On this first day of her 39th week, sweet Caroline found herself in three new states! Oh the places she'll go... We flew through Newark, New Jersey to Albany, NY and then drove over to Massachusetts in order for me to co-officiate at a wedding for a dear high school friend. We'll be adding new silver stars to Caroline's U.S. map on the wall in her nursery... and decided today that we should get some airplane stickers and put those on places she's only experienced via their airports (so far Chicago- but that will surely change some day! Atlanta- but that will likely change next month! And Newark- that might be an airplane forever!) She is playing on the floor of our cottage at this lovely establishment in the Berkshires with her daddy who is singing her silly songs and letting her burn some energy... how the child has energy given that we woke her up at 4 a.m. (aie... usually it goes the other way around...) is beyond me... then again... she did get several naps today. She continues to be an immensely good traveller. She had a few squawky moments, but was basically content for two flights and a long layover. I don't care to ever change a diaper in an airplane restroom again, but... given that it is challenging to change her diaper anywhere these days I don't attribute that struggle exclusively to the circumstances of travel. Anyhow... we're proud of our girl. She's charming the pants off folks... and she's surely going to bring her great, great Aunt Betsy a bit of joy on our short visit to her on Sunday, and her Mamie and Grandpa (and Uncle Daniel and Lauren too?) on Sunday afternoon. It is a crazy packed weekend at the end of the first week of the new semester, but... blessings abound.
I don't think I've written about Caroline during diaper changes lately... We don't use the changing table anymore. She is too strong and too mobile! It is challenging enough to change her on the floor. Even when we ply her with toys or favorite songs... she loves to roll over onto her tummy as soon as she is completely naked, or sooner and crawl away just as fast as she can... this has led to puddles on more than one occasion... and usually the process of getting a new diaper on her is a bit of a wrestling match. Sometimes she lies relatively still for us, playing with a duplex block often... she found the bin of this big lego-like blocks in her closet, and pulled off the lid and dumped them out one day. She likes tearing down towers that we build. And loves gnawing on the blocks, sometimes aiding the diaper changing process.
So this was the first week of the semester... and Caroline did quite well most days. Mommy did o.k., it is very overwhelming to be back in school full time (over time, really...) for lots of reasons. I don't have a lot of time with Caroline in any given day, but I'm trying to make the most of the morning time we have together and being as present as I can through dinner feeding and bedtime rituals. It is wonderful to be greeted by a HUGE smile at the end of the day.
The big new food development this week? Lentils! We were eating a lentil dish and I got to thinking that lentils might be a good food for her. I did a bit of research and sure enough in some cultures they are one of the earliest foods a baby eats! The red lentils we bought at the international market just happened to be the easiest to introduce! Woohoo! We found a recipe that suggested sauteing a bunch of veggies (onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, maybe something else too!) and then simmering the lentils with these and some water or broth. All this is then blended together. I tasted this and it is delicious. It tastes like Thanksgiving to me. And... Caroline likes it too! She ate it almost every night for dinner. We made real strides this week in getting more balance into her eating every day. She eats oatmeal with applesauce almost every morning, rice cereal with yogurt and fruit at lunch, and this lentil mush at dinner, and snacks of fruit, cheese, cheerios, and breast milk, of course. We still need to get more veggies in, but we're making progress. She REALLY likes to eat. She ate peach for the first time this week and liked it! On Wednesday night I was home alone with her and fed her a bowl of her lentil mush and she finished it quickly and looked at me like "Now what?" So I got out a banana and she ate the whole thing in about 20 minutes. Unbelievable. Oh, and this week I was snacking on some grain sweetened chocolate chips and dropped a few. As I was scooping them up she grabbed one and popped it straight into her mouth- to her delight! Oops... but I think daddy was pleased to see her share his taste! (For those of you who don't know, he's a serious chocoholic!)
Kev reports that she is doing a lot more exploring on her own, occupying herself for longer stretches of time. She's crawling a lot better, and faster! She's quite adept at following us from room to room AND she went outside on her own for the first time- from the open kitchen door onto the back deck- and then came back in all on her own (of course kev was keeping a close eye on her!)
She's also a whiz at stair climbing now- at least the single stairs in our house! She's not too bad at going down stairs either. We keep an even closer eye on that process, however. Kev just shared she climbed a big step at church all on her own.
Still not walking, not cruising much, standing lots and lots and trying to pull ups even... this week, Kev shares, that she liked to pull up onto surfaces that have piles on them and reach to pull things down. "Baby's got goals," he declared.
She's pretty well recovered from her two falls last week. She still has a dim green bruise on her forehead, but otherwise no signs of injury. The neighbor girls didn't come by even once though. I hope we didn't scare them off.
Maybe I'll get pics up tomorrow, but I just wanted to get some text posted... I can't believe we've made it 38 weeks with weekly posts at least! Woohoo... soon she will have been out of me as long as she was in me! I hope we keep these posts up for at least the first full year... then we'll see! We have to go over to another building to get a wireless signal so I'm going to try to nurse Caroline to bed (if she'll refrain from biting me- she has bit me three times tonight and each time looked at me with glee as she did it- each time I took her off and said "no" sternly and wouldn't let her nurse for awhile after... we'll see...) Apparently there is another baby here with whom she'll be in child care tomorrow during the ceremony. He is 3 months old, but about her size! My goodness... she'll be 9 months old next week! Anyhow... thanks for reading, friends. Please let me know if you're out there. The comments have been rather quiet lately.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
37 weeks!
Well, here we are again! Friday Night. Another week gone... the last week of summer... the semester starts Monday... And mommy is just. not. sure. how on earth she is going to do it. But this blog is not about mommy (or at least it really should be more about Caroline!) So apparently she fought sleep all day while I was at school, only taking a brief nap at midday and crashed at 4 p.m. It is now approaching 6:30 and she's still sleeping. She really needs the sleep. I decided to try to get a blog entry done and then will wake her and spend some quality time with her and just pray she is able to go to sleep tonight. Last night we finally had a normalish night for the first time in a long time. She was in her crib asleep by 8 and stayed there until about 1, joined us and more or less slept until 6. That is doable. The previous night she went to bed late, but stayed in her crib five hours that night too. I hope we're moving in that direction... (She woke herself up while I was in the midst of the post... I'm continuing to blog while she nurses for the first time in 9 hours.)
Anyhow... I've been meaning to share that Caroline has realized she can effectively carry things in her mouth when she wants to get from here to there. She often plays with a toy for a bit and then decides she wants to get something or see something across the room, or that she wants to follow us into another room and she just puts whatever she's playing with into her mouth and starts crawling- looking for all the world like a little dog! I tried to get pictures of this a few times this week, but everytime I'd go for the camera she'd drop whatever she was carrying and move on to some other entertaining activity. But, we did get pictures one night. She was playing with and carrying around the wash cloth with which we had washed her face after dinner. I was unpacking a gift that had arrived for her that day and she was pretty interested in that- the packaging of it anyhow... pics of her in the gift will follow later in the post, but first the mouth carry pics... or a sequence of out and in the mouth with the wash cloth!
So the gift was a BEAUTIFUL sweater handknit by my seminary roommate Rebecca. It is a 12 month size and is a bit big on her now, but right when things start to cool down it should fit perfectly. Rebecca, if you're still checking in here, WE LOVE IT! THANK YOU! And here's our beautiful girl in her beautiful new sweater. She was quite interested in the extra yarn Rebecca sent along with the sweater and carried that around in her mouth, which was adorable... but we didn't quite catch it on film. But the first pic shows her holding it.
Last Sunday, at the end of our day of rest and remembering we walked to the newly opened location of our favorite Mexican restaurant which is less than a half mile from our house. We eat at this restaurant once every two weeks. Last time we went Caroline discovered avocado... and she enjoyed avocados thoroughly this time too! There was another baby in the restaurant and she kept turning around and staring at him. Her big blue eyes locking with his big blue eyes. It was adorable. They would
occasionally get to squawking and it seemed they were trying to outsquawk one another. No pics of him... just of her post avocado...
No pic of this yet, but Caroline has taken to crossing her fingers. It took daddy about 24 hours to catch her doing this (that is after I did... perhaps she had been doing it before...) It is pretty cute...
It seems she's back to crawling with two straight legs sometimes. She actually manages to move this way. I'm not sure how she does it! She REALLY wants to walk.
On the food front... she's definitely adjusted to oatmeal and eats oatmeal with apple sauce most mornings. She's eating a hearty serving of whole milk yogurt with rice cereal and fruit for another meal and... this week she ate sweet potatoes at home and liked them! Hooray! And she at egg yolk for the first time and seemed to like it! And she ate bits of mozzarella cheese and liked that just fine. Really, our girl is a champion eater. We decided to give her a bite of hummus last night. It had citrus in it so we knew it probably wasn't ideal, but figured it was worth a try. She HATED it... spat, gagged... oh well... we'll try just chick peas with tahini and olive oil, no garlic or citrus and see if that is easier for her to palate! But other than the hummus she has gobbled down just about everything we've passed her way this week. And she eats LOTS of cheerios every day (almost as many as she deposits in her chair and on the floor! Just kidding... she eats more than she tosses... we think.) (Took a blogging break when she finished nursing and she had more dinner... peas and egg yolk... did well with both! woohoo! We haven't been good about getting veggies in every day... fruit yes, grains yes, protein yes. veggies... not so regular at all... but we're getting there. Glad she likes peas!)
Daddy reports that she is playing for longer and longer periods independently when he is home with her. She does have clingy days, but on less clingy days she's really self-entertaining more and more. Today, apparently, she discovered the joy of picking up wooden salad bowls and banging them together. More typically she busies herself crawling around whatever space she can access, crawling under things and around corners, exploring, exploring, exploring. She picks things up and manipulates them with her hands... there's so much to see and do!
She waves a lot these days too. Sometimes it seems she does it as a greeting, sometimes she just seems to want to move her hands about. But more often than not it looks like she's waving... and this delights people who meet her! No pics of that yet... sorry...
The neighbor girls often knock on the door and ask if they can come in and play with Caroline. They often knock at bedtime and we have to say no, but yesterday they picked a good time. I was revising my paper and Kev was doing some work in the kitchen. It was a perfect time for some extra entertainers for Caroline. I could overhear them playing though my office door was closed. Kev was keeping and ear and an eye out as well. They were putting on a play for her with her stuffed animals. It was creative and delightful. And she was having a grand time! She was a bit fussy and clingy when they arrived but she settled happily into play with them very quickly. And then I heard a thump and a scream and an "Oh no!" Kev raced over and as calmly as possible asked what happened. I heard "I dropped her." I came out and took her in my arms and started nursing her while Kev took a stuffed animal and asked them to demonstrate how they were holding her when she fell and how she fell. She was in a cradle hold and the older sister, Destiny, was holding her. She arched her strong little body back and lurched out of Destiny's arms falling onto her head and back on the hardwood floor. Not a very far distance, but potentially at an awkward angle. It first it seemed like she was holding her neck funny and that made me nervous. But she calmed down pretty quickly while nursing. A big bruise showed up on her forehead practically immediately, but we called a nurse friend and got the run down of things to look for... and she really seemed to be herself so we let it be. The girls didn't do anything wrong. It could have easily happened to either of us. We assured them that we weren't mad and that we knew they must be scared and that we'd be happy for them to play with her again. Caroline was grinning at them before they left. I think they'll be playing in the nursery from now on though... for their peace of mind... carpeted...
Poor girl had another fall while I was at school today and seems to have jammed her two little teeth into her upper lip/gums... she apparently bled quite a bit... and was very upset. She fell face first onto the bedrails underneath our bed. We're wondering if we should go to the open hours at our pediatrician's office tomorrow. She isn't showing signs of a concussion, but... two nasty falls in two days! What do you all think?
Well, even with purple forehead and a bloody lip our girl is impossibly cute, really darn cute. She got lots of oohs and ahs from good friends Jenn and Sean (who are expecting their first baby January 6th! Woohoo!!!!) when they joined us for our weekly homemade pizza night on Tuesday. S Here are some pics of her yesterday before the fall! This dress came in one of the wonderful boxes of hand-me-downs... I've realized I need to start putting her in dresses even on just ordinary days if she is going to get to wear all her dresses before outgrowing them...
As I finish up this post, Kev is playing the piano and I am on the couch. Caroline is in the middle of the living room floor between us, playing with some blocks and a stuffed animal. And now she is straight legged crawling my way. Wish you all could be here to see her wonder for yourselves. Thanks for peeking in here from time to time.
Anyhow... I've been meaning to share that Caroline has realized she can effectively carry things in her mouth when she wants to get from here to there. She often plays with a toy for a bit and then decides she wants to get something or see something across the room, or that she wants to follow us into another room and she just puts whatever she's playing with into her mouth and starts crawling- looking for all the world like a little dog! I tried to get pictures of this a few times this week, but everytime I'd go for the camera she'd drop whatever she was carrying and move on to some other entertaining activity. But, we did get pictures one night. She was playing with and carrying around the wash cloth with which we had washed her face after dinner. I was unpacking a gift that had arrived for her that day and she was pretty interested in that- the packaging of it anyhow... pics of her in the gift will follow later in the post, but first the mouth carry pics... or a sequence of out and in the mouth with the wash cloth!
So the gift was a BEAUTIFUL sweater handknit by my seminary roommate Rebecca. It is a 12 month size and is a bit big on her now, but right when things start to cool down it should fit perfectly. Rebecca, if you're still checking in here, WE LOVE IT! THANK YOU! And here's our beautiful girl in her beautiful new sweater. She was quite interested in the extra yarn Rebecca sent along with the sweater and carried that around in her mouth, which was adorable... but we didn't quite catch it on film. But the first pic shows her holding it.
Last Sunday, at the end of our day of rest and remembering we walked to the newly opened location of our favorite Mexican restaurant which is less than a half mile from our house. We eat at this restaurant once every two weeks. Last time we went Caroline discovered avocado... and she enjoyed avocados thoroughly this time too! There was another baby in the restaurant and she kept turning around and staring at him. Her big blue eyes locking with his big blue eyes. It was adorable. They would
occasionally get to squawking and it seemed they were trying to outsquawk one another. No pics of him... just of her post avocado...
No pic of this yet, but Caroline has taken to crossing her fingers. It took daddy about 24 hours to catch her doing this (that is after I did... perhaps she had been doing it before...) It is pretty cute...
It seems she's back to crawling with two straight legs sometimes. She actually manages to move this way. I'm not sure how she does it! She REALLY wants to walk.
On the food front... she's definitely adjusted to oatmeal and eats oatmeal with apple sauce most mornings. She's eating a hearty serving of whole milk yogurt with rice cereal and fruit for another meal and... this week she ate sweet potatoes at home and liked them! Hooray! And she at egg yolk for the first time and seemed to like it! And she ate bits of mozzarella cheese and liked that just fine. Really, our girl is a champion eater. We decided to give her a bite of hummus last night. It had citrus in it so we knew it probably wasn't ideal, but figured it was worth a try. She HATED it... spat, gagged... oh well... we'll try just chick peas with tahini and olive oil, no garlic or citrus and see if that is easier for her to palate! But other than the hummus she has gobbled down just about everything we've passed her way this week. And she eats LOTS of cheerios every day (almost as many as she deposits in her chair and on the floor! Just kidding... she eats more than she tosses... we think.) (Took a blogging break when she finished nursing and she had more dinner... peas and egg yolk... did well with both! woohoo! We haven't been good about getting veggies in every day... fruit yes, grains yes, protein yes. veggies... not so regular at all... but we're getting there. Glad she likes peas!)
Daddy reports that she is playing for longer and longer periods independently when he is home with her. She does have clingy days, but on less clingy days she's really self-entertaining more and more. Today, apparently, she discovered the joy of picking up wooden salad bowls and banging them together. More typically she busies herself crawling around whatever space she can access, crawling under things and around corners, exploring, exploring, exploring. She picks things up and manipulates them with her hands... there's so much to see and do!
She waves a lot these days too. Sometimes it seems she does it as a greeting, sometimes she just seems to want to move her hands about. But more often than not it looks like she's waving... and this delights people who meet her! No pics of that yet... sorry...
The neighbor girls often knock on the door and ask if they can come in and play with Caroline. They often knock at bedtime and we have to say no, but yesterday they picked a good time. I was revising my paper and Kev was doing some work in the kitchen. It was a perfect time for some extra entertainers for Caroline. I could overhear them playing though my office door was closed. Kev was keeping and ear and an eye out as well. They were putting on a play for her with her stuffed animals. It was creative and delightful. And she was having a grand time! She was a bit fussy and clingy when they arrived but she settled happily into play with them very quickly. And then I heard a thump and a scream and an "Oh no!" Kev raced over and as calmly as possible asked what happened. I heard "I dropped her." I came out and took her in my arms and started nursing her while Kev took a stuffed animal and asked them to demonstrate how they were holding her when she fell and how she fell. She was in a cradle hold and the older sister, Destiny, was holding her. She arched her strong little body back and lurched out of Destiny's arms falling onto her head and back on the hardwood floor. Not a very far distance, but potentially at an awkward angle. It first it seemed like she was holding her neck funny and that made me nervous. But she calmed down pretty quickly while nursing. A big bruise showed up on her forehead practically immediately, but we called a nurse friend and got the run down of things to look for... and she really seemed to be herself so we let it be. The girls didn't do anything wrong. It could have easily happened to either of us. We assured them that we weren't mad and that we knew they must be scared and that we'd be happy for them to play with her again. Caroline was grinning at them before they left. I think they'll be playing in the nursery from now on though... for their peace of mind... carpeted...
Poor girl had another fall while I was at school today and seems to have jammed her two little teeth into her upper lip/gums... she apparently bled quite a bit... and was very upset. She fell face first onto the bedrails underneath our bed. We're wondering if we should go to the open hours at our pediatrician's office tomorrow. She isn't showing signs of a concussion, but... two nasty falls in two days! What do you all think?
Well, even with purple forehead and a bloody lip our girl is impossibly cute, really darn cute. She got lots of oohs and ahs from good friends Jenn and Sean (who are expecting their first baby January 6th! Woohoo!!!!) when they joined us for our weekly homemade pizza night on Tuesday. S Here are some pics of her yesterday before the fall! This dress came in one of the wonderful boxes of hand-me-downs... I've realized I need to start putting her in dresses even on just ordinary days if she is going to get to wear all her dresses before outgrowing them...
As I finish up this post, Kev is playing the piano and I am on the couch. Caroline is in the middle of the living room floor between us, playing with some blocks and a stuffed animal. And now she is straight legged crawling my way. Wish you all could be here to see her wonder for yourselves. Thanks for peeking in here from time to time.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
On Remembering
We took a rare day of total sabbath in our household today. And I finally finished the write up of Caroline's birth story that I've been working on on and off since the end of December. I want to review what I wrote today and make a few corrections here and there, but eventually I'll make a pdf of the file and anyone who isn't afraid to see a few somewhat revealing pictures- boobs mostly... sometimes a bit more... no really graphic birth pictures, we don't have any of those- is welcome to read it.
I am so grateful for this blog as I could not have reconstructed much of the story without the updates that we were posting here. Which made me realize... I really wish I were blogging at least a little bit every day. So much is lost from the memory by the time Friday rolls around and therefore will likely be lost forever. Almost every day there is some moment worth remembering... and I let them slip like sand through the fingers.
For example, my mom asked me yesterday how many days I spent on campus last week which made me realize I hadn't shared that in the weekly update. I spent four out of five days on campus AND spent my first 9-5 day on campus... and that was hard... 9-3 days were frustrating because almost 2 hours got taken up with pumping breaks, etc. 9-5 was more productive certainly, but... I really missed Caroline by 5... and realized how much of her life I was missing as it unfolded. It was poignant, bittersweet. This will be life most days in just one short week. And I had my first taste of it this week. She was sound asleep in the car when Kev picked me up. And shortly after we got home and did dinner it was time for bed. I am being blessed with HUGE smiles when I come home, or come into the room she's in after working in my closed up office. This is sweet, but sad too.
Our precious, long awaited baby girl is growing so quickly... and I want to pay close enough attention to be able to remember these sacred days. And it is so easy to let my attention become divided. I pray for the grace to make the most of the time I have with her.
I am so grateful for this blog as I could not have reconstructed much of the story without the updates that we were posting here. Which made me realize... I really wish I were blogging at least a little bit every day. So much is lost from the memory by the time Friday rolls around and therefore will likely be lost forever. Almost every day there is some moment worth remembering... and I let them slip like sand through the fingers.
For example, my mom asked me yesterday how many days I spent on campus last week which made me realize I hadn't shared that in the weekly update. I spent four out of five days on campus AND spent my first 9-5 day on campus... and that was hard... 9-3 days were frustrating because almost 2 hours got taken up with pumping breaks, etc. 9-5 was more productive certainly, but... I really missed Caroline by 5... and realized how much of her life I was missing as it unfolded. It was poignant, bittersweet. This will be life most days in just one short week. And I had my first taste of it this week. She was sound asleep in the car when Kev picked me up. And shortly after we got home and did dinner it was time for bed. I am being blessed with HUGE smiles when I come home, or come into the room she's in after working in my closed up office. This is sweet, but sad too.
Our precious, long awaited baby girl is growing so quickly... and I want to pay close enough attention to be able to remember these sacred days. And it is so easy to let my attention become divided. I pray for the grace to make the most of the time I have with her.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
36 weeks revisited after sleep and photos aided the memory!
Thanks for the good sleep wishes. Last night was a bit better and Caroline did get a good nap in midday today. She's fighting another nap right now. We made the right call in staying home. Kev and I are still quite tired. We're all working out of quite a sleep defecit right now- 8 hours plus of driving and 8 or so hours of hiking in two days... could really be a bit much. And it is hot, hot, hot. Caroline screamed so much two nights ago and during the day yesterday that she is hoarse today. She really sounds quite cute this way... very husky. Though I feel badly that she was in such distress to produce this voice! Ah well... we know she is loved and cared for and that is what matters.
Anyhow... I uploaded the pictures from this week and remember some other KEY things...
Last Sunday congregation number one had its annual picnic and pool party. So... Caroline got into a pool for the first time. Lucky girl got to get into a saltwater pool for her first experience. She was needing a nap and a bit cranky and mommy had a hard time figuring out how to get her suit on her so it took entirely too long to get her ready to get into the pool which never helps the baby's mood... so... she wasn't overly thrilled with the experience. Plus there were lots of people all around and in the pool so it was a bit overwhelming. She didn't meltdown, but didn't LOVE it. She warmed up to it a bit when daddy got in the pool and pranced about with her, but we don't have any pics of that. No face shots of her in the pool... but these are kind of sweet. The first one is just before getting into the pool.
The owners of that gorgeous saltwater pool are first time grandparents of a little boy only 10 days older than Caroline. Grandma watches her gorgeous grandson most days. She urged Kev to bring Caroline over any time and is eager to teach Caroline to swim when she's ready.
Oh, and here she is after church on Sunday, before the party...
And here are Pa and Abuelita entertaining Caroline with B.I.N.G.O.!
And just looking gorgeous all together...
Pa and Abuelita brought two VERY special gifts with them (in addition to the unspeakably wonderful gift of their presence!). They brought a tiny chair that was Abuelita's maternal grandfather's chair when he was a boy and pictures of Kev as a little one sitting in that chair. They also brought a rocking horse that was handcrafted for Pa when he was a wee one. It was painted originally with lead paint, but Abuelita repainted it entirely and matched its original design exactly. I don't have a picture of the rocking horse to show you, but I do have a picture of the chair and of Caroline in the chair. She actually can sit in it on her own when she has a mind to, but when we wanted a photo she wasn't so much interested so Kev is holding her in place. She very much enjoyed sitting down and then standing up from sitting, sitting then standing, over and over again earlier this week. Pa and Abuelita blessed us even more with these gifts by writing up the family stories that go with them. What treasures! Surely more pics with the chair and with the rocking horse will appear here in the future! We really should scan in the pic of Kev in the chair and put that up too... I don't really know how the scanner works so I never seem to get around to that!
Anyhow... I uploaded the pictures from this week and remember some other KEY things...
Last Sunday congregation number one had its annual picnic and pool party. So... Caroline got into a pool for the first time. Lucky girl got to get into a saltwater pool for her first experience. She was needing a nap and a bit cranky and mommy had a hard time figuring out how to get her suit on her so it took entirely too long to get her ready to get into the pool which never helps the baby's mood... so... she wasn't overly thrilled with the experience. Plus there were lots of people all around and in the pool so it was a bit overwhelming. She didn't meltdown, but didn't LOVE it. She warmed up to it a bit when daddy got in the pool and pranced about with her, but we don't have any pics of that. No face shots of her in the pool... but these are kind of sweet. The first one is just before getting into the pool.
The owners of that gorgeous saltwater pool are first time grandparents of a little boy only 10 days older than Caroline. Grandma watches her gorgeous grandson most days. She urged Kev to bring Caroline over any time and is eager to teach Caroline to swim when she's ready.
Oh, and here she is after church on Sunday, before the party...
And here are Pa and Abuelita entertaining Caroline with B.I.N.G.O.!
And just looking gorgeous all together...
Pa and Abuelita brought two VERY special gifts with them (in addition to the unspeakably wonderful gift of their presence!). They brought a tiny chair that was Abuelita's maternal grandfather's chair when he was a boy and pictures of Kev as a little one sitting in that chair. They also brought a rocking horse that was handcrafted for Pa when he was a wee one. It was painted originally with lead paint, but Abuelita repainted it entirely and matched its original design exactly. I don't have a picture of the rocking horse to show you, but I do have a picture of the chair and of Caroline in the chair. She actually can sit in it on her own when she has a mind to, but when we wanted a photo she wasn't so much interested so Kev is holding her in place. She very much enjoyed sitting down and then standing up from sitting, sitting then standing, over and over again earlier this week. Pa and Abuelita blessed us even more with these gifts by writing up the family stories that go with them. What treasures! Surely more pics with the chair and with the rocking horse will appear here in the future! We really should scan in the pic of Kev in the chair and put that up too... I don't really know how the scanner works so I never seem to get around to that!
Friday, August 14, 2009
36 weeks!
Well... I wondered if this would be the first week I failed to post on a Friday. We were planning to go on a birthday hike and campout with Auntie Tish (birth blogger extraordinaire). We would need to leave early tomorrow morning, drive all morning to the site... hike all afternoon, hike back the next morning... drive all afternoon. We think Caroline would do great on such a trip. She LOVES being outdoors and being with people... BUT as you might tell from the verb tenses above... we're not going. We all had a terrible sleeping night last night- the worst in awhile. Kev ended up driving around with her for an hour at midnight. She had a rough day today- barely napped. We think she's working hard on some new teeth. The night before last wasn't great either. We were going to wait and see how tonight went before deciding whether or not to cancel our participation in this fun get-away, but we would have to do a lot of packing up tonight (some creativity required as our good framed backpack for hiking is in NY- loaned it to Aunt Katherine when she was helping us pack up to move and haven't been up there to get it since we moved) and we just. don't. have. the. energy. Well, Caroline seems to have all sorts of energy all of sudden, but mommy and daddy both feel like we could go to sleep right now and sleep for the next two days. So... we cancelled. Sigh. The good news is that I have time to blog. (Pics likely tomorrow... we'll see.) If you still check in here, Tish, know that we love you, we're so glad you were born, and we're so sorry to miss your great birthday plans!
Other than the sleeping issues, we've had a great week. Pa and Abuelita arrived Sunday night and blessed Caroline (and us) with lots of wonderful, undivided attention devoted to their beautiful granddaughter. She took wonderful walks that helped her get good naps in. And learned some new songs- B.I.N.G.O. (Pa and Abuelita discovered while watching her while mommy and daddy were at a film Tuesday afternoon that if they just kept singing she stayed happy... so they did!) Caroline has a new sort of chuckle that she does- interactive laughing. She gives a hearty "Huh!" with a smile and if we imitate her it mutates into more of a chuckle "Heh! Heh!" Back and forth, back and forth until we're really laughing! Pa and Abuelita were impressed by Caroline's babbling, long strings of syllables pouring from her mouth AND they felt that she did a lot of good mimicking of sounds. She really does seem to be taking huge leaps forward language wise. A little bit ago Kev came into the bedroom where I was trying to nurse her to sleep (though she was more interested in moving all over the bed!) and she sat up, lifted her hand, and said something that sounded for all the world like "Hi dada!" Who knows? But... sure sounded like it.
I forgot to mention last week that Caroline's screeching personality has reappeared. She has taken to screeching LOUDLY, not necessarily when mad or sad, sometimes just to express herself. It seems she sometimes screeches to let us know she wants more cheerios on her tray- she is going through cheerios like you wouldn't believe. The high, shrill pitch of her screech is NOT something that Kev is wanting to encourage. It is darn piercing.
She continues to be a super explorer, fascinated by the world around her... into EVERYTHING.
New foods this week- nectarines- loves them! blueberries- fresh from michigan- loved them! (so did we! thanks pa and eepa!) oatmeal- not sure what she thinks of that weird texture yet, but took it pretty well with a bit of applesauce added! oh... and spiced sweet potatoes from the calypso cafe... she wanted a piece of the action when we were out to dinner on Monday night and eepa, daddy, and mommy all had a side of these sweet potatoes, so we shared. And she gobbled them right down! We should have gotten her her own order! We bought some sweet potatoes at the farmer's market today and we'll be giving those a try at home again! We think that perhaps she just was put off by the new solid texture and didn't really dislike sweet potatoes when we first introduced them. Caroline also had a Las Paletas treat while her grandparents were here. Daddy got a particularly tasty avocado popsicle... who'd a thunk it? And she and I shared two different flavors- plum and watermelon!
Well, surely there was more this week... but we are too tired to remember now... so for now... lets call this post done. And perhaps tomorrow after sleeping WAY in... please, Caroline, please... we'll put up pics and elaborate.
Other than the sleeping issues, we've had a great week. Pa and Abuelita arrived Sunday night and blessed Caroline (and us) with lots of wonderful, undivided attention devoted to their beautiful granddaughter. She took wonderful walks that helped her get good naps in. And learned some new songs- B.I.N.G.O. (Pa and Abuelita discovered while watching her while mommy and daddy were at a film Tuesday afternoon that if they just kept singing she stayed happy... so they did!) Caroline has a new sort of chuckle that she does- interactive laughing. She gives a hearty "Huh!" with a smile and if we imitate her it mutates into more of a chuckle "Heh! Heh!" Back and forth, back and forth until we're really laughing! Pa and Abuelita were impressed by Caroline's babbling, long strings of syllables pouring from her mouth AND they felt that she did a lot of good mimicking of sounds. She really does seem to be taking huge leaps forward language wise. A little bit ago Kev came into the bedroom where I was trying to nurse her to sleep (though she was more interested in moving all over the bed!) and she sat up, lifted her hand, and said something that sounded for all the world like "Hi dada!" Who knows? But... sure sounded like it.
I forgot to mention last week that Caroline's screeching personality has reappeared. She has taken to screeching LOUDLY, not necessarily when mad or sad, sometimes just to express herself. It seems she sometimes screeches to let us know she wants more cheerios on her tray- she is going through cheerios like you wouldn't believe. The high, shrill pitch of her screech is NOT something that Kev is wanting to encourage. It is darn piercing.
She continues to be a super explorer, fascinated by the world around her... into EVERYTHING.
New foods this week- nectarines- loves them! blueberries- fresh from michigan- loved them! (so did we! thanks pa and eepa!) oatmeal- not sure what she thinks of that weird texture yet, but took it pretty well with a bit of applesauce added! oh... and spiced sweet potatoes from the calypso cafe... she wanted a piece of the action when we were out to dinner on Monday night and eepa, daddy, and mommy all had a side of these sweet potatoes, so we shared. And she gobbled them right down! We should have gotten her her own order! We bought some sweet potatoes at the farmer's market today and we'll be giving those a try at home again! We think that perhaps she just was put off by the new solid texture and didn't really dislike sweet potatoes when we first introduced them. Caroline also had a Las Paletas treat while her grandparents were here. Daddy got a particularly tasty avocado popsicle... who'd a thunk it? And she and I shared two different flavors- plum and watermelon!
Well, surely there was more this week... but we are too tired to remember now... so for now... lets call this post done. And perhaps tomorrow after sleeping WAY in... please, Caroline, please... we'll put up pics and elaborate.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Pics from the 35th week (last several from day one of week 36!)
Playing after church on Sunday in a pretty dress from Great Aunt Sherry. Thank you, G.A.S.!
All the toys in the pack and play? No big deal! Here's a metal pail and a percussion instrument. This will keep me busy for awhile!
Listening to babysitter Erin play and sing her very own songs...
All the toys in the pack and play? No big deal! Here's a metal pail and a percussion instrument. This will keep me busy for awhile!
Listening to babysitter Erin play and sing her very own songs...
35 Weeks!
I ran into a few new students while on campus today; both of them are new fellows in my fellowship program which means I met them when they were here for interviews in February. One of them engaged me in conversation for awhile. She said "I remember you. You had that beautiful baby." And then she held up her little finger "And you were actively breastfeeding and you'd use your little finger to calm her down..." Yes, that's right... she was a bit over 2 months old then. Now she's 8 months. And she won't suck on a finger much anymore, she'd rather chomp on anything that comes near her mouth. Though earlier this week while riding in the car with her she was SO tired she took my finger and sucked just like she did when she was so much smaller and fell promptly asleep.
This past week Caroline has taken particular interest in the diamond on my engagement ring, particularly when we're riding in the back seat together. One day she took my hand and turned it this way and that as if examining the ring from every angle and then she promptly began efforts to get the diamond in her mouth! She decided this would work quite well as a teether. Fortunately she can't really get it to her gums, I think that could hurt! But she has fun trying. She goes for that hand very quickly every time we're in the car now.
We didn't quite make the goal of 5 days of practice with daddy as primary caregiver and mommy on campus this week because I came down with another 24 hour g.i. bug. Not terrible, but I felt lousy from Tuesday evening until Wednesday afternoon. So I slept most of Wednesday morning while Kev took Caroline with him to church so he could do some practicing for an interview/audition he had that evening. Apparently Caroline is a BIG fan of organ pedals. I was feeling much better Wednesday afternoon so I stayed home with Caroline while Kev went back to church for slightly less disrupted practice! In any case, I was on campus 9-3 (more or less) every day but Wednesday and all went well. And most exciting of all?! As of this morning we have 14 oz of MY milk frozen! We'll likely get some more frozen tonight or tomorrow morning. This new pump is working beautifully. I get about 3 oz in 20 minutes! And I pump twice while on campus and usually 1-2 times at home. This is how we're finally accumulating a supply. If I keep this pace up for another few weeks we should be in great shape! Thanks for all the support as we worked our way to this point.
Caroline is eating LOTS more solid food now and the slow flow nipple/bottle that Mama V sent along is helping smaller amounts of milk last longer. The biggest food discovery of this week (as you might have noted in the pics below) was cheerios! SHE LOVES THEM! She eats them. She plays with them. She practices fine motor skills with them. Typically when she sits in her high chair now we put some cheerios down and she'll entertain herself for awhile while we prep whatever other food we're going to offer her (or us!). She also is less interested in grabbing the bowl or spoon and will happily eat whatever we're feeding her while keeping her hands busy with the cheerios. She still sometimes helps with the spoon, but more often she'll take a bite off the spoon, pop in some cheerios, bite off the spoon, etc. We have a nice rhythm. And she's increasing how much she'll eat in one sitting too.
Cheerios aren't the only new food of the week, however! She discovered that she likes avocado while we were at our favorite Mexican restaurant last Saturday. Friends of ours shared that they loved eating at Mexican restaurants with their babies because they could always order a few avocado slices and keep the babies happy. And indeed, it worked like a charm! And she had more avocado at dinner at home last night and enjoyed it thoroughly again. Many of you recommended this, but her first taste of it didn't interest her at all and it took us awhile to get back to it. But it is in the repertoire now. And it is not sweet!
And we made other progress in the less sweet (i.e. veggies) arena this week, too. I think it was Esperanza who shared, via e-mail, that her daughter also had a major sweet tooth, but would eat peas... because they were somehow sweeter. We had some frozen peas in the freezer so Kev cooked them up and mashed them in a food processor. And... she liked them. She didn't love them. But she ate several good bites of peas, maybe 10? Some big bites included. At one point she wiped her mouth and then rubbed her eyes while eating the peas- hence the bottom eight month picture!
Other new foods this week? Cherries- in her teether! Loved them! Plum in her teether- not so interested- probably would have gone over better mashed up and spoon fed, not sure!
She continues to enjoy yogurt and rice cereal with yogurt. Sometimes we add fruit to this mix as well. And she continues to love bananas and grapes!
Phew. One would think that all our girl is doing is eating, but that's not true! She's continuing to work at walking. Pulling up as much as possible, often with little to hold on to. No dramatic progress, but lots of effort. And, indeed, Kevin was correct- it is her left leg that she keeps straight when she crawls so this is further confirmation that she's holding out hope for walking and that it doesn't have anything to do with the leg break. She's crawling up a storm. Exploring, exploring, exploring... and loving her world most of the time. You should see how adept she is at shifting between crawling, sitting, pulling up, etc. It really is impressive.
She laughs A LOT these day! She is so much fun to play with.
She still has rough days and nights... her teeth continue to slowly work their way up and some days they make her miserable. Apparently she was very fussy and clingy with daddy for most of yesterday and last night she had some rough stretches. But today was better for the most part and it feels like hard days were fewer and farther between this week.
We received more wonderful packages this week! Lots of beautiful clothes, child proofing items, storage bags... good stuff! The package Mamie sent along had a BEAUTIFUL dress crocheted by Mamie, a beautiful pinafore that G.A.S. (Great Aunt Sherry) work 60 plus years ago, and so many other nice things from various sources included a bathing suit made by the mother of a baby I used to babysit (who is probably in college now!) and lots of great sun hats, which is fabulous because we have one that we use all the time, and it will be fun to work others into the rotation. Thanks Mamie, Wendy, and Mama V!
We have a fun weekend ahead. Auntie Tish (birth blogger extraordinaire) and Uncle Jonathan are coming over for a quick dinner tonight and then we're heading to a concert on the lawn at our church at which one of Caroline's babysitters (a teenager) will be performing some original compositions (and there will also be a jazz trio, I think!) We don't usually take her out in the evenings anymore, but we didn't want to miss this. Tomorrow we'll be readying the house for a visit from Pa and Abuelita (and just because it is so nice to have a house in order and we have an open day to do so!) We are finally going to get the big map rehung in her nursery (previous attempts resulted in a big fallen map, repeatedly, hopefully we'll have better luck this time) and we have some framed items to get up as well. Pa and Abuelita have said before that they love the motivation that company provides to get things done around the house! I love it too. Every time I rock her to sleep in there I wish that the room were more finished. We'll hopefully be closer by the end of tomorrow! And Sunday there is a pool party/picnic for congregation number one which we'll go to for awhile (using a smaller bathing suit that wendy sent along- thank you, wendy!) This will be Caroline's first pool experience! And then Pa and Abuelita arrive in time for dinner Sunday night.
(I will get pics and maybe video posted later today or tomorrow. I've been having the darndest time getting videos to load lately. I tried 5 times, for more time than I want to admit, to get the 1 minute video of her climbing the step loaded and had no luck any time. Grr... I have three 1 minute videos of her disgust at zucchini that I'd like to get up, but I haven't tried yet. I'm so glad that yogurt one loaded!)
This past week Caroline has taken particular interest in the diamond on my engagement ring, particularly when we're riding in the back seat together. One day she took my hand and turned it this way and that as if examining the ring from every angle and then she promptly began efforts to get the diamond in her mouth! She decided this would work quite well as a teether. Fortunately she can't really get it to her gums, I think that could hurt! But she has fun trying. She goes for that hand very quickly every time we're in the car now.
We didn't quite make the goal of 5 days of practice with daddy as primary caregiver and mommy on campus this week because I came down with another 24 hour g.i. bug. Not terrible, but I felt lousy from Tuesday evening until Wednesday afternoon. So I slept most of Wednesday morning while Kev took Caroline with him to church so he could do some practicing for an interview/audition he had that evening. Apparently Caroline is a BIG fan of organ pedals. I was feeling much better Wednesday afternoon so I stayed home with Caroline while Kev went back to church for slightly less disrupted practice! In any case, I was on campus 9-3 (more or less) every day but Wednesday and all went well. And most exciting of all?! As of this morning we have 14 oz of MY milk frozen! We'll likely get some more frozen tonight or tomorrow morning. This new pump is working beautifully. I get about 3 oz in 20 minutes! And I pump twice while on campus and usually 1-2 times at home. This is how we're finally accumulating a supply. If I keep this pace up for another few weeks we should be in great shape! Thanks for all the support as we worked our way to this point.
Caroline is eating LOTS more solid food now and the slow flow nipple/bottle that Mama V sent along is helping smaller amounts of milk last longer. The biggest food discovery of this week (as you might have noted in the pics below) was cheerios! SHE LOVES THEM! She eats them. She plays with them. She practices fine motor skills with them. Typically when she sits in her high chair now we put some cheerios down and she'll entertain herself for awhile while we prep whatever other food we're going to offer her (or us!). She also is less interested in grabbing the bowl or spoon and will happily eat whatever we're feeding her while keeping her hands busy with the cheerios. She still sometimes helps with the spoon, but more often she'll take a bite off the spoon, pop in some cheerios, bite off the spoon, etc. We have a nice rhythm. And she's increasing how much she'll eat in one sitting too.
Cheerios aren't the only new food of the week, however! She discovered that she likes avocado while we were at our favorite Mexican restaurant last Saturday. Friends of ours shared that they loved eating at Mexican restaurants with their babies because they could always order a few avocado slices and keep the babies happy. And indeed, it worked like a charm! And she had more avocado at dinner at home last night and enjoyed it thoroughly again. Many of you recommended this, but her first taste of it didn't interest her at all and it took us awhile to get back to it. But it is in the repertoire now. And it is not sweet!
And we made other progress in the less sweet (i.e. veggies) arena this week, too. I think it was Esperanza who shared, via e-mail, that her daughter also had a major sweet tooth, but would eat peas... because they were somehow sweeter. We had some frozen peas in the freezer so Kev cooked them up and mashed them in a food processor. And... she liked them. She didn't love them. But she ate several good bites of peas, maybe 10? Some big bites included. At one point she wiped her mouth and then rubbed her eyes while eating the peas- hence the bottom eight month picture!
Other new foods this week? Cherries- in her teether! Loved them! Plum in her teether- not so interested- probably would have gone over better mashed up and spoon fed, not sure!
She continues to enjoy yogurt and rice cereal with yogurt. Sometimes we add fruit to this mix as well. And she continues to love bananas and grapes!
Phew. One would think that all our girl is doing is eating, but that's not true! She's continuing to work at walking. Pulling up as much as possible, often with little to hold on to. No dramatic progress, but lots of effort. And, indeed, Kevin was correct- it is her left leg that she keeps straight when she crawls so this is further confirmation that she's holding out hope for walking and that it doesn't have anything to do with the leg break. She's crawling up a storm. Exploring, exploring, exploring... and loving her world most of the time. You should see how adept she is at shifting between crawling, sitting, pulling up, etc. It really is impressive.
She laughs A LOT these day! She is so much fun to play with.
She still has rough days and nights... her teeth continue to slowly work their way up and some days they make her miserable. Apparently she was very fussy and clingy with daddy for most of yesterday and last night she had some rough stretches. But today was better for the most part and it feels like hard days were fewer and farther between this week.
We received more wonderful packages this week! Lots of beautiful clothes, child proofing items, storage bags... good stuff! The package Mamie sent along had a BEAUTIFUL dress crocheted by Mamie, a beautiful pinafore that G.A.S. (Great Aunt Sherry) work 60 plus years ago, and so many other nice things from various sources included a bathing suit made by the mother of a baby I used to babysit (who is probably in college now!) and lots of great sun hats, which is fabulous because we have one that we use all the time, and it will be fun to work others into the rotation. Thanks Mamie, Wendy, and Mama V!
We have a fun weekend ahead. Auntie Tish (birth blogger extraordinaire) and Uncle Jonathan are coming over for a quick dinner tonight and then we're heading to a concert on the lawn at our church at which one of Caroline's babysitters (a teenager) will be performing some original compositions (and there will also be a jazz trio, I think!) We don't usually take her out in the evenings anymore, but we didn't want to miss this. Tomorrow we'll be readying the house for a visit from Pa and Abuelita (and just because it is so nice to have a house in order and we have an open day to do so!) We are finally going to get the big map rehung in her nursery (previous attempts resulted in a big fallen map, repeatedly, hopefully we'll have better luck this time) and we have some framed items to get up as well. Pa and Abuelita have said before that they love the motivation that company provides to get things done around the house! I love it too. Every time I rock her to sleep in there I wish that the room were more finished. We'll hopefully be closer by the end of tomorrow! And Sunday there is a pool party/picnic for congregation number one which we'll go to for awhile (using a smaller bathing suit that wendy sent along- thank you, wendy!) This will be Caroline's first pool experience! And then Pa and Abuelita arrive in time for dinner Sunday night.
(I will get pics and maybe video posted later today or tomorrow. I've been having the darndest time getting videos to load lately. I tried 5 times, for more time than I want to admit, to get the 1 minute video of her climbing the step loaded and had no luck any time. Grr... I have three 1 minute videos of her disgust at zucchini that I'd like to get up, but I haven't tried yet. I'm so glad that yogurt one loaded!)
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Standing and Climbing- Caroline Grace in her 34th Week
Caroline has been spending more time in her Pack and Play lately. Yes, Dr. Sears doesn't see much point in these "cages"- I think that's his word, save for using them as an occasional safety precaution, but... Caroline likes it. It gives her a challenging and rewarding space in which to practice standing. She has to really reach, and sometimes she presses against the mesh like it is a wall to work her way up. Below are a series of pictures that shows her in action. I think she's wearing one of my old dresses here. Am I right about that, Mamie? Or was this Aunt Katherine's?
And here are a few pictures of her approaching the step. I have a video as well, but as images are taking a long time to load today, I'm not sure about the video. I'm going to get image posts up first and THEN shoot for video. I may edit to add video later.
And here are a few pictures of her approaching the step. I have a video as well, but as images are taking a long time to load today, I'm not sure about the video. I'm going to get image posts up first and THEN shoot for video. I may edit to add video later.
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