nursed her on our descent to prevent her ears from hurting, and it must have worked, since she didn't fuss one bit. We arrived to 70 degree weather, and Amelie loved not having to wear much more than a diaper for the first time in her short life.

However, the day Leah was to be released from the hospital (so Amelie could meet her!) she suffered a stroke :( Luckily, Dorian's parents and sister were in town as well (to see Leah and Amelie simultaneously) and everyone was able to visit her in the hospital and say their goodbyes before she passed the following Thursday at the age of 90.

Leah Baum - March 5, 1921 - December 15, 2011

So it was a bittersweet week, seeing family members, but losing one as well. I could go on about Boobie Lea, but Dorian has asked me not to dwell on it....so if you know him, please no cards or flowers (at his request). In the meantime, Amelie, oblivious, began to talk a lot, making ooooohs and ahhhhhs, with some consonant sounds mixed in, for up to 20 minutes at a time, even when sucking her thumb. G-ma Lynne taught her to play peek-a-boo, and Dorian discovered her joy of being lifted over his head, to which she responded by opening her mouth into a huge grin. I also discovered Amelie's love of a real bath, in a tub, in which I was able to submerse her head and hold her on her back in the water while she grinned and splashed with her feet. I so hope we have the funds to get a tub at our house someday soon.

We returned to Ohio to 30 degree weather, and me with a cold from lack of sleep and/or the germy airplane. I am still trying to avoid getting Amelie sick by washing my hands before each time I touch her, and boiling my pump parts after every use. We were afraid she might be fighting it off since she's been pulling at her ears, and sleeping up to 14 hours straight, but after a quick visit to the pedi last night, she has a clean bill of health - no fever, nothing but wax in her ears, and weighing 12 lbs, 8 oz! Perhaps she has discovered her ears or has some residual plane pressure, but it's clearly not bothering her beyond pulling on them.

Now that she's finally 3 months old, it was time for me to begin crib training her at night (according to everyone who heard that I still nursed her in bed with us at night) so as an experiment, we began a routine of bath, books, bed by 8 pm on Saturday night, and wouldn't you know it - she slept until 4 am, requiring me to pump, and then after eating, she slept until 7:30! Guess this was either perfect timing or overdue, regardless, I'm thrilled it is going so well so far. I shouldn't jinx us though, it's possible she's just really sleepy from fighting off a cold, but at least it's getting her comfortable with her crib and nursery.