93rd percentile

It's official. Baby girl is a big girl now. At birth, she was right at the 50th percentile for length and weight. She's moving up in the world, though. While still holding steady at around 54% for length, she's jumped to 93% for weight. What? Oh yes, ladies and gents, she's large and in charge. According to the doctor, she's healthy as a horse, so I suppose I'm okay with the fact that she now weighs in at a whopping 11 pounds, 10 ounces. In case you're not quick with the math, that's almost four more pounds than her birth weight. Needless to say, I'm not one of those new moms who wonders if I'm producing enough milk. I am.

She looked good for her appointment. She wore her cashmere outfit from Great Aunt Mel. It was excessively difficult to get on and off, so it probably won't get worn too often (not that it'll fit for much longer.)

I think she just peed on me...

Happy Birthday

One month down...bunches to go. We took cupcakes to some of our expectant friends at church this morning. I thought the pregnant ladies needed the cupcakes more than I. I'm trying not to look prego anymore, remember? I'm going to spend the rest of baby girl's birthday staring at her.

I know this picture is blurry, but she was just so cute playing and laughing. It's hard to capture...

Cupcakes for the cupcake

Desperately wanting

I take it back. Not wanting. Needing. Desperately needing. Okay, so I just want it. This dessert carrier will carry three "levels" of cupcakes. Or a layer cake. Or two pies. Seriously, why didn't I invent this? Carrying desserts is always a disaster, isn't it? Or is it just me? (Die Frau, please don't judge me for the horrific sentence structure contained in this post thus far.)

I'm getting ready to make cupcakes for baby girl's first (month) birthday, which is tomorrow. The little ladybug is already a month old. I cannot believe how fast this is going. Everyday I notice ways that she is changing. I am so amazed by her. Either way, the dessert carrier is something I remembered when thinking about her cupcakes. Other things I want in the cupcake-related baking world? Cup-a-cake holders and silicone baking cups. How is it possible that there are kitchen goodies pertaining to cupcakes that I don't own? Rephrase. How is there anything related to a kitchen that I don't own? Come to think of it...I don't have a zester either. I need to go to Williams-Sonoma.

Just as soon as I make those cupcakes.

Happy Saturday.

Had to post it

I think I officially HAVE to make one of these. I sense a whole set of food-inspired bibs. Too cute, don't you think? I think I'll be especially fond of a Pronto Pup bib!!

The musical fruit

You remember the little song, right?

Beans, beans,
The musical fruit,
The more you eat them,
The more you toot.

While there are no beans involved, baby girl's new nickname is "the musical fruit." She woke us up last night with her constant tooting. It was absolutely hysterical. Sleeping baby making music. It was great.

The trouble with bananas...okay, this is not related to anything, just an observation. I love bananas. I try to eat one everyday. I have trouble with bananas, though. As a person who only likes to brave the grocery store once a week, I need to buy a week's worth of bananas. Of course, I need to buy them pretty green so they are still edible as something other than the inside of banana bread by week's end. Unfortunately, that usually means they are too green to eat for a couple of days. "Buy from two different bunches," you say. Logical. Not practical. Have you ever noticed that all the bananas at the store are the same color? If they're mostly green bananas, your only option is usually some half-rotten bunch that was probably left in another part of the store for a day or two. If this is the most troublesome thing I have to worry about, I suppose I'm doing alright, eh?


Five Senses Friday

Sight: Otis laying in the floor staring at me right now, my clean house
Sound: the musical fruit
Smell: baby girl after her bath, spit up (it doesn't smell good, but it's a consistent smell around here)
Touch: cool air against my face as S and I went for walks this week, warm water in the shower a few minutes ago
Taste: strawberries in my cheerios, grapes from the fridge

Like sands through the hourglass...

...so are the days of our lives. S and I are getting used to life together, but I pushed her a little too far yesterday afternoon. I kept her out when she was sleepy, and I paid the price...the price being 115 decibel shrieking from the backseat all the way home. We did better today. Much better. Of course, I think she's hit a growth spurt because I 'm pretty sure she's only been detached from my chest for a total of about two hours today. Those two hours were spent at the UPS Store and the grocery. I was pretty impressed with myself for making it through the grocery with her while she was awake. Here are some new pics of the wee one...she really likes to lay on soft things like pillows and her boppy which is unfortunate because of SIDS, but I let her chill on pillows during the day when we're hanging out. This afternoon she was pretending to be an angel perched on a cloud.













Oh, we also read a bunch of her board books today. I think she enjoyed it. I can't remember all of the ones we read, but here are a few:

• But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton,
  
• Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton (thank you L, B, and J),
  
• Julius's Candy Corn by Kevin Henkes,
  
• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow, and
  
• Just in Case You Ever Wonder by Max Lucado
  

The labradoodle and the hare

Okay, so it wasn't a hare...just a plain old rabbit. Otis doesn't care. All he knows is that there is a foreign animal in the backyard. The rabbit showed up yesterday morning, so Otis spent yesterday obsessing over it. Apparently, it began when M let him out first thing in the morning, and unfortunately, I was not warned. I let him out when baby girl and I got up. Usually, Otis goes out, does his business, and comes back. Sometimes he dawdles. The dawdling normally involves the neighbor dogs being out. Yesterday, however, the fancy-mutt just wouldn't come in. The deck and backyard were still snow covered, and I couldn't see him, so I knew he was in the corner by the doghouse. After about an hour and a half, I was able to put the baby down long enough to put on shoes and go after Otis. He was completely covered in mud, so I cleaned him up a bit and put him in his kennel so he'd finish the clean-up job. He repeated the entire incident in the afternoon, and M wouldn't let him out last night without being on the retractable leash. Luckily, I think the rabbit went away because Otis has been pretty normal today. It helps that I've got grapes to bribe him with.

Not related to dogs or babies, I saw the cutest stuff on All Buttoned Up today. It's been awhile since I mindlessly perused other blogs. Baby girl afforded me about ten minutes of computer time this afternoon, though. So, check out the adorable stuff from The Small Object. I love the family tree and the "thumb war" print. I am thinking about trying to make a family tree for us, so it's good to see some ideas.

Lastly, I thought this was awesome. M and I have been slowly trading out all of our incandescent bulbs for CFLs. It's still hard to adjust to the brightness delay, but it's worth it.

Happy little trees

I had my first pseudo-breakdown of motherhood Friday night about 11. Baby girl kept acting like she was going to go to sleep, but it just wasn't happening. We had moved the party up to the bedroom about 9:30 because she had fallen asleep in my arms in the living room and we were both ready to hit the sack. M fell asleep pretty quickly and very soundly. He must've been exhausted (or drugged) because he slept right through S's worst screaming fit to date. She wasn't happy nursing. She wasn't happy bouncing. She wasn't happy walking. After about an hour of trying everything I could to calm her, she puked all over me. That was all I could handle as I stood at the end of the bed, holding the crying baby, soaked in baby vomit. I woke M up, and handed off the baby on the verge of tears. I ended up sitting in the bathroom and crying for a few minutes. Once I'd pulled it together, I headed back out into battle. M had managed to calm her enough that she would nurse, and she fell asleep within ten minutes. It wasn't a horrible experience, but it wasn't fun.

She made up for it by sleeping until about 9 yesterday morning. Once she finally woke up, she was pretty content to just hang out, and M and I flipped on the TV. Bob Ross was on...painting a mountain scape and happy little trees. This is when M revealed his childhood thoughts on painter Bob. When M was young, he thought the show was broadcast from prison because of Bob Ross's clothes. I laughed for several minutes.

Baby girl was good for the rest of the day, allowing us to run some errands. It was, all in all, a fairly "normal" day.

This morning, we took S to church for the first time. She was remarkably good. She started to get a little fussy at one point, so I was ready to go to the nursery and feed her. She calmed down as soon as I stood up, so I held her in the lobby and watched the church service through the windows. I took her in for communion, and the guest priest blessed her at the altar, which was pretty cool. Now we're home, and M and I are looking forward to our Sunday afternoon nap.

Bummer...and yum

There's bad news and there's good news. The bad news is that baby girl is having tummy issues and the doctor's office has requested that I omit dairy from my diet for at least a week. What? No milk? No cheese? No yogurt? I am seriously bummed as milk has been one of the few things I've really wanted since giving birth. I can do without the others, but I am unhappy about the milk. Funny thing is- I didn't even drink milk until I was in grad school. I'm making up for it now. I guess I'll pick up some soy milk for my cereal??

The good news isn't really news. Some background...I went through an "I heart Barefoot Contessa" phase around the time M and I got married. We didn't have cable, so I had never seen the show. I loved her from her cookbooks. Then we got cable, and I thought that she seemed...indulgent...in an overly opulent way. It bothered me enough that I quit watching her show, content to love her cookbooks without loving her. Enter today's episode. I was sitting on the bed nursing the wee one, and I'd left all of my books and magazines out of arm's reach. The remote, however, was right there. Barefoot Contessa was on, and she was making an Asian-inspired meal that I'm pretty sure caused drool to flow freely from my dairy-free lips. Crunchy Noodle Salad and Eli's Asian Salmon (the salmon recipe is from Eli Zabar). The ingredient lists for both dishes are pretty extensive, but OH MY! The food looked amazing. She also made a lemon yogurt cake with blueberry sauce, which looked yum-scrum, too. I'm so hungry now- and so in the mood to play in the kitchen all day. Alas, I hear a baby squirming upstairs.

Five Senses Friday
Sight: S's feet pressed against the edge of the sink during her bath the other night, S stretching as she wakes up, breakfast at the edge of the bed
Sound: baby girl "laughing" today as she entertained herself while I brushed my teeth
Smell: chicken roasting on Valentine's Day
Taste: milk, sweet nectar of the dairy cow
Touch: kisses that I steal from under S's chin...it's one of my favorite parts of her

Happy weekend, peeps.

I love the wildlife

Get it? Like "I love the nightlife?" Here's baby girl sporting her gecko onesie. It was given to her as a bit of a joke. As in, "We ordered too many of these silly things and can't get rid of them." In addition to sporting the finest in baby reptile wear, she also wore her hat with bear ears today as we ventured out into the frozen tundra that is Lexington once again.

Speaking of our outing...we went to Sam's to stock up on some essentials, and I was berated by the cashier for having my baby out. Not because of the 20 degree temperatures, but because of the rampant germs. The germs? Please. There are always going to be germs in public places. What am I supposed to do, raise a bubble girl? No thank you. We need to be out and about. The P women are social.

Last but not least- in my infinite reading time, I ran across a most disturbing recipe this morning in Southern Living. It was a recipe for Chocolate Chimichangas with Raspberry Sauce. Sounds yummy, right? Wrong. It's a candy bar wrapped in a flour tortilla and fried. Gross. Firstly, candy bars used in recipes never seem to melt properly, assuming this bizarre half-melted state. Secondly, fried candy bars and the like are fair food. Making and eating something like that at home is like asking for a heart attack. I'll pass. I recommend we all pass on this one.

Happy Valentine's Day

I have figured out the Valentine's Day conspiracy. It has nothing to do with greeting card companies or the South American floral industry. It's about insecurity. Allow me to explain. Boy meets girl. Boy actually likes girl. February 14 rolls around and fear of said girl having another valentine kicks in. This is where is gets good. Instead of thinking, "I must prove myself superior to all other suitors," boy thinks, "I will make girl undesirable to all other suitors." That's where the chocolate comes in. Ply girl with chocolate...watch her balloon up...presto, she's yours because now she's got her own set of insecurities...I just hope boy likes girl with a little meat (or chocolate) on her bones. I don't actually believe this for a second, but it sounds good considering I've eaten several Dove chocolate hearts today (including two with my breakfast).

All joking and conspiracy theories aside- Happy Valentine's Day. I hope everyone was as lucky as I was to wake up to breakfast (and chocolate) in bed. If not, make your significant other make it up to you.

A sense of accomplishment

So today went a little better on the "To-do list" front. I showered and dried my hair, dressed baby girl, and out we went. We went to Target (where I purchased a pair of jeans that will promptly be returned), and we went to meet the girls from mommy swim class. I also managed to do two loads of laundry today. I'm feeling good about life. Of course, S made it easy by snoozing most of the day either in the Baby Bjorn or on the bed. In fact, I was pretty impressed with myself when I actually managed to make dinner with her strapped to my chest. All in all, it was a good day for the P women.

Speaking of the P women, this one is beginning to think the extensive magazine-reading time I suddenly have (what else am I going to do while breastfeeding??) is dangerous. I've spent the last ten months ignoring all things fashion related because I was as big as a house. Now that I'm returning to a somewhat normal shape, I want to buy, buy, buy. Not just clothes, either. Furniture, bedding, cookbooks, you name it. In fact, there was a great little snippet about mixing floral patterns in Real Simple this month, and the front pic from the section has the most awesome orange floral chair EVER! Unfortunately, I can't find it online. I suppose you'd have to check out the actual magazine to see it. The article also showcased some pieces from Pine Cone Hill, which is a brand we carried at the store. I forgot how much I loved all of the bright colors and patterns. Check out the pink iron bed on the front of their website. I'd love to have it in my guest room!!

For the record

The only thing I achieved today was taking a shower. Every time I would start to get S ready for her bath, she fell asleep. M is now gone to the UPS store to send out the packages that needed to be mailed. Does that count as crossing something off my list? You know, delegation of responsibility?

Breastfeeding in public

Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows that I am a world-class prude, so one could assume with fair certainty that breastfeeding in public ranks right up at the top of the list of things I never wanted to do. Well, baby girl is just over two weeks old and my goal of never nursing her in a public place is shot.
Yesterday morning, we had to take M's dad to the airport after running an errand. We almost bailed on taking her, but she fell asleep, so I thought we'd be okay. Wrong. The second we got into the airport parking garage, she started crying. (Maybe she realizes that airports are colossally aggravating??) We popped her into her stroller, and into the Bluegrass Airport we went. I left M and his daddy in the dust as I tried to get her out of the cold ASAP. Once inside, no amount of strolling would calm her. M was busy checking his dad in for his flight, and I continued to try to calm my miserable baby. I went to the empty section of baggage claim to get her out of her stroller. Holding her helped for about three minutes. Crying commenced. We walked. Still crying. Having dressed her in the most complex newborn outfit in the history of the world, I couldn't find her butt to check her diaper, but a "smell test" revealed nothing out of the ordinary. She wouldn't take the emergency pacifier. She didn't care about being bounced or talked to. I was out of options, and I knew the time had come. M would be gone for an undetermined amount of time as he had gotten security clearance to walk his father back to the gate. Baby girl and I huddled in a corner, busted out a big blanket, popped out a boob, and went to town. Of course, it worked, but the car rental agencies are directly across from baggage claim, and I could just feel their eyes glaring. I wish I could say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was. I suppose I'll just have to get used to it, though, as she's bound to get fussy again when I've got no other options. Luckily, I can start her on bottles in the next couple of weeks, so if I'm going to be in a "no way out" situation, I can be prepared. Maybe.
Other than that, the weekend went well. Otis is recovering from the constant houseful of people, and M and I are excited to see what life is going to be like on our own and in our normal routine. Of course, I have errands that need to be run today, so that will be a test. Can I get showered, get baby girl ready, get out of the house, get in and out of the post office, find and purchase a pair of pants that fit my post-baby butt, and run into Target all in one day? I'll let you know.
Happy Monday, peeps.

Baptism by fire

Well, kind of. My family had been here since Monday afternoon. They left this morning around 11:30. Things were going pretty well. S had a bit of a tummy ache again, but nothing I couldn't handle...not to mention "nothing I won't have to handle." So, off the family went, merrily on the road back to Tennessee. I gave baby girl a bath, nursed her, and put her in her wrap. I went downstairs and threw in a load of laundry. I ate some lunch and made a couple of phone calls as S fell asleep. In the midst of one of the phone calls, baby girl decided she was no longer comfortable, and she started wailing. While taking her out of her wrap, I heard Otis puking in the dining room for the second time in about an hour. I put her in her car seat so I could clean up the dog vomit. She started squirming. I put down the Resolve, and went to check on her. I found her in a puddle of her freshest batch of butterscotch pudding. I am not exaggerating when I call it a puddle. We're talking accumulation, folks. Of course, her entire backside was soaked. Back upstairs we went to clean her up and change her. I managed to peel off her "All Things Grow with Love" onesie without spreading the poop and getting it on her head. The poop had managed to get all the way to her underarms of its own volition. Once she was changed, I managed to get her calm and back to sleep after about thirty minutes of rocking and shhhhh-ing.

Since then, I've managed to shower, clean up the dog vomit, put the poopy clothes in the washer, and dismantle the car seat, which will promptly be thrown into the washer once the clothes are done. I also need to re-assemble the guest bedroom and bathroom as M's family arrives later this afternoon. I suppose this is motherhood, huh? One thing after another after another...

I can do this. I think. Of course, I may do it as a bald woman, as I may pull my hair out.

Socially-conscious baby

After making the "Give Peas a Chance" painting, the Lorax drawing, and the drawing with a Martin Luther King, Jr. quotation for baby girl's room, I held off on some other things I wanted to make. Why? I didn't want to have a little "activist baby" room. I also (being the oddly over-thinking person I am) didn't want to force issues on her from birth. You know: be an environmentalist or else...

I realize that at 13 days old, she has no concept of what I'm talking about.

Either way, she flashed her first peace sign this morning. Sort of. I wanted to share it with all. I'm such a proud mama. I'll still hold off on looking for a "Make love, not war" onesie. That might be taking it too far. Plus, her father would have a heart attack.

Blowouts

Having never been around a lot of breastfed babies, the butterscotch pudding poop is a new thing for me, and the constant "creeping of the poop" was unexpected. Pampers Swaddlers just aren't able to contain S's business. We've had several blowouts the past couple of days, but M had the worst experience last night around 4am. It began with major (but non-blowout ) poopage following the 3:30 feeding. With the diaper off and baby on the changing table (note: changing pad cover was already in the dirty clothes pile due to earlier blowout), S peed all over everything. Without the extra absorbency of the cover, the pee was free-flowing. After stripping off all the pee-soaked clothes and mopping up the mess with a mountain of burp cloths, she sneezed. With the sneeze came the next major poopage. No diaper on. I think the whole ordeal lasted about ten minutes. I think M was a smidge frustrated with the situation, and he's looking pretty worn out right now. Hopefully, there will not be a repeat this evening.

In non-poop related S news, she had her first social outing today- despite the 20 degree temperatures and snow. Leave it to me to pick the nastiest day of the year to take her out. Otis had an appointment at the groomer, so I took her to MFT to see everyone, and we went to Target. She slept the entire time, so it was a fairly pleasant experience. It was also deceptively easy considering I had three extra sets of hands. Ask me about handling her and Otis once I'm on my own!

Non-baby post

Having blogged about nothing but Baby S for quote some time...

During our marathon nursing/napping session yesterday, we enjoyed the Scrubs marathon on Comedy Central. This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. That girl is Poison.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Baby blogging will resume tomorrow.

Colgate Baby

It snowed the day that S was born, and there have been a couple of light dustings since her arrival. This morning, however, we awoke to a legitimate snowfall for this area. There are a few inches on the ground, and Otis is going crazy over it.

We decided that the snow would make a nice backdrop for this:

S's first Colgate pic. I tried to get a picture with her, M, and Otis, but Otis was much too hyper.

Baby girl was an awesome sleeper last night, sleeping for four hours, then two hours, then an hour and a half. It was great. She's also been awake a lot today, so I'm hoping to keep the trend going-especially since M heads back to work next week.













In other people's baby news- check this out. I am so happy that S was a relatively small baby. I can't imagine what giving birth to a whopper like that would do to a person's body!!

Lastly, Five Senses Friday:
Sight: S in her BabyLegs. She doesn't quite fill them out yet.
Sound: Baby "gurgling"
Smell: Chicken noodle soup
Touch: Baby girl's chubby cheeks.
Taste: Homemade soups and breads that were made for us. The perfectly crunchy and sweet apple I just ate.

Are you kidding?

She's already a week old. A week. Seven days. 168 hours (actually, 176.25 hours if you want to be precise). I can't believe that it's been a week. I can't believe how fast this is going and how much she seems to be changing. Her cheeks and belly are getting chubby. Then again, I suppose I'd be pudging up if all I did was drink milk and sleep all day. She slept most of the day today, but she's been awake since about 5:30, so I'm hoping she'll be fairly worn out when we're ready for bed. Either way, I love her.

Happy One Week Birthday, Baby Girl.